Suppose you decided to go shopping on the internet what part

Suppose you decided to go shopping on the internet, what part of the processing tasks, from browsing catalogs, place order, and until the shipment of your orders, would be handled by the database and how (this question may require some research)?

Solution

Whether you\'re buying in a store or buying online, everything you do is geared around a transaction: the basic exchange of money for goods or services. In a real-world store, you simply take your new jeans to the checkout, hand over some cash, and leave the store with your purchase in a bag—that\'s a transaction. It works in a similar way if you\'re buying online, but there\'s one important difference: you never actually get to handle the goods until they arrive at your home sometime later. If this makes buying online slightly problematic for the purchaser, it also introduces two extra problems for the retailer (. Apart from having some means of processing transactions online, it means they also need a way of checking that the goods you\'ve ordered are actually in stock, and a means of dispatching and delivering the goods to your address. In short, then, e-commerce is about combining three different systems: a Web server that can manage an online storefront and process transactions (making appropriate links to bank computers to check out people\'s credit card details), a database system that can keep a check of the items the store has in stock (constantly updating as people make orders and ideally making new orders with suppliers when stocks run low), and a dispatch system linked to a warehouse where the goods can be instantly located and sent to the buyer as quickly as possible. Only the first of these three systems is strictly necessary for e-commerce. Many people successfully run small-scale online stores without either complicated databases or dispatch systems: they simply have a website to publicize their business and take orders and then they manage the stock control and dispatch in more traditional ways. Small traders who sell items on the auction website eBay often work in this way, for example. Their \"databases\" are in their head; their \"dispatch system\" is simply a walk to the local post office. Sitting at her computer, a customer tries to order a book online. Her Web browser communicates back-and-forth over the Internet with a Web server that manages the store\'s website. The Web server sends her order to the order manager. This is a central computer that sees orders through every stage of processing from submission to dispatch. The order manager queries a database to find out whether what the customer wants is actually in stock. If the item is not in stock, the stock database system can order new supplies from the wholesalers or manufacturers. This might involve communicating with order systems at the manufacturer\'s HQ to find out estimated supply times while the customer is still sitting at her computer (in other words, in \"real time\"). The stock database confirms whether the item is in stock or suggests an estimated delivery date when supplies will be received from the manufacturer. Assuming the item is in stock, the order manager continues to process it. Next it communicates with a merchant system (run by a credit-card processing firm or linked to a bank) to take payment using the customer\'s credit or debit card number. The merchant system might make extra checks with the customer\'s own bank computer. The bank computer confirms whether the customer has enough funds. The merchant system authorizes the transaction to go ahead, though funds will not be completely transferred until several days later. The order manager confirms that the transaction has been successfully processed and notifies the Web server. The Web server shows the customer a Web page confirming that her order has been processed and the transaction is complete. The order manager sends a request to the warehouse to dispatch the goods to the customer. A truck from a dispatch firm collects the goods from the warehouse and delivers them. Once the goods have been dispatched, the warehouse computer e-mails the customer to confirm that her goods are on their way. The goods are delivered to the customer