Designing Systems for Internet Commerce

It's hard to get a handle on end-to-end commerce systems. Not only is the technology implementation much more difficult than that which many enterprise IT departments are used to fielding, but the various processes themselves are complex. The situation is particularly fraught with peril when developing and deploying consumer-oriented Web business applications, with shopping carts and credit--card settlements. If the commerce application isn't designed properly, taking into account all of the necessary application and business components, it will be hard to get it working-and even harder to get it working correctly. 

Anyone looking for an intelligent, comprehensive guide to all the intricacies of electronic-commerce process and technology should read "Designing Systems for Internet Commerce." Written by G. Winfield Treese, vice president of technology for Open Market Inc., and Lawrence C. Stewart, Open Market's chief scientist, "Designing Systems" provides an extremely thorough and balanced treatment of the topic. What I like is that the authors talk as much about why as what and how. And although the book is a couple of years old, the content is as relevant today as it was when first published.

"Designing Systems" is written in three major parts, focusing on the business, technology and systems for Internet-based commerce.

The first section would be appropriate for anyone who envisions building a Web-based commerce solution, particularly when it comes to determining its requirements. The authors begin by discussing the familiar concept of the value chain, as it relates to all commerce, pointing out where e-commerce systems often miss the mark in terms of four key functions of a commerce system: attracting customers, interacting with them to turn interest into orders, acting to manage those orders, and reacting to their customer-service needs.

If you're confused about where to start--or think that your enterprise's line-of-business managers aren't sure how to proceed--I suggest reading Chapter 3, "Internet Business Strategy." The authors explain, with examples, how enterprises can develop an online strategy to build deeper relationships with customers, attract new groups of customers, capture business by disintermediating another section of the value chain and "stealing" its margins, and by bypassing traditional portions of the value chain by delivering greater efficiency through the Internet.

Consider the question, "Who is the customer"? For a consumer portal like eBay or Amazon.com, that's easy. But what if your business sells transistors? As a typical customer, you're already interacting with the electronics engineers who design new circuits and therefore need technical specification, purchasing agents who request bids and negotiate terms, manufacturing facilities that need just-in-time delivery, and accounting departments that settle the transaction. The authors discuss the interactions for complex e-business scenarios like these-and advise how to handle conflicts that may arise because different customers have conflicting requirements.

Next, the authors move into the realm of implementation, starting with a discussion of architecture based on the roles that participants play when using an e-commerce system. Although they don't use the phrase use case, that's the model that "Designing Systems" clearly recommends.

Part II of "Designing Systems" discusses specific technologies used for Internet commerce. Feel
free to skip quickly through Chapter 8, which introduces core Internet protocols like IP, UDP, TCP and DNS-that's background that everyone either knows already or doesn't need to know.

After that backgrounder, the authors present important concepts for the design of commerce systems, such as how to estimate and plan for scaling the application-and for determining the appropriate level of performance. Those factors, after all, should be part of the initial design, not worked out during deployment.

The following chapter takes a similar look at the process and tools for creating and managing content. The concepts for choosing the appropriate content view for specific customer groups are important.

The section on payment systems and settlement should be considered mandatory reading for everyone involved in the project. How many e-commerce designers take coupons into account upfront, or the handling of purchase orders?

Then there are the annoying aspects of e-commerce design, sales tax and value-added taxes. Figuring shipping charges, and integrating with delivery systems. Inventory management. Transaction processing. Keeping business records. The authors tackle those core issues and will help you ensure that none of these steps is forgotten.

Finally, the chapter titled "Putting It All Together" presents the design of a complete e-commerce system, from the buyer browsing the catalog through purchase and settlement. The authors do a good job of explaining the steps and technologies that could be used to implement such a commerce system. I would actually suggest reading Chapter 17 early-perhaps first-to help frame the discussion, and then use the rest of the book to enhance and explain the concepts.

"Designing Systems for Internet Commerce" is a serious book and a thorough reference. There's no fluff, no hype. It may be just the book your e-commerce task force has been looking for.

Reprinted with permission from SDTimes.  Originally appeared in Issue 8, June 15, 2000.