Requirement
Type |
definition |
Priority |
Additional
Details |
System
Requirements |
|
|
|
Application
Server |
Server or application
environment required to run CMS |
|
Tomcat or other Open
Application Server |
Database |
Database the CMS uses to
store content |
Must run off a relational
database |
•My SQL (we already use
it)
•PostgreSQL (has XML
support) |
License |
Type of
license |
|
Open |
Operating
System |
OS this CMS is Compatible
with |
|
Linux |
Programming
Language |
Language is written
in |
|
PHP,
Java |
Web
Server |
Web server this CMS is
compatible with |
Should |
Apache,
Tomcat |
Security |
|
|
|
Audit Trail |
Does this system keep
track of who made changes/ additions |
Must |
|
Content
Approval |
Does this system have some
sort of system wide approval? |
Must |
|
Email
Verification |
Does this system send an
activation key to make sure users have entered a valid email
address? |
Must |
|
Granular
Privileges |
Does this system allow
read/ write functions on a per page and per content item basis as well as
other privileges for other system functions? |
Must |
|
LDAP
Authentication |
Does this allow for LADP
based Authentication? |
Must |
|
Problem
Notification |
Mechanism for alerting
administrators when there is a problem |
Nice to
Have |
|
Sandbox |
Private area for content
managers to try new ideas |
Nice to
have |
|
Session
Mgt |
Some facility for an
administrator to see who has logged in and if required log them
out |
Nice to
Have |
|
SSL
compatible |
Can this system be used
with an SSL certificate on the web server? |
Should |
|
SSL
Logins |
Can this System be
configured to switch to SSL mode (HTTP) for
logins? |
Should |
|
SSL
pages |
Can this system be
configure to switch to SSL mode for certain
pages? |
Should |
|
Versioning |
Does this system provide
some kind of system wide content versioning? |
Should |
|
Support |
|
Nice to
Have |
|
|
|
|
|
Ease of
Use |
|
|
|
Drag & Drop
content |
|
Nice to
Have |
|
Friendly
URLs |
Does this system have
human readable and search engine friendly URL’s? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Image
Resizing |
Does this system allow
users to edit uploaded images? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Macro
Language |
Is there a Macro Language
that allows content managers to place powerful functionality (like auto
generated navigation systems) without any programming
knowledge? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Mass
Upload |
Does the system have a way
of uploading/importing many images and other files all at once to save
time? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Prototyping |
Does the system allow the
user to create custom default settings for the different kinds of content
objects to save them extra clicks when creating those object types. For
instance, if there is a particular template they like to use, can they set
it as a default? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Server Page
Language |
s there a server page
language available like PHP, JSP, or ASP for easy one-off
functionality? |
Nice to
Have |
PHP or
JSP3 |
Spell
Checker |
Does the system have an
integrated spell checker |
Nice to
Have |
|
Subscriptions |
Can the user subscribe to
various sections of the site and receive notifications on new/updated
content? These types of functions are typically found in the news feeds,
forums, and blogs. |
MUST |
|
Template
Language |
Is there a templating
language for powerful layout controls? (Note that templating languages are
different from server page languages in that they are not capable of full
programmatic functions, and are fully HTML
compliant |
Nice to
Have |
|
UI
levels |
s there a means of dumbing
down the publishing interface
for less sophisticated publishers while keeping a more sophisticated
interface for power users? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Undo
|
Does the system allow
users to operations if they
make a mistake? |
Nice to
Have |
|
WYSIWYG
Editor |
Is there a web-based rich
text editor to allow publishers to create formatted content without
knowing HTML, CSS, XML, or XSL? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Performance |
|
|
|
Advanced
Caching |
Does the system have
advanced caching mechanisms that go beyond simple page caching? For
instance, navigation, template, or content object
caching? |
Must |
|
Database
Replication |
Can the system take
advantage of database replication for better scalability? The system would
need to be able to perform reads from slaves and writes to the database
master. |
N/A |
|
Load
Balancing |
Does the system allow you
to put a load balancer in front of it to split the load between multiple
servers? This would require that user sessions can be passed between all
the nodes transparently. |
Must |
|
Static Content
Export |
Does the system have the
ability to export it\'s content as static HTML so it may be served up from
regional cache servers, or from static HTML web
servers? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Page
Caching |
Does the system have a
mechanism for caching the contents of a page so that if it\'s requested
again it can skip most of the work to create the
page |
Nice to
Have |
|
Management |
|
|
|
Content
Staging |
Can content be created on
one server and easily pushed; to another server? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Inline
Administration |
Is content edited directly
in the page that it will be placed? (The alternative is that there is a
wholly separate interface for managing content. |
Must |
|
Online
Administration |
Can the system be
completely managed through a web browser? (The alternative is that there
is some sort of offline client software that must be used to manage at
least some components. |
Must |
|
Sub-sites /
Roots |
Does the system allow for
sub-sites within a site that are self-contained with their own navigation
and content hierarchy? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Web
Statistics |
Does the system have built
in web site statistics reporting for things such as pages/content items
viewed, number of users per time period, etc? |
Should |
|
Web-based Style/Template
Management |
Is there a web-based
interface for adding styles and templates to the system for design and
layout control? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Workflow
Engine |
Is there a full-fledged
workflow system integrated into the CMS that can be used for business
process management (or other duties beyond just content
approval)? |
Must |
|
Interoperability |
|
|
|
Content Syndication
(RSS) |
Can the system export
RSS/XML feeds so that the content can be republished on other sites? Note
that if it can only syndicate content from one function, such a news then
it should be labelled as only limited support? |
Must |
|
UTF-8
Support |
Does the system support
UTF-8 character encoding to enable multi-lingual sites without the use of
separate code pages for each language? |
Must |
|
WAI
Compliant |
Does the system follow the
W3C specification for WAI compliance? |
Nice to
Have |
|
WebDAV
Support |
Does the system allow
users to upload internal content and/or files via
WebDAV? |
Should |
Emphasis on user
management - system that can
implement a DEV/Stage/UAT model with the ability to maintain a separate
promotional path for code and content |
XHTML
Compliant |
Does the system follow the
W3C specification for XHTML compliance? |
N/A |
|
Flexibility |
|
|
|
CGI-mode
Support |
Can the system run in CGI
mode for development purposes or on low-end
systems? |
N/A |
|
Content
Reuse |
Does the system allow
content to be mirrored (not copied, but reused) from one location to
another on a site? |
|
|
Extensible User
Profiles |
Does the system provide a
user profiling that can be extended with new profile properties through an
administrative interface? |
Must |
LDAP |
Metadata |
Does the system support
the adding of arbitrary metadata properties to all the content objects?
The metadata is typically then used for profiling, indexing, or even
auxiliary display functions. |
Must |
|
Multi-lingual
Content |
Does the system support
the creation of sites with multiple languages? |
Must |
|
Multi-lingual Content
Integration |
Does the system support a
multi-lingual version of each content object without republishing the
content object. For example, if you create an FAQ in English, then all
that needs to be done to display the FAQ in Spanish or another language is
to translate the content, not create another page with another FAQ content
object. Then depending upon user preferences it either shows one version
or the other. |
Must |
|
Multi-Site
Deployment |
Is the system capable of
hosting multiple sites from one software deployment? This means you can
install the software once and host as many sites as you want. It also
means that when it comes time to upgrade you only need to upgrade the
software in one place, not for each separate
site. |
Nice to
Have |
|
Wiki
Aware |
Does the system support
wiki or wiki-like functionality? Wiki provides online collaboration
functionality as well as a simple text formatting
language. |
Nice to
Have |
|
Built-in
Applications |
|
|
|
Blog |
Does the system have a
blog or web log? (See slashdot.org for an
example. |
Nice to
Have |
|
Discussion /
Forum |
Does the system have a
message board? |
Should |
|
Document
Management |
Does the system have an
application for managing offline document storage and versioning?
|
N/A |
|
FAQ
Management |
Does the system have an
application to organize frequently asked
questions? |
Nice to
Have |
|
My Page /
Dashboard |
Does the CMS have a
dashboard application (sometimes called a portal) |
Nice to
Have |
|
Newsletter |
oes the system have the
ability to allow users to add/delete themselves to/from a list so that
they can be sent email from the system on various
topics? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Polls |
Does the system have an
application for conducting simple single question
polls? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Search
Engine |
Does the system have an
integrated search engine that can index the managed content and allow the
user to search the indexed content? |
Should |
Google Search is
preferred |
Site
Map |
Can the system generate a
tree showing all of the pages in the system dynamically so it doesn’t\'t
have to be maintained separately by the content
managers? |
Must |
|
Surveys |
Does the CMS have an
application for conducting complex multi-question
surveys? |
Nice to
Have |
|
Syndicated Content
(RSS) |
Does the CMS have an
application for retrieving and displaying RDF/RSS/XML syndicated
content? |
Must |
|