Software Requirements Specification

AI-Powered Cataloguing System

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this Software Requirements Specification (SRS) is to define the scope,
functionalities, and requirements for the development of an AI-Powered Cataloguing System.
This system aims to connect disparate data sources (e.g., PIM, ERP, CMS, spreadsheets),
enrich product content automatically, and deliver personalized experiences to customers. By
consolidating all technical and functional requirements in one document, it ensures a clear and
comprehensive reference for both stakeholders and the development team.

1.2 Document Conventions

●​ Bold Text: Section headings or critical terms.

●​ Italic Text: Emphasis on important ideas.
●​ Monospaced Text: Code snippets, file names, or commands.
1.3 Intended Audience and Reading Suggestions

●​ Project Stakeholders (Tech, Business, Management): Understand high-level

requirements and scope.
●​ Development Team: Reference for detailed functional and technical requirements.
●​ Quality Assurance: Basis for test planning and validation.
●​ Operations and Maintenance: Understand system design, workflows, and
dependencies for ongoing support.
1.4 Project Scope

This AI-Powered Cataloguing System will:

1.​ Connect Disparate Data Sources (ERP, PIM, CMS, spreadsheets).

2.​ Enrich Product Content using AI (auto-tagging, context-aware descriptions,
translations, etc.).
3.​ Deliver Personalized Experiences (product recommendations, personalized
pricing, and dynamic search).
The solution will generate a unified catalogue with enriched metadata, feeding personalized
content to user interfaces in real-time.

1.5 References

●​ Existing SRS and Commercial Proposal documents (for background context).

●​ Technical Documentation for ERP (SAP), PIM (Akeneo), CMS (Contentful), and any
relevant APIs.
●​ Node.js, Python, or other backend frameworks (for AI/ML components).
●​ GDPR/CCPA regulations (for data privacy and security).
2. Overall Description

2.1 Product Perspective

This AI-Powered Cataloging System is envisioned as an integral part of the e-commerce or

product management ecosystem. It will ingest product and user-behavior data from multiple
sources, apply AI/ML-driven enrichment, and output updated or personalized product
information to various front-end channels (e.g., websites, mobile apps, search engines).

●​ System Interfaces:
○​ Inbound APIs or ETL processes from ERP (SAP), PIM (Akeneo), CMS
(Contentful), spreadsheets.
○​ Outbound APIs to front-end systems (React/Next.js) or third-party search
solutions (Algolia/Elasticsearch).
●​ User Interfaces:
○​ Internal dashboards for merchandisers/marketers to review AI-enriched
content.
○​ Customer-facing storefronts or search engines for personalized browsing.
2.2 Product Functions

1.​ Data Integration: Aggregates product information (SKUs, images, attributes) from
various sources into a unified structure.
2.​ Catalog Enrichment: Leverages AI for auto-tagging, description generation,
translation, and image processing.
3.​ Personalization: Provides user-specific recommendations, dynamic bundling, and
personalized pricing.
4.​ Governance & Workflow: Offers approval processes, version control, and audit
logs.

2.3 User Classes and Characteristics

●​ Merchandisers/Marketers:
○​ Review and approve AI-generated content.
○​ Set rules for personalization or bundling.
●​ Customers:
○​ Interact with personalized product lists, pricing, and recommendations.
●​ Administrators:
○​ Manage data connections, AI model configurations, logs, and compliance.
2.4 Operating Environment

●​ Backend: Runs on cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Azure).

●​ AI/ML: Uses TensorFlow or PyTorch for computer vision, GPT-4 or similar for
NLP-based content generation, and recommendation engines like Amazon
Personalize or Recombee.
●​ Data Stores:
○​ Data Lake (AWS S3 + Apache Iceberg) for large-scale
structured/unstructured data.
 ○​ Neo4j or similar graph DB for relationship metadata.
○​ Kafka or Google Pub/Sub for real-time event streaming.
2.5 Design and Implementation Constraints

●​ Must adhere to 500ms latency for real-time recommendations.

●​ Must handle peak loads of 10M+ SKUs and 100K requests per minute.
●​ Must comply with GDPR/CCPA and relevant data privacy regulations.
2.6 Assumptions and Dependencies

●​ Assumptions:
○​ Proper APIs and credentials from ERP, PIM, and CMS are provided.
○​ Data quality issues will be addressed upstream or via data-cleansing scripts.
●​ Dependencies:
○​ Availability of third-party AI translation APIs (e.g., DeepL).
○​ Connectivity to real-time data streams (Kafka, PubSub) for inventory and
pricing updates.

3. External Interface Requirements

3.1 User Interfaces

●​ Merchandiser Portal:
○​ Login-protected dashboard to see AI-generated tags, descriptions, and
recommended pricing strategies.
○​ Approval workflow to finalize or override AI suggestions.
●​ Admin Console:
○​ Controls data integration mappings, conflict resolution priorities, AI model
configurations, audit logs.
●​ Customer-Facing:
○​ Personalized front-end (e.g., built with React/Next.js) that receives dynamic
feeds (product recommendations, personalized pricing).
3.2 Hardware Interfaces

●​ No specialized hardware interface beyond standard cloud servers, user devices, and
optional on-prem data gateways for secure ERP data.
3.3 Software Interfaces

●​ERP (SAP): OData/REST or custom API integration.

●​PIM (Akeneo): Akeneo’s default API endpoints for product data ingestion.
●​CMS (Contentful): GraphQL endpoints for content retrieval.
●​Spreadsheet Ingestion: CSV/XLSX upload or scheduled ingest from shared
storage.
●​ Search: Algolia or Elasticsearch for indexing and search optimization.
3.4 Communications Interfaces

●​ Message Queues: Kafka or PubSub for real-time data updates (inventory, price
changes).
 ●​ REST/GraphQL APIs: Request-response pattern for data ingestion and retrieval.
●​ Webhooks: Notifications for external systems on data changes or approvals.

4. System Features

Below are the key functional requirements, organized by primary system features.

4.1 Data Integration & Unification

4.1.1 Multi-Source Ingestion

●​ Description: Import product data from ERP (SAP), PIM (Akeneo), CMS (Contentful),
and spreadsheets via APIs or ETL.
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR1.1: The system shall connect to SAP, Akeneo, Contentful, and
spreadsheet files for ingestion.
○​ FR1.2: The system shall support scheduled imports or real-time streams for
data updates.
○​ FR1.3: The system shall generate logs for each data ingestion process
(success/failure).
4.1.2 Schema Mapping

●​ Description: Auto-match incoming fields (e.g., “SKU” → “Product ID”) with AI-driven
suggestions, while allowing human override.
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR1.4: The system shall provide an AI-based field-matching engine for
mapping source attributes to standardized fields.
○​ FR1.5: Users shall be able to manually override AI-generated mappings.
4.1.3 Conflict Resolution

●​ Description: Define priority rules for conflicting data points from multiple sources
(e.g., “ERP stock > CMS stock”).
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR1.6: The system shall allow administrators to define priority rules for each
data field.
○​ FR1.7: The system shall log data conflicts for auditing and quick resolution.

4.2 AI-Powered Catalog Enrichment

4.2.1 Auto-Tagging

●​ Description: Leverage computer vision and NLP to generate tags from images/text
(e.g., “floral dress”).
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR2.1: The system shall analyze product images using a CV model
(TensorFlow or equivalent) to suggest relevant tags.
 ○​ FR2.2: The system shall extract textual context to refine or generate
additional tags (e.g., “summer,” “casual”).
4.2.2 Dynamic Descriptions

●​ Description: LLMs (GPT-4) create SEO-optimized, context-aware product copy.

●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR2.3: The system shall generate product descriptions via GPT-4, with
placeholders for key attributes (size, color, material).
○​ FR2.4: Users shall have the option to review/edit AI-generated copy before
publication.
4.2.3 Attribute Completion

●​ Description: Infers missing fields from product images or textual context (e.g.,
“material: silk”).
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR2.5: The system shall infer missing product attributes using AI (CV & NLP).
○​ FR2.6: The system shall flag uncertain predictions for manual review.
4.2.4 Multilingual Support

●​ Description: Automatically translate titles and descriptions into 10+ languages via
DeepL or similar.
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR2.7: The system shall integrate with a translation API (DeepL) for
multi-language outputs.
○​ FR2.8: The system shall store and manage localized versions of product
data.

4.3 Personalization at Scale

4.3.1 Behavior-Based Ranking

●​ Description: Boost products in search/results based on user click/purchase history.

●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR3.1: The system shall ingest customer behavior logs to compute product
popularity scores.
○​ FR3.2: The system shall rank products in search results based on user
relevancy metrics.
4.3.2 Dynamic Bundling

●​ Description: AI suggests “frequently bought together” or complementary combos in

real time.
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR3.3: The system shall analyze real-time purchase data to suggest bundling
opportunities.
○​ FR3.4: Bundles shall be updated or re-scored automatically as new data
arrives.
4.3.3 Personalized Pricing

●​ Description: Adjust product prices by user segment (loyalty tier, location, etc.).
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR3.5: The system shall allow administrators to define pricing strategies
based on segmentation.
○​ FR3.6: The system shall dynamically apply location-based or loyalty-based
price adjustments.
4.4 Governance & Workflow

4.4.1 Approval Workflows

●​ Description: Human-in-the-loop review process for AI-generated content (e.g.,

merchandiser QA).
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR4.1: The system shall route AI outputs to designated approvers before
changes go live.
○​ FR4.2: Approvers shall be able to accept, reject, or edit AI suggestions.
4.4.2 Version Control

●​ Description: Track changes to the catalog, including who changed what and when.
●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR4.3: The system shall maintain a version history for each product record.
○​ FR4.4: Users shall be able to roll back to previous versions if needed.
4.4.3 Audit Logs

●​ Description: Keep compliance-ready logs of data sources, edits, and AI actions.

●​ Functional Requirements:
○​ FR4.5: The system shall log all data ingestion events, updates, approvals,
and rejections.
○​ FR4.6: Audit logs must be exportable in CSV/JSON format for compliance
reporting.

5. Non-Functional Requirements

5.1 Performance Requirements

●​ NF1: <500ms latency for personalized recommendations under normal load.

●​ NF2: Ability to handle 10M+ SKUs and scale to 100K requests per minute (RPM)
during peak sales.
●​ NF3: Average auto-tagging precision of 95% or higher; translations should maintain
at least 95% accuracy.
5.2 Scalability

●​ NF4: System must scale horizontally to accommodate spikes in traffic or data

volume.
 ●​ NF5: Use of container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes) or serverless functions for
auto-scaling as needed.
5.3 Security

●​ NF6: Must comply with GDPR/CCPA for personal data handling.

●​ NF7: All PII must be encrypted at rest and in transit.
●​ NF8: Access control using role-based permissions for different user classes (e.g.,
merchandiser, admin).
5.4 Reliability and Availability

●​ NF9: Target 99.9% system uptime.

●​ NF10: The system should handle failover automatically in case of node failures.
5.5 Maintainability

●​ NF11: Code should follow established coding standards and include sufficient
documentation.
●​ NF12: Use modular microservices architecture for easier updates and replacements
of individual components.

6. Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Data Unification

1.​ Connect ERP/PIM Sources: Configure ingestion from SAP, Akeneo, etc.
2.​ Deploy AI Schema Mapper: Automate field matching with manual override.
3.​ Set Up Conflict Resolution: Implement priority rules for conflicting data fields.
Phase 2: AI Enrichment

1.​ Train CV/NLP Models: Use product images and text data to train auto-tagging,
LLM-based descriptions, and attribute inference.
2.​ Pilot Auto-Tagging: Run on a subset (1K SKUs) to measure accuracy and gather
feedback.
3.​ Enable Multilingual Support: Connect to translation APIs and store localized data.
Phase 3: Personalization

1.​ Integrate Recommendation Engine: Feed user click and purchase logs into the
recommendation system.
2.​ Dynamic Pricing & Bundling: A/B test segmentation-based pricing and bundle
suggestions.
3.​ Governance & Workflow: Finalize approval processes, version control, and audit
logging.

7. Risks & Mitigation

Risk Description Mitigation
Inconsistent or incomplete product Data cleansing scripts, manual
Poor Data Quality data can reduce AI accuracy. checks, robust error logs.
AI Bias in Biased training data could skew Regular fairness audits and data
Recommendations product recommendations or pricing. sampling.
External APIs (SAP, translation) may Caching, batching requests, or
API Rate Limits throttle or limit requests. scheduling syncs.
Handling large-scale concurrency Horizontal scaling with
Performance Bottlenecks and data volumes. microservices and caching.
GDPR/CCPA violations if data is not Encryption, data anonymization,
Compliance/Legal Issues handled properly. and frequent audits.

8. Appendices

Appendix A: Glossary

●​ PIM: Product Information Management

●​ ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning
●​ CMS: Content Management System
●​ SKU: Stock Keeping Unit
●​ LLM: Large Language Model (e.g., GPT-4)