Web Enabled Business Management Solution for Travel Management, Travel Management Application, Web-Based Business Management Solution, Automation Solution, ASP.NET SQL Server

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TSI-AGENCY PLUS
Web Enabled Business Management Solution for Travel Management

In its effort to establish a network of travel service providers or franchisees, TSI required a complete B2B and hybrid B2C Web-based business management solution. The organization teamed with Icreon for developing Agency Plus as a complete travel management application. It had to be developed as a process-driven tool for managing customers, franchisees, online bookings, and the entire tariff structure for TSI's network. Visualizing the need for complete process automation throughout the network, we designed Agency Plus as an integrated set of modules for synchronizing operations and managing customers. While franchisees can access the application to view latest updates on their business or check for other travel service providers, customers can search for various travel destinations and book tours online. The uniqueness of this application lies in its ability to make TSI's network ubiquitous and constantly updateable with real time data. Agency Plus revolutionized TSI's operations by integrating the services of reputed travel service providers within and outside India, offering higher customer satisfaction, and of course, increased revenues for TSI and its network of franchisees!

Business Requirement

TSI wanted to establish a community of reputed travel service providers, specializing in one or more travel services such as, package tours or airline reservations. Travel service providers include travel agents, tour operators, hotel and airline reservation providers, car rentals, and cruise organizers. TSI required a Web-enabled business management system using which these service providers would be able to search for other travel service providers and offer an entire range of travel services to customers. Travel service providers would be able to customize travel packages as per specific customer requirements. The solution required to be a B2B and B2C Web-based system, which would manage the network of travel service providers and customers, displaying real time travel information and synchronizing operations throughout the network.

End-to-End Travel Management for Diverse Sets of Users

Benefits

	Reduced customer-response time
	Automatic management of commission structure and payments between TSI and franchisees
	Customized management of franchisee operations
	Real-time information on transactions, new tour packages and destinations
	Centralized management of franchisees, customers, and TSI operations

Technologies used in developing this web application are:

Travel service providers, operating from distant locations and providing specific services to customers, can only meet a portion of customer requirements. For instance, if a traveler needs to tour Agra, a travel agent may be able to manage the airline reservation for the traveler, but perhaps, not the hotel reservations. Similarly, another tour operator may offer the hotel bookings service but the costs may not be feasible for a traveler. On one hand, travelers need to search for multiple travel agents to plan a single tour and on the other hand, travel agents are confined to their specific areas of operations. After identifying and isolating these problems in the travel industry, TSI wanted to develop a solution that would act as a 'single point of contact' for travelers, while allowing travel agents the opportunity to grow & expand their business, without incurring any extra costs. They pictured the idea of a network of travel service providers, who would be able to utilize each other's services to offer an entire travel package to their customers. To implement this, TSI required a Webbased travel management solution that would allow specialized travel service providers, (such as, a hotel reservation provider or a tour operator), to offer each other's services to their customers. The solution would enable TSI to create travel franchisees, who in turn, would be able to create and manage their customers, view their business status in real time and utilize the services of other franchisees. In addition, the solution would allow customers to search for travel service providers and book tours online.

Endeavoring to develop an effective system to meet its goal of mutual profits and cost-effective management, TSI teamed with Icreon to develop Agency Plus. We had to develop the application as a feature-rich, easy to use, and scalable application that could be accessed and administered ceaselessly.

Agency Plus is a Web-based travel management solution that can be accessed by franchisees, administrator(s), and customers. The way TSI planned to operate was to create travel service providers as franchisees and then let them manage their individual operations and customers through Agency Plus. The strategy was to market the services of one franchisee through other franchisees.

For instance, if a travel agent operating in New Delhi specializes in providing airline reservations, needs to make hotel reservations for a customer, then the travel agent can search for hotel reservation providers in the TSI's network, through Agency Plus. Once the agent finds the most suitable hotel reservation provider, a booking for the customer can be placed. The hotel reservation provider can check for the booking request through Agency Plus and confirm the booking status. This way the travel agent can provide value-added service to customers, without any incurring extra costs.

Some of the features of the solution include –

	Real-Time Data that shows Up-to-the-Minute Details
	Facility to Vet and Scrutinize Real-Time Information for Determining Transactions and Profit Ratios
	Proactive and Enhanced Customer Management
	Facility to Search for Reputed Travel Service Providers
	Automated E-mail Alerts for Passport and Visa Expiry
	Instant Tour Booking Facility for Customers

Agency Plus allows franchisees to manage their operations 24/7. This Web-based Business Process Automation solution manages the usage and availability of services provided by franchisees, to organize customized tour packages with airline tickets, hotel bookings, and other services that the customer demands. Franchisees can share their resources online to provide upbeat and 'top of the line' services to customers, while incurring minimal costs.

For us, the aim was to develop Agency Plus as a process-driven application that could be easily accessed by different types of users - Super Administrator, Sub Administrator, Franchisee & Customer. To make Agency Plus extremely effective and feature rich for each of its "User Types", we developed four interfaces for Agency Plus, corresponding to each user type.

The super administrator module is used to create and manage the accounts of sub administrators and franchisees. The super administrator is responsible for assigning roles to the sub administrator. The role of a sub administrator includes managing a particular service or various services, in one or more cities and states. A new franchisee is authenticated and added to the network, by the super administrator. In addition, the super administrator can add different countries, states, and cities in which TSI's franchisees are operating. The sub administrator's role revolves around monitoring travel services such as hotels, packages, restaurants, car rentals, and airline reservations in various travel destinations. The services that the sub administrator monitors depend on the role that the super administrator assigns.

For franchisees, Agency Plus offers a multi-faceted interface. Franchisees can login with the username and password assigned by the super administrator. With Agency Plus, they can store information about their services and create packages with complete details about the cost and availability of the package. It tracks the reservations and bookings offered by franchisees, within the network. The data available to franchisees is real-time, providing them the current status of the required information. Agency Plus provides franchisees, the ability to manage existing customers and add new customers. Franchisees can configure automated email notifications for passport and visa expiry and resolve customer queries. A franchisee can add tour packages, hotel services, transfers, car rentals, and a host of other services to the list of services. The sub administrator needs to validate these services, to allow the franchisee to sell these services.

For customers, the interface offers innovative services such as, information about various travel destinations, hotels, restaurants, airports, and other services available for the customer's destination of choice. Customers are associated with Agency Plus through a particular franchisee. The username and password supplied by the franchisee, is used by the customer to login to Agency Plus. They can view information about the weather and currency of the destination and book tours accordingly with the services that they require. The customer can provide details about the people for whom the tour is being booked. The associated franchisee will book the tour along with the entire range of services for the customer. This way, customers need not go to various different travel agents, and hotels for bookings. They can simply login to Agency Plus and book their entire tour from their desktop.

We designed all the interfaces with highly interactive features, providing useful tips right when the user needs them. The application includes a comprehensive Help Desk to allow users complete ease.

Agency Plus was developed for high scalability, compatibility, and long-term use. With these considerations for a Web-based solution, a 3-tier architecture based on .NET framework, was the best alternate. We suggested and designed the architecture based on these considerations. Following is the technical architecture for Agency Plus.

The front-end application was developed on the .NET framework using ASP.NET. SQL Server 2000 is used to function as the database or back-end. The entire application runs on IIS 5.0 web server. We selected these technologies to ensure optimum management of network traffic and high application performance.

Summary

The travel industry is growing at a fast pace and TSI seized this opportunity to implement a strategy that would allow travel service providers to grow & expand as a community of reputed travel franchisees. With Agency Plus, TSI's network offers a cost effective alternate for franchisees to offer customized and value-added services to their customers. A high-end travel management solution that automates and manages various tasks for franchisees, Agency Plus is designed to meet the present and future growth requirement of TSI's network.

"We are extremely pleased with the efforts of Icreon in relation to the development of our family of marketing products. Icreon has demonstrated a special ‘commitment to our client’ with exceptional communication and attention throughout the project…”