Types of Web-Based Systems
Abstract
This paper discusses different types of web-based systems in its importance to business improvement. The impact of using web-based systems on businesses is also mentioned in supporting the types of web-based systems for a particular business.
Introduction
The worldwide use of the internet for business has created opportunities for Operations, Finance and IT Directors to deliver significant added value to their companies in many aspect of their business. There could be a gain in margin improvement with the adoption of web-based stock system however; this would require a significant change in business processes in adopting new technology solutions.
According to Mansfield (2005), the advantages of a web-based system on businesses are significant; bringing improvement in flexibility, data communications, updates, maintenance (both hardware and software) lower running and support costs. Being web-based the software is modular and can be drip fed through the organization according to the priorities of the business with the minimum.
In business, communication is very important since recent studies show that poor communication between companies is the root cause of risk in the design and construction process which would result in cost, schedule, scope and quality problems. Web-based Systems come in great impact in responding to these potential concerns. With Web-based systems, communications are standardized, documents can be exchanged instantaneously, documentation is standardized and centralized, everyone is completely accountable, and company and geographic borders are eliminated. Another advantages that Web-based Systems will bring is the centralization of contents, the lesser need for user support (i.e. through upgrades), the ease of use, and the pervasive nature of Web browsers.
Web-Based Systems
Content Management System (CMS)
Content management is the process of collecting, storing, delivering and monitoring information vital to the organization. In web site terms, this includes uploading, storing and serving the information to those who need it, but only to those authorized to see it. According to (2001), a content management system is a concept and not a product. It may include Web Facilitation, Format management, Revision tracking, Indexing, searching and retrieval, and Access management.
For instance, Content Management System has been implemented by Northwoods Software Development which empowers non-technical personnel in creating and maintaining Web sites ( 2004). Additionally, content management system is used as a technical term that refers to the “paperless office” (2005).
The content management system was developed by content publishing organizations which at first allowed sites to create templates of the presentation of their content on the web. In 1998 a new system was developed which allowed Java developers to write applications that would be tied with content and target the content output to different channels. Unfortunately, the product failed but the concepts that were introduced by it made their way and adopted by most modern systems.
This is a computer software system for the purpose of organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content. This type of web-based system is frequently a web application used for managing websites and web content. However, in many cases, these content management systems may require special client software for editing and constructing articles.
Types of content management systems:
· Wikis – a web content management systems that assist in automating various aspects of web publishing
· Transactional content management systems (T-CMS) that assist in managing e-commerce transactions.
· Integrated content management systems (I-CMS) that assist in managing enterprise documents and content.
· Publications management systems (P-CMS) that assist in managing the publications (manuals, books, help, guidelines, references) content life cycle.
· Learning management systems (L-CMS) that assist in managing the web-based learning content life cycle.
· Document imaging systems are also generally considered under the family of general content management.
· Enterprise content management systems (E-CMS) vary in their functionality. Some support both the web and publications content life cycle, while others support the web content life cycle and either transactional content or customer relationship management content. The definition of Association for Information and Image Management or AIIM for ECM includes methods for “capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver” content across an enterprise. “Manage” contains components like document management, collaboration, business process management, records management, email management, workflow and web content management. The ECM concept is not restricted to web based technologies but includes client/server and hosted/On-demand solutions.
A few years ago, when the Internet popularity began to grow rapidly, many companies were in need to establish online presence through setting up their information portals on the World Wide Web.
However, they soon found out that to change manually the content on the information portal is very time consuming. In that situation the companies needed a tool that would allow them to quickly modify information, manage articles, links and file archives, retrieve a specific article using search functions, etc.
Some solution providers in the market were offering similar service. The drawback for the customers was that these solutions were very expensive. Thus, there was a demand in the market for an affordable and easy to use solution. The customer saw a brilliant business opportunity to cover that need by finding a company that would cooperate in developing a quality tool at a reasonable cost.
Solution
To respond to the business need, Klopotek and Novosoft jointly developed the Web CMS (content management system)c-BiZZ: flexible up-to-date solution that allows managing all existing content on the information portal automatically. This system is very cost effective and solely relies on open technologies compared to other market offerings. What is very important, the solution could be easily customized for any industry. Furthermore, the tools and technologies chosen by Novosoft for developing the solution ensured that the final product could operate not only on Windows platform, but also on most other platforms, e.g. Macintosh. That increased the sales potential of the product even further ().
Tools and Technologies – Resin+JSP+Oracle, Web Sphere+JSP+Oracle
Benefits
To the customers:
· The Novosoft technology opened up new sales channels for the customer.
· The sales opportunities, as well as the revenue growth, are huge.
To final users:
· Effective up-to-date technology allows users to easily manage any information portal content.
· Novosoft solution is very cost effective, which enabled many companies to establish their online presence.
Anypay.com online payment system
Paying by check has some disadvantages – payment processing is slow, a check can get lost on the way, and it is cumbersome for a person to write many checks if payments are due to many payees. The company decided to take advantage of the Internet technologies and to offer online banking services. A solution had to insure highest security and reliability criteria. This in line with the fact that electronic check is the most popular form of noncash payment with its volumes exceeds that of credit, debit, point-of-sale, and card transactions by three to four times (1995).
This online payment system , was designed by Novosoft with a wide array of payment services. Any person or company can send, request, and receive money to and from anyone with e-mail address. The system has the following advantages. First, there is no need to write checks manually. Second, payment processing is much faster. Actually, the Novosoft solution ensured that it takes microseconds to send a payment. Third, the solution is a find for those who have to make many payments, for instance payments in affiliate programs or refunds. Finally, it is much easier to control the distribution of funds - there is more control over the cash flow. Most importantly, the system is reliable and secure. Indeed, security is the main factor attracting customers to this particular online payment system (www.novosoft-usa.com).
Benefits
Benefits for the customer
In addition to standard payment services, the solution offers a number of unique features. Considering the cost of the system, the customer received a first class product at a very attractive price. The system has attracted a flow of new clients increasing the customer's position in the market.
Benefits for final users
Final users enjoy convenience, speed, and security of the system. Most services are free or inexpensive.
Medical Presentation Tool
Healthcare organizations experience the need to have a simple and effective presentation tool to demonstrate various types of medical information to doctors and patients.
Traditional presentation tools, such as PowerPoint, are not quite effective in presenting specific medical information. In most cases they are designed for universal use, therefore they are too general. As a result, they have a number of excessive features, which are not required for the medical practitioners. Working with such tools usually slows down the work process. Another shortcoming is that practically all of the available presentation tools are designed for use either in Macintosh platform or Windows, but not both. Therefore, it creates extra problems for the organizations widely using both types of platforms.
In this business situation, the medical organizations needed a simple presentation tool, solving the above problems.
Solution
Novosoft offered a desktop application - "Medical Presentation Tool" -specifically designed for medical specialists. User-friendly interface and optimal set of features made this product extremely easy to adopt by end users. Also, the solution is Java-based, thus doctors can create and view the presentations on computers with either Mac or Windows OS.
Benefits
Novosoft solution allowed doctors to easily create and conduct doctor-to-doctor and doctor-to-patient presentations. This helpful tool makes doctor-to-doctor discussions more efficient, and facilitates the decision making process, hence each individual patient receives the best possible treatment in shortest possible time. As a simple tool in doctor-to-patient presentations, it helps to clearly explain to a patient his specific situation, and visually illustrate how the doctor's recommendations would affect patient's condition, thus considerably improving the level of customer service.
Charter Flights Management System
A charter flights company, that operates in Europe and overseas, decided to automate its difficult-to-control manual charter flight processing and move it to the company Intranet. Charter flights have been claimed to cause both overcrowding at destinations and dependency on price cutting as a form of competition (Josephides, 1994). For this reason, Charter Flights Management System offers a perfect solution.
The company was looking for solution that will help reduce costs, to provide clerks with ready-to-use document templates, and hasten flight order turnaround. To achieve more effective control - and to cut administrative costs, a large percentage of document flow had to be transferred from paper to the Intranet.
Solution
Novosoft delivered back-office Intranet application allowing the client to quickly automate its flight handling process, from requisition to staffing and scheduling. Moreover, the solution supports airport, aircraft and equipment databases, human resources, standard and additional expenses accounting (such as hotel reservation for pilots), etc.
Application allows clerks to create document template database on the fly, including forms, menus and documents. Novosoft put its best effort into designing easy-to-use interface, so even the inexperienced user could make a meta description of a desired database, structure database with menus, create document templates and forms etc. Additionally, the solution is integrated with the company legacy accounting system - CIEL, and allows exporting the flight expenses into CIEL.
Keeping in mind that our client operates in many European countries, Novosoft has embedded multilingual support into the system. Novosoft developed intelligent self-expanded editable database of translated sentences/words, and integrated it with online translator service
Tools and Technologies
ColdFusion, ASP, HTML, JavaScript, ADO, IIS, MS SQL,
Platforms: WinNT
The solution supports distributed architecture; the data is automatically synchronized between several locations using MS SQL standard methods. Interface with CIEL is written in ColdFusion.
Benefits
· Significantly reduced operation costs
· Reduced order processing cycle time
· Faster order turnaround
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