Original Board Project 2003

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Role of information analysis in enterprise framework

INTRODUCTION

Information Analysis is a key constituent of effective decisions in

any business unit. In the case of enterprises, the context becomes

that much larger with greater volumes of data to store, and with

complex transactions to process.

This Project gives an overview on the Process-People-Technology

paradigm in the context of an enterprise framework. It details the

need for information analysis and lists various techniques that are

used in enterprises to conduct information analysis. It also

provides an overview on key business processes and operations in

the Transportation and Retail Banking verticals.

INTRODUCING ENTERPRISE FRAMEWORK.

An enterprise comprises all the establishments and stakeholdersthat operate under a single entity, the organization. The

enterprise may be established at one or across multiple locations.

This includes any subsidiary organization that the parent

organization is affiliated to, and all the establishments that are

directed or managed by the parent organization or by its

subsidiary.

An enterprise includes all the elements of the supply chain that

the organization operates in, and the end customer. For example,in the case of an e-learning organization, the enterprise includes

the publishers who print the course books, the organization that

creates the course books, and the students who study these

courses. All these combined elements form an Enterprise

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Framework, which is also referred to as an Enterprise Value

Chain.

The following figure illustrates an Enterprise

Framework:

The Enterprise Framework

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Supply Side Demand Side

Supplier

s

Custome

rs

Business

Supply

Chain

Management

Customer

Relations

hip

Managem

ent


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Components of an Enterprise

Framework.

The three basic components of any enterprise framework

are:

Process

PeopleTechnology

Process indicates the core and support processes that

provide efficiency within and lead to effectiveness outside

the organization.

People include all the key stakeholders and their set ofroles and responsibilities.

Technology is largely employed as the executor and

manager of

the processes.

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The following figure illustrates the Process-People-Technology

paradigm in the context or an enterprise framework:

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Enterprise

Framework

Peop

le

Proc

ess

Tech

no-logy


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Consider the example of a Retail bank that has

comprehensive ATM network:

There are certain processes within the bank

that outline and sequence the procedures in which these

transactions are deployed. For example, when making a

decision about where to set up a new ATM location, the

management keeps certain factors in mind, such as:

Whether the area is convenient for their target

customers to access the machine.

Whether the location supports a good

infrastructure.

Whether the money transfer units (to replenish the

cash) are located within convenient distances.

Only after considering all these factors a decision on the most

optimum ATM location is made. All the people in the bank

involved in the operations of the ATM, from making decisions

about where the ATM is to be located to the people responsible

for updating the transactions and loading cash periodically are

key stakeholders.

Finally, the platform and application software, used to execute the

transaction, highlights the role of technology in the execution and

management of these processes. Therefore, all three components

need to operate in tandem, and as stand-alone entities.

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The Process Components of an

Enterprise Framework.

Processes are a series of sequential tasks and activities that

convert specified input into output. These inputs and outputsare necessary components of transactions. The resultant data

of these transactions forms the basis for information analysis in

any enterprise.Processes are created to focus on two

interdependent qualities, efficiency and effectiveness. Based

on their focus area, processes may be classified into two sets:

Value-adding processes.

Supporting processes.

Value-adding processes.

Value-adding processes, also known as core processes, directly

generate revenue as part of the expected output. These delineate

tasks and activities that constitute the core business of the

organization, and as a result, are customer-facing processes. Forexample, in the case of an ATM, all processes that enable the end

user to conduct transactions with the bank are value-adding

processes.

Supporting Processes .

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Processes that identify input and expected output, and measure

the efficiency of the internal functioning of the organization, are

known as supporting processes. It is necessary to identify and

outline the optimum supporting processes to ensure that an

organization does well in its core business.Supporting processesare routinely monitored by process-owners for failure, in terms of

their ability to manage and maintain internal efficiency. For

example, leave management policies for the employees of a bank

are an example of supporting processes. Examples of supporting

processes can be found in the department of human resources,

finance, and accounting.

Effective Output vs. Efficient Output .

The basic criteria that form the basis for evaluating the

performance of an organization are the effectiveness and

efficiency of the output of the processes of the organization.

Efficiency is measured across output in general. Conversely,

effectiveness is measured across only acceptable output. The

effectiveness of an organization depends on whether theorganization selects and performs correct processes. In contrast,

the efficiency of an organization is dependent on whether the

organization performs the processes correctly.

The evaluation of process effectiveness and efficiency is initiated

with the establishment of a performance measure. A performance

measure is developed based on expected outcomes. These

outcomes are evaluated against baselines, and continuously

monitored to determine whether the desired outcomes are beingachieved. Defining individual measures, quantified with targets

and thresholds, creates the performance measurement baseline.

An efficient output is one that is delivered according to the

schedule and within the estimated cost. Conversely, an effective

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output is one that demonstrates the expected results, and meets

customer satisfaction and quality by making optimum use of all

the available resources.

Effectiveness is measured based on the achievement of the goalsof the organization, quality of the end product, and satisfaction of

the end users with the products.The efficiency of an organization

can be measured in terms of the following queries:

Did the team effort complete within the stipulated time and

the expected budget?

Are the billed rates in accordance with the ones planned in

the annual budget?

How much of the product and service was produced?

How many person hours were used to complete the

processes?

The APQC Process Classification Framework

The American Productivity and quality Centre [APQC] provides a

globally adapted process classification framework, which contains13 business processes that can be applied in both manufacturing

and service industries.

The first seven processes are operating processes that companies

follow to develop and move products to the market. The

remaining six are supporting processes that enable the

organization to operate efficiently. Each process, in turn,

comprises a set of subprocesses that qualify what the process is

intended to achieve.

These processes are adaptable and applicable to any enterprise

and give an overview into its working.

The seven value-adding processes are:

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1. Understand markets and customers.

2. Develop vision and strategy.

3. Design products and services.

4. Produce and deliver for manufacturing.

5. Produce and deliver for service-oriented organization.

6. Market and sell.

7. Invoice and services customers.

The six supporting processes are:

1. Develop and manage human resources.

2. Manage information resources (across the organization).

3. Manage financial and physical resources.

4. Execute environmental management program.

5. Manage external relationships.

6. Manage improvement and change.

The following figure illustrates the APQC Process

Classification Framework:

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Cust

ome

rs

Sup

plie

Unders

tand

market

s &

custo

Devel

op

vision

and

Desig

n

produ

cts

Mark

et

and

Invoic

e &

servic

e

Products &

deliver for

Produce &

deliver for


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The APQC Process Classification Framework

THE PEOPLE COMPONENT OF AN ENTERPRISE

FRAME WORK

All the stakeholders of processes in an enterprise from those who

create the process, monitor the processes, and support and

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Develop & Manage Human Resources

Manage Information Resources

Manage Financial & Physical Resources

Execute Environmental Management

Program

Manage External Relationship

Manage Improvement and Change


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maintain the process to the and user of the process, are

classified under the people component of an enterprise. All these

stock holders have specific roles and responsibilities within their

assigned scope.

Based on their role in handling the data generated by means of

processes, people can be classified into:

Stakeholders who provide the data.

Stakeholders who support and maintain the data.

Stakeholders who use the data.

The following figure is a visual representation of the stakeholders

based on their role with the data in an enterprise framework

Stakeholders who provide the data

Each person who plays any role in the processes in an enterprise

ultimately contributes to providing the data that will be used for

information analysis. This includes recipients of the processes

(customers), process owners, process executers, as well as

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ProvideSupport &

maintain

Use


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suppliers. Even if the process in question is manual, data that is

recorded could still be used for information analysis.

Stakeholders who support and maintain the

data

All the generated data needs to be collated, stored, and updated

in analysis-friendly formats. Key roles in the enterprise that are

responsible for making support and maintenance provisions

include:

MIS developer, creates, compiles, and maintains records

of all entries in the OLTP (online transaction processing)

transactions in the enterprise. The developer provides the

base data that is selected, extracted, and analyzed.

Pre-loaded: Extracts the data from the relevant source

systems, and transported it from the OLTP applications intoinformation analysis enabled structures.

Loader: Cleanses the extraneous fields, transforms the

data to suit the file structure in the IA-enabled application

and loads the data into the new structure. As a part of the

data transformation process, inconsistent data present in

different format is transformed into a common format, andtables and other database objects are prepared, before

finally being loaded onto the new structure. All these are the

functions of the loader.

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Data Warehouse manager: creates the actual design

of the data warehouse that includes tasks, such as data

modeling, designing the schemas, and involving the fact

tables. In addition, the DWM monitors operations and

periodically checks the state of the data in the data

warehouse. The DWM also provides access rights to MIS

specialists who need to be run a query on the warehouse.

Further, DWM has an axis to reports that are generated

listing the particular fields that were accessed.

MIS Specialist: Presents and publishes data in response

to a question from the senior management. To do this, the

MIS specialist prepares cubes to cull data from the data

warehouse, creates fact and dimension tables from the data

warehouse into data marts, identifies the type of storage

architecture, such as ROLAP or MOLAP, and runs the final

query onto the data mart.

The MIS specialist participates in the tactical decision for the

benefit of the enterprise. For e.g., if the senior management has

created a hypothesis to arrive at the management decision, the

MIS specialist is required to validate this hypothesis with therelevant data and the appropriate query information.

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Stakeholders who use the data

The data that is complied, collated and stored is then made

available for analysis to the following decision makers in the

enterprise:

Senior Managementincludes the chief executive officer

(CEO) the chief operation officer (COO), the chief information

officer (CIO) and the chief finance officer (CFO). The CEO and

COO together work towards the identification of business

change opportunities and associated risks. A CFO identifies

the financial risk associated with the enterprise, which

includes a returns-on-investment (ROI) analysis for business

process integration (BPI) strategies. A CIO provides solutions

for BPI. Additionally, CFO and CIO analyze a market and

competitive environment, define the strategic goals for the

enterprise and explore how to change help enterprise

succeed.

All process owners: Includes owner of the value-adding

and supporting processes. A processes owner executes a

particular process and works towards the health of the

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process. An organization does not have a specific role

defined for a process owner. A person who is accountable for

the activities involved in the process is the process owner of

that process.

Enterprise engineer: Identifies and integrates the

appropriate ways to improve and enterprise.

THE TECHNOLOGY COMPONENT OF AN

ENTERPRISE FRAME WORK

Technology is largely viewed as the enabler, executer, and

manager of enterprise-wide processes and as a means to store,

transfer, and process data. Therefore, an enterprise needs to

have a clear and consistent architectural framework to

incorporate the entire business process requirement. Enterprise

information architecture is a high level or macro view of

information related component for all requirements in an

organization. It conveys an overall understanding of an

component, and explains hoe this components relate to each

other. An EIA aligns processes with information technology to

create or preserve interoperability. This serves as the basis for

involving into an integrated enterprise. In the context of

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technology, the enabling information infrastructure elements of

an enterprise can be functionally divided into sub elements for

assessment and planning. The three sub elements and their

shared enablers and tools are:

Networking and computer systems: Consists of the

physical network and computing hardware infrastructure of

an enterprise, and all the activities associated with operating

this infrastructure. The scope includes the tools and

protocols to send, receive, protect, and store enterprise data

and systems, and network management mechanisms. It

does not include the equipment attached to the network but

provides the communication infrastructure upon which the

equipment and process operate.

Common information services: Consist of the basic

building blocks activities associated with data or

informations, such as tasks to store, protect, access,

transfer, search, and locate data both within the enterprise,

and to or from the enterprise and external sources. This

service also includes database management systems, and

information filtering and analysis tools.

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Knowledge repositories: Consist of all science based

and experience based information needed to support the

enterprise in all its functions. This information is extracted

from internal and external sources. The repositories include

common data dictionaries, business process models, and

other metadata needed to run businesses.

There are some shared enablers and tools for the three sub

elements of the enabling Information infrastructure. These arehigher-level generic IT tools that can be applied and combined

with domain knowledge to build application that support the

enterprise functions. These tools include electronic mail, decisions

support tools, workflow management engines, software

development and maintenance tools, mechanisms to integrate

legacy applications, and training development tools.

These tools do not include the domain-specific applications, but

provide the frame work to build such applications. for e.g., , when

multiple members of a team work on a document, there is a risk

of replication or duplication of copies of the document, which

may lead to wrong versions of the document getting updated.

Version-control software is the solution to such problems. It allowsmultiple users to make changes in the sane comments indicate

the nature of the changes made, along with the persons

identification. The software also allows for allocation of access

rights according to the users stake in the document.

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In addition to business process needs, technology components

are also incorporated based on end-user requirement. Based on

end-user requirements, technology components in an enterprise

can be classified into:

Technology components for providing data.

Technology component for supporting and maintaining

data.

Technology components for using data.

The following by illustrates an EIA from the perspective of

technology and end users:

TECHNOLOGY COMPONENTS FOR PROVIDING DATA

Certain technology components enable the transferring and

storing of all the data generated during transaction. All the

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stakeholders that provide data use these technologic to make the

data available.

There are numerous sources that provide data, such as:

Transaction processing system (TPS):Handlesmall or large volumes of transactions. The focus of TPS is to

increase the efficiency of the operations by automating the

business process.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP): automatebusiness function and offer an integrated data solution

across an organizations infrastructure. These are

configurable information systems that integrate information

and information-based processes within and across the

functional areas in an organization.

Supply chain management (SCM): improve themanner in which an organization sources raw components it

requires to make a product or service, manufacture the

product or service, and deliver it to customers. SCM software

helps improve the flow and efficiency of the supply chain and

reduce inventory.

Customer relationship management (CRM):

provide an integrated solution to plan, schedule, and controlpresales and post-sales activities in an organization. The

objective of CRM is to enable a customer to access an

organization and its services with ease.CRM utilizes the data

collected during customer interactions to record

demographics and determine future needs of customers.

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TECHNOLOGY COMPONENTS FOR SUPPORTING AND

MAINTAINING DATA

Certain technology components exist in the enterprise expressly

to preserve, maintain, and store the data in analysis-friendly

formats. Update on the data is also part of the supporting and

maintaining purview of these technology components. These

technology components are:

Data Warehouse: gather and store data from numerousinternal and external sources in a single database for the

purpose of analysis. The consistency of file structure and the

vast repository of data that it contains enable information

analysis to take place.

Network security layers:prevent unauthorizedmodification, destruction, or disclosure of the stored data. In

addition, network security layers provide data integrity

assurance that the network performs its critical functions

correctly.

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Business Intelligence (BI): Are designed to extractrelevant information from extensive data collected by

various business systems over time. BI Systems are used by

organization to provide insights that enable the decision-

making process. As a result, these are sometimesconsidered to be a subset of decision support systems.

Enterprise Information System (EIS): Are anadvanced form of DSS, where the output focuses on the

information that the senior management requires on key

factors that affect their business area. While the middle

management takes transactional decisions, the senior

management is required to take strategic decisions. As EISneed to cater to strategic decisions, they can be tailored to

suit an executives decisions-making style.

Management Information Systems (MIS): Provideinformation to carry out routine business functions across

varied periodicity. The information provided can be both

past and present, and in the form of weekly, monthly, or

quarterly reports.

Data marts:Are a customized, smaller version of a DataWarehouse. Data marts focus on the customization needs of

a particular department and the end users. These provide

input to the DSS.

The following figure illustrates the technology components in an

enterprise

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Business

Intellige


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ETL process

Technology components in an Enterprise

CLASSIFYING ENTERPRISE BUSINESS PROCESSES

IN VERTICALS

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Data

marts

Data

wareho

useOS 1OS 2

OLTP 1 OLTP 2

Back up

OLTP 1

Back up OLTP

2


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From the business-focus perspective, enterprises are classified

as verticals.This classification aims to represent the

hierarchical dependencies that an organization experiences to

carry out its business operations. In addition, the classification

indicates the specific domain to which the organization alignsits value-adding processes. A vertical combines the scale and

magnitude of the enterprise operations with domain expertise.

Some examples of verticals include transportation, retail

banking, insurance, and retail.

An Overview of the Transportation Vertical

Based on means of passage, the transportation vertical is

classified into four components: roadways, railways, airlines,

and shipping. These components are further sub-classified on

the basis of their load. This could be either freight or

passenger.

Each component has certain common and some unique

business processes and operations. For example, the process

of route selection may be common across the components,

while the Frequent Flyer Program is a process unique only to

Passenger Airlines.

Along with internal factors, the ratio that the government and

external policies play in influencing decisions also determines

the level of information analysis that needs to be conducted.

An Overview of the Retail Banking Vertical

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Based on nature of business, the retail banking vertical is

classified into two components, credit and deposits. The credit

component includes facilities such as credit cards and loans

including personal, home, or car loans. The rate of interest that

the bank charges its customers determines its level of profit.The deposits component includes bank accounts such as

savings, current, or DMAT, deposits such as fixed or recurring,

and allied features such as ATM usage and debit cards.

Information analysis in the retail banking vertical is required to

create policies for existing and potential Account holders in t

he bank, and t o create schemes for credit card users. In the

case of fixed deposits, the policies are determined largely by

regulations formulated by the governing body.

An overview of the Insurance Vertical

The business of insurance can be defined as a mutually agreed

upon legal document that provides compensation, usually in

the form of money, for specified losses in exchange of a

periodic payment. An individual contract is referred to as ainsurance policy, and the periodic payment is known as an

insurance premium.

The major types of insurance policies include:

Life Insurance: Assigns a specific sum of money to a

designated beneficiary in the event of the death of the

poli8cy holder, or to the policy holder after a certain age.

Health Insurance: Compensates the expenses incurred as

a result of the illness of the policy holder or the

designated beneficiaries in the policy.

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Liability Insurance: Provides insurance against any valued

property, such as automobiles, property, jewelry, or evenagainst professional mishaps or natural calamities.

The insurance vertical is a largely organized sector with a vast

network of agents that sell insurance policies. Information

analysis in the insurance vertical is required largely to analyze

and create customer profiles to target sales and marketing

activities, and to create new schemes and policies to meet

changing customer tastes and trends.Another key purpose for which information analysis is required

and utilized is risk management.

An Overview of the Retail Vertical

Retail is defined as the process of selling directly to a consumer,

as opposed to going through various channels to reach the

consumer.

The key Information Systems t hat ensure that retail processes

are executed with ease include, Supply Chain Management

Systems, Customer Relationship Management Systems, Store

Systems, Point-of-sale Systems, Merchandise Management

Systems, Warehouse Management Systems, Decision Support

Systems, Finance Management Systems, and Human Resource

Systems.

Information analysis in the retail vertical is largely conducted toidentify the growth areas and challenges to the various aspects

related to vendor management and customer relationship

management.

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INFORMATION ANALYSIS REQUIREMENTS IN

VERTICALS

Due to the sheer volume and magnitude of data that needs to be

analyzed, comprehensive information analysis takes place only incertain key operational areas in all verticals. These key

operational areas are a apart of the direct business impacting

processes. This is because effective business decisions need to be

taken for a successful venture.

OBJECTIVES FOR INFORMATION ANALYSIS IN

BUSINESS/ ENTERPRISE FRAMEWORK:

The components of a business enterprise, namely people, processand technologies, work together to enable a business enterprise

to perform its activities smoothly. But all the three components

are greatly influenced by the various internal and external

information factors that have a bearing on the operation of a

business unit or firm.

Therefore the information analysis objectives vary according to

the identified information variable in the enterprise. Generally

there are two types of objectives for information analysis in an

enterprise framework. These objectives are classified into two

groups namely- internal objectives and external objectives

The following figure enlists the internal and external objectives of

information analysis in an enterprise framework.

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Objectives of information

Analysis

External objectives Internal objectives

To be update with global economy &

market

To follow government regulations

To achieve organizational goals


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THE NEED FOR ENTERPRISE INFORMATION

ANALYSIS

Effective business decisions in an enterprise are the prime reason

that information analysis is conducted. The more accurate the

decision, the better the impact on the business. Enterprise

business decisions primarily have two objectives. These are to:

Retain existing customers.

Expand customer base.

In turn, for these business objectives to be met, internal

processes in the organization need to be efficient. All these

objectives depend on effective information analysis for successful

outcomes. Effective information analysis is a necessity to enable

effective business decision, validate plans, and hypotheses for

future expansion, and use the data to monitor internal processes

in an enterprise.

For example, a retail bank needs to make decisions about its

ATM network. This may include decisions about:

The status of current ATMs that may need to relocate or

discontinue operations.

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To overcome com etitors

For customer relationship management

To adapt to seasonal trends.

To be update with technical changes &

product transitions

For effective logistical operations

To maintain financial health of the

firm

To manage Assets &

To maintain Goodwill

To manage inventory


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The following figure illustrates the components of EIA:

Components of Enterprise information Architecture

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Business goals Organization units

Information

subjects

Business

functions

Business

entities

Business

processBusiness location

DatabaseApplication

systems

Network

structure


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INFORMATION SYSTEMS FORENABLING

INFORMATION ANALYSIS IN ENTERPRISES

Information analysis requirements may vary according to the

objective of the analysis. Various sets of Information Systems

exist in the enterprise. These Provide input and data in order to

analyze information for making effective business decisions.

These information Systems include:

Decision Support Systems: Data Warehousing, business

Intelligence Systems

Management Information Systems: Enterprise Resource

Planning

Business Management Systems: CRM and SCM

Further, there exist certain tools and techniques to aid the

process of information analysis Primary among these tools are

reports generated at various levels by different systems. Such

report s are usually classified by their demand that is further

determined by the periodicity of requirement. Reports may be

classified as: scheduled, real-time, on demand and exception.

For example the area operations manager at the bank

prepares a weekly report of monetary transactions that have

taken place in the week (scheduled) this report consists of an

appendix report that includes records of each transaction made

in the ATMs, while they occur (real-time). Sometimes, the

branch head makes a request for the transaction report of a

particular day in addition to the weekly report (on demand).

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The areas of business that are impacted include the actual

product that forms the core business of the organization, in

addition to all dependents of that product in the entire supply

chain.

The data source for this would be the SCM. Based on the facts

gathered and the data analyses, the management may choose to

replace the existing vendors with a new set or set up a

comprehensive training program about requirements. In some

cases, the trigger event may arise from a routine examination of

the business management units. For example, a monthly sales

review of a particular region may indicate a consistent drop in

sales. In this case, there is direct adverse impact on the revenue

of the organization. This may lead to information being sourced

from CRM and the analysis conducted.

The Role of information analysis in

expanding business

To expand a business is a long-term goal for any enterprise. Forthis to take place, the senior management creates hypotheses,

which examines the plausible areas of expansion to venture into,

and requires information analysis in the form of validating the

same. The data for these scenarios does not exist, because these

have never taken place before.

However, data backing trends on similar lines, if available, may be

used to validate these.

For example, the management at an export house that has

regular business with Japan may create a hypothesis to expend

their reach to include Korea. The rationale for the decision being,

both nations are similar in terms of both business and culture.

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This hypothesis may be validated with

data regarding sales transactions with

Japan.

Often, the decision to expandbusiness is also often, the result of an

examination of some trends observed

by the management, witch then

conducts an analysis to validate

whether those trends hold true or not.

For example, a trend analysis conducted on all vendors

providing products and services the organization may reveal a

start-to-finish drop out rate. This may lead the management toconduct information analysis to:

a. Determine the time period of the persisting trend.

b. Create alternate long-term solutions to prevent any

problem (if existing) from recurring or to increase thescope of the current trend.

In this case, the management may choose to recruit new vendors

from remote locations review the work of the existing vendors

currently located in the same geographic area.

This will save infrastructure costs and also allow for a winder

range of candidates thereby, increase the probability of getting

the required level of quality.

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The ability to forecast trends and create hypotheses is a result of

the experience that the senior management has. Information

Systems cannot create these trends and hypotheses, but can only

validate them for efficacy. The expansion of the business of an

organization is dependent on a combination of all these factors.

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION ANALYSIS IN

OPTIMIZING THE EFFICACY OF INTERNAL

OPERATIONS

A basic prerequisite for the continual effectiveness of an

organizations business is that its internal process must continueto remain efficient. Just as information analysis provides vital

support to make decisions regarding the effectiveness of

business, it is also used to monitor and optimize the efficacy of

the internal operations.

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For example, a new technology that pertains to the business of

the organization may have emerged in the market. However, a

shift to his new technology would entail huge costs in situation

where the management needs to make a decision whether to

adapt the new technology or to continue with existing one.

In such a situation, the ERP and the MIS of the organization would

be the potential data sources for the purpose of information

analyses. The various costs that needs to be taken into

consideration include.

Cost of conformanceThe Cost of Conformance (COC) is a component of the Cost of

Quality for a work product. Expenditures include the expenses

incurred to perform quality assurance activities, such as the tasks

to determine and send standards, provide training, and

established and monitor processes. Further, expenditures include

the costs incurred due to quality control activities such as

reviews, audits, and testing.

The COC of an organization indicates the investments the

organization makes to ensure the quality of its products.

Cost of Non-Conformance

The Cost of Nonconformance (CONC) is the element of the Cost of

Quality that indicates the costs incurred by an organization for its

inability to deliver a good quality product.

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The CONC can be grouped into costs due to in-process costs such

as quality failures, particularly the cost of rework, and post-

delivery costs including further rework, recreation of lost work for

products used internally, possible loss of business, possible legal

redress, and other potential costs.

Cost of Quality

The cost of Quality (COQ) is the cost incurred in the prevention

and detection of processes. All Types of organization have to

contend with costs due to poor quality, whether it is an assembly

line defect or a malfunctioning machine. COQ comprises the costincurred when the product or service is not delivered as expected

(CONC) and the expenditures made to ensure the quality of the

(COC). In many organization, the COQ may be as high as percent

of the earnings of the organization.

Cost of Poor Quality

The expenditure made to fill the gap between the desired output

and actual output is included in the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ).

Costs due to lost opportunity, such as the loss of resources used

in rectifying the defect are also included in COPQ. However, the

COPQ does not include detection and prevention costs.

External players, such as suppliers can also add to the costs by

producing defective material and damaging material during

delivery. The COPQ mainly includes the costs of labor to fix aproblem, the additional input used, and the extra utilities.

Cost of Lost Opportunity

The Cost of lost Opportunity (COLO) is incurred because of

opportunity losses, such as the loss of sales and revenue or profit

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margin, potential loss of market share, and lower service level to

customers.

In order to prevent incurring these costs and to maintain internal

efficiency, designated process owners within be organizationroutinely moniter processesa. In the case of a process not

meeting the required objective, it may either be modified or

reengineered. This is achived on the basis of circumstances, and

by keeping other factors, such as impact on thar processes, costs

of modifying or reengineering into consideration.

Two such techniques that enable an organization to monitor and

review existing processe are:

Continual process Improvement (CPI)

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

The CPI model attempts to understand and measure the current

process and make performance improvements accordingly. It

works in the following stages:

1. Document the process as it is.

2. Establish a way to measure the process based on the

customers requirements.

3. Follow the existing process

4. Measure the result of the action implemented.

5. Identify the improvement opportunities based on the data

collected

6. Implement the process improvements , and measure the

performance of the process

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INFORMATION ANALYSIS: THE BASIS OF

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

DDS are defined as interactive applications that use large

volumes of data in information analysis enabled formats. DSS

application offer various models that include formulae,

forecasting routines, and optimization techniques specifically to

support strategic decision- making in an organization.

The Decision making process.

Three phases mark any decision- making process. These are:

1. Intelligence phase-consists of identifying problems or

recognizing triggers to a potential problem in the

environment, which requires some decision to be made. No

other phase of the decision- making process can begin with

out this being identified.

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2. Design phase- consists of inventing, developing and

analyzing possible courses of action to solve the identified

problem.

3. Choice phase- consists of making a selection based on a

number of alternate solutions that are generated. The final

decision is made based on certain considerations usually

dependent on circumstances.

The following figure illustrates a typical decision making process-

A typical decision making process

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Inpu

t

Decision maker

Predictor

system

Filteri

ng

syste

Decisi

on

constr

Outpu

t

inform

Take

decisi

on

Imple

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plan

Feedback


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The following system and technology provide support to

each phase in the decision-making process:

1. Intelligence phase: support for this phase includes acomprehensive databases in turn contains data from three

distinct sources

Internal: includes the data stood from the various OLTP

systems in the organization. Manual data stored in the

form of vouchers, ledgers and registers is also included.

Competitive: includes the data that pertains to

competitors in the same market segment offeringsimilar product and services. This is usually obtained by

means of published reports or by conducting market

research.

Societal: includes the data about the social, legal, and

economic environment in which the organization

operates. This is generally obtained by means of

published information or on specific request.All this information is gathered and collated from disparate

sources and is also stored in such a manner. To conduct effective

information analysis, all this data needs to be stored in a common

format and location.

TECHNIQUES OF INFORMATION

ANALYSIS

DATA WAREHOUSING AS A TECHNIQUE IN

INFORMATION ANALYSIS

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Data warehousing is a technique that is used to support and

maintain the data require information analysis. The entire process

of gathering data from numerous internal and external sources,

storing it in a single database for the purpose of analyzing, and

help managers make better business decisions is known as datawarehousing.

The following activities are performed for creating a data

warehouse:

Data validation: validation errors and inconsistencies occur if

data is extracted heterogeneous sources. Data is validatedat the source-database level before addicting it to the

warehouse.

Data preparation: before data is loaded into a data

warehouse, table and from the database objects needed for

supporting data extraction, cleansing, and transformation

operations are prepared. It is then extracted from the source

OLTP systems.

Data cleansing and transformation: once the data has been

extracted from the OLTP system, it undergoes cleansing and

transformation. Inconsistent data that is present in different

formats is transformed into a commend format beforestoring as an the data warehouse.

Data loading: data is now ready to be loaded in the data

warehouse.

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The tables created specially and populated with this data.

These activities are collectively called the ETL process

(Extraction, transformation and loading).

The following figure illustrates the described process of datawarehousing as information analysis technique:

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Sales

Finan

ce

E

T

LEnterpris

e data

Warehou

se

Sales

Finan

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Repo

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The process of data warehousing as an information

analysis technique

For example the senior management in a garment

manufacturing organization may be concerned about the stockfalling short of the amount required for supply during peak

season. As a result they may want to make a decision about

inventory levels. The senior management frame a question-how

much stock should I requisition to be able to meet the projected

supply during peak season? this question is posed to the

econometrist who needs to provide an appropriate response.

The econometrist identifies and selects the various parameters

that are required to best respond to the question. The

econometrist then passes these parameters to the

MIS developer who forms a query based on these parameters and

creates a cube with the specified dimensions.

The MIS specialist then extracts a data mart from the data

warehouse, upon which the query is to be run. Finally, the query

is run and the results are obtained. These results are published

for the econometrist to analyze and to present a suitable set ofalternatives for the senior management to opt from.

1. Design phase: support for this phase includesinteractive features that enable the decision-marker to

alter parameters and thereby, vary the weightage of

each. This allows for the generating ofa variety of possible

scenarios and solutios, the choice of which ultimately

resta with the decision- maker.

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querying, OLAP, and data visualization. Using the data

stored in data warehouses and a combination of these

tools BI system enables the information analysis process.

BI system offers a wide rage of low- end to high-end

offerings, all of which facilitate the information analysis

process for the users. For the front- end used, a used

reporting and querying interface, typically a browser-

based model is created. A high-end database platform is

available to the support and maintenance provider.

BI system support could be availed internally or it could

be outsourced. Using external BI system to perform an

information analysis on internal data is usually the

recourse for organization that does not have a full

strength IT staff, and would like to get results with in a

short duration.

Organization also widely uses both MIS and DSS to make

vital decision. Therefore, it is important to realize the role

of each in the decision- making process.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS

A TECHNIQUE IN INFORMATION ANALYSIS

As depicted in the preceding table. MIS provide information to

carry out routine business

Functions across varied periodicity. The information provided can

be both past and present, and in the form of weekly , monthly , or

quarterly reports .

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MIS reports are segregated on a functional basis, and based on

the functional focus of the information analysis , serve as input to

the process . A good MIS enables the management to become

more efficient and improve the tracking and monitoring of the

functional targets

MIS provide managers with an insight into regular operations of

an organization by aiding them with plans to organize and control

work efficiently. This helps the organization provide accurate and

timely information to the concerned decision maker and

therefore , achieve organizational targets , They further improve

the tracking and monitoring of functional targets .Managers alsouse this information to provide periodic feedback to the team.

For example, during the annual employee appraisal , the area

operations manager may want to examine a varied set of reports

to evaluate the branch heads all-round performance . The

sources that may provide information and reports to this end may

include the HR MIS, the sales and Marketing MIS, and theOperations MIS, The reports from all these sources will serves as

input to the overall evaluation , and help in providing feedback to

specific areas of development .

MIS supports employees at all levels of management in an

organization. At the top level , managers have a higher degree of

decision making authority as they plan at the strategic level and

make decision that have a direct impact on corporate direction

and goals .

The middle management is responsible for tactical planning and

associated decisions . They need to ensure that decision are

based on verified facts and that these decisions are made in

correct context .

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The operational management in responsible for operational

planning and control . Their key objective is to ensure that

operations are planned , monitored and that decisions are madeto control the operations to meet the goals .

The non- management employees use Information System to

provide accurate information to respond to any queries .

The IT department of the organization maintains and overseesoperations and transactions that take place on various MIS . It is

also responsible for the frequency of updates that are required

across the MIS . The output from MIS is sometimes used as input

for other Information Systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

systems are one such system , in which the information from the

MIS provide input to the ERP and vice-versa.

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING

SYSTEMS AS A TECHNIQUE ININFORMATION ANALYSIS

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Another key Information System that serves as an integrating

platform across the enterprise is the Enterprise resource Planning

(ERP) System. ERP aims to integrate all functions and business in

the enterprise into a single database system. Each functional orbusiness unit can share their individual information on this system

, and communicate across departments , accordingly . This has

led to rise in the levels of accountability and in information

sharing across departments because there in one common source

and database of organizational information.

Enterprise wide commonality being the terminal objective , ERP

systems provide various input to the information analysis

process . To this end , ERP performs the following tasks .

Intergrating financial information across an

enterprise : Signifies that the various departments that are

sources of vital financial information have a consistent figure

to quote and to work on . For example , in the case of

revenue figures, by means of and ERP system , the sales

departments and the various business units would be in

tandem and be working with the knowledge of a common

figure . This is enabled as a results of the information shared

by both units.

Intergrating customer order information : Signifies that

a customer places an order , to the point that the products

reaches its end destination , a single information system ,

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the ERP , traces its progress and status , as opposed to a

multitude of information systems performing the same

function in parts.

Standardizing processes and automating functions:

Signifies that various departments can use a standardized

set of procedures to execute a process . This mitigates or

negates the occurrence of a multitude of processes to

achieve the same objective .This also enables the

automation or the identification of the possibility of

automation of certain processes.

Performing inventory control : Reduces the number of

inventories , especially the work in progress inventory that

needs to be assessed periodically . It is also drastically

reduces the chances of discrepancies and leakages that may

occur along the way of creation of the product .While SCM

software is more focused towards this end , ERP also plays a

role in this activity

Communicating standardized HR information: HR

Departments in enterprises are responsible for information

dissemination to a multitude of locations and business units .

To maintain a consistency and accuracy of operations , ERP

helps gather information regarding employees productivity

and time utilization , and communicate benefits and otherprograms .

Due to the level and magnitude of shared information , frequent

updates to the system are difficult. Thus , organizations assign a

specific periodicity to the business units to update their

information onto the ERP system.

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In some cases of analysis ,data is required from external sources,

such as customers suppliers , competitors, and stockholders . This

data is not available by means of any internal information

system . Companies usually have extranet links that connect

them to these sources and permit the exchange of data andinformation. CRM systems and SCM system are two system that

provide this required data to a certain extent .

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AS A

TECHNIQUE IN INFORMATION ANALYSIS

Technological advancement in all avenues of business in

compelling organizations to constantly build and apply newcustomer service facilities . However , new technologies are

inevitably steeped in complexities . Overcoming these

constraints requires an understanding of customer behavior

across various channels , and a acquiring of new insights into

means to provide cost effective delivery of customer service .

To this end , organizations today are focusing on innovative

business models that will enable them to achieve sustainable long

term success . The two business objectives for this level ofsuccess are to :

Improve the efficiency of operations

Meet customer needs

The first objective entails a number of key factors, such as the

need to reduce the development cycle time, improve the product

quality , and reduce the production costs to remain competitive inthe market However , success depends on collaboration and

interdependencies among different organizations . Organizations

are increasingly inclined towards attaining high value adding

manufacturing positions to survive in the global market. This

necessities the establishment and maintenance of efficient

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materials flows along product supply

chains.

SCM system improves the way an

organization locates the materials itrequires to design a product or service,

manufactures that product or service, and

delivers it to its customers

The second objective is met by adapting a customer-centric

model that will enable the organization to develop more

meaningful and interactive relationships with their customers ,

indentify products that are suited to there tastes an thereby , gain

a competitive advantage .

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

SYSTEMS AS A TECHNIQUE IN INFORMATION

ANALYSIS.

Organizations are focusing more in improving their efficiency and

lowering the cost of customer service while retainingprofitability . This means identify the secrets of good customer

conversations , identify the potential customers , and articulating

the steps necessary to transform customer care into a model.

CRM systems promise cost- effective delivery of customer service

to enhance the competitive advantage of an organization

The CRM model has the goal of building an integrated relationship

by linking together all the front-office operations that involve

customer care representative at a call center. In addition,customer facing operations such as sales , marketing , call

centres and online support also needs to become organizationally

integrated

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A few CRM strategies routinely adapted by organizations for

enhancing customer relationships include:

CRM blueprint : Enables customers to identify CRM business

capabilities and gaps related to the existing processes. It aimis to :

Identify potential customers , processes, and

application architectures

Prepare an implementation blueprint.

CRM value-addition : Allows customers to define and build

agreement on how CRM could create value for the

organization. It enables the organization to identify

initiatives that add value and weed out other initiatives.

CRM transformation program : Allows customers to

implement the desired CRM model through processes,

technology , and exchange programs driven by business

imperative such as customer retention.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AS A

TECHNIQUE IN INFORMATION ANALYSIS

The field of SCM has become tremendously important to

organizations in the competitive global market. The term supply

chain refers to the entire network of organizations that work

together to design , produce , deliver and service products .

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In the past, organizations focused primarily on manufacturing and

quality improvements within. Now, organization focuses their

efforts beyond quality improvement to encompass the entire

supply chain. The opportunities that through collaboration lead to

considerable change in the way organizations interact with theresupply chain partners.

The five basic components of SCM are:

Planning: this is a strategic component of SCM.

Organizations need to develop a strategy to manage all the

resources that go towards meeting rising customer

requirements for products or services. Planning also includes

a set of metrics tomonitor the supply

chain so that it is

efficient, costs low,

and delivers high

quality and value-

added products or

services to customers.

Procurement: it is important to select the right individuals

or firms as suppliers that would deliver error-free goods and

services that an organization requires to create the product

or the service . Organizations also need to develop a rate list

and delivery and payment processes with suppliers as well

as create metrics to monitor and improve these

relationships. This also requires managing the inventory of

goods and services received from suppliers, including

receiving shipments, validating the contents, transferringthem to the manufacturing units, and approving supplier

payments.

Production: this is a part of manufacturing. It is important

to schedule the activities necessary for production, testing,

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packaging and preparation for delivery. Being a metric-

intensive exercise, production involves measuring quality

levels, production output, and worker productivity.

Delivery: this is also referred to as logistics andnecessitates coordinating the receipt of orders from

customers, developing a network of warehouses, arranging

carriers to deliver products, and setting up an invoice system

to receive payments.

Return: this is the most critical part of the supply chain.

Organizations need to create a network to accept defective

and excess products back from customers or distributors,

and for supporting customers with grievances.

SCM is the transfer of products, information , and finances as

they move sequentially in a process from the supplier,

manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and customer. It involves

coordinating and integrating these flows within and among

organizations. The ultimate goal of any effective SCM system

is to reduce inventory.

SCM flows can be divided into the following three types:

The product flow: includes the movement of goods

from a supplier to a customer as well as any customer

returns or service needs

The information flow :involves transferring orders andupdating the status of delivery

The finance flow: consists of credit terms, payment

schedules, and consignment and title ownership

arrangements information provided by both CRM and

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SCM play a crucial role in the information analysis

process. Realism is lent to decisions that are

undertaken as a result of input and information

provided by these systems.

The following figure illustrates how each information

system plays a role in the information analysis process.

Security layers

Security layers

ETL process

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Business

intelligence

system

Data

mart

s

Data

warehous

e

OLTP(internal

process)

Enterpriseresource

planning

Supply

chain

manageme

nt

Customer

relationship

manageme

nt


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The role of various information systems in the information

analysis process

Classifying information on the basis of

periodicity

The information provided by all the systems should be accurateand comprehensive. Further, it is equally important for it to be

available at the time that it is required. The requirements of

information vary in different enterprises, and on the basis of

periodicity of analysis.

Based on these criteria, reports that contain information may be

classified as :

Scheduled: are generated and made available for a specific,defined duration. These may be made available on a daily,

weekly, or monthly basis.

Scheduled reports: are used in almost every aspect of

information analysis because they contain specific

information pertaining to a particular set of parameters in a

particular time frame.

Real- time: are generated while transactions aresimultaneously begin processed

Real-time report proves useful when analyzing information to

make tactical decisions. As opposed to strategic decisions.

For example, real-time report may be used to take tactical

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action in the case of an online

newspaper, in the case of which

storied and headlines may be

adjusted as a response to audience

interest.

On Demand: are generated and

made available on the basis of

specific requests made for a

particular set of information.

On Demand reports are usually

required when information analysis

is being conducted in response to an urgent requirement, acrucial environment change, a perceived serious threat, or in

response to a complaint or statement that needs to be

validated.

Exception: identify process exceptions by using data

selected on the basis of a specific set of circumstances or

parameters.

Generating exception reports lead to crucial insights into

processes-deviants. Theses are usually created in response

to an explicitly observed deviant, to validate a perceived

cause of loss in revenue, or to examine a process that may

not be delivering desirable results.

ILLUSTRATION

The Enterprise Framework and the

Information Analysis process in the

Airline Industry.

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Here is a glimpse of some of the operational processes in

the airlines industry:

Air Traffic Management (ATM): The primary driver of

activities at airports is the flight schedule. Flights depart and

arrive in close proximity. Scheduling requires an integrand

management of air traffic controls. It involves monitoring

aircrafts on runways and in air so that they are flown on

specified routes and do not collide and cause hazards in mid

air.

Airport Ground service: Passenger service activity at the

airport is related to the flight schedule. All these activities

are controlled, coordinated, and managed by the airport

ground services, which interact with passengers and politely

respond to their queries.

The airport ground services render services, such as

assisting passengers to board flights or cancel their

bookings. Some passengers need assistance for baggage

claims or ground transport services. Other passengers need

assistance to proceed to board connecting flights. Confirmed

passengers arrive ahead of their flight for the check-in

process, which includes tagging personal handbags,

baggage check-in, collecting boarding coupons, and security

check. Simultaneously, passengers arriving y more than one

flight collect their baggage from different conveyer belts.

Airport Billing: Airport management charge a fee for the

services and facilities offered to airlines and users. This fee is

also called landing fee. It is used to generate revenue for the

airports. The fee is based on the weight of the aircraft.

Therefore, it is essential that the airport authorities have

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accurate information about the date, Time, and type of

facilities used by airlines.

Resource Management: the Resource Department

manages resources including aircrafts and handles multipleservices for employees, such as recruitment promotions,

consultancy, contracts, training, and allocation.

Business Processes

Business processes exist to run enterprises efficiently byincreasing performance levels to maximize revenues. Business

processes in the airline industry revolve around planning, selling,

and operating. Planning process involves scheduling and long-

term services of the fleets. Selling involves setting fares of tickets

and travel packages, and operating involves managing the fleet.

Here is a glimpse of some of the business processes of the airline

industry:

Financial Services: Handle revenue or yield management,

accounting, and statutory services. There are three

strategies used in yield management: different fares,

overbooking, and loyalty programs.

Sales and Marketing:Tracks competitors fares and is

always on the lookout to increase the revenue of the

airlines. The process makes fare-pricing strategies. For

example, if some major airlines lower their ticket fares, the

other major airlines immediately follow.

The fares of tickets are subject to fluctuations in supply and

demand, which are mostly based on the type of passengers,

such as business and leisure. In addition, ticket fares are

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automates tasks that were previously performed manually. The

transaction system processes and records business activities and

the management information system supplies information to

managers. The DSS support the implementation of strategies of

an organization and it is most useful in flight operation in theairline industry. For example, a major airline generates extensive

data for more than 300 daily flights. Data features details, such as

the flight route, fuel costs, and weather changes. This data is

necessary in terms of weather dynamics for scheduling flights.

Otherwise, fights may be delayed or even cancelled. The data is

also critical to make decisions on fuel volumes to be loaded

according to expected weather conditions, and determine flight

routes according to expected weather conditions, and determineflight routes according to expected weather conditions. To

manage this data, a flight management system is required to

enable efficient operation of lights.

A simple process, such as handling baggage of passengers is also

an information systems, called the baggage management system,

it ensures that the baggage is not mishandled so that passengers

are satisfied with the airlines service. In addition, new

technologies such as the radio frequency identification (RFID)

tags have been developed to generate baggage-tracking data.

This type of data reduces the number of mishandled episodes and

reduces the time to locate baggage. Airlines continually need to

identify information systems and adapt new technologies, Several

technologies have been developed to ensure data security, to

provide enhanced services for passengers through online

reservation, and to improve air-traffic controls. These information

systems help airlines to have a competitive edge over rivalairlines.

AIRLINES INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

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GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AS A SOURCE OF

INFORMATION FOR INFORMATION ANALYSIS

GDS, a reservation system, is the central repository of the details

of passenger information collected when passengers book tickets

and is compiled in the computerized reservation networks. This

data helps to understand a passengers behavior and profile.

GDSs were originally developed by the airlines to enable travel

agents to book and reserve tickets, but soon its services were

extended to making bookings for hotels, car, and cruise,

therefore, GDS connects airlines to other airlines and to the allied

services, such as travel agencies, hotels, cruises, tour operator,

and car rental companies.

Example:The four major reservation system or GDS that serve

the airline industry are:

SABRE: Is considered to be the pioneer and the largest

reservation system. Sabre is constantly upgrading to meet

the market requirements and technology advancements.

Headquartered in Southlake, texas, it connects more than

60000 travel agency locations around the would, providing

information to around 400 airlines, 55000 hotel outlets, 52

car rental companies, and several transport operators. The

following figure shows the products and services elements ofthe home page of the Sabre website, which conveys the

huge extent of information transmitted into the GDS.

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Galileo: Is a diversified global technology leader. The

company is braches in 16 countries and serves travel agentsspread over 44000 locatins. Others served by Galileo are

500 airlines, 227 hotel companies, 35 car rental companies,

and 368 tour operators. The following figure illustrates the

products and service elements of the home page of Galileo.

Worldspan: Provides Web-based technologies and services

to its customers, it serves around 16000 travel agencies in90 countries and connects around 400 airlines, 200 markets

spread around the world.

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Amadeus: is the most recent GDS . a leading technology

provider, Amadeus serves more than 57,000 travel agency

locations and 10,500 airlines sales offices in 200 markets

spreads around the world. It also serves around 58000

hotels and 50 car rental companies over 24000 locations.

INFORMATION ANALYSIS IN AIRLINE

TICKETING

Ticketing generates revenue for the airline industry. Airlines have

ticket distribution systems. Earlier airlines sold tickets only at the

airports. However, post deregulation, the distribution channel

veered towards the travel agents. Airlines. Pay travel agents

commission based on the price and percentage of the value of

tickets sold. Commissions represent the fourth largest expense

after labor, fuel, and cost of aircrafts.

There are various information analysis process in the process ofticketing for different purposes like maintaining passenger

records, verification of tickets, ticket bookings, facilitating

different modes for ticketing and generating scheduled reports.

To reduce costs, many major airlines have slashed commissions

and distribute tickets through an alternate and cheaper mode,

that of websites. Major airlines, such as Southwest Airlines And

Delta Airlines have used this strategy to their

advantage.Interestingly, this has benefited passengers who nowhave varied modes for purchasing tickets while retaining access

to travel agencies. Sometimes, airlines also sell the tickets of

other airlines. This practice enables airlines to increase sales and

to expand their operations to remote areas. This type of airline

partnership is called code sharing.

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Any one of the following modes, offered by airlines:

Booking an Air Ticket through Airlines Counter

Booking an Ari Ticket through Travel Agents

Booking an Air Ticket on Websites

The online booking service of Airlines industry has triggered a

good response from passengers. Online booking is quick and easy

to access. It has led to customer satisfaction. There has also been

a rise in ticket sales with the introduction of the service. This

involves the structured format of information and passengerdetails to be stored and produced time to time.

SCHEDULED REPORTS

The various types of scheduled reports, such as the agency

reports, ticket report, and from of payment report are

generated daily through orderely information analysis on adaily basis.

The agency repot is created to manage the travel agency

commissions and payment of overrides, and to determine

the market share of travel agencies. It comprise parameters,

such as the agency name, contact details, commission paid

to the agents, total number of tickets sold, total ticket fare,airline name, class of the tickets, gross fare, and selling fare.

The ticket report comprises parameters, such as the ticket

number, ticket code, date and place of issue, passenger`s

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name, gross fare, selling fare, and total fare. This report

helps airlines to identify the fares set by travel agents and to

set the appropriate fare to attract passengers.

The form of payment report helps to identify the swindled

amount and the fraudulent passengers who have paid

through credit cards. These reports comprise parameters,

such as the ticket num the passenger`s name, the net fare,

the form of payment, and the total fare of the ticket.

Realtime and On-demand Reports

The sale of airline tickets is based on real-time information.

The fewer the seats, the higher is the price of tickets. On-

demand reports are rarely generated. If at all, these reports

are generated only in critical situations. For example,

passengers` data may be screened to find out details, such

as the itinerary, the mode of payment, and the origin city todetect a fraudulent case.

These types of reports help the senior management to take

certain strategic decisions.

THE INFORMATION SYSTEM IN AIRLINE

TICKETING

In the airline industry, the ticket contains all the information

related to a specific booking.

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This types of information is valuable because it helps to

analyze multiple aspects, including human behavior and

security. For example, some passengers book tickets

directly through Imperial Airlines, while others book tickets

through travel agents of the airline. In either case, thisinformation will be transferred to the airlines data base.

Travelling and airlines follow a simple ticketing process

which includes creating and storing ticket data as

illustrated in the following figure

Information system of ticketing

DATA TRANSMISSION PROCESS OF

TICKETING

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GDS Bank

XML TAIR

Travelagent

Travel agent

Counter

Airlines

Counter

Passeng

Airlines

OLTP


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The passenger purchases an air ticket either through a travel

agent or the airlines counter.

When a passenger requests the travel agent for an air

ticket, the travel agent updates the data to the travel

agency`s server. The data is transmitted from the

server to the GDS as an XML TAIR file. Next, the data is

from the GDS to the airline database (OLTP), which is a

maintained and used by the IT department of the

airlines.

Similarly, in the case of booking through air lines

(reservation counters or on websites), the data is

transmitted to the OLTP. Next, the data is transmitted

to the GDS as an XML TAIR file.

An XML TAIR file is an encoded form of a ticket. The

TAIR files of ticket contains fields, such as the

passenger name, date and time of travel, hotel booking,

car rental, and the mode of payments. Fields are

randomly arranged, and each field is followed by a

backslash. Each GDS generates a different TAIR file

format. For example, the TAIR file of Sabre is different

from that of the Worldspan TAIR file.

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INFORMATION ANALYSIS: THE BASIS FOR

VERIFICATION OF AN AIR TICKET

The OLTP or the airlines data base is complete after a

passenger`s Id is verified and finally updated by the airport

ground staff at the check-in counters. This verification also

confirms that the passenger has boarded the air craft.

The following figure illustrative the verification process at

the check in counter at airports.

Ve

rification from

Airlines OLTP

76

Counterassistan

Passenger

checks in at

the counter

Airline

s OLTP


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Verification at the check-in counter

Consider this scenario. John Barrett, the CEO of Imperial air line

wants to strategically use the large volumes of passenger data.

There fore, the company decides to set up a data warehouse.

Data marts are created from the data warehouse. Specific

parameters are selected from the data marts to run queries on

passengers. These queries seek information according to theneed of the senior management. The analyzed data helps the

senior management of Imperial air lines to devise new

programmes.

CONCLUSION

From this project we can learn the fact that Information

Analysis is an inevitable process in any business

enterprise. The basic step to any strategic plan,

decisions, innovations, operating techniques,

management styles and the execution of the core

business activity depends upon effective information

analysis of the data available to the organization from thedifferent information resources. The following points

summarizes the important facts studied in the project as

a concluding note:

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Verification of

the passenger


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Role of information an

Documents

Original Board Project 2003