User Interest Group Questionnaire
Content
1 Background
1.1 Current Situation
Today's online shops offer different goods to Internet users. The shops are mostly designed to be used with a World Wide Web browser, if necessary with additional plug-ins. The presentation of goods is restricted to pictures, photos, textual descriptions or specifications, short video sequences and sound. Interactive configuration or composition, 3-dimensiona
l movable objects, variant's selection, and more is not possible with the current systems.
1.2 The Intellect Project
INTELLECT is a research project funded by the European Commission in the IST program (Informa-tion Society Technologies). The project will develop an electronic shop system including an online configuration module for products which will be represented by 3D / virtual reality techniques and advanced user assistance and advice. It will improve the business opportunities for European service providers and consultants as well as for manufacturers, wholesalers, sellers, and their customers. INTELLECT will analyse, define, and implement an electronic commerce system with
A) virtual reality product representation,
B) on-line configuration of product variants,
C) an Internet on-line help desk, and
D) integrated security and privacy mechanisms.
Target groups are manufacturers, suppliers, and wholesalers, and in addition average customers. The conception of the system will be as generalised as possible to facilitate the transfer to various industrial sectors. The project is scheduled for 24 months ending in December 2001 and will have 160 personmonths of efforts to develop the solution. The project work consists of 7 operative workpackages:
1.3 The Intellect Consortium
European research projects are executed in transnational consortia to foster international cooperation taking into account the European dimension of the project results. These groups normally consist of research institutes, technology providers and end users to guarantee both scientific and industrial relevance. In the Intellect consortium enterprises from four different European countries (A, D, F, and GR) are involved, giving a representative overview on the needs of different markets and national specifics. Apart from a renown research institute, there are three IT and software providers with complementary expertise to develop the solution and three end-users to provide practical requirements from the market.
| Organisation Legal Name | Nat. | Role |
| OptiNet GmbH | D | Network service provider; project co-ordinator, developer and provider of the advanced internet service, and co-ordinator of the pilot system integration. |
| University of Bremen (BIBA) | D | Research Institute; developer of the variants' handling configuration module and visualisation of the product information; evaluation and dissemination activities. |
| Anecon Software Design und Beratung G.m.b.H. | A | Bank software developer; implementations of system for secure electronic financial transactions supporting international standards. |
| Atlantide Grenat Logiciel | F | Software house and consulting; developer of the "Advanced Virtual Reality Internet Shop" |
| HT Trading GmbH | A | Producer of high-end mountain bikes tailor made to the needs of the customer |
| Blauwerk Design Steindlegger KEG | A | Pushtype scooter producer; integration of system pilot, pilot site, end user. |
| Interset Digital systems and support Ltd. | GR | Vendor of IT products, assembling components for Personal Computers and related products |
1.4 User groups
Since the industrial partners (end-users) the consortium can only give a perception of their own market requirements, additional input is required from outside the group. Therefore, the European Commission encourages the project members to approach potential users in an early phase of the project to bring in their expectations. The potential users of the final project results could profit in various ways from being involved in a research project. Such as by:
- being entitled to use the final product free of charge
- codesigning the solution according the needs of their business/market
- getting input for similar project they are planning
In return for these benefits the member of a user group are required to:
- monitor the progress of the project
- provide input for the design of the solution and to
- test prototypes and give feedback for the developers.
In practise, this involvement would consist of filling in questionnaires to define specific requirements, reading selected documents issued by the consortium and attending meetings for further discussions. In the realisation phase a prototype would be installed at the member's site to be tested and evaluated.
Generally, the involvement may be handled "variably", based on the economic interest of the company in the user group. The stronger this interest will be, the more efforts may be made for the contribution. If the scope of the project does need exactly meet the requirements of one member of the user group, accompanying advice on an irregular basis are welcome as well. It must be emphasised that any cooperation between the consortium and the user group is strictly voluntary and is based a limited obligations of either part.
2 Target Markets
Though being developed with focus on small business fields, the INTELLECT solution will be a generic one, which can be used for other industrial sectors as well.
2.1 Current E-Shop Operators
Most enterprise offering products on the Internet are likely to need enhancement to their product presentation. E-commerce is becoming more competitive on an hourly basis - providing additional USP's is a must. Since the key issues of electronic shopping are product presentation and usability, the Intellect Project results would be beneficial for enhancing almost every E-Shop currently online.
2.2 Prospective E-Shop Operators
There are companies willing to enter the electronic marketplace, which cannot find a solution to present their products in an appropriate way. Such enterprises might find that some of the obstacles are solved by the Intellect solution. This will mainly apply to suppliers of products depending much on the quality of presentation.
2.3 Internet Service Providers / Portal Site Operators
For suppliers of Electronic Commerce infrastructure Intellect will be an application providing new solutions, which will attract additional customers.
3 Questionnaire A: Current E-Shop Operators
4 Questionnaire B: Prospective E-Shop Operators
5 Questionnaire C: ISP's / Portal Site Operators