ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

INTRANET PROJECT - INFRASTRUCTURE

FUNCTIONAL & NON-FUNCTIONAL
REQUIREMENTS

Issued 1st July 2014

Procurement Project 2390

Contents
1

SharePoint 2010.............................................................................................................4

Functional Requirements................................................................................................4

2.1

Content Authoring & Branding..................................................................................4

2.2

Search...................................................................................................................... 5

2.3

Navigation................................................................................................................6

2.4

Page Specific...........................................................................................................6

2.5

Workflow................................................................................................................. 11

2.6

Content Lifecycle....................................................................................................12

2.7

Online Forms / Surveys / Polls...............................................................................14

2.8

Documents, Images & Video..................................................................................14

2.9

External Links & Social Media................................................................................14

2.10

Analytics & Reports............................................................................................14

2.11

Managed Metadata.............................................................................................15

Non-Functional Requirements......................................................................................16
3.1

Performance and Capacity.....................................................................................16

3.2

Handover and Support...........................................................................................16

3.3

Security.................................................................................................................. 16

3.4

Accessibility & Usability..........................................................................................17

3.5

Deployment, Integration and Constraints...............................................................17

3.6

Extensibility............................................................................................................ 18

Appendices................................................................................................................... 19
4.1

Standard for SharePoint Governance....................................................................19

4.2

Content Workflow Process.....................................................................................19

4.3

Content Lifecycle Process......................................................................................19

4.4

Branding Guidelines...............................................................................................19

4.5

Information Architecture.........................................................................................19

4.6

Page Layouts......................................................................................................... 19

4.7

Content Lifecycle Examples...................................................................................19

Document Control
Date
16/05/14

Version
V0.1

Author(s)
S Parr / N Ward

Comments
Initial draft

11/06/14

V0.4

N Ward

Notes from ITT review meeting

12/06/14

V0.5

N Ward / S Parr / G
Shrimpton

Review following output of IA work

12/06/14

V0.6

N Ward / S Parr

Further refinement of requirements

13/06/14

V0.7

N Ward / S Parr / S
Adams

TDA initial review

16/06/14

V0.8

N Ward / S Parr / G
Shrimpton

Reformatting, number and further IA tuning

17/06/14

V0.9

N Ward / S Parr

Specific page layout requirements added

23/06/14

V0.10

N Ward / S Parr / G
Shrimpton

Evaluation criteria updated and

requirements clarification.

25/06/14

V0.11

N Ward / S Parr / G
Shrimpton / S Adams

Changes to search requirements following

steering board meeting, formatting for
evaluation.

25/06/14

V0.12

S Parr, S Adams

Updates to Non Funcs

26/06/14

V0.13

N Ward / S Parr / S
Adams / G Shrimpton

Final review and update of appendices

1 SharePoint 2010
Important ITT Change Message: Bids will now only be accepted for SharePoint 2010
SharePoint 2010 is the current CMS and Collaboration platform across the wider Essex
County Council organisation. A recent review has been undertaken in line with the ECC
Enterprise Architecture Principles and IS Strategy, to assess the impact of upgrading this
environment to SharePoint 2013 as part of the Intranet project.
This review highlighted a number of significant issues relating to the impact on cost,
supportability and the timescales of the project if the environment were to be upgraded in the
immediate future.
Therefore, we are only asking bidders to provide solutions based on the configuration on the
existing SharePoint 2010 environment, and will not accept bids that are predicated on any
other SharePoint version.

2 Functional Requirements
2.1 Content Authoring & Branding
Ref

Priorit
y

Requirement

Please refer to the ECC Brand Guidelines Appendix 4.4 and Content Types Appendix 4.7.
Please note: the ECC Brand Guidelines are currently under review so the colours shown on
the page layouts may be changed before the implementation.
FR2.1.1

Must

FR2.1.2

Must

FR2.1.3

Must

FR2.1.4

Must

FR2.1.5

Must

FR2.1.6

Must

FR2.1.7

Must

FR2.1.8

Must

FR2.1.9

Must

FR2.1.1
0
FR2.1.11

Must

FR2.1.1
2

Must

Must

The configuration will allow Authors to be able to create new content or

edit/delete/un-publish existing content.
By default all requests for creating, editing deleting and un-publishing
content will follow the workflow process, as defined below.
Authors will assign an owner to every new piece of content upon
creation.
Authors will assign an appropriate defined set of metadata to the new
content upon creation.
By default the configuration will enable version control for 5 major and 3
minor versions of all content.
The configuration will enable content to be archived based on content
type.
Authors will be able to specify a start date for content. The content will
be become visible automatically on this date.
Authors will be able to specify a future end date for content. The
content will be automatically unpublished on this date so it is no longer
visible to site users
All master page and page layouts created will comply with Essex
County Councils branding guidelines.
The master pages and page layouts will be based on the supplied
Information Architecture, Content Types and Visual Designs.
The configuration will restrict the content formatting options for Authors
to only those that meet the corporate branding guidelines
Example: Authors cannot change the font size or colour when entering
Article page content.
The configuration will allow the creation and management of all site
content by non-technical authors
Example: The ECC communications team must be able to create and
maintain content without requiring IS support.

2.2 Search
Ref

Priorit
y

Requirement

Search will be a key function of the intranet, and it is expected that most site users will use
this as their primary means of navigation.
As part of the content mobilisation strategy we are not migrating content directly from the
existing intranet site, all content for the new intranet will be rewritten.

Please refer to Appendix 4.6 for details of the search and search results page layouts.
FR2.2.1
FR2.2.2

Must
Must

FR2.2.3
FR2.2.4

Should
Must

FR2.2.5

Must

FR2.2.6

Must

FR2.2.7

Must

FR2.2.8

Must

FR2.2.9

Must

FR2.2.1
0
FR2.2.11

Must

FR2.2.1
2

Must

Must

The search will be fast and responsive.

The search will return the most appropriate set of results for the search
terms entered.
The search results will be grouped by type of content.
The search will only index and search pages and will not index or return
documents.
The search will have the optional ability to crawl, index and display
content from other ECC websites.
Example: The search may return results from the existing Cabinet
Meetings website.
When enabled, search results from other ECC websites will be
displayed under a separate grouped category on the search results
page.
As a user starts typing in the search box suggested search terms will
be displayed to assist with searching (predictive search).
The site will hold a site-wide dictionary of synonyms or old
terminologies which will be used to ensure that searches return current
and accurate results.
Example: A governance board has changed its name from CLT to
CMB. When users search for CLT they will automatically see the
results for CMB.
The search will understand when a user misspells a search term and
will provide the most likely results.
Example: If a user types Fuzzey Search the results for Fuzzy Search
will be shown.
When providing alternate results for misspelled searches the alternate
search term that has been used will be clearly displayed.
The search will understand and return relevant search results when a
user adds or omits an ing or ed or s to their search terms (commonly
known as stemming).
The search will not solely rely on the upkeep of metadata to provide
quality results.

2.3 Navigation
Ref

Priorit
y

Requirement

Please refer to Appendix 4.5 and Appendix 4.6 for details of the site Information Architecture
(content structure) and page layouts.
FR2.3.1

Must

FR2.3.2

Must

FR2.3.3

Must

FR2.3.4
FR2.3.5

Must
Must

FR2.3.6

Must

FR2.3.7

Must

FR2.3.8

Must

FR2.3.9

Must

FR2.3.1
0

Must

Site navigation will be via a mega menu which can be displayed on all
pages.
It will be possible to show and hide the mega menu by hovering over or
clicking on a toggle control on all pages.
The content of the mega menu will be dynamically generated from a
centrally held hierarchical list.
The hierarchical list of mega menu items will be easy to maintain.
The initial content of the mega menu will be based on the Information
Architecture detailed in Appendix 4.5.
The mega menu will display two levels of information from the
Information Architecture.
The mega menu will be able to display a maximum of 8 top-level items
and 16 second-level items.
The mega menu will display up to two Article Type pages alongside the
second-level menu items.
Each Article Type page in the mega menu will have the following
customisable attributes:
If not populated it will not be displayed
Main Image
Main text (title)
Sub text (by-line)
Link
Link to news archive
The Link to news archive on the mega menu will perform a search for
items tagged with the term news.

2.4 Page Specific

Ref

Priorit
y

Requirement

The requirements below refer to the page layouts in Appendix 4.6.

Site-Wide Layout
FR2.4.1
Must
FR2.4.2
Must
FR2.4.3

Must

FR2.4.4

Must

FR2.4.5

Must

FR2.4.6

Must

FR2.4.7

Must

FR2.4.8

Must

FR2.4.9
FR2.4.1
0
FR2.4.11

Must

FR2.4.1
2
FR2.4.1
3
FR2.4.1
4

Must

Must

The site header will include the Essex County Council branding.
The site header will include the toggle control that will show and hide
the mega menu.
The site header on all pages except the Home and Search Results
page will display a search box.
By default the search on the site header will display the words What
would you like to do?
When entering text in the search on the site header the words What
would you like to do? will disappear.
After entering a search term in the site header the search will be
triggered by clicking the magnifying glass icon or the Enter key.
A Page Title will be shown immediately below the page header on all
pages except the Home and Search Results page.
The Page Title will show the name of the page and a back icon which
will enable the site user to return the previous page.
All links displayed on site pages will change colour when the user
hovers over them.
The site footer will be consistent across all pages within the site.
The site footer will display the page last updated date which will be the
date that the page was most recently published.
The site footer will display the page owner.

Must

The site footer will display a link to the search page on the legacy
Intranet website
Must
The site footer will contain an option to Leave Your Feedback which
will enable site users to provide email feedback via a mailto: with
configurable subject line.
FR2.4.1
Must
The site footer will include voting buttons (thumbs-up or thumbs-down)
5
to enable site users to indicate whether the page was helpful or not.
FR2.4.1
Must
When a site user clicks on either voting button the count shown beside
6
the relevant button will increment by one.
FR2.4.1
Must
The site user will only be able to vote once for each page on the
7
Intranet.
FR2.4.1
Must
The vote counts will be displayed and stored independently for each
8
page.
FR2.4.1
Must
The site footer will contain an option to Request new content which will
9
enable site users to provide email requests for new content via a mailto:
with configurable subject line.
Announcements Functionality
FR2.4.2
Must
The configuration will enable the creation of announcements which will
0
be shown on all pages immediately below the site header.
FR2.4.2
Must
Each announcement will have its own dismiss control.
1
FR2.4.2
Must
It will be possible for more than one announcement to be shown.
9

2.5 Workflow

10

Ref

Priorit
y

Requirement

Workflow is the means by which authored content is reviewed, approved and published by
subject matter experts. Please refer to Appendix 4.2.
FR2.5.1

Must

FR2.5.2

Must

FR2.5.3

Must

FR2.5.4

Must

FR2.5.5
FR2.5.6
FR2.5.7

Must
Must
Should

FR2.5.8

Must

FR2.5.9

Must

FR2.5.1
0
FR2.5.11

Must

FR2.5.1
2
FR2.5.1
3

Must

FR2.5.1
4

Must

FR2.5.1
5
FR2.5.1
6

Must

FR2.5.1
7
FR2.5.1
8
FR2.5.1
9
FR2.5.2
0

Must

Must

Must

Must

Must
Must
Must

There will be a set of defined roles within the workflow process; these
roles will be created using a set of SharePoint Groups with matching
groups in Active Directory.
The workflow will be configurable at a site level so that sites can include
or exclude workflow functionality (the default will be on for all sites).
The workflow will create automated notifications to be generated and
sent to the relevant people at all stages of the workflow process.
The workflow will enable all automated notifications to include links to
the appropriate SharePoint workflow screen, to enable users to
approve/reject changes from within the notification.
The wording in all workflow notifications will be provided by ECC.
The workflow will enable an Author to send content to an Approver.
It will be possible to select from a list of Approvers from a drop-down
list.
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Approver to tell
them that they have a workflow task.
The workflow will enable the Approver to approve content submitted by
an Author. This approval progresses the workflow to the Content Editor
stage.
The workflow will enable the Approver to reject content back to the
Author. The Approver will include reasons for rejection.
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Author of
rejected content by the Approver stating that the content was rejected
and will include the reasons for rejection.
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Content Editor
to tell them that they have a workflow task.
The workflow will enable Content Editors to approve content which will
complete the workflow, publishing the content and making it available to
intranet users who have the relevant permissions to see that content.
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Author, Owner
and Approver to confirm that the content has been approved by the
Content Editor.
The workflow will enable Content Editors to reject content back to the
Author. The Content Editor will include reasons for rejection.
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Author of
rejected content by the Content Editor stating that the content was
rejected and will include the reasons for rejection.
The workflow will enable the Content Editor to escalate content that is
deemed to be an exception to an Administrator
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Administrator to
tell them that they have a workflow task.
The workflow will enable the Administrator to make additional changes
to the content and metadata.
The workflow will enable a notification to be sent to the Content Editor
when the Administrator publishes content.
11

2.6 Content Lifecycle

12

Ref

Priorit
y

Requirement

The Content Lifecycle is the means by which content will be regularly reviewed by content
owners to ensure currency. Please refer to Appendix 4.3 and Appendix 4.7 for a diagram
and examples of the content lifecycle.
FR2.6.1
FR2.6.2

Must
Must

FR2.6.3

Must

FR2.6.4

Must

FR2.6.5

Must

FR2.6.6

Must

FR2.6.7

Must

FR2.6.8

Must

FR2.6.9

Must

FR2.6.1
0

Must

FR2.6.11

Must

FR2.6.1
2

Must

FR2.6.1
3
FR2.6.1
4

Must

FR2.6.1
5

Must

Must

The wording in all lifecycle notifications will be provided by ECC.

At each stage of the content lifecycle the content owners ADFS
account will be validated to ensure it has not been disabled.
If the content owners ADFS account has been disabled a notification
will be sent to the content editors so that the content can be reallocated
to a new owner.
The content lifecycle will be configurable at a site level so that sites can
include or exclude content lifecycle functionality (the default will be on
for all sites).
The content lifecycle will enable a default review date to be set against
content based on the content type used.
The content lifecycle will enable the content owner to receive a
notification prior to the review date (based on the content type used)
stating that the content requires review.
The content lifecycle will enable the content owner to review the
content at this initial review stage and confirm that the content is still
valid.
The content lifecycle will enable the content owner to request that an
author edits the content.
The content lifecycle will enable the review date to be automatically
updated to the default review date for the content type when content is
approved as part of the workflow.
The content lifecycle will enable the content owner to review the
content at this initial review stage and confirm that the content is no
longer valid. The content will be unpublished with immediate effect and
moved to the site recycle bin.
The content lifecycle will enable the content owner to review the
content at this initial review stage and manually set a specific date for
the content to be automatically unpublished (no greater than the
default review date based on the content type template). On this date
the content will be automatically unpublished and moved to the site
recycle bin.
If the content has not been reviewed by the review date a notification
will be sent to the content owner and their line manager as determined
by Active Directory and the Content Editors, stating that the content still
requires review.
The content lifecycle will enable a notification to be sent to the owner
when content is automatically unpublished.
If the content remains un-reviewed for one month after the review date
then the content will be automatically unpublished and moved to the
site recycle bin.
If the content remains un-reviewed for one month after the review date
a notification will be sent to the content owner, line manager and
13

2.7 Online Forms / Surveys / Polls

Ref
FR2.7.
1

FR2.7.
2
FR2.7.
3
FR2.7.
4
FR2.7.
5

Priorit
y
Should

Should
Should
Should
Should

Requirement
SharePoint will be configured to use the councils preferred forms
solution, which is Achieve Forms. The software is an online system,
supplied by the vendor Firmstep who have a SharePoint web part so that
forms can be embedded in a page.
The CSS produced for the site will not change the style of the Achieve
Form within the web part.
SharePoint will be configured to allow the creation of Website Polls.
SharePoint will be configured to allow Website Polls to display onscreen
in a web part.
SharePoint will be configured to allow the results of Website Polls to
display onscreen in a web part.

2.8 Documents, Images & Video

Ref
FR2.8.
1
FR2.8.
2
FR2.8.
3
FR2.8.
4
FR2.8.
5
FR2.8.
6
FR2.8.
7
FR2.8.
8

Priorit
y
Must
Must
Must
Must
Must
Must
Must
Must

Requirement
The configuration will allow the upload and storage of multiple document
types, including PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio and Project.
The configuration will allow the permitted document types to be linked to
from web pages.
The configuration will allow the permitted document types to be opened
by all authenticated users.
The configuration will allow the permitted document types to be opened
by all authenticated users in a read only state.
The configuration will allow the upload and storage of multiple image
types, including jpg, gif, and PNG.
The configuration will allow the permitted image types to be displayed in
web pages.
The configuration will make it mandatory for alt. text to be added to any
images used throughout the site.
The configuration will allow the embedding of videos in a web part within
a page (including the use of embed codes from YouTube).

2.9 External Links & Social Media

Ref
FR2.9.
1
FR2.9.
2

Priorit
y
Must
Should

Requirement
The configuration will have the ability to add links to external websites /
applications in content as well as any navigation menus.
The configuration will have web parts to display social media feeds such
as Facebook, Twitter and Yammer.

14

2.10 Analytics & Reports

Ref
FR2.10.
1
FR2.10.
2
FR2.10.
3
FR2.10.
4
FR2.10.
5
FR2.10.
6

Priorit
y
Must
Must
Should
Should

Should
Must

Requirement
The configuration will include Google Analytics code to allow for
monitoring of site usage.
The configuration will include Google Analytics code to allow for
monitoring of documents viewed.
The configuration will have a set of Report Hub sites for the Chief
Executive and Executive Directors to access a set of MI documents.
The Report hub sites will have granular permissions to allow for the
Chief Executive and Executive Director to have a Read Only view of the
documents which relate to their part of the organisation.
The Report hub sites will have a role for a number of people to upload
documents to the relevant report hub sites.
It will be possible for site administrators to run a report which will
display the voting counts for all pages on the Intranet.

2.11 Managed Metadata

Ref
FR2.11.1

Priorit
y
Must

FR2.11.2

Must

FR2.11.3

Must

FR2.11.4
FR2.11.5

Must
Must

Requirement
SharePoint will be configured to allow for a number of Managed
Metadata term store sets.
There will be a term store set for a defined subject taxonomy (to be
provided).
Content Authors will select a subject from the taxonomy when creating
all content.
There will be a term store set for Author generated keywords.
Content Authors will select one or more keywords when creating all
content types.

15

3 Non-Functional Requirements
3.1

Performance and Capacity

Ref

Priority

Requirement

NFR3.1.1

Must

For all user operations site response times will be under 3 seconds
at maximum capacity (8,000 total users).
This will include:

Presentation of search results

Document upload
Document check out

It is acknowledged that bidders will not have control over the ECC
SharePoint Platform and Infrastructure. However, the expectation is
that any solution will be robust and efficient and will achieve the
stated response times when tested directly on the server in
isolation.

3.2

Handover and Support

Ref

Priority

Requirement

NFR3.2.1

Must

During the development process we require suppliers to engage

regularly with our in-house IS support team to ensure effective
knowledge transfer and support and handover.
Suppliers are requested to provide details of the proposed
development methodology that will be used during the
implementation and handover.

NFR3.2.2

Must

Suitable onsite user training will be conducted by the supplier. It is

anticipated that core groups of users will be trained by the supplier
on a train the trainer basis.

NFR3.2.3

Must

Tailored administration, support and training documentation for core

groups of users will be provided by the supplier.

3.3

Security

Ref

Priority

Requirement

NFR3.3.1

Must

The configuration will utilise the Authoritys ADFS service to provide

the end users with a seamless user logon experience.

NFR3.3.2

Must

The supplier will warrant that any additional plug-ins or controls that
are specified in their solution will meet ECC IS Security
requirements and will assist ECC with Security testing

16

3.4

Accessibility & Usability

Ref

Priority

Requirement

NFR3.4.1

Must

The solution will be intuitive and easy to use for end users, content
authoring and workflow administration.

NFR3.4.2

Must

The configuration will meet current standards of compliance with

the Equalities Act (formerly the DDA) and the accessibility of web
content, in particular in relation to colour representation and
graphs.

NFR3.4.3

Must

All HTML and CSS will be compliant to level AA of the W3Cs Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0).

NFR3.4.4

Must

The supplier will support compatibility on all commonly used

browsers, and will specifically support IE8 and above as the
current corporate standard browser.

NFR3.4.5

Must

All CSS will use relative font sizes to allow Internet Explorers Text
Size options to change the size of fonts without compromising the
usability of the site.

NFR3.4.6

Must

All master page and page layouts will use <DIV> tags to render
content rather than tables to allow for the use of screen readers for
those with visual impairments.

3.5

Deployment, Integration and Constraints

Ref

Priority

Requirement

NFR3.5.1

Must

The configuration will be supplied as a scripted install file which

can be applied to the existing ECC-hosted SharePoint 2010
environment

NFR3.5.2

Must

The configuration will integrate with ECCs ADFS to enable the

identification of site users and to determine roles and permissions
for all intranet users.

NFR3.5.3

Must

The configuration will include the creation of roles to support the

content governance model as specified in the Standard for
SharePoint Governance please refer to Appendix 4.1. Please
confirm which SharePoint roles will be created to facilitate this
governance model.

NFR3.5.4

Must

Suppliers will ensure that the solution provided functions effectively

within the ECC IS infrastructure estate, allowing access and full
functionality to users across ECC.
The ECC standard desktop environment currently includes MS
Office 2010 and Internet Explorer 8, and the configuration will be
compatible with these and more recent versions.

17

3.6
Ref

Extensibility
Priority

Requirement

ECCs SharePoint 2010 infrastructure is currently at Service Pack 2. We also regularly carry
out cumulative updates to keep the environment securely patch in line with best practice.
NFR3.6.1

Must

The configuration will be flexible and will allow the addition of new
features at a future date without the need to redesign existing
functionality.

NFR3.6.2

Must

The functionality and features of the configuration will be

transferable from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013.

NFR3.6.3

Should

The configuration will allow easy transition from an ECC hosted

service to SharePoint 2013 in the Cloud (Office365).

NFR3.6.4

Must

The configuration (including any third-party plug-ins and controls)

will allow future integration with Microsoft Enterprise Products
including Lync, Outlook, BizTalk and Azure.

18

4 Appendices
4.1 Standard for SharePoint Governance
Standard for
SharePoint Governance

4.2 Content Workflow Process

Content Workflow
Diagram

4.3 Content Lifecycle Process

Content Lifecycle
Diagram

4.4 Branding Guidelines

ECC Branding
Guidelines

4.5 Information Architecture

Draft Information
Architecture

4.6 Page Layouts

Page Layouts

4.7 Content Lifecycle Examples

Content Lifecycle
Examples

19