Java E-commerce/Inventory/WorkFlow

Application Structure I would like for this to be done using Java Struts as the framework, Hibernate to connect to a MySQL database. I suspect that Apache Tomcat should be sufficient as the application server. If you feel the need to use JBoss that is fine as well. As I detailed in my other project the structure of the application should be the following: Request===> Stuts Action===> Service Object ===> DAO interface to the database using Hibernate. <=== DTO return jave bean objects populated with necessary data. JSP front end. Using JSTL. Structure of packages Ecommerce/ Customer Console ----------------------------------- [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] Admin Console ------------------------------------ [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] Plant Workflow Console --------------------------------- [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] JSP Location ----------------------------- WEB-INFjsp lib files ----------------------------- WEB-INFlib Please provide a demo to ensure functionality is complete. Willing to work through escrow account. Please provide payment terms. The solutions will be deployed to a production server after acceptance by consultant. Online E-commerce Website The online website will provide the following functionality: The website will provide an ecommerce site for a company that prints books. In addition there will be some admin functionality to maintain the site and inventory. 1. Quote Request: Provide quotes for customers based on the selections that are made by the customer. a. Collect book details based on predefined criteria. The criteria will include the following i. Customer Information ii. Print Details iii. Text Information iv. Cover v. Pre-Press vi. Binding b. Basic Customer pricing will be based the following parameters. i. Page Size 1. Sizes smaller than 5 ½ X 8 ½ Price level 1 2. Sizes from 5½ X 8 ½ to 7 x 10 Price level 2 3. Sizes larger than 7 X 10 Price level 3 ii. Page Weight iii. Color 1. Black and white 2. 2 Color 3. 4 Color Note: Pricing will be set using the administrative console. See below for details. c. Coupons Processing: Coupon codes can be used to discount rates or to apply a fixed amount discount. This will be based on a percentage rating and both will be defined in the administrative console. d. Sales Representative Contact: Allows the customer to have a sales representative contact them about their order. Note: To receive a quote the customer needs to complete the basic customer information steps. 2. Order processing : After the customer has submitted their job for a quote and has decided to purchase printing services the system will perform the following functions: a. Gather Shipping and Handling information: The customer can pick the type of shipping that they want to have with the delivery of their books. This will be driven by selections made in the Administrative section. b. File Upload: The customer can upload the file to be printed. c. FTP Upload: FTP upload will be provided so that if a customer needs to upload documents to the site they can do it using this tool. This will be provided to current customers. The customer’s job will be uploaded to their individual customer directory. Some in the industry are more familiar with this technique so it will be provided. d. Billing information: This section will collect the billing and shipping information for the order. i. Credit Card Payment Processing: The application will collect orders and process credit card payments. This module will integrate with the Company Merchant provider. ii. Cash, Check Purchase Processing: Orders that request these payment types will be placed in a hold status until approved for processing through the plant. e. Order Review. At this point in the order process the customer will review order details. If they want to make changes they can hit the back button. If they approve of the order they will be asked to approve the order. i. Note: Shipping and Handling charges will NOT be included. A note detailing this will also be on this page and their confirmation page. Shipping and handling will be charged after the book has been printed. f. Order Confirmation Page: The confirmation page will show the customer that their order has been processed. They will be given an order number and be taken to their customer console. g. Order Status: The customer can log onto the site and track the status of the order as it moves through the plant. Customer Console The customer will have the ability to log onto the site to track the progress of their order through the system. They will also be able to re-submit previous orders. 1. Order listings: The customer will be able to see the orders that they have placed that are current as well as past orders. 2. Re-print requests: The customer will be able to re-print previous jobs by selecting the order and re-submitting it for printing. a. They will be able to change the number of books printed. b. They will be able to upload a new Cover Page c. They will be able to upload a new print file. 3. Order Status and Shipment Tracking: After the shipping number has been entered into the Plant Work Flow console an email will be sent to the customer linking them to the shipping site with their id number preloaded to show the status of their shipment. That link will also be displayed in this section for the customer to click. 4. Printed Proof approval: The customer will be sent an email when the printed proof is shipped. It will have a link to this section which will allow the customer to approve the print proof. The following are the selections. a. Ok to print b. Ok print with corrections: If this is selected a text box will come up which will allow the author to make the suggested corrections. An email will be sent to the person responsible for managing print proof approvals. If correction details are made in the job this information will be included in the email and the Order details so that the print staff can be aware of the requests. Backend Administrative Console The backend console will allow the staff to do the following: 1. Order approval: After an order has been processed online the order will be sent for print proof creation. a. Jobs that have been charged on credit cards will be automatically approved for processing for a print proof. b. Jobs based on purchase order, check or cash will be manually approved by internal staff after payment. Question. Do we want to create a proof automatically for these payment types? c. After print proof approval has been made the order will automatically become available for processing by the print plant. This will be done either by the customer or manually by staff. 2. Order Processing: Order can be retrieved by the following methods: i. Individual job number ii. Customer name iii. Description. iv. Range of Job numbers v. All open orders vi. All orders closed and open by date range. 3. Shipping Manager: Rates will be applied using this section of the application. This will allow staff to modify rates as they see fit. The types of shipping that will be offered a. Type of shipping: I.E Ground, 2nd day, Over night etc b. Shipper: USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx c. Shipping Status: Will include the following i. Order Shipping Confirmation Message: The message that will be in the email to the customer confirming shipment of the order. ii. Proof Shipping message. 4. Order Modification: Modification can be made to the order prior to being charged. This will include making changes to the following a. Price: Changes to price can be made prior to payment. b. Discounts can be applied to individual orders to reduce the order amount. c. Proof Approval: Staff can approve the print proof which then sends an email accounting personnel to charge the customers account or to bill them depending on the order payment selection. 5. Tax Rates: This section will be used to apply tax rate for each order. This will be based on the state that the Customer’s resides. 6. Email Address: This will indicate where emails will be sent within the company for the following functions a. Print Proof Approval b. New Order arrival c. Inventory control 7. Foreign Order Management: This section will allow the associate to identify which countries can place orders. 8. Manual Order Entry: In the event an associate needs to enter an order for a customer they can do it with through the administrative console. 9. Online text modification: Each page on the web site will have administrative access to text sections. This will allow staff to modify text on the site as is needed. 10. Image Upload: Images on certain sections of the site will be changeable by uploading a new image. 11. Inventory Management: The inventory management will include the following functionality: a. Reorder level on items b. Current Inventory Report: Report details inventory on hand. c. Reorder emailing to inventory manager when reorder level is reached or predicted to be reached by incoming work load. d. Inventory Adjustment: As inventory gets out of sync changes can be made to update inventory on individual items in inventory. 12. Accounting package export functionality: Export in a format that can be used by Company in their accounting system. This format will be in QuickBooks 2005 format. 13. Coupons: section will include the following information: a. Coupon Name b. Date range for coupon acceptance. c. Type of discount i. Fixed amount ii. Percentage d. Indicate if one per customer or the number of times that it can be used per customer. e. Add or delete coupons. f. Campaign Name g. Total Cost of Campaign 14. Discounts: a. Applied on individual order: Discounts can be applied to orders on a per order basis This is done in the order processing section. b. Applied at the Customer Level: Discounts can be applied at to an individual customer by a member of the staff. This will be reflected on ALL orders made by this customer. This is done in the Customer listing section. 15. Pricing: Quotes will be based on the following determinations. Pricing will be applied at a per page rate. a. Page Size i. Sizes smaller than 5 ½ X 8 ½ ii. Sizes from 5½ X 8 ½ to 7 x 10 iii. Sizes larger than 7 X 10 b. Page Weight: Staff will add page weight selections that will appear in the customer quote. i. Page Weight ii. Description iii. Cost per page c. Color i. Black and white ii. 2 Color iii. 4 Color 16. Customer Listing. From this section the staff member will be able to do the following a. Open individual orders for each customer. b. Designate discount rate for customer as discussed above. c. Approve or disapprove customer for work requests. d. Apply print proof approval for processing to plant. e. Modify customer information to include i. Billing and shipping addresses ii. Phone and contact information. 17. Backend Admin Console User Access: This will be used to provide access to the Administrative console for individual users. a. Question: Note do we want to limit access by section? For example do we want to limit access to customer information, payment processing etc? This can be done by sections within the 18. Plant Flow Console User Access: The staff member will add associate/s who have access to the Plant Work Flow Console site. 19. Reporting will include the following reports. Each will be based on modifiable report period or for the date printed depending on the report. a. Listings of all orders in the report period b. Current orders being processed in the plant. c. Orders waiting for approval. d. Inventory Report showing inventory usage for report period. This report will show the running total of inventory as well as the on hand total. e. Current Inventory and stock level report f. Coupon Campaign Report: Detailing orders associated with each marketing campaign. g. Wastage report detailing wastage for report period by job. h. Wastage report by associate i. Customer orders alphabetized by customer in report date zone. Plant Work Flow Console This part of the online system will provide tracking of jobs as they progress through the plant The following will be included within this console: 1. Order listing: This can be used by an associate to pick a job/s for work in a particular section of the plant. Orders will be queued by date. Orders can be searched by the following. a. Job number b. Customer Name c. Description 2. Order Station Assignment: As an order goes through the plant each associate will indicate what station the job is currently located in the plant. This will be reflected in the customer console and the administrative console. 3. Resource assignment: Each job will have the following assigned to each order a. Time at each station b. Associate who worked on the order at each station c. Number of pages of paper to print. Should match the total unless wastage occurred. 4. Shipping: a. Shipping status will be changed to indicate who the shipper was and the tracking number. When the status has been changed to a status of “shipped” an email will be sent the customer with a link to the shiper’s website and their code will be loaded to show the status of their order. This will be for the major shippers in the US. FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS b. This information will also be reflected in the Administrative console so that if a customer calls to inquire about their order a member of the staff will be able to bring the link up to find out what the shipping status of the order is at that time. c. Shipping and handling fee’s will be charged to the customers account prior to shipping. 5. Inventory Alerts: Inventory will send email alerts using two formats. a. Pre-Order: When a job has been approved the number of pages required for printing will be deducted against running total to determine if it will cause a reorder alert. b. Re-order level alert: After a job has been printed the pages used will be deducted from the total on hand. If re-order levels are reached an email will be sent to the inventory control person. This should be the second email alerting staff on this issue. The pre order email would be the first. Note: Running total is the number in total number of pages in the inventory reduced by the number of pages in the queue to be printed. Total is the number of pages that are on hand. The total will be will be reduced after the jobs have been printed and this has been entered into the job order. 6. Wastage: Each order will have the ability to include wastage. This will assist with job costing analysis. Types of waste can include the following a. Duplicated Printing required. b. Cutting Error c. Binding Error d. Poor Print Quality e. Mis-Print Error f. Print alignment Error g. Print File Error on data file. h. Incorrect format on data file. i. Poor Resolution on data file. j. Other New Site Layout Eagle Creek will provide 3 site templates that can be used for the new site layout. The site will include the information from the previous site in a new format. This format will be streamlined and will include the current site information as detailed below. Current Site Layout i. Home Page ii. About Us iii. Capabilities iv. Pre-Press v. Production Capabilities vi. Finishing’s vii. Innovations viii. Online Services: This page will include the following functionality 1. Job Tracking 2. FTP Upload 3. Online Quotes ix. Products and Services (Appears to be redundant) x. Employment xi. Contact Us xii. Faq xiii. Partners xiv. Testimonials xv. Privacy xvi. Text Counter on entry page Marketing Integration 1. Google Integration: Insert script code in website to allow Google to track website usage and to provide reporting using Google Analytics. Google Analystic is a free service provided by Google. 2. Yahoo Integration: Insert script code in the website to allow Yahoo to track website usage using Yahoo Search. This is somewhat limited but can provide conversion rate information for Yahoo Search clients. 3. Google Analytics account setup: This will allow the company to track conversion rates for the following: a. Orders b. Quote Requests c. Request for information 4. Training of staff on usage of Google Analytics to determine how effective online marketing campaigns are for ad words. 5. Setup of initial adwords campaign in Google. . FAQ. 1. Quote Request: Do you want them to be able to ask for a sales representive to contact them instead of going through the quote request process? Yes. 2. Quote Request: If a job has been submitted by a credit card do you want it to be processed directly into the plant or do you want to manually approve each job before it is sent to the plant for processing. Answer: Straight to the plant after approval for the print proof has been made submitted. 3. Quote Request: Can pricing be affected by selections such as binding, covers etc? Do you do hard back printing or just soft cover. Answer: Yes The factors that affect price are the following: c. Paper weight, d. Color e. Paper Size: 4. Quote Request /Backend Console: Do you want to base shipping on handling on percentage of overall cost, weight or other factor/s? Answer: Phase one will not include shipping and handling fees to be included in the initial quote. This will be detailed on the request page so that the customer knows that shipping fees will be charged at the time of shipping. 5. Site Layout: Do you want to maintain the current layout and structure of the current site? Answer: Eagle Creek will provide several template suggestions for the site. This is the best approach to limit erratic behavior between systems. 6. You do not have search functionality added to the site. Answer: Search is not needed but a Drop down listing would be beneficial. 7. Backend Administration (Export): What export format works best? Quick Books, Excel, CSV? Answer: Quick Books 2005. 8. Work Flow Console: Do you want to track time at each section for each job so that you can see time allotments on each job and for each worker? Answer: Yes Time should be track time on each order. This is NOT a mandatory field. 9. Customer Console: Do you want a customer to be able to resubmit an order? If so it will be submitted back through the order processing module. This will ensure that if pricing changes have been made the new order will reflect those changes. Answer: Yes re-print functionality should be included. 10. Inventory Management: What type of unit will be used to track paper inventory by the box, pallet, ream or other method? Answer: Track by sheet. The only type of inventory that will be tracked is paper. 11. Order Processing: Customers will be charged 50% at the submission stage? When will the remainder be required to be charged? Answer: When the customer approves the print proof the remainder of the order will be charged.