The development will be broken into four phases.

Phase 1: Account Creation and Billing

Phase 1 will include the minimum components required to add and support users on the new system. As such, it will include the use cases of allowing users to request new accounts, allowing users to request upgrades to existing accounts, allowing GPFN volunteers to generate a renewal cycle and process receipts against outstanding  renewal requests.

Other functionality such as allowing users to check quotas or change passwords will  be available through the Cshell, but not through the web enabled user interface.

Libraries of shared functions such as those required to authenticate users, set and  revoke session credentials and test passwords and usernames for hardness or uniqueness are also included in this phase.

Phase 2: User Account Management

Phase 2 will allow users to manage their account and view their account history on line. They will be able to use a web interface to change their password, their mail  forwarding settings, spam control settings as well as check their disk quota usage and financial history.

Phase 3: GPFN Help Desk Management

Phase 3 will allow GPFN volunteers to manage all aspects of a user’s account on their behalf including setting user passwords, mail forwarding, spam control settings, and viewing or reviewing the user’s disk quota and account history.

Phase 4: Affinity Pricing Model

Phase 4 will incorporate the affinity program identified in the Business Model. Account billing will then be the value of the stated membership and service charges as defined in the database, or if the account references an affinity program, the pricing used is the  price referenced by the affinity entity.

Current Project Scope

Although this document will provide the general design for all four phases of the project, the detailed design specifications will be restricted to Phase 1 functionality. The additional detailed specifications for the remaining phases will be more completely scoped as they are required.