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 |
|