Technical Analysis Document

(MEFOSA)

Table of Contents

I.Introduction

II.Client Information

III.Project Purpose

IV.Requirements

a.Technical Requirements

b.Graphic Design Requirements

V.Site Structure

VI.General Navigation

VII.Pages’ Layout and Content

a.Static Pages

b.E-Market Pages

c.E-Commerce Engine Pages

VIII.Web Referencing & E-Marketing

IX.Agreement & Signatures

I.Introduction

This document representsthe Client’s (MEFOSA) technical needs pertaining to the pilot E-Commerce project and thesuggested solutions provided by ADDIMA Consulting (“ADDIMA”, “the Consultant”, “We”). These cover technical and graphic design issues, site structure, navigation, page layout and content, web referencing, and e-marketing. These requirements are the result of a mutual collaboration betweenMEFOSA(“the Client”) andADDIMA Consulting, and represent the needs of MEFOSA and the deliverables needed from the Consultant for the completion of this project.

II.Client Information

Client: MEFOSA

Industry: Agricultural

Services/Products: Food Safety Consulting

Contact: Mr. Atef Idriss

Telephone: 01-343141 / 01-343104

Email: /

Web-site:

Location: Head office (Hamra, Sourati Street)

Details: The Client is a company dealing with food safety consulting, and food quality assurance. MEFOSA provides help and support to Lebanese farmers in following international standards in their agricultural practices to improve their food quality and their increase their exports volume. MEFOSA is based in Beirut, Hamra.

III.Project Purpose

MEFOSA was selected by the E-commerce pilot project as a winner of an E-commerce website. The website will represent MEFOSA’s first appearance on the internet, through an “E-Market” website, linking farmers and suppliers to factories, retailers, and purchasers worldwide, meeting food demand with food supply, following best practices concerning the traceability of food quality and safety international measures. Additionally, the website will be also aimed at educating and linking the Lebanese and international consumers and food retailers with the Lebanese farmers. The website will enable MEFOSA to create awareness about food quality and safety standards, provide online support for safety and quality assurance, and sell specialized services and equipment

IV.Requirements

The following requirements were raised during the Technical Analysis meetings with the client. These covered the various functionalities, included below, that ADDIMA Consulting will develop for the Client within the scope of this Pilot E-Commerce Project.

a.Technical Requirements

The website

  • The website we will provide to MEFOSA will contain 2 sections (Will be explained in more detail further in the document):
  • The main “E-Market” core section, that displays food demand and food supply, thus connecting the factories/restaurants/retailers /purchasers/etc. with the farmers/suppliers.
  • This section will be administered by a “Market Coordinator” that will be supervising the demand and supply, and will be assisting the suppliers and purchasers in completing their business deals (which involves manual and paperwork tasks explained later in the document)
  • Website visitors (who are not signed-in members) will not be able to access full information about the supplier/demanded products, and use the full functionality of the E-Market.
  • A “Mefosa Services” section, displaying the following
  • Mefosa food safety consulting services, offered through the website
  • Other Mefosa consulting services and products, offered through the website
  • Specialized products (i.e. Acidity measuring kits, other specialized kits), offered through the website
  • Downloadable documents and tutorials, and other resources covering food safety, food quality assurance, food traceability, international standards, etc.
  • Orders placed by members to concerning Consulting Services will be transferred to the shopping cart. (Refer to the Professional Kits section below for more details about the cart)
  • The “Documents download”functionalitywithin the “Mefosa Services” section will display a list of documents with brief explanation links
  • Enabling the users to download the documents to their local machine
  • Enabling the users to read specific documents and interactive documents directly displayed on the website
  • ADDIMA will supply MEFOSA with a back-office functionality providing authenticated members access to the downloadable/viewable documentation
  • We will provide MEFOSA with a “Search Site” functionality:
  • The “Search Site” provided will displaya field on every page where the user inputs a search string and clicks a “Search” button. The Search engine will then direct the user to a list of links pointing to all the pages that contain the search string specified by the user and that are found within the website.
  • We will provide MEFOSA with a “Reviews & Inquiries” page, showing reviews by customers and professionals:
  • A brief list of reviews and inquiries (with brief descriptions) will be displayed at the bottom of the page. A “More” button directs the customer to a page displaying the full reviews and inquiries.
  • After being submitted by the customers, the reviews and inquiries will need the system administrator’s approval (through the back-office application) in order to be posted on the pages.

The E-Market

  • The Mefosa E-Market process can be illustrated as follows:

  • Using Mefosa’s E-Market portal, the user can post his “Demand” or his “Supply” on the website. Each posting will require a fee to be paid, which will be effected through the payment gateway (by using a credit card)
  • Upon receiving the payment notice, the Market Coordinator can approve the posting for the “Supply” or the “Demand” which will appear on the page
  • When a “Supplier” wants to post his products available, he will fill an online form (Refer to Product Details Form below). This form will also contain details concerning the “Traceability” of the product (i.e: location, food grade, safety measures processed, etc.)
  • When a “Purchaser” wants to post his demand, he will fill an online form as above (Product Details Form), specifying what traceability processes are needed to be completed.
  • The following user roles are available
  • The “Supplier” can only post his products
  • The “Purchaser” can post his demand and can place orders
  • The Supplier and Purchaser contact details remain invisible on the site. But when the “Purchaser” wishes to order products posted by a “Supplier”, he selects a “Place order” button, that automatically sends a notification email to the Market Coordinator
  • MEFOSA is the authority that moderates the suppliers’ postings. Mefosa holds the right to do random checks and Audit certain farmers to make sure that their products are conforming to the Food Traceability details they have included in their postings. If a supplier is found to be falsifying the Food product and traceability details, MEFOSA has the authority to remove/ban him from using the website’s services.
  • Upon receipt of the notification by email, the Market Coordinator arranges a meeting including the Purchaser and the Supplier to conclude the deal and sign a contract (Concluding the business deal and signing the contract is a necessary manual process)
  • The figure below represents a rough sketch of the Product Details Form, just to visualize the page’s layout.

  • The user will use the checkboxes to determine if he’s posting a Demand or Advertising his Supply
  • The form will display Drop-down menus and checkboxes for entering information and traceability details his product supplied/demanded
  • The Supply/Demand data will then be transferred to the Product Details Page (Refer to section VII b. )
  • On the main page, posted entries will be shown in brief, with small description. Once the user selects an entry, he will be directed to its own Product Details page (where he can select a button to “Place an Order” in case the user is a “Purchaser”).
  • The Product Details Page will show the exact copy of the Form filled by the user, but it is not editable.
  • At any time, the Supplier/Purchaser can update his form by accessing it from the sign-in area. Changes will then be implemented on its respective Product Details Page
  • On the homepage (Refer to section VII b.) a search free field will be displayed to help the user search for products by entering a keyword. If the user selects advanced search, he will be directed to the Search E-Market Products functionality (Check below)
  • The Search E-Market Products functionality is supplied with ADDIMA’s E-Commerce Engine which includes:
  • The Search and Browse functionality can be sketched as follows:

The above example will be applied to all search criteria. The user can either enter text in the field or use the drop-down list to give him predefined choices

  • The user can search and/or browse products by:
  • Product type
  • Grade
  • Location
  • Quantity
  • Price
  • Etc.

The “Search E-Market Products” functionality will automatically update the Brand and Application choices from the database to the drop down menus.

Visitors & Members

  • ADDIMA will supply MEFOSA with the flexibility for both Members and Visitors to visit the E-Market:
  • Visitors will not be able to see full details in the Supply or Demand sub-sections, and will need to sign-in and become Members to benefit from all the functionalities offered.
  • ADDIMA will supply MEFOSA with the flexibility for both Members and Visitors to order Consulting Services online:
  • Members: Don’t need to input contact details on every order unless they need to change those. Users with member profiles will need a user name and password to access their profile.
  • Visitors will be treated as “first-time users” with every order; i.e. visitors will have to fill the customer information form every time they need to order/inquire about a service, unless they sign-up and become members.
  • ADDIMA will supply MEFOSA with the flexibility for both Members and Visitors to purchase Professional Kits online:
  • Members: Don’t need to input contact details on every purchase unless they need to change those. Users with member profiles will need a user name and password to access their profile.
  • Visitors will be treated as “first-time users” with every purchase; i.e. visitors will have to fill the customer information form every time they purchase products, unless they sign-up and become members.
  • ADDIMA will supply MEFOSA with the flexibility for both Members and Visitors to download documents and view tutorials (This can be amended by the System Administrator)
  • We will provide the Client with a back-office functionality to input Members, classify them in different categories and assign their price lists, documents access, and other criteria (manually or directly through a database instance).

Professional Kits

  • The product MEFOSA is offering online includes professional food kits online and other products or instruments

ADDIMA will provide the Client with a back-office functionality to input products and classify them under different categories which will appear on their E-commerce Website.

  • ADDIMA will include fields in the Products database to assist the Client in updating the following information:
  • Product name
  • Product weight/volume
  • Product picture
  • Product description
  • Product price
  • We will provide MEFOSA with product lists pages that will display the following information for each product:
  • Product name
  • Product weight /volume
  • Product picture
  • Product description
  • Product price
  • Related products
  • When the user is viewing a selected product, the Product Details Page (refer to section VII b. ) will display the following information:
  • Product name
  • Product weight /volume
  • Product picture
  • Product description
  • Product price
  • Related products
  • ADDIMA will provide a “Related Products” functionality
  • When a customer is viewing a product page, a box on the right side of the page will show complementary/similar items or featured products related to the product displayed, with links that direct the customer to their respective pages.
  • This functionality will be controlled by MEFOSA’s system administrator through the back-office application.
  • The standard “Search Products” functionality is supplied with ADDIMA’s E-Commerce Engine which includes:
  • The Search and Browse functionality can be sketched as follows:

The above example will be applied to all search criteria. The user can either enter text in the field or use the drop-down list to give him predefined choices

  • The user can search and/or browse products by:
  • Category
  • Application

The “Search Products” functionality will automatically update the Brand and Application choices from the database to the drop down menus.

  • ADDIMA E-Commerce Engine’s shopping cart will provide the Client with a “My Cart” button that directs the user to a page displaying the products s/he has purchased so far. “My Cart” is available for:
  • Members
  • Visitors (Through a cookie sent to the user’s browser that creates a temporary session)
  • The user can check his/her items through the “My Cart” link that appears on all the pages of the website. When directed to his cart’s page, the user can edit the products ordered and their quantities before checking out and paying.
  • The check-out page will offer the customers a choice of different payment options according to the payment services MEFOSA will offer and subscribe to.
  • In the user’s cart page, a section entitled “Ordered Services” displays the Consulting Services the user selected to order. These will be displayed in the same manner as the items in the cart under the “Ordered Services” section, but without price quotes. Once the user checks out, these orders are automatically transferred to Mefosa, in order for them to send a price quotation and/or services details email to the customer.

Payment & Logistics

  • We will provide MEFOSA with a currency rate calculator.
  • ADDIMA will supply the Client with a “Shipping Calculator” functionality for purchasing “Professional Kits”:
  • The shipping calculator functionality will enable customers to see the detailed total price (including shipment/handling cost) of the product(s) purchased depending on the package and shipping destination

Back-Office

  • We will provide the Client with a Back-office application to edit and displayfood supply and demand details, traceability details, checklists and processes details, availability, exports, and other details
  • We will provide the Client with a back-office functionality to input details, classify them in different categories and other criteria (manually or directly through a database instance).
  • We will provide the Client with a customized interface to transfer (copy) the data from the instance to the back-office database of the E-Commerce Engine, thus reducing the amount of manual input and increase data accuracy.
  • We will provide MEFOSA with the database functionality to import/export data from/to Excel Files
  • ADDIMA will enable the Market Coordinator to receive reports about hits on each product (for each supplier). The Market Coordinator can then forward these to the suppliers in order to support them.
  • ADDIMA will provide the Client with a flexible back-office report generation tool, to generate reports like:
  • Posts by each customer
  • Product orders placed by each customer
  • Services ordered by each customer
  • Kits bought by each customer
  • Past purchases of each customer
  • Documents downloaded by each member
  • Reviews submitted by each user
  • Etc.
  • ADDIMA will supply the Client with a “Career Opportunities” functionality which:
  • Displays an online form to be filled by the applicants, and offering them the ability to upload their CV.
  • Uploads the CVs and the information from the form to the Career section in the database.
  • Is controlled from the back-office application, enabling MEFOSA to retrieve the information and the CVs from the database.
  • ADDIMA will provide MEFOSA with a “Newsletter” functionality:
  • The “News Letter” provided will display a field on the home page for the user to input an email address and click a “Submit” button. This functionality automatically adds the submitted email address to the News Letter emails database that will be administered by MEFOSA system Administrator and used to send their News Letters through email.
  • Additionally this functionality can manually or automatically send other email notices including predefined messages edited by MEFOSA system administrator.

b.Graphic Design Requirements

  • The corporate identity (Colors, Logo, etc.) of the new website will be similar to the existing website (refer to

V.Site Structure

The MEFOSAwebsite will comprise the following sections and sub-sections:

  • MEFOSA Main Page
  • Supply Postings
  • Category 1
  • Posting 1 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Posting 2 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Etc.
  • Category 2
  • Posting 1 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Posting 2 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Etc.
  • Etc.
  • Demand Postings
  • Category 1
  • Posting 1 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Posting 2 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Etc.
  • Category 2
  • Posting 1 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Posting 2 (E-Market Product Details)
  • Etc.
  • Etc.
  • Search E-Market Products
  • Professional Kits
  • Category 1
  • Product 1 (Product details)
  • Product 2 (Product details)
  • Etc.
  • Category 2
  • Product 1 (Product details)
  • Product 2 (Product details)
  • Etc.
  • Related products
  • Search Products
  • My Cart
  • Customer Details
  • Mefosa Services
  • Category 1
  • Service 1 (Details)
  • Service 2 (Details)
  • Etc.
  • Category 2
  • Service 1 (Details)
  • Service 2 (Details)
  • Etc.
  • Etc.
  • Documents
  • AboutUs
  • About MEFOSA
  • Contact Us
  • Career Opportunities
  • Reviews & Inquiries
  • News letter
  • Search Site
  • Sign in
  • Product Details Form
  • My Area
  • Personal information

Please refer to the site structure diagram below.