System Requirement Specifications (SRS) May 15, 2009

System Requirement Specifications (SRS) May 15, 2009

System Requirement Specifications (SRS) May 15, 2009

OFFICE OF THE NM SECRETARY OF STATE

Campaign FINANCE Information system (CFIS)

SYSTEM REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATIONS (SRS)

Table of Contents

1.0Problem Statement3

2.0Overview3-4

2.1Background(3&4)

3.0Overall Description 4-5

3.1Electronic Filing & Public Viewing Components(4)

3.2Management Functions(5)

4.0SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS 6-8

4.1 Migration of Existing Data(6)

4.2 Creation of Database Structure(6)

4.3 Creation of Web-Based Applications(6)

4.4 Setup of Hardware, Software, Network and Back-Up Infrastructure(6)

4.5 Pre-Launching of the New System through Troubleshooting and Testing(6)

4.6 Disaster Recovery Plan(7)

4.7 Training(7)

4.8 On-Line Launching of the New Campaign Finance Information System(7)

4.9 User Support(7)

4.10 Maintenance Support and Modifications(7)

4.11 Performance Monitoring(7)

4.12 Web Pages(8)

Campaign FINANCE Infromation system (CFis)

System Requirement Specifications

1.0Problem Statement

The current Campaign Finance Information System (CFIS) is cumbersome for the candidates and office holders to file the reports that are required by the New Mexico Campaign Reporting Act. This causes many to seek a hardship and file paper documents, which defeats the purpose of having an electronic filing system. The current system is also lacking in search capabilities and cumbersome in the search capabilities that it has. This is a disservice to the public and the press who want advanced search capabilities. The UCLA Law Center’s Voter Project which grades State's campaign finance systems consistently, gives New Mexico's Campaign Finance Information Systema failing grade. The current system is a product of the File-One Company. The Secretary of State pays File-One approximately $36,000.00 per year for support and maintenance. This does not include any changes or enhancements to the system. File-One Charges an hourly rate of $175.00. Virtuallyanything that has been requested falls under the hourly rate. The hardware for the current system is entirely located at the Secretary of State's office, providing no redundancy in the event of a site failure. Certain records are also stored on a much older system called Liberty. The system is no longer supported by the vendor and runs on aging hardware and software.

2.0Overview

2.1Background

The Campaign Reporting Act (CRA) provides for the public disclosure of contributions and expenditures made for a political purpose by public officials and candidates seeking or considering election to offices on a Primary, General or Statewide Special Election ballot. It provides also for registration and disclosure by political committees that contribute or expend funds for a political purpose. Disclosure is accomplished by filing reports of contributions and expenditures in election and non-election years.

The Act specifies permissible expenditures from candidates’ campaign accounts, prohibits certain fundraising activities by incumbents in or candidates for a regulatory office limits the amount of anonymous and special event contributions that may be retained, and prohibits the solicitation of campaign contributions by legislators, or legislative candidates and the Governor (or their agents) before, during, and after a legislative session.

Furthermore, it establishes a filing schedule for all reports and prescribes monetary penalties for failure to file timely, complete or accurate reports, statements of exception or statement of no activity and provides for civil and criminal enforcement. Moreover, it prohibits the placement of a candidate’s name on an election ballot, or the issuance of a certificate of nomination or election, for failure to comply with the reporting requirements or failure to pay any monetary penalty imposed.

3.0Overall Description

3.1Electronic Filing & Public Viewing Components

  1. The Campaign Reporting Act requires that reports be filed electronically as specified by the New Mexico Secretary of State. The purpose of the CFIS is to facilitate the required electronic filings and to make those filings available to the public in a format that provides for robust searches.
  1. The system is a web application that is accessible through the NM Secretary of State’s Website that allows for the inputting of filing electronically into an Oracle database, which has nightly-tape backups with and a complete secondary database that is situated at an alternate site.

c.The program has two main components as follows:

1)The filing of reports electronically

Reporting individuals require an application that facilitates the filing and recording of transactions arising from financing activities, such as political campaigns, political action committees and lobbyist activities. The system shall provide a convenient electronic avenue for facilitating and storing the transactions described above.

When all transactions for a particular filing period have been entered, the system will generate and store the reports that are required by the Campaign Reporting Act. The system will also allow reporting individuals to amend previously filed reports under the rules as set forth by the Campaign Reporting Act and the NM Secretary of State.

2)Public Searches

The public shall have access for conducting robust searches on filed reports for political campaigns, political action committees and lobbyist activities. The filing of reports and public searches are both available through the NM Secretary of State’s website via the Internet.

3.2Management Functions

  1. The Secretary of State staff will require management capabilities that allow for the setting up, maintenance and monitoring of the user accounts. The Secretary of Staff shall also require capabilities that allow for the auditing of filed reports as stipulated by the CRA.
  1. Maintenance backup support and modification – The system should be such that all maintenance support backup and modification can be done the Secretary of State IT Services Staff.

4.0SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

4.1Migration of Existing Data

Migratingall database information from the existing SOSKB (SQL Server) and Liberty System (D-base) to the new Oracle data-based Campaign Finance Information Report System is required. Converting TIFF images fromthe existing systems into PDF file format and migrating them in order to store them in the new system is also necessary.

4.2Creation of Database Structure

Create new database structure, including relationships, indexes, procedures and functions in order to support the new application.

4.3Creation of Web-Based Applications

Create public and private web-based applications that can be accessed through the NM Secretary of State’s website via the Internet.

4.4Setup of Hardware, Software, Network and Back-Up Infrastructure

Assess hardware, software, network, back-up and other implementation needs. Procure hardware, software and in-services to meet those needs. Setup, install and configure all required hardware and software. A backup of the data must be conducted at least once every 24-hour period.

4.5Pre-Launching of the New System through Troubleshooting and Testing

a.Prior to the new system being launched, troubleshooting and testing of all components of the systems, programs, hardware, software and services shall be conducted in order to ensure that the system meets the specified requirements.

b.User Acceptance Testing – Select a representative group comprised of persons (internal and external) that shall be utilizing the system. Allow this group to use the system on test bases and document feedback from the users and make modifications as needed.

4.6Disaster Recovery Plan

The Secretary of State shall create a disaster recovery plan and policies that include acceptable outage periods and alternate recovery procedures.

4.7Training

a.Internal Training – Training shall be provided to all Secretary of State staff that is specific to the needs of each the agency’s divisions, which includes, IT Services, Operations, Bureau of Elections, Ethics and Administration.

b.External Training – Specific training shall be provided to Reporting Individuals required to submit financing activities that are specific to political campaigns, political action committees and lobbyist activities.

4.8On-Line Launching of the New Campaign Finance Information System

On-line launching of the new CFIS requires announcing and publicizing the launching of the new CFIS and providing adequate staff to handle and facilitate customer service needs.

4.9User Support

The Secretary of State staff shall provide ongoing support to reporting individuals and the general public in person, via US mail, telephone and fax communications, as well as through e-mail correspondence.

4.10Maintenance Support and Modifications

The Secretary of State IT Services staff shall provide all maintenance support and modifications to the system.

4.11Performance Monitoring

The Secretary of State IT Services staff shall monitor the performance of the system and add hardware, software and other infrastructure resources as needed and required.

4.12 Web Pages

The following is a list of the estimated number of web pages to be developed. It is subject to change depending on the needs of the Secretary of State:

(1)Technical Administrator Pages:0 (APEX already contains pre-built pages)

(2)Business Administrator Pages: 10

(3)Data Entry/Edit Pages: 30

(4)Public Pages: 63

(5)Reports: 10

(6)Other pages will be created from templates as needed.

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