Working of the prototype

This system is an application that one needs to download it from his/her phone plays store. The app is designed to support the mobile web. To come up with this system, several assumptions had to be made. Example of these assumptions includes;

• Any user booking for a flight can afford a smartphone
• Any user booking for a flight has the required knowledge to use a smartphone
• Any user booking for a flight has access to the Internet

However, it is important to remember that having a mobile application is not the key to success ,but it is a way of providing the right approach to mobile users. Taking a user-centered approach to mobile (and other) design can help you keep in mind the outcomes that you intend rather than wasting time on unrewarding designs.

The mobile application is a description intended to distinguish accessing the Internet on a tablet or a smartphone as opposed to a regular PC or laptop. As the world has adopted smartphones over the last decade, companies have come to understand the advantages of catering for the mobile application. However, too many businesses start with the end-point in mind; “We need a mobile app!” rather than considering why their users would want it. Well, there is need to deliver an Airline booking mobile application experience since it comes with added advantages such as;

• There is the opportunity to cater for the specific users’ needs at the right moment and in the right place
• The mobile application can be accessed in places where the Internet is not easily accessible from other devices, like desktop
• Development for the mobile application can be cost effective and even be cheaper than standard websites or even standalone systems
• There is potential to reach a much larger user base (there are more smartphone owners than desktop and laptop owners)
• There is the opportunity to reach a much wider geographic area (in developing nations smartphones are often the only way for a user to access the Internet)

To come up with this system, we had to undergo several stages in which all the development stages are assumed to be cyclical. Therefore, we had to work with the needs of the users. Once that is done, the applications feature has to be prioritized and then designing the feature. Therefore, we had to consider some factors before coming up with this system after conducting the requirement analysis. Some of this factors include the following;

Assessing the current Airline booking situation

For one to do the booking you need to use your PC, desktop or even your smartphone where you search for a certain airline company offering the services that you require. You can also visit the companies help desk in person.

However, there are more smartphone and tablet users than PC/Desktop users. You can’t assume that your users want to use your application via those platforms. In fact, recent research suggests that many users (in general terms) use the mobile web for a limited array of things (mainly dating, e-mail, some apps and social media) and that when users have an option, they prefer to do more complex work from their desktops. So, you have to think about whether a fully functioning mobile app is really what your users’ needs. Is it possible that your user base is less interested in a mobile app experience and more interested in an enhanced experience with the products and platforms you already offer?

Understanding the users

Before designing or doing any feature prioritization, it is important to understand the users(your) better and in a mobile context. For example, you need to ask yourself questions like;

• How do they prefer to access the Internet?
• What feature would be critical for providing the mobile experience?
• What devices are they using to access your app?
• What are they frustrated with what is being offered at the moment that could be done better via the mobile app?

What will your mobile application experience offer?

After prioritizing the user requirements, you should come up with your mobile application experience. Through the user requirement process you should come up and know what your users want but at the same time you need to consider what the business (airline company) wants for the process too. To some point you may need to revise and modify components of the experience in order to take care of the conflict between users and the airline company. The application should not be complex to use.

Review and Refine

Any phase of the application should be tested with the users so as to get feedback and iterate rapidly. Thus it should follow certain standard, that is, W3C standard. It is from the users’ feedback that you will be able to meet all the user requirements.

How the Airline Booking System works

The system consists of six stages. For user to start the booking process they have to download the application from the google play store. Assuming that they have successfully downloaded and installed he application in their phone then they are ready to start the booking process. Below is an explanation of how the application works, that is, an explanation of how the stated system user requirements are translated to the designed prototype (functional requirement and the non-functional requirements).

Phase one: Registration screen

In this phase, the requirements are translated in a manner that the user has to register so as to acquire a personal account. Therefore, for the user to do the booking he or she must have a registered personal account. To register, users will have to provide their details such their names as they appear in their government official identity card, identification number, date of birth (D.O.B), phone number, email address, country of resident, username and password. It is in this phase that they will be required to set their username and a strong password that will be used to log in

Phase two: Login screen

Once registration is done, users will be expected to use their login credentials (username and password) to log in. in case a user has forgotten his or her password, there will be a forget password link that will be integrated to their email. This link will enable them to reset the password. Therefore, in this phase the login requirement is translated to the prototype.

Phase Three: Flight Booking Screen

Upon login in, users will be directed to a flight booking screen where they are expected to book their respective flight. In this phase, it will consist of different airlines (different companies offering flight services like Kenya Airways) incorporated in it. A user is expected to choose his or her airline of choice, that is, that they are comfortable with. Each airline has different flights that it offers. Assuming that you know the destination you will be flying to, exact date that you will like to fly to your destination and return. Travelling details will be required such as;

• Trip details, that is, dates (one way or return), an airline of choice, airports flying to
• Ideal departure times and length of flights
• Ideal cabin class (Economy / Premium Economy / Business / First Class / Suites)
• For the personal information, the system will automatically pick the details used during registration (phase one).

For passenger below the age of 18 they are expected to use their parents account. This kind of booking will be used for all types of flights be it domestic flight or international flights. In case of an international flight you will be require to apply for a visa in advance.

For passengers with luggage, the system will also cater for them but the luggage must have an identification information that will be used for tracking and its management. For example, if it’s a bag it should always have durable luggage tags that you check which include your name and contact information. Since anything on the outside of a bag can fall off, get lost or damaged, you should also include identifying information inside bags. An easy way to do this is to tuck a business card inside the bag, or print an extra copy of your itinerary and pack it inside the bag. Including your itinerary has the added advantage of making it easier to reunite you with your luggage in the event that it goes astray.

Phase five: Manage Your Travel Screen

In this phase, one is able to book for his ground transportation available at that time. Users will be provided with an interface showing them how them how they can manage their ground transportation and accommodation service. Users will be linked directly to the company providing ground transportation and thus there will be no intermediary. Upon booking, they will be emailed the details of the driver responsible for their transportation for further communication and enquires. However, part of the application is optional since some users might having their personal transportation.

Phase four: Payment Screen

Once you have keyed in your flight details, you will be required to make the payment. It is in this phase that the transaction will take place. This phase is very crucial since it deals with the transaction flow between customers (user) and merchants (company). Therefore, to ensure transaction data is transmitted safely, a security protocol and encryption for the data must be ensured. The mode of payment used in this application is the electronic payment. This payment is able to process credit or debit cards that the user uses for payment. So, the user will be expected to key in his card number and his or her security key so as to pay for the flight.

Concept behind payment process

It involves a payment gateway which is a third party service that not only process all financial operations between customers (users) and merchant (airline company), it also ensures data safety. The primary tasks of a payment gateway are approval (watching that a client has enough cash to pay), catch (sending the money to the company’s account), deal (standard installment for buys), a discount (cash return), and void (a discount for not-caught reserves). The upside of this administration is that a client can book and pay in one spot, yet a major impediment is that all the procedures like cancelation and discount are finished through the OTA side, not through the CRS. Also, one more hindrance for voyagers: When booking by means of OTAs, they pay an extra charge.

Phase six: Ticketing Notification Screen

As soon as the payment was processed by the payment gateway, the airline’s CRS can generate a booking confirmation number and issue an electronic version of a ticket. Users receives notification notifying them that booking is successful. However, ticketing is a different concept from booking. Ticketing means that the seat is paid for, it won’t be taken, and it belongs to a particular person. This is ensured by a PNR. It’s a 6-digit code on an e-ticket that allows airlines to validate the booked seat. Part of the notification is a download link that user will use to print the ticket for verification in their time of travelling.

Upgrade management of the system(application)

One of the strategy that will enable upgrade of this system is by engaging and identifying the stakeholders involved. Both internal and external stakeholder will be included in this plan, that is, end users, trainers, content developers, administrators, support and hosting teams, QA and testing teams, system owners, external suppliers, and service partners. We will need to work out how each group interacts with the system, how an upgrade will affect them, and what level of ongoing engagement they might require.

It is out of the user’s feedback that we will get the performance progress of the application. Out of this feedback we will be in a position to come up with an upgrade plan like who will perform the upgrade? What needs to be upgraded? What needs to be redeveloped? Does anything need to be newly developed? How will the upgrade be performed? Is there any guidance on the upgrade from the software supplier? What time, people, resources, and budget do you need to apply to the upgrade process?

A roll-out plan will be of essence to this system. We need to ask ourselves questions like When will the upgrade be performed? Will there be an outage? How long will it be? What sort of message needs to go out to stakeholders? What will be the implementation process? What is your rollback plan?

To enable a full upgrade of the system we need to consider the methodology used to develop this application. For this case the used methodology is incremental. One of the reason as to why we chose this methodology is because the airline booking system requirement are clearly to understand. Furthermore, it is a mobile application. To develop a fully working airline booking system, we will need to breakdown requirements into multiple standalone modules. Therefore, the application will be put into production once the first increment is delivered. The first increment is often a core product where the basic requirements are addressed, and supplementary features are added in the next increments. With this methodology, it will be possible to improve the application/system to a better version.

Conclusion

This mobile application has herewith simplified ones’ travel. Therefore, one is required to have it installed in their smartphone. The application is supposed to help one to do the booking. Instead of long airport queues for booking, you can use this mobile application at any location thus saving on time, cost and providing easier manageability of luggage and flight booking. Many people contact travel agencies to cater for their travel, that is, from flight booking, luggage management and also ground transportation. This facilitation makes one rely on another person at an extra cost, and if they fail to honor this agreement, users responsible end up losing money and time as a result. By having this application, you are sure you booked your flight, you can manage your own luggage and also transport without an intermediary.

There are many ways to design and develop a system. Time and cost determines which method take. Therefore, one has to understand the user centered design since it focuses on the needs of the user in each design phase. Users should be involved in the system development process, throughout the design process, researches and design techniques so as to create usable and accessible system.

Looking back, this application has achieved its main objective as it caters for all the user requirements it was designed to. This was made possible by administering questionnaires and interviews with frequent travelers. 89% of the travelers feel that feel that if this application for them currently, it would have simplified most of their norms and helped them save money and time.

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