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The applications that constitute our system can be classified into four major groups shown in the following schema.
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The Service applications are the ones that behave like robots and services and are usually transparent to the user. Only administrators have to deal with them when configuring the system. They are usually run automatically by scheduled tasks in regular intervals. Some are used as interfaces between the system and the neighboring applications like reservation systems or accounting applications. Others serve as database interfaces converting data between various formats used within the company.
Next group are System utilities - also mostly used by administrators. Good examples for this group are Users - user profile configurator and Filer - transfer of selected database files into text files or vice versa. These applications are run mostly manually on occasional basis. Web applications are getting more and more important. Many of them are used to interpret data into forms that are appropriate for the Internet or serve as user interfaces for various mobile devices like handhelds or mobile phones. Desktop applications are the most significant group and certainly most familiar to an average user. They are generally designed to perform specific tasks in certain phases of flight operations. Their modularity mostly corresponds to the organization of departments within the company. |
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As companies have different profiles, scopes and strategies some modules are suitable for them while others are not. On the other hand other solutions might already exist within the company which perform their functions quite satisfactorily.
In such cases only selected applications can be used to perform the necessary functionalities. However, since some modules rest on results of other modules and can not perform without close cooperation with them we have added a table on the right that explains these correlations. The valid combinations of selected modules are specified in the table. After we have defined modules that will suit our needs, we need to adapt them to their new environment. This is a matter of configuration, customization and tailoring. |
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On the other hand, there might be some existing applications that need to be connected to our system. Therefore another selection has to be made to determine which service applications are necessary to act as interfaces, perform conversions and transfer data. And sometimes even that is not enough - the differences are so big and the systems so unique that new service applications have to be introduced.   |
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