- Walkthrough Continued
- Challenges
- Testing and Usability
- Deployment and Beyond
- Conclusion
Deployment and Beyond
Several additions are required before this system can be deployed to a wider audience. The MLS business object must be modified to access the actual MLS database. A security policy must be developed to protect the application and database. The application server should run on a server protected by a "demilitarized zone" (DMZ) and the database itself should be protected by a firewall. The query parameters will be extended to let an agent specify the desired geographic area(s). The display of results will be enhanced to provide more detail and to display images, at least on the web interface.
Several enhancements are possible to take better advantage of the mobile channel. A subscription-based notification service could be offered, where agents are automatically alerted when properties of interest come on the market. Agents could create profiles for their clients that would be used to trigger these alerts. A facility for adding and updating property listings might also be useful. Agents could add new properties and update the status of existing listings from anywhere. Obviously, updates to a legacy system such as the MLS are much more difficult than read-only access, raising issues of concurrency, security, and data validation. However, the MLS business object would encapsulate most of these concerns.