YERIMENE JOSHUA ENGOTAN

FUO/18/CSI/9310
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATICS
FINAL YEAR PROJECT: ACADEMIC E-COMMERCE

CHAPTER 1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

In the growing landscape of education, digital transformation has become

an important aspect of academic institutions worldwide. The Federal
University of Otuoke need to recognize the potential of introducing
technology to enhance the learning experience and foster academic
growth. The current approach to procuring academic materials, such as
textbooks, Handout, and other educational resources, often involves
physical visits to stores, which presents challenges to both students and
faculty members, including time constraints, limited availability, and high
costs. By recognizing these inefficiencies, the Academic E-commerce
website aims to revolutionize the procurement process by providing an
intuitive and user-friendly platform.

The primary objective of the Academic E-commerce website is to create a

digital marketplace where students, faculty, and staff can easily upload,
access and purchase academic materials from the comfort of their
devices. This platform will serve as an integrated hub, hosting a wide
range of educational resources, including digital textbooks, Lecture note,
Handouts, and specialized course materials.

By integrating various payment gateways and ensuring secure

transactions, the website will prioritize data protection and user privacy.
Also it will incorporate features such as user reviews and ratings. Faculty
members will also have the opportunity to contribute by recommending
supplementary materials or uploading custom content to augment their
courses.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The current approach to procuring academic materials at the Federal
University of Otuoke involves physical visits to stores/offices, leading to
inefficiencies, high costs, and limited availability. This deteriorating model
poses several challenges for students, faculty, and staff, hindering the
seamless acquisition of essential educational resources. As a result, there
is a pressing need to address these issues by developing an Academic E-
commerce website

The existing problems with the current procurement process include:

i. Most office/ bookstores have restricted operating hours, making

it difficult for student to access academic materials conveniently.
ii. Bookstores / Offices often charge with and exorbitant price,
which is caused due to what it cost them to print, move and
preserve the academic materials.
 iii. Offices /Bookstores struggles to manage materials effectively,
their stock are either less or more than required.
iv. Most offices / Bookstore has a limited range of payment method,
making payments transaction a hassle for student.
v. With the use of office / bookstores, students are to purchase one
kind of material from a certain office i.e. only a certain tpe of
material can be found in a certain office, it lacks variety.

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

AIM: The aim of this study is to develop and implement an Academic E-
commerce website at the University of Otuoke, aiming to revolutionize
the procurement process of academic materials and enhance the overall
academic experience for students, faculty, and staff.

OBJECTIVE:

i. Implementing a responsive design that adapts to its layout

and different screen size, including desktops, tablet and
smart phones.
ii. Design a user-friendly interface with well organized
content and visually appealing aesthetics.
iii. Create pages to display product listings, including product
images, description, prices and other relevant information.
iv. Design a user-friendly checkout process that price
information.
v. Implement a shopping cart system that allows users to add
and remove items.
vi. Provide contact information or a support system.
 vii. Create a vivid and understandable wireframe using
wireframe tool.
viii. System will be design using HTML, CSS and Java script.

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of the study about the Academic E-commerce project at

the Federal university of otuoke lies in its potential to bring about
transformative changes and numerous benefits to the academic
community and the institution as a whole:

i.

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study about the Academic E-commerce project
encompasses various aspects related to the design, development,
implementation, and evaluation of the website. The study will focus on
the following key areas:

I. The study will cover the entire process of designing and developing
the Academic E-commerce website, which includes defining its
features, UI, navigation, and ensuring it is responsive in various
devices and browsers.
II. The user experience will be an aspect of the study that includes
assessing the website's ease of use, intuitiveness, and user-
friendliness to ensure that students and supervisors experience
while navigating the platform.
 III. The study will include a checkout page but without a payment
integration on it.

1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The implementation of the Academic E-commerce may encounter several
limitations that could impact its scope and findings. Some of these
limitations include:

1. Developing an Academic E-commerce website and conducting a

thorough implementation can be time-consuming. Limited time will
restrict the extent and depth of its features, which could potentially
affect the completeness of the study.
2. Lack of resources, such as funding, technical expertise, and access
to academic materials, could impact the scope of the project and
certain features.
3. Developing an compatible websites might experience issues across
different devices and browsers. These technical hurdles may affect
the website's performance during the study.