Chapter 11 Exercise 17

17. Rolling Thunder is planning to expand by sending sales representatives around the country to various bike shops. They will use portable devices and a Web interface to configure bicycles and take new orders. The system should at least be able to run on an Apple iPad browser, and perhaps even a cell-phone browser. Describe how this system will work. What security provisions will be needed?

Cell phone Web browsers are OK, but cell-phone service can be a little slow. So graphics need to be minimized. But, if the salespeople are bicycle experts that should not be a problem. A laptop with a cell-modem would provide more options because of local storage, but it should be possible to build everything as a Web site. The basic Web site security is straightforward�just use SSL on the server to encrypt transmissions. Sensitive data stored on the server should be encrypted (credit cards and so on). The salespeople will also need to be able to check on production and progress, so assigning good passwords and controlling access to some queries and reports is going to be important.