Musical Genre Classification of Audio Signals Essay Example for Free

Musical Genre Classification of Audio Signals Essay Musical genres are categorized by human. It depends on human hearing. There are common characteristics shared by categories. These characteristics are related to instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and harmonic content of the music. Currently many music is still classified by manually. Automated system for musical genre classification can assist or replace manual work for classifying musical genre. In this paper, the automatic classification of audio signals into hierarchy of musical genres is explored. Three feature sets for representing timbral texture, rhythmic content and pitch content are proposed. Also propose classification through two-times KNN classification method and show enhancement of accuracy. Using two-time KNN classification method increases accuracy about 5% than one-time ++++KNN classification which two-time KNN classification accuracy is 77.9% and one-time KNN classification accuracy is 73.3%. Index Terms – Music classification, feature extraction, wavelets, KNN classification Table of Contents I. II. Introduction Music Modeling Genre Segmentation III. Feature Extraction A. Timbral Texture Features i. ii. iii. iv. B. Spectral shape features Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) Texture window Low-Energy features Rhythmic Features C. Pitch Content Features IV. Classification V. Evaluation and Discussion VI. References I. Introduction Musical genres are categorized by human. It depends on human hearing. There are common characteristics shared by categories. These characteristics are related to instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and harmonic content of the music. Genre classification is magnified when music industry moved from CD to web. In web music is distributed in large amount so importance of genre classification is magnified. Currently many music is still classified by manually. Automated system for musical genre classification can assist or replace manual work for classifying musical genre. In era of web, it enabled to access large amount of all kinds of data such as music, movies, news and so on. Music database has been grown exponentially since first perceptual coders early in the 90’s. As database grows it demanded tools that can enable search, retrieve and handle large amount of data. Classifying musical genre was great tool for searching, retrieving and handling large music data base [1-3]. There are several more method such as music emotion classification [4], beat tracking [5], preference recommendation [6], and etc.. Musical genres classification (MGC) are created and used for categorized and describe music. Musical genre has no precise definitions or boundaries because it is categorized by human hearing. Musical genres classification are highly related to public marketing, historical and cultural factors. Different countries and organizations have different genre lists, and they even define the same genre with different definitions. So it is hard to define certain genres precisely. There is not an official specification of music genre until now. There are about 500 to 800 genres in music [7, 8]. Some researchers suggested the definition of musical genres classification [9]. After several attempt to define musical genres researchers figured out that it shares certain characteristics such as instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and pitch content. Genre hierarchies were created by human experts and they are currently used to classify music in the web. Auto MGC can provide automating classifying process and provide important component for complete music information. The most significant proposal to specifically deal with this task was released in 2002 [3]. S everal strategies dealing with related problems have been proposed in research areas. In this paper, automatic musical genre classification is proposed showed in Figure 1. For feature extraction, three sets of features for representing instrumentation (timberal), rhythmic content and pitch content are proposed. Figure 1 Automatic Musical Genre Classification II. Music Modeling Genre Segmentation An untrained and non-expert person can detect the genre of a song with accuracy of 72% by hearing three-second segmentation of the song [11]. However computer is not design like human brain so it can’t process MGC like human. Despite whole song may somehow influence the representativeness of feature, using whole song can extract most of features that music has. Also to extract short segment of music for automation system is unsuited for the purpose because difficulty of finding exact time of music that represents genre of music. Without research finding certain section of music representing its characteristic using whole song to modeling is proper way to MGC. There are too many music genres used in web [7, 8]. Classification genre has to be simplified and in this paper proposed genres which are popular used in MP3 players in the market. Figure 2 Taxonomy of Music Genre III. Feature Extraction Feature extraction is the process of computing numerical representation that can be used to characterize segment of audio and classify its genre. Digital music file contains data sampled from analog audio signal. It has huge data size compared to its actual information. Features are thus extracted from audio signal to obtain more meaningful information and reduce the over-loading processing. For feature extraction three sets of features for representing instrumentation (timberal), rhythmic content and pitch content will be used [3]. 1. Timbral Texture Features The features used to represent timbre texture are based on the features proposed in  speech recognition. The following specific features are usually used to represent timbre texture. â‘   Spectral shape features [1-3] Spectral shape features are computed directly from the power spectrum of an audio signal frame, describing the shape and characteristics of the power spectrum. The calculated features are based on the short time Fourier transform (STFT) and are calculated for every short-time frame of sound. There are several ways to extract feature with spectral shape feature. 1. Spectral centroid is centroid of the magnitude spectrum of STFT and its measure of spectral brightness.

Ch. 10 project- Booker T. Washington :: essays research papers

Booker Taliaferro was born a mix slave in Franklin Country on 5th April, 1856. His father was a white man who and no one knew who he was and his mother the slave of James Burroughs. His mother married the slave Washington Ferguson. When Booker entered school he took the name of his stepfather and became known as Booker T. Washington. After emancipation, his family was so poor that he worked in factories and mines at the age of nine. When he was 16 his parents allowed him to quit work to go to school. They had no money to help him so he walked 200 miles to attend the Hampton Institute in Virginia and paid his tuition and board there by working as the janitor. The principal of the institute was Samuel Armstrong an who was against slavery and had been commander of African American troops during the Civil War. Armstrong believed that it was important that the freed slaves received an education. Armstrong was impressed with Washington and arranged for his tuition to be paid for by a wealthy white man. Booker T. Washington carried on this idea and later he would teach in his home town, then at the Hampton Institute, and then in 1881, he founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. As head of the Institute, he traveled the country unceasingly to raise funds from blacks and whites both; soon he became a well-known speaker. In 1895, Washington was asked to speak at the opening of the Cotton States Exposition, a good thing for an African American. His Atlanta Compromise speech explained his idea, that blacks could protect their rights through their own economic and moral progress rather than through legal and political changes. Although his calm stand angered some blacks who feared it would encourage the enemy of equal rights, whites approved of his views. His major achievement was to win over diverse elements among southern whites, without whose support the programs he thought and brought into being would have been impossible.

Public bank management Essay

1.Introductions The model of the Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter that becomes an important tool for analysing an organizations industry structure instrategic processes. This model is applicable to the banking industry. Public Bank do compete with the other financial institution in Malaysia, however they also must cooperate with one another in many respects. There is an underlying problem which is the banks in Malaysia are so similar that there is essentially nothing one of them can do that the others cannot easily duplicate 2. Five Forces Analysis a. Threats of new entrants Malaysia has not put a barrier to entry for any financial institution manly banks in Malaysia, thus making it easy for any financial institution to penetrate into the industry. b. Bargaining power of suppliers a bank has three suppliers of its product, money: 1. Its depositors has no bargaining power whatever in reality. If they make time deposits the bank will set the price or interest rate it will pay. 2. The credit market the credit market as a source of supply of the raw material, money, is open to all at all time if they are qualified participants. The source of supply can be argued to be infinite. 3. The central bank The Central bank is effectively the resource of last resort. Apparently, at least for the moment, it will continue to supply liquidity to the banking system in virtually unlimited quantities at very reasonable cost. c. Bargaining power of buyers In the banking industry, customer have has very limited bargaining power. However the customers may option in changing to other banks that they think is offering a better offer than Public Bank. c. Threat of substitute product For the most part there is no real threat of substitute products in the banking industry. However there probably will be continues evolution of  products from paper to electronic in coming years. This is an area of potential competition for whomever banks that choose to use it in their services. d. Rivalry among competitors Generally all banks offer somewhat the same products and services to their customers, thus there is not much differentiation between Public Banks and the other competitors. This is making the competition much higher. Public Bank is actually ranked as the top banks earners in Malaysia in 2009 alongside with Maybank, Bumiputra Commerce, RHB Capital and Hong Leong Bank. 3. Table 1: Method used to identify opportunity and threat for Public Bank using external environment factors and industrial environment factors.(Factors under industry environment are derived from Porters Five Forces). 4. Opportunities 1. Economic growth Malaysia had definitely have been more economically stable and improving, thus financial institution such as Public Bank are needed to aid the overall development of the country. 2. Government policy Encouraging borrowings, loans, investment and consumption demand. 3. Awards and accolades Through recognition, Public Bank can project a positive image to their customers 4. Market share Public Bank has the highest market share for the private sector unit trust business, thus having a larger customer base. 5.  Low switching cost Nowadays it is easy for any customer to switch to other banks with just a click away, making the switching cost to be faster and cheaper, making it easy for the customers to switch to Public Bank. 5. Threats 1. Substitute product/service are available There is a potential competition to whomever banks that choose to upgrade their product and services to cater to their customers need. Maybank for example provide a customer friendly interface through their website www.maybank2u.com, and it became the most visited website in Malaysia. 2.Substitute performance Maybank, Bumiputra Commerce, RHB Capital and Hong Leong Bank are Public Bank competitors and each is recognized for their performance. This will make the competition even higher. 3. Customer switching cost Other than being an opportunity, switching cost can also be a threat for Public Bank as the customers can also easily switch to other financial institution. 4. Government legal& barriers There are no barriers that the government put for any legal financial institution to enter in the industry, making any new entrants penetrate into the market share easily. 5. Exit barriers High exit barriers in the industry are making the competition between Public Bank and the other competitors are even higher. 6. Conclusion Porter Five Forces Model are used to identify how the forces affect the attractiveness and profitability of Public Bank, and through this forces, the factors that influence these forces are used in the table 1, to identify Public Bank opportunities and threats. By identifying Public Banks industry environment, the company can improve and sustain their product and services for their customer, ultimately improving their performance.

Biography of Granville T. Woods, American Inventor

Granville T. Woods (April 23, 1856–Jan. 30, 1910) was a black inventor so successful that he was sometimes referred to as The Black Edison. He dedicated his lifes work to developing a variety of inventions, many relating to the railroad industry. By the time of his early death at age 53, Woods had invented 15 appliances for electric railways and received nearly 60 patents, many related to the railroad industry. Fast Facts: Granville T. Woods Known For: Highly successful black inventorAlso Known As: The Black EdisonBorn: April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio or AustraliaParents: Tailer and Martha Woods or Martha J. Brown and Cyrus WoodsDied: Jan. 30, 1910 in New York, New YorkNotable Invention: Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph Early Life Granville T. Woods was born on April 23, 1856. Most reports indicate he was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Tailer and Martha Woods, and that he and his parents were free African-Americans by virtue of the  Northwest Ordinance  of 1787, which prohibited slavery from the territory that included what would become the state of Ohio. However, Rayvon Fouchà © wrote in a Woods biography that, based on census records, Woods death certificate, and journalistic accounts published in the 1890s, Woods was born in Australia and apparently moved to Columbus at a young age. Some biographies list his parents as Martha J. Brown and Cyrus Woods. Early Career Most sources agree that Woods had little formal education, leaving school at age 10 to work as an apprentice, studying to be a machinist and a blacksmith, and literally learning his skills on the job. Woods held a variety of positions in his early teens, including working as an engineer in a railroad machine shop and on a British ship, in a steel mill, and as a railroad worker. While working, Woods took courses in fields such as engineering and electronics, realizing that education was essential to developing the skills he would need to express his creativity with machinery.​  Some reports say he had up to two years of college course training in either electrical or mechanical engineering or both, possibly in an East Coast college from 1876 to 1878. In 1872, Woods obtained a job as a fireman on the Danville and Southern railroad in Missouri, eventually becoming an engineer and studying electronics in his spare time. In 1874, he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and worked in a rolling mill. Four years later, he took a job aboard the British steamer Ironsides. Within two years, he became its chief engineer. Settling Down His travels and experiences finally led him to settle in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he dedicated himself to modernizing the railroad and its equipment. Woods invented more than a dozen devices to improve electric railway cars and other devices for controlling the flow of electricity. His most noted invention at this point was a system for letting a train engineer know how close his train was to others, which helped reduce collisions. He also developed a system for overhead electric conducting lines for railroads, which aided in the development of overhead railroad systems in cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, and New York. Woods eventually set up his own business, the Woods Electrical Co., in Cincinnati to develop, manufacture, and sell electrical apparatus. In his early 30s, he became interested in thermal power and steam-driven engines. He filed his first patent for an improved steam boiler furnace in 1889. His later patents were mainly for electrical devices. He also developed the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, which allowed communications between train stations and moving trains. This made it possible for trains to communicate with stations and other trains so everyone knew exactly where the trains were at all times. Among his other inventions were an automatic air brake used to slow or stop trains and an electric car that was powered by overhead wires. It used a third rail system to keep the cars running on the right tracks. Other Inventors Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bells company, American Bell Telephone Co., purchased the rights to  Woods patent on an apparatus that combined a telephone and a telegraph. The device, which Woods called â€Å"telegraphony,† allowed a telegraph station to send voice and telegraph messages over a single wire. Proceeds from the sale gave Woods the luxury of being a full-time inventor. Success led to lawsuits. One was filed by famed inventor Thomas Edison, who sued Woods on a claim that he, Edison, was the inventor of the multiplex telegraph. Woods eventually won the court battle, but Edison didnt give up easily when he wanted something. Trying to win over Woods and his inventions, Edison offered Woods a prominent position in the engineering department of Edison Electric Light Co. in New York. Woods declined, preferring to maintain his independence. Early in his career during the summer of 1881, Woods contracted smallpox, which was in its last years as a major health threat in the United States. The often fatal illness sidelined Woods for nearly a year and left him with chronic kidney and liver disease that might have played a role in his early death. He suffered a stroke on Jan. 28, 1910, and died at Harlem Hospital in New York two days later. During his smallpox illness, Woods was quoted as saying he had to take extreme measures to support his family. Another reference, in 1891, mentioned that he was being sued for divorce. Generally, though, newspaper accounts referred to Woods as being a bachelor. Legacy Granville T. Woods dozens of inventions and patents made life easier and safer for countless Americans, especially when it came to railroad travel. When he died, he had become an admired and well-respected inventor, having sold a number of his devices to such industrial giants as Westinghouse, General Electric, and American Engineering. Decades later, many of his other patents have been assigned to major manufacturers of electrical equipment that play a substantial role in daily life. To the world, he was known as the Black Thomas Edison, and his numerous inventions and improvements to existing technology seem to support that characterization. Sources Granville T. Woods:  1856–1910.Encyclopedia.com.Granville T. Woods. Biography.com.Granville T. Woods. AfricanAmericanHistoryOnline.com.Granville T. Woods. Famous Black Inventors.

A Rose For Emily A Tale Of The Clash Between Generations

A Rose for Emily: A Tale of the Clash Between Generations In the short story A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, readers are immersed in the narrative of a supposed town member who describes the impact that the recent death of an old woman has had upon their small community. In the narrative, readers are taken on a journey through the life of Miss Emily, an old, lonely woman who is seemingly frozen in her own timeframe. As the story unfolds, readers learn about the various tragedies Emily encountered in her lifetime such as the sudden death of her controlling father as well as her alienation from other family members that leaves her utterly alone following his death. Audiences also learn about events that happened throughout Emily’s life that both molded her as a person and aided in shaping her reputation around the town. From her controversial relationship with a construction worker named Homer Barron to her suspicious purchase of arsenic at the local drug store, there is no question that Emily lived under the constant scrutiny of her fellow townspeople. After reading the initial sentences, it can be concurred that this story doesn’t simply describe the life of an old, questionably insane woman, but also the story of the age-old battle between old and new. Through symbolism and an artful arrangement of the events described, Faulkner is able to meticulously weave a tale of the clash between newer and older generations’ views and standards. In theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of A Rose For Emily Essay1643 Words   |  7 PagesBeing An Outcast: Emily As Manifesting Thematic Alienation in Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† I. Introduction Being taught in high schools and universities all across the nation, William Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† has achieved a great deal of both academic and mainstream respect in the United States. In being arguably one of Faulkner’s strongest stories, and since Faulkner himself has assumed the position of being one of the great masters of American fiction, â€Å"A Rose† is undoubtedlyRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesof the world’s human population for the first time in history. He gives considerable attention to changes in city planning, patterns of urban growth, and important differences between industrialized Europe and North America and the developing world, as well as the contrasts in urban design and living conditions between different sorts of political regimes— communist, capitalist, colonial, and fascist. Particularly revealing are Spodek’s discussions of the influence of prominent urban plannersRead MoreLibrary Management204752 Words   |  820 Pages. . . . . . . . . . . . 458 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Section 7: Managing in the Twenty-First Century 20—Managers: The Next Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 Managing in Today’s Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 The New Generation of Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 Deciding to Become a Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 Skills Needed by Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Analysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved - 1434 Words

I. SUBJECT Beloved by Toni Morrison opens in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1873 set in the Reconstruction era of American history. Sethe eighteen years ago escaped slavery with her children to live with her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, in a house on 124 Bluestone Road often referred to simply as 124. The novel unfolds on two different time periods, that of Sethe’s time at Sweet Home plantation as a slave and that of the present. Her qualities of motherhood have overtaken Sethe’s life and have driven away her two sons, left with her only surviving daughter, Denver. A ghost of her evidentially daughter, Beloved, haunts the house out of grief. Sethe considered death better than a life of slavery for her children, and Beloved then killed as result of this belief. Paul D, a former slave from Sweet Home, shows up on Sethe’s porch steps hoping to see the woman he lusted after for years. Soon the two became lovers and came to remember and reconcile their times as slaves. Upon returning from town, Sethe, Paul D, and Denver discover a wet woman later known as Beloved soaking wet on the porch. She is often referred to as the reincarnation of Sethe’s dead daughter representing death. At first she positively brings Sethe and Denver to forgive the past, but soon Beloved pulls Sethe into a possessive relationship as Sethe feels she owes an unpayable obligation to her Beloved. After seeking the help of the community to exorcise Beloved from the house, Sethe is left dying on her death bed finallyShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Morrison s Beloved, By Toni Morrison Essay941 Words   |  4 PagesMorrison and Twain each present freed slave mothers as self-sacrificing. Each woman s traumatic experiences as slaves create a deep fear of her children s enslavement. In Morrison s Beloved, Sethe is so distressed by her past; she murders her child to save her from slavery. Morrison uses Sethe s drastic sacrifice to comment on slavery s psychological effects. Meanwhile, Twain s Pudd n Head Wilson portrays Roxy as a sacrificial mother to create sympathy for black people. From a culturalRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved1458 Words   |  6 Pagesinequality between races, classes, and genders. Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved is a story that truly shows how oppressive slavery was during the setting of the book. Similarly to the inequality faced during the time of slavery, while Morrison was writing the her novel the issue of women’s equality was present, and being fought for. Morrison, through Beloved, is able to show the world her views on inequality, and how it is still present in life today. Morrison is African American, she was born into a familyRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved1615 Words   |  7 PagesIn her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison utilizes a circular narrative to emphasize the similarities, or lack thereof, between her characters. In Philip Page’s article, â€Å"Circularity in Toni Morrison’s Beloved,† he writes, â€Å"The plot is developed through repetition and variation of one or more core-images in overlapping waves... And it is developed through... the spiraling reiteration of larger, mythical acts such as birth, death, rebirth, quest-journeys, and the formation and disintegration of families†Read MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved1200 Words   |  5 Pages â€Å"We’ve all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on (Sirius Black) †. Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved dedicates her novel to the 60 million and more exposed to the darkness within the people set out to hurt them. The novel depicts how cruelty leads ex-slaves to make irrational decisions and shape the people they are at the end . The cruelty inflicted on one including but not limited to slavery causes a chain reaction of hatred, pain and suffering and theRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved943 Words   |  4 Pages It is within human nature to fear that which we do not understand. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, this idea is explored through the lens of racial discrimination. In this passage, Morrison uses animal imagery as a means to criticize the whites’ dehumanization and subsequent fear of the blacks. With a focus on this inherent, primal fear, this section stresses the novel’s theme of the â€Å"Other† and reinforces the existence of racial prejudice. While this piece of the narrative emphasizes that this â€Å"othering†Read MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved1547 Words   |  7 PagesToni Morrison’s Beloved extends beyond a description of individuals held captive by their past through the exploration of human responses to slavery. The manipulation of language and its controlled absence reinforces the mental enslavement that persists after individuals are freed from physical bondage. It is when language is amplified into song that an individual or community may free themselves from the constraints of mental enslavement, therefore enabling their ability to claim ownership of themselvesRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved Essay1634 Words   |  7 PagesBeloved is one of the best and most well-known books of writing in the African-American society published in 1987. The novel, for the most part, discusses the black community that is unwilling to incite their past and in this way, irritated by its incarnation (Abdullah 25). Toni Morrison does not dissent suppression. Rather, she is pained by its effect on the souls of the black individuals. Nevertheless, the novel approves Toni Morrison s ability in creating the free awareness of various individualsRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved960 Words   |  4 PagesToni Morrison, the author of the 1987 novel Beloved, once said, â€Å"If anything I do, in the way of writing novels (or whatever I write) isn’t about the village or the community or about you, then it is not about anything. I am not interested in indulging myself in some private, closed exercise of my imagination that fulfills only the obligation of my personal dreams- which is to say yes, the work must be political.† Beloved met Morrison’s political standards as the 1980s were a decade plagued by aRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved 1524 Words   |  7 PagesShai-Dae Alford Dr. DuBose ENG 490-02 10 April 2016 Slave Narrative: Beloved Toni Morrison conveys her strong feelings in her novel about slavery depicting the emotional impact slavery has had on individual mainly the centered character Sethe. The protagonist of the novel is unable to fully prosper in life due to resentment and the ability to move on from her past experiences. In Morrison’s story, since 1873 slavery was abolished for ten years in Cincinnati, Ohio. By the author choosing this settingRead MoreAnalysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved920 Words   |  4 Pages1. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, she takes her audience back to a past where the oppressed (slaves) did not have a voice. How does Beloved compare to other slave narrative, and why is it important? How does memory involve itself within this concept? â€Å"A Different Remembering: Memory, History and Meaning in Beloved† is Marilyn Sanders Mobley’s attempt to distinguish the difference of Morrison’s novel from the established white literary tradition that critics were trying to place it in. Mobley argues

Mis on Travel Agency free essay sample

Involved in the line of providing superb tour packages, we have 20 years of experience acting as very best travel agents and tour operator. Their main mission is to achieve a concrete success in the Industry and build the Brand Image of the company beyond heights. They are continuously trying to achieve the goal of being one among the Fortune companies and provide the maximum customer satisfaction. We are moving ahead with our excellent services of North India Tour package, South India Tour package, India golden triangle tour that are capable of changing the trends of the life styles. Objective of the Project: The aim of this project is to study the daily business operations of a tour and travels business/ operator, examine their existing information system in detail and suggest changes/ improvements in their existing Management Information system. As part of this assignment, we chose to study the system prevailing in Kirty Tours and Travels, Nasik. Kirty tours is a fairly big tours and travels operator having 4 branches in Nasik city and provides services like bus, rail and air ticket booking, package holiday and tours and pilgrimage bookings. In this endeavour we would like to make the business ore responsive and flexible by proposing a new MIS system which can serve the overall information needs of the business. Our proposed MIS system will tightly integrate financial, booking and customer management systems. Our MIS system integrates all phases of travel management submitting initial requests, planning, online booking, and submitting and settling travel expenses. The application includes a tailored user interface for all roles involved in processes used by travel agent. The new travel Management MIS provides an end-to-end solution for managing business of a travel agent. The solution provides features and functions that allow them to Travel planning and online booking This system enables travel agent to book flights, hotels, cars, and country-specific rail options, as well as look up related information. In addition, the application fully supports communication with customer, making interactions more efficient. Travel management reporting Travel management MIS system supports decision-making and facilitates the development and implementation of new travel management strategies. Travel Management system optimizes the entire trip life cycle, from travel requests nd approvals through planning and reservations, travel bills management, policy compliance, and analytics. These are a few reasons why the management of Kirty tours and travels should look for new / proposed MIS system: End-to-end solution -Travel Management system requires no development or additional interfaces. Integration with Finance The application is completely integrated with the financials. Reduced indirect costs We can dramatically reduce indirect costs by automating your processes and workflow. Improved compliance The proposed MIS system ensures improved compliance with travel agencys policy nd negotiated travel contracts. Booking consolidation The new MIS provides a reliable analysis of travel information and costs through synchronization with reservation systems. Improved cash flow Efficient accounting cycles and up-to-date cost information result in better cash flow. O DFD OF EXISTING SYSTEM STUDY OF EXISTING SYSTEM The existing system at Kirty tours and travels is mostly based on manual operations. The daily operations of Kirty tours can be described as follows: 1 . Customers normally approach Kirty tours and travels booking office in person or over phone to book his travel needs/ requirements. . Tie-ups with prominent travel booking websites enables Kirty tours to search for the most suitable travel packages to the customer. This search is done by one of the personnels of Kirty tours online using a desktop terminal. 3. Some of the travel management companies with which Kirty has tie-ups with are 0 Beam http://travel. beam. co. in/ 0 Suvidha http:// suvidhatravels. in/ 0 Cleartrip http://www. cleartrip. com/ 0 Make My Trip http:// www. makemytrip. com/ 0 Yatra http://www. yatra. om/ 4. Commission to Kirty tours from these travel management organisations is based on number of bookings done rom their respective websites. 5. Once the booking is done from a website, billing/ invoicing takes place, again manually and the ticket is handed over to the customer. keeping work is currently happening at the Mumbai Naka branch of Kirty tours. 7. Kirty tours have 4 branches in Nasik and employs on an average 3 employees in each branch to service the customers. As evident from the existing system description, there is no linkage between the Finance team and people working in the branches who book customer orders. The functional departments are working in isolation and hence there is no linkage between the different functional teams. There is no MIS system that is currently being used in the business enterprise. Only personal computers are used by the employees booking the customer orders to find/ search for a travel package. As the current work process is completely dependent on online travel management portals, the daily operations are very arbitrary and random. Also the end of month commission owed by various online travel management companies to Kirty tours can be known only online in their respective portals. Thus the business has a high degree of dependency on these online portals. There is also a need to ntegrate all the four branches and the finance team for better communication and functioning of the business. Hence, there is enough scope for the business to improve their operations and make it more efficient by having an MIS system. As per the new information system, Kirty tours and travels instead of working with travel management companies like Make My Trip, miatra, Cleartrip, now will ave direct tie-ups with prominent domestic airlines such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher airlines, Spice Jet, Indigo, Indian and Go Air etc. For this to happen, Kirty tours has to enter into an agreement with these airline companies and can become a direct franchisee (Authorised tour operator) of these airline companies. Thus Kirty tours will now be directly working under the airlines instead of working under 3rd party travel management companies. Some of the main advantages of this direct alliance are: 0 Greater degree of transparency and flexibility in terms of ticket ooking and confirmation: Kirty tours having entered into an agreement will have greater privileges now and can offer Credit Periods to customers. Kirty tours will have quotas booked for each flight and thus will have greater visibility of flight seat status and likes. Hence, it will be highly unlikely that for a given flight, the customer will return without having booked a ticket; therefore this leads to greater customer satisfaction. Being a direct franchisee of airlines, Kirty tours will now get their total payment or commission as per their bookings and this information can be directly btained real time from the airlines application. 0 A high performance MIS system will now interact with applications of prominent airways and hence service time also reduces drastically. Thus effectively the new/ proposed MIS system will directly operations of the business i s expected to become more responsive, smooth and efficient. On similar lines, the application will interact with the IRCTC website of Indian railways to cater to customers who wish to undertake train Journeys. However for bus Journeys and travel bookings, the proposed MIS application still has to work with interfaces like Neeta Tours, RedBus. n etc. The daily operations using the new MIS system can be expected to be as given below. 1. Initially the customer approaches KIRTY TRAVELS for their customer needs. Inputs like travel mode/ stay options/ travel date are collected from the customer. 2. Kirty tours will now use their online MIS application (Instead of using the 3rd party travel management websites) and directly connect to airlines/ railways/ bus ticket booking application online. Based on the given inputs, different travel options are suggested to the customer. Upon the consent of the customer a provisional booking is made. . The customer must confirm the booking (provisional) within 3 days by sending a deposit of 10% of the total cost. On the receipt of the deposit, the reservation module sends the details from the provisional booking file to the confirmed booking file. 4. Four weeks before the departure is due, the accounts module sends an automated generated invoice to the customer for the remaining dues. 5. Once the full payment is received, accounts module sends an acknowledgement that no dues are left to the customer service module which then delivers the confirmed tickets to the customer. 6. The entire proposed MIS system will run as an online real time MIS application. Investments in terms of software application, hardware services and work stations are needed. 7. In order to achieve a higher degree of flexibility and ease of operation, the proposed application can be integrated with the currently existing auditing tool that is tally for easy auditing. 8. Also since every customer transaction is saved in the database of the proposed system. So Kirty tours and travels will now be informed to a much greater extent about the details of their travel bookings and have passenger details. This important customer data can be analysed at a later stage to make some important business decisions. Some of the drawbacks of the existing system that can be completely eliminated with the introduction of MIS system at Kirty tours are: 0 Faster processing of customer requests or orders, thus leading to higher levels of customer service. The customer satisfaction levels are surely going to increase. Enhanced reputation and thus increase in customer loyalty. Earlier because of interfaces, order processing was tedious and time consuming. 0 Having an accounts module inbuilt in the MIS system and integration with Accounts department system Tally system) will make the financial processing and audit process for the business at the end of the year easy and convenient. All the payments from the airways will directly be credited to the bank account of Kirty tours and also the proposed system will have visibility over the money transactions. Hence greater degree of financial control is being offered. 0 Integration also among the branches of Kirty tours will give them greater visibility over the business operations of their branches; which was earlier not possible because of stand-alone operations of all branches. 0 Also lesser orkload on employees because of the automated MIS system and hence greater levels of employee satisfaction. The equipments that need to be procured/ purchased and installed for the new MIS system are: 1 . Network Servers: A high performance server from either IBM or Dell is required on which the proposed online application will run. This server should also run a fast and efficient database such as SQL Server or Oracle DB. 2. The storage capacity of the database is decided to be 3 Terabytes considering the magnitude of operations of Kirty tours. Out of this capacity 1 TB is used for operational purposes, hile 2 Terabyte is used for back-ups and archiving. 3. An efficient firewall with antivirus is very essential for smooth operations of the online MIS system and protection against malicious software threats and attacks. 4. Data-cards and LAN wires for interconnectivity is necessary for interconnection of system/ workstations in the LAN. . Apart from the above mentioned hardware requirements, an online tool for managing the entire daily operations is also necessary. This will be the online software application for provisional order booking, order confirmation, order ancellation, rescheduling, ticketing and billing/ invoicing. O TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY Feasibility study is carried out t decide whether the proposed system is feasible for the company. The feasibility study is to serve as a decision document and it must answer three key questions: 1. Is there a new and better way to do the Job that will benefit the user? 2. What are the cost and the savings of the alternative(s)? 3. What is recommended? Technical feasibility: Technical feasibility centres on the existing computer system i. e. Hardware, Software etc. Kirty tours and travels require SQLI Oracle database management that are all easily available with extensive development support through manuals and blogs. The requirements of the system for Kirty tours and travels are also quite standard and on par with what industry leaders (such as Cox and Kings, Thomas Cook, Sita tours and Travels) use. Network connection to inter-connect all the branches can be done through a common server. Thus the proposed application is technically feasible. Economic feasibility: Economical Feasibility is the most frequently used method for evaluating the effectiveness of a candidate system. More commonly known as Cost/ Benefit analysis, the procedure is to determine the benefits and savings that are expected from the candidate system and compare them with costs. If the benefits outweigh costs, then the decision is made to design and implement the system. The cost benefit analysis in qualitative and quantitative terms is done in the next section. Operation feasibility: A simple to use, user friendly system is being proposed for managing information in Kirty tours and travels. This system is definitely feasible in operational terms. PERT CHART Computing Platform 10 Begin 1 2 Installation 4 Testing 9 5 6 12 6 12 Prepare Site 3 10 35 Follow up 0 Node 0 Activity Measuring units in Weeks COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS The cost benefit analysis can be divided into 2 parts namely: Quantitative Analysis: We propose that after the introduction of MIS system in Kirty tours, business revenues are going to increase by 40% in value terms. The cost involved in setting up the MIS system is analysed below. 1. Cost incurred in setting up of the MIS 2. Cost involved in training the personals on usage of the system. 3. Cost involved in the annual or biennial maintenance of the proposed MIS system. Hardware components ike databases and databases that are used for data storage form a part of the proposed MIS system. These systems are to be maintained on a regular basis to avoid technical glitches. The system development team will thus have to gather every requirement or need of the system and should work on the design of the system. Here all the requirements will be in functional terms and this has to be converted into technical design documents for further usage. Design Specification Once the requirements for the system have been documented and are validated, software engineers design a software system to meet them. This phase is sometimes split into two sub-heads such as architectural or high level design and detailed design. The high level design deals with the overall module structure and origin rather than the details of the module. The high level design is defined by designing each module in detail known as detailed design. Separating the requirements analysis phase from the design phase is an instance of a fundamental what/how dichotomy. The general principle involves making a clear distinction between what the problem is and how to solve the problem. The purpose of the design phase is to specify the particular system, which will meet the stated requirements. The proposed system is an online MIS, design documents (both high level and low level designs) highlighting the Graphical user interfaces (GU), business logic, interfaces with other airline applications are to be designed first and should get validated from us or from Kirty tours and travels. After obtaining the consent of the client, coding and development is to be started. Coding Module Testing This is the phase, in which actual system development activities are taken up. Individual modules of the proposed system will be developed and will be tested in isolation for their functionality and logic. This phase known is known as Coding/ development and module testing phase. Integration System Testing This is the next phase in the traditional Waterfall Model. In this phase all the modules that have been developed before and tested are basically linked/ integrated together. The integrated module now forms an entire system in totality and will be tested for functionality, logic and robustness. The ystem will also be thoroughly checked for end-to-end data flow. Database entries and performance are also monitored and tested. Data-flow to Tally system will also be tested. User profiles and accounts are created and are checked for thoroughness. will be tested by the client or client team i. e. personnels of Kirty tours and travels or by us. The criteria for validation here will be Ensuring all our requirements and needs are correctly addressed in the system functionality. Ease of use/ user friendliness of the new system Performance of the system. Once the system is checked and tested for the above mentioned criteria, the system s ready for delivery and deployment. However if the client is not satisfied with the system, rework has to be done to modify the system as per clients needs. Delivery, Deployment Maintenance Once the system passes all the tests and its subsequent activities, only after that it is delivered to the customer. This phase is known as delivery stage. In our case, the system will have been tested by the client and client team for acceptance. We expect the system to be ready for deployment in this phase. In the deployment phase, the software code/ application is loaded/ deployed in the pplication server, centralised database is installed and all the branches of Kirty tours and travels will have to be interconnected through application network. The new application infrastructure is now ready for use. After the successful completion for the delivery stage the system enters into the maintenance phase. As a result of this any modifications made to the system after initial delivery is usually attributed to this particular phase. Unlike a conventional software system, this MIS system is fairly less complex and hence annual or biennial maintenance of database, server and network hardware components would suffice.