The last step in designing your e-business application is to review the guidelines for how to design, develop, deploy, and manage e-business applications. The guidelines help you customize the solution design, maximize performance, and select platforms on which to deliver the solution.

Some general guidelines that apply for the designs of all solutions are:

• Pay attention to all components of the solution.
• Understand in detail the interfaces and flows between the various components.
• Plan for growth of the design.
• Use the latest levels of infrastructure and system software.
• Cache as much as possible.

The guidelines and implementation information are contained in two IBM Redbooks entitled e-Commerce Patterns using WebSphere Commerce Suite, Patterns for e-business Series, SG24-6156 (5269 KB) and e-commerce Patterns for Building B2C Web Sites Using IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite V5.1, SG24-6180 (5600 KB). These redbooks are written primarily for IT architects and IT specialists but can be useful to anyone designing an e-business application. The listings below that include chapter numbers are in reference to these two redbooks.

Performance guidelines

More About High Volume Web Sites, SG24-6562, is a compilation of IBM's High-Volume Web Sites (HVWS) team papers that address the unique challenges in design, implementation, and management that high-volume IT infrastructures present. (The earlier book, Best Practices for High-Volume Web Sites, is also available. Select the "Additional Materials" link from the menu on the upper right of the same page.)

Recommended technology options

Chapter 6 looks at the technologies that you should consider when developing e-commerce and Web applications. The technologies are based on the open standards and Java-based programming model of the IBM Application Framework for e-business. The WebSphere Commerce Suite and the WebSphere Application Server are Web application servers that are based on the open standards and Java-based programming model of the IBM Application Framework for e-business.

Application design guidelines

Chapter 7 describes the challenges designing e-business applications presents compared to traditional application design and development. The majority of these challenges are related to the fact that e-business applications are used primarily by an undefined set of internal and external users such as employees, customers, and business partners. Web applications must be developed to meet the varied needs of these users.

Application development guidelines

Chapter 8 describes the development process used to build an e-business application from end-to-end. Also discussed is the use of tools for producing the development work products in each development phase. By using the IBM Application Framework for e-business’s rich set of components, effort and cycle time for developing Web applications is reduced.

Systems management and security guidelines

Chapter 9 focuses on the activities involved in systems management and security for the WebSphere Commerce Suite.

Congratulations, you've completed all the steps to design your e-business application! There are some additional related links, that you might find helpful, including customer experiences, test reports, and redbooks.