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<title>File-Storage Application Requirements</title>
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<h2>File-Storage Application Requirements</h2>
by
<a href="mailto:kevin@arsdigita.com">Kevin Scaldeferri</a>
<hr>
<h3>I. Introduction</h3>
<p>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.
<h3>II. Vision Statement</h3>
<p>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.
<p>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.
<h3>III. System/Application Overview</h3>
<p>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.
<h3>IV. Use Case and User Scenarios</h3>
<h4>Using File-Storage to Run a Project</h4>
<p>In the course of her job at Acme Publishing Company, <b>Ursula
User</b> 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.
<p>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.
<h4>Administer File-Storage</h4>
<p><b>Annie Admin</b> 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.
<h3>V. Related Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="../design/file-storage.html">Design Document</a>
<li><a href="../file-storage.html">System Overview Document</a>
</ul>
<h3>VI.A. Requirements: Data Model</h3>
<p><b>10 The Data Model</b>
<p><b>10.1</b> each file should have a unique identifier
<p><b>10.2</b> each version of a file should have a unique identifier
<p><b>10.3</b> each file should have an associated owner
<p><b>10.4</b> each version should have an associated owner
<p><b>10.5</b> files will be organized in a hierarchical set of folders
<p><b>10.6</b> each version of each file will have individual
read, write, delete, comment, and administer permissions associated with it
<h3>VI.B. Requirements: Administrator Interface</h3>
<p><b>20 Administrator Interface</b>
<p><b>20.1</b> the administrator should be able to view all files in
the file-storage system
<p><b>20.2</b> the administrator should be able to edit,
delete, or alter permissions for any file belonging to any user
<h3>VI.C. Requirements: User Interface</h3>
<p><b>30 User Interface</b>
<p><b>30.1</b> a user should be able to create folders and subfolders
in which he can place his files
<p><b>30.2</b> a user should be able to add new files and new versions
of files
<p><b>30.3</b> a user should be able to move files to different
folders or sub-folders
<p><b>30.4</b> a user should be able to delete folders and individual
files
<p><b>30.5</b> a user should be able to specify permissions for any user or group on any folder, file, or version.
<p><b>30.6</b> a user should be able to download any version which is accessible to him
<p><b>30.7</b> 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
<p><b>30.8</b> 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)
<h3>VII. Revision History</h3>
<table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=2 width=90% bgcolor=#efefef>
<tr bgcolor=#e0e0e0>
<th width=10%>Document Revision #</th>
<th width=50%>Action Taken, Notes</th>
<th>When?</th>
<th>By Whom?</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>0.1</td>
<td>Creation</td>
<td>1 October 2000</td>
<td>Cynthia Kiser</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>0.2</td>
<td>Revision for ACS 4</td>
<td>3 November 2000</td>
<td>Kevin Scaldeferri</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>0.3</td>
<td>Revised based on review by Josh Finkler</td>
<td>6 November 2000</td>
<td>Kevin Scaldeferri, Josh Finkler</td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr>
<address>
<a href="mailto:kevin@arsdigita.com">kevin@arsdigita.com</a>
</address>
Last Modified: $Id: requirements.html,v 1.1 2002/07/09 17:35:09 rmello Exp $
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