Internet Technology for Business Applications

Course Coordinator: Dr Kevin Hung, BSc (Queen’s University); MPhil, PhD (CUHK); SMIEEE; MIET; MCIE

Advisory prerequisite(s)
Students are recommended to take a middle-level communications technology course before taking this one.

Aims
This course aims to:

• Give students an understanding of a number of key technologies related to e-business, and to help them develop their skills as an effective and reflective learner.

• Introduce students to a range of concepts and principles regarding e-business technologies so as to provide a framework of understanding that will enable them to keep abreast of future developments;

• Provide students with knowledge and understanding of some of the techniques, applications and issues relevant to e-business technologies;

• Develop students' analytical, critical and creative skills in thinking about and discussing technology;

• Develop students' communication skills through reading and writing documents related to e-business technologies using diagrams and design tools;

• Facilitate students further study in technological subjects.

Contents
Internet and Web technologies are driving fundamental changes in the way that businesses interact. This course will introduce students to the rapidly changing technologies and approaches to implementation underpinning these changes. The course will help students develop skills to enable them to interpret, select and utilize a shifting set of protocols and standards from the emerging technologies, based on close examination of a small set of core standards and knowledge gained from studying prevailing protocols and development technologies.

ELEC S321 is organized into four modules; E-business, Basic Protocols, Web Services and Orchestration. Trust and security will be themes running through the course, alongside the social, political, technical and legal issues associated with new developments. Case studies draw together key features from each part, setting the scene for a substantive project where students will use their new skills to implement a Web-services solution for a fictional company.

Block 1, E-business, will set the scene for the course by exploring how the Internet has changed the way organizations do business. What has changed in terms of their internal structures and processes and their relationships with customers and suppliers? Drawing on established models and frameworks, students will develop a portfolio of skills to help them to identify the challenges and assess the benefits of new technology, thereby bridging the gap between a set of business requirements and an appropriate technological solution.

Block 2, Basic protocols, introduces the essential protocols and standards (such as HTTP and XML), that underpin the current Web-services business paradigm. Key to this is the family of XML standards for describing, processing, and manipulating data exchanges between disparate systems. Design tools will enable students to develop and validate document schemas and construct messages for exchange between services.

Block 3, Web services, examines the technical and business motivations behind the development of Web services. A historic perspective provides a context for Web services technologies such as SOAP and REST and their emergence from the evolution of existing standards, such as HTTP and XML. Through a combination of case study and practical work students will implement, test, deploy and use Web services to gain insight into their operation, strengths and weaknesses.

Block 4, Orchestration: Real Web services perform small discrete tasks. Implementing a business process therefore requires multiple Web services, which have to be organized temporally and procedurally. In order to orchestrate individual services students will learn about the business process execution language (BPEL). Students will use design tools to construct, validate, and test BPEL scripts and to understand approaches to handling failure and exceptions which occur in processes.

Learning support
There will be 10 tutorials and 12 surgeries, each of two hours. All of the tutorials and surgeries will be conducted in a classroom or PC laboratory. Some seminars may also be introduced.

Assessment
There will be four assignments and a final examination. Students are required to submit assignments via the Online Learning Environment (OLE).

Online requirement
This course is supported by the Online Learning Environment (OLE). You can find the latest course information from the OLE. Through the OLE, you can communicate electronically with your tutor and the Course Coordinator as well as other students. To access the OLE, students will need to have access to the Internet. The use of the OLE is required for the study of this course.

Equipment
A computer system suitable for connecting to the Internet is essential for accessing the online support. The minimum configuration of the computer system is:

• Pentium IV 2.4 GHz CPU

• VGA display card and monitor

• 1 GB RAM

• 1 GB free hard drive space

• Mouse and printer

A DVD player is required as video programmes on DVD are also provided

Software
You will need to have access to a computer with Microsoft Windows XP or a later version with an Internet browser to access the course homepage, and Word Viewer or Microsoft Office to read the documents downloaded from the course website.

Set book(s)
There are no set books for this course.

Students with disabilities or special educational needs
Students with impaired sight might have difficulty with the use of a computer monitor. You are encouraged to seek advice from the Course Coordinator before enrolling in the course.