Hi Divesh, Thank you for your detailed answer. By "recommendation engine" I meant, similarly to "search engine", the module for producing recommendations for a customer. I think you understood me right and OfBiz has the needed capabilities.
Regarding subcontracting/consulting - please see my reply to David: http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/ofbiz-user/201009.mbox/%3cof668df42d.37d20ff5-onc2257794.002b8492-c2257794.002c2...@il.ibm.com%3e . The project I participate in is a long-term (four years) Research & Development project, developed by several partners from academic institutions/industry. One of the goals is to save funds by re-using existing solutions. I understand what you mean, but I guess subcontracting/consulting is out of question here. If we choose OfBiz as a base for our e-commerce solution, we would have four years to work with OfBiz and become proficient in it. I hope that if we would choose the OfBiz option, we probably could contribute the features we develop back to OfBiz/ to the OOTB features of OfBiz. Best Regards, Vadim ------------------------------- Vadim Eisenberg IT for Healthcare & Life Sciences IBM Research - Haifa Divesh Dutta <[email protected]> wrote on 04/09/2010 10:38:12 PM: > From: > > Divesh Dutta <[email protected]> > > To: > > [email protected] > > Cc: > > Divesh Dutta <[email protected]> > > Date: > > 04/09/2010 10:40 PM > > Subject: > > Re: OfBiz e-commerce customization > > Hello Vadim, > > Please see my comments inline. > > On Sep 2, 2010, at 11:49 PM, Vadim Eisenberg wrote: > > > > > Hello OfBiz developers, > > > > My name is Vadim Eisenberg and I work at IBM Research - Haifa, on the > > UniversAAL project - http://universaal.org/. It is a consortium European > > project. Its goal is to create a platform for applications, services and > > devices for Ambient Assisted Living, that is a kind of "Smart Home" for > > senior citizens. As part of the platform, we - several software developers > > - have to develop an e-commerce site - uStore > > http://universaal.org/index.php? > option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=9&Itemid=21 > > . This site would be a one-stop-shop for software, services and devices > > for Ambient Assisted Living. > > > > We consider using OfBiz for implementation of uStore. > > Thats great idea. > > > > > > I would like to ask you several questions about the features we want to > > implement. I would be glad to hear any information you can tell me about > > how hard could it be for us to implement these features. Please note that > > we have no prior experience with OfBiz. > > +1 for David's word here: > > "OFBiz is a large project. A good developer can learn to work > effectively with the framework with a couple of weeks of training > and a couple of months of hands-on development. However, even a good > developer will have a hard time picking up all of the data > structures and business logic even after many months of study, and > realistically since most people don't or can't do that, it usually > takes years of work experience and even then they'll only have > knowledge of the parts of the system that have had the opportunity > to work with." > > So if you start learning OFBiz by your self and try to get things > implement your self (without consulting experienced OFBiz > developer), I think it would take more time instead of saving your time. > > > > > > Any your thoughts, intuition, experience, advice about OfBiz/business > > programming are welcome. > > > > In particular, the following information would help us very much : > > How much work should be done by us in order to implement all the > > features that follow (Person/Months, Person/Years, for skilled OfBiz > > developers/general software engineers). Which part would be to use > > existing "extension" mechanisms of OfBiz and which part would be > > actually changing the OfBiz code ? Here your intuition/experience from > > related projects is welcome, we do not need exact numbers, just a > > ballpark. > > How much time the general software developers have to learn about OfBiz > > and how skilled in OfBiz they should become in order to implement these > > features > > > > E-commerce website features: > > Using e-commerce site for selling software (such as AppStore of iPhone) > > and downloadable files in general (video, presentations of courses > > etc.). Here the issue is to manage links where the bought files could be > > downloaded. The idea is to prevent a situation in which buyers would buy > > a software application, receive a link to it for downloading and share > > the link afterwards with anybody they want, so anybody would be able to > > download the application without paying for it. > > Using e-commerce site for selling services (human services and others) > > Extending e-commerce site with general widgets, such as calendar, clock, > > map, a widget for downloading files, etc., and integrating the widgets > > with the OfBiz > > > > Selling digital products like mentioned above are supported in OFBiz > OOTB. Managing links is also supported , It may require few > customization to address very specific requirement as per the customer. > > > Integration with other websites/services: > > Integrating an e-commerce website with another (non-OfBiz backed) site - > > adding possibility for sellers to add products to the e-commerce site > > via the other site, to see customer feedback provided on the e-commerce > > site via the other site > > Integrating an e-commerce website with another (possibly non-OfBiz) > > e-commerce website, such as eBay/Amazon. What are the current > > possibilities of integration with eBay ? > > Integrating an e-commerce website with post/delivery services/sites > > Support for integrating OFBiz with Ebay is already supported in OOTB. > > > > > Adding advanced features: > > Adding support for signing business contracts between service consumers > > and service providers, between providers of different services etc. via > > the e-commerce site > > This can be achieved. Will require more proper modeling and > designing in OFBiz. > > > > Adding support for applying capability/requirement model, such as > > JSR-124, (for example for matching between customer's requirements and > > capabilities of software, devices and services). The customer or > > software agent on behalf of the customer could provide his requirements > > as part of his account information, and the e-commerce solution would > > match between the products (according to their capabilities) and the > > requirements of the customers. > > Has OfBiz a recommendation engine (providing recommendations to a user > > based on his activity - searches, purchases, reviews etc.) ? If no, how > > hard would it be to add it ? > > I didn't got what you mean by term "recommendation engine" here. But > as per my understanding, I would say OFBiz e-commerce has features > to recommend users buy products based on : > > 1) largest selling product in site on in particular category > 2) Cross sell products ( complementary products are presented to a > customer after the customer has demonstrated a desire and > willingness to purchase a particular product ) > 3) Up sell products (An up-sell offer is typically for a better > version of the same product or service you are considering) > 4) Most viewed product or service > > Also we can add more recommendation criteria > > > > Can the OfBiz-based e-commerce web site be presented by browsers of > > smart phones ? How hard would it be to enable it ? > > Yes it can be, HTML should be styling should be written accordingly. > > Changing search/recommendations of OfBiz to be based on the requirements > > of the customer > > Changing search/recommendations of OfBiz to be based on the geolocation > > of the customer > > Adding support for customization of products/services and changes in the > > prices according to the customization during the purchase process > > Can be achieved, but will require custom work . Data model supported > > > Adding support for a composition solution of hardware, software and > > human services (bundles, kits). A seller could compose a new product by > > combining several existing products > > Can be achieved by using existing data model. Data model supported. > > > Adding support for manual approval of products by site administrators > > before submission of the products to the e-commerce site > > Available in OFBiz OOTB . > > Adding support for managing versions of the software applications that > > are sold on the e-commerce website > > > > Sorry for so many questions and sorry if some of them are out of context. > > None of the question is out of context Vadim . All the questions > make sense and one would like to see in E-commerce site. And OFBiz > is exactly what you need. > > But I would say, to achieve all your requirement and use OFBiz OOTB > feature is difficult for newbie . So its recommended to get > consulting from experienced person or team. Or get training to start > in house development. Or subcontract your work. > > > > > > > Best Regards, > > Vadim > > ------------------------------- > > Vadim Eisenberg > > IT for Healthcare & Life Sciences > > IBM Research - Haifa > > > > > > Regards, > Divesh Dutta. > Hotwax Media Inc. > Global leader in OFBiz Training, Consulting and service providing. > Go to Google and see it yourself.
