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
database |
•My
Sql
•Postgre
SQL |
License |
Type
of license |
Open |
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. |
Nice
to Have |
|
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? |
Must |
|
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 |
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 |
|