File-Storage Application Requirements

I. Introduction

This document describes the requirements for ACS File-Storage application. The file-storage application allows individuals to place their files on a publicly accessible web site and share them with other members of that web community or with the public at large.

II. Vision Statement

The goal of a Web community is to facilitate the sharing of information. This information can come in a variety of forms: text, images, executable files, and web pages. The file storage application should provide a convenient way for users to share information in any of these formats. Users should be able to determine which individuals or groups should be allowed to read particular items and who should be allowed to upload new versions.

Since information is only useful if you can find what you're looking for, files in the file storage system should be searchable, both from within the application and through any site-wide search facilities.

III. System/Application Overview

The File-Storage application will consist primarily of a user interface that allows individuals to manage their file-storage folder(s) and to see other people's publicly accessible files.

IV. Use Case and User Scenarios

Using File-Storage to Run a Project

In the course of her job at Acme Publishing Company, Ursula User is working with people from several different offices with whom she needs to exchange pictures and Excel spreadsheets detailing cost estimates, and collaboratively write contracts using Word. At any time, she and the other people she works with need to be able to find the current copy of each of these documents - and be able to look at older versions if need be to track the evolution of the project. If the project is large, Ursula will also need to be able to find all the documents pertaining to a particular issue - so she will need a full-text search feature.

For each project, Ursula makes a folder on the file-storage system and gives read, write, and edit permission to the group of people she is working with for that project. Then she makes subfolders for each of the tasks for that project and asks appropriate team members to start uploading versions of the documents as soon as they have completed drafts. She downloads the documents, edits them, adds comments to them, etc. Then she uploads her new version to the same folder. She and the other members of her team go back and forth with this until they have a version with which they are satisfied. Occasionally, Ursula wants to ask someone outside the group their opinion so she gives them read access to just one version of a file so that they can download it and take a look. Sometimes production tasks change; if so, Ursula can rearrange the project's sub-folder hierarchy to make it more closely reflect the new organizational scheme. When a project is completed, if Ursula is considerate of the maintainers of the site and of other users, she will clean-up after herself, downloading the canonical version of all the documents to her local machine and deleting the files from the server.

Administer File-Storage

Annie Admin primarily has the job of periodically cleaning up after users. If disk space is tight on the server, she may want to look for files that haven't been accessed in a long time and either encourage the owners of those files to delete anything they don't need on the server anymore or delete files herself if the user can't be contacted or is unresponsive. Depending on the precise permissions implementation, Annie may occasionally need to intercede when the owner of a file accidentally revokes their own permission to access the file.

V. Related Links

VI.A. Requirements: Data Model

10 The Data Model

10.1 each file should have a unique identifier

10.2 each version of a file should have a unique identifier

10.3 each file should have an associated owner

10.4 each version should have an associated owner

10.5 files will be organized in a hierarchical set of folders

10.6 each version of each file will have individual read, write, delete, comment, and administer permissions associated with it

VI.B. Requirements: Administrator Interface

20 Administrator Interface

20.1 the administrator should be able to view all files in the file-storage system

20.2 the administrator should be able to edit, delete, or alter permissions for any file belonging to any user

VI.C. Requirements: User Interface

30 User Interface

30.1 a user should be able to create folders and subfolders in which he can place his files

30.2 a user should be able to add new files and new versions of files

30.3 a user should be able to move files to different folders or sub-folders

30.4 a user should be able to delete folders and individual files

30.5 a user should be able to specify permissions for any user or group on any folder, file, or version.

30.6 a user should be able to download any version which is accessible to him

30.7 a user should be able to view and/or edit other user's files if the user has been granted individual or group permission with access to the files

30.8 a user should be able to search the text of the documents stored in the file-storage system (requires full-text search capability from the database - in the case of Oracle, requires InterMedia)

VII. Revision History

Document Revision #	Action Taken, Notes	When?	By Whom?
0.1	Creation	1 October 2000	Cynthia Kiser
0.2	Revision for ACS 4	3 November 2000	Kevin Scaldeferri
0.3	Revised based on review by Josh Finkler	6 November 2000	Kevin Scaldeferri, Josh Finkler

kevin@arsdigita.com

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