Cost of Implementation and Skills Needed to Implement the Web Site
The Cost of the Web SiteThis section allowed the user to accept or reject the recommendations of the previous section for each Web site feature. Upon choosing to implement a feature, a judgement was made by the system as to whether or not it could be implemented within budget. This is based upon the costs of the Web site being affected by the following (Burgess and Schauder, 2001):
The various Web site features were divided into the following categories (these can be viewed as "cost drivers" in the Implementation screen (Figure 4). Each Web site feature was assigned a value from "1" to "7." The ability to implement the feature was based upon the outlay selected in the Financial Outlay section of the Business Investigation. The Implementation screen allowed users to select particular Web site features for implementation, based upon the recommendation made in the previous section. It then made a judgement as to the ability of the firm to develop the site internally, based upon entries that had been made in the Financial Outlay and Employee Expertise sections of the Business Investigation stage. The model provided a message to the user, based upon whether or not it was considered possible to implement the Web site. Table 1 shows the logic behind the message provided to the user, based upon the cost-driver rating, the number of products on the Web site, the number of online transactions per month, and the level of outlay selected in Business Investigation.
Note that it is considered that a simple static Web site is regarded as being inexpensive. In the second level of Web site rating, if the users have identified that they are listing 15 or more products on their catalogue, they are informed that they have too many products and that they must go back and allocate more resources to the Web site. At level 3, the same logic is used, but this time for greater than 100 transactions. At level 4, users have started to request some interactive options. As these are more expensive to set up, they will be informed that they need to select a higher outlay for the Web site if they have not already selected outlay level 3. The other levels (5,6 and 7) require an increased outlay for the Web site as the level of sophistication required increases.
Skills Needed to Implement the Web SiteThis section also provided a recommendation as to how the Web site could be developed, internally or externally. The recommendation was based upon the employee expertise identified in the Business Investigation stage and the highest rating cost driver (as per Table 1) for the Web site features that were selected by the user. Table 2 represents the logic used. If there was no internal experience at developing Web sites, the recommendation was that the Web site be developed externally. If there was some internal experience (either by the development of simple HTML pages or the use of a package or wizard), the option was provided to develop the Web site internally, provided that it does not contain any features that require IT expertise. If there was internal IT expertise, the option was provided to develop the Web site internally irrespective of the level of difficulty.
At the basic level, if users indicate that their business has no experience in setting up Web sites, they are recommended to look externally for someone to set up the Web site for them. In the case that they have created simple HTML pages or already used a template or wizard to set up a Web site, the level of sophistication required determines the recommendation that is made. If a simple (static) Web site is required, the recommendation is that it is done internally. If a highly sophisticated Web site (level 7) is required, the recommendation is that it be set up externally. For Web sites somewhere in between, it is suggested that it may be possible to set up the Web site internally using a template or package, but that further investigation is required. In the case that the business has experienced Web site developers in its midst, the recommendation is that it is possible for all levels of Web site to be set up internally. It is still recommended that templates or packages be used for the simpler Web sites. Note that there is a level of uncertainty incorporated into this part of the application. Where the business has employees with some level of Web site implementation expertise and the setup task requires some level of expertise, it is not possible for the model to make a sound recommendation. It therefore suggests "possible internal setup" and that the decision needs to be further investigated.
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