Transaction Processing Systems

Data Flow Diagram

Future expectations of the system

Online travel reservation systems are a growing tool to improve the speed and convenience of travel planning. The further development of hand held devices and tablets to use on the go allow people to access the web from remote locations to do as they please. Travel Reservation software can be expanded to accommodate these portable devices to allow people to plan trips on the go.

How the system functions

Backup procedures

There are many methods of backup for transaction processing systems. For real time there is only the need to backup any corrupt or lost data from recent transactions. This can be achieved through Incremental backups which only restore altered files from the last full or partial backup. This saves time as an entire data backup is not required and does not occur.

Travel reservation or all reservation systems in general function with similar processes. These processes are:

- Collect and store details of required service

- Confirm the availability of service and temporarily reserve the service

- Collect and store customer details

- Collect payment details as required

- Process and store payment as required

- If successful then commit reservation permanently

- Create and display confirmation to customer

Many travel reservation systems are web based and can be performed without the assistance of a user. Upon registration through a computer to that particular website a customer is then able to organise travel plans through the reservation form software. The customer enters their selected trip, service, customer and payment details through the form software.

How the system functions continued....

Participants, users, data/information and Information techology within the system

Upon submission the customer account details and payment details are sent to the customers selected bank for confirmation of the transaction. Once the payment is approved the reservation system immediately confirms the booking. If the transaction fails the reservation system will inform the customer that something has gone wrong with the transaction.

Participants: People wishing to plan a national or international trip, users of the system can also be participants as they can plan trips themselves.

Users: Staff maintaining the system.

Data/Information: Customer details – names, ages, contacts, travel details – where, when, how, transaction details – how they will pay, what method of payment.

Information technology: Computer, mouse, web based reservation forms (database), system database

Type and purpose of the system

Strengths and weaknesses of the system

Online Travel Reservation Systems

Reservation systems are used to collect and process data provided by customers in the form of bookings. Reservation systems can be used for a variety of services. These services can include hotels, motor vehicle rentals, airline and concert reservations and restaurants. Travel reservation systems allow participants to organise holidays and short trips online. This type of system is known as a real time transaction processing system as the customer’s online payment (transaction), for a national or international trip, is processed as soon as the transaction is initiated with very little delay time.

Strengths: Real-time reservation systems allow for convenience of time. They provide customers with a confirmed booking almost instantly after the booking has been made. The use of an online system allows multiple people to book accommodation, seats and flights from the comfort of their own home simultaneously without the delay of waiting for a free travel agent. Real-time reservation systems also increase the efficiency of the reservation process as well as security of data. Any incorrect or inconsistent data is reported back to customer and informs them that data they have entered is invalid.

Weaknesses: A major weakness with the use of real-time reservation system is the transmission speeds. The organisations running the system have no control over the transmission speed once packets of data reach the internet. This represents significant problems when transactions are initiated over the web. The slow transmission results in longer wait times which mayrgj result in users aborting the transaction in the belief that an error has occurred.

Social and ethical issues generated by the system

Systems influence on the nature of work

Transaction Processing

Systems

Some social and ethical issues surrounding online reservation systems include, security of data, authenticity and reliability of data. Data being transferred over the web is always at risk, so it is important that the sender of the data knows exactly where that data is going ensuring that it is secure. It is also vital for the customer to secure their details with a login and a password to maintain the privacy of that data and the customer as anyone with an internet connection can gain access to those details if not protected. A may social issue with online booking is the limitation to the number of people who have internet access. Some people may not be able to access the website and with a decline of agents see themselves in a hard situation. People may also prefer human interaction when booking the trip to make sure their details are safe.

Online travel reservation systems have seen a decrease in the need for travel agent jobs; however the original staff have not been put out of the job, rather have been given an opportunity to cease a new job. Retraining of staff has seen an increase in new IT jobs maintaining and running the new travel reservation systems.