Network-Wide Courier Service Management Solution

Our client, a courier service company, required a solution wherein they could automate the process of managing and tracking their courier shipments, various hubs, service charges, custom duties and tariffs of their courier service network. The solution was required to be integrated with their existing web enabled application. The client teamed up with Open Source Development to develop the solution that would enable them to easily coordinate and manage the activities of their network. Open Source Development designed and developed the solution as various modules that could be easily integrated with their existing application. Through the solution users i.e. courier agents and administrators could upload shipping details, manage tariff structures and view and generate reports various reports that would enable them to easily monitor and manage their activities. Open Source Development also revamped the client’s existing website to provide improved features and functionalities such as the fee calculation module.

Customer Profile
Our client has a worldwide network specializing in customized distribution and time-sensitive delivery of international business materials. With more than 250 offices and substations, our client offers courier services across the globe. The client's India branch manages the India operations within different zones through its network of agents.

Business Requirements
Our client wanted to enhance the functionality available in the administrator and agent modules on their India website. The new system would provide an integrated set of web-enabled modules to manage & track shipments, service charges (fees), custom duty, & tariffs.

Extending Functionality through Integrated Process-Driven Modules

Benefits

• Synchronized processing of network-wide activities

• Enhanced functionality for automating new business policies

• Increased scalability of operations driven by a 3-tier architecture setup

• Synchronized processing of network-wide activities

Technologies used in developing this application are:

                              

The client's website was managing some of its major operations through a manual system including the fees, and Proof-of-Delivery (POD) management. They required a system that would integrate these processes with the existing website functionality. Users of the system included the administrator and the courier service agents in different regions. The modules would be integrated as part of the functionality for either of these users.

With the new system, the website users would be able to:

• Upload manifests for dispatch & arrival of shipments

• Manage tariffs between importers & exporters

• Manage tariffs between importers & exporters

• Manage OCS-India services charges or fees

• View custom duty reports

The client teamed with Open Source Development, to enhance the functionality of the existing system, allowing the streamlining of processes for their India website.

The Administrator and Agent interfaces for the website have been redesigned to include tools for managing agents, PODs, shipment details, stations, custom duty, and data backup.

There are three user types for the system – administrator, agent, and customer.

When a dispatcher sends a particular shipment, the custom-duty details and weight of the shipment are uploaded along with the Main Waybill number. The dispatcher agent enters these details by logging into the Agent interface. Depending on the weight of the shipment, the fees for the client is calculated. The shipments, which are not dispatched, are added to the Pending Pool. Likewise, the dispatched shipments are added to the Sent Shipment list. When the receiver station receives the shipment, the status of the newly arrived shipment is made available in the Shipment Arrival section. While the agents manage dispatch and arrival of shipments, the administrator coordinates the tariff rates. There is a single default tariff plan for domestic courier services. The administrator can create tariff plans for different stations on an incremental basis. The Open Source Development team gauged the exact requirements and suggested a tariff structure that would suit the client's network setup. The tariff structure defines different slabs for different agents. The administrator can assign the relevant tariff plan for each agent, depending on individual specifications. Besides this, the administrator manages agents, Proof of Delivery (PODs), non-delivered shipments, stations, custom duty reports, and data backup.
The previous system used for managing stations was unable to manage the client's fee structure, and therefore the fee calculation process was performed manually. We enhanced this system to include a ‘fee calculation module’ to manage client's fee structure for Domestic and International imports – thereby automating the fee calculation process for the entire network.

The architecture is based on the 3-tier model for higher scalability. The front-end is developed on PHP and JavaScript, while the backend is deployed on MySQL.


Summary
The client's website was under operation prior to its venture with Open Source Development. However, the entire system required revamping to match up with the latest business policies including the fee structure and tariff management. These processes were business-critical for the client and we helped the organization streamline these processes to manage its network of agents, proactively.