I require a cost and time quotation for the delivery of a software product. The major aspects of the software product and its abilities are outlined below.
Assumptions
I will hold the right to own, hold, and redistribute the source code and documentation.
Requirements
1. High Level Business Objectives
The project involves a small business indexing physical documents into some kind of electronic means which would then enable them to search key words to quickly locate the specified subject. The creation of the indexes would be done manually, most likely by staff.
2. Site Background
There are two PC's on-site. One is used by the business owner, the other by the Administration Assistant. The PC's are peer-to-peer networked for all Local Area Network resources. All PC's are running Windows 2000 Professional.
3. Project Requirement Deliverables
The primary objective is to create a solution that satisfies the High Level Business Objectives, as outlined in Section 1. To achieve these goals, it is recommended that a database back-end and GUI front-end be developed. The database back-end would store indexed records. The GUI front-end would be the user interface to the database back-end.
3.1 The database back-end tables
The database would have the following characteristics:
- Run on the Windows 2000 Professional operating system platform.
- Require little intervention for database record integrity, except where needed in the case of database failure.
- Store all the records of the generated indexes as outlined in sections 3.1.1.1.
- Data can be easily backed up and separately restored.
3.1.1 Database records
The database records would contain indexes that would be generated from user specific keywords.
3.1.1.1 Indexes
The index would contain all the information to locate a topic. The index would contain user specified keywords.
3.1.1.1.1 Document type
- Consist of Book, journal, bound paper, single page document, etc.
- Author
- Publishing date
- Would be used to search for relevant topics and associated page numbers.
3.1.1.1.2 Topic type
- String of text / characters from the actual document index
- Would be used to search for relevant documents and associated page numbers.
3.1.1.1.3 Page Number type
- Numerical characters from the actual index of the physical document
- Would be used to search for relevant documents and associated page numbers.
3.2 The GUI front-end
The GUI front-end is the interface between the user and the database. The user will use the GUI to place
indexes of physical documents into the database for storage and future retrieval.
3.2.1 Core aspects of the GUI
The GUI will support the following core abilities:
3.2.1.1 Runtime Environment
The database must be able to run on the Windows 2000 Professional operating system platform
3.2.1.2 User Functions
The GUI must be able to interact with the database back-end to support the following functions:
- Options to create a new database, or open an existing database
- Create, delete, and modify records
- Provide the ability to search for records using a Boolean criteria
- Display records from a search inquiry
- Splash Page with Application name and version number
- "About" Page displaying application name, version number, and software owner
- Creation of a backup copy of the current database
- Restoral of a previously backed up copy of the database
- Documented "Help" items for user functions
3.3. Documentation
Supporting documentation is required for the GUI and database
3.3.1 User Documentation
Required for the user to operate the application. The documentation is to include:
- Overview of the GUI
- Software and hardware requirements
- GUI installation instructions
- Any database connection configurations
- Step by step instructions of the GUI user functions
3.3.2 Developers Documentation
Required for future maintenance and add-ons. This documentation is to include:
- Overview of the GUI
- Software and hardware requirements
- Installation of the database product
- Any database connection configurations, ie ODBC, JDBC, etc.
- Description of the software building environment
- Statement of non-standard libraries during build
- Database schema
4 Project Deliverables Summary
- The database back-end, as described in Section 3.1
- The GUI front-end, as described in Section 3.2
- User and developers documentation, as described in Sections 3.3.1 and 3.3.2