ZIMS DISCOVERY DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this document is to provide sufficient detail regarding system requirements to the vendors involved with the ZIMS development effort to enable them to more accurately evaluate the project scope.

This document represents the efforts of the ZIMS Technical Working Group comprised of a cross-section of technical experts and ISIS staff. In addition, zoological community subject matter experts were consulted as required to identify gaps and ensure accuracy.

This document will be maintained as a reference source.  The level of detail in the document was time-driven. Every effort was made to maintain a consistent level of detail throughout the document. Further analysis and additional elaboration of requirements is required and will be done during the inception and elaboration phases of ZIMS with the help of the vendor in JAD sessions and with SMEs.

The document includes the summary-level use cases, high-level workflows, draft functional and nonfunctional requirements, issues and a glossary.  Summary level use cases are documented in a dialog format, workflows are documented in a flowchart format, and requirements are documented in a tabular format. Cross-referencing has been included where possible.

 The specific detail contained within the discovery document is not comprehensive and is subject to change during the design phase.  The specific detail contained with the discovery document is not meant to lock in a particular design approach.  For example, where some additional attributes are described for egg management this is only to provide a better understanding of the business requirement and show how it could be applied in a more abstracted manner using life stage management.  Detailed examples of data entities have been included for the purpose of indicating complexity and documenting current practices. Specific data values (i.e. suggested values for domain lists) where mentioned are not the final list but only included here to capture existing business knowledge. These requirements should not be considered complete or final.

 Moving forward, the discovery document represents the baseline functionality that will be used to initiate future use case discussions in the JAD workshops.  JAD participants will be presented with excerpts from the discovery document pertinent to the scheduled discussions in order to build upon the level of detail documented for each use case.