The system is intended to archive paper documents within the police department. Documents will be digitized by clerks and entered into the system. Users will be able to search, index and reference these documents with the system.

It should be made clear that this system is to be based on documents, not cases -- while documents will be associated with a case, it should be possible to work with them independantly.

The following information should be tied to every digitized document entered into the system.

Document number: This will be a unique number for each document, assigned by the system. It will be used both in and outside of the system to reference the document.

Document Author : The officer responsible for creating the document.

Time/Date Document Written: The time and date the document was originally created.

Document Archiver : The clerk responsible for entering the document into the system.

Time/Date Document Archived: The time and date the document was entered into the system.

Case Number : The number of the case the document pertains to.

Type of Document: This will be one of a finite number of classifications. It is desired that the name and number of these classifications be definable by the system administrators, to reflect the changing needs of the department over time.

Notes: This will be a block of text, in which information about the document can be stored, potentially after the document has already been digitized (to ammend it).

The ability to digitize paper documentation and store it in a computer system, in a compressed format, and to add and delete documents as required.

The ability to recall documents as required, and print them if desired.

A convenient method of indexing and searching the documents, using the information defined above. This should be user friendly, easy to learn, and flexible, and allow the user to easily sort through a large number of documents to find the correct one.

The search should be able to handle any combination of requirements, including ranges of values for all fields. It should be easy to refine the search after the results are displayed, to allow the user to zero in on the desired document.

The index should be concise, and give enough information to allow the user to make intelligent choices regarding the document.