Firewall Problems

If you have installed a router/switch device between your network and a broadband Internet connection, be sure to read the manual thoroughly and understand how the device should be configured. Many come with default settings, but you need to fill in some information, such as the address of the broadband lint, if your service provider gives you a static address. In most cases, the provider will be
using DHCP also, so you won't have to make any changes. If you do have to make changes, write them down and keep the information handy for later troubleshooting efforts.

It's not a good idea to mix computers you use for play with those you use for business on the same network. If you do, you are just asking for trouble. If you play Internet games—those that allow you to interact with other users playing the same game on the Internet—you might be instructed to change the port settings on a small switch/router that also functions as a firewall. If you start playing around with opening, disabling, or forwarding ports, keep track of the changes you make. If something stops working after you've made a change, undo the modification and see whether the changes you've made have caused the problem.

Some users prefer to use the demilitarized zone (DMZ) option as an alternative to fiddling around with router settings to make online gaming possible.

Remember that the firewall capabilities of a small switch/router are minimal and are designed to protect you from simple attacks from the Internet. It might be that the default settings are very stringent and if you end up making changes that relax the firewall settings, you might also be opening a door that can allow bad things into your small LAN.

Keeping Your Network Healthy

Another good reason to keep your entertainment computers separate from your business LAN is that you don't want to be surfing the Web, find a neat program, and download a virus or some other bad program that will start to eat up things in your network. This is yet another reason other people shouldn't be using your business computer to access the Internet. Additionally, if you have children who want to use the Internet, you might want to buy them their own computer and provide a separate Internet connection. The shorthand is like this: Play games on your play computers; do business on your business computers. If at all possible, it's not a bad idea to adopt this policy. With computer prices falling and the fact that many people keep older computers after upgrades, this may be more feasible than ever.

And, of course, because business is business, back up your files on a regular basis. Above all, it's worth the cost to buy a good antivirus software package and keep it updated. The cost is a tax deduction and it will save you a lot of grief if something bad does get loose in your network.

For the safety of your network, a good antivirus program should be used to scan all disks on all computers on your LAN on a very frequent basis—such as nightly when you are asleep. A good antivirus program should also download updates (new virus definitions) frequently. Daily updates are recommended. If you hear of a new virus outbreak, you should immediately check for updates manually.

Keep in mind that if you don't keep your virus definitions up-to-date, then when one gets loose in even a large network, much less a small one, it can wreak havoc as it quickly spreads.

Lastly, a good antivirus program should detect malicious attachments when you are sending and receiving email, and should check removable media (such as a floppy disk) and block you from copying files if the removable media contains a virus or some other threatening program.

Unless your antivirus program was part of a security suite, you might not have anti-spyware software. Make sure you obtain and use two or more anti-spyware programs. Unlike antivirus programs, which can conflict with each other, it's okay to install more than one anti-spyware program.

Expressing the Role of the User by Creating an Archetypal Character

Identifying an average user of the Internet, is at best implausible, and, more probably, impossible; but this does not exonerate systems designers from trying. The previous section described how a research method was devised to establish purpose, for the design of a novel IS, but mentioned at the outset how it is the wants or needs of the end-user that must always be the overriding purpose of any such system. Consequently, the method, although sufficient for ensuring compatibility between system and organization, was not enough to guarantee end-user satisfaction. As work began on prototype development, it became apparent that identification of end-users of the system needed further clarification.

Discussion revealed that the organization had very clear perspectives on some members of the public that take an interest in the heritage. They could be described as those that already made use of its services, its current customer base, and a very concrete understanding of their needs and wants already existed. Accordingly, there was a feeling that the customer, or potential user, was already known, and did not therefore need to be discovered, nor included in either development or system-testing. However,because the PastScape project was exploring an untapped area, its resulting application had the potential to reach a whole new customer base, customers whose identities were not yet discovered. Although internal belief and external reality may have been a perfect match, there was no evidence to assert this possibility, and without a concrete external user to target, the system risked only satisfying an internalized viewpoint, without necessarily improving the organization's dissemination of information. Furthermore, there is always a danger, with such an internalised viewpoint, that the wrong emphasis can be placed on decisions; for example, regarding which particular dataset should take advantage of a new, and potentially advantageous, system.

Many organizations are structured in such a way that different sections, divisions or departments have responsibility, and therefore ownership, for different elements of the organization's data. This carries with it the possibility that a dataset will be chosen according to some sort of purely internal motivation, rather than for the benefit of an intended user. In an attempt to resolve this issue satisfactorily, i.e. to promote wider internal acceptance of the principles of user-centred design, two different approaches were established. The first was to compose a "typical" user; the second was to explain the correlation between the potential new system and certain current business practices. These two approaches are outlined here:

The Intelligent 12-year-old

Because the perfect typical, or average, user does not, unfortunately, exist, early usability experiments for this project were conducted with the involvement of a variety of potential user-group representatives. The test- subject volunteer force (some 48 people, half of whom were males, and the other half, females) was composed of equal ratios of: heritage professionals; computer experts; lay people with no expertise in either heritage or computing; and, children aged between 9 and 11 years. However, in everyday discussions with EH staff it was impractical, to say the least, to try and explain that every element of the system was being designed to disseminate information to this convoluted cross section of society. Thus, all four types, and both genders, became assimilated into a single, easily explained, "intelligent 12-year-old". From the moment that this creation took life, explaining or rationalising any element of the system, to almost anyone, took on a new and surprising simplicity and clarity. Most people seemed to naturally understand what was meant by an intelligent 12-year-old, had no problem seeing why such a character had arisen from our collection of test subjects, and, perhaps most interestingly, accepted that such a persona was appropriate, as an "average" user of the Internet with a possible interest in heritage matters.

From Data to Information

The second approach taken, to demonstrate the importance of a target audience, was to clarify the functionality of a usable system by relating it to more easily recognised, non-IS, business functions. It was necessary, at various stages, to attain approval from people within EH who were well acquainted with dealing with the public, and whose natural responses revolved around familiar business processes, usually from a non-IT viewpoint, but often with an informed knowledge of web or IS principles. Drawing on the results of the initial analytical method, and through discussion with internal staff, a picture was revealed of some of the business practices that were already being used to disseminate database information to the public, and to other heritage professionals. The area of the organization's business structure that was most relevant to the project at that time, centred around EH's National Monuments Record Centre (NMRC) where members of the public could request heritage information. An enquiry would elicit a search by a team of in-house professionals, using various national databases and archives, and the results would be supplied to the enquirer. Essential to this process, which is of course an information system, are: the existence of data; an understanding of the data; an interpretion of the user's requirement; and delivery of appropriate information. Appropriate, of course, to the end-user. This, the process of turning data into information, is illustrated in Fig. 8.1. Within the NMRC, the in-house professionals perform this complex task by interpreting what the user wants, being able to understand the terminology and structure of the data, and then by presenting a suitable end-product.

Taking this already-understood process, or service to the use, and equating it to what a good IS should provide, was a useful ally in the explanation of the new interface, especially to those who were regular users of the Internet; many web-sites fail to provide this absolutely essential service, instead simply making raw data available. Such sites are not truly information systems, they are data storage systems with multiple-user access.

Emerging e-Marketplaces

In its traditional sense, a 'marketplace' allows information to be disseminated and activity between buyers and suppliers to be co-ordinated. Before the slump in 2000, many firms took a huge 'leap of faith', investing large sums of money into new forms of technology and the associated business practices, without always fully realizing the implications of doing so. In the B2B electronic marketplace arena in particular, new exchanges appeared overnight, and from a peak of some 8,000 the inevitable shake-out reduced the number to about 2,000 in early 2002 (according to www.ebusiness.uk.corn, February 2002). The e-Marketplace industry is therefore only just beginning to evolve, and a wealth of confusion currently exists as to the optimal strategy for companies to adopt. Many commentators see it as the next wave of the IT/information revolution.

The division of markets by spatial competition is now evaporating because of the scalability and virtual geographical nature of the Internet. The emergence of B2B e-Marketplaces is leading to more open collaboration among buyers and suppliers, and the rise in information-based products and services on the Internet has led to the circumvention of traditional intermediary business and information brokers. As evidenced by the travel industry, traditional market structures are being transformed and are giving rise to new forms of intermediaries and business models. With the introduction of new technologies that take advantage of this e-Marketplace phenomenon, markets can perform transactions on a glob scale, and thus grow exponentially.

Some of the most notable early impacts on market structure have been i the financial services industry, where online brokerage services such as E*Trad have stolen market share away from many of the established brokerage firm such as Goldman Sachs. Each user of E*Trade benefits from a larger network, since online booking enables a larger number of transactions to be made. It facilitates the exchange of 'investor tips' and the usage of discussion forums on the membership Web pages. As a result, more and more traders are willing to in the E*Trade 'community' and thus use the E*Trade platform for trading. An optimum e-Marketplace entry strategy must take into consideration a umber of factors:

• the estimated lifespan of the market;
• the degree of change required to existing business processes;
• the costs of imitating the pioneer;
• the extent of financial resources available;
• the likely cost of customer acquisition.

At present, despite the ongoing shake-out, many marketplaces are striving each critical mass. The initial focus has been on transactions, with only a -term view taken towards collaboration. Some, particularly independent marketplaces such as Chemdex (chemicals) and Opitmark (equities), have already been forced to close down. Transactions are limited and costly at this stage, and there is little incentive for many industry participants to take advantage of what is currently available. Moreover, creating an online catalogue remains complex process, and the willingness of many companies to use marketplaces a medium of exchange has been less than enthusiastic. Some prefer to keep prices confidential and negotiate closely with their customers. In addition, most of the FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies are locked in to existing electronic technologies such as EDI, which represents an expensive point-to-point trading network.

Despite current low usage levels, the potential for e-Marketplaces is evidenced by many recent studies. For example in a research report conducted by Forrester Research (2001), more than 75 per cent of companies envisaged trading online by 2004, and at least 50 per cent expect to participate in four or more e- Marketplaces by 2004. According to Durlacher (2000), B2B e-Commerce is estimated to account for almost 20 per cent of GDP in the UK and approximately 12 per cent of GDP in all of Europe by 2004. Forrester Research (2001) notes that while industries are moving at different speeds in order to take advantage of B2B initiatives, the automobile industry is leading the way with a forecast spend of almost 200,000 million euros by 2005. For example, Covisint, owned by Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG, General Motors Corp., Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co., Commerce One Inc. and Oracle, plans to reduce supply chain costs and bring efficiencies to its owners' business operations. As a result, many B2B e-Marketplaces are incorporating a variety of value-added services in their offering in order to attract participants and differentiate themselves from competitors, and thus create a sustainable revenue model that is also profitable. These services vary across different industries and products, but some of the most common features include:

• auctioning;
• collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR);
• improved knowledge management, reporting and visibility;
• e-Procurement;
• supply-chain management;
• e-Logistics services.