Professional Skills for Systems Analysis: A Project Plan for Amazon eCommerce Activity

This project plan explains the website design and implementation, employees training and maintenance of the Amazon website. It also elaborates the probable risks that Amazon faces and the methods by which they can mitigate those risks.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Professional Skills for Systems Analysis
Name of the Student
Student ID
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Abstract
Amazon is an eCommerce site where the sellers sell a wide range of products ranging from beauty products,
make-up products to health products. The site also offers discounts and attractive deals. They are known to have
an excellent return policy. The project plan gives a general overview of all the project activities Amazon carries
out. The project plan explains the website design and implementation, employees training and along with that the
maintenance of the website. The fact-finding section illustrates how Amazon can affordably offer product items.
The fact-finding section also explains the risks the users face while conducting shopping. Finally, the security
issues have been elaborated. The recommendations have been made for the top management. The CEO must take
appropriate actions to solve the customers’ issues and to mitigate the security risks. The project report illustrates
all these actions in details.

2PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
1. Organisation Background......................................................................................................................................3
2. Time Management Plan.........................................................................................................................................3
2.1. Work Breakdown Structure............................................................................................................................3
2.2. Task-Sequencing Approaches........................................................................................................................4
Gantt Chart.............................................................................................................................................................6
3. Fact-Finding...........................................................................................................................................................7
i. Interviews...........................................................................................................................................................7
ii. Documentation review.......................................................................................................................................7
iii. Observation......................................................................................................................................................7
iv. Questionnaires..................................................................................................................................................8
v. Research.............................................................................................................................................................8
4. Amazon Organisation Chart..................................................................................................................................9
6. Report to Top Management.................................................................................................................................10
7. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................................11
8. References............................................................................................................................................................12

3PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
1. Organisation Background
Amazon is an electronic commerce website based in Seattle, Washington. Amazon previously sold only
books. However, they now sell beauty products, make-up products, health and personal care items. They sell
electronics goods as well. They offer lighting deals, offers and discounts to the customers. Both the individual
retailers and the retailers use the Amazon platform to sell their products. Their delivery process is fast, smooth
and convenient. They also initiated same day delivery. Moreover, Amazon has an excellent return policy.
Amazon has the market all over the world, not limited to only Australia only. The report explains the ecommerce
operations conducted by Amazon. The project report also elaborates the probable risks that Amazon faces and
the methods by which they can mitigate those risks.
2. Time Management Plan
2.1. Work Breakdown Structure
WBS Task Name Duration Start Finish
0 Amazon eCommerce Activity 239 days Mon 02-04-18 Thu 28-02-19
1 Requirement Analysis 31 days Mon 02-04-18 Mon 14-05-18
2 Amazon Website Design 125 days Fri 04-05-18 Thu 25-10-18
3 Amazon Website Implementation 47 days Fri 26-10-18 Mon 31-12-18
4 Amazon eCommerce Workings 11 days Tue 01-01-19 Tue 15-01-19
5 Review of Customers 10 days Fri 09-11-18 Thu 22-11-18
6 Employees Training 38 days Tue 20-11-18 Thu 10-01-19
7 Maintenance of Amazon Website 14 days Fri 11-01-19 Wed 30-01-19
8 Marketing 14 days Thu 31-01-19 Tue 19-02-19
9 Project Closure 14 days Mon 11-02-19 Thu 28-02-19

4PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
2.2. Task-Sequencing Approaches
Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Amazon eCommerce Activity 239 days Mon 02-04-18 Thu 28-02-19
Requirement Analysis 31 days Mon 02-04-18 Mon 14-05-18
Analysis of Project Stakeholders 7 days Mon 02-04-18 Tue 10-04-18
Cost Benefit Analysis 10 days Wed 11-04-18 Tue 24-04-18 2
Technical Analysis 10 days Wed 11-04-18 Tue 24-04-18 2
Business Operations Analysis 7 days Wed 25-04-18 Thu 03-05-18 2,3,4
Assess Project Risks 7 days Fri 04-05-18 Mon 14-05-18 3,4,5
Amazon Website Design 125 days Fri 04-05-18 Thu 25-10-18
Webpage Design Layout 5 days Fri 04-05-18 Thu 10-05-18 4,5
Designing Homepage 20 days Fri 11-05-18 Thu 07-06-18 8
Designing Database 30 days Fri 08-06-18 Thu 19-07-18 8,9
Featuring Design 15 days Fri 20-07-18 Thu 09-08-18 8,9,10
Module Design 15 days Fri 10-08-18 Thu 30-08-18 11
Developing Payment Gateway 14 days Fri 31-08-18 Wed 19-09-18 12
Developing Admin Control Panel 12 days Fri 31-08-18 Mon 17-09-18 12
Listing Project Category 20 days Fri 31-08-18 Thu 27-09-18 12
Detailed List of Items 20 days Fri 28-09-18 Thu 25-10-18 15
Amazon Website Implementation 47 days Fri 26-10-18 Mon 31-12-18
Website Domain and Hosting 10 days Fri 26-10-18 Thu 08-11-18 16
Website Deploying 7 days Fri 09-11-18 Mon 19-11-18 18
Website Testing 30 days Tue 20-11-18 Mon 31-12-18 19
Amazon eCommerce Workings 11 days Tue 01-01-19 Tue 15-01-19
Amazon Homepage 6 days Tue 01-01-19 Tue 08-01-19
Catalogue 2 days Tue 01-01-19 Wed 02-01-19
Product Image 2 days Tue 01-01-19 Wed 02-01-19 20
Product Title 2 days Tue 01-01-19 Wed 02-01-19 20
Product Details 4 days Thu 03-01-19 Tue 08-01-19
Product Price 2 days Thu 03-01-19 Fri 04-01-19 24,25
Product Description 2 days Mon 07-01-19 Tue 08-01-19 24,25,27
Shopping Cart 5 days Wed 09-01-19 Tue 15-01-19
Checkout 4 days Wed 09-01-19 Mon 14-01-19
Customer Register 2 days Wed 09-01-19 Thu 10-01-19 28
Customer Login 2 days Fri 11-01-19 Mon 14-01-19 31
Payment Process 1 day Tue 15-01-19 Tue 15-01-19
Bank Card Payment 1 day Tue 15-01-19 Tue 15-01-19 28,32
Pay-On-Delivery 1 day Tue 15-01-19 Tue 15-01-19 28,32
Review of Customers 10 days Fri 09-11-18 Thu 22-11-18
Customers' Ratings and
Feedback 10 days Fri 09-11-18 Thu 22-11-18 18
Questionnaire Survey to know
the user-friendliness of Amazon
website
10 days Fri 09-11-18 Thu 22-11-18 18
Employees Training 38 days Tue 20-11-18 Thu 10-01-19
Admin Staffs' Training 10 days Tue 20-11-18 Mon 03-12-18 18,19
Subordinates' Training 14 days Tue 04-12-18 Fri 21-12-18 40

5PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Stakeholders' Training 14 days Mon 24-12-18 Thu 10-01-19 41
Maintenance of Amazon Website 14 days Fri 11-01-19 Wed 30-01-19
Data Analysis 14 days Fri 11-01-19 Wed 30-01-19 16,38,40,41,42,37
Marketing 14 days Thu 31-01-19 Tue 19-02-19
Marketing via Social Media 7 days Thu 31-01-19 Fri 08-02-19 44
Collaboration with Major
Ecommerce sites and marketing 7 days Mon 11-02-19 Tue 19-02-19 46
Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO) 7 days Thu 31-01-19 Fri 08-02-19 44
Project Closure 14 days Mon 11-02-19 Thu 28-02-19
Project Handover to Client 5 days Mon 11-02-19 Fri 15-02-19 18,46
Client's Agreement 5 days Mon 18-02-19 Fri 22-02-19 50
Preparation of Documentation 4 days Mon 25-02-19 Thu 28-02-19 51
Resource Release 3 days Mon 25-02-19 Wed 27-02-19 51

6PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Gantt Chart

7PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
3. Fact-Finding
i. Interviews
IT Manager and the Director of Sales will participate in the interview. A set of questionnaires will be
asked to the customers and the clients of Amazon. Their feedback will be recorded. Both the positive and the
negative feedback of the customers will help them to conduct the business activities well. They can serve their
customers well.
ii. Documentation review
The project plan contains the timeline schedule of the project activities related to the project. The
Amazon ecommerce activity project plan explains the main deliverables like the requirement analysis, Amazon
website design, Amazon website implementation, customers’ reviews, employees training, maintenance of the
website and lastly the marketing of the products through Amazon website. The deliverables illustrate how
Amazon designs the website and conduct the ecommerce activities (Zhang et al. 2015). The business clients and
the users can get an overview how Amazon works. The users can acknowledge the project priorities. They can be
to know the activities which Amazon conducts one after another.
iii. Observation
The project plan illustrates the project deliverables in details. First of all, the project stakeholders are
analysed. Then the cost-benefit analysis of the project is assessed. After that, the technical analysis and the risk
analysis are conducted. After completion of the project requirements analysis, the website is designed. The
database is setup and is incorporated into the website. The IT department and the software developers setup the
website. The database developers setup the database. The sellers those who want to use Amazon to sell their
items sell through Amazon website online. The interested customers purchase the items according to their
choices. In the Amazon ecommerce website, all the products are listed. The website shows the product price and
the product description. Amazon checks the stock availability and updates the website (Eissa, El-Sharkawi and
Mokhtar 2016). If any customer wants to purchase any item which is not available, Amazon will alert him or her
with the message that the product is currently available. If the product is available, the customer can add that

8PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
item to the cart. The customers have the option to buy items through two payment modes, either by pay-per-
delivery or by bank cards.
The project plan also explains the three options by which Amazon carry out the marketing procedure.
Amazon conducts marketing by Search Engine Optimisation and by collaborating with major ecommerce sites.
However, the website has security flaws; the intruders can take advantage of that and can make the website
vulnerable to use.
iv. Questionnaires
 How do the sellers can sell their products in cheap, affordable and smart way via Amazon Website?
 What are the risks the users can face while shopping from Amazon Website?
 What are the security issues that are associated with the Amazon ecommerce operations?
v. Research
The research data for this report will be collected in the form of questionnaires and interview. The Sales
Director, as well as the IT Manager, will give their responses or feedback. The feedback will be collected from
the customers and the sellers as well (Kumar and Qureshi 2017). Qualitative data analysis will be conducted for
this project report. The data analysis help to acknowledge how the security issues related to Amazon ecommerce
activities can be mitigated. The sellers will be able to know how they can sell the products affordable and
smartly such that both the sellers can earn more profits and can satisfy the customers.

9PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
4. Amazon Organisation Chart
IT Manager
The IT Manager will be asked the following questions-
 What are the challenges Amazon users will face while shopping?
 What are the cyber security issues associated with the Amazon ecommerce activities? How do the IT
Team will manage the issues?
Director of Sales
Director of Sales will be asked the following questions-
 How will the Sales Team enhance the productivity of the company?
 What will be strategies the Director will take to compete against the rivals?

1
0
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
5. “AS IS” Process
The customer first orders an item. Amazon receives the order and checks stock levels from the sellers. If the
stock is not available, Amazon requests the customer to change the order or to choose different seller. If the stock
is available, then Amazon packs the item and delivers it to the customer.
The ordering and shipping process of product items can be improvised. Amazon can create a section called
Warehouse. The ordering process and the shipping process are carried out via Amazon Warehouse. Therefore,
the Sales Representative Team of Amazon eCommerce can request the Warehouse to pack product item and
then deliver it to the customer.
6. Report to Top Management
The researchers will forward the data analysis results to Amazon’s top management (CEO). The primary
objective of the top management (CEO) is to analyse the risks the customers of Amazon are facing and mitigate
them. The data analysis will assist Amazon to know the risks the users are facing.
The CEO must undertake suitable processes so that the customers can carry out online shopping on
Amazon safe and securely without any hassle. The customers are always feared of online shopping. They worry
whether they will get the right product or not. They are also concerned if they are not satisfied with the product
they can return the product or not. Amazon should make deliver products on time. They should make the return
policies smooth so they customers can trust Amazon. Amazon must reduce the revenues which the sellers pay

1
1
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
them. The sellers can be able to reduce the prices of the products. Both the sellers and Amazon can increase the
customer base and can earn huge profit. Also, Amazon must install an antivirus program, along with that they
must implement a firewall. Amazon must update the antivirus program on a daily basis; it will facilitate both the
users and the sellers.
The project scope includes the analysis of risks the sellers and the customers are currently dealing with.
The project scope also includes the mitigation of all the risks related to product shipment, product delivery, and
return policy and cybersecurity.
The top management is recommended to hire the skilled workforce who will follow the policies of
Amazon and will work ethically and efficiently. The workforce must be able to serve customers well and must
satisfy them. The CEO must conduct all their duties timely without any delay. The CEO will have to keep in
mind the cybersecurity issues. It is his responsibility to assure safety and security of the database and the system.
In this way, the customers and the employees can carry out the ecommerce activities safely, securely and
efficiently without any hassle.
7. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discourse that the top management by following the recommendations
properly can solve the customers’ problems. Amazon can also mitigate the cybersecurity risks by installing an
antivirus program. The fact-finding section showcases how the customers can purchase product items at an
affordable price. The fact-finding section demonstrates the risks the customers face while conducting shopping
via Amazon eCommerce website. The project report also prepares a project plan. The project plan contains the
list of activities Amazon performs.

1
2
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
8. References
Belk, M., Germanakos, P., Asimakopoulos, S., Andreou, P., Mourlas, C., Spanoudis, G. and Samaras, G., 2014,
June. An individual differences approach in adaptive waving of user checkout process in retail eCommerce.
In International Conference on HCI in Business (pp. 451-460). Springer, Cham.
Bhupender, M., 2017. Indian Confrontation To Ecommerce. IJASRE, 3.
Demmelhuber, W. and Cato, P., 2016. Obstacles To Global B2C eCommerce From China And The USA
Depending On Local Fiscal and Customs Regulations Into The EU: Limitations To Be Dealt With.
Eissa, A.H., El-Sharkawi, M.E. and Mokhtar, H.M., 2016, November. Constructing Topic Hierarchy Tree for
User Interests From Multiple Knowledge Bases. In The Fifth International Conference on Informatics and
Applications (ICIA2016) (p. 123).
Jindal, S. and Jindal, A., 2016. A Study on Factors Affecting Online Shopping Behaviour of
Consumers. International Journal of Management, IT and Engineering, 6(5), pp.20-35.
Kumar, G.A.A. and Qureshi, A.H., 2017. Study of machine learning based recommendation techniques used by
Ecommerce. International Journal Of Engineering And Computer Science, 6(4).
Poornima, K., Yash, J., Sakshi, K. and Meghrani, P., 2016. Intuitive Ecommerce System using Machine
Learning. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science, 7(2).
Tran, V., Guinn, C., Kline, D. and Simmonds, D., 2014. An Application of Knowledge Discovery in Textual
Databases to Identify Sentiments in Product Reviews. Annals of the Master of Science in Computer Science and
Information Systems at UNC Wilmington, 8(2).
Vaidya, N. and Khachane, A.R., 2017, July. Recommender systems-the need of the ecommerce ERA.
In Computing Methodologies and Communication (ICCMC), 2017 International Conference on (pp. 100-104).
IEEE.
Wang, M.C. and Luo, S., 2017. SRPASN: service ranking using PageRank algorithm in service networks. Tech.
Bull, 55, pp.233-238.

1
3
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Zhang, Z., Yoo, Y., Kulathinal, R. and Wattal, S., 2015. Characterizing Generative Digital Artifacts: The Case
of Web Mashups. Organizational Genetics Working Paper, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Zhou, S. and Wang, Y., 2018. Service ranking in service networks using parameters in complex networks: a
comparative study. Cluster Computing, pp.1-10.