Last updated: 8/25/99
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Assignments
AGS 3360 - eCommerce

Naming your homework files

In this course, you will turn your homework in as word-processing files. If two teams use the same file name, then the file that is turned in second will replace the file that is turned in first, and the work of the first team will be lost. Losing another team's work in this way will lose your team credit. Also, as the Instructor, I want the file name to tell me about the team and the assignment. Therefore, make up the names for your homework files with the following parts, in order:

• The first three letters of your team's name.
• One-letter assignment code as follows:
  • "i" for Initial Team Report
  • "p" for description of business process
  • "f" for Final Team Report
• "ef9" to indicate eCommerce, Fall 1999
• Normal extension for your word processor. (Note: Macs do not use file extensions, so Mac files would not have extensions.)

So for example, if my team name was "Terminators" and I use Microsoft Word, the file name for my team's Initial Team Report would be teriewf.doc

When I grade the assignments, I will add a "g" to the end of the filename and return it.

Also, as backup file ID, include the following header lines at the beginning of each file:

1. Full team name
2. Full names of team members
3. Course (AGS 3360) and course name (eCommerce)
4. Semester (Fall 1999)
5. Assignment (not just the code, write it out, e.g. "Initial Team Report"
6. Word processor and version number (this is in case I have trouble reading it).
   (In Windows, to find the name and version number of any program, including a word processor, open the program, click on its "Help" menu item, and then on the "About" item on the drop-down menu list.)

For example, for my team's Initial Team Report I would include the following lines at the beginning of the file:

Terminators
David Bowen, ... (other names)
AGS 3360, eCommerce
Fall 1999
Initial Team Report
Microsoft Word 7.0

The essay title and text would start after this header.

Overview of Assignments

• Initial report. Due 9/22. Team name, officers, members, product(s) and business plan. This information can be revised later, if desired. The team should have at least the following three officers:
  • CEO. Specific responsibilities are to prepare the reports, with the support of other team members.
  • Graphics guru. Responsible for identifying and locating or creating required graphics.
  • WebMaster. Responsible for functioning of team web site.
• Initial team web site. Due 10/13. Should contain
  • Basic public information about company and product(s).
  • Schedule for availability of products.
• Description of business process. Due 10/20. How orders will be collected and processed, how payment will be collected, and what follow-up will be carried out. This information can be revised later, if desired. Also, description of what each team member has done on the project, so far.
• Draft web site with ordering of product(s) working. Due 11/3.
• Final team web site. Due 12/15.
• Final team report. Due 12/15.
  • Final information contained in first two reports, whether or not it has been changed.
  • Specific and detailed descriptions of what each team member did for the team web site.
  • Tracing an actual order placed by a team member through the process, as a narrative. A chronolgical description of what the user does, what the user's web browser does, what the web server does, and what the iHTML system does, as well as any other people and/or systems involved in the process.
  • How the consumer issues presented during the course (e.g. Privacy and Security) are dealt with on your web site.
  • How information and issues from the Kosiur and Seybold readings is reflected in the team web site.
  • Reviews of the other Team web sites
• Conference postings. Aside from the course sessions, the course conference is the place for public discussion about assignments, readings, questions and anything else relating to the course. You should make a minimum of ten conference substantive postings during the semester. Substantive means:
  • Minimum of five lines on the screen.
  • Relevant to course or to course assignments, including technical issues about Internet connection and use of software.
  • Under an appropriate topic.
• Attendance at class sessions as evidenced by completion of attendance form on course web site.
• Weekly course progress reports using form on course web site.
• You should also check the course web site at least weekly.

Please note: being out of town is a valid reason for missing a class. It is not a valid reason for missing a weekly course progress report, conference postings, updating your personal web site, turning in a report or checking the course web site. All of these can be done using the Internet, and Internet access is widely available at public libraries, work sites and other public institutions.

Assignment Schedule

Texts are identified in the table below by the author's name, as follows:

• Kosiur: David Kosiur, Understanding Electronic Commerce, Microsoft Press, Redmond WA. 1997.
  (Roman numerals in reading schedule are Chapter numbers)
• McComb: Gordon McComb, Web Commerce Cookbook (with CD-ROM), John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1998. (Numbers in reading schedule are page numbers)
• Seybold: Patricia B. Seybold, Customers.com, Times Business/Random House, New York, NY. 1998.
  (In the reading schedule, "CSF" means the section on that particular Critical Success Factor)
• Castro: Elizabeth Castro, HTML for the World Wide Web, Peachpit Press, Berkeley CA. 1998.
  (Numbers in reading schedule are page numbers)

NOTE 1: "Restricted" Vs "Open" labs. eCommerce and Computers, the Internet, and Society both meet in Room 113 Rackham on Wednesday evenings. If the other class is meeting that night (and you are not taking it), you are free to use the lab that night on a restricted basis -- sit in the back, no interruption of the other class. If neither class is using the room that night, you are free to use the lab on an open basis -- the Instructor will be available for help and questions.

NOTE 2: I will allow you to redo assignments and turn in missing work after the course is over. Such work will not appear in your regular grade, but it will be taken into account in a Change of Grade, and it will eventually appear on your official transcript. The University will allow me to file a Change of Grade up to one calendar year after the end of the semester in which you took the course. For this course, that is through the end of the Fall 2000 semester. I will not accept major assignments during the last month of this period. If you are redoing an assignment, the original assignment with my comments and grades must be turned in along with the redone assignment. If you plan to make up work after the course is over, course reports are still required, every week.

Computer Conference assignments

• For AGS 3360, during the semester make ten contributions to the course conference (postings or replies with a minimum of five lines). These contributions must be substantive, concerning the readings or other points from the conference. For example, "Gee, I thought that was right on" is not substantive -- it does not make a contribution. As an alternative, you can agree with another comment, and then explain it further, extend or go beyond it, or apply it in a new way.

  NOTE: This does NOT mean that you have to log on to the computer conference more than once a week. You can make multiple contributions during a single session.