Dissertation Project Report

on

“The WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT ­ SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE 
(SAAS) the Beginning, Scope and Development” 

Submitted towards Partial Fulfilment of the

Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management-IT

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Prof. Sachin Malhotra Atin Kumar Garg

Chairperson PGDM-IT BM-09051

IMS, Ghaziabad Section - D

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

GHAZIABAD
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DECLARATION

This is to certify that I, Atin Kumar Garg, student of PGDM (IT), 2009-2011 batch,
IMS Ghaziabad, have done this Dissertation project under the supervision and able
guidance of Prof. Sachin Malhotra.

The matter submitted by us is not submitted for the award of any other degree or
diploma of this kind or any other initiative. This work is done by me and has never
been published or done before. All the information provided is true to the best of my
knowledge.

-----------------------------
ATIN KUMAR GARG

BM-09051
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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that I, Atin Kumar Garg, student of PGDM(IT), BM-09051, Institute
of Management Studies, Ghaziabad have completed the project entitled, “The WEB
CONTENT MANAGEMENT - SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS) the
beginning, scope and development”, under my guidance with full honesty and
integrity. The project report has been approved as it satisfies the academic
requirements in respect of Project Work.

----------------------------
Prof. Sachin Malhotra
Chairperson PGDM-IT
IMS, Ghaziabad
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A single person alone can never be credited for performing any extraordinary work
successfully. It is only possible with the continuous and constant help and guidance
that they receive from others.
With due respect and regards we wish to express my deep sense of gratitude,
indebtedness and sincere phrases of thanks to Prof. Sachin Malhotra for his invaluable
mentoring and exuberant guidance.
I am highly obliged by the constant support that I got from our faculty mentor during
the course of the project. Time to time help from other faculty members, Lab in
charges and my friends also played important role in the completion of this project.
Thanking all of them once again.

_________________________
Atin Kumar Garg (BM-09051)
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INTRODUCTION

A Web Content Management System (WCMS) is a software system which provides

website authoring and administration tools designed to allow users with little
knowledge of web programming languages or mark-up languages to create and
manage the site's content with relative ease.

Most systems use a database to store content, metadata, or artefacts that might be
needed by the system. Content is frequently, but not universally, stored as XML, to
facilitate, reuse, and enable flexible presentation options. A presentation layer
displays the content to Web-site visitors based on a set of templates. The templates
are sometimes XSLT files. Most systems use server side caching boosting
performance. This works best when the WCMS is not changed often but visits happen
on a regular basis. Administration is typically done through browser-based interfaces,
but some systems require the use of a fat client. Unlike Web-site builders, a WCMS
allows non-technical users to make changes to a website with little training. A WCMS
typically requires an experienced coder to set up and add features, but is primarily a
Web-site maintenance tool for non-technical administrators.

Software as a service (SaaS) sometimes referred to as "software on demand," is

software that is deployed over the Internet and/or is deployed to run behind a firewall
on a local area network or personal computer. With SaaS, a provider licenses an
application to customers either as a service on demand, through a subscription, in a
"pay-as-you-go" model, or (increasingly) at no charge. This approach to application
delivery is part of the utility computing model where all of the technology is in the
"cloud" accessed over the Internet as a service.

SaaS was initially widely deployed for sales force automation and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM). Now it has become commonplace for many
business tasks, including accounting software, computerized billing, ERP software,
invoicing, human resource management, financials, content management,
collaboration, document management, and service desk management.
  6 

OBJECTIVE

-Going through the evolution process of SAAS Model.

-Develop a SAAS concept.

-Finding the Limitations in the project.

-Finding the to be problems in the features and feasible solutions for the same.
  7 

LITERATURE REVIEW

1.TOPIC - Web Content Management Systems in Higher Education.

By Wayne Powel and Chris Gill

RESULT: You can control a Web site’s look and feel while letting the owners of
information control content.

2. TOPIC - Web Content Management

BY Richard Vidgen, Steve Goodwin, Stuart Barnes

RESULT:
WCM technologies are emerging with background in document management,
customer relationship management, and software configuration management. The
WCM market is currently crowded and confused and it is likely that there will be a
fall-out of suppliers as the market matures and WCM concepts are clarified. They
have presented a framework for WCM in which a number of themes are identified,
including content lifecycle management, repository and data/metadata management,
and an awareness of the impacts of organizational change.

3.TOPIC - Scope for Web Content Management

By Mick MacComascaigh, Mark R. Gilbert, Toby Bell, Karen M. Shegda, Whit
Andrews.
RESULT:
The Web content management market is mature and expanding. Buyers are placing
their increasingly demanding requirements in a more appropriate business context and
vendors are rising to the challenge of meeting those requirements.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Source: Secondary source of data will be used mainly but primary data could be used
for some specific clarifications.

Research will be done on the existing framework of SAAS used by various

organisations and a framework will be developed and tested for assessing the
problems in the framework.
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CLOUD COMPUTING
A basic definition of cloud computing is the use of the Internet for the tasks you
perform on your computer. The "cloud" represents the Internet.

These services are broadly divided into three categories:

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to
represent the Internet in flow charts and diagrams

The simplest thing that a computer does is allow us to store and retrieve information.
We can store our family photographs, our favourite songs, or even save movies on it.
This is also the most basic service offered by cloud computing.

A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the
Internet. (Currently, Amazon Web Services is the largest public cloud provider.) A
private cloud is a proprietary network or a data centre that supplies hosted services to
a limited number of people. When a service provider uses public cloud resources to
create their private cloud, the result is called a virtual private cloud. Private or public,
the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing
resources and IT services

Infrastructure-as-a-Service like Amazon Web Services provides virtual server

instances with unique IP addresses and blocks of storage on demand. Customers use
the provider's application program interface (API) to start, stop, access and configure
their virtual servers and storage. In the enterprise, cloud computing allows a company
to pay for only as much capacity as is needed, and bring more online as soon as
required. Because this pay-for-what-you-use model resembles the way electricity, fuel
and water are consumed; it's sometimes referred to as utility computing.
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Platform-as-a-service in the cloud is defined as a set of software and product

development tools hosted on the provider's infrastructure. Developers create
applications on the provider's platform over the Internet. PaaS providers may use
APIs, website portals or gateway software installed on the customer's computer.
Force.com, (an outgrowth of Salesforce.com) and GoogleApps are examples of PaaS.
Developers need to know that currently, there are not standards for interoperability or
data portability in the cloud. Some providers will not allow software created by their
customers to be moved off the provider's platform.

In the software-as-a-service cloud model, the vendor supplies the hardware

infrastructure, the software product and interacts with the user through a front-end
portal. SaaS is a very broad market. Services can be anything from Web-based email
to inventory control and database processing. Because the service provider hosts both
the application and the data, the end user is free to use the service from anywhere. 

Online  shopping  is  the  process  whereby  consumers  directly  buy  goods  or 
services  from  a  seller  in  real‐time,  without  an  intermediary  service,  over  the 
Internet.  If  an  intermediary  service  is  present  the  process  is  called  electronic 
commerce.  An  online  shop,  eshop,  e‐store,  internet  shop,  webshop,  webstore, 
online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or 
services  at  a  bricks‐and‐mortar  retailer  or  in  a  shopping  mall.  The  process  is 
called Business‐to‐Consumer (B2C) online shopping. When a business buys from 
another  business  it  is  called  Business‐to‐Business  (B2B)  online  shopping.  Both 
B2C and B2B online shopping are forms of e‐commerce. 

 
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PROJECT INFRASTRUCTURE  

Hardware: The computer tablets could be offered as the main hardware system but the 
software could be provided for a support with all systems. 

Hardware Features: 

Mobile Connection 

TFT‐LCD Screen 

Touch Screen 

Wireless adapter for Internet and  

Local Network Connection  

Software Features 

Main  feature  is  the  buying  and  selling  software  provided  with  every  tablet  Computer 
(Extreme Shop) 

Virtual keyboards and  

Handwriting Recognition 

Office Suites 

Web Browsers 

Variety of other Applications 

Other Features 

10‐inch tablet 

0.65 kg 

1024 × 768 Resolution 

Thickness 11 mm 

1 Gb Ram (Extendable) 

500 Gb Hard disk 
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PROJECT CHARACTERSTICS  

• It is a objective based project. 
• Life cycle is prototype based. 

 
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PROJECT FEATURES and SCOPE 

• Research (searching for similar Products) 

•Sale (upload from store or take photo and upload) 

•Sale status (After listing of product) 

•Browsing of the products (various categories) 

•Searching  of  products  (By  name,  By  taking  photo,  By  company  name,  By 
barcode photo) 

•Location of the product (For price and quality benefit) 

•Arrival time of the product 

•Product  comparison  (specification,  price,  availability,  substitutes  and 

complementary products, sales track record) 

•Tutorial for the application 

•Current location of product (After order) 

•Payment Options 

•Auctions and bidding (For rare products) 

•Video conferencing between buyer and seller 

•Advice from friend facility ( For registered friends) 

•App will work on all platforms. 

•Ordering of customized products 

•Ordering  by  advertising  codes  (From  TV,  Mobile  ad.,  Internet  Ad.,  Newspaper, 
MagZine, Radio etc. ) 

•Offline buying for specific products 

•Services for sale 
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•Security 

•Screening of products 

•No defective products (Product screening) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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PROJECT ACTIVITIES  
o Marketing Activities 
 
 Research  activity  regarding  the  requirement  of  the  end 
users. 
 Deal  with  service  providers  for  free  sms  services  from  the 
organization. 
 Deal with banks for the payment service. 
 
o Financial Activities 
 
 Accepting  the  financial  deals  regards  the  technical 
specification. 
 Dealing with the payment service from the customers. 
  
o Human Resource Activity 
 
 Staffing of the resources into different activities 
 
o Technical Activity 
 Dividing  each  and  every  end  product  into  modules  and 
designing  of  the  products  through  Context  Free  Diagram, 
Data Flow Diagram. 
 Designing of database for the customers with proper entity‐
relationship diagram. 
 Designing  of  the  test  cases  related  to  the  designing  of  the 
system. 
 Providing the training on the related technological issues to 
the developers. 
 Coding of the modules. 
 Framing  of  test  case:  Black  box  testing,  White  box  testing, 
Unit testing, integration testing. 
 Copyrighting the software. 
  16 

ESTIMATING EFFORTS FOR ACTIVITIES 

(A) Carry out bottom up estimates: 
 
The important thing here is to estimate the effort and elapsed time. In the 
planning stage, the staffing is done by the estimation of the complexity of 
the activity and the estimated time for each activity. 
 
Now as the activity follows, the bottom up approach is followed, i.e., the 
remaining time and activity is measured and according to that the effort 
or staffing would be enforced into it. 
 
     (B) Revise Plan to create controllable activities 
   
  An activity is a very huge collection of modules and sub modules. As we 
can have one example from the project of Shaadi.com: 
 
  User can search any girl or boy with many prototypes, like: 
(i) Age, 
(ii) Religion, 
(iii) Mother Tongue, 
(iv) Caste, 
(v) Country etc. 
User  can  use  any  of  the  mentioned  prototypes  to  search  or  any 
combination  of  the  prototypes  or  all  of  them  to  modify  or  advanced 
search. 
 
So,  each  and  every  combination  can  lead  to  a  module  of  the  search 
activity. 

 
  17 

ACTIVITY RISKS 

1) Inexperienced developer team 
2) Though  software  project  is  very  much  flexible,  but  a  proper 
planning is essential for the execution of the project. Planning can 
be done with proper requirement analysis and data flow diagram. 
3) Requirement  can  be  specified  through  the  extensive  research  on 
the  requirement  on  the  end‐users.  So,  the  research  methodology 
should be concrete and sampling should be proper. 
4) The  developed  product  should  be  platform  independent  and 
webrowser independent. 

 
  18 

ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES 

‐Human Resource (All activities) 
 Research Team 
 Developers 
 Planners 
 Designers 
 Content writer 
 Team leader 
 Project Leader 
 Project Manager 
 Departmental  Heads  and  employees  of  various 
departments  (Finance,  operations,  Marketing,  Human 
Resource, IT, etc.) 
 
‐Technological resource (Hardware, software) 
 Various Hardware Components 
 
 OS,  Platforms,  drivers  and  other  system  and  application 
software 
 
     ‐Network plan (Marketing Plan) 
 Research  Benchmarks,  Research  study  Plan,  Segmentation, 
Targeting and Positioning of customers, Sales Forecast. 
 
    ‐Financial resources 
 Sales estimates 
 Cost estimates 
 Capital Budgeting 
 Cost of Capital 
 
­Legal Resources 
 Contacts of legal officers, Legal documentation, etc. 
  19 

­Logistics 
 The logistics department will manage all the inflow and 
outflow of goods and services. 

 
 
 
  20 

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

1. Research (Searching for similar products)- Linking problem, database is limited,

there are not much options for the buyer.(sol. Continuous collaboration with
sellers)

2. Sale of products- Difference between real product and ad. Product (sol.
screening of the real product before delivery)

3. Status of Sale- Real position differs, as there are intermediaries. (sol. Updating
at every level)

4. Browsing- Time taking process (sol. Divide products into categories)

5. Searching- Very difficult to match buyers expectation (sol. Searching with the
help of filters)

6. Location Advantage (price etc)- Loss for other sellers (sol. Location brackets)

7. Product Comparison- Updating, price fluctuations and missing specifications

(sol. Regular updating and availability checks)

8. Tutorial – same info not useful for all users (sol. Hyperlinks for more
explanation)

9. Current location of product and Arrival date and time (after order) - Very
difficult to give accurate info by intermediaries (sol. Use of GPS technology-
Tagging of goods)
  21 

10. Payment options- Connectivity problem and time taking in some options
(sol. Direct connection with as many banks and financial intermediaries as
possible)

11. Auction and bidding- Operational problems (sol. Hiring of specialized

intermediary)

12. Video conferencing- Dependent on mobile technology (sol. Chatting,

audio or text)

13. Advice from friend about product- friends should have e-buddy account
(sol. Signup using open Id)

14. Application for all platforms- mobiles have different platforms unknown
to user (sol. Application installation according to mobile specification)

15. Ordering of customized products- Customization differ in different

companies (sol. Generalization of products by the company according to
product details)

16. Ordering using Ad- Updating with uncountable advertising companies

(sol. Universal database of ad companies and regular updating)

17. Offline ordering- Market conditions not visible (sol. Only for fixed price
products)

18. Services for sale- Different expectations of buyers and sellers. (sol. Price
will be fixed for every service)
 

 
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LIMITITATIONS 

1.Technolgy  is  the  main  and  foremost  limitation  of  this  project  as  the  whole 
software and hardware technology is dependent on the technological feasibility, 
which is ever changing. 

2.Financial  limitation‐  As  the  project  is  dependent  on  the  continuous  source  of 
finance so if the financial source will stop the project could be a failure. 

3.Change  in  the  preferences  of  the  buyers  is  another  limitations  because  the 
product can be sold if there will be demand in the market. 
  23 

REFERENCES

www.wikipedia.org/web_content_management/

www.managementparadise.com/cloud_computing

www.about.com/online_shopping

Other inspiration is taken from the work done in the Software Project
Management Classes.