Software System Construction:Going live

10.8 Going live

10.8.1 Get a domain name

The simplest, cheapest, and fastest way to set up is to rent server space from an Internet service provider (ISP). In its most basic form this can be done free of charge using a free ISP service, which would provide a URL such as www.theatre.freeservice.co.uk or www.freeservice.co.uk/~theatre. It would be rather better for the theatre to register its own domain name, for example, www.barchesterplayhouse.co.uk. A domain name containing text as specific as Barchester Playhouse should be free, although there is no guarantee that someone has not already registered this domain name and is 'cyber-squatting'. If this were the case, the Playhouse would probably have a strong case for having the name returned, although this might involve a lengthy and costly legal process. Assuming that the desired domain is available then it is probably a good choice – it is informative and guessable since it contains the precise name of the organization, 'Barchester Playhouse', while the co.uk suffix indicates that it is a commercial concern. The 'co.uk' suffix might be used for ticket sales and an 'org' or 'org.uk' suffix used for publicising the community-based activities of the Playhouse. The downside is that it is quite a long URL to type. However, on balance, it is probably the best specific domain name for the Playhouse.

The TicketManager operations can cater for multiple theatres and is therefore not specific to the Playhouse. A generic domain name such as www.ticketsales.com or www.boxoffice.com would be rather nice domain names. Of course, these domain names are long gone and to buy one would be expensive. The lack of good domain names has led many to look for unconnected names, which often contain colours and animals: blue is particularly popular, e.g., www.blueferret.com (ferret is less popular). Sometimes it is better to have a disconnected name that is memorable and can be promoted through advertising, such as Egg.com, than a more pedestrian domain name that indicates the nature of the business but possibly projects a weak brand image.

The choice of a domain name is part of the Internet marketing strategy that needs to be developed for the Ticket Manager operation. This is a task that should not be left in the hands of the web site technical developers.

10.8.2 Hosting options

Once the site has been constructed, tested, and accepted by the user it needs to be out into live operation. There are three main options:

Host the site at an Internet Service Provider (ISP)

This is the quickest and cheapest option. As we have used Allaire's ColdFusion we will need to find an ISP that can host this platform. A number of ISPs offer these services, such as the www.advances.com, www.media3.net, and virtualscape.com. The costs of hosting at US-based Advances.com are shown in table 10.3.

For a set up cost of $15 for an Access database and a monthly ongoing charge of $15 any business can set up a database driven web site. However, an upgrade to SQL Server would be recommended since it will provide for scalability to meet higher transaction volumes and cope with a greater number of concurrent users.

Co-host a server with an ISP

As the Ticket Manager business takes off and transaction volumes grow there may come a time where a dedicated server is called for that can be administered by the Ticket Manager web support team to give greater flexibility and responsiveness. Many ISPs will host your server alongside their own. This gives the benefits of a dedicated service and high-speed access without the cost of a dedicated high bandwidth communication line between the Ticket Manager offices and an Internet Access Provider.

Host your own server

It is possible to host one's own server. For a large organization that already has the infrastructure in place this can make sense. For example, most universities have campus networks and high-speed access to the Internet (in the UK this is via JANET – Joint Academic Network). Many departments in a university can run their own dedicated Internet servers, as long as they have the resource and skills to administer them. Similarly, large commercial organizations, such as banks, have the necessary networking infrastructure and skills to run their own servers. This is not to say they should run their own servers; given the recent trend toward focussing on core business, many large organizations (commercial and non-commercial) have out-sourced their IT services to third parties. Similar arguments can be made for out-sourcing Internet service provision, regardless of the size of the organization.

For a small to medium enterprise, to host their own Internet server will most likely involve them in acquiring a dedicated high speed communication line from their Internet Access Provider to their office where the server is physically located. A dedicated line with suitable bandwidth will typically cost around £10,000 per annum. This is a significant overhead and unless the organization has good reasons, for example diversification into Internet development and consulting services, then careful thought should be given to as to whether this approach is justified.

10.8.3 Promoting the site

It is no use building the best Ticket sales web site in the world if nobody visits it and buys theatre tickets. Before theatre-goers can buy tickets from a site they need to find the site. Promotion of the site can be conducted online and offline.

The most common way of promoting a site online is to position it with the major search engines, such as Yahoo!, Lycos, and Excite. The aim is to have your site come up in the top 10 (i.e., on the first page of results) when a user performs a search containing a keyword relevant to your site. For the Ticket Manager this might include 'ticket booking', 'online ticket sales', and 'theatre'. These keywords are often added as meta tags to the web pages. Meta tags do not display in the browser window – they are data about data and are there to help search engines work out if the page is relevant to a particular search. Not all search engines use meta tags and it is a difficult task to keep up with the way in which the engines work. Google (www.google.com), for example, uses sophisticated algorithms to list a site on the basis of the links to that site. Some search engines are automated, with 'spidering' software crawling the web indexing pages as it comes across them. Other search engines use people rather than software (e.g., Yahoo!) to assess the quality and category of the sites submitted. Many companies specialize in offering services to improve your ranking in search engine results and software is available which will help tailor your web site and monitor its ranking. Possibly the simplest approach is to pay – Yahoo! introduced a scheme whereby for a fee (around $100) organizations can be fast-tracked for a listing.

Reciprocal links with related sites, online advertising banners, and online promotions can also promote traffic to the site and help with search engine placement. Affiliate programmes can be an effective way of getting high quality referrals. Amazon.com operate an affiliate program that gives a commission to the referrer. The more specific the referral, e.g., to a specific book, then the higher the commission. A similar model might be popular with ticket sales, whereby tourist information offices and other affiliates take a commission for referred sales, either as a result of an online link or an operator sale in person.

Off-line advertising should be designed in conjunction with the online campaign. This might include advertising banners on public transport and taxis and could extend as far as radio and national television. However, as the founders of the Internet failure Boo.com found, off-line advertising is not cheap and its effectiveness needs to be assessed carefully before hard cash is disbursed.

10.8.4 Monitoring the site

Monitoring the operation of the site is essential. Much can be learnt about user behaviour through analysing the web logs and many ideas for improvement can be generated. Software is available to analyse web server logs and any business serious about Internet commerce must monitor its web logs carefully. For example, how many users give up on their ticket purchase before reaching the payment stage? When the logs are combined with the customer relationship data stored in the database (preferences, ticket purchasing history) a powerful view of the user emerges that should inform future development of the site and support personalization and customization.

Summary

• The technical design of the theatre application is implemented in software using a three-tier architecture: the business data in MS Access, the business logic in ColdFusion, and the user interface in DreamWeaver/Fireworks.

• The implementation language for databases is Structured Query Language (SQL), which is used to define the database objects (tables, queries, indexes, etc.) and to add, change, and report on data in the database.

• The ANSI three-level model is maintained in the database, with the business logic only having access to data via user views (implemented as queries in MS Access).

• The business logic is implemented in the ColdFusion scripting language and operations encapsulated in components to promote reuse and maintainability of the application code.

• The user interface was implemented using DreamWeaver templates and HTML style sheets (with a graphics package such as Fireworks for image preparation).

• Database content can be delivered to mobile devices using WML in a ColdFusion template.

• To provide a live service attention must be given to where the site will be hosted, promotion to drive customers to the site, and monitoring of web logs to assess site effectiveness.

Exercises

1. Download the complete application from the WISDM web site (www.wisdm.net/theatre).

2. Extend the database to include a wait listing facility as described in chapter 8. Develop ColdFusion components and web pages to allow users to place requests for tickets.

3. Build an administration facility to allow the booking office to process ticket returns (free up seats at performance) and reallocate seats to the wait list.

4. Implement a prototype of the research student admissions system.

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