Describe the purpose of a web service

Competency

In this project, you will 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:

1. 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?

1. 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?

1. Identify additional user requirements that developers would need to know prior to the conference.

• Topics to consider may include how conference attendees may want to:
  • Use the conference schedule
  • Receive notifications
  • Interact with other attendees

Provide at least two new user requirements for each web service (smartphone application, registration sign-in, and virtual personal assistant) presented in the scenario.

1. After identifying the user requirements, explain how each web service functionality meets the user requirements you discussed. Be sure that you are referring to the user requirements you identified to explain how each web service functionality meets those requirements.

1. Determine the protocols that each web service should use to package and send data over a network, and explain why that protocol would be used to best support the service.

• For the first web service, review the header file, shown in this header file resource, to make this determination.

What to Submit

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Technology Plan
Your technology plan should be 3–5 pages in length and may include diagrams and visuals. Within the plan, you must address all of the topics presented in the directions. You can use this optional template to help you plan and organize your information.

Supporting Materials

The following resource(s) may help support your work on the project:

Diagram Tools
If you choose to include a diagram in your technology plan, you may use any tool you like, including pencil and paper, to create it. We have included links to videos and some popular tools that you can use to help you create your diagram. These are not required resources, but are available to use if needed.

• Microsoft: Add a drawing to a document
  This document provides step-by-step instructions for creating drawings using the tools available through Microsoft Office.
• Video: draw.io – Quick start video (1:35)
  This video provides a demonstration of the tools and capabilities of draw.io.
• This Visio 2016 tutorial includes information that may be helpful to you when creating your flowchart. You will want to focus mainly on the information presented in Section B: Navigation and in Section C: Using Shapes, Connectors, and Arrows.
• Video: Creating Flow Charts (7:37)