Assignment to create a ticket booking system for circular journey, Indian Railways. copyrights - Nitish Sivaramakrishnan

1. “ Application design
for booking Indian
Railways’ ‘Circular
Journey’ tickets.
”

2. DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOLLOWED
Keeping in view the short term for the assignment, a short and efficient
methodology is followed

3. Design an application for booking Indian Railways’ ‘Circular
Journey’ tickets.
DESIGN PROBLEM

4. INTRODUCTION
• If one wishes to go on a pilgrimage or sightseeing trip to many
destinations, Indian Railways provides the facility of booking
Circular Journey Tickets.
• These tickets offer one an unique travel flexibility, as they are
issued for all journeys (other than regular routes), which begin and
complete at the same station.
DESIGN PROBLEM

5. Source : www.indianrailways.co.in, zonal railway office news, Blogs.
DATA COLLECTION

6. BOOKING PROCEDURE OF CIRCULAR JOURNEY TICKET :
• Once itinerary is finalized, one can approach the Divisional
Commercial Manager of the Division of certain major stations to
which the journey commencing station belongs. The Divisional
Commercial Manager or the station authorities will then calculate
the cost of the tickets based on itinerary. He will also inform the
Station Manager of the same in a prescribed format.
• One can purchase Circular Journey Tickets by presenting this form
at the Booking Office of the station where one can propose to start
their journey.
• One can the get the tickets reserved at their starting point. 30%
concession is granted on the cost of the Circular Journey Tickets
for Senior Citizens when travelling a minimum distance of 1000
kms.
DATA COLLECTION

7. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CIRCULAR JOURNEY TICKETS
• A maximum of eight break journeys will be admissible on a ticket
(this fact is not followed strictly in this assignment)
• Standard Circular Journey Tickets are also offered by Zonal Railways
• The circuit ticket charges work out cheaper than the individual legs
of journey put together.
• One can make custom made circular journey tickets by requesting
their zonal railway office.
• Available for all classes of travel, with Mail / Express fair only
• Fares levied as per your itinerary
• Validity period starts from date of commencement of journey
DATA COLLECTION

8. CIRCULAR TICKET BOOKING
FORM
Details of the form:
1. Date of issue
2. Station Name
3. Train name – Train Number
4. Journey Date
5. From – To
6. No. of Passengers
7. Distance
8. Description in case of combined
tickets
9. Nature of concession if any
10. Issuing authority
11. Fare
12. Reservation Charges
13. Total amount
14. Name and Sign of SM/BC
Fig: A sample booking form – circular ticket
15. Date of arrival
16. SM signature
DATA COLLECTION

9. Fig: Charts showing different
circular routes offered by
Indian railways
DATA COLLECTION

10. Fig: Chart showing
the rates offered by
Indian railways for
different distances
with Class of travel
DATA COLLECTION

11. Target User, Task Flow Analysis, Persona, Wireframes, Scenarios
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

12. TARGET USERS
• Circular journey ticket booking system has no chances to become a
mainstream, mass-market product to be used by everyone in India,
hence defining the target group of prospective users of the circular
ticket booking system becomes necessary
• Travelers are broadly classified into : leisure and business travelers.
• The target users are literate Indian users having a minimum
proficiency in computer and mobile usage. These include the travel
agencies/agents who plan and book tickets for pilgrimage tours and
holidays. The user group also encompasses those who take
business tours in a circuit in different locations.
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

13. CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

14. USER: DESIGN QUESTIONS – PART 1
On opening the application the following are the questions that
come to the users mind, the application to be designed should aim
to answer these questions progressively:
• Where all will I be going? How many passengers?
• What are the available schemes given by Indian railways?
• Does any of these suite my requirement, should I customize one
of them?
• What is the validity and cost of this scheme?
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

15. USER: DESIGN QUESTIONS – PART 2
Once the application is successful in providing the required
information, the user proceeds to reserve tickets for each leg of the
journey, the next task will be to answer the following questions:
• When will I start my trip? Quota if any?
• Based on my date and station points, where are the trains
available?
• What is the availability, reservation charges, arrival and departure
time of any train I choose?
• Do I/can I pay after reserving each leg of the journey or after
reserving all the part journeys?
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

16. RESEARCH FINDINGS
• The cost of the circular journey is calculated based on the Class of
travel and Distance covered. The passenger has to travel in the
same class for the entire circular journey.
• The reservation charges for individual journey are in addition to the
booking cost of the circular journey. For example, for a 6 point
circular journey of 4300 km the booking charges in sleeper class is
Rs.900 in addition to reservation charge from each leg that is
around Rs.30 – Rs.80 per leg.
• There are 2 main tasks in the entire process : (1) Circular ticket
booking ; (2) Reservation of trains for each leg of the journey.
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

17. RESEARCH FINDINGS
• There are minor differences in the schemes provided by different
zonal railways. The southern railways offers more easy way of
passenger customized circular journeys as compared to other
railways systems. (In this assignment the differences are neglected)
• In the current system, before a circular ticket is sanctioned
permissions of the zonal railway commissioner is required. This
assignment is done assuming no such permissions are required and
that all the circular journey tickets applied are sanctioned.
• The number of passengers travelling and the class of travel cannot
be changed in course of journey.
• This assignment assumes that no money is refundable after
reservation of a circular ticket.
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

18. CURRENT TASK FLOW DIAGRAM
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

19. PROPOSED TASK FLOW DIAGRAM
Details of passengers Each leg of journey has to
User Starts Confirm the choice and
travelling by the circular be reserved separately
application enter the class of travel
ticket
Add destinations as per Details starting with the
Proceed to payment date of journey needs to be
the prepared itinerary
filled
Are the Proceed to reserving for Check availability in a
No suggestions each leg of the journey particular train and make
fully/partly reservations.
suitable?
Payment to individual parts
Yes of journey could be done
The user books a Select a suitable route as one after another or
customized circular per suggestion together as a whole
ticket as per his need
Remove or modify the
given route as per
convenience
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

20. WIREFRAMES – CONCEPT 1
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

21. WIREFRAMES – CONCEPT 2
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

22. Concept 1: A Mobile application
Concept 2: A widget
Concept 3: A web application
DESIGN CONCEPTS

23. The mobile application shown in the following pages are drawn keeping in mind
that the application may be developed on netbeans for a java platform, and the
interactions designed are constrained by the usage of softkeys on a low-end or
a middle end mobile phone.
CONCEPT- I : A MOBILE APPLICATION
CIRCUIT BOOKING SUB-MODULE

24. APPLICATION FRAMEWORK
DESIGN CONCEPTS

25. 1 A java platform mobile application (J2ME)
2 Suitably designed for low-end, middle end mobile
phones
3 User login through irctc online login
credentials
4 Assuming that user is literate and can use
mobile phones
5 Specific details of how the tickets will be
sent or communicated to the users is
avoided
DESIGN CONCEPTS

26. CONCEPT- I : A MOBILE APPLICATION
CIRCUIT JOURNEY BOOKING SUB-MODULE

27. 1 Screen after login, 2 The user chooses 3 Passengers list, a 4 Destinations list,
circular ticket the circular ticket maximum of 6 user could fill out
booking and booking option passengers input as many as 10
followed by boxes are provided, destinations.
reservation this is as per the
number of slots in the
online reservation
DESIGN CONCEPTS

28. 5 A self prompting 6 The user chooses 7 A number of routes 8 The user chooses
option is provided Bangalore and are provided from the the one starting
in each input box. Tirupati as his database of pre-made from Vijayawada
primary destinations routes, the list through Bangalore
and looks at the displays all the routes and Tirupati.
available routes that include Bangalore
and Tirupati.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

29. 9 The user does not 10 The specified route 11 The user chooses 12 Final page where
wish to cover all is displayed, along Sleeper class for the the user checks
the stations in the with the distance entire length of his the data entered
route, so he makes and a choice for the journey. The cost is and is ready to pay
his choice of Class. calculated based on the for the booking.
stations. Default distance and class of
state all checked. travel. (refer to slide 9)
DESIGN CONCEPTS

30. 13 The user is 14 Details, verification 15 A successful transaction is
provided with a and PIN are entered carried out, confirmation is
number of sent to the users email id
payment options, using with he has registered
this is same as the in the irctc online and the
one provided in user receives a SMS
the online booking confirmation too.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

31. CONCEPT- I : A MOBILE APPLICATION
RESERVATION SUB-MODULE

32. 1 Home Screen 2 The user chooses 3 The list of all legs of 4 The user chooses
the reservation journey are displayed Vijayawada to
option with a status indicator Tirupati option.
button next to each of
them
DESIGN CONCEPTS

33. 5 The user is asked 6 The list of available 7 The details of the train 8 A reminder of the
to input the date trains on the date are displayed for users passengers
and the quota(in between the notification purpose. travelling together
case any) stations are listed, in the journey
the user chooses
“PRASHANTI
EXPRESS”
DESIGN CONCEPTS

34. 9 A reminder about 10 A reminder that 11 The status indicator is 12 The green status shows
the total cost, payment could be yellow, showing that that payment has been
putting together done now, or at a reservation details have made for those parts of
the service charge later stage after all been finalized but journey, and the user can
and the the reservations are payment is yet to be make a combined total
reservation fare. complete made payment for yellow ones
DESIGN CONCEPTS

35. A successful transaction is
carried out, e-ticket is sent
to the users email id using
with he has registered in
the irctc online and the user
receives a SMS
confirmation too.
13 Payment options 14 Card details 15 Filled out form
DESIGN CONCEPTS

36. The widget could be a sidebar application, desktop application or run on an
iphone (the prototype here is a sidebar application)
CONCEPT- II : A WIDGET

37. Widget home, showing the
various quick access to the
frequently used facilities
provided by Indian railways.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

38. Login page of the widget,
the users will use his web
login credentials to access
this facility.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

39. Once logged in, the user
views and interactive map
display where user can
zoom in and select and
view railway routes and
circuits by clicking on each
station.
A drop down form for filling
in details and booking, both
the map and the form can
be collapsed to avoid space
cluttering
DESIGN CONCEPTS

40. The form is functionally
similar to the mobile
application, where the user
first enters the passengers
details.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

41. The user subsequently
enters station and
destination details.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

42. The Map automatically
adjusts the zoom
appropriately as per the
locations entered.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

43. A list of all the circular lists
available are displayed ,
user chooses one from this
list that might suite his
need.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

44. The chosen route is shown
in the map, with all the
destinations and details on
rollover on each location
DESIGN CONCEPTS

45. The user could either use the
check boxes to select or
deselect any destination
point, or else could directly
delete the location site from
the map display, the
modified route is updated on
the map
DESIGN CONCEPTS

46. Final confirmation page
where the list of stations,
distance of travel and the
validity duration are shown
DESIGN CONCEPTS

47. Pre-payment page, where
all details are confirmed
and paid through the online
irctc account same as in the
mobile application case.
DESIGN CONCEPTS

48. The widget could be a sidebar application, desktop application or run on an
iphone (the prototype here is a sidebar application)
CONCEPT- III : A WEB APPLICATION

49. DESIGN CONCEPTS

50. DESIGN CONCEPTS

51. DESIGN CONCEPTS

52. DESIGN CONCEPTS

53. END