400 Project 4 CREATING AN AIRLINE RESERVATION PORTAL

In the preceding projects, you developed Windows Forms applications. Windows Forms applications are usually run on desktop computers. For a distributed environment, ASP applications are preferred because a large audience can

access them relatively easily.

ASP.NET Web applications are an optimal solution for managing large-scale business applications. You can either deploy these applications on an intranet and make them accessible throughout an organization, or make them securely accessible on the Internet so that Internet users can access and update information on the Web site.

In this project, you will learn to create an ASP.NET Web application for automating the ticketing process of a fictitious airline, SkyShark Airlines. The project, albeit customized for the requirements of SkyShark Airlines, can be easily customized to specific business requirements.This chapter has been written to equip you with the information necessary to begin creating the application.

In this chapter, I present the case study of the application and its design. The design includes the databases and tables, the relationship between database tables, and the structure of the Web forms in the application.

Airline Profile

Launched in 1999, SkyShark Airlines is a United States-based airline that has rapidly grown in the past three years. High service standards and the exceptional commitment of its employees have resulted in a consistent increase in the customer base of the airline over the past years. Following this positive trend, the airline plans to further its profits in the next financial year with the introduction of new aircrafts and new air routes.

Currently, the airline operates from a corporate office and a number of regional offices. In the current setup, the regional offices interact with users somewhat independently. The only interaction that happens between the regional and the head offices is the daily exchange of customer transactions that have happened during business hours.

The airline plans to add to its existing list of regional offices and enable real-time communication between the regional offices and the corporate office. Each regional office would be connected by an intranet. Subsequently, reservations and cancellations will be performed at each of the regional offices,which will function in an interlinked manner. The data will be collated on a daily basis at the corporate office for the purpose of analysis and reports.

The executives of SkyShark Airlines are categorized into three roles: business management, network administration, and line-of-business operations. Tasks in these roles are well defined and are equally important in the effective functioning of the business transactions. It is important to understand the role of business executives because the design of the application, as you will see later, depends upon these roles.Therefore, in this section, I examine the tasks performed by each business executive.

Role of a Business Manager

Business managers are responsible for framing policies and ensuring that the business operations perform at the optimal level. In the context of SkyShark Airlines, the duties of business managers are specified in the following list:

Introducing new flights. Business managers are responsible for introducing new flights after analyzing the market opportunities and business trends.

Adding new user accounts. Business managers request for new user accounts for users that need to access custom applications deployed by the airline. When requesting for a new user account, the role of the user is also specified. As a policy, when a new employee joins the airline, business managers send a request for the inclusion of a new user account to the network administrator.

Analyzing flight performance. Business managers analyze the performance of flights to determine whether or not a flight generates the expected revenue. The results of the analysis are also used to determine if the capacity of flights is optimally utilized.

Launching frequent flier programs. Frequent flier programs are used to enable discounts for customers who have either flown the airline more than a predefined number of times or paid more than a predetermined fare. To enable the frequent flier program, business managers use the

402 Project 4 CREATING AN AIRLINE RESERVATION PORTAL

flight transaction data and determine which customers should be eligible for the program.

Role of a Network Administrator

Network administrators are responsible for ensuring around-the-clock connectivity of the corporate office with the regional offices. You should note that network administrators are proficient with database management tools, such as SQL Server Enterprise Manager, because they need to use these tools frequently for accomplishing their tasks. The duties of network administrators are given in the following list:

Maintaining Web servers and database ser vers. Network administrators ensure that the latest patches and updates available for Web servers and database servers are installed. They examine database logs and Web server logs to ensure that there are no hardware or software-related problems. They also analyze the network usage to determine if the present infrastructure can sustain the demand. If it cannot, ways to scale the hardware infrastructure are determined and implemented.

Managing user accounts. Network administrators create user accounts for users who are authorized to perform flight-related transactions. They also ensure that the user accounts of users who resign from the organization are disabled.

Backing up and archiving databases. Network administrators back up databases daily and also ensure that data that pertains to flights that have departed is periodically archived.

Role of a Line-of-Business Executive

The line-of-business executives are responsible for performing the reservation and cancellation of tickets for the airline. The responsibilities of these executives are summarized in the following list:

Reservation on flights. Line-of-business executives reserve passengers on flights. While reserving the seats, they generate a ticket that specifies the status and fare to the passenger.

Cancellation on flights. Passengers can approach the line-of-business executives for cancellation of their tickets. When a ticket is cancelled, the fare amount entitled for refund to the passenger is refunded.