Ticket to Fly

Synopsis

Compares two computer systems used by British Airways - the reservation system and the fares system. The BR reservation system (BABS) is designed for a high-speed response to both enquiries and updates, and so the data is arranged in a multi-level indexed file system with a comparatively simple structure. The structure of the fares data is very complicated, however, with many different rules governing the availability of each fare. When the programme was made BA was studying the possibility of using a relational database for the fares system, and were using entity-relationship diagrams in a data-modelling exercise. Animations show how the data is arranged and accesssed in the reseravtion system, and also how the relational operators ‘select’ and ‘join’ could be used in the database system.

Series

Fundamentals of Computing, Course M205

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 24 min.

Year of production

1989

Availability

OUT OF DISTRIBUTION

Subjects

Information technology

Keywords

bookings systems; commercial aviation; computer applications; fare structures; relational databases

Credits

Producer

David Saunders

Production Company

Name

BBC Open University Productions

Distributor

Name

Open University Worldwide

Web

http://www.ouw.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 1908 274066

Address

Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA

Notes

NB. As of May 2016 Open University Worldwide are no longer distributing DVDs. They have posted this message on their website: ‘Unfortunately Open University Worldwide Limited has decided that product sales are no longer viable given the reduced funding to Higher Education institutions and diminishing demand for the products we have traditionally stocked. At present the Open University Students Association (OUSA) will continue to sell the "Good Study Guide", and we are in discussion with other possible distributors to continue to make The Open University’s products available for purchase. As soon as we have any information on other channels of distribution we will update this notice’. Some products are still available via second hand dealers on Amazon.co.uk