Literature Review on Railway Reservation System

The main aim of designing and coming up with this system is to eliminate the use files and filing system in recording weekly and monthly transactions of pata commercial agencies and allow an easy system that allows the firm in recording and analyzing routine transactions and provide a clear summary and report of all the proceedings that the agency undertake in their transactions.in provision of this technology advance there will be an efficient and effective system thank will bring in a quick and systematic approach towards the activities of this agency and allow a reliable source of information all about all transactions related to routine activities. Having this system in place it will enhance rapid productivity of services to customers by providing quick customer service and also provide a very fast report on all the rent paid and all the times of the year as to when all this payments were made and relate all this to past records that are made available by these system.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
Due to increase in demand for both commercial and rental premises since independent in Kenya and due to the increase in population it has brought about introduction of commercial agencies’like pata commercial agency which was started back in year 2007 in Lanet so as to cater for both commercial and residential apartments by offering services related to collecting house lent’s on behalf of land lords. For this reason pata commercial agencies’ have entirely been committed to its services through use of a manual system for recording their transactions thus there is a need for a change of the current system in use so as it can improve its services to its customers and move in line with technological advances made in the country and the entire world. The introduction of this new system which receives entries on transactions like house rent paid by a tenant at a particular time and be able to calculate total rent corrected and be able to give a definite report about those who have paid and those who have not at a particular period of time.

The Problem Statement Of Study
Having the problems in analyzing the routine transactions, problem of loss of records that have been recorded on paper, duplication of data stored and wastage of time and space for storing paper work due to the increase in transaction which has been caused due to the increase of premises and the business of investing in real estates the agency has experienced frequent problems that need to be addressed in a systematic way. 1.3 purpose of the study

Develop a computerized system that will help the agency in recording transactions weekly and monthly so that it eases the amount of time spent when recording routine transactions thus saving time and also the system will provide a steady flow of information which in turn will help in providing the agency with effective designing procedures and schedules related to their activities and avoid duplication of information which in turn makes data to lose its integrity.

1.4 REASERCH OBJECTIVES
1.4.1 Main Objective
Is to develop a system that will carry out routine transactions in the commercial agency accurately and in an efficient way and provide a good report which in turn will save time and resources. 1.4.2 Specific Objectives

I. Come up with a system that will enhance a speedy recording of routine transactions by replacing the current paper work. II. To increase work force thus increasing productivity.
III. The system will help the agency producing error free records and produce a summarized report of all transactions. 1.5 Research Questions
I. How will this system ultimately save time in recording transactions? II. How will this system increase the work force of employees? III. How will the system help in producing an error free summarized records?

1.6 Justification
The main importance of this system is to enhance a good flow of information and records in the agency so as to enhance a speedy and steady flow of work and also provide a reliable and efficient source of information that will help in day to day activities of the agency in return eliminating the setbacks provided by the manual system that is currently in use. 1.7 Assumptions

The research will basically proceed with a few assumptions mainly: the respondents will give correct information, the information given will be correct at the time of the study and also it will be relevant enough to develop the system.

1.8 Scope of Research
The scope of this research only feature Nakuru county and in precise Lanet estate in developing a model based on formulating adaptation of TPS in commercial agencies, data collection and analysis in a specific commercial agency that is adapting a TPS, formulating the critical success factor and transferability issues of TPS in commercial agency and bring out the issues for adaptation of TPS to a specific business setting. The scope of this
research is limited to this commercial agency and does not extend to other sectors of the commercial agency.

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This review literally focuses on what a transaction processing system is all about in terms of the requirements related to operations of this system and as it is made in different models for different specifications .This is an important part in proposal writing since it gives a direct over view of other studies done on the same and how information is shared in the agency that is from the lower level where rent is collected to the middle level where records are defined to the upper level where reports are made and brief history of TPS and also an example of a TPS and its weakness and the conclusion. 2.2 Literature Review

Transaction Processing System or TPS can be defined as a type of Information System or IS which gathers, stores, changes and retrieves the data transactions of an organization or business Thus, it offers tools that will help to ease or automate application programming, execution and administration. In addition, it supports a network of device that submits different queries and updates to the application. Based on these inputs, the application will maintains a database representing some real world state. Application will then, responses and outputs typically drive real-world actuators and transducers that change and control the state. The applications, database and network tend to evolve over several decades. Increasingly, the systems are geographically distributed, heterogonous, continuously available and have stringent response time requirements (Gray& Reuter, 1995, p. 5). TPSs have been available since the 1970s, and most of the businesses are using them. It’s widespread use can be associated with the advent of the Internet. As a result, the cost of buying, applying and implementing the needed software has dropped so much that most of the businesses can apply the said system in profitable manner. Thus, banking from home, booking a holiday online, shopping and working from home are now readily available and less time consuming due to transaction
processing (Crystal 2009).TPS shows for vital characteristics: rapid processing, reliability, standardization and controlled access. The rapid or fast processing of transaction is considered as crucial aspect in the success of any business, due to the demand of the customers towards immediate action. Furthermore, reliability pertains on the issue of errors; this is because customers will not tolerate any mistakes. Therefore, TPS must be defined in order to make sure that the systems remain operational permanently. TPS must also be standardized, meaning, each operational rules; must appear to take place in isolation; and must make sure that if a transaction was completed is cannot be undone. The said conditions make sure that the TPS carry out their transactions methodically (Crystal, 2009; Gray& Reuter, 1993). 2.3 History of transaction processing system

Transaction processing was the first type of information system. Transaction processing systems were used during the 1950s when the electronic computer became available for business use. The first commercially available electronic computer was called Universal Automatic Computer. It was designed by John Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly. The first was delivered to the U.S.Bureau of Census. It could process both numerical and alphabetical calculations with ease and was used by organizations to batch process business transactions, such as paying employees and recording customer purchases and payments. These initial applications of a TPS are still important today 2.4 Example of Transaction Processing System

Manual transaction systems are business systems that operate without the use of machines People are used to record the data about the business activities .For example, a manual point of sale transaction system has eleven operational steps performed by a sales assistant to sell a product to a customer. Examine the product and determine the product price. Record the product price on the sales slip and add it to the total price of all selected products. Check the total price of all the products selected. Inform the customer of the total price and wait for payment. Receive payment for the products.Calculate the amount of change owing to the customer.Give the selected products,a copy of the sales slip,and the change.At the end of the business day total all sales slips to check that the money collected is
correct.take a stock check of the remaining stock. Check that the stock remaining equals the stock at the beginning of the business day minus the stock sold. The manual point of sale system is typical of a manual transaction system. It is based on a clear set of rules that is followed by a person. These rules, or procedures, in a manual transaction system allow the system to be easily computerized .The procedures that can be computerized are identified by the data they are processing Inthe organization

2.5 Weakness of the Manual Transaction processing System
Inconsistency of data: there will be no data available for future use, since data might get misplaced during manual filing.so data wont be preserved properly for future use. Repetition of work if there are any changes to be made, the data will have to be entered again.at times the worker would forget to make the changes or forget that they had already altered it and might redo it again, its again time consuming. Too much paper work: since everything and every detail written down manually in paper there will be too much paper work! Space consuming: since the data and paper is stored in filing cabinets it consumes too much place, as the amount of work done on paper increases the filing cabinets too increases. Slow retrieval of data: the information of customers and details are stored in different parts of the site and so takes a long time to retrieve the data. It takes a long time to find the information about a relevant person.in case of a delay, the delay will be held back. Thisresults in a sharp drop in sales, unhappy customers and a bad impression on the

2.6 Data flow Diagram of a TPS
Keyboard
Keyboard

1| Location |
| Process|

D1| File/Store|

In this system the user enters specifications through the keyboard and then the system process the input and at the same time it stores the information in a storage media. 2.7 Conclusion
In line with the presence of this computerized system processing of transactions will be effectively and efficiently done in due short duration of time thus saving the agency cost and reducing the work load thus giving its customers effective services which in turn increases customer confidence to relay on the services they offer.

CHAPTER THREE
Research Methodologies

3.1 Introduction
In this chapter I basically focus on the process of collecting and organizing data related to this study and laying out a basic cycle on the process of developing the system with the use of a system development flow chart and a clear definition of all the stages involved in the development process. 3.2 System Design Stages

3.2.1 Feasibility Study
Feasibility study is a preliminary investigations into the potential benefits associated with undertaking a specific activity or project. The main purpose of the feasibilitystudy is to consider all factors associated with the project, and determine if the investment of time and other resources will yield a desirable result Types of Feasibility Studies

1.Technical Feasibility Studies
A technical feasibility study looks into costs and potential benefits of new technologies, or investigate the amount of resource required to develop the system 2. Economic Feasibility
The procedure is to determine the benefit and savings that are expected from the system, if there is a decision is made to design and come up with the system 3. Operational feasibility
Operational feasibility is a measure of how well a proposed system solves the problems, and how effective it will be to have the system in place. 3.2.2
System Design:
Involves making a number of designs of the system on paper or on the computer and see to it that the rough image made of the system comprises of all the requirements. Once this is done, you select and finalizes a best suited design for the development of the system. 3.2.3 System Coding:

One translates the code or the program in such a way that they become in machine readable form so that the machine will understand and execute as required. 3.2.4 System Testing:
Once coding stage is through there is testing of the system and seeing to it that it is working as per the expectations or not. And here there is correction of the errors in the system if any. 3.2.5 System Implementation: This is the most vital stage as in this stage the system is given to the customer and awaits feedback. 3.2.6 System Maintenance:

The last stage of the SDLC is that the system needs to be maintainedand making sure that it is working within the standards set by removing any defaults in the system.

3.3 System Design Flow Chart

Start
Start

Feasibility study
Feasibility study

Design
Design

Coding
Coding

Testing
Testing

Errors
Errors

Design Error
Design Error
Implementation
Implementation

Maintain

Maintain

End
End

Figure 1.0 System Design Flow Chart
3.4 Data Collection Methods
3.4.1 Observation
Observation is a primary method of collecting data by human, mechanical, electrical or electronics means with direct or indirect contact Observations involve looking and listening very carefully in order to discover particular information about the study at hand and allows researcher to go into the field and observe the conditions in their natural state. 3.4.2 Advantages of Observations

Directness
The main strength of observation is that it provides direct access to the social phenomena under consideration. It avoids the wide range of problems associated with self-report Diversity, Flexibility and Applicability Provision of a permanent record

Much of human social behavior that may be of interest to the researcher is highly transient. The fact that all observation entails some form of recording means that it provides a permanent record of such events or
behavior, thus allowing further analysis or subsequent comparisons across time or location to be carried out. Complementarily with other approaches

Another strength of observation is that it can effectively complement other approaches and thus enhance the quality of evidence available to the researcher. 3.4.3 Disadvantages of Observation
Practicability
One of the main disadvantages of observation is that it can be very time consuming and resource intensive. Observer Bias
This can be because the observer records not what actually happened, but what they either wanted to see, expected to see, or merely thought they saw. Observer Effect
Another potential weakness of observation is the so-called observer effect, which refers to the way in which the presence of an observer in some way influences the behavior of those being observed. 3.5 The targeted population

Targeted population included both residential and commercial tenants the tenants of the whole estate more than 5 thousand with 3,500 as residential tenants and 1,500 commercial tenants were a subject of the study. Level| population|

Commercial tenants| 1,500|
Residential tenants| 3,500|
Total| 5,000|
Table 1.0Targeted population
3.6 Sampling technique
The basic technique used was probability sampling method considering the study unit had an equal chance to be picked in the sample size and also non-probability sample size was selected since the study units were convenient and purposive.

3.7 Sampling procedure
The Sampled population is in three strata as divided by commercial and residential tenants. In each stream 16% of the population were assumed to be sufficient for a sample. 3.8 Sampled population

Strata| Population| Sample percentage| Sample size|
Commercial tenants| 1,500| 16| 240|
Residential tenants| 3,500| 16| 560|
Total| 5,000| | 800|

Table 1.1 Sampled population
3.9 System requirements
3.9.1 Software requirements
Microsoft office 2007
Microsoft window 7 professional
3.9.2 Hardware requirements
Intel microprocessor-pentium4
Flash disk 4GB
Hard disk 150GB
HP laser jet printer

BUDGET

Hardware| Price in ksh|
Laptop | 30,000|
Laser printer | 5,000|
4 GB flash disk| 1,000|
Software| |
Window 7 ultimate| 10,000|
Microsoft office| 10,000|
Anti Virus| 1,500|
Activities| |
Stationeries (printing papers, pens).| 200|
Printing, photocopying and proposal binding.3 copies@250each| 750| Travelling expenses. 10trips@60each| 600|
Total| 59,050|
Accidental cost@10%total budget| 5,905|
Grant total| 64955|

TIME SCHEDULE
ACTIVITY| WEEKS|
Feasibility study| 2|
Requirement analysis and Design| 3|
System Coding| 3|
System Testing and Debugging| 2|
System Implementation and maintainers| 2|
System documentation| 12|

GANTT CHART
Duration| September| October| November|
| Year 2012| Year 2012| Year 2012|
ACTIVITY| Weeks| Weeks| Weeks|
| 1| 2| 3| 4| 1| 2| 3| 4| 1| 2| 3| 4|
Feasibility Study| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Design| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Coding| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Testing| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Implementation| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Documentation| | | | | | | | | | | | |

References
Gerhard Weikum, Gottfried Vossen, Transactional information systems: theory, algorithms, and the practice of concurrency control and recovery, Morgan Kaufmann, 2002, Jim grayAndreas Reuter, Transaction Processing — Concepts and Techniques, 1993, Morgan Kaufmann, Philip A. Bernstein, Eric Newcomer, Principles of Transaction Processing, 1997, Morgan Kaufmann, Ahmed K. Elmagarmid (Editor), Transaction Models for Advanced Database Applications, Morgan-Kaufmann, 1992, Domanski, D. (1993) ‘A Road map for client/server computing’, Informatics, September 1993, 25-30. Gibbs, M. (1993) ‘Networking people and computers: A study of the Australian Taxation Office’s re-equipment program’, Working Paper No. 2, Union Research Centre on Office Technology, Melbourne. Hammer, M., Champy, J. (1993) Reengineering the corporation, Allen &Unwin. International Business Machines Corporation (1987), Common user access panel design and user interaction, IBM. Johansen,
R. (1992) An introduction to computer augmented teamwork, in Boston, Kinney, Watson, ‘Computer augmented teamwork’, Van Norstrand Reinhold. Moad, J. (1993) ‘Does reengineering really work?’,Datamation, August 1, 1993, 22-28. Otte, F. (1982) Consistent user interface, in Vassiliou, Y. (Ed.) ‘Human factors and interactive computer systems’, Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood, NJ, 261-275. Tetschner, W. (1993) Voice processing, 2nd edn, Artech House. File disconecusrchrispaperstr94-02.doc

Conclusion
Having taken a great consideration on the aspect of using the procedures outlined in this proposals and taking care and using the design procedures available and complying with the design formant to ensure that the system is in place am sure that it will be of great benefit to the agency especially in terms of carrying out their routine transactions thus increasing productivity and effectiveness to its customers efficiently in an organized manner.