MD E-Books Mobile Strategy

Group Members:

Maurice McCrae: ID# 1101023

Dacorie Smith: ID#0801975

Mobile Computing (CIT3027)

University of Technology, Jamaica

Tutor- Miss. Jenice Lynch

Wednesday @ 8:00

March 14, 2014

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Statement of need

It is of great significance for students at the tertiary level, to have a medium at which they

can easily and efficiently access all the required or recommended text books, which sums up to

about an average of 5 books per semester. The necessity of a more efficient solution to this

problem becomes more evident when one sit and analyzes the various mediums and providers of

these resources. With the prevalence of this technological age, many persons are moving further

away from having to deal with the time consumption and physical effort required to use tangible

copies of books especially when it comes to searching for a specific body of information.

Ultimately, because of the means of production for the physical copies of books, they are often

costly.

In addition to the expense, there are other discouraging factors that deter students from

purchasing these books. Firstly, most students who purchase these books, do so from local book

stores, and are often annoyed by the need to traverse to more than one book store, to acquire the

book needed. Secondly, students who purchase their books from online distributers overseas, are

also perturbed by hassle and the extended shipment periods in which their books will be

delivered.

Being at the dawn of the 21st century where mobile technology can arguably be defined

as the newest mass media, it is evident that investing in a convenient and cost efficient mobile

application that can significantly impact and effectively reduce the problem being faced by

students at other stakeholders at the tertiary level.

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Current state of mobility

With this platform, a newly conceptualized team of young entrepreneurs and technology

enthusiast called MD Global, scopes the educational barrier of this phenomena, and dares to

seize the economic opportunity and ultimately fulfilling the goal of establishing a resounding

mobile presence. It is our aim to initiate the rise to this status by firstly providing an “E-Book”

mobile application, where all Jamaican and the wider Caribbean university students can have

access to all the books they will need for a semester, by simple using anyone of the many mobile

devices which they have in their possession. Taking on a project like this, will inevitably

generate challenges that will force this company to hoist its productivity and efficiency to the

highest level possible; which will be beneficial for the company which seeks to spread its

relevance in the mobile application development market on a global scale.

Mobile audience

The mobile audience for the application will be primarily targeting graduate and

undergraduate students from the various tertiary education institutions within the

Caribbean. However, this application will not be limited for the use of students only; it

will also provide access to even lecturers who seek to find a convenient source of

information.

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Strategic direction

It is often said that there isn’t a single mobile or web application that is perfect. There are

various ways in which the app might be developed. The app may be developed in door, bought

off the shelf or outsourced to another company. The app can be native or web based. We look at

each option in detail.

Native App vs. Web Based

Native App -An executable program coded in the machine language of the hardware platform it

is running in. A native application has been compiled into the machine language of that CPU.

Advantages of Native App

1) A native app, written for a specific hardware platform, will always run faster than a

Web app, because there is no translation processing taking place.

2) Offline Access: Native apps can be used when a user has no network connectivity,

such as on an airplane, in the subway or in an underground parking garage. If users

are sometimes in areas where network access is unavailable or unreliable, a native

app is your only real option.

3) Device Integration: Native apps are more effective at integrating the unique

capabilities of the mobile device into the application, such as the GPS, Contact List,

Camera and Voice Recorder. In a native app, images, GPS coordinates, voice memos

can be directly piped into the database without the user having to search and attach

them.

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4) User Experience: The user interface of a native app can be designed to be consistent

with what the users expects and is accustomed to on their particular device.

5) Flexible Synchronization: Native apps can be configured to periodically synchronize

with various backend data sources, which can reduce data costs, particularly while

roaming. If users do not need to synchronize their data until the end of the day, why

go to the trouble and expense of having them establish an internet connection each

time they do an update?

6) Push Capabilities: Native apps can use "Push Technology" available on many mobile

devices to automatically update the application data rather than relying on the user to

log into the web application. You can get important information out to your users

without having to train them to constantly check the database over the web.

Disadvantage of Native App:

1. No portability: Application can only work on one platform

2. Platform instability: Mobile platform change quickly, it requires time and investment

to keep up.

3. Development cost: it takes time to change and hire skilled people to develop the

app .Also to buy hardware to test the app.

4. Limited control: Cannot control the Platform. The mobile might cease to be developing

because it is not popular with the mass.

Web App: A web-based applications is applications that are stored on a server and interpreted

one line at a time by the browser's JavaScript or HTML5 interpreter.

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Advantage of web app:

1. Future proof: The web eliminates the problems associated with mobile platform

instability. In a world of fragmented mobile devices and operating systems, the web is the only

constant. It’s shared by all mobile platforms and operating systems, it’s not controlled by another

company, and it won’t disappear in a few years. When a business builds mobile web apps, they

choose a platform that will last.

2. Cross-platform: Unlike native apps, one mobile web app works across all mobile

platforms and operating systems, both now and in the future. They don’t need a different mobile

web app for IOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phones. One mobile web app works

everywhere. Additionally, even if another mobile OS becomes popular in the next few years, that

same mobile web app will work on that platform as well. They work everywhere, both now and

in the future.

3. Inexpensive development: If a business already develops web apps, they already have

the skills necessary for mobile web app development. Unlike with native apps, mobile web apps

don’t require new developers with specific skillsets. Most businesses already have the skills for

cross-platform mobile web app development.

4. Simple maintenance: Since one mobile web app works on every platform, future

maintenance is simple. All changes made to that single application instantly reflect across all

platforms. Out of the three mobile app methods, mobile web apps require the smallest amount of

ongoing maintenance.

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5. Instant updates: Since mobile web apps run in a browser, and aren’t installed on the

device itself, all updates instantly reflect in the application. Users don’t need to install the latest

update, or do anything at all. The app instantly updates for all users.

Disadvantage of web app:

1. Moderate device integration: With the rise of HTML5, mobile web apps can access

many device hardware sensors like GPS, file uploading, the accelerometer, gyroscope, and local

storage. However, they do have a few limitations. As of now, mobile web apps still cannot

access the device’s camera, microphone, or contact list.

2. Limited graphics: While mobile web apps are perfectly suited for displaying most

every type of content, they do not handle heavy graphics as seamlessly as native apps. For that

reason, any company requiring game-like graphics in their mobile apps should stick with the

native approach.

Commercial Software vs. In House Development

Commercial Software: Pre-written or COTS software that is written and update by a vendor.

Advantage of Commercial Software:

1) Development cost shared by users, so software costs less.

2) Features you might not know you need are included. This is especially important if

you really don't know the business you’re in. If you want to start retail store and

you don't know anything about the retail business, your first purchase may be a good

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Point-of-Sale package to help you serve your customers, capture your sales, and maintain

an accurate record of inventory.

3) Software is more reliable because more users equal less bugs. This of course assumes a

mature package; it doesn't apply if you are one of the first users of the package.

4) Software is available right away because it is already written.

Disadvantage of Commercial Software:

1) COTS software usually does not have all the functionality you might need. If you really

know your business it is highly probable that you have ideas that the software doesn't

implement.

2) You need to adjust your workflow and processes to match the software.

3) Updates are on the vendors schedule not your schedule.

4) If you have customized your COTS software and the vendor stops support for the version

you are using you may have to pay for some or all of the customizations again.

5) Software targets only the platform that the vendor picks.

6) Software has a bunch of features you don't need and don't want. COTS software has to be

designed to work with lots of businesses, not just yours. This extra code adds extra bugs and

frequently more complex configuration to the software. One thing for sure, whether you use

it or not, you pay for In-House Development- Software that is develop by the company

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Advantages in House Development:

1) Development teams are very close to the end user, resulting in a high quality product

for the end user. A lot of "the fat" can be cut by a few phone calls to key users. This

results in a much greater “specialized” application.

2) Relationships between the development team and the user base can be built, which

aids in both communication and expectations on delivery.

3) Business knowledge of the developers’ increases, reducing the time required for

Specification and design, as knowledge of the problem domain is pre-existing.

Disadvantages of in House Development:

1) Heavy investment required by the company. This does not also provide "income" as

such. Return of Investment (ROI) is provided by increased efficiency and productivity,

quality and so on, this is very difficult to measure, and can be difficult for some

management teams to view as ROI.

2) Lack of portability of software could be an issue if the company later decides to sell

the application to another business. If the original specification does not have this

requirement in, the application may be so tightly coupled with the company identity; it is

too difficult to move elsewhere, which could further reduce the possible ROI.

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Conclusion: The development of the app should be in house due to the special Requirement of

the app. It also should be built using web technology because of the amount different mobile

devices we are targeting.

Data Plan

We will be required to gather a large collection of books from virtually all the

academic disciplines that the app will require. This will be accomplished in a highly

systematic manner by which all the enlisted universities will be contacted so that our

organization can come to a mutual agreement with that university to gain access to their

primary book source. Another avenue will be to host a data collection phase prior to the

official release of the application where anyone who has any book that we do not have in

our database can submit where they will be either compensated or given the privilege of a

free subscription when the application launches. Finally, we will do extensive research

and extraction of available resources from the internet which will also be added to our

collection of books and other resources.

IT capacity and resources

The development of this type of platform in house will require a certain level of

skilled personals and powerful hardware. Our IT team consist of a small group of well-

rounded personalities who harnesses a mixture of different skill set varying from most

novel and creative developers to the most inspiring young business savants. Currently we

have a system admin, web developer, network admin, network specialist and two

experienced mobile application programmers. However we will need to hire a UX

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interface designer, mobile specialists and graphics designer. The way in which we plan to

acquire these people is through job advertisement through different medium such as

website and newspaper.

We will need powerful servers such as the Dell PowerEdge 2950, Hardware

firewalls, switch and a fiber optics connection to the location where the server will be

stored. To acquire these servers we have to order them from overseas company and

estimate the capacity of user. The internet connection will be provided by one of the few

internet providers Jamaica has, we are considering flow. Flow has the fastest internet

speed at 100Mbps business, this will sufficient for the amount of users we are expecting

at time. We also will take internet from LIME as backup internet connection if flow fails.

Gathering requirements

All requirements will be gathered from three (3) sources: The bookstore (through

the use of interviews and questionnaires), university students and universities (through

interviews and questionnaires) and through third party mediums (internet, library,

newspaper etc.).The teams will also be in constant communication with book stores and

libraries to understand their policies. The reason the team has chosen these tools is

because they allow for a robust research technique that offers the best results at the

cheapest cost, these results also will have the ability to be quantified and justified.

Your options

When it comes to development of this application we can develop it in house, outsource it

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from a foreign entity or neither if doesn’t worth the time or effort. Let’s look at the advantage and

disadvantage of each.

Outsource Advantage –

1) Focus On Core Activities – allows the Team to focus on promoting the business and

also preparing the environment for the software to run on.

2) Cost And Efficiency Savings – We would not have to hire more people because we

are not developing our self

3) Access to wide experiences pool – most outsourcing companies of year of

experiences behind them

4) Faster and better Services – in most case outsourcing company provides faster

deliverable of software than in house.

Outsourcing Disadvantage –

1) Threat to Security and Confidentiality – The information that is sent to them maybe

use for illegal activity.

2) Tied to the Financial Well-Being of Another Company - If the outsourcing company

goes out of business then the money and time we invest in them will go to waste.

3) Quality Problems – the outsourcing company will of different meaning from quality

than we.

4) We loss control of the source code – We can’t change the source code without the

outsourcing company.

In House Development Advantage -

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1) We have full ownership of the final product as well as its source code and the

knowledge gained while developing it.

2) It will fit exactly to our needs.

3) We will be able to communicate and test features will our user base.

4) It gives us full control over the system and its functionality

In house Development Disadvantage –

1) It can be costly to maintain and improve the system to continuously meet business

needs.

2) It requires more IT personnel which in turn lead to High overhead cost.

3) High switching costs: it is more expensive to change to newer technology.

4) It is time consuming to develop an in-house IT system as opposed to buying it

5) High development and maintenance costs (Although it may seem less expensive, in

house

6) development can actually become more expensive as time goes, as there are a

lot of things that go into the process, such as analyzing requirements, gathering,

programming, designing, implementing, testing, user training and maintenance).

7) If the company decides to sell the system, it may suffer from a lack of portability, as

it the system maybe too tightly built into the identity of the company.

Conclusion: As stated in the Strategic direction that best plan is build the app in house and also

to build it as web app. Building the app in house will allow for new features to be added to the

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app more quickly and allow for less people to know how the system work, which will improve

security. This will also give the engineer experiences in development and in the near future will

able to offer customize features to business clients. Due to the diverse amount of smartphone the

general public have, a web app will be able to reach more people.

Product comparison

“Kindle Text Book Rental” by amazon and “e-book fling” are two similar

products that are already on the market. However both products have similar advantages

and disadvantages in comparison to our version of the product. The advantage that both

of these products have in comparison to our product is that users can borrow a book for

less than the length of one semester which could be a very useful privilege especially if

user only wants to use a specific book for only a short period of time .

On the other hand, these products have a long list of disadvantages for the user in

comparison to our product. One of the many disadvantages of these products includes the

cost, as there is a significant difference in the rate of rental fee for each e-book acquired.

Another con for those products is that the maximum period users can rent a book for is

about 14 days, while our organization makes it convenient to have extended access to any

opted e-book.

Our product is designed with a more interactive and user friendly interface and

ultimately a better Information Architecture. The main pages on each application is

highly congested which a variety of information and options that can be very

overwhelming for users to efficiently navigate throughout the application. Last but not

least, is the extended loading time it takes on both applications to navigate through each

category and the various options available. This inefficiency in speed is almost

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impossible to go un-noticed as it is significantly slower in comparison to our E-Book

application.

Policy and security

Policies are principles, rules and guidelines formulated or adopted by an

organization to reach its long term goals. In every organization there are policies set in

place for the users of a specific product provided by the organization, as well as there are

policies that has to be followed by persons who are a part of the organization that may

have some duty as it regards to the management of a product.

One of the first policies that will be implemented is that users will be required to

be subscribed for a minimum of one semester. Another policy is that any user who wants

to receive the maximum reduced rental fees must be currently enrolled or registered as a

student or staff at one of the enlisted universities. Users will only be able to loan a

maximum of 7 books per subscription. The users will be required to provide an active

user id to gain access for the borrowing or lending of a book.

We are also committed to ensuring that the user information is secure. In order to

prevent unauthorized access or disclosure we will put in place suitable physical,

electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect

online. In addition, we will assign specific tasks to selected persons within the company,

giving them the relevant authority to carry out these tasks. Therefore, sensitive data about

users and information as it regards to the managerial side of the E-Book application, will

be highly protected in our database by using data hashing, which will require authorized

passwords and specific information to make these high level modification and updates.

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