Answer:

Case Overview:

The project owner of the Signed, sealed, delivered courier service is facing the problems of managing order of couriers in the synchronised manner. The project manager is incapable of managing central warehouse for the dispatching of products. The important information can be lost with the passage of time. The inventory management of the warehouse is the major concern for the owner of the company. He is looking forward for the online application which is capable of removing all the flaws of the traditional system. The customer detail, employee detail, and order detail can be easily fetched on the demand of project manager.

Introduction:

The online courier service is the application which is designed for taking orders to deliver the product within the location in 24 hours. The customer can approach booking of order through the online application of courier service. It is the GUI application which is developed which is used for developing interface between the customers and the owner of the company. The system is required to store the details related to loading of the goods to the delivery of the goods at the door step of the receiver. The central database is required to store the information of the customers, employees, product and goods delivered, date and time of the delivery, confirmation of the order, information related to inventory stored at warehouse, organization of the historical data, and others. The administrator is responsible for handling information related to customers and employees on the portal.

Business Problem:

The Signed, sealed, delivered courier service is the manual working organization in which the owner of the company is facing problem in synchronising the activities between different delivery person to deliver the product on time. He is incapable of keeping accuracy in the payment records because some of the customers do the daily basis payment and some of them do payment on monthly basis which creates the complexity in handling adequacy in the account management. “The inventory management of the warehouse is the major concern for the owner of the company” (Chung, 2015). The management of historical data related to customer details, employee details, and order details is quite troublesome in the manual working of the organization. “The important information can be lost with the passage of time” (Chandra, 2007). Most of the time is wasted in preparing reports and documentation for future reference. The daily transaction of loading and delivery of products is difficult to note. “The problem of coordination exists between different delivery person who are indulged in delivery of goods and warehouse management” (Fahmi, 2016). The central database management system is required for handling data correctly in the synchronised and aligned manner. He is looking forward for the solution which helps him to overcome these business problems to handle the business smoothly and takes the business towards prosperity.  

Purpose:

The purpose of this project proposal is to design an online courier management service for the organization named as Signed, sealed, delivered courier service. The system is organized for keeping the record of daily activities associated with booking of orders, loading of goods and products, delivery of the products at door step, checking of the status, management of activities related to payment i.e. daily basis or monthly basis. It is recommended to the owner of the Signed, sealed, delivered courier service to transform their business tactics from manual to automatic by developing a website for booking orders using online portal. “The online portal for the courier service is able to resolve the issues related to mismanagement in the traditional system of working” (Geek, 2013). It helps in synchronizing the business activities by removing the complexity of the scenario.

Benefits of the new System:

The new system is designed for removing all the problem domain of the business enterprise dealing with delivery of the product. The application is developed for reducing the manual hours spent on managing records of customers and other details. “The centralised database management system is developed is used for reorganization of data and information in a synchronised and aligned manner” (Helo, 2014). The historical data can easily access according to the future requirement on the demand of the user. The performance of the employees can be increased with the implementation of the online application. The benefits of the new system are described below:

• The daily transaction of loading and delivery of the product to the receiver can be easily managed without any conflict
• “The working of different employees can be linked together through the medium of centralised database” (Agarwal, 2009).
• Human errors can be reduced to high extent
• The new application provides 24 * 7 hours facility
• The reports can be generated easily.
• “The historical data containing information related to customers and employees is stored in the synchronised manner” (Johnsons, 2015).
• The GUI interface is easy to access and manage an online application
• The new information can be easily added and unused information can be easily removed
• “The products are delivered at much faster rate and fulfil the requirement and expectation of the customers” (Noemi, 2014).
• The authorised user of the admin department can be accessed the information related to the loading and delivery of the products
• Accuracy can be achieved in the delivery of services
• Efficiency of the courier service can be improved to a high extent.
• Less time consuming
• The tracking of the courier product can be carried out by the customers.
• Policies, offers, and cost can be accessed by the online portal
• Management of account detail for payment done by daily basis and monthly basis.
• It provides the pick facility
• The returning facility of the product in critical situation

Capabilities of the system:

There are two modules of the proposed system:

• USER MODULE: The user can use variety of services provided by the online web application of the courier service. “The efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved by the user in their daily activities” (Moonen, 2014). The user uses its login credentials for using the services provided by the courier service. The tracking of courier product can be checked by the user for analysing the online delivery of the product. Policies, offers, and cost can be accessed by the online portal.
• ADMIN MODULE: “The online development of web application for courier service helps the user to transform their manual working of the enterprise to automatic system” (Perkins, 2016). The work and different services can be easily manageable. The admin has the authority to update the information on the portal, check information related to orders received, check the details of payment, tracking of courier details in case of any query by the customers, generating receipt for the payment transaction, and others. “The offers and other services can be updated by the admin for granting new services and offers to the customers to attract them towards their organization” (Sudsawad, 2017). The daily and monthly profit and loss sheet can be prepared by the admin for analysing the growth of the company.

“The application is capable of providing employees detail, customers details, information related to loading and delivery of the product, information related to routes, and others” (Ripal, 2013). Every product which is delivered is equipped with the information such as customer name, customer details, branch ID and location, date of booking, date of delivery, and payment details. The goods and product details are available on the portal according to the Product ID. “The user will book their order by filling their registration details” (Rao, 2013). “The admin user will provide the order ID to the booked order and making it ready for dispatching” (Louis, 2009). The online application is capable of providing the information related the return of courier product in case of critical condition, details of the company, booking details, information related to the delivery and non-delivery of the product, details related to pick up facilities for employees to resolve the conflict between them without disturbing the maintenance of warehouse arrangement. The manual working system of the company is completely transferred to automatic with the development of online application. It is capable of maintaining the details of incoming and outgoing couriers for the proper delivery of the product to the right owner to overcome the problem of returning the product and inconvenience to the customers.

Exclusion:

The new system is capable of excluding the problems of existing system such as:

• Conflicts in employees for accessing the product dispatched for delivery
• Mismanagement of the warehouse inventory system
• Loss of data related to customer details, employees details, and order details.
• Inaccuracy in managing accounts related to payment done in daily or monthly basis.
• Huge paperwork
• Time consuming process
• Inefficiency in the delivery of the product
• Loss of trust of the customers
• Satisfaction level of the customers goes on decreasing.

These problems mentioned above can be managed and excluded in the web application for the Signed, sealed, delivered courier service.

Risk Analysis:

• Delays in the delivery of the product
• Loss of shipment
• Critical condition of the product delivered at the door step of the received
• Theft of the confidential product

Time Scale:

Milestones:

Proposed Budget:

The following graph shows the cost status related to top level tasks:

Pert Chart:

Use Case Diagram:

Conclusion:

It is concluded that the business plan for the development of web application for the Signed, sealed, delivered courier service is capable of excluding all the problems faced by the traditional working of the company. The application is capable of providing employees detail, customers details, information related to loading and delivery of the product, information related to routes, and others.

References: 

Agarwal, N. (2009). Project report on courier management system. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/55089024/BCA-PROJECT-ON-COURIER-MANAGEMENT-SYSTEM [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Chandra, P. (2007). The logistics sector in India: Overview and challenges. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://iimahd.ernet.in/publications/data/2007-03-07Pankajchandra.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Chung, G. (2015). Internet of things in logistics. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.dpdhl.com/content/dam/dpdhl/presse/pdf/2015/DHLTrendReport_Internet_of_things.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Fahmi, I. (2016). The dynamic of courier industry in indonesia and company response. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0916/ijsrp-p5731.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Geek, P. (2013). Courier management system mini project. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://projectsgeek.com/2013/07/courier-management-system-mini-project.html [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Helo, P. (2014). Real time tracking and tracking system. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.safeducate.com/PDF/KPMG%20Report%20on%20Logistics,%20Transportation%20and%20Warehousing%20(2013-2017,%202017-2022).pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Johnson, R. (2015). Documentation of courier management system. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/221964554/documentation-of-courier-management-system [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Louis, F. (2009). Transportation, logistics, warehousing, and packaging. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.nsdcindia.org/sites/default/files/files/transportation-logistics-2009.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Moonen, H. (2014). Performance measurement and control in logistic service providing. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://wsiz.rzeszow.pl/pl/Uczelnia/kadra/kferet/Documents/KPI%20in%20logistics.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Noemi, D. (2014). Procedure to improve service delivery DHL courier service company. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.scielo.org.ar/pdf/vf/v19n1/Procedure%20to%20improve%20service%20delivery%20DHL%20courier%20express%20company%20belonging%20to%20the%20Cienfuegos%20post%20office.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Perkins, P. (2016). Digital transformation of logistic industry. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/wp-content/blogs.dir/94/mp/files/pages/files/wef-dti-logisticswhitepaper-final-january-2016.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Rao, K. (2013). The future of the logistics industry. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/publications/assets/future-of-the-logistics-industry.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Ripal, P. (2013). A project presentation on Online courier service system. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://gnu.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/2216/1/ONLINE%20COURIER%20SYSTEM.pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017]. 

Sudsawad, P. (2017). Human resource and skill requirement in the logistics, transportation, and warehousing sector. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.safeducate.com/PDF/KPMG%20Report%20on%20Logistics,%20Transportation%20and%20Warehousing%20(2013-2017,%202017-2022).pdf [Accessed 05 Jun. 2017].