Pilot stage

Overall goal of this doc: agree upon feature set - minimize surprises.

Bold means an addition or change that needs review

In pilot scope

What are the core services we want the eRegs pilot to offer to fulfill stakeholder needs?

What do we need to provide to deliver that?

Web application fundamentals

Focus:

• Site works or gracefully degrades on browsers CMS staff use
• Site meets baseline accessibility requirements
• Mobile view works at least for core reg text reading (doesn't look broken)
• Structurally, we have baseline best practices for SEO set up
• Site is generally responsive for various sizes of screen
• There is basic reasonable print styling for reg content

Not in pilot:

• Mobile view with usable access to full features

Content that people trust

Focus:

• Use eCFR content (rewrite parser)
• Display appropriate disclaimer always
• Include Federal Register rule references from the CFR at the ends of sections
• Indenting that matches eCFR and the book (indent for each new paragraph, no indent for nested paragraphs)
  • Proposed revision: Indenting for nested paragraphs
• There's a way for people using this to give us feedback, suggestions, report bugs, etc
• Website tells you when it was last updated in general
• Display of paragraph identifiers matching official reg display (parentheses)

Not in pilot:

Usable navigation of parts, subparts, and sections

Focus:

• Each paragraph can be independently referenced by an anchor link in the URL
• Date of content is visibly displayed
• Default view of reg content is by subpart, with full part view as a fallback when needed (such as sections that aren't within a subpart)
• Within a part, you can "jump to section"
• For any specific reg content you're looking at (more specific than a part), there's a "next" and "previous" button
• For any content view, we have location information (including both the part number and the part name)
• You can toggle collapsing and expanding subparts in the Table of Contents in the left nav sidebar
• You can collapse the left nav sidebar
• The reg part homepage center column can have a table of contents for the latest version, marked with the version/date of the content
• There's a way to copy the URL (that's not just copying the URL bar)
• When you receive a link to a specific piece of reg on eRegs, the text you were linked to is highlighted (in an unobtrusive way)
• While reading reg content, there's a way to see an expanded Table of Contents for that part, for skimming
• Print button for whatever reg content you're looking at

Not in pilot:

• View reg content by section
• eRegs keeps a list of where you've been and helps you get back to what you've seen (local history, no auth)

Integration of key supplemental content in context with regs

Focus:

• Ability to display supplemental content that has a link, a title, a category, one or many section + date pairs, and [TBD: what else]
• A policy SME can write content in a structured way that the system can incorporate (reflecting the content model) [TBD: implementation]
• Categories of supplemental content have names, weight, and descriptions (captions)

Not in pilot:

• Supplemental content relates to regulation versions
• A set of reg part homepage custom content is associated with a version/date
  • Need to verify whether this makes sense to include in pilot - is it easier to do it this way than not?

Usable keyword search across and within parts

Focus:

• Global search is available from every page
• In search results, there's an option to search for your keyword in other tools with a wider scope of information (such as beta eCFR and Medicaid.gov)
• There's a way to filter search results by part, no matter how you started the search
• You can search within current part
• Literal keywords in search results are highlighted
• Search is able to search for simple synonyms for your keyword (such as the full version of an abbreviation) and plurals, drawing from an existing source of data
• There's a way to search within a specific version (the content on a specific effective date), no matter how you started the search
• Display search results as a hierarchy according to part and section number

Not in pilot:

• When you're in search, there's a "Back to Regulation Text" button that tracks where they were coming from
• If search tracks where you come from, the search results page includes the context AND the left sidebar is collapsed by default
• Search results display semi-automated additional material (such as "related searches") from a different source, in addition to keyword results
• Search is able to search for fuzzy synonyms for your keyword (such as multiple alternate phrases), drawing from an existing source of data
• When you click a search result, your search term remains highlighted on the content page

Usable navigation of past reg versions and comparisons between versions (timeline / history)

Focus:

• Ability to view a past version of a regulation
• Ability to compare a reg part from one past effective date to another (including comparing to the present version)
• For any past or current version you're looking at, you can access a link to the Final Rule (including preamble) for that version in the Federal Register
  • Need to consider how this applies to annual editions
• You can see the number of differences counted up for you
• You can go to the next difference
• The left nav table of contents includes indicators for subparts and sections that have changed
• You're able to view a reg part as it was effective on a past date, using the annual editions (the official data from the GPO)
• You're able to view a reg part as it was effective on a past date, using the annual editions plus monthly eCFR data

Not in pilot:

• Ability to view proposed versions and compare them
• You're able to view a reg part as it was effective on a past date, on a rule-by-rule granular level, using the annual editions plus parsing changes in Federal Register rules

Helpful and accurate cross-reference links

Focus:

• When reg text says a reference to a piece of reg that eRegs contains, it links you to it within eRegs (just part and section number)
• When reg text says a reference to a piece of reg that eRegs contains, it links you to it within eRegs (part, section number, and paragraph or subparagraph, like (a)(1)) - not considering ranges
• When reg text says a reference to a Federal Register notice, it links you to the Federal Register website

Helpful site homepage

Focus:

• The homepage is customizable
• The homepage displays a list of parts that are within eRegs

Not in pilot:

Out of pilot scope; potential next stage

Sharing

• There's a way to copy the text of a piece of reg with one click. When you paste that text from eRegs to Outlook desktop email on Windows, it looks reasonable (to the degree we're able to control this).

Definitions