Rappiteca is a standalone, self-contained web application. It is not a component of a larger system and does not depend on or integrate with any pre-existing institutional platform. Users and administrators interact with Rappiteca directly through their own accounts created within the system.

The software operates under the following constraints:

a) System interfaces: Rappiteca does not interface with external systems. All functionality is self-contained within the application.

b) User interfaces: Rappiteca is accessed through a responsive web interface, usable from desktop and mobile browsers. Two main interface views exist: a user-facing interface and an administrator dashboard.

c) Hardware interfaces: No specialized hardware is required. All operations are performed manually through the web interface; no barcode or QR code scanners are used.

d) Software interfaces: Rappiteca relies on a relational database management system to store and manage catalog, user, loan, and fine data. It uses Python with the Django framework for the application logic.

e) Communications interfaces: The system communicates over standard HTTP/HTTPS protocols. Notifications (due date reminders, overdue alerts, availability, and fine notifications) are delivered through in-app notifications and email (SMTP).

f) Memory: Not applicable / no specific memory constraints beyond standard web hosting requirements.

g) Operations: The system is expected to be available for continuous, unattended operation (24/7), with scheduled/automated processes (e.g., overdue checks, notification triggers) running periodically in the background.

h) Site adaptation requirements: No special site adaptation is required, as the system is accessed entirely through a web browser.

Rappiteca provides the following main functions:

• User account management: Allows users and administrators to register, log in, and manage their profile information.
• Book catalog management: Allows users to search and browse the book catalog by title, author, category, or ID, and view real-time availability status and book details. Allows administrators to add, edit, and remove books from the inventory.
• Loan management: Allows users to request loans, renew active loans, reserve unavailable books, cancel reservations, and view their active loans and loan history.
• Notification management: Automatically notifies users about due dates, overdue loans, book availability (for reservations), and applicable fines, through in-app notifications.
• Fine management: Automatically calculates and applies fines for overdue loans, and allows administrators to track payment status.
• Loan traceability and reporting: Allows administrators to trace who currently holds each book, monitor due dates and overdue items, manage registered users, and generate reports.

Rappiteca is intended for two main types of users:

Library users: Users are expected to have basic computer literacy and familiarity with web applications, such as browsing websites and filling out online forms. No specialized technical knowledge is required. Users may have varying levels of experience with digital library systems, ranging from frequent users to first-time users, so the interface must be intuitive and easy to navigate without prior training. Administrators: Administrators are expected to have basic to intermediate computer literacy and some familiarity with library management processes (cataloging, loan policies, fine calculation). While they do not require technical/programming expertise, they are expected to be trained on how to use the system's administrative dashboard, given the greater responsibility and impact of their actions (e.g., inventory changes, fine management).

Both user types are assumed to have reliable access to a computer or mobile device with an internet connection and a modern web browser.

a) Regulatory policies: Not applicable. Rappiteca is an academic project and is not subject to specific regulatory or industry compliance policies.

b) Hardware limitations: Not applicable, since no specialized hardware is used. The system only requires standard hosting infrastructure and devices with a modern web browser.

c) Interfaces to other applications: Not applicable, since Rappiteca is a standalone system with no integration with external applications or platforms.

d) Parallel operation: The system must support multiple users (regular users and administrators) accessing and performing operations concurrently (e.g., simultaneous searches, loan requests, and inventory updates) without data inconsistency.

e) Audit functions: The system shall keep a record of administrator actions (e.g., inventory changes, fine management) through an admin activity log, to support traceability of critical operations.

f) Control functions: Access to administrative functions (inventory control, fine management, user management, reports) shall be restricted to users with the administrator role.

g) Signal handshake protocols: Not applicable, as the system does not use low-level communication protocols; all communication is handled over standard HTTP/HTTPS.

h) Quality requirements: The system shall be reliable and available, ensuring accurate, real-time tracking of book availability and loan status to prevent conflicts (e.g., two users borrowing the same copy simultaneously).

i) Criticality of the application: Rappiteca is not a safety-critical or life-critical application. However, it is important for the continuity of the library's daily loan operations, so extended downtime would negatively affect users and administrators.

j) Safety and security considerations: The system shall protect user account information (e.g., passwords) and restrict access to sensitive administrative functions through role-based authentication.

k) Physical/mental considerations: Not applicable beyond standard usability and accessibility good practices.

Requirements are written using EARS syntax (Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax): each statement follows a fixed pattern (THE system SHALL..., IF... THEN THE system SHALL..., WHILE... THE system SHALL..., AFTER... THE system SHALL...) so that every requirement is unambiguous, singular, and verifiable, per the characteristics defined for this specification.

Priority follows MoSCoW: Must, Should, Could, Won't.

Stack: Django (Python) with MongoDB. The following requirements are derived from the entities implied by the Functional Requirements in Section 2.1 (User, Book, Loan, Reservation, Fine, AuditLog)

https://youtu.be/NQEa0skPDaM

Duration: ~6 minutes

Hi, we're the team behind Rappiteca, a project developed for Proyecto Integrador 1 at Universidad EAFIT.

Let's start with the problem. Educational institutions — students, faculty, and library staff — still rely on slow, error-prone, manual processes to manage their libraries. Checking if a book is available often means walking to the library in person. Requesting a loan, renewing it, or finding out when a reserved book becomes available usually involves paper forms or waiting in line. And on the administration side, staff have to track inventory, due dates, and fines manually, which leads to delays and human error.

We saw an opportunity here: what if students and library staff could manage the entire loan process — from checking availability to returning a book — in real time, from any device?

Let me introduce the team behind Rappiteca.

I'm Emanuell Torres López — I've worked on organizing our requirements and setting up our project documentation. Cristobal Rodríguez, who you just heard from, has led the definition of the project's backlog and repository structure. Juan Camilo Ríos Rodríguez has worked on defining our functional requirements and coordinating the team's workload. And Carlos Ochoa has supported the task of requirements prioritization and development of code.

Together, we're a team of four Systems Engineering students building a real solution to a problem we've all experienced as students ourselves.

So, what exactly is Rappiteca?

Rappiteca is a web application that lets library users check book availability in real time, request loans, renew them, and reserve titles that are currently unavailable — all without depending on in-person, paper-based procedures. Users also get automatic notifications for due dates and when a reserved book becomes available.

For administrators, Rappiteca centralizes inventory control, loan and return tracking, and automatically generates reports on overdue items and catalog usage.

Our value proposition is simple: we eliminate manual and paper-based processes to reduce operating costs, we increase user satisfaction through a self-service, agile experience, and we remove the friction that currently limits how many loans and reservations a library can actually process — all while building a solution that's scalable enough to be implemented across multiple institutions.

To make this vision real, we defined and prioritized our functional requirements using the MoSCoW method. Here are our top 10 "Must-have" requirements for Rappiteca:

1. User registration
2. User login
3. Search books by title, author, category, or ID
4. Real-time availability status — available, borrowed, or reserved
5. Book detail view, including description, location, and copies available
6. Requesting a loan directly through the platform
7. Viewing active loans and their due dates
8. Renewing a current loan
9. Self-service book returns
10. Admin visibility into who currently has each book checked out

These ten requirements form the core loop of Rappiteca: search, borrow, track, and return — with full visibility for both users and staff.

Thanks for watching — this is Rappiteca.

Component Diagram Link

• accounts — Manages user and administrator registration, login, and profiles.
• catalog — Manages the book inventory: adding, editing, deleting, and searching titles.
• loans — Manages the loan lifecycle: requesting, returning, renewing, and tracking loans.
• reservations — Manages reservations for unavailable books and their waitlist.
• fines — Calculates and manages fines for overdue loans.
• reports — Generates administrative reports and system usage statistics.

Repository

https://youtu.be/vJh9DA-IDg4

Weeklies

Activities

Backlog

• accounts — Manages user and administrator registration, login, and profiles.
• catalog — Manages the book inventory: adding, editing, deleting, and searching titles.
• loans — Manages the loan lifecycle: requesting, returning, renewing, and tracking loans.
• reservations — Manages reservations for unavailable books and their waitlist.
• fines — Calculates and manages fines for overdue loans.
• reports — Generates administrative reports and system usage statistics.

Component Diagram Link

The logo combines an open book (the library) with speed lines on its left side, which express the idea behind the name Rappi + biblioteca: getting library services quickly and from anywhere. The brass ribbon works as a bookmark and ties the icon to the accent color of the application. The wordmark uses Fraunces, the same serif typeface used for titles in the app, with "teca" highlighted in brass.

Icon version (for favicon / small sizes):

"Your library, one click away."

It summarizes the value proposition of Rappiteca: checking availability, borrowing, renewing and reserving books without paper forms or waiting in line.

Typography: Fraunces (titles), Inter (body text), JetBrains Mono (labels and badges).

The palette is defined as CSS variables in catalog/static/catalog/css/style.css, which keeps a consistent visual structure across all pages (US-01).

Catalog search with real-time availability status

Book details

User loans section

Administrator loan management

Fines tab in the admin panel: overdue books with the fine applied to each user's account (FR-23 / FR-24)

Repository

Readme

Requirements

https://youtu.be/w9udcKbv8D4

Backlog

Weeklies

• We delivered the Sprint 3 requirements (FR-17 to FR-24): waitlist, reservation cancellation, overdue alerts, availability notifications, user profile, loan history, and fine calculation and application.
• Most requirements were developed in their own branch and merged through a pull request, which kept main stable and made each change easy to review.
• Most new requirements were delivered with automated tests, so we could check that new features did not break existing ones.
• The visual style stayed consistent across pages thanks to the shared CSS variables.

• Communication and task assignment: in previous sprints we left coordination until the last minute, and the workload for this sprint was assigned late, which pushed most of the coding to the second half of the sprint.
• Code consistency: part of the code is still written in Spanish and part in English, and some helper functions are duplicated across apps.
• The documentation got out of sync with the code: the README and component diagram list reservations and reports modules that do not exist as separate apps yet.
• Scheduled tasks (reminders, overdue alerts, fines) depend on management commands that have to be run manually; there is no scheduler configured.

• Assign requirements in the first days of the sprint and do a short mid-sprint check-in.
• Agree on English as the only language for code (names, comments and messages).
• Update the README and diagrams when a module is added or changed, in the same pull request.
• Document how to run the periodic commands (check_overdue_loans, send_loan_reminders, expire_reservations, calculate_fines) and evaluate a scheduler.
• Implement the remaining fine requirements (FR-25 payment status and FR-26 fine notifications) on top of the new fines app.

• Presented by — Juan Camilo Rios Rodriguez.
• Sprint 3 focused on making the reservation process more flexible and fair, and on keeping users informed. Users can now cancel a reservation they no longer want, join a waiting queue when a book has no copies, receive alerts about their loans and reservations, check their profile and loan history, and the system calculates and applies fines for overdue loans.
• Value for the final product — fewer blocked copies, a fair first-come first-served process for popular books, and less manual work for the librarian.
• Result — 8 of 8 planned requirements completed (FR-17 to FR-24).

https://youtu.be/kH-a2jAcHII

• FR-17 Reserve unavailable book and FR-18 Cancel reservation — Juan Camilo Rios Rodriguez. A user cancels a reservation before the admin checks the book out. With a book at 0 copies, users join the waiting queue and see their position. When a copy is freed, the first user in the queue receives the reservation automatically.
• FR-19 Overdue loan alert and FR-20 Reservation availability notification — Emanuell Torres Lopez. The user is notified when a loan is overdue and when a reserved book is ready for pickup.
• FR-21 User profile display and FR-22 User loan history — Cristobal Rodriguez Rojas. The user views their profile information and the list of their past loans.
• FR-23 Automatic fine calculation and FR-24 Apply fine to account — Carlos Manuel Ochoa Cifuentes. An overdue loan generates a fine that is calculated automatically and applied to the user's account.