A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

  Implementation 

  The creation of a system 

based on analysis and 

design  documentation.   

  Maintenance  phase 

  Commences  after  the 

system is live.   

  Dynamic  digital 

business application 

  The  application  is 

continuously updated in 

response to competitive 

forces.   

  Maintenance 

activities 

  Involve  measurement  of 

an information system’s 

effectiveness and 

updating to correct errors 

or introduce new features 

necessary to improve its 

value to the organisation.   

 Figure 12.1 

 Alternative  software  development  methodologies       

  Source : Adapted from Shore and Warden (2008). 

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Plan

Analysis

Design

3 to 24 months

Develop

Test

Release

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

(c) Agile development (XP)

(a) Waterfall model

Plan

Analysis

Candidate release

Design

1 week timebox

Develop

Test

Release

Plan

Analysis

Design

1 to 3 months

Develop

Te

st

Release

(b) Prototyping

Plan

Analysis

Design

1 to 3 months

Develop

Te

st

Release

Plan

Analysis

Design

1 to 3 months

Develop

Te

st

Release

M12_CHAF6542_06_SE_C12.indd   598

7/22/14   1:41 AM

---

599

Chapter 12  Digital business service implementation and optimisation

While analysis of requirements is occurring, design and implementation will be occurring 

simultaneously in order to produce storyboards and prototypes. This prototyping may occur 

in timeboxes of a certain duration, perhaps 30 days or 60 days, with a prototype produced 

at the end of each timebox. It is evident that implementation activities such as testing and 

review follow analysis and design and occur for each increment.

Optimisation of digital business services

Optimisation suggests a rigorous, ongoing approach to improving the effectiveness and effi-

ciency of digital business services. When we reviewed goals for effectiveness and efficiency in 

Chapter 5, we explained the importance of defining both type of goals. Managers of digital 

business services need to continually revisit these questions:

● 

Service effectiveness. Is the service meeting business goals? Is the experience and service 

delivered satisfactory for users? Are new technology approaches or information available 

that could improve the experience?

● 

Service efficiency. Is the operation of the system measured through speed of response, usa-

bility and cost appropriate to lead to an effective service? Are new technology approaches 

available that could improve the system efficiency?

Web analytics is the discipline which helps answer the questions about experience and ser-

vice levels for  sell-  side e-commerce. We see that through techniques like AB and multivari-

ate testing many companies are optimising through continuous reviews of their sites and 

services. Producing quality content is also important to an effective experience and requires a 

sound process to keep content up to date and we cover methods of developing a good work-

flow for this.

In this chapter we also explore criteria for selecting key digital business technology plat-

forms such as content management systems and web analytics. The ‘ Real-  world digital busi-

ness experiences’ interview below introduces some of the issues involved with selecting and 

managing a CMS.

 Real-world Digital Business

The Smart Insights interview

Avinash Kaushik, Google’s analytics evangelist

Overview and main concepts covered

Avinash Kaushik is Google’s Digital Marketing evangelist, well known for his books 

Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, Web Analytics 2.0 and his Occam’s Razor blog.