Software processes for the development of electronic commerce systems

The development of electronic commerce systems is subject to different conditions than that of conventional software systems. This includes the introduction of new activities to the development process and the removal of others. An adapted process must cope with important idiosyncrasies of EC system development: EC systems typically have a high degree of interaction, which makes factors like ergonomics, didactics and psychology especially important in the development of user interfaces. Typically, they also have a high degree of integration with existing software systems such as legacy or groupware systems. Integration techniques have to be selected systematically in order not to endanger the whole software development process. This article describes the development of an EC system and it generalizes salient features of the software process used. The result is a process model that can be used for other highly integrative EC system development projects. The processes described are determined by short process lifecycles, by an orientation towards integration of legacy systems and by a strict role-based cooperation approach.