Demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:
Describe the purpose of a web service
Scenario
A company you work for is planning a two-day business conference. Conference speakers and attendees will be traveling from different cities. Over 15 speakers and 200 attendees are estimated to attend.
You are the lead technologist on the planning committee for this conference. To ensure that the event runs smoothly, you suggest that the company use the following web services for the conference:
SMARTPHONE APPLICATION TO BE USED BY CONFERENCE ATTENDEES (E.G., WHOVA, 10TIMES, GRUPIO)
Web service functions and goals:
Lists the conference schedule
Tracks the number of attendees in each session
Provides a communication platform for attendees to virtually network throughout the conference
Allows attendees to add the sessions they want to attend into their calendars
REGISTRATION SIGN-IN TO BE USED BY CONFERENCE GREETERS
Web service functions and goals:
Allows user to enter a person’s name to see if they have already registered
Sends data to a server as to the time that each attendee arrived at the conference
Confirms whether registered attendee already purchased a ticket
Allows non-registered attendees to pay the ticket price and register
VIRTUAL PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO BE USED BY EVENT COORDINATORS
Web service functions and goals:
Tracks the flight numbers and departure times for each speaker
Tracks when each conference speaker needs to be picked up from the airport
Provides GPS directions from airport to hotel
Provides the hotel information for each speaker(room number and check-in times)
As the lead technologist, you have to explain why and how these web services are necessary to the other members of the planning committee. In order to do this effectively, you need to create a technology plan. Not only do you have to consider the user perspective within your plan, but you also need to consider the developer perspective.
Directions
Develop a Technology Plan to present to the Conference Planning Committee. You may use a diagram or other visuals within your plan.
In your plan, be sure to:
Explain the benefits of using web services from both a user perspective and a software developer perspective.
Consider the following question:
Why would your company create its own program that would be accessible over the web instead of using the three web services mentioned in the scenario?
Describe the purpose of each web service described in the scenario from a user perspective (smartphone application, registration sign-in, virtual personal assistant).
Consider the following questions:
Why would conference attendees use the smartphone application before, during, or after the conference?
Why would conference greeters use the registration sign-in before, during, or after the conference?
Why would event coordinators use the virtual personal assistant before, during, or after the conference?
Identify additional user requirements that developers would need to know prior to the conference.