20.3.1. Project Objective

Design and deliver a shopping cart feature for an online retail platform, enabling users to add, update, and purchase items.

The main objective of the project is to create a shopping cart feature on an online retail platform. This feature is crucial as it allows customers to add items they wish to purchase, update the quantities of those items before finalizing the purchase, and complete their transactions securely and efficiently.

Think of a shopping cart in a physical store. Just like customers can select items and place them in their cart while shopping, the online shopping cart allows users to ‘pick’ items digitally. When ready, customers can take their cart to the checkout register (the online checkout) to pay for their items.

✅ Key Business Requirements ● Users can add multiple products to the cart ● Cart contents are saved across sessions ● Discounts and promo codes can be applied ● Cart updates dynamically with stock availability ● Checkout process integrates with payment gateway

The key business requirements outline the features that the shopping cart must have to meet user needs. Users should be able to add multiple products, keep their cart contents even after logging out, apply discounts, receive real-time stock updates, and smoothly transition to payment processing during checkout.

Imagine shopping at a grocery store where you can fill your cart with various items. If the store offers discounts, you can apply those at checkout, just like entering a promo code online. Additionally, if the store runs out of an item, you would want to know immediately, mirroring the dynamism of stock updates in an online cart.

👥 Stakeholders ● Product Owner ● Marketing Team ● Customers ● Logistics & Inventory Team

Stakeholders are the individuals or groups who have an interest in the project's outcomes. The Product Owner oversees the project, the Marketing Team brings customer perspectives, customers are the end-users, and the Logistics & Inventory Team ensures that products are available for sale and can be shipped successfully.

Think of a movie production where the director, actors, producers, and audience all play different roles. Similarly, in this project, each stakeholder has their own responsibilities and insights, contributing to the success of the shopping cart feature.

📊 BA Activities ● Gather user stories (e.g., “As a shopper, I want to remove an item from my cart”) ● Create wireframes for cart UI ● Define business rules (e.g., max quantity per product, cart expiration) ● Document functional & non-functional requirements ● Conduct UAT for checkout and promo logic

Business Analysts perform critical tasks to ensure the shopping cart feature is user-friendly and effective. This includes gathering user stories that reflect user needs, designing the interface, setting rules (like how many of one item a user can buy), documenting what the system should do, and testing the feature to confirm it meets the requirements.

Imagine planning a community event. You would collect feedback from potential attendees (user stories), draw up plans for the layout (wireframes), establish rules (like age limits), outline what the event entails (requirements), and then run through a practice event to ensure everything works smoothly before the real thing.

🛠 Tools Used ● JIRA (User Stories) ● Figma (Wireframes) ● Confluence (BRD/FRD) ● SQL (Verify cart behavior in DB)

Various tools are employed to support the development of the shopping cart feature. JIRA helps manage user stories and track progress, Figma is used for visual design, Confluence keeps documentation organized, and SQL is used to check the functionality of the shopping cart in the database.

Think of an artist working on a sculpture. They need different tools: chisels (to shape), a chisel to smooth surfaces, and a sketch to visualize design. Similarly, Business Analysts use tools to plan, track, and check the feature they are developing.

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