The main purpose of this report is to highlight the importance of an interactive system in our daily life. The advancement in the field of science and technology has led to the growth of new technologies which have a direct positive in our life one of such interactive system is the online automatic train ticket vending (Rapp 2017). The introduction of this advanced online train ticket vending machine had a direct positive impact on regular commuters in a railway station. The benefits and limitations of using such interactive systems along with its working principle, worldwide acceptance is described in details in this report which will be helpful for all the organization that are looking forward to install and maintain such interactive systems in their environment (Schreder et al. 2016). The outcome of using such interactive systems are discussed in this paper. The heuristic evaluation methodology which is conducted on this system will be helping us to know about its specifications and utilities with a different approach (Sutcliffe, van Assche and Benyon 2016). The evaluators who are engaged in the process were given specific instructions which are the main reasons behind accepting the outcome of the evaluation technique (Viloria and Lis Gutiérrez 2016). The entire evaluation process is described beautifully in the mid sections of the report.
The use of this kind of interactive system has helped the railway authorities by as well as the commuters by saving their time. The implementation of the online automatic railway ticket vending system in both the reserved and unreserved ticket counters is described in this report (Rathod, Patil and Shelar 2017). The different types of functionalities provided by these vending machines are so much useful for the commuters that once they use this system they would never go back to the primitive methods of buying a ticket by standing in the long queues (Zhai, Zhao and Chen 2018). This type of system is helpful in both the types of journey such as local journey from one part of the city to another as well as for the long journey such as from one part of the country to another (Pereira and Baranauskas 2015). These fully automatic systems are fully automatics with a very user-friendly nature, instructions are provided in each step of the transaction that is the reason why most of the railways authorities started using this interactive system (Peng, Song and Yang 2018). The security of the payment gateway integrated into this interactive system is also very secure so the commuters can also retain their financial security while using this type of interactive system.
The extensive developments in the field of science and technology have given rise to different kinds of systems which have the capability to make our life much easier (Xie et al. 2018). One of such inventions is the online automatic train ticket vending machine in the platforms. It is a system designed and developed using the automation technology; minimum human interventions are required for the functionality of the system (Palanque, Martinie and Winckler 2017). Even this system requires very low maintenance as compared with the other types of interactive systems. This system is a tall machine with a screen with high definition display, a slot for inserting the cards and a place where printed tickets are collected (Qin, Li and Che 2016). The mode of ticket booked by the commuters can also be selected by them, if they want the ticket on their personal devices they should be registering their account details in their profiles and proceed with the payment option. Also, they can get their tickets physically from the interactive systems (Yin et al. 2017). After the tickets are confirmed the commuters are notified with a message that their tickets are confirmed (Ou, Davison and Wong 2016). All the details related to the ticket such as the ticket number, time of the train, seat number are given beautifully on the ticket.
The users of this type of interactive system can have their own smartcards for the transactions which are provided by the railway authorities to the commuters. Those smartcards need to be recharged regularly with the help of personal financial accounts (Ornelas, Silva and Silva 2016). These accounts have to be managed well by the railway authorities in order to retain commuters. Every new commuter has to create their own accounts and then with their accounts they can buy train tickets (Narumi et al. 2016). The smart cards are inserted into a specific slot of the vending machine. Upon insertion of the card commuters can see their details and select the location of their destination, commuters can also check their total available balance while inserting the smart cards (Miki 2014). The online automatic vending machine has greater flexibility in choosing the language as different types of commuters uses this advanced system (Majewski and Kacalak 2016). These advanced ticketing systems can bear extreme adverse weather conditions which place them in a more better than the primitive conventional methods of ticket collection buying a ticket (Turner 2018). The other type of issue related to the working of the new advanced ticket vending machine issues is the server issue (Li 2015). The increase of the business reach of the vending machines led to its growth and development in the remote areas of the country as well.
The prime functionality of the vending machine is to see the seat availability of a specific train and selecting tickets based on that the designing and backend code of the online train ticket vending machine is done in such a way so that it is very easy to use for different types of commuters (Leriche et al. 2018). The functionality of these systems is rigorously tested using effective testing techniques. There are two types of techniques involved in the testing phase of these vending machines such as the white box testing and the black box testing (Johnston, 2017). The white box testing is defined as the type of testing in which the test is conducted by the programmers of the backend codes of the vending machines. The proper functionality of the backend functions such as payment integration is checked using this type of testing procedure (Hall, Lowe and Hirsch 2015). While the black box testing involves all the testing from the point of view of the commuters. The outcome of these finding is given prime importance in the production of these advanced systems. The printed tickets of these advanced systems are of great quality (Ganti 2018). Different kinds of security measures are also incorporated into these systems such as the backend firewall and web application firewall (Fogarty 2017). These systems are built in such a way that so that the smart cards are recharged with a wide range of credit or debit cards, they have no compatibility issues with the other payment gateways.
The evaluation methodology selected for the detailed examination of this online automatic train ticket vending machine is the Heuristic evaluation. This evaluation is conducted by a team of 5 members which include a foreign national also. This evaluation method has some specific objectives and instructions which are strictly followed in order to maximize its effectiveness. These instructions are described in the following table.
|
Instructions to the evaluators |
|
Note: We gratefully welcome the evaluators who are here to share their point of view on the Heuristic Evaluation for the automatic ticket vending machine. This evaluation of the innovative system is required to find out if this system is proficient enough to grab the target market or not. Total Time taken for the process: 2 Hours General Instructions: The evaluators are to follow the steps as below: 1. The Heuristic Evaluation paper provided to you would have few tasks for you to perform with the ticketing system. Go through them and perform the tasks accordingly. 2. Note down every issue found in the evaluation process and accordingly update the severity in the paper. Disciplinary instructions: 1. The evaluators should not achieve any immaterial task during the assessment. 2. Provide suitable evaluator information and use logical language. 3. Do not be influenced by any other evaluators. 4. Report any challenges during the evaluation process directly to the authorities. |
Form 1: Instruction Sheet
(Source: Created by Author)
The two foremost specifications which are considered while this evaluation is done are the backend functionalities of the system and the user interface of the system. These two specifications are selected because examining these two can significant have an impact on the proper utilization of the advanced system. A chart with specific instructions were given to the evaluators before the evaluation process starts which stated the different aspects of a heuristic evaluation such as the markings of each issue with the help of Nielsen heuristic evaluation, rating is done out of 0 to 4, each rating having a specific meaning such as which are described below.
The following table will give the readers of this document an idea about the issues, heuristics which are violated after the incorporation of this advanced system.
|
Concern |
Heuristic(s) violated |
How was it found: |
|
|
Task |
|||
|
User Friendly |
1 |
ü |
System is easy to navigate |
|
ü |
Flow of the system |
||
|
ü |
Searching locations |
||
|
ü |
Entering data |
||
|
Financial security of the commuters |
2 |
ü |
Display of content |
|
ü |
Flow of the payment |
||
|
ü |
Data security |
||
|
ü |
Satisfaction |
Table 1: Heuristic Evaluation Methodology
(Source: Created by the Author)
The next step of the heuristic evaluation methodology considers the results of the first phase along with its severity ratings. The severity ratings regarding this heuristic evaluation is counted from 0 to 10. These ratings increase with complexity of the issues. The following table will be giving the severity ratings as provided by the evaluators.
|
Problems |
Frequency |
Severity rating |
|
Problem in understanding the system |
3 |
3 |
|
Problem in searching location |
1 |
2 |
|
Problem in entering amount |
3 |
5 |
|
Issues in display screen |
2 |
6 |
|
Problem in consistency |
3 |
5 |
|
Professionalism |
3 |
3 |
Table 2: Severity Ratings
(Source: Created by Author)
From the above heuristic evaluation, it can be concluded that this advanced system has very less issues as compared with the other interactive systems which help us in our daily activities. All the features of this system are very much clear and understandable for all the commuters (Fernandez et al. 2017). There are few issues with the display in few areas but these issues can be solved by the railway authorities quite easily. There are not problems in understanding the contents of the system as it has a high definition display. All the options are beautifully separated with specific instructions regarding each step of buying a ticket (Dong et al. 2018). Initially some of the evaluators had problem in choosing the location of the source and destination problem as they were completely new to this system but their problems were solved by the end of this evaluation methods. The security provided by this system is way above expectations as the default payment gateway integrated into the system is very much secure (Chen and Zhao 2016). So from the heuristic evaluation of this online train ticket vending machine it can be understood that this system is extremely efficient and should be highly considered by the all railway authorities all over the world who are not using this system.
The evaluation method selected in this paper is the heuristic evaluation, the ten principles of Jacob Nielson are considered while the evaluation is conducted. Both the effectiveness of the backend codes and the functionality of the machines are focused on this evaluation. These ten principles which are considered in relation to the online train ticket vending system are described in this unit of the paper.
The heuristic evaluation of the online automatic train ticket vending machine focused on all the challenges and benefits which are faced by the authorities of the railway as well as the commuters. This unit of the paper will focus on how the procedure works and all the problems which arise while accessing the system. For a new commuter there will a problem regarding accessing this advanced system but the instruction which are notified in the screen of the machine will help them to resolve their issue. The other problem related to this system is the server issue (Yamada et al. 2016). As the entire process needs an active internet connection, there is a need for a good internet service provider who is reliable enough to provide services all-round the year as this machine works 24 hours a day. Nonstop services are needed to be provided with great efficiency in order to maximize its impact on the railway organization (Dequan 2016). The financial issue regarding this advanced system is also a very important factor which is considered during the evaluation it occurs whenever the total available balance in the smart cards starts decreasing in order to solve this issue commuters need to recharge their cards on a regular basis (Dat et al. 2015). This system has negligible issues regarding the inconsistent functioning of the system it was found that in most location and in the most adverse weather conditions this machine works absolutely fine (Chen et al. 2017). The screen size, layout is also a matter of concern for few commuters, this problem is on the verge of being solved by the latest advancement of science and technology; portable vending machines are under testing process which will be resolving this issue (Yi-jing, Depot and Bureau 2015). All these issues were gathered based on the heuristic evaluation conducted by a team.
Some of the other challenges faced by the commuters in accessing this system are described as follows:
The heuristic evaluation of the online automatic rail ticket vending machine by a team of 5 individual stated that this system has a negligible amount of issues associated with it. The team of evaluators was selected in such a way so that the effectiveness of the heuristic evaluation is strictly maintained. The team included a foreign nation who do not understand the local language, a commuter who have no idea about this interactive system, a daily user of this system, a railway employee and a disabled person (Card 2017). The team was selected in this manner so that evaluation can be calculated from different sections of the society. It was found that the disabled person with a very low visibility can also access the system with great ease by adjusting the brightness and contrast of the screen of the vending machine.
The prime advantage of this interactive system is its exquisite design including different kinds of colored buttons used for different functionalities and a separate slot for inserting the smart cards without much difficulty (Elhamshary et al. 2015). The smooth process of buying a ticket is the main objective behind the incorporation of this vending machine globally. The other benefits provided by these online automatic vending machines are the customization of the smart card by its users (Canicosa et al. 2017). The features of the smart cards can be fully customized by the commuters according to their requirements, in this way they can manage all the facilities provided by the railway authorities such as the bonuses, schemes associated with the daily and month tickets and seasonal tickets. The complex calculations such as the time taken for the journey or the arrival of the train, payment, and all other functionalities are done accurately by these systems (Bulling et al. 2015). The entire road map from the source station to the destination station are shown to the commuters in the screen of the system which helps the commuters to know about the stations which will be passing by while making the journey. The entire details of the station are given to the commuter after they confirm their tickets in the system.
The flexibility provided by this system is the other types of an advantage of using this interactive system by which commuters can select any type of credit or debit cards to recharge their accounts (Bowen and Hinze 2017). The validations of the unauthorized smart cards can also be detected by these systems in this way it can also provide great security to the railway authorities as well. The execution speed of these advanced machines is much more than the traditional ticket collecting systems.
On the other hand, a huge one time investment is of the main limitation of using this system. Along with that some ticket system is a one way process so it has many difficulties than the latest ticket systems (Ahmed, Happy and Roy 2018). Malfunctioning of the backend codes is the occasional drawback of this system. This system should be used where there are no internet issues as it requires a steady internet connection to work properly.
Conclusion
From this report, it can be also understood that the advancement of science and technology has provided us with a different kind of interaction system which helps us a lot in our daily activities. These interaction systems reduced our work and it also provides better efficiency. The activities conducted by these interactive systems are very much easier to follow and manage as compared with the primitive technologies. However, it can be also seen that these technologies some time have an adverse effect on our society which can be eliminated using specific mitigation steps. One such interactive system in the form of an online train ticket vending machine is considered in this report. All the functionalities of this advanced system are evaluated using the heuristic evaluation by a team of five individuals and the effectiveness of this system came out on their findings.
From the above paper, it can be concluded that the purpose use of these online automatic train ticket vending machines is solved as it reduced desperation and anxiety amongst the commuters to a significant extent. This system provides services throughout the year in the same effective manner. The user of this machine can check their own account while inserting their smart cards; they can recharge the card and make payments according to their requirement. The dispensed tickets from these vending machines are of great quality. The use of this advanced system is more in the countries which uses the honor system by which the commuters buy a ticket in advance and use them later.
The usability of this advanced system has significantly impacted the growth of all the railway corporations who have incorporated this system. It is found that the commuters are really happy after using this technology and it is highly recommended for all the railway organization all around the world to adopt similar systems in order to enhance their existing infrastructure, as the service provided by this system in terms of the clear instructions, secure payment methods, screen layout, program sequence and functionality are very easier to understand and implement.
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