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FIT1009 e-Commerce systems - Semester 2 , 2008

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Unit leader :

Guojun Lu

Lecturer(s) :

Gippsland

  • Guojun Lu
  • Gour Karmakar

South Africa

  • Komla Pillay

Malaysia

  • Ong Chin Eang

Introduction

Welcome to FIT1009/GCO2803! This 6 point unit is a core unit for the Business Systems major of Bachelor of Information Technology and Systems (BITS). At the end of the unit, students will be able to understand and evaluate many important concepts and technologies in e-commerce and e-business. At the end of the learning, students will be all e-savvy when they prepare to take on business.

Unit synopsis

This unit introduces fundamental electronic commerce systems and technologies including Internet commerce infrastructures, relationships to business strategies, client-side and server-side security,legal and management issues for effective use of Internet commerce. It provides students with necessary information and knowledge about the purpose, structure, and use of the Internet-based business systems. Specific topics in this unit include:

The Internet and business use of the Internet. Internet commerce and Internet mechanisms and infrastructures. Internet commerce software and multimedia. Internet commerce standards and security. Internet commerce systems implementation and application development. Electronic payment systems. Internet transaction processing and business models for the Internet. Internet commerce strategies, intranets and extranets, managing and maintaining an Internet commerce presence. On-line Internet case development. Global opportunities and issues and trends in Internet commerce.

Learning outcomes

This unit aims to provide students with necessary information and knowledge of how the Internet can be used for solving business problems. On completion of this subject the students will be able to:

  • Appreciate the nature of Internet and its use for business;
  • Understand and define Internet commerce;
  • Understand Internet mechanisms and infrastructures and their application;
  • Describe the role of Internet commerce payment systems and how they are implemented;
  • Explain why standards and security are required for Internet commerce;
  • Describe how Internet-based commerce systems are implemented;
  • Develop an extensive understanding of how Internet commerce concepts, strategies, mechanisms, and infrastructures are brought together to produce Internet-based commerce systems;
  • Discuss issues and trends in Internet commerce.

Workload

For on campus students, workload commitments are:

  • two-hour lecture and
  • two-hour tutorial (or laboratory) (requiring advance preparation)
  • a minimum of 2-3 hours of personal study per one hour of contact time inorder to satisfy the reading and assignment expectations.

  • You will need to allocate up to 4 hours per week for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.

Off-campusstudents generally do not attend lecture and tutorial sessions,however, you should plan to spend equivalent time working through the unit  resources and participating in discussion groups each week.

Unit relationships

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this unit.

Relationships

FIT1009 is a core unit in the Business Sytems major of the Bachelor of Information Technology and Systems (BITS).

There are no prerequisites for this unit..

You may not study this unit and GCO2601, BEW1601, ELC1000, IMS2704, IMS3280, BEG1601, CPE3008 in your degree.

 

Continuous improvement

Monash is committed to ‘Excellence in education' and strives for the highest possible quality in teaching and learning. To monitor how successful we are in providing quality teaching and learning Monash regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. Two of the formal ways that you are invited to provide feedback are through Unit Evaluations and through Monquest Teaching Evaluations.

One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through Unit Evaluation Surveys. It is Monash policy for every unit offered to be evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys as they are an important avenue for students to "have their say". The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.

Student Evaluations

The Faculty of IT administers the Unit Evaluation surveys online through the my.monash portal, although for some smaller classes there may be alternative evaluations conducted in class.

If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, please go to http://www.monash.edu.au/unit-evaluation-reports/

Over the past few years the Faculty of Information Technology has made a number of improvements to its courses as a result of unit evaluation feedback. Some of these include systematic analysis and planning of unit improvements, and consistent assignment return guidelines.

Monquest Teaching Evaluation surveys may be used by some of your academic staff this semester. They are administered by the Centre for Higher Education Quality (CHEQ) and may be completed in class with a facilitator or on-line through the my.monash portal. The data provided to lecturers is completely anonymous. Monquest surveys provide academic staff with evidence of the effectiveness of their teaching and identify areas for improvement. Individual Monquest reports are confidential, however, you can see the summary results of Monquest evaluations for 2006 at http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/cheq/evaluations/monquest/profiles/index.html

Unit staff - contact details

Unit leader

Professor Guojun Lu
Professor, and Associate Dean , Teaching
Phone +61 3 990 26857 +61 3 990 32847

Lecturer(s) :

Ong Chin Eang
Professor Guojun Lu
Professor, and Associate Dean , Teaching
Phone +61 3 990 26857 +61 3 990 32847
Dr Gour Karmakar
Lecturer
Phone +61 3 990 26252
Ms Komla Pillay

Teaching and learning method

  • The unit is taught in both on-campus and off-campus modes
  • On campus students will have one 2 hour lecture and one 2 hour tutorial per week.
  • Copies of lecture slides and tutorial exercises will be made available to all students through the unit website.
  • All students, on and off campus will be supplied with online study materials.
  • Lectures will provide students with the knowledge of fundamental theories and concepts. The tutorials will provides tudents with an opportunity to discuss and apply the concepts throughcase studies and problem solving exercises.

Off-campus distributed learning or flexible delivery

Off-campus learning offers students with the flexibility of learning anywhere around the world.

Communication, participation and feedback

Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.

It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.

Unit Schedule

Week Topic Study guide Key dates
1 Overview of eCommerce 1  
2 B2C Models 2  
3 B2B Models 3  
4 Technologies of eCommerce 4  
5 Web Marketing 5  
6 MobileCommerce / Web Design 6  
7 Client Side Security 7 25 August (A1 due)
8 Communication Channel Security 8  
9 Server Side Security/Security Protocols 9  
10 Payments Systems 1 10  
11 Payment Systems 2 11  
Mid semester break
12 Legal, Ethical and Tax Issues 12 10 October (A2 Due)
13 Revision    

Unit Resources

Prescribed text(s) and readings

Schneider, Gary, "Electronic Commerce", Thomson Course Technology, 7th Edition, 2007,  ISBN 13: 978-1-4188-3703-7

Text books are available from the Monash University Book Shops. Availability from other suppliers cannot be assured. The Bookshop orders texts in specifically for this unit. You are advised to purchase your text book early.

Recommended text(s) and readings

Fuller F (2000). "Getting Started with Electronic Commerce". The Dryden Press.

Greenstein, M., Vasarhelyi, M. (2002), "Electronic Commerce - Security, Risk Management, and Control", 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill.

Lawrence, E., Corbitt, Tidwell, Fisher and Lawrence, J. (1998), "Internet Commerce - Digital Models for Business", John Wiley & Sons.

McComb G (1998). "Web Commerce Cookbook". John Wiley & Sons.

Treese, W G and Stewart, L C. (1998) "Designing systems For Internet Commerce", Addison-Welsey.

Deitel. H, Deitel.P and Steinbuhler.K, "e-Business & e-Commerce for Managers ", Prentice Hall, 2001.

Required software and/or hardware

There is no software requirement

Equipment and consumables required or provided

Students studying off-campus are required to have the minimum system configuration specified by the Faculty as a condition of accepting admission, and regular Internet access. On-campus students, and those studying at supported study locations may use the facilities available in the computing labs. Information about computer use for students is available from the ITS Student Resource Guide in the Monash University Handbook. You will need to allocate up to 4 hours per week for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.

Study resources

Study resources we will provide for your study are:

The FIT1009 web site on MUSO, where lecture slides, weekly tutorial requirements, assignment specifications, sample solutions and supplementary materials will be posted.

This web site also contains:

  • the Unit Book containing 12 Study Guides (in .pdf format).
  • newsgroups / discussion forums

This Unit Information outlining the administrative information for the unit

Library access

The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching. To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.  Be sure to obtain a copy of the Library Guide, and if necessary, the instructions for remote access from the library website.

Monash University Studies Online (MUSO)

All unit and lecture materials are available through MUSO (Monash University Studies Online). Blackboard is the primary application used to deliver your unit resources. Some units will be piloted in Moodle. If your unit is piloted in Moodle, you will see a link from your Blackboard unit to Moodle (http://moodle.monash.edu.au) and can bookmark this link to access directly. In Moodle, from the Faculty of Information Technology category, click on the link for your unit.

You can access MUSO and Blackboard via the portal: http://my.monash.edu.au

Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then Blackboard under the MUSO learning systems.

In order for your Blackboard unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.

For example:

  • Blackboard supported browser
  • Supported Java runtime environment

For more information, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html

You can contact the MUSO Support by: Phone: (+61 3) 9903 1268

For further contact information including operational hours, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html

Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html

Assessment

Unit assessment policy

The unit is assessed with two assignments and a three hour closed book examination. To pass the unit you must:

  • attempt both assignments and the examination
  • achieve no less that 40% of the possible marks in the exam
  • achieve no less than 50% of possible marks

 Final grade = min(A+10, E+10, E*R+A*(1-R)) where:

  • A=overall assignment percentage
  • E=examination percentage
  • R= exam weighting (0.6)

Assignment tasks

  • Assignment Task

    Title : Assignment 1

    Description :

    This assignment consists of a number of short-answer questions, covering the topics taught in the first five weeks of the semester. The questions will test your understanding of main concepts and technologies of eCommerce systems.

    Weighting : 20%

    Criteria for assessment :

    The assignment will be marked using the following criteria: (1) Correctness, (2) Relevance and (3) Clarity. A detailed marking scheme will be published together with assignment questions.

    Due date : 25 August, 2008

  • Assignment Task

    Title : Assignment 2

    Description :

    This assignment consists of a number of short-answer questions, covering the topics taught in the second part of the semester. The questions will test your understanding of main concepts and technologies of eCommerce systems.

    Weighting : 20%

    Criteria for assessment :

    The assignment will be marked using the following criteria: (1)Correctness, (2) Relevance and (3) Clarity. A detailed marking schemewill be published together with assignment questions.

    Due date : 10 October, 2008

Examinations

  • Examination

    Weighting : 60%

    Length : 3 hours

    Type ( open/closed book ) : closed book

Assignment submission

All assignments should be submitted through the MUSO assignment submission system which can be assessed via the unit muso site.

Do not email submissions. The due date is the date by which the submission must be received.

Assignment coversheets

Assignment coversheets are provided in the Muso/ blackboard assignment submisison system.

University and Faculty policy on assessment

Due dates and extensions

The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.

Late assignment

Assignments received after the due date will be subject to a penalty of 5% for each day an assignment is late, up until the cutoff date. No assignment will be accepted after the cutoff date (usually 1 week after the due date).

Return dates

Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.

Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/

We will aim to have assignment results made available to you within two weeks after assignment receipt.

Plagiarism, cheating and collusion

Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating  has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with Student Rights and Responsibilities (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/committees-groups/facboard/policies/studrights.html) and the Faculty regulations that apply to students detected cheating as these will be applied in all detected cases.

In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work. 

When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer. 

Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.

Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.

Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.

Register of counselling about plagiarism

The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.

Non-discriminatory language

The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:

Deferred assessment and special consideration

Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.