Requirements Analysis

System and Functional Requirements

Scope:

I think this analysis should cover the complete TDWG collaboration infrastructure, not just the website, because which function goes on which platform is determined by the particular technologies/services chosen for implementation.

I realize this first pass is backwards (listing functions by old/existing platform), but it's convenient for getting functions listed.

Primary tools from TDWG Infrastructure Project (TIP)

Web site - CMS (Typo3)

• Primary site for TDWG community (domain); provides direction to all resources and activities
• Granular access -- admin, author, registered user, anonymous user
• Interest and Task Group -- relatively static content:
  • charters - official docs reviewed and approved by Exec and TAG to guarantee coordination across groups.
  • Any other documentation and direction to other resources (mailing list, wiki)
• Membership -- including online payments
  • registered users
  • individual members
  • institutional members
  • management of institutional accounts (affiliated users: primary with control, as communication backup)
  • conference discount codes (done as one MBR[0-9]{5}, which isn't very helpful. It would support accounting/reporting better to do them with flexible prefix code, e.g., InstMbr, IndivMbr, Stud, LOC, PrgCmt, Exec, InvSpkr)

Document review and publishing pipeline -- Open Journal System (OJS)

Used for:

• Interest and Task Group Charters
• Standards: worked for solicited expert review, but didn't work for open comments. Still need a good solution for that.
• Conference abstracts
• Reaching all "subscribers" via Newsletter and Announcements (two checkbox option-attributes of user accnt)

Wiki

Collaborative editing of content (not simultaneously)
Wiki space for each Interest/Task Group

Mailing Lists (Mailman)

• Announcements - by explicit subscription
• Discussion - Originally envisioned as one per Interest/Task Group, but later merged (mostly) into:
  • Technical Architecture issues
  • Content

Document Repository -- version control system (subversion)

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Google Code

• DarwinCore Task group began using Google Code site to track issues
• TAG - Semantic Web Task Group (Baskauf, Web, Sachs)