Ticket Reservation System for the Millennium Forum

BSc (Hons) Computing with Human Resource Management

Intelligent MultiMedia Module: COM556M2

Module Co-ordinator:
Prof. Paul McKevitt

Due Date: 30th April 2009

Naomi Chambers: B00355420

Claire Gallagher: B00355419
Ciaran Harte: B00341229
Charlene Mc Kinney: B00355418

Contents table

Chapter 1 Introduction

1 Introduction
The following report will outline the development of an automated Ticket Reservation
System for the Millennium Forum which will incorporate features in order to aid the
process for visually impaired users. This application has been designed for
customers to reserve theatre tickets for various shows.
1.1 Aims and Objectives
The main aim and objective of this system is to design and implement a speech
driven reservation system for show listings.
This application should allow customers to:
1) View show listings;
2) Select show;
3) View show description;
4) Check availability;
5) Reserve Tickets.

The information for the show description will be stored in a database that can be
accessed using spoken dialogue.
1.2 Overview of Chapters
This subchapter will outline the seven chapters within this report which are the
literature review, Requirements Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing and
Conclusion.
1.2.1 Chapter 2 - Literature Review/Background
This chapter will discuss the background research which was carried out within the
relevant areas of the design. Traditional Multimedia and Intelligent Multimedia will
also be outlined along with information on Visually Impaired Users. A sub section
regarding Speech technologies will also be discussed with reference to the CSLU
toolkit which is the software being used to implement the Ticket Reservation System
for the Millennium Forum. Similar systems will also be discussed.

1.2.2 Chapter 3 Requirements Analysis

This chapter will establish and discuss the requirements necessary for the Ticket
Reservation System for the Millennium Forum. The user, system, functional, nonfunctional, software and hardware requirements will be identified.
1.2.3 Chapter 4 Design
This chapter will outline the design process. This chapter involves implementing the
requirements identified in chapter 3 into the actual design of the Ticket Reservation
System for the Millennium Forum. A System architecture will also be included.
1.2.4 Chapter 5 Implementation
This chapter will outline the implementation of the Reservation Ticket System for the
Millennium Forum. As a database is required to store information on the shows,
show times, show listings etc this will be detailed within this section.
1.2.5 Chapter 6 Testing and Evaluation
This chapter will discuss the testing process which is employed for the Ticket
Reservation System for the Millennium Forum. Each testing method which is used
will be discussed along with the test results.
1.2.6 Chapter 7 - Conclusion
This chapter will provide a conclusion of the overall report and Ticket Reservation
System for the Millennium Forum. A critical analysis will also be included in order to
evaluate the project and future work which could be undertaken. Any problems which
were encountered will also be outlined.

Chapter 2 Literature Review/Background

2.1 Introduction
This chapter will discuss the background research which was carried out within the
relevant areas of the design. Traditional Multimedia and Intelligent Multimedia will
also be outlined along with information on Visually Impaired Users. A section
regarding Speech technologies will also be discussed with reference to the CSLU
toolkit which is the software being used to implement a Ticket Reservation System
for the Millennium Forum.
2.2 Traditional Multimedia
Traditional Multimedia consists of objects such as video and audio types.
Traditional multimedia middleware such as:

DirectShow from Microsoft

Apple's Quicktime

The above provides access only to multimedia devices directly connected to the
same PC an application is running on. The network is supported as a source of data
but the middleware cannot extend its control to other devices on the network. For
example, it is impossible to transparently watch TV via the TV card in your
colleague's PC, or control remote cameras attached to other PCs or directly to the
network. (Lohse, Slusallek &Wambach 2001)
2.3 Intelligent Multimedia
Mc Kevitt (1997, p.1) notes Intelligent Multimedia is a growing area which involves
the computer processing of language and vision information and representing it in
terms of its semantics. Semantics is identifying the study of meaning in
communication. Intelligent Multimedia is a computers ability to process and
understand an input in text, speech, images etc and responding to it.

2.4 Visually Impaired Users

Visual Impairment is when individuals have reduced vision and therefore can find it
difficult to view certain types of computer interfaces. Lehman (2007) notes Many
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people have some type of visual problem at some point in their lives. Some can no
longer see objects far away. Others have problems reading small print. Therefore it
is important to recognise the needs of visually impaired users.
2.5 CSLU Toolkit

The CSLU Toolkit was created to provide the basic framework and tools for people
to build, investigate and use interactive language systems. These systems
incorporate leading-edge speech recognition, natural language understanding,
speech synthesis and facial animation technologies. The toolkit provides a
comprehensive, powerful and flexible environment for building interactive language
systems that use these technologies, and for conducting research to improve them.
CSLU Toolkit (2008).

The CSLU Toolkit development started in 1992 and it has progressed to meet
different needs. Hoson (2008) has outlined the main goals of the CSLU Toolkit as:

easy to use;

powerful for research and development use;

systems that work in the real world;

incorporates research advances.

2.5.1 What is the CSLU Toolkit?

Figure 2.5.1 CSLU Toolkit (Hoson 2008)

As you can see from the above picture there are three main sections of the CSLU
Toolkit. The first section is the Fundamental Components which includes:

Audio Tools;
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Display Tools:

Speech Recognition;

Speech Generation;

Animated Faces.

The second section is the System Integration, at this point the components of the
system are brought together and system functionality is ensured. The third section is
the Technology Transfer, here the system ensures that the technology which has
been developed can be accessed by a range of users. In figure 2.4.1 the users
include High Schools, Universities, Researchers and the Industries.
2.5.2 CSLU Toolkit Core Technologies

Figure 2.4.2 CSLU Toolkit Core Technologies (Hoson 2008)

As you can see form the above picture the core technologies of the CSLU toolkit are:

Facial Animation: used in order to show emotions.

Text to Speech Synthetic voice: used to translate the text which is required to
be spoken by the toolkit.

Speech Recognition: used by the toolkit in order to understand the end user.

2.6 Speech Technologies

Speech technologies are used to make the system more acceptable and usable by
its users. The first choice of speech technology which could be used is Clear Voice.
Clear voice is the technology of noise cancellation for speech signals. This is used in
call centres and helps block out background noise which could interfere with the
system or responses given by the caller. As they will be new shows being added and
deleted each week the use of clear voice would be effective in creating a new list of
shows.
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Once a user makes a purchase using the system they can set up an account which
means that they details will be saved. One way of doing this securely is by using
Biometric Voice Verification (Voice Key) which is a voice-based access control
algorithm performing user authentication by voice password. In just 0.5 sec Voice
Key will identify a user and define his/her access rights to information and services.

2.7 Theatre background

Theatre is the division of the performing arts that acts out stories in front of an audience
using a mixture of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle. Together with the
narrative dialogue style, theatres also takes the forms as opera, ballet, mime, kabuki,
classical Indian dance, Chinese opera, mummers' plays, and pantomime.

2.8 Relevant Papers

This section outlines a number of relevant papers that have been reviewed,
discussed and critically analysed in our Intelligent Multimedia module. These papers
relate to areas such as language, vision and speech.
Week 2: Computational Models for Integrating Linguistic and Visual Information: A
Survey Srihari (1995)
Computational Models for Integrating Linguistic and Visual Information, surveys
research in developing computational models for integrating linguistic and visual
information. It discusses the importance of linking language and vision in order for a
system to exhibit intelligent behaviour. This paper includes an examination of
existing computational models, computationally motivated theories of human
cognition and major research issues, which arise in the task of integrating visual and
linguistic information. This paper acknowledges that more research is required in
developing an intelligent agent that has both language and perceptual abilities.
Week 4: The Behaviour Expression Animation Toolkit (BEAT) Cassell et al. (2001)

The Behaviour Expression Animation Toolkit (BEAT) allows animators to input typed
text that they wish to be spoken by an animated human figure, and to obtain as
output appropriate and synchronized nonverbal behaviours and synthesized speech
in a form that can be sent to a number of different animation systems. The toolkit is
extensible, so that new rules can be quickly added.

2.9 Human Computer Guidelines (HCI)

As the system which will being created is intended to be as user-friendly as possible,
in the design of the system, HCI must take centre place in order to design and
develop a system which will be as usable as possible and will meet the requirements
of all its users. The system will be the creation of an automated ticket booking
system for the Millennium Forum which will be fully automated. This means that in
order for someone to book tickets for a show they will simple speak to the system
and the system will do all the work for them. These will be discussed in more detail in
chapter four.
When designing this system the team will take into consideration the following
factors:

People with speech problems

People with Visual Impairment

2.10 Analysis of Similar Systems

In this section similar systems to the Ticket Reservation System for the Millennium
Forum will be discussed.

Online Booking Systems:

An online booking system is a system on the internet where users can book products
or services. Usually customers are required to fill out web-forms with details such as
their name, address and telephone number and are also required to provide
payment details such as credit/debit card details.

Online Availability Systems:

Online availability systems are systems on the internet where users can check the
availability of a product or service. If the required product/service is available
customers may be able to reserve it.
Both systems are similar to the system which is to be developed, as the two main
requirements of the Ticket Reservation System for the Millennium Forum are to be
able to check the availability of a show and to reserve a number of tickets.

Reservation system

Reservation systems are electronic systems that allow users to check the availability
of a product or service and then if available allows the end user to reserve the
product or service without payment.

These types of systems can be used for

reserving hotel rooms or reserving tables at a restaurant.

2.11 Conclusion

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This chapter provided a background on the relevant areas for this project, detailing
information on the different areas of Multimedia, the CSLU Toolkit, Speech
Technologies, Theatre, Reservation Systems, Visual Impairment and the HCI
Guidelines. Also included is a sub-chapter detailing the papers which were discussed
in class which are relevant to this project.

Chapter three will now discuss the

Requirements Specification. An analysis of similar systems to the Ticket Reservation

System have also been discussed, which has helped to identify useful elements that
could be included in the design of the Ticket Reservation System.Chapter 3
Requirements Specification
3.1 Introduction
The intention of the requirements analysis is to identify and evaluate the
requirements for the proposed system and then design and develop the system that
will address these. This chapter aims to recognise the user requirements, system
requirements, functional and non-functional requirements for the Ticket Reservation
System for the Millennium Forum. Similar systems will also be evaluated to ensure
the ticket reservation system will contain all the required functionality.

3.2 User Requirements

The target users for the Millennium Forum Reservation system is the current and
potential customers and also visually impaired individuals so it is very important to
make sure that it is designed and developed with their unique needs in mind.
The Millennium Forum Reservation system booking system will enable users to
make a reservation for tickets which they can collect at reception before the show.
According to Sommerville (2001) User requirements should only specify the external
behaviour of the system and should avoid, as far as possible design characteristics.
The user requirements are:
1) To provide a usable service for visually impaired customers;
2) To allow the reservation of tickets;

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3) To allow customers to choose seating area of their choice.

4) To allow customers to choose a number of tickets;
5) To allow users to select the show of their choice.

The functional and non-functional requirements of the system will now be discussed.
3.4 Functional Requirements and Non Functional Requirements

Functional Requirements
Sommerville (2004) has identified functional requirements as Statements of services
the system should provide how the system should react to particular inputs and how
the system should behave in particular situations. In some cases, the functional
requirements may also explicitly state what the system should do.

The main functional requirements for the Millennium Forum are as follows:

The system must provide the user with information of all current shows

The system must provide the user with information of up coming

events/shows

The system must allow users to book a quantity of tickets for a show on a
specific time and date.

The system must provide users with a booking confirmation

Non-functional Requirements
Sommerville (2004) has identified the non-functional requirements as constraints on
the services or functions offered by the system. They include timing constraints,

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constraints on the development process and standards. Non-functional requirements

often apply to the system as a whole.

The main non-functional requirements for the Millennium Forum are as follows:

Usability: the system will be fully operational and in working condition, along
with providing a user friendly interface for visually impaired users.

Speed: the system will allow customers to reserve tickets quickly.

Security: the system will contain security features in the form of a username
and password.

Reliability: the system will have a high availability rate.

Performance: the system will have a quick response rate.

3.5 System Requirements

This section details the system requirements for the Ticket Reservation System for
the Millennium Forum. The minimal hardware and software requirements will now be
outlined.

3.5.1 Hardware Requirements

The minimum hardware requirements for the Ticket Reservation System for the
Millennium Forum are:

A Computer;

512MB RAM;

100MB Hard Disk Space;

500 MHZ Processor;

Sound Card;

Microphone;
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Headset.

3.5.2 Software Requirements

The minimum software requirements for the Ticket Reservation System for the
Millennium Forum are:

Windows 97 or above;

CSLU Toolkit;

Microsoft Access;

Macromedia Fireworks.

3.6 Methodology

The development of any software needs to be a precise plan of action. This plan can
be also known as a process model. A process model is made up of the steps that are
to be taken as the development of the software progresses. The following process
models have been researched in order to decide which will be most appropriate for
this project.

The Waterfall Model

This model is also known as the Linear Sequential Model, it suggests a systematic
sequential approach to software development that begins at the system level and
progresses through analysis, design, coding, testing and support (Burback, 1998)

The stages of the Waterfall model are shown in Figure 4.1

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Figure 4.1 The Waterfall Method (Sommerville, 2001)

The Spiral Model
The spiral model is an evolutionary software process model that couples the iterative
nature of prototyping with the controlled and systematic aspects of the linear
sequential model. It provides the potential for rapid development of incremental
versions of software. Using the spiral model, software is developed in a series of
incremental releases. A spiral model is divided into a number of framework activities,
also called task regions. There are usually between three and six regions
(Pressman, 1997).

Figure 4.4 The Spiral Model (Wiley, 2002)

3.7 Rapid Application Development

Figure 4.3 Wysteria 2008

Maner (1997) identifies rapid application development as a software development process
that allows usable systems to be built in as little as 60-90 days, often with some
compromises.

3.8 Choice of Methodologies

After evaluating the methodologies we decided to use the RAD because this best
suits our project requirements due to the short period of time we have to develop the
application. It also has been decided that UML will be used to support the design
methodology as this includes a wide collection of tools and allows the modelling of a
system from many different views.
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3.9 Conclusion

This chapter provided information on the requirement specification. The User,

Functional, Non-Functional, Hardware and Software requirements were identified
and will be the basis of the design for the implementation for this system. The
methodology has also been outlined and the storyboards have been designed.
Chapter four will involve implementing the requirements.

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4 Design
4.1 Introduction
This chapter identifies how the requirements gathered in chapter three are
implemented into the design of the system. The system architecture, the HCI
guidelines and the storyboards for the system will be outlined.

4.2 System Architecture

Sommerville (2007) describes the first stage of the design process as the
architectural design. Sommerville also states the process of establishing a basic
structural framework that identifies the major components of a system and the
communications between these components.
4.2.1 Application Architecture

Chitnis et al (2009) state that the Use case diagram is used to identify the primary
elements and processes that form the system. The primary elements are termed as
"actors" and the processes are called "use cases." The Use case diagram shows
which actors interact with each use case.

A use case diagram has been developed in order to identify the processes that the
system needs to carry out; it outlines the relationship between the different functions
and can be seen in figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Use Case Diagram

4.3 HCI Guidelines

In designing the Ticket Reservation System Millennium Forum, the eight HCI
guidelines outlined by Atakan (2006) have been taken into consideration to ensure
that the system is suitable for all types of users needs including those who are
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visually impaired. The important aspect of this software product is a well laid out and
intuitive user interface also the spoken dialogue should be easily understood.
Abbreviations and technical words should be avoided in order to avoided user missunderstanding and confusion.
Smith-Atakan (2006) outlines five of the best known design guidelines that can be
applied for the design and creation of a suitable internet revision interface. If the
interface is to be of a high standard in terms of HCI these must be applied to our
system and will now be discussed:

Learnable: Meaningful names and labels will be used so customers actions

can be quickly learned and therefore, memorised.

Predictable: Customers will know what the system offers and what must be

done to carry out the reservation of tickets as a simple approach to design will be
taken.

Consistent: The system will maintain consistency throughout in order to

promote usability and learn-ability.

Flexible: Flexibility enhances the communication between the customer and

system interfaces. Interfaces will be flexible as this is good practice as it allows for
the customer to operate the system on their own terms, for example, being able to
resize screens or minimize and maximize windows.

Responsive: the system will be responsive to the customers as the spoken

dialogue will reinforce what the customer says. The customer will be kept informed
what is being carried out.

4.4 Storyboards

Storyboards have been utilised in the design phase of Millennium Forum to provide
an insight into how the user interfaces will appear. User Interfaces will be kept to a
minimum as spoken dialogue will be used to help aid the experience of visual
impaired users. (see appendix 9.2)

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Mallon (1995) states that a storyboard is an expression of everything that will be

contained in the program -- what menu screens will look like, what pictures (still and
moving) will be seen when and for how long, what audio and text will accompany the
images, either synchronously or hyperlinked. Typically, storyboards may be written
documents and off-the-shelf storyboard pads for TV and video formats, adaptable for
multimedia, are available. For me, the storyboard expresses, in one way or another,
everything that can be seen or heard or experienced by the end-user of the
multimedia program. It's more than a test-of-concept model and just short of the final
product specification document.
There are significant advantages of using storyboards within our design, these
advantages include:
1) It allows us to see how the system will look once implemented, therefore if the

storyboard does not look good we have the ability to change this.
2) We will be able to spot errors.
3) The storyboards can be evaluated by the whole group.
4) Advanced planning can help produce a more usable interface.

4.5 Design Process Used (UML)

Unified Modelling Language is a graphical visualisation language. The UML standard

defines many types of diagrams however for this project use case diagram will be
used, this has been implemented using Rational Rose. Use Case diagrams allows
us to easily view the communications between the different functions of the system
as can be seen in figure 4.1

4.6 Interface Design

It is important for the design of the interface to be considered in order to produce a

usable system for all users. A variety of users may use the system and those may
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range from novice users to expert users, the system needs to be able to
accommodate both, as previously stated one of the aims of this project is to develop
a system that is usable by visually impaired users. Therefore a basic approach will
be taken to the design of the interface and a minimum number of interfaces will be
implemented.

4.7 Database Design and Connectivity

In order to for the system to be able to advise users of the available tickets, shows,
shows descriptions and show times a database is required to store this information
and to allow the system to retrieve this information when required. A Microsoft
Access Database will be implemented and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) will
be incorporated in order to connect the database to the CSLU Toolkit, as this will
allow the information to flow from the database to the system. Advantages of using a
database have been outlined by Connolly and Beggs (2005) include:

1) Control of data redundancy;

2) Data consistency;
3) Improved security;
4) Data independence.

4.8 Conclusion

Now the design process has been outlined it will now be implemented in accordance
with the human computer interaction guidelines this will be discussed in chapter 5.
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Chapter 5 Implementation
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to present a step by step account of the
implementation of the Ticket Reservation system for the Millennium Forum.
According to Sommerville (2001; p45) throughout the implementation stage of the
software development process the software design is realised as a set of programs
or program units. This means that there are several ways to implement a system
which includes unit, module and system implementation. For this project the
database and system implementation will be discussed.
Database Implementation
The database for the ticket reservation system was implemented using Microsoft
Access 2007. It was agreed upon by the group that it would be best to use Access as
all the team has prior knowledge and experience using Microsoft Access 2007.
Microsoft Access 2007 also allows the user to have two view points of the tables
which include design view and database view. Implementing a database has allowed
us to set validation rules ensuring invalid data cannot be entered, the properties
allows us to set the criteria for the ticket reservation system, and allows us to
incorporate usernames and passwords. Figure 5.1 shows a database table in the
design view were we have been able to set the field size, in this instance it is eight
characters long and the field has been identified as required field therefore advising
this field must be completed.

Figure 5.1: Access in the design view

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

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There are many objects available in RAD which have been used in the
implementation of the Ticket Reservation Booking System SLI. Objects included in
the implementation of this system are:
Start Object - The start object indicates the point where the dialog begins for the
ticket reservation system. All RAD applications must begin with the start object.
Sub-dialogue resembles a mini RAD canvas. Used to organise the application into
smaller separate components and provides a much clearer and neater canvas. Subdialogues can be reused time and time again throughout the application. In relation
to the Ticket Reservation Booking System SLI this icon was used to take the user of
the system to a sub screen which is where they can select their tickets and seats for
the show. Figure 5.2 shows the process of booking tickets and seats for a show
using Sub-dialogue. Figure 5.3 shows the process of what happens within the subdialogue objects associated with this application.
Media The media object has two methods of operation which are Present Media
and Remove Media. Present Media, presents images and clickable image maps
on the screen, in relation to the ticket reservation booking system it presents the
poster which outlines the current shows and information on the shows. Remove
Media removes the image that is presented on screen. Remove Media is used
within the system, it is auctioned six times in total for example it removes the seating
plan which is present in each sub-dialogue associated which each show.
Goodbye as with every RAD having to start with the start object, the same method
rule applies with the end of any RAD application. The only way to finalise and end an
application is by finishing with the goodbye object and so this has been implemented
at the end of the ticket reservation system.
Figure 5.2: Use of Sub-dialogue objects in the ticket reservation booking
system

Figure 5.3: An inside view of the sub-dialogue object

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System Functionality
The main functionality of the ticket reservation system is to allow customers to
reserve tickets for shows in the Millennium Forum, In order to perform this task
successfully there are a number of steps that the customers need to undertake.
Customers need to be register to use the system; once customers are registered
they will receive a username and password which is required to process
reservations. For the purpose of this small prototype a number of usernames which
are in the form of pin numbers were generated along with passwords.
In order for the system to verify if the username and password entered are correct
the system connects to the database and retrieves the relevant information. In order
to attach the database to the RAD the following steps were carried out:
1. The Tcl ODBC extension package was downloaded and installed;
2. A Data Source Name (DSN) was created for the database;
3. The RAD canvas was linked to the database.
Figure 5.4 illustrates the code used in order to load the TclODBC and this outlines
the Tcl code required in order to complete this task.

Figure 5.4: Action object check_db

Figure 5.4 also shows the code used in order to retrieve the password associated
with each username which is registered to the system. This code simply checks the
database to see if the username exists and if it does then it checks to see if the
password entered by the customer is correct.
set password [db "Select password from Users where Username = $user"]#
Adding Speech functionality

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The speech prompts that the ticket reservation system use are entered into the
generic objects. This is done by double clicking on the generic object icon, and then
the following screen is displayed.
Figure 5.5: RAD prompt screen
Under the Text To Speech (TTS) tab is where the prompt is entered and this is what
is spoken to the customer when using the system.
RAD only recognises pre-defined words therefore the prompts entered must inform
the customer what to say so that the application can run smoothly. In order to carry
this out successfully the red ports have been populated with answers so that the
customers responses can be judged according to pre-defined inputs that the system
will expect. For example the spoken dialogue from the system to the customer may
be How many tickets would you likely to reserve, 1, 2, 3 or 4? the customer then
knows to reply with the number 1, 2, 3 or 4.
Figure 5.6 highlights the welcome object in the ticket reservation system. This is the
first response the systems gets from the customer as the object asks the user if they
would like to reserve tickets using the automated ticket reservation system for the
Millennium Forum.
Figure 5.6: Welcome object with pre-defined responses
If the customer answers yes the system will automatically direct them to the login
sub-dialogue which is the left port. This allows the customer to continue using the
system. If the customer had of answered no the system travels to the goodbye icon
which is the right port were the customer sees the end the application. If the
customer answers a response that is not predefined and therefore not recognised by
the system, for example bananas the system will say that it does not understand
and will repeat the question until the user says either yes or no.
In order to set a response which the customer needs to say we simply double clicked
the red port and then placed the required response. In relation to figure 5.6 the left
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port has a response of yes and the right port has a pre-defined answer of no.
Figure 5.7 highlights how the responses are applied to the port, for this illustration it
outlines the response associated with the left port.

Figure 5.7: Setting a pre-defined response of Yes

In order to set a response which will be recognised by the system the word that we
wished the application to understand was entered into the Words box and then the
Update All button was clicked in order to automatically update the Pronunciation
box. Once this was done the OK button was clicked and this means that when the
question is asked to the customer if the respond yes it will continue onto the next
step of the application.
Present/ Remove Media
The media object is used various times throughout the ticket reservation system to
present visual aids and information to the user. The visual aids include the poster
which highlights information about the shows. When the media button is right clicked
it has two main options as previously discussed these are present media and
remove media. If you select present media from the two options the following window
will appear.

Figure 5.8: Present Media Window

Figure 5.8 shows the areas on the screen which includes window placement. The
window placement area meant that we could choose a specific position on screen to
place our media, for example we have place it in the centre of the screen, In total
there are nine placements to choose from.
The image area allows users to incorporate images within the system and therefore
enhancing the interfaces which customers view. The poster within the system was
implemented in this way.

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The image map features allowed us to edit an image with clickable sections which
work like hyperlinks. Within the system users are presented with an interface with a
image of the Millennium Forums seating plan. Using the special features allowed us
to predefine clickable areas which customers can click in order to choose if they
would like to sit in the upper or lower tier, as shown in figure 5.9. The outline in green
shows where a customer can click in order to choose the seating area for the upper
tier.

Figure 5.9: Image Map editing Window

Figure 5.10 illustrates the window which appears in order to remove the media
related to the seating plan. Once a customer chooses the upper or lower tier the
seating plan should disappear. This has been done by clicking removemedia.

Figure 5.10: Remove media object choice window

There are no limits to number of sections which can be edited within image maps
however due to the fact that this is only a small application it was agreed upon by the
team that there should be two sections which are lower level tier and upper level tier,
also incorporating a large number of options of a user to choose from may cause
confusion.
Conclusion
This chapter began with the database implementation process and focused on the
system functionalities support by images then the system designs. As the group feel
a useful system which has met the outlined requirements in chapter three has been
developed and implemented the testing process will now take place.

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6 Testing
6.1 Introduction
The testing process of the Ticket Reservation System will now be discussed. It is
crucial that any system which is developed is tested. Testing is the process of trying
to find as many errors as possible so that they can then be resolved and the system
can then be deemed usable.
6.2 What is testing?
Testing involves executing the implemented software using test data in the system,
examining outputs and monitoring the operational behaviour to ensure the system
works effectively.

Testing is a dynamic technique of verification and validation

because it works with an executable representation of the system (Sommerville,

2001).
6.3 Testing Techniques
There are a number of techniques of testing available. Some methods includes Unit
testing, Integration Testing, System testing and Acceptance testing.
6.4 Unit Testing
Unit testing is the process of testing each individual module to check for any errors
and to determine if they meet the requirements. This method incorporates white box
testing techniques. All individual units of the systems were tested one error was
identified which when a user selected the lower tier to be seated in, the upper tier
was selected. This problem was resolved easily by developing a new image map.
6.4.2 Black Box Testing
Black box testing as the name suggests views the system as a black box it is
unconcerned with the internal working of the system. The behaviour of the system is
determined by studying the inputs and then relates outputs (Sommerville, 2001.)
6.4.3 White Box Testing
White box testing also known as glass box testing, is a software test methodology at
the module level where the test cases are derived from the internal structure of the

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system. The user performing the tests will require a detailed knowledge of the
working of the (Pressman, 2000).
6.7 System Testing
System testing checks that, when all the modules are integrated together, overall
system functionality is achieved (Pressman, 1997). The main aim of the system
testing is to discover any errors or bugs when the system is being put together.
Task
1) Reserve four tickets.

Expected Outcome
Tickets
should

Actual Outcome
be Expected outcome

was

2) Reserve ten tickets.

reserved.
Tickets should

achieved.
be Expected outcome

was

achieved.
selected Expected outcome

was

reserved.
3) Whilst reserving tickets Tier
was
select lower tier.

correctly.

not

achieved.

6.8 Integration Testing

Integration testing, also known as integration and testing (I&T), is a software
development process which program units are combined and tested as groups in
multiple ways. (Anon 2008) The integration testing process for the Online Ticket
Reservation involved bringing together the different modules such as the software
application and the database and performing checks and sample runs of the system.
No errors or problems were identified in this process therefore it was successful.
Acceptance Testing
Sommerville (2001) notes This is the final stage in the testing before the system is
accepted for operational use. The acceptance testing for the ticket reservation
system was carried out in two phases, the first phase was the alpha testing and the
second phase was the beta testing.

Alpha testing: here the developer and client worked together in order to
determine if the system was usable and therefore accepted. The result of the
process was successful and the system was accepted.

29

Beta testing: here the system was released to a number of sample customers,
no errors or problems were reported and so the system passed this stage of
the testing.

6.5 Conclusion
This chapter identified the testing processes which have been employed in order to
ensure no errors existed in the application. The system has proven to be currently
error free as any errors which were discovered were examined, retested until they
were resolved. Therefore The Ticket Reservation System for the Millennium Forum
has been deemed successful.

30

Chapter 7 Conclusion
Overall we believe that we have achieved our main aims and objectives. We
believe a consistent approach was taken to the design and implementation
of the system therefore allowing visually impaired users to use the system
easily and successfully. Currently there are not many reservation or
booking systems that visually impaired customers can use easily and so
we feel this system would be beneficial not only for visually impaired users
but all customers. To conclude we believe we have achieved all our
requirements outlined in chapter three and therefore feel we have
produced a successful system.
Chapter 8 Critical Analysis
From the testing it can be seen that the ticket reservation system meets
requirements outlined in chapter three and therefore an effective and usable system
has been developed and implemented.
The acceptance testing allowed sample customers to use the system and they it
interesting to use and they enjoyed certain aspects of the system such as the
spoken dialogue. Certain customers commented on the use of the different shows
and that all they had to say to reserve a show was state the show number instead of
the show title which made the system more user-friendly.
Others commented on the seating plan, many customers liked that they could select
the seating area that best suited their needs. One example of this is that a mother
with small children was processing a testing example of reserving show tickets, and
found it satisfying that she would be able to choose the lower tier for seats so that
hey could see the show.
The customers of the system commented how easy the system was to use; however,
a few commented that at times they had to repeat their response as the system did
not fully understand their original answer. This proved to have a rather negative
impact on the systems customers as the process became frustrating and one user

31

commented that they would not like to use this system until it could understand
people with different speech accents.
One additional negative aspect of the system is the prompts, a few customers felt
that they may not be as clear as they could be as some prompts are long and others
are short, therefore a user could get bored of distracted.
Good aspects of the system:
1) Simple process: the process is extremely simple and errors cannot be made

easily by customers.
2) Usability for Visually Impaired Customers: the usability for visually impaired

customers is quite high as the interfaces have been kept to a minimum and
any interfaces that do appear are large and easily viewed.
Unfavourable aspects of the system:
1) Lengthy dialogue spoken to customers: customers may become distracted or

tired having to listen carefully to a long spoken dialogue; shorter more

frequent spoken dialogue would prove more effective.
2) Miss-understanding accents: as the software tool the CSLU Toolkit has been

developed in the American environment it is sometimes difficult for it to

understand Irish accents.

8.1 Future Work

Future developments which could be implemented within the ticket reservation
system are:
1) Once a customer completes the process of reserving tickets they could be

taken to another screen were the tickets can be printed or saved.

2) Security features could be implemented to a higher standard and then a

payment feature could be incorporated. Therefore customers could reserve

32

and pre pay for their tickets if they wish. By incorporating this feature the
Millennium Forum would be guaranteed to be paid for reserved tickets.
3) Another feature which could be incorporated into the design of the ticket

reservation system would be the ability for customers to choose actual seats.
At the minute customers can chose the upper or lower tier, by allowing
customers to chose and reserve actual seats could boost customer
satisfaction. Also if the seat has already been reserved for a show it could
display a red x on the unavailable seats so customers know they cannot
select these seats.

33

9 Appendices
As the system has been designed with the needs of visually impaired customers in
mind, the number of interfaces that appear to customers have been kept to a
minimum in order to enhance the service visually impaired customers experience.
Below we have outlined the interfaces that do appear as part of the reservation
process.

9.1 User Interfaces

Interface that appears with the description of the shows:

Interface that appears in order to choose seating area.

34

9.2 Story Boards

9.2.1 The log In Screen

9.2.2 The Show Page

9.2.3 The seating Page

35

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