Architecture E-Commerce Applications

BIT 2231-E-Biz: Harnessing
the Business with e-Market
Architecture of E-commerce Applications
Byungura Jean Claude (PhD)

Department of Business Information
Technology (BIT)
E-BIZ 2021
Plan of the lecture
• Introduction to e-commerce and e-
commerce applications
• Issues in developing e-commerce
applications
• Architecture of e-commerce applications
• Bookstore example
• Perspectives for e-commerce
• References
Two-tier Architecture (client server)
• Data reside on a server
• Business logic and user interfaces reside on
clients
• Drawbacks :
– Clients sustain the main load and consequently
result to be monolithic and heavyweight
– Excessive overhead
– Simple but unsuitable for e-commerce applications
Two-tier Architecture (client server)
• 2 Types of Servers are used

1. Web Server
2. Database Server (CM Server)
Three-tier architecture
• Separates the business logic of the
application from user interfaces and
from data access
• Middle tier can be furtherly divided
• In this case we call it multi-tier
architecture:
– Easier to modify one component
– Lower cost to deploy and maintain
Three-tier architecture
Application server
• Software that runs on the middle tier of
a three-tier environment
• In multi-tier environments it is often a
distributed and complex software
• Commercial implementations exist:
– Microsoft Commerce Server 2000
– Sun iPlanet
– IBM WebSphere Application Server
Application Server-based
e-commerce platform architecture
E-commerce platform
ERP
Presentation Business Data & Legacy

Layer Logic Layer Access Layer Legacy
systems
Resource Load
Transactions Security Session
Pooling balancing
Horizontal Services Database
Application Server
Client tier Server tier Data tier

Presentation Layer
• Its purpose is to provide a user interface
to the end user of the application
• Controls the look-and-feel of the
application and responds to user events
• Serves actually as the front-end of the
application
Business Logic Layer
• The heart of the application itself
• Contains the business rules and /or
processes
• Its components link between
presentation and data/legacy layers
Data & Legacy access Layer
• Its purpose is to give to the business
logic components access to backend
data sources such as:
– Databases
– ERP systems
– Other custom systems
Horizontal services
• Services provided by the application server
by means of an underlying technology
(CORBA, EJB, COM,etc.)
• Typical services:
– Transactions
– Security
– Session Management
– Resource pooling
– Load balancing and fail over
Session Management
• Mantains the correlation among
requests generated by the same user
Resource Pooling
• Caching the instances of used
resources (e.g. database connections)
improves performances
Load Balancing and
Fail Over
• Make possible to distribute incoming
requests
• Handle clients reconnection in the case
of system crash
Example: iPlanet architecture
Domain Model for E-Commerce
Use Case Model
Students Practice with Draw.io tool
• To create User Case Models

Online Purchase of a Car from Japan
• Considering a Rwandan Consumer
ordering and purchasing a car from Japan,
using an online E-commerce Platform.
• Create the following Use Case Models
• Example of Use Case Models:
1. Buyer
2. Seller
3. Shipper
4. Banker
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
• Electronic exchange of
– Business documents
– Business data
• In a standard format (ANSI X12,EDIFACT)
• Established between 1968 and 1975 in the
transportation industries (U.S.)
• Application to communication without human
intervention
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
• The banking equivalent of EDI
• Denotes the transfer of :
– Electronic checks
– Customer accounts
– Payment informations
in automated way
Order conversion rates
• Defined as:
– # of orders / # of contacts
– By month or year, four-month periods, etc.
• Measure the capability of a certain B2C
application to convert any user into a buyer
E-procurement applications (1/3)
• Automate enterprise purchasing
processes, i.e. perform all of the
activities related to generating an order
on the buyer’s side
• Purchased goods can be :
– Direct goods (critical items in the supply
chain)
– Indirect goods (MRO –Maintenance Repair
and Operations - such as office items)
E-procurement applications (2/3)
• Automating procurement of indirect
goods can dramatically reduce costs
since:
– Lessens maverick buying
– Reduces supplier response time
E-procurement applications(3/3)
4. Purchase order is
electronically placed
3. Order approvation
compliant to company
standards and procedures
2. Purchase request is
performed by employees
5. Order is fulfilled by
via a Web interface
the supplier
Indirect goods e-procurement
1. Product selection
from available
catalogues
6. Product delivery
8. Payment request
electronically forwarded 7. Product receipt
E-marketplace
• An environment that brings buyers and
sellers together in a virtual space for e-
commerce, enabling them to reach new
customers and reduce transaction costs
• E-marketplaces are becoming more
fashionable than ever before due to the
use of Mobile Technologies
Cybermalls
• Include more virtual shops
• Appear as web portals with links to
single e-shops grouped by different
product categories (e.g. music or books)
• Advantages for smaller businesses:
– Reduced initial investment
– Easily traceability through the mall’s brand
References
• 1. Laudon, K.C & Laudon, J.P (2004). Management
Information Systems. Managing the Digital Firm, 5th
edition, Pearson Printice Hall.
• 2. Qin, Z., & Qin, Z. (2009). Introduction to E-
commerce (Vol. 2009). New York, NY: Springer.
• 3. Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2016). E-
commerce: business, technology, society.
• 4. Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2016). E-
commerce: business, technology, society.
End of Lecture

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BIT 2231-E-Biz: Harnessing

the Business with e-Market

Architecture of E-commerce Applications

Byungura Jean Claude (PhD)

• 2 Types of Servers are used

Presentation Business Data & Legacy

Horizontal Services Database

Client tier Server tier Data tier

• To create User Case Models

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