Maryam Mardo System Request Business Drivers The Project Wa ✓ Solved

Maryam Mardo System Request Business Drivers This project wa

Maryam Mardo System Request Business Drivers This project was motivated by the need to fill the existing niche in the candy market. The company Marsa’s Candy Store will produce organic and sugar-free chocolate and candy, operating online and with a physical store in metro Detroit, Michigan. The store will also act as the manufacturing area. Core values, mission, vision and tagline: Mission: To produce organic and sugar-free products with natural ingredients without eliminating the original candy and chocolate taste at affordable prices for the health conscious clients. Vision: To be the market leader in the new niche of healthy candy and chocolate. Tag line: “you don’t have to worry about your health when it comes to candy and chocolate”. Objectives of the website: cater to customers (view products, prices, quantity, place orders), and system admin (add/delete products, set prices, reports on inventory, sales, orders, raw material costs, profit margins, monitor accounts). Technological requirements: outsourced hosting, secure e-commerce shopping cart, Java, JavaScript, PHP, CSS, HTML, MariaDB, SSL certificates. User interface colors: nature-themed greens, blues, cerulean; highlight products in orange, yellow, purple. Homepage pages: About the company, The products, Blog, Place order, Contacts. Schedule: 4-week plan: Phase 1 Week 1: system request, feasibility study, risk assessment, project plan, system proposal. Phase 2 Week 2: requirements definition, use cases, process model, data model, architectural and network diagrams, hardware and software specifications. Phase 3 Week 3: data dictionary, data flow diagrams, entity relation diagram, database design, interface design. Phase 4 Week 4: development environment, UI creation, database creation, business logic, website creation, documentation review, project presentation. Evaluation criteria: cost, security features knowledge, experience with languages, ability to meet schedule. Service level agreements: pilot for one month, followed by six months observation with vendor support for troubleshooting.

Paper For Above Instructions

Executive summary

This document outlines a concise technical and business plan to design, develop, deploy, and support Marsa’s Candy Store — an organic, sugar-free candy and chocolate brand based in metro Detroit operating both online and from a combined retail/manufacturing storefront. The website will deliver product discovery, ordering, inventory management, administrative reporting, and secure e-commerce transactions. The solution prioritizes customer trust, low startup cost, security, and fast time-to-market while aligning to the four-week project schedule and SLA requirements specified.

Business objectives and target users

Primary business objectives are to: (1) capture a niche health-conscious confectionery market by offering organic and sugar-free products; (2) provide an online storefront to reach broad markets and support impulse and informed purchases; (3) enable efficient store-manufacturing workflows to minimize costs. Target users include consumers (online shoppers and in-store buyers), distributors, and system administrators who need inventory control, pricing, reporting, and account management.

Functional requirements

  • Product catalog pages with descriptions, nutritional information, and stock levels (customers).
  • Shopping cart, secure checkout, payment integration (customers).
  • Order history, account management, and wish lists (customers).
  • Admin dashboard for create/read/update/delete (CRUD) products, set prices, manage inventory, approve/deactivate accounts, and generate sales and cost reports (admins).
  • Reporting on raw material costs and profit margins to support financial statements (admins).
  • Blog module and contact page for marketing and customer engagement.

Non-functional requirements

  • Security: enforce TLS, hardened authentication, and OWASP-aligned protections against common web vulnerabilities (OWASP, 2021).
  • Availability: SLA pilot month plus six months support with 99.5% uptime aim for the production site.
  • Performance: page loads under 2 seconds for desktop and mobile.
  • Scalability: hosted cloud solution that can scale with demand to avoid upfront server capital expense.
  • Accessibility and SEO: follow WCAG for accessibility and semantic HTML for SEO (W3C, 2018).

Technology stack and rationale

The proposed stack aligns with the requirement list: HTML/CSS for semantic, accessible front-end; JavaScript for interactivity; Java or PHP for server-side business logic (PHP can speed development; Java can be chosen for stronger type safety and enterprise features) (MDN, 2024). MariaDB is recommended for cost-effective relational storage (MariaDB, 2024). Use a proven e-commerce shopping cart platform or modular cart library integrated into the stack with secure payment gateway (PCI-compliant). TLS via a trusted CA (Let's Encrypt/industry CA) will secure transactions (Mozilla, 2023). Outsourced hosting on a reputable cloud provider will reduce capital expense while enabling scaling and managed backups.

User interface, branding, and UX

Visual design will reflect the organic theme: nature greens and cerulean blues for backgrounds and trust cues, with accents (orange, yellow, purple) to highlight products and calls-to-action. Pages: About, Products, Blog, Place Order, and Contacts. Product pages must display ingredients, organic certification badges, sugar-free callouts, nutrition facts, and trust signals to address consumer health concerns (USDA, 2022; Mintel, 2021).

Architecture and data model

Architectural design follows a three-tier model: web front-end, application server, and MariaDB database. Key entities: Users, Products, Orders, Inventory, RawMaterialCosts, and BlogPosts. Data flow diagrams and ERDs will be produced in Week 3 per the schedule. Security controls include input validation, prepared statements/ORM for SQL safety, multi-factor authentication for admin accounts, encrypted sensitive fields, and role-based access controls (NIST, 2023).

Development schedule mapping to phases

  • Week 1 (Phase 1): System request, feasibility, risk assessment, project plan, and proposal (PMI best practices) (PMI, 2021).
  • Week 2 (Phase 2): Requirements definition, use cases, process and data models, network/architectural design, hardware/software specs.
  • Week 3 (Phase 3): Data dictionary, DFDs, ERD, database schema, and interface mockups.
  • Week 4 (Phase 4): Development environment setup, UI and backend implementation, database creation, business logic, testing, documentation, review, and presentation.

Security, testing and compliance

Security is mandatory given financial transactions. Implement OWASP Top 10 mitigations, conduct static and dynamic code analysis, penetration testing, and a PCI-compliant payment integration. Authentication follows NIST guidelines for digital identity and session management (NIST, 2023). Accessibility testing (WCAG) and cross-browser compatibility testing will be performed (W3C, 2018).

Deployment, SLA and post-launch support

Deploy to managed cloud hosting with autoscaling and regular backups. Pilot the site for one month to validate functionality with live traffic, then observe and maintain for six months under the SLA for troubleshooting and minor enhancements. Vendor evaluation will emphasize cost, demonstrated security expertise, and ability to meet the four-week schedule and post-deployment support obligations.

SEO, analytics and growth

Use semantic HTML, meta tags, structured data for product listings (schema.org), and performant images to improve search ranking. Implement Google Analytics/event tracking and conversion funnels to measure sales, bounce rates, and user flows for continuous merchandising improvements (Statista, 2023).

Conclusion

The recommended plan balances low startup cost with secure, scalable web architecture and a focused marketing/UX strategy to reach health-conscious confectionery buyers. Following the four-week phased schedule will produce a minimum viable online store backed by a one‑month pilot and six months of vendor support to stabilize operations and drive growth in the organic sugar-free candy niche.

References

  1. Statista. (2023). Sugar-free candy market trends and size. https://www.statista.com/
  2. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). (2022). Organic Market Overview. https://www.usda.gov/
  3. Mintel. (2021). Health-focused confectionery consumer insights. https://www.mintel.com/
  4. OWASP Foundation. (2021). OWASP Top Ten Web Application Security Risks. https://owasp.org/
  5. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2023). Digital Identity Guidelines (SP 800-63). https://www.nist.gov/
  6. W3C. (2018). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
  7. MDN Web Docs. (2024). HTML, CSS and JavaScript documentation. https://developer.mozilla.org/
  8. MariaDB Foundation. (2024). MariaDB Server Documentation. https://mariadb.org/
  9. Mozilla. (2023). TLS/SSL and web security best practices. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security
  10. Project Management Institute (PMI). (2021). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). https://www.pmi.org/

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