Case Study Integration of Magento Ecommerce Platform with Microsoft ERP
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Client
Requirement
The client demanded an online shopping cart system especially for retailers and wholesalers that would be well integrated with an ERP system for receiving and processing online orders. Client projected the web application to list a plethora of products for online sales. It is an application that enables customers to view the product images and place online orders using the cart system. The client was facing inconvenience with the wide range of product listings and wanted to transfer to the e-commerce platform for enhanced convenience for users along with the online payment gateway integration. The objective was also to enable customers to choose from the various options available for each product and decide on the one that suits them the best from the comfort of their needs. The project addresses the development of an online shopping cart system that allows suppliers to sell their products directly online to the customers. This Magento based ecommerce platform also offers varied discounts to the customers to enhance their shopping experience. Client expected the following functionalities to be added to the system:
Integration of a payment gateway
Order management system
Inventory management system
Integration with the Microsoft ERP system
User-friendly design
Tweaks to database for high performance
Project
Challenges
Team faced the following challenges:
Developing an active shopping portal capable of handling millions of user requests at the same time without slowing the site down.
Incorporating web usability principles in the website design to ensure easy navigation for all types of users.
ERP integration and data synchronization with the ecommerce shopping cart system for varied products on regular basis. Also, taking care of the discounts that are offered to the retailers and wholesalers.
Each combination results in a different pricing being displayed to the retailers and wholesalers which needed utmost attention.
Ensuring safe and secure transfer of data.
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Technologies Operating System & Server Management
Development Tools & Environments
Used Red Hat Linux OS, Multi-Server Architecture with Staging & Production Environment through Version Controlling releases, Server Optimization, Security & SSL Implementation, Scheduler for Back-ups, Alert Monitoring System Integration, Server Performance Tuning at regular intervals, Software Firewall Configuration & Maintenance PHP5+, Magento Community Edition 1.7, Zend Framework, Apache Web Server, AJAX, Java Script, HTML5, CSS3 etc. MYSQL Database Server, DB Clustering, DB Optimization, Master Slave Replication, Query Optimization, Scheduler for Backups
Database
Manpower Project Leader
1
Developers
2
Designers
2
Quality Assurance Testers
2
Planning Keeping in mind the enormous structure of the website and the challenges involved a four-tier development approach was adopted consisting of:
The Database layer containing MYSQL Server Database, Tables, Stored Procedures and so on.
The Data Access layer containing the libraries responsible for accessing data from the database.
The Business Logic layer consisting of all the business logic procedures for modules like Shipping, Payment Gateway, Order Management, Check out etc.
The User Interface layer which forms the Graphical User Interface of the website.
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Architecture PHP and MYSQL Server formed the basis of development as the site was rich with user data and featured extensive capabilities for event management. Shipping Management, Order Management, Check Out and other modules were developed in PHP such that they can be executed directly from the UI layer. These PHP files consisted of all the business logics used for respective modules like Save (Add/Update), Delete, Get Single Object, Get Multiple Objects for Listing and were designed to be capable of handling many more logics which were not related to the database. The Data Access layer contained the libraries responsible for accessing data from the database and built a generic query for insert, update, delete and select depending on the business class. All business layer components were coded to use this library for data accessing process from database. Stored procedures were used only for complex retrieval of data from multiple tables and were entirely avoided with conditional syntax to ensure smooth performance of the website. The UI layer was kept free of any business logic with images, applications and data being called from their respective servers.
Development
Highlights
The system managed the entire gamut of online activities successfully handling all the orders, shipping, payments amongst others. Extensive pre-development research was carried out to create a robust application in minimum time while dealing with extensive customizations. Web usability guidelines were strictly followed during development and the interface was made easily navigable through judicious use of AJAX, CSS and HTML controls. The site was developed and fully functional within a span of 6 months.
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