Appeal No. 2005-0823
Application No. 10/300,895 Page 22
According to Gilpatrick, IAR is being released in
phases. IAR is now in its first stage, which automates
almost all of an agent’s weekly sales report to *ARC*.
the second phase of the product, scheduled for
completion in spring 1998, will automate those
functions.
In addition to automating an extremely time-
consuming process, *ARC* hopes IAR will make things
easier for agents and increase productivity. To help
make sure the product would help agents instead of
replacing one cumbersome process with another, *ARC*
created working groups for agents, CRSs, carriers and
back-office systems. ‘For the first time in its
history, *ARC* actually went to the users of the
product instead of creating the product in a vacuum,
then telling agents what we know they need,’Gilpatrick
says.
The IAR database interacts with each of the CRSs -
each time an agent sells a ticket, the information from
the sale is transferred to the IAR database as well as
the agent’s back-office system and the carrier’s
internal reservation system.
According to a SABRE spokeswoman, approximately 38
percent of the agents now using IAR are SABRE
subscribers.
SABRE transmits data to IAR three times a day,
which SABRE officials say is more than any other CRS.
IAR will eventually work with both CRS-supplied
and third-party, back-office systems.
Not all agents are thrilled about the prospect of
IAR. ‘It just seems too Orwellian to me,’ says one
agent, who asked not to be identified. ‘It’s a great
product and I know I’m going to use it eventually, but
the whole thing makes me nervous. They’re still doing
weekly reporting now, but when will they start
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