ER: Requirements Specification Component

An online bidding platform destined for car model lovers, allowing them to sell or complete their private collections, by participating in real-time traditional auctions and interacting with other worldwide collectors.

A1: CarBay

This project aims to develop a website where collection lovers can participate and bid in online auctions of famous collection car models.

In today’s world, vintage collections are widely searched and desired by aesthetics enthusiasts. A web-based aggregation system where users can participate in auctions can be of enormous value, allowing them to extend their private car collections or sell their assets in real-time. This idea becomes more relevant since there is no other online system alike for this growing market.

There will be three different types of users, being the first the administrators, who have permissions to manage ongoing auctions, suspending or rescheduling them, to assist or block users and update/delete website content.

Secondly, a registered user can create, as a seller, and participate, as a bidder, in their favourite auctions. These traditional auctions stay available for the time set defined by the seller, and when it closes, the highest bidder wins. Unlike other types of auctions, this one does not increase the time at the final seconds and the ending hour is fixed. Additional features are the “Buy Now” option, which ends the auction right away, setting the maximum allowed bid, or the “Feedback Loop”, which allows the users to give real-time feedback during the auction. Registered users have access to their profiles with their auctions’ history and other related information. The Google authentication API may be provided for the users to log in and use their Google account basic profile information.

Finally, besides being able to browse through past and live auctions, the rest of the website visitors can also see the website content, without being able to explicitly interact with it. The content may be searched and ordered using advanced criteria, for example, by the auctions' highest bids, the creation date, the car model brand, scale, colour or seller, the remaining time, and many other terms.

A2: Actors and User stories

Specification of the actors, their user stories, and supplementary requirements are contained in this artifact, serving as agile documentation of the project requirements. This way, every featured idea of the project is presented in this section, along with their description and priority.

2.1 Actors:

Figure 1: Actors

Figure 1: Actors.

Identifier	Description	Examples
User	Generic user who has access to public information, such as the auctions, users’ profiles, and the advanced search	n/a
Visitor	Unauthenticated user that can register itself (sign-up) or sign-in in the system. A visitor can’t participate in auctions or interact with the other users.	n/a
Administrator	Authenticated user who has permission to manage ongoing auctions, suspending or rescheduling them, to assist or block users, and to update/delete website content.	Admin
Registered	Authenticated user that can participate in auctions, and interact with other users. It’s associated with a personal profile, where their auctions’ history, favourite auctions and sellers, and statistics can be seen.	WheelsAddict
Seller	Registered user that created an auction, where he is selling one or more model cars. He has access to the detailed data of the auction, like the number of bids, the respective bidders, or the price variation.	CarBoss
Bidder	Registered user that can bid in a given auction and give feedback during the events.	WheelsAddict
Google OAuth API	External OAuth API which is used to register or authenticate into the system.	Google

Table 1: Actors Description.

2.2 User Stories

For this system, are considered the user stories that are presented in the following sections.

User

Identifier	Name	Priority	Description
US001	See Home	High	As a User, I want to access the website homepage, so that I can have an overview of the ongoing auctions and links for the other pages.
US002	Advanced Search	High	As a User, I want to search for all the public information, so that I can filter the auctions by the highest bids, the creation date, the car model brand, scale, colour, seller, or the remaining time.
US003	Auction Page	High	As a User, I want to be able to see an auction’s information, so that I can know more about the car model being sold.
US004	See About Us	Medium	As a User, I want to access the About Us page, so that I can see a complete website's description.
US005	Profile Page	Medium	As a User, I want to see the profile page of another user, so that I can search all the auctions from this chosen user.
US006	FAQ Page	Low	As a User, I want to access the FAQ, so that I can see Frequently Asked Questions about the website.

Table 2: User's User Stories.

Visitor

Identifier	Name	Priority	Description
US101	Sign-In	High	As a Visitor, I want to log in to the system, so that I can access privileged features.
US102	Sign-Up	High	As a Visitor, I want to register myself into the system, so that I can store all my data in a personal account.
US103	Sign-In with external API	Low	As a Visitor, I want to sign-in through my Google account, so that I can access privileged features.
US104	Sign-Up with external API	Low	As a Visitor, I want to register using my Google account, so that I can store all my data in the system.

Table 3: Visitor's User Stories.

Administrator

Identifier	Name	Priority	Description
US201	Manage auctions	High	As an Administrator, I want to manage auctions, so that I can suspend or reschedule an auction.
US202	Logout	High	As an Administrator, I want to logout, so that I can leave the system.
US203	Answer User Doubt	Low	As an Administrator, I want to answer a user's doubt in a private chat, so that I can clarify his questions.
US204	User Reports	Low	As an Administrator, I want to see users' reports, so that I can review users' activity and decide to ban them.
US205	Remove comments	Low	As an Administrator, I want to remove a comment on a user profile, so that there are no inappropriate observations on the website.
US206	Notifications	Low	As an Administrator, I want to receive notifications about questions received or user reports, so that I can be aware of what's happening.

Table 4: Administrator's User Stories.

Registered

Identifier	Name	Priority	Description
US300	Profile Page	High	As a Registered User, I want to have a profile page, so that I can view and update my personal information, favourites, and statistics.
US301	Logout	High	As a Registered User, I want to logout, so that I can leave the system.
US302	Manage Favourite Auctions	Medium	As a Registered User, I want to add/remove a given auction to/from my Favourite Auctions, so that I can be notified of important related events.
US303	Manage Favourite Sellers	Medium	As a Registered User, I want to add/remove a given seller to/from my Favourite Sellers, so that I can follow/unfollow his new auctions.
US304	Rating Users	Low	As a Registered User, I want to write comments on the profile of a given user and rate him, so that other users can know if he is trustworthy.
US305	Remove Comments	Low	As a Registered User, I want to remove my comments on the profile of a given user, so that it reflects my change of opinion.
US306	Question Administrators	Low	As a Registered User, I want to ask the administrators my questions in a private chat, so that I can clarify my doubts.
US307	Statistics	Low	As a Registered User, I want to see my statistics, so that I can have an overview of my auctions' and bids' history and money spent/earned.
US308	Notifications	Low	As a Registered User, I want to receive notifications about favourite auctions and related activity, so that I can be aware of what's happening.
US309	Report Users	Low	As a Registered User, I want to report a given user, so that administrators can review this user's activity and ban him if needed.
US310	Delete Profile	Low	As a Registered User, I want to be able to delete my account, so that my relationship with the website is over.

Table 5: Registered's User Stories

Seller

Identifier	Name	Priority	Description
US401	Create an Auction	High	As a Seller, I want to create an auction, so that I can sell a model car.
US402	Access to Auction Statistics	Low	As a Seller, I want to access private auction data (like the number of bids, the respective bidders, or the price variation), so that I can have a better perception of the auction details.
US403	"Buy Now" Option	Low	As a Seller, I want to have the option to set a "Buy Now" price for the auction, so that I can give the opportunity to sell the car model instantaneously.

Table 6: Seller's User Stories.

Bidder

Identifier	Name	Priority	Description
US501	Bid in a given auction	High	As a Bidder, I want to bid in a given auction, so that I can try to buy the given model car.
US502	"Buy Now"	Low	As a Bidder, I want to trigger the "Buy Now" option if available, so that I can buy the car model without having to wait for the end of the auction.
US503	Comment an auction	Low	As a Bidder, I want to write a comment in an ongoing auction, so that the other users can be informed of my interest.

Table 7: Bidder's User Stories.

2.3 Supplementary requirements:

This annex contains business rules, technical requirements, and other non-functional requirements on the project.

Business rules

Identifier	Name	Description
BR01	Auction finish date	The auction finish date must be greater than the start date of the auction.
BR02	Auction duration	The auction needs to have a minimum time duration of one day and a maximum of 7 days.
BR03	Minimum bid	The auction must have an initial minimum value of 1 euro from where bids can be placed.
BR04	Auction requirements	Only registered and non-blocked members are allowed to bid or create new auctions.
BR05	Bidders details	Only the creator has access to the profile of those who bid on their auction.
BR06	Bids in growing order	A new bid must have a greater value than the previous set bid.
BR07	Auction self bid	The seller cannot bid on his own auction.
BR08	Deleted user	When a user is deleted, active auctions and bids are canceled, its profile info is deleted, but not its history (past auctions/bids).

Table 8: Business rules.

Technical requirements

Identifier	Name	Description
TR01	Availability	The system must be available ideally all the time and prepared to handle and continue operating when runtime errors occur.
TR02	Security	The system shall protect information from unauthorized access through the use of an authentication and verification system.
TR03	Data Consistency	The system must be synchronous and consistent for all the users (for example, the remaining time of the auction should be the same for all users).

Table 9: Technical requirements.

Restrictions

Identifier	Name	Description
C01	Project Deadline	The system should be ready to be used at the project submission deadline (31/05/2021) to be able to buy or sell car models.
C03	Artifacts Delivery	All the intermediate deadlines must be met, according to the course agenda.
C03	Development Interruptions	The development activities will be interrupted during the Easter, and the LBAW exam.

Table 10: Restrictions.

A3: User Interface Prototype

This section pretends to associate the page design with the user stories described in the previous artefact, alongside new ones that came to our mind during this artefact’s development. The prototype must allow us to test the user interface’s main interactions and the navigation between the distinct pages.

In this artefact, we include a description of the website interface and its common features, using some screenshots to highlight the main functionalities. We also include a sitemap presenting the overall structure of the website from the user’s viewpoint, containing all the pages the site has. At last, we have organized a sequence of wireflows initially designed to show our website design and interface main ideas.

At the end of this document, there are prints of the website pages implemented for the prototype.

3.1 Interface and common features

Carbay is a web application based on HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP.

As requested by the project enunciate, the user interface of the website was implemented using the Bootstrap framework.

All the website pages will have the following common elements, whose positions are highlighted in the figure:

Figure 2: Interface's guidelines

Logo: When clicked, it redirects the user to the homepage
Navbar:
- From a visitor perspective, it contains links to the search, login, and signup pages
- When logged in, it contains links to the search, create auction and profile pages, and also a notifications icon and a logout button.
Content: Depends on the current page
Footer:
- From a visitor perspective, it contains links to About Us and FAQs pages
- When logged in, it also contains a link to the Help page.

Some common characteristics between all the pages are:

Responsive behaviour, since every page adapts itself to the size of the screen, therefore allowing the website to be accessed by different devices (laptop, tablets, smartphones...)
In order to keep the website consistent, and to enhance the user experience, the common elements of the pages maintain their position - the navbar is fixed on the top of the screen and the footer at the end.
Consistency of the page components - we decided to maintain the design of the elements composing the page, by using only our theme’s colours, a centred vision of the content of the page, a rectangular shape for buttons and sections, and the same text font (“Nunito Sans”).
Simplicity of the user interface - the majority of the links are represented by icons, representative of the target page’s functionalities, and no page contains too much-concentrated information.
Apart from the Homepage, every page contains a breadcrumb, helping locate the user on the website.