Current Version: Elaboration Iteration 2, Started 8/27/2003
Elaboration Iteration 1, Completed 11/14/2002
Inception, Completed 9/5/2002

Project Vision and Business Case

This document gives the vision and business case for the StickSync project. This page is divided into the following sections:

  1. Introduction
  2. Stakeholder Descriptions
  3. Product Overview
  4. Summary of System Features
  5. Other Requirements and Constraints

Introduction

We envision a cross-platform application for synchronizing files across multiple computers using portable mass storage devices (PMSD), such as Sony's Micro VaultTM solid-state hard drive. These typically hold 128MB to 1GB of data, but in the future may be larger.

The project is intended to fulfill a real-world need that the developers have and which we believe others will have as well. Briefly, this is the need to synchronize files between multiple computers, including at least a Macintosh, Windows PCs, and a Linux server. It would be useful to people without a high-speed internet connection (such as high security applications), or for people who didn't trust their internet connection or that wanted an additional way to move files.

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Stakeholder Descriptions

Stakeholder (Non-User) Summary

The non-user stakeholders in the system include:

User Summary

The user of the system is a person with access to two or more computers and at least one PMSD. This person wants to keep several files or directories synchronized between the computers. The user is assumed to be adept at manipulating files and directories.

Key High-level Goals and Problems of the Stakeholders

Key High-Level User Goals

The users own one or more PMSDs and need a system that can:

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Product Overview

StickSync is able to synchronize files and directories between pairs of computers using PMSDs for transfer of data. In essence, it keeps a table that maps files to their most recent contents, and keeps track of the file modification dates on various computers, to be able to tell if the files have been simultaneously changed. The table, file contents, and other information necessary are stored on the PMSD.

The following is a context diagram for the system. Essentially the system mediates interactions between the User, one or more PMSDs, and one or more pairs of computers.

Context Diagram

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Summary of System Features

The system provides:

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Other Requirements and Constraints

See the use cases and the supplementary specification for details on other requirements and constraints.

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Last modified Friday, October 8, 2004.

This web page is for the StickSync project, developed as an example for Com S 362 at Iowa State University. Please direct any comments or questions about this project to Gary T. Leavens at leavens@cs-DOT-iastate-DOT-edu or Curtis Clifton at cclifton@cs-DOT-iastate-DOT-edu (after replacing -DOT- with `.').