Mike Taylor - Community Extranet Proposal

1. Must Have
        1.1. Security facilities compliant to BC policy
        1.2. Be developed, customised, hosted, maintained a& upgraded by one supplier
        1.3. Ability to be hosted, maintained & upgraded by third party supplier, if the above can not be achieved
        1.4. Timescales for design, development, set up and hosting for all Must have and V Important features
        1.5. Is there a demo version available
        1.6. Ability to have duplicate system for training and testing
        1.7. Good end user support facilities (ideally 24/7)
        1.8. Technical support 24/7
        1.9. Can access from any computer with a browser, inc BC GTI PCs (back office and front office)
        1.10. Access to site from IE plus other browser, inc no-english browsers
        1.11. Ability to use site with non-UK keyboards
        1.12. The product must be fast reliable and secure
        1.13. Log-on must be quick
        1.14. Integrated look and feel (even f separated products are mixed and matched)
        1.15. Can cope with predicted volumes of scholars (5000 - 20,000)
        1.16. Can accommodate Chevening and FCO branding
        1.17. Zero advertising
        1.18. Can implement new releases in stages
        1.19. Can add content via templates
        1.20. Ability for Cheveningstaff and other BC/Embassy staff to update content (preferably without HTML or web authoring package)
        1.21. After exiting the site there must be nothing let on the PC which would indicated that the site had be visited or any way that the next user of the PC could gain access I.e. clicking "Back"
        1.22. Statistics on usage
        1.23. Can handle registration requirements
        1.24. Can specify which feature users may access
        1.25. Can print as required
        1.26. Can record information on scholars and specify who can view the information
        1.27. Can search for users by a variety of criteria
        1.28. ability for Chevening email account
        1.29. Feedback section
        1.30. Threaded discussion area
2. Very Important
        2.1. Be hosted, maintained and upgraded in the EU, Preferably UK
        2.2. Ability to send email alerts to everyone or selected scholars
        2.3. Chat feature
        2.4. Ability to link to other web resources (inc. BC ORB product)
        2.5. Ability to put up FAQs
        2.6. Ability to put up events information
        2.7. Ability to have a calendar
3. Highly Desirable
        3.1. Ability to have a scholars space area
        3.2. Ability to have voting buttons
4. Nice-to-have
        4.1. Ability for BC to host site in future
        4.2. Ability to have country pages
        4.3. Ability to have foreign language discussion area and chat
        4.4. Ability to have jobs mart
        4.5. Ability to have online questionnaires
        4.6. Ability for Scholars to host their own Web page in later stages
        4.7. Ability to have interfaces with other BC and FCO systems

1. Must Have

1.1. Security facilities compliant to BC policy

Need more information. We can't comment intelligently on this requirement until we know what British Council's security policy is. Do you have documents that you can forward to us, or should be talk directly to the British Council?

1.2. Be developed, customised, hosted, maintained a& upgraded by one supplier

1.3. Ability to be hosted, maintained & upgraded by third party supplier, if the above can not be achieved

1.4. Timescales for design, development, set up and hosting for all Must have and V Important features

Need more information. We can't construct realistic schedules and timescales until we have more information; once the questions raised in this document are addressed, it will probably take about one working week before we can present a schedule.

1.5. Is there a demo version available

1.6. Ability to have duplicate system for training and testing

1.7. Good end user support facilities (ideally 24/7)

Not available. TECC Ltd. does not provide end-user support; this will need to be provided either by British Council/FCO staff or a third party user support organisation. If the client does not have favoured third party support, we can provide help in locating a suitable organisation.

1.8. Technical support 24/7

OK. This will be charged separately from development costs, costs varying according to the level of service required (response times, etc.)

1.9. Can access from any computer with a browser, inc BC GTI PCs (back office and front office)

1.10. Access to site from IE plus other browser, inc no-english browsers

OK. Subject to clarification concerning the implications of ``no-english browsers''. If this is in fact a requirement to develop a multilingual site, then we can do that, but we are not yet in a position to estimate the costs of doing so.

1.11. Ability to use site with non-UK keyboards

1.12. The product must be fast reliable and secure

1.13. Log-on must be quick

1.14. Integrated look and feel (even f separated products are mixed and matched)

1.15. Can cope with predicted volumes of scholars (5000 - 20,000)

1.16. Can accommodate Chevening and FCO branding

1.17. Zero advertising

1.18. Can implement new releases in stages

1.19. Can add content via templates

1.20. Ability for Cheveningstaff and other BC/Embassy staff to update content (preferably without HTML or web authoring package)

1.21. After exiting the site there must be nothing let on the PC which would indicated that the site had be visited or any way that the next user of the PC could gain access I.e. clicking "Back"

Not available. We do not understand why anyone would require this. If background information is forthcoming, we may be able to find a way to achieve the underlying requirement.

1.22. Statistics on usage

1.23. Can handle registration requirements

1.24. Can specify which feature users may access

1.25. Can print as required

OK. We don't understand this requirement, since any functional web browser can print any web page. Is there some additional requirement here that we've failed to discern?

1.26. Can record information on scholars and specify who can view the information

1.27. Can search for users by a variety of criteria

1.28. ability for Chevening email account

1.29. Feedback section

1.30. Threaded discussion area

2. Very Important

2.1. Be hosted, maintained and upgraded in the EU, Preferably UK

2.2. Ability to send email alerts to everyone or selected scholars

2.3. Chat feature

2.4. Ability to link to other web resources (inc. BC ORB product)

OK. Of course web pages in our system can link to other web resources. Is there an additional requirement here that we've failed to discern?

2.5. Ability to put up FAQs

2.6. Ability to put up events information

2.7. Ability to have a calendar

OK. We will need to discuss this requirement in more detail, as it could range from the trivial to the very complex: different communities have very different calendaring needs. We can implement anything up to and including group scheduling, on a sliding scale of costs.

3. Highly Desirable

3.1. Ability to have a scholars space area

3.2. Ability to have voting buttons

Need more information. We do not understand what this requirement is asking for.

4. Nice-to-have

4.1. Ability for BC to host site in future

4.2. Ability to have country pages

4.3. Ability to have foreign language discussion area and chat

OK. We will need to discuss this further in order to understand fully what it entails.

4.4. Ability to have jobs mart

4.5. Ability to have online questionnaires

OK. Authoring facilities for questionnaires will require additional development.

Community Extranet Proposal

Introduction

TECC Ltd.

Response to Requirements

Conclusion