The WebE Team

29.7.1 The WebE Team

The creation of a successful Web application demands a broad array of skills. Tilley and Huang [TIL99] address this issue when they state: “There are so many different aspects to [Web] application software that there is a (re)emergence of the renais-

“In today’s net-centric sance person, one who is comfortable operating in several disciplines . . .” While the and Web-enabled

world, one now authors are absolutely correct, “renaissance” people are in relatively short supply; needs to know a lot

and given the demands associated with major WebApp development projects, the about a lot.”

diverse skill set required might be better distributed over a WebE team.

Scott Tilly and

WebE teams can be organized in much the same way as the software teams dis-

Shihoug Huang

cussed in Chapter 3. However, the players and their roles are often quite different. Among the many skills that must be distributed across WebE team members are com- ponent-based software engineering, networking, architectural and navigational design, Internet standards/languages, human interface design, graphic design, content lay-

out, and WebApp testing. The following roles 8 should be distributed among the mem- bers of the WebE team:

? Content developer and providers. Because WebApps are inherently con-

What roles

do people

tent driven, one WebE team member role must focus on the generation or

play on a WebE

collection of content. Recalling that content spans a broad array of data

team?

objects, content developers and providers may come from diverse (non-soft- ware) backgrounds. For example, marketing or sales staff may provide prod- uct information and graphical images, media producers may provide video and audio, graphic designers may provide layout design and aesthetic con- tent, copywriters may provide text-based content. In addition, research staff may be required to find and format external content for placement or refer- ence within the WebApp.

Web publisher. The diverse content generated by content developers and providers must be organized for inclusion within the WebApp. In addition, someone must act as liaison between technical staff that engineers the WebApp and nontechnical content developers and providers. This role is filled by the Web publisher, who must understand both content and WebApp technology including HTML (or its next generation extensions, such as XML), database functionality, scripts, and general Web-site navigation.

Web engineer. A Web engineer becomes involved in a wide range of activi- ties during the development of a WebApp including requirements elicitation; analysis modeling; architectural, navigational, and interface design; WebApp implementation; and testing. The Web engineer should also have a solid understanding of component technologies, client/server architectures, HTML/XML, and database technologies as well as a working knowledge of

8 These roles have been adapted from Hansen, Deshpande, and Murgusan [HAN99].

CHAPTER 29 WEB ENGINEERING

multi-media concepts, hardware/software platforms, network security, and Web-site support issues.

Support specialist. This role is assigned to the person (people) who has responsibility for continuing WebApp support. Because WebApps continu- ously evolve, the support specialist is responsible for corrections, adapta- tions, and enhancements to the site, including updates to content, implementation of new procedures and forms, and changes to the navigation pattern.

Administrator. Often called the Web master, this person has responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the WebApp, including

• Development and implementation of policies for the operation of the

WebApp. • Establishment of support and feedback procedures. • Implementation of security procedures and access rights. • Measurement and analysis of Web-site traffic. • Coordination of change control procedures (Section 29.7.3). • Coordination with support specialists.

The administrator may also be involved in the technical activities performed by Web engineers and support specialists.