Mobile Access System Plan for Indian Railway System

Assignment Title – Mobile Access System Plan for Indian Railway System .Word Count: 1500 LETTER FOR TRANSMITTAL April 02, 2015 Mr. John Smith, CEO Indian Railway Dear Sir: Below is the report on IT restructure to include secure mobile integrated access to various reservation services in stages as requested in a letter from the Registrar to me on March 15th. As you will see, mobile access systems can be incorporated with a range of features and is being implemented by Railway Information Systems. I have carefully researched this emerging mobile market.My report first identifies the objective and benefits of mobile access systems. I have then compared the top four operating systems.Finally, my conclusions and recommendations identify the best mobile access system hardware and software solutions for Indian Railway within the specified limitations. Thank you, Mr. Smith and Team, for the opportunity to prepare this report. Please contact me for any further information. I hope you will think of me for your future research needs. Sincerely, Bincy Gijo Information Systems Consultant EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The passenger reservation system is one of the important online reservations in Indian Railway. The use of mobile and wireless technology to meet organization needs and goals is top priority among the globe. My report deals with a Mobile Access System plan for various reservation systems in Indian Railway. This consists of two key components Passenger Mobile Access System and Wireless Mobile Access System. It is designed to benefit different stakeholders. This report has been divided into stages to ensure appropriate feedback is given at each stage and also due to costs involved. It is necessary to create agreement among stakeholders about the need of these tools to enhance efficiency. TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER FOR TRANSMITTAL3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 LIST OF ASSUMPTIONS6 BACKGROUND 6 INTRODUCTION6 1. DEPLOYMENT OF CONSUMER MOBILE ACCESS SYSTEM PLAN7 1.1 Business Goals7 1.2 Technical Goals7 1.3 Access to Various Operating Systems8 2. DEPLOYMENT OF WIRELESS ACCESS SYSTEM PLAN8 2.1 Business Goals8 2.2 Technical Goals9 2.3 Access to Various Operating Systems9 3. SECURITY 9 3.1Concerns10 3.2Potential Solutions10 4. PROVISIONAL LIST OF EXPENSE ITEMS11 5. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION12 6. REFERENCES13 LIST OF ASSUMPTIONS

1. Indian Railway is the third largest railway network in the world which connected to East, West, North, South and Central Zones and serves over 50 million passengers every day.
2. Online Reservation and Mobile Tracking Services allow all major stakeholders secure access to relevant information to manage and improve outcomes.
3. The passenger reservation system was known the name Integrated Multi-train Passenger Reservation System (IMPRESS) which could switch the functional necessities of reservation, accounting, enquiry and charting.
4. The mobile access scheme is user-friendly and secure, as no print out is essential.
5. Business System Plan needs to include implementation of Mobile Access Systems.

BACKGROUND Railway Information System has been delegated with the job of developing, executing, and maintaining integrated IT applications for the Indian Railways (IR).It includes information from various departments like Reservation, seat availability, Confirmation, Cancellation, and Schedule. Most railways have increased their spending on IT for centralized systems and electronic records that benefit the passengers and Railway Industry. There is a great need to provide secure mobile access to passengers and staff. INTRODUCTION Mobile Phones have become known as one of the most hastily scattering technologies over the last decade. This has altering the people lives style predominantly, within the context of developing countries (Ezenwa & Brooks 2014, p. 1). The growth of mobile device usage as compared to stationary web has triggered many firms to develop mobile interfaces for customers to access their services securely. (Gafni & Barak, 2013) .Indian Railway is in a need to develop its IT system to include secure mobile access to its passengers via a more integrated passenger reservation mobile application. Nowadays all the queries like Train Alert, PNR Status, Train status, Seat availability, Train schedule, Train Information and Train Time Table obtainable on the Indian railway web siteare accessible on your mobile phone through SMS. Wireless networks are exposed to attacks as compared to wired network as anyone can access it and that is why it is crucial to have a secure system in place. (Vargic, Kotuliak, VrA¡bel, & HusA¡k, 2013). We will access the passenger Mobile Access System Plan and the Wireless Access System Plan in depth. 1. DEPLOYMENT OF PASSENGER MOBILE ACCESS SYSTEM PLAN 1.1 Business Goals Mobile Access System will enhance passenger experience and reduce costs. It will increase Railway related information and help in social support. The plan is to target all Railway travellers and provide secure access about their Individual Journey details. Key functions of the mobile portal can be implemented in stages as per below. Stage 1: The passenger will be able to view individual Reservation cum-journey tickets, Cancellation/Modification tickets, Reservation Charts and Daily Terminal Cash Summary, edit personal details and emergency contact details. The traveller will also get access to various information’s like Schedule, Time delay, Train status and Seat availability. Stage 2: The passenger will get automatic sms updates about upcoming schedule, special discount reminders, seat availability, Cancellation of train and Tatkal service. Stage 3: The passenger will be able to send emails to the Indian Railway Department about any query regarding Train Information and complaints. Stage 4: The passenger will be able to video chat with Railway Engineers. This phase will incorporate Mobile telecommunication which will enable travellers to send images etc. to communicate. The Benefit would be increased efficiency resulting in quality service at no additional cost to the customer. 1.2 Technical Goals Indian Railway aims to provide high performance standard. The system will be designed for fault tolerance and the capacity to exceed projected user loads and overall system performance should meet requirements. The system will be capable of load balancing. This will result in failure detection and redirection of users to backup modules 1.3 Access to Various Operating Systems There are various mobile phones available in the market. We will access the major operating systems available and its version. Table 1.3.a

Mobile Phone	Operating System	Version
Apple,Inc	iOS	iOS 6
Open Handset Alliance /Google	Android	Jelly Bean
BlackBerry Ltd	BlackBerry OS	Blackberry OS 7.1
Nokia	Symbian OS	BELLE
Nokia Lumia 800	Windows	Windows 7
SamsungWave 3	Bada	Bada 2.0.5
Hp	WebOS	Hp Touch Pad

3. SECURITY The Integrity, availability and confidentiality of the information need to be guaranteed when the information has been captured, stored and maintained in a database (Adesina et al. 2011). Parameters like password protection, network requirements, synch, backup and recovery are extremely important for mobile access security. Devices should have proper anti-virus and firewall options so that data is secure. In order to protect passenger’s privacy, messages should be encoded and only those with access to system can view them. 3.1 Concerns Hackers can attack Railway network and systems and mobile phones. They could extract passwords and sensitive information of passengers and railway Information records. They could install malware and other virus that can permanently damage records. Unlike the PC world, mobile world uses various operating systems and numerous platforms and thus at high risk.(Leavitt, 2013) 3.2 Potential Solutions

1. Mobile Security Risk Assessment: To scrutinize external IP address and scan firewall penetration.
2. IT Governance Committee: To set policies and procedures with reference to mobile access, data storage on mobile devices, transmission within mobile devices, Loss or theft of devices, Audits etc.
3. Digital Watermarking is the method of embedding data into a multimedia entity, such that the watermark can be discovered or extracted later without harming the object (Adesina et al. 2011).
4. Training Program: To train employees about policy and procedures.
5. Measures to prevent unauthorized usage – Set up a real time monitoring system.
6. Audits of mobile devices.
7. Data Backup and automatic update of security patches.

(Green, 2013) (Ghallali et al., 2013) 4. RESOURCES Below is the list of resources while planning the project:

1. Development Resources: These resources necessitate initially designing and implementing the system.

Graphic Designers Software Developers Testing Specialists Human Resources Business Analysts Database Administrators Software and Interfaces in-order to configure the environment Software License Hardware used by developers Testing Components

2. Deployment Resources: Once the implementation is completed these resources

Data Connectivity related resources Training Staff

3. Operations Resources: These resources need for on-going maintenance of the system

Data and Communication Service Server Management and Hosting Server Call Centre Support Staff 5. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES Various types of cost and benefits are available to planning the project such as Direct cost, Indirect cost and intangible cost. Defining a work plan & finalized in collaboration with project team (Grevendonk, Taliesin & Brigden 2013) .Railway manager will responsible of supervising the timeline, budget, quality and potential risks (Grevendonk, Taliesin & Brigden 2013).Below table shows how much cost should be add to implement mobile access to reservation system in Indian Railway. Table 5a Table 5b 6. RECOMMENDATION Mobile technology will bypass conventional communication systems and allow passengers to communicate over great areas. Data is vital hence it is always recommends to maintain a security and privacy of the passengers data and as well as availability of the data (Adesina et al. 2011). Feedback and constant monitoring will enhance the mobile access system. Timely surveys and surveillance will ensure smooth operations. 7. CONCLUSION Implementing a Mobile accessible Railway Information System is very complex task in real world scenario. Although there had been many research findings, before applying those theories it is best practice to apply most significant theories. With the evolving technology in the future, we can build up a more sophisticated system in order to support railway information system. The most significant factor is data used by the passengers and user. It is recommended that both railway passengers and user have confidence in confidentiality and the integrity of the information and data and the protection of the broadcast channels (Adesina et al. 2011). 8. 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