The case study: Light-As-Air Ballooning System (LAABS)

Light-As-Air Ballooning (LAA) is an organisation which operates hot air ballooning on the Malaysian peninsula across from Singapore (the Singapore air-space is too busy and tightly controlled to allow free-flying ballooning there). The company has a mixed fleet of balloons and baskets and a team of pilots to cater for both small and large groups.

The five (5) smaller baskets have the capacity to carry up to 10 passengers each; six (6) larger balloons and baskets can carry up to 20 passengers each. This is a relatively new venture for this part of Asia, and the owner of this company, TEO Hong, is keen to see LAA grow and expand.

Flights take place just before sunrise, and can be booked by individuals or groups, or can be chartered (such as for wedding ceremonies and other special occasions). The larger baskets are ideal for corporate and social group bookings.

As the business expands, Light-As-Air needs a new information system; as the current one was based on Mr TEO doing all the bookings himself. The new Light-As-Air Ballooning System (LAABS) must manage the booking system for the balloons, and maintain all information about clients and flight sessions. It must also manage the information about balloon and basket maintenance, and keep track of pilot and other staff certification.

Customers book online or at the LAA Singapore city office. As the flight sessions are heavily subscribed, customers are sent reminder texts about their flight the week before and the day before. Cancellation without incurring a charge is only possible up to 4 weeks before the flight (after that the full price is payable). The LAABS is not required to handle any payment information as this is done by a third party system. Customers are informed the night before the booking date if the flight is cancelled due to weather.

The flights are only booked out in lots of ten (10) (small balloons) or twenty (20) (large balloons), and each flight session must be accompanied by a senior pilot and a staff member who act as co-pilot. These staff members must have first aid training, a Commercial Balloon Pilots Licence, and have passed a medical within the last 3 months. The LAABS must ensure that the staff have current first aid certificates and pilot certificates, as well as regular medical check-ups. This will require alerts to the relevant staff members at the appropriate times.

Customers must also meet various conditions: the office will need to know the weights of the passengers in each party and if anyone has had recent injury or surgery, or is pregnant. This is confirmed when they book, along with name, address, and contact phone number, and the date of the flight required. Details of all customers in a party are required, and all customers must sign a statutory declaration that the information they provide is true. Insurance and OHS requirements mandate permanent storage of these declarations.

Each flight session is booked out for two (2) hours, of which between 45 and 60 minutes is actual flying time, with 30 minutes preparation (check-in, safety briefing and boarding and balloon inflating) and 30 minutes disembarkation time (this includes bus transport back to the launch site). Customers are expected to make their own way to/from the launch site.

Customers may book two (2) different types of experience:

• Flight- this includes flight, loan of warm jacket for the duration of the flight, Certificate of Participation and transport back to the launch site only

• Deluxe experience - as well as 'Flight' inclusions, this adds a post-flight breakfast, champagne and photo opportunities with the (inflated) balloon and pilot.

Safety and comfort of customers and staff is obviously paramount for LAA. Before each flight an inspection is made of the basket and balloon (including physical damage, integrity of equipment, balloon control systems, cleanliness, etc). There is also a thorough technical check of the equipment after each flight session. These checks are noted by the system.

There is a full mechanical check of all equipment by a service engineer at the beginning and end of every working day, and in addition each balloon inflating and control system must be fully serviced by the manufacturer at least every three months or every 50 hours of use, whichever is sooner. The mechanism is removed from the balloon structure and sent to the manufacturer for examination and possible repair/replacement. This takes 4 days, so to keep the business operating TEO Hong tries to stagger the downtime so there are always at least two balloons of each size in service.

The hours of balloon use are logged by the LAABS, by adding the number of session minutes to the usage log at the end of each session. When a balloon reaches 50 hours of use it is flagged as 'in maintenance'. On reassembly the number of usage hours is reset. LAABS also records the dates, times, and details about each service.

While the control equipment is being serviced at the manufacturers, the basket and guy-ropes are refurbished and jackets inspected for wear and cleaned.

Several reports will be required of the new system. The LAABS must be able to provide an ad-hoc status report on each balloon and basket (different baskets can be attached to various balloons as long as maximum capacity is adhered to), showing whether it is in use or being serviced, its current hours of use and date of next scheduled service. It also needs to provide all the information about mechanical checks and services in a report that TEO Hong sends to the manufacturers annually as part of the maintenance agreement. Finally, TEO Hong would like a report showing the customer usage so that he can see what are the most popular times of year and types of flights and plan for expansion.

How to make domain model class diagram for the LAABS, including all classes, attributes, associations, and multiplicity. Show association classes and generalisation hierarchies where appropriate?

pur-new-sol

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