Client requirements

Client required a methodically developed online Business-To-Business portal having intended towards providing an online business place for businesses from all around the globe. A system that will be one-stop depot for trade leads, tender offers, biddings, partnerships, franchises, company profiles, products and services, Buy and Sell Offers, and businesses institutions for sale. Members enjoy access to multiple markets, aggregated electronic product catalog, tender offering and procurement management all in one convenient location.

Strategic Intent:

To provide a common platform for business all around the globe to trade in the most healthy and free business atmosphere

Target Audience:

The site was primarily targeted towards three different genres that involve in any business viz.
1) Suppliers
2) Customers
3) Businesses For Sale

Extensive study of these variedly characterized categories of stakeholders enabled us to design and develop the site that will provide vigorous working conditions for diverse business all around the globe.

Challenges

Development of every web based portal had myriad inherent challenges and constraints. The most critical problem that our team had faced was to understand the B2B business model and functioning of the same. At the same time it became imperative for us to study the psyche of clusters of target customers, their need, their taste, choice etc.

Besides this, we had many other constraints like-
1) Developing a Robust framework for the site which is capable of managing millions of users at a time without buckling down the system and site.
2) Developing an invoice generation module along with integration of Payment Gateway.
3) Despite having complex structure and system, ensuring the easy navigation through the implementation Web Usability Functions.
4) Having trade of vital information about the business, ensuring safe and secure transfer of data became imperative
To overcome the aforementioned challenges and provide a robust web application to the client as per his requirements we used various technological approaches that are discussed in the next part.

Tools and technologies used

Probably the most popular language on the Internet used for web based scripting. Very fast interaction with databases. Read more Free, highly customizable low maintenance database management system. Consistently stable in high volume data environment with a wide range of support available for free over various forums and support portals. The preferred database used with PHP as a scripting language. Read more JavaScript and Asynchronous JavaScript and XML used for Crossover browser support, quick data updates. Scalable JavaScript used to provide enhanced user experience and validation. Open source and license free, sturdy platform with powerful capabilities used as Server.

Resources

Project manager 1 Business analyst 1 Designer(s) 2 Programmer(s) 5 Testing & QA stuff 3 Total manpower 12

Planning

With the prior experience in developing web based applications, Agile Technosys followed a Multi-tire approach towards the development starting from:
The Database layer containing MY SQL Server Database, Tables, Stored procedures and so on. The Data Access layer containing the libraries responsible for accessing data from database.

The Business Logic layer consisting of all business logic procedures for modules like User Profiles and Report generations, Invoice generation etc

The User Interface Layer which forms the Graphical User Interface of the website.

Architecture

PHP and MySQL formed the basis of development as the site carries the model of B2B and B2C ecommerce with extensive features.

Company Profiles, Inquiries, Membership Forms, Invoice generation, Business Listings, Bidding on Projects, Members Profile, Messaging, Search and Advanced Search and other modules were developed in PHP such that they can be executed directly from the UI layer.

These PHP files consisted of all Business logics used for respective modules like Save (Add/Update), Delete, Get single object, get multiple objects for listing and were designed to be capable of handling many more logics which were not related to the database.

The Data Access layer contained the libraries responsible for accessing data from database and built a generic query for insert, update, delete and select, depending on the business class.

All business layer components were coded to use this library for data accessing process from database. The UI layer was kept free of any business logic with images, applications and data being called from their respective servers. Sub-domains were used for the different areas of the website to guarantee scalability.

The site also included the payment gateway. Payment Gateway enabled users to pay for premium membership (Free, Silver and Gold). Users can upgrade the membership by paying through the gateway.

Client feedback

After I wrote a complete software overview I gave this overview to Agile to check out. They gave me a quote which was a bit higher than some other offers, but they did have right background in global marketing, PHP/MySQL and scripted software and database design, so after much consideration I awarded my baby to Agile Technosys just to realize that I did not do any mistake. I had a 12 person team working on my project! (2 Months). Agile Technosys have a hierarchy and a method to managing their teams and it works well. Delivery Manager gave me daily and weekly updates on what the team had been working on. My project is five days ahead of schedule! I am grateful that I had the opportunity to work with these guys. They were/are complete professionals and I now have a complex website that looks and feels easy. Posted by Abdul