I require assistance in finalizing the requirements model for the Airlines Information Management System (AIMS) project. The requirements model need to include use UML case diagrams for the entire AIM system. This includes all three sub-systems: bookings, fleet management and employee management. I also require assistance in having use case descriptions of at least four significant use cases (e.g., bookings, employee management or fleet management).
Be sure you download the free version of the JUDE/Community CASE tool as soon as possible. It is a Java application and will run on any platform that supports a current version of the Java run-time environment. You can download the tool for free from:
HYPERLINK "https://jude.change-vision.com/jude-web/product/community.html"https://jude.change-vision.com/jude-web/product/community.html_
As the case diagrams are required in the same format.
The project will involve developing a model that describes an Airline Information Management System (AIMS). It will be a requirements model that describes the scope of the system, its major functionality and details about a few features of the system. The AIMS is envisioned to provide a single, integrated environment for dealing with all aspects of Albatross Airline's operation. The initial system will focus on passenger bookings, employee management and fleet management. Other aspects of Albatross' operations (e.g., cargo booking, scheduling and inventory management) will be added in future iterations of the project.
The booking system will provide a web interface to allow customers to book their own flights directly. It will also provide a portal allowing travel agents to make bookings for clients. In addition, there will be a web-based portal allowing employees to book reduced-rate travel. All of these interfaces will allow users to search for flights on a particular date or range of dates. Flight bookings may be one-way, return, around the world, multi-sector or open jaw. (Multi-sector is an itinerary that includes more than two flights. Open jaw is the term used to describe an itinerary that includes a land travel component.) There are four classes of travel: first class, business class, executive economy class and economy class. Flights will have zero or more seats in each of these classes. The number of seats in each class is determined by the aircraft configuration that comes from the fleet management system. When a customer books a seat on a flight, that booking will have a set of conditions regarding what the customer can do with their booking.
There are a number of conditions for bookings. Super Saver bookings are only applicable to economy class seats; they must be booked at least ninety days prior to travel; flight departures must be between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. or after 8:00 p.m.; passengers cannot fly on Friday, Sunday or Monday; and these bookings cannot be changed or refunded. If a return booking is made and both directions of travel are Super Saver bookings, an additional 10% is reduced from the ticket price. Savings bookings are only applicable to economy class seats; they must be booked at least thirty days prior to travel; there are no restrictions on departure time; passengers cannot fly on Friday or Sunday; and these bookings may be changed for a $50 fee but cannot be refunded. Business Saver bookings are applicable to both economy and executive economy class seats; they must be booked at least thirty days prior to travel; there are no restrictions on departure time; passengers cannot fly on Sunday; and these bookings my be changed for a $75 fee but cannot be refunded. Advanced bookings are applicable to both economy and executive economy class seats; they must be booked at least fourteen days prior to travel; there are no restrictions on time or day of departure; and these bookings my be changed or refunded for a $50 fee. Regular bookings are applicable to both economy and executive economy class seats; they may be booked up to one hour prior to travel; there are no restrictions on time or day of departure; and these bookings may be changed or refunded for a $50 fee. Flexible bookings are applicable to all classes of seats; they may be booked up to one hour prior to travel; and no other restrictions apply. Last Minute bookings are applicable to business, executive economy and economy class seats; they may only be booked between twenty-four and two hours prior to travel; these bookings must be made via the customer web interface; there are no restrictions on time or day of departure; and these bookings cannot be changed or refunded. Around the World bookings have the additional restriction, regardless of the class type, that travel must only be in one direction (i.e., passengers may not "backtrack" in their route).
There is a pricing optimisation sub-system that determines the pricing for a booking. (The design of this sub-system is beyond the scope of this project, primarily due to the operations research mathematics involved in pricing optimisation.) For your designs, you can assume this sub-system will exist. Define a simple interface that lets you pass the details of a flight and booking conditions, and it returns a price for the flight.
There will be a limited number of seats available for the discount booking types on each flight. On regular aircraft (B737 and A310),
• 5% of the economy seats will be allocated to Super Saver bookings;
• 15% of the economy seats will be allocated to Savings bookings;
• 10% of the executive economy and economy seats will be allocated to Business Saver bookings;
• 20% of the executive economy and economy seats will be allocated to Advanced bookings;
• 25% of the executive economy and economy seats will be allocated to Regular bookings;
• all remaining seats in all classes will be allocated to Flexible bookings; and
• twenty-four hours before the departure of a flight, any business, executive economy or economy seats that are unsold will be available for Last Minute bookings.
On wide-bodied aircraft (B747 and A380),
• 10% of the economy seats will be allocated to Super Saver bookings;
• 15% of the economy seats will be allocated to Savings bookings;
• 20% of the executive economy seats and 10% of the economy seats will be allocated to Business Saver bookings;
• 25% of the executive economy and economy seats will be allocated to Advanced bookings;
• 30% of the executive economy and economy seats will be allocated to Regular bookings;
• all remaining seats in all classes will be allocated to Flexible bookings; and
• twenty-four hours before the departure of a flight, any business, executive economy or economy seats that are unsold will be available for Last Minute bookings.
If an allocation for a less restrictive type of booking is sold out, it will be possible to sell more seats of that booking type if a more restrictive type still has seats available. (For instance, if someone wishes to purchase an Advanced booking economy seat, but the allocation was sold out and there were still Savings booking economy seats available, then it would be possible to sell the customer a ticket using the seat from the Savings booking allocation.)
When a customer makes a booking using the web interface, they must pay for the booking to confirm the reservation. They can make payment via a credit card or by transferring money from a bank account. The web interface will display an invoice on the screen with their flight details and a breakdown of costs. The customer can then confirm the details and pay for their booking. Upon paying for the booking, the customer is provided with an on-screen receipt that can be printed out, along with their eTicket reservation code.
Travel agents can make bookings on behalf of passengers via their portal. Once a travel agent confirms a reservation, they are provided with a flight itinerary and the passenger's eTicket reservation code. At the end of each month, the booking system generates invoices for all the reservations made by travel agents during the month. These invoices are emailed to each travel agent and list the details of all bookings they have made.
Employees can book reduced-rate travel through a secure web portal. They can book any class of seat based on the same conditions as regular customers. Employees are then given a discount on the cost of the ticket based on their contractual entitlements. Union members who are covered by the union-negotiated contract have three levels of entitlements. If they have worked for the airline for less than two years, they are given a 90% reduction on the normal ticket price. If they have worked for the airline for between two and five years, they are given a 95% reduction. If they have worked for the airline for more than five years, they are given a 98% reduction. Non-union members with individual contracts can negotiate for different time periods for the same three levels of entitlement reductions. Executive-level employees who have worked for the airline for less than three years are given a 93% reduction; if they have worked for the airline for more than three years, they are given a 98% reduction. Retired employees are given a 97% reduction regardless of length of service with the airline. Payment for employee reduced-rate travel is deducted from the employee's next pay cheque.
There are a limited number of seats available for employees to book at reduced rates:
• 10% of first and business class seats,
• 15% of executive economy class seats, and
• 20% of economy class seats,
with a minimum of two seats being available in every class.
Available employee seats are not a fixed allocation. If a paying customer wishes to book a seat and there are seats available, they will be given the seat regardless of the limits stated above. If all available employee seats are booked in a particular class, an employee can pay 50% of the booking cost to book any seat still available.
Fleet management provides information on and maintenance scheduling facilities for the airline's fleet. The airline flies four different aircraft: the Boeing 737 and Airbus A310 on short-haul flights and the wide-bodied Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 on long-haul and busy routes. The fleet management system allows maintenance tasks to be scheduled for each plane in the fleet. There are four categories of maintenance:
• Seating reconfiguration - This allows a manager to assess a plane in order to reconfigure the seating arrangement, including how many seats are allocated to each class of travel. Reconfiguration takes six hours to complete.
• Light overhaul - This is when the engines and flight controls are overhauled and the rest of the plane is inspected. A light overhaul takes one week to complete for regular aircraft and two weeks for wide-bodied aircraft. A light overhaul must be done every 1000 hours of flight time.
• Complete overhaul - This is when a plane is stripped down to its skeleton and all parts are replaced or overhauled. A complete overhaul takes four weeks for regular aircraft and six weeks for wide-bodied aircraft. A complete overhaul must be done every 10,000 hours of flight time.
• Emergency maintenance - This is when a fault occurs on a plane that is supposed to be in service and must be fixed as soon as possible. An estimate of time to complete is given with this request.
When a maintenance task is scheduled, it is allocated to a maintenance base. Currently, the airline has three maintenance bases: one in Europe, one in Asia and one in North America. A plane may have several maintenance tasks scheduled (e.g., it may have three seating reconfigurations booked for future dates, a light overhaul for the near future and a complete overhaul in two year's time). The system should allow a manager to find out about all scheduled maintenance tasks over any time period, all tasks scheduled for a single aircraft or tasks scheduled for a particular maintenance base.
When seating reconfiguration is being planned, the system needs to ensure that the configuration will fit into the aircraft.
• B737 can have a maximum of 149 economy class seats.
• A310 can have a maximum of 247 economy class seats.
• B747 can have a maximum of 568 economy class seats.
• A380 can have a maximum of 840 economy class seats.
A first class seat on a wide-bodied aircraft occupies the equivalent of four economy class seats and the equivalent of three economy class seats on a regular aircraft. A business class seat on a wide-bodied aircraft occupies the equivalent of two and a half economy class seats and the equivalent of two economy class seats on a regular aircraft. An executive economy class seat on a wide-bodied aircraft occupies the equivalent of two economy class seats and the equivalent of one and a half economy class seats on a regular aircraft.
The fleet maintenance system allows customers to use a web interface to find out information about an aircraft, such as the configuration it will be in for a particular flight. Pictures of both the exterior and interior of the planes are available, along with a seating plan for each flight. Photos of the style of seat available in each class are also available. Wide-bodied aircraft provide more on-board facilities, including in-seat entertainment systems. Videos demonstrating these facilities can be viewed through this system.
The airline is planning to purchase light commuter aircraft within one year. These will be used on short flights to small, regional centres. They require that the design of the system be flexible enough to accommodate light commuter aircraft with minimal changes.
The employee management system deals with all aspects of managing employees. This includes pay, benefits, work history and security. Employees are paid on a weekly basis. Payment is calculated by either hourly wage or salary depending on employment conditions. Wages are calculated by multiplying the hourly wage by the number of hours worked. Any hours above thirty-six per week are considered overtime and are paid at one and a half times the hourly rate. Salaries are calculated by dividing the employee's annual salary by fifty-two. An employee's wage or salary is determined by their position, years of service and any individual agreements made with the company. Taxes are then calculated and deducted from the pay. Any employee benefits that incur a cost to the employee are then deducted from their pay. These include payment for reduced-rate travel, union or other membership fee deductions and voluntary retirement fund contributions. Union fees comprise a percentage of the employee's base weekly pay. This percentage varies across the different unions. Voluntary retirement fund contributions may be either a percentage of pay or a fixed weekly amount. The airline provides a range of benefits to employees beyond reduced-rate travel. Some of these benefits are health insurance, retirement packages and professional development funding. The actual benefits provided to an employee depends on their position, contractual arrangements and years of service. For example, professional development is only offered to employees whose position requires professional certification (e.g., mechanics, accountants and engineers), and the maximum amount funded per year depends on the profession and its requirements of members.
Employee management also provides a task scheduling system. Employees can be assigned tasks through the system. The system will ensure that they have the qualifications and experience required to accomplish the tasks and that there are no scheduling conflicts. Employees can check their own task allocations via the system and record their completion of a task. Simple tasks, such as being the flight attendant for a particular flight or acting as a check-in agent, only record start and finish times. Complicated tasks, such as painting a plane or servicing flight hydraulics, can be paused and restarted. Complicated tasks also allow the employee to record a note about the task (e.g., that another part has a fault and needs to be replaced). Large tasks, such as cleaning an aircraft or loading baggage, can have multiple employees allocated to them.
A security system needs to be incorporated into the system. Employees' access will be restricted to those parts of the system relevant to their position and role. Managers will be able to create tasks. Managers and team leaders can allocate tasks to their subordinates. Most employees will only be able to view and update their tasks. Human resources personnel will be able to view employee records, but only certain staff can create or edit an employee record.
This system description is not meant to be a definitive description but is meant to give you a clear idea of the intent of the system. You may make realistic assumptions about the system in order to decide on the details of what the system should be able to do. Over weeks 2 and 3 you will produce a requirements analysis model of the AIM system. Over weeks 4 and 5 you will produce an analysis model of the problem domain. Over week 6 to 8 you will produce a design model for the system.