Testing

The consequences of not testing could include:

Virus spreading
A loss of customers
Hacking into the system
A bad reputation
Time and money
Data could be lost
Have to spend time putting it right.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3557902.stm


What was the problem?

The system wasn’t working as it was intended to and slow processing along with occasional crashes were causing a problem for the applicants as they weren’t getting the money that they needed for university which they need to pay course fees, rent, travel, books, food and other necessities with so the problem is that the students will not be able to cope financially and this will cause a problem.

What were the consequences?

The consequences of the above are that the students may not be able to stay at university due to the lack of finance. So by having the problem, many students may have to drop out of university and will be unable to finish the course. This means that the university as well has lost out because of the problem caused by the student loan company.

Another consequence of having this problem is that word will spread of the company’s inefficiencies and the company will gain a bad reputation from this and this will cause them to lose out on what could have been customers. Students will decide to go elsewhere in future to get a student loan.


How could testing have prevented this?

Testing could have prevented the whole problem before it became a problem. This is what testing does. It makes sure that the system works as it was intended. Testing the system should identify the problem and then it can be corrected or if unable to be corrected then the system at least wont be used and the problems wont arise either way.

What is testing?

Testing is a process of making sure that all aspects of a system work as they should by following through a test plan that was designed specifically to make sure that the system being tested works.
Why is it important?

It is important because it makes sure that the system works and it eliminates the threat that problems could come from the system. It makes sure that the system does exactly what it was intended to do.
Give 2 possible consequences to a company of not testing.

Two possible consequences to a company from not testing are:

A bad reputation could come from not testing because when the system goes into use and it doesn’t work as it should then customers will pick up on this and will begin to wonder whether the company is the right company to use.
a second consequence that could

Give 2 reasons why it is important to have a test plan.

DATA SECURITY

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce is the action of buying and selling products over electronic systems and the Internet. Over the years, ecommerce has grown popular amongst much of the population and it is now a widely used means of purchasing and selling. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

E–Commerce is using electronic information technologies on the Internet to allow direct selling and automatic processing of purchases between parties. It is a system used to conduct business transactions of buying and selling goods and services over a computer network online via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Why is e-commerce more susceptible to threats than other commerce?



What information has the customer given to the website?



What are the threats to data security for e-commerce?

Viruses

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. However, the term "virus" is commonly used, albeit erroneously, to refer to many different types of malware programs. The original virus may modify the copies, or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus.
A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network or the Internet, or by carrying it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, or USB drive. Additionally, viruses can spread to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.
Many personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local area networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Today's viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, and file sharing systems to spread, blurring the line between viruses and worms. Furthermore, some sources use an alternative terminology in which a virus is any form of self-replicating malware.
Some viruses are programmed to damage the computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard disk. Others are not designed to do any damage, but simply replicate themselves and perhaps make their presence known by presenting text, video, or audio messages. Even these benign viruses can create problems for the computer user. They typically take up computer memory used by legitimate programs. As a result, they often cause erratic behaviour and can result in system crashes. In addition, many viruses are bug-ridden, and these bugs may lead to system crashes and data loss.

Some viruses can be created to delete important files or in some way to relay the information on these files back to the creator. If this virus infects a computer system for a company, then the damage could be catastrophic. All of the customer details, possibly including credit card details, could be taken and used in ghastly ways.


Hackers

A Hacker is a general term in computing that refers to a computer programmer who takes advantage of the faults in the design of computer software or hardware (commonly referred to as "weaknesses") in order to:

Gain further knowledge about the internal workings of the software or hardware,
Gain access to some previously locked or hidden function of the software or hardware,
Disable some previously functioning part of the software or hardware so that it no longer works in the way it was originally intended, or
Command the software or hardware to perform an additional task that it was not originally designed to do.

As a hacker's activities commonly (but not always) involve reverse engineering or direct modification of the software or hardware without the manufacturer's knowledge or authorization, hacking often can create disastrous consequences for the company as information regarding customer data could be stolen and used for purposes involving activity whereby the information is used in beneficial ways only for the hacker and disadvantageous for everyone else.

Spyware - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware

Hardware failure – if the hardware fails, data may be lost. If the computer breaks then it will need to be repaired so it will be sent to a repair person and they might use their skills to access important information which could be used against the company.

Human error – if the data is incorrectly entered, then a problem could arise.

Dishonest employees – these are a big threat to companies because if an employee is skilled enough then they can access the files containing data that could be taken to be used by the employee to use what they want to use it for.

Natural disasters –

Theft – this would mean that data has come into the hands of a criminal and being a criminal, the thief would probably not want the information to use for good. Problems would occur from the thief holding that information.

Flood and fire –

Terrorism
Cyber-terrorism is the leveraging of a target's computers and information technology, particularly via the Internet, to cause physical, real-world harm or severe disruption of infrastructure. As the Internet becomes more pervasive in all areas of human endeavor, individuals or groups can use the anonymity afforded by cyberspace to threaten citizens, specific groups (i.e. with membership based on ethnicity or belief), communities and entire countries, without the inherent threat of capture, injury, or death to the attacker that being physically present would bring. As the Internet continues to expand, and computer systems continue to be assigned more responsibility while becoming more and more complex and interdependent, sabotage or terrorism via cyberspace may become a more serious threat.

What are the preventative measures for these threats?
Risk analysis – the company is asked questions on how safe their computer system is. If they have adequate measures of security then their website is safe to use.

Passwords – some websites only allow their customers to create passwords that contain a certain number of characters and sometimes must include a number as well. Some websites also give an indication as to how good the password is, helping the customer to create the safest password possible.

Access levels –

Backup –

Anti virus measures –

Training –


Firewalls –

Secure electronic transactions (SET) –

Encryption –

Physical Security –


Describe the legislation that the company should be aware of.

How effective are these pieces of legislation?

Overall Conclusions:

Is data secure on this website – yes?

Is data insecure on this website – yes?

Overall conclusion.

DATA SECURITY

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce is the action of buying and selling products over electronic systems and the Internet. Over the years, ecommerce has grown popular amongst much of the population and it is now a widely used means of purchasing and selling. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

E–Commerce is using electronic information technologies on the Internet to allow direct selling and automatic processing of purchases between parties. It is a system used to conduct business transactions of buying and selling goods and services over a computer network online via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Threats to data security

Viruses

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. However, the term "virus" is commonly used, albeit erroneously, to refer to many different types of malware programs. The original virus may modify the copies, or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus.
A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network or the Internet, or by carrying it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, or USB drive. Additionally, viruses can spread to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.
Many personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local area networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Today's viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, and file sharing systems to spread, blurring the line between viruses and worms. Furthermore, some sources use an alternative terminology in which a virus is any form of self-replicating malware.
Some viruses are programmed to damage the computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard disk. Others are not designed to do any damage, but simply replicate themselves and perhaps make their presence known by presenting text, video, or audio messages. Even these benign viruses can create problems for the computer user. They typically take up computer memory used by legitimate programs. As a result, they often cause erratic behaviour and can result in system crashes. In addition, many viruses are bug-ridden, and these bugs may lead to system crashes and data loss.

Some viruses can be created to delete important files or in some way to relay the information on these files back to the creator. If this virus infects a computer system for a company, then the damage could be catastrophic. All of the customer details, possibly including credit card details, could be taken and used in ghastly ways.


Hackers

A Hacker is a general term in computing that refers to a computer programmer who takes advantage of the faults in the design of computer software or hardware (commonly referred to as "weaknesses") in order to:

Gain further knowledge about the internal workings of the software or hardware,
Gain access to some previously locked or hidden function of the software or hardware,
Disable some previously functioning part of the software or hardware so that it no longer works in the way it was originally intended, or
Command the software or hardware to perform an additional task that it was not originally designed to do.

As a hacker's activities commonly (but not always) involve reverse engineering or direct modification of the software or hardware without the manufacturer's knowledge or authorization, hacking often can create disastrous consequences for the company as information regarding customer data could be stolen and used for purposes involving activity whereby the information is used in beneficial ways only for the hacker and disadvantageous for everyone else.

Hardware failure – if the hardware fails, data may be lost. If the computer breaks then it will need to be repaired so it will be sent to a repair person and they might use their skills to access important information which could be used against the company.

Human error – if the data is incorrectly entered, then a problem could arise.

Dishonest employees – these are a big threat to companies because if an employee is skilled enough then they can access the files containing data that could be taken to be used by the employee to use what they want to use it for.

Theft – this would mean that data has come into the hands of a criminal and being a criminal, the thief would probably not want the information to use for good. Problems would occur from the thief holding that information.

Terrorism
Cyber-terrorism is the leveraging of a target's computers and information technology, particularly via the Internet, to cause physical, real-world harm or severe disruption of infrastructure. As the Internet becomes more pervasive in all areas of human endeavor, individuals or groups can use the anonymity afforded by cyberspace to threaten citizens, specific groups (i.e. with membership based on ethnicity or belief), communities and entire countries, without the inherent threat of capture, injury, or death to the attacker that being physically present would bring. As the Internet continues to expand, and computer systems continue to be assigned more responsibility while becoming more and more complex and interdependent, sabotage or terrorism via cyberspace may become a more serious threat.

What are the preventative measures for these threats?
Risk analysis – the company is asked questions on how safe their computer system is. If they have adequate measures of security then their website is safe to use.

Passwords – some websites only allow their customers to create passwords that contain a certain number of characters and sometimes must include a number as well. Some websites also give an indication as to how good the password is, helping the customer to create the safest password possible.

Back Office Processes:
Page 140
Explain what Back Office Processes are and why your organisation needs them

e.g. stock control, management of stock, website management

is needed to keep order and control.

Is all about business being efficient?

Back office processes are necessary because without them there wouldn’t be any system and the company would lose customers. They help the business to run efficiently. All of the processes are there to help the customer and make sure their goods are there on time and to help the company keep track of their customers.



What processes are involved in Stock Control? What is at the centre of this type of system?

Make sure that there is always enough stock
Make sure items are available
Make sure don’t sell the same item twice
Real-time process
Uses a database because can have all items listed, the supplier, price, when sold, etc. etc. etc. any information related to each product

ASP – active server pages

Basically logs onto the database over the internet so every time go to the website, type in a search, actually searching a database via the internet. Looks like a website because it’s made to look nice and user friendly, but is actually a database.




Explain what ASPs, and how it can update a database.


See page 141.


How do organisations maintain the virtual shopping basket for a customer, what processes are involved?

They are able to maintain the virtual shopping basket by:

Log in, items added, prices totalled, stock is reserved so not sold twice, items can be removed, delivery costs.




Draw an example flowchart for your organisation to illustrate these processes.

See sheet.


P143, Explain briefly the difference between, HTTP authentication, and cookie identification.

Http authentication = normal log in, username + password, - checks who you are

Cookie identification = when you were last on, what bought, etc, stored on hard-drive, allows the website to ‘sort-of’ know you and how you want things.

E.g. colour scheme of a website.

Remember my username?

YES = making a cookie!!!!

can block cookies, but could mean not allowing some sites to work.

What advantage do cookies have over HTTP authentication?

Automatic way of tracking who is on the site, where logging in etc, without them logging in

AV & BV Andrews LTD achieves its objectives by laying the website out in a specific way aimed to allow the potential customers access to all information quickly and easily.

Overall the site is successful in meeting its objectives because it is a very small site and can take advantage of that by not having to add many complex tools to help users to find what they are looking for. By only having a few select products, the site can take advantage of simply being able to list what is available and not have to spend large amounts of time working on website development and updates.

Structure

This website has a very simple structure.

Purpose and Objectives

AV & BV Andrews LTD is an ecommerce site that aims to show and sell products to potential buyers. It allows for people to browse through their list of products and to easily create an account with them for purchasing goods. The main aim is to sell but the website also has the objective of portraying what the business is like and to fully make people aware of the goods and services that are on offer. Another objective of this site is to make people believe that the products offered are good quality and cheaper than other places at the same time.

AV & BV Andrews LTD

Examples of transactional websites:
TESCO, Amazon, Andrews LTD.




Tesco.com is a transactional website mostly selling groceries. The site also sells many other things such as electrical goods, finance and insurance, entertainment, clothing, furniture, etc. To buy, one has to set up an account with TESCO and then proceed to added items to the basket, once all items that are to be bought are in the basket, direct your attention towards the ‘view basket/checkout’ button and click it. Once on this page, checkout and delivery should occur as the details showed when buying the products, not usually longer than a week or so.

Amazon.co.uk is a transactional website that sells nearly everything, including books, movies, music, games, electronics, computers, groceries, toys, jewellery, etc. To buy, first create an account and then either use the search button located near the top or follow the links located on the right hand side. Once the product has been found, add it to the shopping basket and proceed to checkout.

Andrewsltd.co.uk is a smaller transactional website than the two shown before and this one specifically deals with jewellery. It sells rings, earrings, bracelets, pendants, etc. and it also deals with clocks.
There are very few products that are actually available for purchase online in comparison to other transactional websites – there was only 28 items on the day that I had a look (12/12/07)

E-commerce is the action of buying and selling products over electronic systems and the Internet. Over the years, ecommerce has grown popular amongst much of the population and it is now a widely used means of purchasing and selling. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), automated inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

There are benefits are drawbacks of e-commerce:

Benefits:

Easy, fast and efficient.
Not very time consuming.
Allows people who are housebound to purchase items.
Reduces time and travel.

Drawbacks:

Allows for more online fraud.
Many people can become addicted to online buying.

last lesson read green stuff in the text book

in this lesson i went over the example of the coursework thing and i found a transactional website to do.

i also did this:

Transactional Websites

http://www.andrewsltd.co.uk/

Plan

Six pages are needed:

Introduction
e-commerce
diagrams
security
database
evaluation

Some pages will have sub-sections:

For the introduction page, no subsections will be required.

For the e-commerce page, eleven subsections are required:

What is e-commerce?
Purpose & Objectives
Structure
Goods & Services
Product Information
Transaction
Capturing customer information
Authentication
Techniques used on customers
Usability and Accessibility
Customer Experience

I have selected home desktops. The link has taken me to a page showing a list of options to narrow down further the choices available. Again, this will make the decision as to what one to buy easier.



This part allows customers to see what the best offer is available at tells information about the items shown. It also gives price and what comes with it. By clicking on the image again takes you to ordering the product.

In my opinion, this site is achieving its objective rather well. It allows customers to see the choices available easily and without having to go through a complex procedure which allows for quick and easy decision making. The website also offers plenty of help to customers if they are having troubles with navigation or with finding a product to make their requirements. If it looks to them like the customer could be having trouble, then a message comes up on the screen asking if they want any help which I though was quite a nice feature. The site offers expert advice and good quality products and it is easy to use. Overall, the site guides you through the process and has all the necessary pages to read about the options and an order page which summaries your final specification.

What is the purpose of the site and how successfully does it meet this objective?

Dell online website

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen

The objective of this site is to sell computers online. This site allows a customer to buy a range of products starting with small home computers and going up to a very large file server suitable for a big business. There is also a range of other products on this site.

Dell sells everything online or on phone lines. So there is no store where a person can go to buy one. This means that everything that Dell offers is shown on the website.




This is the home page. From here one can navigate through the products Dell has to offer. There are 6 main sections shown: notebooks, desktops, services storage & networking, printers & ink, electronics & accessories and support & help.

When hovering over one of the sections with the mouse, sub-sections come up. This allows for further narrowing down of products to allow the customer to see more closely what product matches his/her needs.

I have selected home desktops. The link has taken me to a page showing a list of options to narrow down further the choices available. Again, this will make the decision as to what one to buy easier.

▼ November (9)
Production
Finance
Human Resources
Data Processing
Automated Data Capture
Screen Controls
Capturing and processing Data
Transactional Websites
Looking at how Topshop works online!

Monday, 26 November 2007

Production
Production
Many different businesses sell a product, in the process of making the product there is the production process, this is either mass production, batch production, continueoues production or one-off production, with a good IT system the production is kept going and the supply under control if this supply was not kept under control then for example a car manufacturer may run out of components and th eproduction line will come to a standstill, either though the workers are getting paid for this.Batch Production- is when there is a small amount around 1000 being producedMass production- when there is huge amount being produced like car manufacture like FordOne-off production- is when a product is made only once like a conecpt gadgetContinueous production- is when the production line is running 24/7 like making aluminiun cans.
Posted by Sam Warrens at 07:28 0 comments

Finance
Finance – Any department within a company/organisation needs budgets to prevent them from becoming bankrupt. This is because if a company spends more than they earn they get themselves into debt. It is important that every organisation, even those that are non-profitable such as schools and hospitals, keeps track of their finances.Main Categories of Expenditure in a School· Staff wages· Text books and stationary· Equipment for technology, art, cookery etc.· School trips· Student Insurance· Internet Connection· Extra curricular activities (clubs)· Maintenance· School Food
Posted by Sam Warrens at 07:23 0 comments

Human Resources
Human resoursces (HR):Large organisations have a whole department that looks after recruiting new staff and looking after existing workers. They have to make sure that promotions are dealt with, applicants of the right qualifications and that interviews are conducted according to set rules. They need information about the applicants and about the staff who are already working at the company. IT systems are vital here.Activity:A PC retail outlet wants to hire some sales staff:what information will they need before they call an applicant to an interview?
CV - especially name and phone number so the applicant may be contacted.
Their communication skills because they will be sales staff and these skills are vital here. the applicant must be a confident person.
Qualifications needed for the job e.g. maths, english, etc. etc.
An idea as to whether the person may be right for the job. what extra information will they need if they appoint someone?
Criminal record check.
Previous job records.
National Insurance number
Uniform size
Posted by Sam Warrens at 07:10 0 comments

Data Processing
Data processing:Real - life scenarios:Someone wants to buy a book from Amazon - Transaction processing – because computers are constantly making sure that the details are always up to date and as accurate as possible. So if an item goes out of stock, the website is updated immediately. There is also a database containing all the fundamental information that is needed, such as a list of stock or students. Another example of transaction processing is when banking online.Someone wants to buy a ticket for V festival – Real time processing – because the database behind the transaction is always updated immediately, so the data is as accurate as possible. This is important for bookings so that things don’t get double or over booked. Another example of this is using PayPal and eBay.Someone wants to pay their gas bill – Batch processing – because when they pay their gas bill the amount of gas they have used will need to be measured, therefore data is being collected together, it is then fed into a computer system so it can be processed. Human involvement is not necessary. This batch processing can also be used fo preparing electricity bills, processing checks and exam results.
Posted by Sam Warrens at 07:03 0 comments
Friday, 23 November 2007

Automated Data Capture
This is used to minimise the amount of human involvement, so that errors are avoided. There are lots of methods for collecting data automatically, and wherever possible, the software or hardare should be used to its full effect for the best possible outcome.Some examples are:
Bar Codes - these are used for scanning goods in supermarkerts or clothes shops. The items bar code would be scanned with a scanner peripheral and all the details of the item will go onto the system and be recorded. The price will be automatically shown for the customer so they know how much it is. Before bar codes were around, many shop assistants had to memorise the cost of many products in order to provide a faster service. But now with barcodes, the system is a lot quicker. Furthermore, they are ideal for keeping on top of how much stock there is, once an item has been purchased by a customer, then it will deduct it from the amount of that item left in stock. This is also known as 'Tracking items'. Bar codes can also be used on identity cards so that they can be scanned to see if they are real or not.
Magnetic Strips - These are used on ATM cards, train tickets, plane tickets and car park tickets. They store data so when they go through a device they can be easily read. They hold relevant data which the device needs to collect, for example, on a train ticket, it will have the type of ticket - single, the age of the person with the ticket - adult, where they are going and when the ticket is valid until.
Smart card chips - are used in credit cards, satellite TV box viewing cards and identity cards. There are there to hold data along with for safety. They make these things harder to make fake productions. They can also be used on sim cards in phones.
Optical mark recognition - are used for things like lottery numbers and school registers.
Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) - Cheque numbers
Posted by Sam Warrens at 07:09 1 comments

Screen Controls
When using the programme microsoft excel, there are many drop - down boxes and other screen controls which reduce the likelihood of errors.Certain controls mean that you can only accept certain entries, they are similar to validation ( mentioned in a previous post) however they are more general. There is a drop-down box called a 'Combo box'. This is where you are given a list to select from to answer the field of information, for example your gender. It will give you the selection of 'Male' or 'Female', and you will click on the one you are!You can use check boxes to give you a definite choice, which keeps the data being entered into the computer similar, so it is easier to collect and understand.
Posted by Sam Warrens at 07:01 0 comments

Capturing and processing Data
Capturing and processing DATA:Data – collection of facts. What we input into computers is all data. Data is often useless with out information to back it up.
Information – is what humans want, it is output from a computer system. It is data in context, it has meaning to us but not to the computer, a computer only understands data.
Knowledge - it is coherent understanding based on information. It includes understanding links between different items of information and how actions can be decided.Data capture is a process of getting data information from the outside world and putting it onto a computer.Paper Forms:Human data collection usually means filling in forms. Forms are useful because they can force a structure on the data being collected. For example, if someone is filling in a form in order to provide a name and address, there will be separate spaces for each item of information. Tick boxes can be used to restrict the information being entered. When forms are given out to people, they will all have to fill in they same type of information so that it is easy to processThe structure can have some restrictions so that the data is more generalised and easy to store on a database.Computers:It easier to change mistakes on a computer and validation is available. Validation makes sure that the information you are typing in is relevant to the field you are entering data into. You can set the format of fields, for example whether the data is going to be words or numbers. Validation cannot stop all mistakes. In a table that holds stock items, validation can check that you do not enter a letter for the number of items in stock, or a number less than zero. But, if the number in stock is 25 and you enter 35, validation checks are unlikely to stop the error. You can set a maximum, but it won’t notice the mistakes in numbers in-between. Computers also save a lot of time.

ONLINE SHOPPING

I am going to look at the Argos online shop.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Home.htm

"Shop online at Argos.co.uk, the official Argos UK online catalogue shopping website. At Argos, you will be spoilt for choice with a fantastic range of over 18,000 great value products across 13 categories. Whether you're looking for anything from HD ready LCD televisions to MP3 players, bedroom furniture to leather sofas or even children's toys there is no better place than Argos.co.uk. The Argos online store can also help you check all the latest prices, check your product is in stock, make a purchase or reservation and even locate your nearest store. So, Don't Shop for it, Argos it!"