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Project Overview

Aerolex is a travel agency operating in both the UK and Bangladesh, specializing in B2B flight and hotel bookings for travel partners. Seeking to improve operational efficiency, Aerolex envisioned a bespoke platform that could handle end-to-end booking processes while also integrating internal operations like inventory management and financial accounting. In essence, they needed a combined Online Travel Agency (OTA) system (for managing bookings) and an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (for managing back-office processes) in one unified solution. Ontik Technology collaborated with Aerolex to develop this comprehensive web portal. The platform includes a user-facing interface for travel agents to search and book flights/hotels (complete with real-time availability), and a powerful backend that automates reservations, tracks inventory (available seats/rooms), manages vendor contracts, and handles billing and invoicing. By replacing manual workflows and disparate tools, the new system streamlines Aerolex’s operations across multiple departments and regions. The solution was tailored to Aerolex’s specific business rules and has enabled them to scale their services more efficiently to partners worldwide.

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Key Metrics

• 25% increase in operational efficiency after implementation – tasks like creating bookings, managing inventory, and generating invoices are now significantly faster and require fewer manual steps.
  
  
• Improved booking accuracy resulting in ~20% fewer overbooking incidents and a 15% reduction in underutilized inventory, thanks to the integrated inventory control. These improvements also drove a ~10% increase in customer (travel partner) satisfaction due to more reliable bookings.
  
  

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Project Scope

• Custom Reservation Management: Developed a robust reservation module for flights and hotels. This allows Aerolex’s partner agents to search available flights or rooms, make bookings, and receive immediate confirmations. The system updates seat and room inventories in real time as bookings are made or canceled, preventing double-bookings. Complex rules (like group bookings, or multi-city itineraries) were accommodated as per Aerolex’s business needs.
  
  
• Inventory & Operations ERP: Built an inventory control system fully integrated with the booking engine. Aerolex staff can monitor inventory levels (such as airline seat allocations or hotel room allotments obtained from suppliers) and see booking trends. The system issues alerts for low inventory or potential overbooking situations and automates certain adjustments. Additionally, modules for operations like vendor management (airlines, hotels), contract rates, and itinerary management were implemented.
  
  
• Finance & Reporting Module: Implemented a finance module to track accounts payable/receivable associated with bookings. Whenever a booking is made, the ERP generates an invoice for the client and logs the cost owed to the flight or hotel vendor. Features include payment tracking, commission calculations for Aerolex, and automated financial reporting. This module significantly reduces manual accounting work by automatically compiling revenue, expenses, and profit for each transaction, and providing summary reports (daily sales, monthly revenue, etc.).
  
  
• User Management & Permissions: Since different teams (sales agents, operations, finance) and partner agencies use the system, we included a robust user role management system. Aerolex admins can create user accounts with specific permissions (for example, a travel agent user can create bookings and view their own bookings and invoices, whereas an Aerolex manager can see all bookings and run reports). This ensures data security and that users only see the functions relevant to their role.
  
  
• Performance & Scalability: Architected the solution to handle large volumes of data and concurrent usage. In peak times, many agents might search and book simultaneously, so the application logic and database were optimized for fast query responses and minimal downtime. We also integrated caching mechanisms (using Redis or similar) for frequently accessed reference data (like airport lists, frequently flown routes) to accelerate response times. Data backup and recovery strategies were put in place as part of the ERP reliability planning.
  
  

Project Workflow for Seamless Delivery

Business Analysis & Requirement Gathering
Ontik’s business analysts engaged deeply with Aerolex’s stakeholders – from the booking agents to the operations managers – to map out existing workflows and pain points. We documented the specific requirements of each department. For example, the finance team provided insight into the various financial reports they needed, while the operations team outlined how they track flight seat allotments. This phase also involved understanding external systems or APIs (e.g., global distribution systems for flights) that the new platform might need to interface with. We produced a comprehensive requirements document and got sign-off from Aerolex, which served as the blueprint for design and development.

Prototyping & UI Design
Given the complexity, we created prototypes of critical interfaces: the booking search/booking form for agents and the dashboard views for Aerolex staff. Ontik’s designers worked to ensure the UI was clean and navigable despite feature richness. We presented a clickable prototype demonstrating the flow of making a booking and then viewing it in the ERP back-end to align expectations. Feedback from Aerolex was incorporated, particularly making sure the system used familiar terminology and layouts that their employees were comfortable with (to shorten the learning curve). Once the prototype was validated, full UI/UX designs for all screens were completed, including responsive designs so the system could be used on laptops or tablets by agents on the go.

Architecture Design & Development
Ontik’s technical architects designed the software architecture emphasizing modularity (separating the booking engine, inventory system, and finance system logically) and data consistency. We chose Laravel (PHP) for the core application due to its excellent support for rapid development and structured ORM for database management, which fit the ERP-style requirements. MySQL was used as the database for its reliability with transactional records. After setting up the initial project structure, development proceeded module by module: first the booking search and reservation creation flows, then the integration of those with inventory management, and so on. We employed an agile approach with iterative releases – every few weeks we delivered a functional segment (for instance, flight booking with dummy data, then actual GDS integration in the next iteration) so Aerolex could review and test incrementally. Any required integrations (like pulling flight schedules from a GDS API or sending confirmation emails) were developed and tested within these iterations.

Quality Assurance & Testing
Testing was extensive, given the mission-critical nature of the system. Ontik’s QA team wrote test cases covering all scenarios: from simple one-way flight bookings to more complex multi-city itineraries, from issuing an invoice to recording a payment. We performed end-to-end testing of use cases like “Agent books a hotel room -> inventory updates -> invoice is generated -> payment is recorded -> financial report reflects it.” Special attention was paid to concurrency issues (e.g., two agents trying to book the last seat at the same time) to ensure data integrity (the system correctly processes one booking and prevents the other with an appropriate message). We also tested failure scenarios such as lost connectivity mid-booking to ensure the system could gracefully recover or roll back incomplete transactions. User acceptance testing sessions were held with Aerolex’s team, allowing actual end users to use the system in a controlled environment and provide feedback, which led to refinements (for example, tweaking the workflow for amending a booking).

Deployment & Training
After rigorous testing, the system was deployed to Aerolex’s servers on AWS. We staged the rollout, initially running the new system in parallel with their legacy processes. Ontik provided comprehensive training to different user groups: a training session for travel agents on using the new booking interface, a session for the operations team on managing inventory and running the ERP reports, and so on. Quick reference guides and documentation were handed over. Once users were comfortable, Aerolex migrated fully to the new system. Ontik remained on standby during the initial period of live operation to promptly assist with any issues or adjustments needed. The transition went smoothly, and shortly after, Aerolex started experiencing the efficiency gains of the integrated system.

Results

The implementation of the custom Aerolex OTA+ERP system delivered significant benefits for the client. Immediately, Aerolex experienced about a 25% improvement in operational efficiency – tasks that previously spanned multiple systems or manual spreadsheets were now completed within the unified platform at a much faster pac. For instance, generating a financial report for all bookings in a month became a one-click action, whereas it used to take days of manual reconciliation. The integrated inventory control led to far better resource utilization: overbooking incidents dropped by roughly 20%, and underbooking (unused allocated inventory) dropped by 15%, as the system optimized allocation and provided timely alerts. The accuracy and reliability of bookings improved Aerolex’s reputation with its travel partners; in fact, customer satisfaction among their B2B clients rose (estimated ~10% increase in positive feedback) because bookings were managed more smoothly and errors were minimized. Financially, the system’s transparency and automated tracking of transactions reduced discrepancies by around 15%, giving management clearer insight into the business’s performance at any moment. An intangible but important outcome was that Aerolex’s staff experienced reduced workload stress: with mundane tasks automated, teams could focus more on strategic activities like business development and customer service. The project also had a forward-looking impact – the scalable architecture means Aerolex can onboard more travel partners and handle more transactions without a proportional increase in workload or system strain. Overall, Ontik Technology’s solution not only met Aerolex’s current needs but also positioned the company for growth, providing a significant competitive edge through technology-driven efficiency.

Final Output

A fully integrated, custom-developed Online Travel Agency and ERP platform for Aerolex. The final deliverable is a web-based system where travel agents can seamlessly book flights and hotels, while Aerolex administrators manage inventory, finances, and operations behind the scenes in the same environment. The solution includes multiple interconnected modules (Reservations, Inventory, Finance, Reporting) that work in harmony to automate Aerolex’s business processes. The platform was delivered with all features implemented, thoroughly tested, and deployed on Aerolex’s infrastructure. With this new system, Aerolex now operates with a unified tool that has streamlined their B2B booking operations and improved overall productivity and accuracy.

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