Portfolio 4 Task

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Category: Level 1, Portfolio 4 (Advanced HTML, PHP, CSS)
Published: Sunday, 26 August 2018 10:01
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CET101 Fundamentals of Computing 2013/14

Portfolio Four: Web Design, Server Side Programming, Multimedia, Problem Solving and Software Engineering

All of your portfolio work in CET101 is individual work.

In this portfolio, we are assessing the skills you have developed so far in the following areas:

· Understanding of standards, formats and tools used in the design of information, multimedia and web-based systems

  • Recognition of the need for adaptable approaches to problem solving.

· Ability to specify and contextualize a problem and communicate effectively an appropriate solution to a range of audiences

· Use of software engineering techniques to design, code, test and evaluate a range of software solutions

· Appreciation of the social, ethical, professional and legal issues associated with the development and use of computer based systems.

 

Scenario

Natty Notebooks Inc (see portfolio 3) is a growing IT company that specialises in selling laptop computers to the trade and public. The company first started trading in 1999 via mail order, selling laptops and computer peripherals, before moving to a retail unit in 2005. The business has grown significantly over the last few years and has diversified to sell a range of laptops, netbooks, tablets and e-readers.

 

To help attract new customers, the company would like to develop a ‘laptop’ website allowing prospective buyers to view details about each laptop and stock availability, and to make an online reservation for pick up in store the next day. The company intends to market the online catalogue by email and via carefully placed adverts online.

 

Aim

You are required to design and develop a system to meet the company needs. The design should comprise

 

a) a PACT Analysis

b) Entity Relationship Modelling of the system, and

c) Normalisation to 3rd Normal Form.

The system you are to develop has two parts:

Part 1

A professional public facing website developed using PHP and MySQL that, as a minimum, allows the user to do the following:

  • Display laptop products in the catalogue (minimum of 25 laptops)
  • Display details about each product together with appropriate imagery (product images)
  • View laptops based on category (e.g. operating system, manufacturer, screen-size, processor, RAM etc)
  • Search for products based on name, price and/or laptop features (RAM, processor etc)
  • Sort products by price
  • Send a query to the shop using a web form (feedback form)
  • Reserve a laptop for in-store collection (at one of the high High Street Shops) for up to 24 hours

All product data and feedback should be stored in a MySQL database on bel.sunderland.ac.uk and pages written with PHP/HTML/CSS should be stored on the university web server nestor.sunderland.ac.uk

No javascript or client side scripting is allowed in this assessment – all validation and processing of form data should be achieved using PHP.

Part 2

In addition to the public facing website, you are required to create an admin site which is secured by a password (using an html form), that provides the ability for shop staff to:

  • Add new products to the catalogue
  • Update existing products in the catalogue (stock levels, descriptions, titles, details etc)
  • Remove items from the catalogue
  • View queries from customers sent via the website and respond via email
  • Flag products in the catalogue to appear on the public homepage (i.e. special offers)
  • Display reserved laptops with appropriate information for in-store collection

Where to start
It is imperative that you consider design first of all. Do the PACT as a priority. Then spend some time thinking about the database design – approach it in a top down way (ERM) and also in a bottom up way (normalisation) to check you have it right. Remember that an entity is a ‘thing of interest to the system’ that must have data kept about it. Entities will end up being tables; attributes are fields in the tables. Review your notes on systems analysis and identify the entities and attributes before normalising your database design . It may help you to identify the entities and attributes by thinking of a scenario with you as a user where you are trying to do something in the system.

 

Draw out a basic sitemap on paper and think carefully about what each PHP page will do. Spend some time reviewing other sites for ideas and inspiration: for example, what sort of features, navigation structures and approaches do popular sites such as Amazon, Google and Argos use? You should document any decisions you make not only in terms of system functionality but also in terms of non-functional aspects. We recommended that you start this assignment as soon as possible. If you need clarification, please ask your tutor.

 

What to hand-in

Your portfolio must be submitted electronically via SunSpace by 5pm 7th February 2014. You will demo your system during subsequent tutorial time.

 

You should submit a PDF document that contains the following components:

o Your name, Programme title and URL to access your website

o Table of contents

o PACT analysis

o Database design documentation

o Entity Relationship diagram

o Database Normalisation (include all steps to 3NF)

o Export of your SQL (including table definitions and data)

o Site map plus screenshots of each page with explanation of functionality

o References for any resources you have used to help you in creating your portfolio.

Please note: marks will be deducted for incorrect URLs and if your report is not saved as a PDF. Once submitted via SunSpace, you must not make any further changes to your web site.

 

Indicative marks

· 30% Documentation – evidence of structured approach to system design (PACT, ERM, Normalisation)

· 70% Core functionality - technical and creative web database development skills