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iBUILDER PROJECT

FEASIBILITY

STUDY (1st DRAFT)

Last modified: Monday, November 15, 2004. 2004 iBUILDER team

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Overview 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Current situation 1.3 Scope of project 1.4 Proposed solution Technical Feasibility 2.1 Hardware 2.2 Software 2.3 Computation Financial Feasibility 3.1 Development cost 3.2 Installation cost 3.3 Operational cost 3.4 Maintenance costs 3.5 Training costs 3.6 Return on Investment Operational Feasibility Legal Feasibility Organizational Feasibility Schedule Feasibility Social Feasibility Human Factors 9.1 Development team 9.2 Client 9.3 Client personnel 9.4 End users Quality Assurance Risk management analysis Conclusion Glossary and Terms Appendix 1: Gantt Chart 3 3 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 10 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 15 15 16 16 16 18 21 2

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3.0

4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0

10.0 11.0 12.0 13.0 14.0

1.0

OVERVIEW 1.1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this document is to report the feasibility of the proposed project carried out by the iBUILDER developer team for the client, PC Paramedics Incorporated of Peterborough. The iBUILDER team, a team of fourth year computer science students at Trent University, approached the client representative (and the owner of the organization), Mr. Robert Wilson, with the idea of building an intelligent software that simulates the work of a real world computer sales person. This report shall study the original need of the proposed software and feasibility of building it given the constraints of cost, time, current technology etc. The report shall as well pay attention to related factors including to human, social and legal factors among others. It shall then proceed to make clear cut recommendations on the best method to implement the proposed system. For more details on the project, or to get in touch with the development team, please visit our website at http://pheonixsun.trentu.ca/~ibuilder/. 1.2 CURRENT SITUATION The clients current method of producing quotes and conducting sales is purely manual. Inventory work is done by counting stocks of each part every week; Weekly price lists are published using Microsoft Excel and copy and paste is used to produce quotes. Invoices are also produced using a template on Microsoft Excel. The client has recently implemented a database with one table containing certain products from different categories, the database is used to retrieve the price list on their website. The website consists of static pages maintained manually except for the one page mentioned above, which is written in PHP to retrieve the price list from the database. Therefore, the website lacks any interactive features like online sales. Competitors of the same size use more advanced systems, some implement an inventory system based on Microsoft Access that keeps track of stocks and prints invoices.

On the other hand, some others have set up interactive websites to sell products online and/or produce quotes for custom built PCs. Although these systems rely completely on users input by choosing from preconfigured offers and making adjustments. These systems very often suffer from the lack of error checking for the simplest things like incompatible parts picked by a user. 1.3 SCOPE OF PROJECT The development team shall be responsible for upgrading the system described above for more automation handling inventories (products and stocks) and producing quotes (either manually or automatically). The team shall be designing and implementing a back-end database and a front-end web interface consisting of three main parts: Administrative side (for adding, deleting products and/or updating prices), Customer side where customers can browse the products and special offers available and finally the expert system which helps customers produce quotes for new computers they are interested in purchasing. Once designed and implemented, the client and/or person they choose to assign will be responsible to entering data into the database as well as maintaining it in the future. The expert system shall be helping the users producing quotes only for desktop computers (does not handle laptops, pocket PC etc.). The program shall be concerned with main parts of a computer which are: - Motherboard, RAM modules and processor. - Extension cards (using PCI or PCIe), including Video, Audio, Modems, TV Tuners. - Permanent Storage including IDE Hard Disk Drives (both using Parallel and Serial ATA). - Optical storage: CD-ROM, CD-ReWriter, DVD-ROM, DVDReWriter drives. - Casing and power supplier units. - Monitor (LCD or CRT), keyboard and mouse (if user chooses to buy ones along with the computer). It does not extend its functionality to choosing accessories (including printers), although the system might display messages to the user offering a printer or an accessory but this message is not controlled by the expert system (i.e. does not reflect a recommendation based on a decision taken by the expert system).

1.4

PROPOSED SOLTUION The developer team shall be designing and implementing a database to serve as a backbone of the new system. The database shall contain roughly the following entries for each item: - Part ID (unique among parts in the same category). - Manufacturer and model name and/or number - Cost price and sale price (sale price to be calculated using a ratio determined by the system administrator). - Stock availability and sale count (how many have been sold of this part). - Product features (the number of columns will vary depending on which part in question). This database will be designed and built from scratch using MySQL, and will not depend on the small database the client is using for their current website at all (check the current situation section for more details). There will be a user interface reading from and writing to the database, which shall be implemented using PHP. This is compromised of three parts: 1- Administrators side: Accessible only to the client and/or a person they choose to maintain the software (add, delete, modify product information and/or special offers beside tweaking options of the expert system). This part shall require username/password authentication as a security measure. 2- Expert system: This part shall ask the customer about their budget and preferences and then used predefined ratio tables to decide on the budget for each component of the computer (e.g. how much will be spent on the motherboard and how much on the HDD). Then it searches for items within the budget allocated for each category, uses mathematical formulae to rank every item and decides on which is the best. After all parts are chosen the expert system shall compute the total price and if it is above or below the budget by a certain percentage (set by the administrator) then the program will revise the main parts in the following order: RAM modules, Processor and Motherboard until the total price is brought closer to the amount specified in the very beginning by the customer.

3- Customer side: which is to be used by customers to browse the products and offers featured in store (and their prices), beside allowing customers to produce quotes for new computers by choosing parts manually (as an alternative to using the expert system). For all three parts, the web interface shall be user friendly, and not out-of-ordinary looking beside being consistent, it should not require anything more than a web browser, internet access and little computer knowledge to be able to use most or all features. 2.0 TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY 2.1 HARDWARE The proposed software shall be installed on a server already owned and used by the client to host their current website. Their server is located in Trytels headquarters in Ottawa and it is using a leased T3 connection provided by TryTel. The server uses a Pentium III one gigahertz processor, one gigabyte of RAM, two Eighty gigabytes hard disk drives (connected separately, i.e. not setup in RAID configuration). This shall be adequate enough for the proposed system. 2.2 SOFTWARE The proposed software should be able to run off any operating system as long as three components are installed: Web server (Apache, IIS, ..etc), MySQL database and PHP compiler\API. In our clients case, the server has all three requirements running off Free BSD (Linux distribution). Actually the client has already been using the server commercially for providing website and mail hosting for paying customers (and themselves as stated before). Therefore, Installing and running the proposed system shall go smoothly with no problems. 2.3 COMPUTATION Ranking products of the same category and similar price tags shall be done using mathematical formulae, no such formulae have been established by master of this field before although members of the development team have built a micro version of the proposed system before and proven that the task of producing well established custom computer quotes is feasible. Below is a sample of a formula used in the micro version to rank RAM modules:

Size (MB) Speed (MHz ) price($) latency (ClockCycles ) The proposed system might implement different but improved formulae to improve the systems ability to rank and compare similar products, but even more complicated formulae shall not impose a negative effect on the execution of the program or even the execution time required to produce quotes. rank =

3.0

FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY 3.1 DEVELOPMENT COST There should not be any incurring costs related to hardware or software since the client has met the minimal requirements (as discussed in the Technical Feasibility section). Another issue related to costs is man hours, which is not a monetary cost in this case but more like time spent on the project. The development team has estimated about 400 hours to be spent on the project at an estimated rate of $15 per hour, in this projects case, the development team is willing to provide this service in return for university course credits and real-life experience instead of a monetary reward. The client has also agreed to give up a total of 48 hours of their time to spend with the development team in return for the software they are getting; each hour of their time is estimated to be worth $60. 3.2 INSTALLATION COST Once the system is built and ready to be delivered to the client, the development team shall install the software on the clients server, which is already accounted for as part of the 400 hours needed to finish the project. On the other side, once the project is delivered, the client has stated their interest in hiring some one to initialize the database with all products in store. The suggested hourly rate for this person is $12 per hour and it is estimated that it will take them one to three business days to accomplish the tasks, assuming 8 hours per day, the total cost of this task should range from $96 to $288.

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OPERATIONAL COST To keep the software operating properly, a server and an internet connection are always needed. There are no recurring costs for the server since the client owns it, although the internet connection is costing the client $250 a month plus applicable taxes.

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MAINTENANCE COSTS The client has stated their interest in assigning the task of adding new products, deleting old ones and updating product information to an existing staff member who are paid $12 per hour. We estimate the time required for this task to be about 2 to 4 hours per week, so the total cost should range from $24 to $48 per week. In the future, the client might decide to hire someone for the purpose of modifying the system and/or adding new modules to it, this could be related to maintenance costs although no approximation can be made on our side as it completely dependent on who is hired and for what purpose.

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TRAINING COSTS After talking to the client, we are estimating the need of one business day (8 hours) to train the client personnel and any other employees who shall be working with the administrator side of the software. There are approximately 6 people to be trained, some of which might need to be trained on certain feature so they should not to need to stick around for the whole time of the training session. Customers shall find no trouble working with their side of the system, minimum computer knowledge and internet browsing experience should be adequate for them to find their way around most if not all features.

3.6

RETURN ON INVESTMENT Our client has mentioned that their current customers do not utilize the internet very well, although we and our client are hoping that the new system will draw the customers attention to the benefits and convenience of doing different tasks online and specially getting quotes for their new computers. Our client is also hoping that the expansion of their business on the internet will open a new market attracting a segment of users who already have been

utilizing different features of the internet as part of their everyday experience. It is really difficult to make an estimation of the return on investment of this project, since the idea of an expert system doing online quotations is not something that has been implemented before. We are hoping that the customers will find this feature convenient since it is available at any time and accessible from the comfort of their homes, beside the fact that they can spend more time trying different combinations and getting different quotes without worrying about wasting the sales person time. The same applies to the customer side where the customers can browse different products (e.g. accessories) featured in store beside the ability to produce manual quotes (more advanced customers). Currently, our clients website receives an average of 250 unique visitors everyday. We are assuming that the majority of these are seeking special offers on custom built computers or trying to find out what products are available in a certain categories (e.g. what printers does PC Paramedics carry in store?), serving these potential customers is the target of the new system. Since implementing an online sale system does not fall into the scope of the project we cannot express the expected revenue in terms of money, but rather in terms of potential customers who will be satisfied with the service provided on the website and will probably come to store to purchase the goods, offers and/or quotes they found on the website. As for the administrators side, the client will reap the benefits handling their inventory using an automated system; this will save the client a lot of time as time to accomplish administrative tasks is reduced by a large fraction. Stocks, cost prices, sale prices and many other details shall be kept track of in the database, which is easy to reach while being a safe storage as security features will be implemented. The new system should make it much easier and faster for the client to check what is available in stock and how much of it they have available, beside updating product prices and determining the need to place orders for items that need to be restocked. The development team will make the best effort to design the whole system with best functionality and compatibility for future expansions (to be carried out by the client). Examples of modules that can be added to enhance the system include an online shopping system (shopping carts and online payment), automatic invoice generation and many others.

The client has stated their interest in getting as much as they can out the proposed system. In order to do so, the client has suggested advertising their new website features and promoting the use of these features to their existing customers. 4.0 OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY The proposed system will have two interfaces, one for the administrators (the client and whoever they choose to maintain the system) and the other is for the end users (clients customers). Both are accessible through the web (web browser and an internet connection is needed). Based on the discussion we had with staff members working with/for the client, they seem to be welcoming the project and looking forward to using the system once it is installed. It will be used on daily basis to update the database as required. The development team will train the client and the staff upon installation and supply them with a product manual to make sure they are all comfortable using the different features of the new system. The proposed system will automate most of their daily, timeconsuming tasks and therefore it should not change their pathways or information flow. As for the customer side, we mentioned in the return on investment section how the proposed system should make the lives of customers easier, the system will not force the customer to change their ways of doing things as the customers can still walk into the store to get a quote or see the products featured, but it is more of an alternative offering convenience and easiness. 5.0 LEGAL FEASIBILITY There does not seem be a lot of legal issues related to the proposed system, in other words, there are almost no legal line that can be crossed. The client has stressed that a major concern in the computer industry is copyrights and software pirating, which is not an issue that comes into play since the proposed system relies on open sourced technologies and licensed software titles (licensed to the client). Furthermore, since the proposed system does not include sales, there is no threat it could be used to sell illegal software or any of that, beside the fact that our client equips computers with original licensed software (customers buy the software or else they get a computer with no operating system). As for guaranteeing customer satisfaction, our client offers an exchange or refund policy valid for 30 days after the delivery of the product. So, the client has an option to return a good and get their money back minus 20%

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of the product sale price as a re-stocking charge, return the product and get a store credit equal to the full amount they paid (which they can use in the future) or exchange for a product of the same or higher value (and pay the difference if any). Another legal issue that can be related to the proposed system is the right to sell customers extra warranty and service plans which must be licensed since it is more like selling insurance policies. Our client has stated clearly that they have no such license and therefore they can only offer warranty on parts as long as the warranty provided by the wholesalers and/or manufacturers. Last but not least, the proposed system shall not bear any risk to violating the health and safety regulations. 6.0 ORGANIZATIONAL FEASIBILITY The proposed system shall conform to the clients organization standards. An example is the ration used to calculate sale price from cost price, which is basically by multiplying it by 1.25 (increasing it by 25%). The introduction of the system shall alter their daily routine(s) and in many ways makes these easier and faster. Considering the fact that the members of the clients organization are in the computer business, they have relatively good computer skills. Thus we anticipate that the transition into the use of the proposed system shall be fairly trivial. In the proposed system, security is of a considerable importance. Therefore, the development team will take this into account, and we will take every possible step to ensure that the data is protected, from both internal and external sources of trouble. On the long run, the integrity of the organization shall improve considerably; in saying that we mean that tasks will be more efficient and robust. 7.0 SCHEDULE FEASIBILITY As mentioned before, the proposed system will not rely on any software/methods currently used by the customer (except for the Web server, PHP and MySQL). The proposed system consists of three parts: the database, expert system administrators side and customers side. Our database shall not be very complicated as the tables implemented are in most cases independent from each other (weak links), which reduces the time needed to design and

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implement the database. As for the expert system, the design and methodology will be similar to the micro-version designed before (mentioned in the computation section), so we do not expect a huge amount of time to be spent on this part of the project even though it will take probably more time for design, implementation and testing than the other parts. Last but not least the interface for both system administrators and customers will probably take some time to design and implement, we estimate the time needed for that to fall between the time needed for designing/implementing the database and the expert system. The developer team shall be spending a fare amount of time to design the whole system in way that permits for future upgrades and expansions. The team shall try their best to work on the three parts in parallel so that everything is finished before the deadlines. The proposed solution does not require any trade-off between purchasing and developing certain aspects of the project as the project is of a moderate size which the developer team should be capable of handling. As for the foundation software we are relying on (Web server, PHP and MySQL), they are all either open source (i.e. free) software titles or already owned and licensed to our client. The Gantt chart below describes how much time each task is expected to take and when is the deadline for it. 8.0 SOCIAL FEASIBLITY From what we draw out after talking to the staff members of our clients organization, they all seem to be excited and welcoming the idea of the proposed system as it will improve their work conditions by helping them get over their daily routine by getting certain tasks done faster and more efficiently. Of course the answers to how well they will accept it and how much it will improve their work conditions depends on how the final product will look and work in addition to the training provided by the development team. Once built and installed, we do not expect the new software to alter the power structure in the organization, or at least the software should not form a direct reason in any decision for an organization re-structure. We are expecting the system to have a positive effect on the internal relations in the organization if it had any, since it will save employees the hassle of doing things manually and therefore reduces stress. As for the organizations relations with their customers, the client has expected the new system to have little positive or no effect on the existing customers, the client has mentioned that their current customers seem to

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like interacting with the friendly sales men, and therefore expects the majority to keep coming to store even though a small percentage might consider looking at the website to get a rough idea but then come to the store for further discussion and negotiation. On the other hand, the client expects that the new system will help them invade a new smaller market by reaching out to a new sector of users (more experienced internet surfers who like to find quotes and deals online). When asked about the long-term effect of the new services on the website, the client was expecting the pace of increasing use of the new system by the existing customers to be slow and to take long although the client strongly believes that this migration is inevitable. We conclude that our new system will have little social effects if any, in our opinion these effects are going to be positive and therefore are feasible. 9.0 HUMAN FACTORS 9.1 DEVELOPMENT TEAM The development team consists of four fourth-year computer science students at Trent University, below is a description of each members relevant skills: 1- MD Faisal: programming in C/C++ and Java, good mathematical skills, language and communication skills. 2- Mohannad Hussain: programming in C/C++ and Java, fair knowledge of HTML, PHP and MySQL. Very good skills in graphic and GUI design. 3- Nirmal Patel: programming in C/C++ and Java, knowledgeable in Database design and implementation. 4- Nadia Zeroual: programming in C/C++ and Java, fairly knowledgeable in SQL and database design, additionally, she posses very good business and communications skills. In addition to the skills above, team members will be acquiring new skills related to this project such as PHP and SQL programming, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) coding etc. The whole team shall work on the major tasks like requirements elicitation, expert system design, regular project revision and

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Testing. Other big tasks are broken into smaller tasks and assigned to certain team members as follows: 1- MD Faisal: Requirements Analysis, Database Design and implementation, User manual and Delivery. 2- Mohannad Hussain: Online research, Prototyping, GUI Design, Database implementation, PHP and CSS coding and Delivery. 3- Nirmal Patel: Requirements Analysis, GUI Design, PHP and CSS coding, User manual. 4- Nadia Zeroual: Requirements Analysis, Database Design and implementation, User manual and Delivery. The development team is using different means of communication, a message board (with exclusive access to the team members only) has been setup beside a email alias that forwards to all the group members (this way we eliminate any possible human errors having to remember and type each ones email address). In case of emergency we phone each other. All the team members are motivated to work and finish the project on time. We all view it as an enjoyable and educational experience! 9.2 CLEINT Our client, the owner of PC Paramedics (Mr. Robert Wilson) started gaining interest in computers back in 1996 when he was working full-time as a sales man and he bought his first computer then started learning about computer software and hardware maintenance. As his interests grew bigger, he headed to Fleming College to take computer hardware, maintenance and networking courses. After finding himself able to fix most computer problems he decided to start a new computer business in late 1990s with the attitude of providing best customer service and thus gained a high reputation for customer satisfaction. Although Mr. Wilson is more specialized in computer assembly and maintenance, he also posses in depth knowledge of software he uses everyday like Microsoft Windows, Excel and FrontPage beside different distributions of Linux. He is the one who developed the database and PHP page featuring the price list which we mentioned in the current situation section. He has even used a little of JavaScript for developing pop-up windows on his website.

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We have been in touch with the client so far only using the phone to arrange meetings, we are able to reach the client either at the store or by calling his private cellular phone. The client has been so far very generous with his time and very flexible when it came to arranging meeting times and locations. 9.3 CLIENT PERSONNEL PC Paramedics Incorporated employees about ten to fifteen employees, the ones directly related/affected by this proposed system are the owners (Mr. Wilson and his partners), the accounts and bookkeeping person beside the sales people (about 3 to 5). A brief meeting took place with their presence, they expressed their readiness to cooperate and provide all the help which the development team might ask for. We were also able to rate their computing skills and most of them were highly computer literate which makes it easy for them to express their needs, understand the questions we ask and provide positive input. 9.4 END USERS The end users of the proposed system are of two types, employees and customers of PC Paramedics Incorporated. The first we have already described in the Client Personnel and the Organizational feasibility sections. As for the customers of PC Paramedics Incorporated, they as well fall into two categories, current customers with very limited computer knowledge and large dependence on support and aid provided by the friendly staff members, and the more computer/internet experienced users who the client would like to attract by implementing the new system. The first type of customers are not expected to directly benefit very much of the new system, although there is nothing stopping them from doing so (except for their computer skills). But we and the client hope that as time goes by they will immigrate towards more utilization of the new system. The second type of users is in general a visible minority among computer buyers, although in the current situation of PC Paramedics they represent a tiny percentage of the current customer base. We and the client are hoping that the implementation of the new system will help attract their attention

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to what PC Paramedics has to offer, therefore opening a new market opportunity for the organization and increase sales. 10.0 QUALITY ASSURANCE We hope that our quality comes through the implementation of a combination of the spiral and prototyping models. The prototyping model will provide highly valuable feedback from the client and maybe end users. The client on the other hand will get a better idea of where the project is heading. While the spiral model will allow the development team to implement/commit any changes that they or the client find to be necessary. Due to the time constraints of the project, it is anticipated that the development team shall not be to perform more than two iterations. 11.0 RISK MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS The fact that none of the team members had such experience of such a project before introduces a risk factor. The project may be vulnerable to every single decision made by the inexperienced team members. To be more specific, some team members will be learning to use some new technologies for the first time which might cause the design and the implementation to be a little short of being optimum. Since most parts of the feasibility study were based on estimations of the deadlines and size of task, the fact that these estimations are not based on past experience by the team members introduces another risk factor. The most likely scenario being that the development team underestimated the total time needed for coding aspect of the project. Another scenario that introduces a risk factor could be a loss of a team member(s) for any reason, a loss of a single team member is hopefully recoverable although it might cause a major set back in the project progress. While a loss of more than one team member means the termination of the project. 12.0 CONCLUSION After studying different aspects closely and remotely related to the proposed system, we perceive that the project in question is feasible for development. The feasibility has very much helped the team members understand the scope of and the challenge imposed by this project. The team realizes the amount of work that would required for the delivery of a functional, robust and efficient system, therefore the team will make the best effort to do so.

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The risk analysis helped the team recognize the possible failure points of this project. This should make us better prepared to avoid them or go around them as the project progresses. The benefits that our client will receive, along with the experience and knowledge that we will obtain in return, are both very good reasons to be excited about finishing the project successfully.

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GLOSSARY AND TERMS


term 3D accelerator AGP definition An embedded processor optimized for high speed rendering on 3D images, used mostly in games and 3D design applications. Stands for Accelerated Graphics Port, an extension of PCI relying on increasing the bus speed and linking the AGP port to the bus of processor and RAM instead of other PCI devices, developed for use with 3D accelerator video cards which these extra features. A popular open-source program allowing a computer to become a server for different protocols, mainly HTTP. Application Program(ming) Interface, a design for a ground base architecture/protocol governing interactions between programs. An expansion card enhancing the computer's ability to produce sounds and process sound signals (plus providing connectivity to speakers and other audio devices) Hidden to users side of a software, usually consists of a software for managing, reading and storing data and code that does the work of the program. Basic Input/Output System, refers to the basic operating system loaded on a computer by the manufacturers to boot the computer and then give control to a user-installed operating system. A box used to store computer parts with increased structure and functionality. stands for Compact Disk, an implementation for optical drives using circular disks of sizes about 700 megabytes. refers to PC Paramedics Incorporated (located in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada) or Mr. Robert Wilson, the principal owner of the organization. refers to certain or all staff members of PC Paramedics Incorporated. Text written in with special symbols and syntax used write a program in a denoted language. The price at which the retail store buys a product from a wholesaler. Same as Processor refers to Cathode Ray Tube, the classic technology for building monitors and screens. Referring the areas accessible to all users especially ones with no or little privileges, normally such areas do not require username/password authentication. Often referring to the customers of PC Paramedics Inc. A popular method for storing and retrieving data robustly and efficiently instead of using text files, normally databases are used through Database Management Software (DBMS) Stands for Database Management Software, which is a program that handles requests for database read and write commands, can also handle security features like username and password beside handling multi databases. stands for Digital Video Disk, an implementation for optical drives using circular disks of sizes about 4.7 gigabytes for single layer and 7.4 for dual layer. Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) that can be installed and removed from a computer at any time to provide extra functionality or enhancements to the capabilities of the computer. FreeBSD is an advanced operating system derived from BSD, the version of UNIX developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It is developed and maintained by a large team of individuals.

Apache API Audio card

Back end

BIOS

Case/Chasis CD Client Client personnel Code Cost price CPU CRT Customer side

Customers Database

DBMS

DVD

Extension cards

Free BSD

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Front End GPU Graphical user interface (GUI) HDD

Visible to users side of a software, usually consists of the user interface. Graphics processing unit, a type of a 3D accelerators A user interface implementing graphical objects to make the interface more user friendly and easier to use. stands for Hard Disk Drive, a component with large capacity for long-term storage used in computers to store the operating system and other software. Hosting account Leased space on a server providing support for different protocols/technologies/programs, an account is sold by a host company or a reseller. iBUILDER team The team responsible for developing this project, i.e. the iBUILDER project. Members of the team are: MD Faisal, Mohannad Hussain, Nirmal Patel, Nadia Zeroual. IDE Integrated Drive Electronics, a technology for connecting devices like HDDs and optical drives IIS Stands for Internet Information Services, a server program similar to Apache developed by Microsoft Inc. Inventory work Work related to inventory management and analysis, includes but not limited to: introducing new products, change in stock availability of an item and reordering products to increase stock. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display, a technology used to make monitors. Microsoft Access A program produces by Microsoft Corp. for database management. Microsoft Excel A program produces by Microsoft Corp. for spread sheets. Modem An expansion card allowing the computer to establish connections over telephone lines. Monitor/Screen A device similar to TV used in computers to display the user interface. Motherboard The main Printed Circuit Board (PCB) installed in a personal computer, provides the most basic features for connectivity beside hosting the processor and other vital components. MySQL A popular open-source Database management software Optical drives A class of removable storage drives allowing and/or write implementing different kinds of light beams for reading and writing data, often used in computers. Parallel ATA An implementation of IDE using parallel links with often 40 or 80 wires to bandwidths ranging from 33 to 133 megabytes per second Part ID A unique identification used to refer to a product. PCI stand for Peripheral Component Interconnect, a common bus architecture used in computers to provide expansion slots. PCIe stands for PCI express, an extension to conventional PCI allowing for higher transfer speeds and larger bandwidth to replace AGP. Pentium A computer platform based on the x86 specifications with a 32-bit bus width, implementations and improvements have produced Pentium I, MMX, Pro, II, III and IV so far. PHP Stands for Hypertext PreProcessor, PHP is a popular open-source language used in server-side scripting Power supply unit A device used in a computer to distribute and regulate electrical power beside (PSU) protecting internal devices from surges. Price list Used in this document to refer to a list of products/services featured by an organization and their most updated sale prices, this makes the price list a good source for quotations. Processor the part of a computer (a microprocessor chip) that does most of the data processing. Also known as CPU Product features The main characteristics used to distinguish a product from similar ones. Program A software title (ie an instance of software)

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Quotes RAID

RAM/RAM modules Sale Price Scripting

Serial ATA

Server Server-side scripting Software

Stock availability System Administrator(s) T3 Trytel TV Tuners User User Interface (UI) Video card VPU Web (user) interface Web server

The process of providing a best-effort cost estimation considering the customers needs and the merchants profit margin stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, a technology used to connect separate multi HDDs as one logical drive to increase speed and bandwidth. RAM stands for Random access memory, used in personal computer as short-term fast memory aiding the processor. RAM modules are packages in which RAM chipsets are made available for end users to install and use. The price at which a retail store sells a product, often higher than the cost price and difference is the profit margin. A special kind of programming used often to automate routine tasks where code is not compiled into binary executables, scripts are sometime programs related to servers. A newer implementation IDE using serial link with 8 wires and offering an initial bandwidth of 150 megabytes per second which can increased theoretically up to 600 A computer that processes requests received through different means for different reasons using different protocols. Refers to programming pages and applications that are compile and/or executed by a server every time they are requested before the results are sent to the user requesting the service. Written programs or procedures or rules and associated documentation pertaining to the operation of a computer system and that are stored in read/write memory The amount available of a product in a store's inventory. Person(s) with privileges to control and manipulate installed software. A type of connection (often internet) known to be very fast, used mostly for servers and organizations rather than individuals Trytel is an internet service provider owned by Telecom Ottawa Limited. An expansion card often allowing users to watch TV, import and/or export video signals, whether digital or analog. Refers to a person using and/or controlling a program or a system, users range in privileges from Administrators to end users. The medium though which a user interacts with a computer program Often an expansion card know as a video card, with a GPU or a VPU installed on board. Visual processing unit, refers the newer generations of GPUs with enhanced features (eg cinematic effects). A special kind of graphical user interface that is displayed using a web browser A server that can serve web pages, often using the Hyper Text Transfer Portocol (HTTP).

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APPENDIX 1: GANTT CHART

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