Frontend Tutorial
This is a short tutorial on how to use the Requirements Bazaar frontend available on https://requirements-bazaar.org/.
Requirements Bazaar is an online tool for Web-based continuous open innovation. It brings together diverse stakeholders interested in creating and improving an innovative idea or product. All content on Requirements Bazaar is currently publicly available.
In the following, you find a short description of the main functionalities of the site. Please note, that this is just a suggestion on how to use the tool. We do not impose any standards on you - you are totally free in how you organize your community's ideas! Rather, we want to learn from your patterns to improve the platform over time.
Requirements Bazaar is organized into projects, categories and requirements. Projects combine together all aspects and pieces of a product. To get a list of all projects in Requirements Bazaar, go to https://requirements-bazaar.org/projects. It will show you a searchable list of all projects and their descriptions. You can use the "Sorting" field on the left above the list to sort according to the alphabet, popularity, last activity (on project level) or to the number of requirements. On the right, you find the activity tracker displying the last activities that happens on Requirements Bazaar currently.
After selecting a project, you see the project's frontpage. As an example, let's look at the Requirements Bazaar's own project page: https://requirements-bazaar.org/projects/2. It contains a description of the project and a list of all categories available under the Requirements Bazaar's project. Categories are totally up to the specific project you selected. It is rather unlikely that any two projects have the same list of categories. In the case of this example, you will find technical categories like "ReqBaz Frontend" or "WordPress Integration", but also other category types like "Target Communities" where we discuss possible applications of the Requirements Bazaar in other contexts outside of software development.
Once you select a category, you get to see the requirements list. This is probably the view that you will be working most with in Requirements Bazaar. It is a list of ideas, requirements, suggestions, bug reports or whatever you think of that improves an existing product or idea. Let's look at the "Target Communities" category of Requirements Bazaar: https://requirements-bazaar.org/projects/2/categories/532. You see various requirements like "Citizen science" or "Clubs and associations". Once you click the title of a requirement, it opens up to reveal more information like attached images and a discussion in form of user comments and replies to these comments.
There are many more functionalities available in Requirements Bazaar after logging in with your account. Requirements Bazaar is using the "Learning Layers" single sign-on solution. It works just like your Google account and allows you to log in to various sites. To create an account, click the gray "Sign in" button on top right of the page. In the new window, click "Register a new account" just below the username and password fields. After creating an account, use your credentials for logging into Requirements Bazaar. You can now vote for requirements to show which ideas you like. Also you can contributing by commenting to requirements or add you as an developer who is helping to realizing the requirement. You have also the possiblity to follow projects, categories and requirements to get e-mail notifications about any contributions in one of these elements. You can comment to a requirement by open it and add your comment under the descrition. To access further functionalities, use the three-dots icon on the top right of the requirement. To vote for a requirement, click the star button on the top of the requirement. Once you voted for a requirement, the star becomes orange. To unvote, simply click the star again.
- vote: by voting, you express your support of the goals of this requirement.
- follow: by following requirements, you get email notifications once somebody else changes the requirement.
- develop: by developing requirements, you commit yourself to realize the idea expressed in the requirement.
- lead developer: by becoming the lead developer, you become responsible for the requirement and its development. There can only be one lead developer per requirement.
- edit: to change the title or description of a requirement, use the edit functionality.
- mark as done: once a requirement gets fulfilled, mark it as done.
To see requirements that have been marked as done, use the dropdown button with the notepad icon on the top of the requirements list. The icon will change into a notepad with a checkmark.
You can open your user settings by clicking on your users icon at the top right. Here you can decide if you like to receive e-mail notification on activities which happens to elements you lead and to elements you follow.