At last week’s Web Steering Committee meeting we started getting down to requirements. Gathering requirements is a fundamental step in any web project. While there are different approaches to requirements, the JIBC is taking this one: we’re gathering both “business requirements” (high-level, big-picture needs) and “functional requirements” (specific things that must be in place in order for the business requirements to be met). In other words, the requirements define what elements we want in our redesigned site (functional requirements) and why we want them (business requirements).
The business and functional requirements – based in part on the Discovery Session held at the last WSC meeting – are organized in seven categories:
- Content (Text & Graphics)
- Program & Course Information
- Design
- Navigation, Search & Tags
- User Interaction
- Content Management
- Technical Structure
There are too many requirements to list in this post, but here’s an example:
Category: Navigation, Search & Tags
Business requirement: The main search engine generates quality results, enabling users to find the information they’re looking for.
Functional requirement: The search engine can be configured with keywords, tags and other meta-data.
We’ll continue to fine-tune the requirements until we’re ready to collaborate with web development and design vendors. If you have any questions about this important phase of the project, please contact Chris Wong.
