Electronic Commerce Database Applications
Walt Scacchi
GSM 274/FEMBA 274
Spring 2002
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We can identify a number of common
Database Management applications for ECommerce or EBusiness
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A sample follows
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Your team project will identify
or select a DBM application
Portal
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Corporate -- Intranet or Web-based, DB-centered information
sharing service (UCI Catalyst)
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Customer -- Personalized or (Mass) Customized Web
pages/sites (MyDell, MyYahoo)
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Consumer -- Generic information, news, communications,
and search services (AOL, Yahoo)
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Commerce -- Business-to-Business transactions (e.g.,
OfficeDepot)
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Vortal -- a vertical, industry-oriented market portal
or information service (CommerceNet, RosettaNet)
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Community -- Information sharing way station and repository
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Game play (www.maxis.com plus >>100 more sites for The
Sims)
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Software development (e.g., Apache.org, sourceforge.net)
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Standards (cf. IETF documents)
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Scientific Research
Index or Search Engine
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You enter a "search string" like a name or product identifier,
then back-end database is search to retrieve exact or closest (proximal)
matches
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Database index automatically generated using Web site "spiders"
or "crawlers"
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Yahoo, Altavista.com, google.com, etc.
Auction site
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Electronic "want ads" service that maintains a database of
items for sale, auction type, seller and bidder properties, and history
of ask-bid postings/updates.
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Ebay -- regular or "dutch" auctions
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Priceline.com -- a "reverse" auction site
Business intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)
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Data fusion,
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Exploratory query and analysis,
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Reporting and decision support (e.g., investment management
services)
Direct Sales
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Search, Retrieval and Purchase transactions (Amazon, CDNow,
Buy.com)
Electronic Catalogs and Syndicated Virtual Catalogs
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ECatalog sales:
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Retail, wholesale, supply/demand aggregation;
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Virtual or meta-catalog services (Catalog "generated" on
demand via internal database query)
Procurement and/or Acquisition
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Procurements are typically large transaction volume, "small
cost" purchases for "material, repairs, and operations" (MRO)
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Estimated to be 90% of all B2B transactions, but only 10%
of dollar value
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Increasingly done over the Web
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Acquisition are small transaction volume, "high cost" purchases
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Estimated to be 10% of B2B transaction, but 90% of dollar
volume
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Primarily done via Fax, surface mail, or EDI (Electronic
Data Interchange), rather than using the Web.
Application Service Provider (ASP)
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Domain-specific "point solutions"
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Virtual application servers or EBusiness servers like Bigstep.com
Order Management
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Placement, Fulfillment, Tracking, Status, Cancellation, Commitment,
Audit, Non-Repudiation, Archiving
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Ordering stock transactions (buy, sell, put, hold, short,
etc.)
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Ordering products for purchase (e.g., buying a book from
Amazon.com)
Configuration Management
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New product development
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Product families
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Multi-version products
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Software or information system architecture
Customer Relationship Management
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Personalization
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Status Reporting
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Progress Notification/Messaging
Help Desks and Service Centers
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Store customer email/voice inquiries in database, content
analyze, route via triggers and stored procedures to designated responders,
send status and courier (FedEx, UPS) tracking number/URL in message.
Contact and Sales Management
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PDA-based (e.g., using your Palm Pilot) to maintain
sales lead coordinates, order status, etc.
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Tracking the status of sales activities across a field sales
force via sales automation system.
Distribution and Logistics Management
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Used in conjunction with Order Management
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Tracking the movement of material or products from producers
to customers along the supply chain or distribution and delivery chain
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Think FedEx, UPS, and other freight forwarders.