Thesis on "Electronic Ticketing"

Thesis 17 pages (4726 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Electronic Ticketing

Developing the Business Case

An electronic ticket or e-ticket, as the name suggests, is the use of the electronic media usually, the internet, to book or purchase airline tickets. E-ticketing can also be done via the telephone but is not as popular as the booking of tickets through the internet. The use of e-ticketing has become so popular and feasible that it has now become a mandatory for all IATA members from June 2008. The e-tickets are stored in the airline's digital database and the customers can normally take a printout for their own recognition purposes. The advantages that most aviation companies provide with the e-ticketing process include the aspects of early check-in, getting confirmation outside of the airport premises with computerized payment and refund processes (IATA, 2009).

As of now, most airlines providing e-ticketing surfaces can only do so a total of 16 segments that comprise of the surface segments as well, as authorized by the IATA obligations. However, in recent months, under the Simplifying the Business program run by IATA, this is being switched to a 100% e-ticketing structure for airline bookings. According to stats, this change has resulted in the aviation industry saving up to a total of U.S.$3 billion ((IATA, 2009)).

Some of the most beneficial factors of E-Ticketing include the overall cost savings on the printing, mailing and postage of tickets, finance re-allocation, financial saving on the hired employees for the printing or delivering of tickets, barcode validation resulting in higher security, eliminating chance of loss of ticket as all the records are digitally stored, immediate delivery through simple printouts of details, the added information about destinations being visited like maps and places to go etc. And the opportunity to gain finances through providing space for online advertisements (Holtzman, 1999).

The phenomenon of Electronic Ticketing has fast established itself as a necessary means of booking airline tickets. The airport very rarely shows sights of anxious who search rigorously through their carry-on or bag to locate the ticket. Electronic tickets, according to an examination conducted by International Air Transport Association, a trade association that encompassed a total of 94% of global air travel responsibilities, projected that more then 92% of the tickets for air travel were purchased through the electronic ticketing system by the end of 2007 (IATA, 2009).

The same survey also shows that an approximate of 97% of ticket purchase was done through the electronic ticketing system by the end of 2007 in the United States alones. Most airlines all over the world are now turning to the phenomenon of electronic ticketing and aiming to gain a 100% ticket trade through that system in order to not only cut back on employee expenses but also paper wastage as will be explained a little further in this case (IATA, 2009).

The main aim of this paper is to develop and present a business case for the adoption of the electronic ticketing system in our airline, Efficient Airline, as a means to improve the overall cost benefit ratio in the company as well as improve overall efficiency of service, competitive edge and long-term profitability within the airline industry. Efficient Airline is a fast expanding airline in the aviation industry with an annual approximation of air travelers amounting to more than 8 million and visiting destinations totaling to 20 worldwide. The total number of ticket offices that Efficient Airline runs including the one that functions in the airport and the town office are 35 with the average segments/ticket coupons per passenger are normally at 3 segments/3 coupons; the total strength of sales and ticketing employees in the Efficient Airline company amount up to 200. More details of the Efficient Airline and its expansion to adopt the electronic ticketing system will be given in the Profile and Scope section later in the paper.

This paper will look at all the possible project management angles that will need to work efficiently in order to successfully establish the electronic ticketing system within the Efficient Airline company as well as justify this move by explaining the phenomenon of Electronic Ticketing, the potential changes in the structure that might occur with its implementation as well as recommend the appropriate risk management plan that could be adopted with the integration of the new system.

Project management

Project management is very simply a macro-managed effort to guide an idea towards completion and implementation within a specified frame of time. According to the guidelines given in the book "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge," there are five primary aspects that any and every project manager must keep in mind for efficiency and success (Project Management Institute, 2004). These five aspects are:

1. Initiating,

2. Planning,

3. Executing,

4. Controlling and

5. Monitoring, and Closing

Each and every stage in this particular aspect of project management bears its own importance and significance for the successful completion of an efficient and sustainable electronic ticketing structure. Initiating a completely new idea within a company structure can pose its own share of risks but in this case, the advantage was that the idea of electronic ticketing has already been practically tested and is proving to be more feasible in the aviation industry with the passage of time. There are many aspects that Project Managers (PMs) need to keep in mind in this first stage in order to define clear goals and objectives. One of the most important of these aspects are defining the knowledge areas that the entire team as well as the manager on a personal level need to be completely aware of in order to move forward with the implementation of a new electronic ticketing system (Project Management Institute, 2004).

According to the book "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge," the eight main knowledge areas, which are:

1. "Project Integration Management,

2. Project Scope Management,

3. Project Time Management,

4. Project Cost Management,

5. Project Quality Management,

6. Project Human Resource Management,

7. Project Communications Management,

8. Project Risk Management (Project Management Institute, 2004).

The first knowledge area, as the name suggests, involves the proper incorporation of a new program within an already established business structure. In this stage, it is very important to clearly define how the addition will help the performance of the system and why it was a necessary integration. Furthermore, strategies need to be developed that will help everyone, from the stakeholders, to the employees, to the clients, understand the functioning and utilization of the new process in the system. The second stage is directly related to the first stage. The scope management strategies are mainly designed to help sell the additional technology to the people who will use it. Scope dimensions help everyone understand how significantly the new technology will help the existing system and what could the impact of its incorporation in the long run. The third and fourth stages co-exist in many instances. Usually time management is associated with the completion of the project and then associated with the cost management in terms of how much financial costs are cut back due to the new technology or how much profit is made because of its integration. Cost management is also an important part of any project management structure as it deals with the overall budget allocation of the integration process (Project Management Institute, 2004).

Quality management is a very important knowledge area that needs to be mastered in any project management structure. Quality assurance is one of the guarantees that stakeholders and clients expect from their service providers and if the new project does not guarantee an enhanced level of quality with its integration then the chances of its adoption decrease significantly. Human resource and communications management are also interlinked in the domain of project management. The human resource, as the name suggests, is the employees that are hired for the completion of the integration as well as it sustainability. The availability of a strong and relevant human resource is very important for the integrity of a project as their work ethic will design the pattern for project ethics and their input will basically be the determining factor of the project's timely success and sustainability. Similarly, communications is an integral part of a project as effective communication can very easily take a moderate idea to success (Project Management Institute, 2004). However, the opposite also stands true, a great idea could be very poorly executed and fail if the communication between the entities involved is not lucid and at the level that it needs to be. Interpersonal skills are very important here as well as the development of good team dynamics. Hence keeping this in mind, for this particular business case, a simple communication model could be as seen in figure 1 below:

To modify this model according to the communication needed for the integration in the electronic ticketing system, the following model can be implemented:

Another aspect that can be incorporated in the above model after the re-evaluation section is the risk… READ MORE

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