Computing and IT in Workplace

1.1 ABSTRACT

T
his report is solely based on Computers and IT and their observation in the working
environment. In this report, the Author unravels the direct relationship of some major
components of IT and the use of computers in an organisation that is selected as a
purpose of referencing.

The report explains a Scenario in Qatar Airways of which would benefit with the use of
Computers and IT to solve and ease the reservation process by introducing the Airline
Reservation System. In addition, further details on its functionality, its impact to that
organisation, its pros and cons and recommendations will be included.

Lastly, the report will also cover the comparisons and contrasts of the System to the areas of
Computing and IT as per the CITW module; these are, Internet Application, Human Aspect and
Computer Security.

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2.0 INTRODUCTION

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO QATAR AIRWAYS

A
s famous as the airline is, most people must have come across the image of a maroon
painted Oryx, which is the national animal and icon of Qatar! Qatar Airways is an
airline based in Doha, Qatar. It has a global coverage of 72 international destinations
with Doha International Airport (DOH) as its main base. It is among the fastest growing airlines
and one of the four airlines that have gained the "five star airline" status from Skytrax1. The
airline was established on 22 November 1993 and started operations on 20 January 1994; it was
originally owned by members of the state's royal family but was re-launched in April 1997 by a
new management team headed by Akbar Al Baker (Chief Executive). It has a solid management
that is well vested for future challenges such as crews and modern fleet. Furthermore, the airline
shares ownership with the Qatar government on an equal level, which is 50% each.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club is the airlines Frequent Flyer Programme with the highest earn rate
in the world and among some of its many activities, Qatar Airways was the official airline for the
2006 Asian Games that was held in Doha, on 1-15 December 2006. On the month earlier on,
November 2006, the airline announced seven routes to be launched in 2007 to further expand its
reach. These are: Lagos (Nigeria), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Denpasar (Bali, Indonesia), Ho Chi
Minh City (Vietnam), Newark (USA), and Washington D.C. (USA) and Geneva and Stockholm
(EUROPE). Since its re-launch in 1997, Qatar Airways has attained staggering growth in fleet
size and passenger number. From four aircraft in 1997, the group grew to a fleet size of 42 in
September 2005 and by 2015, the fleet size will almost triple to 110 aircraft. It continues to strive
to reach more destinations each year while working through the prejudice of terrorism as
perceived by an Arab owned Airline along side Emirates, Etihad and Gulf Air.

1
Skytrax – is a United Kingdom-based consultancy, the public face of In-flight Research Services.

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2.2 INTRODUCTION TO AIRLINE RESERVATION SYSTEM (ARS)

T
he System being capitalized fully by Qatar Airways is the Airline Reservation
System. The essence of the ARS is revoking the idea of a passenger possessing papers
with information about the flight and the passenger respectively; instead having all that
in a computer system and providing the passenger with just the copy of itinerary and a contract
of carriage. The system is the backstage of the e-ticket, working in a more efficient way with the
help of a network and the internet to provide simplification to the ticket reservation.

Figure 1.1: Qatar Airways in action

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3.0 CURRENT SCENARIO

Qatar Airways controls several flights as means of Air transport served to millions of passengers
on a global scale therefore it requires them to be able to be on their toes to meet critical demands.
However, they have been basing their ticket reservation on paper tickets; not that it is a taboo but
has been outdated ever since the era of Internet age began. The growing number of customers
expects much from them, including the availability of their tickets at all times through their
agencies and the reduction of the queue during peak holidays to eliminate the worry of missing
flights during desperate times. As a result, the growing demands forced Qatar Airways to hire
more employees to help minimize the workload in the organisation.

The application of computers and IT intends to solve such stated issues and help Qatar Airways
grow as an organisation interms of performance and service delivery; with the ORS the paper
based ticketing reservation will be implemented thus witnessing the effects of Computing and IT
in workplace.

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4.0 FUNCTIONALITY

First and for most, there are two types of tickets that one may encounter when using an airline
for travel purposes; the first is the paper ticket that many are familiar with and the second is the
Electronic ticket2, also known as the paper-less ticket. Weighing their similarities, they are quite
the same on the basis of serving the same function and containing the same information but their
sole difference lies on where the flight information is being held, thus the ARS and the Flight
Coupon (a piece of paper that contains the flight information).

The function of the ARS is extensive and limited at the same time. The functionality of the ARS
discuses these functions, which are:

1. Booking or reserving a flight.

NOTE:
Options are provided for the user to
choose a flight to their
convenience.

Figure 2.2: ‘Book Flights’ Tab

2. Changing flights of different airlines, with exceptions of Airline affiliation. This option is
not available on the System itself but can be dealt with by an agent for as long as the
passenger has an E-ticket.

2
Electronic ticket (E-ticket) – It is an electronically issued passenger ticket stored in the airline’s
computer system.

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3. Changing details of the flight information such as departure dates and times, destination
and/or transit locations. After selecting the best options while booking flight, a search
options provides the list of available departure dates and lets the user choose from the
limited list and then proceed to confirm the flight times. Please refer to the figures below
for the illustration.

Figure 3.3

Figure 4.4

4. Find your booking.

NOTE:
The user is to input the reference
number of his/her booking and last
name in that order and search for their
bookings.

Figure 5.5: ‘My Booking’ Tab

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5. Changing details of the customer information such as Name, Address and Contact details
and flight meal preference. This is needed as part of the registration process so that
personal data on the passengers can be saved in the system. Please refer to the illustration
below for an example of the registration.

Figure 6.6: Registration Form

6. Purchase of an E-ticket (By deposit or full payment). This part is the final procedure after
registering the price details and fare conditions. The payment method concludes the
purchase after the user enters his/her account details. Please refer to the illustration on the
next page.

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Figure 7.7: Summary of Purchase

Figure 8.8: Payment options

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5.0 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Airline Reservation System has grown exponentially over the past recent years. It was until 1
June 2008 when the industry moved to 100% electronic ticketing3. Below is a list of the
advantages and the disadvantages that comes with the use of the ARS:

ADVANTAGES
1. Ease to maintain and control Flight Schedules and updating features thus making
coordination less stressful to the supervisors.
2. The customer-friendly format makes it easy to handle and understand and serves many
functions to both, the user and the employee thus reducing cost on training employees to
familiarize with the ARS.
3. It is more convenient for the users since they can book at home, office or even mobile
internet devices; this makes use of maximum availability and eliminate traffic on the
customer hotline for most demanded assistance.
4. The exemption of commissions taken by the travel agent serves as an advantage to the
passengers and synchronizes the Airline to their loyal customers directly and enables the
Airline to keep track on their customers on a tight proximity.

DISADVANTAGES
1. The user has no option of directing any personal questions in case they are unsure about
the details and therefore requires him/her to getting used to reserving flights online if they
are still newbie to the ropes.
2. Despite the available backup system, the Servers are bound to fail or even crush and in
turn force the Airline to cancel flights.
3. The booking engines (travel sites) may be deceitful on hidden cost or in some cases offer
bargain rates that are at most attractive in exchange for giving up flexibility on travel
dates and other constraints.
4. In the event of a slow working network, real time booking cannot take place and
therefore creates competition among the customers in booking a flight despite the
response from the system.

3
Information on complete implementation from http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/2008-02-22-01.htm,
Web

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6.0 IMPACT OF THE SYSTEM

The influences the system has on the Qatar Airways have been vivid since the implementation on
extensive use of the Airline Reservation System. Either, Good or bad, its impact has made the
Airline make progress and take notice on areas to improve in the future. These impacts include:

1. The ARS has made saving up capital possible for Qatar Airways now that less is spent on
producing and printing up the Paper tickets.
2. Unemployment was brought upon some of the employees since the introduction of the
ARS but in turn has enabled the Airline to save up on the Human Resource.
3. The ARS saves time and increases on the flexibility and quality of service as more
options are embedded to it for both the user and the administrators.
4. Customer loyalty has increased after the Airline managed to learn the preferences of
many passengers and comparing them with other Airline Systems to anticipate the needs
of other foreign passengers (example, food and catering).
5. The ARS has made security a daunting issue on some inexperience travelers and
therefore forcing the Airline to increase its guard on payments made online.
6. Qatar Airways has forced to provide training for the employees to familiarize with the
system and instilled the skill of IT to most of them.

Figure 9.9

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7.0 SIMILARITIES

Module 1 (Internet Application):

1. Qatar Airways operates with the Internet to provide service for the ARS and enjoy all the
benefits that the internet serves to the organisation.
2. The ARS uses a high-speed connection to access the internet and the Airline have a
domain name, www.qataraiways.com.
3. The Airline uses internet browsers to surf the web and consists of other features like
hyperlinks and unique addresses to extend the length of browsing by their customers.
4. The ARS makes use of E-commerce, transactions over the internet, for purchasing
purposes.

Module 2 (Human Aspect of Computing):

1. The application of HCI4 can be found within the system; consisting of humans
(Employees) and the ARS that designed, evaluated and implemented to interact well with
them.
2. The ARS supports direct and indirect users to carry out the limited activities it serves in a
more productive manner.
3. The ARS meets up with the importance of safety, functionality, effectiveness, efficiency,
usability and simplicity while serving for Qatar Airways.
4. Qatar Airways uses screen guards on monitors of different employees’ workstation to
prevent eyestrain and other related problems like exposure to radiation.

Module 3 (Computer Security):

1. Qatar Airways outsources a contracted company that is responsible for guarding the
Airline against computer threats and risks. The company deploys protective measures
such as antivirus program and firewall to guard against malicious software.

4
HCI – Human Computer Interface

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2. The causes for system failure may include aging of hardware, natural disasters or
electrical disturbances and can result to loss of hardware, software and/or data and the
Airline uses Surge protectors and UPS5 in all their offices.
3. The website that they operate on is secure and digitally certified thus providing the users
to browse safely. They have built a secure internet architecture to safeguard the data that
they collect online.
4. The backup method used by Qatar is the full backup where all files in their systems are
copied and stored in intervals of certain periods; confirming the regular plan of backing
up their data.

8.0 DIFFERENCES
Module 1 (Human Aspect of Computing):

1. The ARS does not incorporate chat services, newsgroup or message boards to any user.
2. The ARS does not incorporate any file transfers over the internet, be it downloading or
uploading.

Module 2 (Human Aspect of Computing):

1. The ARS does fail at certain times but it is difficult to quantify the number of
unsuccessful bookings due to system failures. At most events, it is usually due to data
overload during peak holidays.
2. The reasons and respective percentile allocated for system failure does not apply to Qatar
Airline reservation system as far as HCI is concerned.

Module 3 (Computer Security):

1. E-mails sent to customers by the Airline cannot be replied back therefore eliminating the
risk of acquiring any Spam without the need to make use of freeware or encryptions.
2. The Airline does not use the differential, incremental or selective types of backup as their
main method of backing up the data.

5
UPS – Uninterrupted Power Supply

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9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

According to the similarities, difference, the advantages and the disadvantages of using the ARS;
several recommendations are advised to be considered by Qatar Airways to enhance their
services and operation performance:

1. The interface of the ARS should be implemented to support more functionality like
incorporating tighter security measures or selection of seats (Aisle or Window). This will
allow the user to have more interaction with the system and test the system of its fullest
potential.

2. The ARS should be made more dynamic and helpful to the users by enabling it to send
instant messages to the passengers notifying them on cancelled or rescheduled flight via
email, phone and/or fax informing them about the change, and providing them with other
feasible alternatives.

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10.0 CONCLUSION

To sum up, Computers and IT in workplace is a mandatory requirement for organisations who
strive to achieve the best. From the influences that it brings about on Qatar Airways, I have
confirmed the need and use of incorporating computers and IT in daily organisational operations.
This module has provided me with insight as to many IT applications and the impacts it holds on
anyone who uses it and I believe that in this internet age, where we are heading, no organisation
can maintain a long life expectancy without the use of Computer and IT, even the striving ones
or the higher achievers!

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11.0 REFERENCES

 Details on Qatar Airways, Accessed October 15th, 2009 from http://www.qatarairways.com,

Online

 Background on Qatar Airways, Accessed October 15th,2009 from

http://www.hotelnepal.com/qatar_airways/index.php, Online

 Notes on Airline Reservation System, Accessed October 20th, 2009 from

http://74.125.153.132/search?

q=cache:wvb2uH4i4xsJ:www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/AY2000/cs6320_summer/phase1/Ars2.doc+

CS+6320+–+AIRLINE+RESERVATION+SYSTEM+(ARS)&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=my,

Online

 Advantages and Disadvantages of Airline Reservation System, Accessed October 24th,

2009 from http://communication.howstuffworks.com/how-airline-e-tickets-work2.htm, Online

 Notes on E-ticket, Accessed October 25th, 2009 from

http://airtravel.about.com/cs/bookitonline/a/paperelectronic.htm, Online

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