Plan, Manage, and Architect Multiple Web Sites for Maximum Efficiency and Business Value
For many companies, one Web site is no longer enough. Business strategy requires multiple Web sites, each with carefully targeted audiences and marketing approaches. However, managing multiple sites introduces costs and management headaches that conventional Web architectures and methodologies can’t handle. In Multisite Commerce, Lev Mirlas–the architect who pioneered the concept of a shared multisite platform with IBM® WebSphere® Commerce–introduces best practices and methodologies for implementing and managing multiple e-commerce sites efficiently and cost-effectively.
Mirlas begins by reviewing why multisite commerce is necessary and yet so challenging to execute. Next, he addresses multisite commerce from three perspectives: business, implementation, and technical. You’ll learn how to plan and implement a shared platform and use it to create and operate new sites that will remarkably lower incremental cost.
This book’s start-to-finish methodology provides a common language that everyone involved in multiple sites– from executives to project managers and technical architects to site administrators–can share.
Coverage includes
- Identifying scenarios in which multiple sites are necessary
- Systematically reducing the cost and complexity of establishing multiple e-commerce sites
- Organizing the business to effectively administer multiple sites
- Constructing a shared platform that makes it possible to build and deploy new sites faster than ever before
- Giving sites their own personalities even though they are being built on shared infrastructure
- Identifying the traps and landmines your project might encounter and maximizing the chances of success
- Managing project scope, organizational politics, and shifting executive priorities
- Choosing the best technical architecture pattern for your multisite scenario
Table of Contents:
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxv
About the Author xxvii
Introduction xxix
Part I: Business Perspective–Opportunities and Challenges of Multisite Commerce
Chapter 1: Multisite Commerce Scenarios 3
Chapter 2: The Need for a Shared Platform 19
Chapter 3: Administration of Country Sites on a Shared Platform 37
Chapter 4: Sharing and Caring 53
Chapter 5: When Sharing Works 83
Chapter 6: The Path to a Shared Platform 99
Chapter 7: Cost Structure of Multiple Sites 119
Chapter 8: Fundamental Requirements for a Multisite Platform 135
Part II: Implementer’s Considerations for Efficient Multisite Commerce
Chapter 9: Organizational Resistance 161
Chapter 10: Managing Requirements 177
Chapter 11: The Project Team 191
Chapter 12: Planning for Success 219
Chapter 13: Dealing with the Unexpected 241
Part III: Technical Considerations for Efficient Multisite Commerce
Chapter 14: Sharing Hardware and Software 255
Chapter 15: Sharing Data 287
Chapter 16: Site Path 317
Chapter 17: Data Sharing Business Logic 331
Chapter 18: Data Sharing Architecture Patterns 361
Index 377
About the Author :
During his 20 years at IBM, Lev Mirlas, Licensed Professional Engineer, pioneered the development of multiple commerce sites on a single platform. Mr. Mirlas architected the introduction of multisite business patterns, as well as the B2B and B2C business model patterns in IBM WebSphere Commerce product. In his work, he has accumulated much valuable real-life experience with companies struggling to create multiple sites; this experience serves as the basis of this book. He has obtained numerous patents for inventions in the fields of electronic commerce and trusted computing. Mr. Mirlas obtained his master’s degree in engineering from the University of Toronto in 1995.
