ON-LINE APPLICATIONS

 1. Banking:

In banks the customers, present cheques for withdrawing money. The clerk verifies from
the register the signature of the customer. (The customer has signed in the application form
while opening an account). Then he checks from a ledger the customer’s balance. If the
customer has sufficient balance to cover the cheque amount, the clerk passes the cheque for
payment, and updates the balance.

 There are a number of operations that the bank carries out of which the above is an
example. We will see how the above operation called personal banking is computerized.
Suppose you want to open a bank account. The bank official hands over a form to you.
You fill up the details (such as name, address, profession etc.) and sign the application. The
bank stores this information in a computer on which a banking software runs. The customer’s
signature is scanned by suitable devices and incorporated in the computer file.
If you present a cheque to the clerk in the bank, he can check the signature manually. If
he is satisfied with the correctness, he can enter you account number and the cheque amount into
the computer which checks your account and updates the amount. The clerk then pays you the
money. In the method, the payment is manual and accounting is automatic. There is another
way where the checking of you accounts as well as payment is made by computer using an
automatic teller machine. Let us study this.
A machine similar to automatic coffee vending machine is installed at selected places. It
is connected to the bank’s computer. When you open an account, the bank gives you a special
type of card. Your name, account number and address are suitably recorded. Your signature is
magnetically recorded in that card. All these details are suitably converted and recorded in the
computer also. When you want to withdraw money, you go to the teller counter and press a few
buttons. You then insert your card in the slot provided in the machine. The machine reads you
account number and signature from the card. It sends them to the computer which checks you
account number and signature. If they tally, the computer sends a relevant message to the
automatic teller machine. It asks you to enter the amount. You may enter the amount through
the buttons on the machine. Again the computer checks if you have sufficient balance. If so, it
instructs the machine to pay you. The ATM then delivers the cash on the tray fixed in it. You
may collect the money.
This is only one example of application of computer in banks. Now large systems
installed at the head office of a particular bank are connected to systems installed at its branches
all over the country. The computers of different banks are also connected together. By sending
suitable messages money can be transferred from one bank to the other. This is called
Electronics Funds Transfer.

2. Railway Reservation System:

Application of computers in railway reservation has made tremendous impact in India.
Before computerizing, there were a number of counters, each counter serving a particular train or
a few trains. If you want to make a reservation to, say Delhi, you have to go to the particular
counter and join the queue. The clerk had a register in which two or three pages are allotted to
each date. He may have two or three more registers for other trains for which he is making
reservation.
He puts seat numbers on a page one by one and keeps writing the names of passengers
for whom he reserves seats against seat numbers. After some time, if somebody cancels his
ticket, he strikes off the name. When the next person reserves for that time and date, the clerk

writes his name above the cancelled name. This gives rise to lot of confusions. In a number of
situations, two persons used to be allotted the same seat.
With the increasing population the Government is increasing the number of trains. Thus
the volume of data to be handled has also increased enormously. You can just imagine the
confusion this will create if we are still following the manual system of reservation.
We just saw how manual system has become unsuitable in the present context. Now let
us study how the computerized railway reservation system works.
There is a central computer with a number of terminals connected to it the details of all
trains for which reservation is done at the region are stored in the computer. The railway
reservation system runs on this computer. The terminals are situated in booking counters. It is
possible to install the terminals in a far off place and connect them to the computer through
cables.
When the passenger presents the reservation form to the booking clerk he enters the train
number, date, name, age and other details of the passenger. The program checks availability of
seats in that particular train on that particular date. If accommodation is available, the clerk
presses a button on the key board and the computer prints out the ticket on the printer connected
to the terminal. It also updates the computer file to reflect the new reservation position.
Suppose you wanted the ticket for train number 1, but you get only a waiting list. The
clerk tells you your position in the waiting list. If you want you can get a wait listed ticket. If
not, you tell the clerk to check for accommodation in a different train to your destination. The
clerk only has to re-enter the train number. The computer checks availability, reserves you ticket
on that train if a seat is available and prints the ticket.
Thus you can go to any booking counter and request for reservation in any train being
operated on that station. Also the errors found in the manual reservation method are eliminated.
The reservation system is broader based as follows: Today computers in different cities
are connected together. (It is called networking). Suppose you are in Coimbatore. You want to
book your journey from Madras to Coimbatore. You can go to a booking counter (Railways
have opened a number of booking counters in the same city) in Coimbatore and reserve your
ticket from Madras to Coimbatore. Thus there is lot of flexibility in reservation.
We studied that computers are capable of storing lot of data on the hard disk. They are
also capable of retrieving data fast. So the list of passengers for a particular day for a particular
train is also printed out very fast.
The reservation data for a number of trains over a period of time is available. By suitable
software, the railway authorities can prepare the data regarding passengers traveling in different
trains to different places during different periods. This helps them plan for new trains, reschedule
the running trains and make lot of analysis regarding passenger traffic.

3. Air Lines Reservation System:

We saw how computers handle the railway reservation and offer a number of advantages.
They can be used also in Airlines reservation. Only difference will be that some booking
counters in the reservation network may be situated in different countries.
This means that we have to connect computers across the countries. Such networks are
operational now.
In the coming years, computerized reservation systems will become very common. Even
hotel accommodation reservation systems for major hotels are coming up. If we integrate flight
and hotel reservation, it is convenient for the passengers.