With the advent of e-commerce the market for cross-border parcel shipments has grown Significantly. Various parcel shipment companies operate in metropolitan areas such as Bournemouth. Their service works well for larger companies, but SME’s tend to pay strong premiums Or lack access to these shipments (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/post/doc/ studies/2011-Parcel-delivery-study_en.pdf).
For small and medium size enterprises, there always is the post office (or equivalent), but those Prices tend to be significantly higher than the prices paid by large enterprises. Online parcel brokers Such as www.parcelbroker.co.uk and http://www.interparcel.com/ fill this gap in the market and by Negotiating deals with parcel delivery companies for bulk discounts, they then forward on to their Customers (after taking a cut).
As long as the broker is reliable, there is very little to distinguish the various brokers beyond the Prices they offer. This makes the business low-margin. To support this low-margin process, brokers Automate most of their day-to-day processes.
Task
You will need to analyse the case, and describe/design how a broker system can work. This design should cover the back-end integration as well as address business drivers of this Case.
Your paper should cover the entire system, but should go in depth on aspects of this system. You can Choose what aspects to go into depth on (but the front-end of this system is not likely to be Interesting from the perspective of the paper).
Requirements
ILO’S ASSESSED
1. Critically analyse the role of web systems within the enterprise systems landscape, including an appreciation of the design of such systems where relevant to web information systems.
2. Critically assess, evaluate and learn existing and emerging technologies and approaches relevant to the design of web based information systems
3. Gain synthesis of the business context and business role of web information systems and the related requirements, including aspects such as security, integration etc.
4. Appreciate the distinct design challenges in web based systems where the delivery platforms are diverse and not under application control (for example delivery to smart phones)
REQUIREMENTS
• Your paper should be 5000 words long (table of contents, (abstract if present), and list of References do not count to this word count.
• You must hand in the assignment through turnitin.
• All sources need to be properly cited using the Harvard style
This is the paper title
1. Introduction
It is important to use the proper referencing style (Bournemouth University, n.d.).
1.1. Problem context
(What is a parcel broker, what are you discussing)
2. Problem analysis
(You should analyse what the business does. One approach is a stakeholder analysis, especially for customers and service providers, but also management and the tax man.
2.1. Front-end customer experience
2.1.1. Service 1 (ship a parcel)
2.1.2. Service 2 (see a shipping history)
2.2. Service provider interaction
2.3. Management information and controls
2.4. Legal compliance (& tax man)
2.5. Use cases
(what happens when mr X decides to ship a parcel)
2.6. What can go wrong?
3. Solution design
3.1. Literature
3.2. Overall architecture
(a picture)
3.3. Explanation of detail 1
3.4. Explanation of detail 2
4. Solution detail
(Discuss a particular aspect of your solution)
5. Conclusion
6. References
Bournemouth University, n.d. How to cite references: BU Harvard. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/how-to/citing-refs-harvard.html
[Accessed 1 11 2012].
Solution: –
Broker System
Table of contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Problem context………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2
2. Problem analysis…………………………………………………………………….. 3
2.1. Front-end customer experience…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
2.1.1. Service 1 (ship a parcel)………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
2.1.2. Service 2 (see a shipping history)………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.2. Service provider interaction…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.3. Management information and controls………………………………………………………………………………. 5
2.4. Legal compliance (& tax man)……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
2.5. Use cases…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
2.6. What can go wrong?……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
3. Solution design……………………………………………………………………….. 8
3.1. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
3.2. Overall architecture……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
4. Solution detail………………………………………………………………………. 14
Sales…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
Personnel Management………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Customer Management………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Inventory management system……………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)……………………………………………. 17
References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18
Introduction
The freight business involves collection of the parcel and its delivery to the customer as per the specified delivery schedule agreed between the customer and delivery service provider. The courier service providers arrange the pickup as well as delivery of crucial business documents or other parcels that is required to be sent or received urgently and rapidly to the places situated locally, regionally, nationally or even internationally. The courier organizations offer pickup and delivery services for those items also which need special care or protection and are time-sensitive such as supplies demanded by medical services, blood, urgently needed machine parts, and organs required for transplantation. The price demanded by the courier service providers depends upon the distance between the pickup and delivery location, the weight and volume of the parcel to be delivered, and the kind of service needed by the customer. These courier organizations need to ensure a good quality of service in terms of meeting the customer expectations regarding pickup and delivery schedules while controlling the operations costs in order to be competitive in the market and running a profitable business. The pickup and delivery process needs to be optimized to so that the overall business operation of courier organizations may control the cost [5]. To start the operations of freight business for an organization or an individual could be expensive due to the need of long chain of people to be involved in it, and this lead to the introduction of a special type of niche in the industry known as Freight Brokers. They are also called as Parcel Brokers or Logistics Brokers.
Problem context
The freight broker may be an individual or an organization that provides liaison with the other individual or organization that requires authorized motor carriers and shipping services. Even though the freight broker plays a crucial role in the movement of goods carried by large vehicles, the broker does not operate as a carrier or a shipper [4]. On the contrary, freight broker puts effort in determining the needs of a shipper and connects that shipper with a carrier willing to carry the parcel at a mutually acceptable price. The entire parcel traffic can be effectively consolidated, by using a Parcel Broker, with many other individuals and businesses. Afterwards, the parcel traffic is moved through one account with one of the major courier companies. This means that the actual pickup and the delivery services provided to one will yet be exactly the same, however, due to the consolidation of the all the parcel traffic massive buying power is developed which makes possible for all to share access to the heavily discounted prices from the couriers. It is fund that they will get a price 40-60% cheaper than the case of approaching direct. Freight broker services are worthful to both motor carriers and the shippers. Freight brokers assist shippers in finding the reliable carriers which may otherwise be very difficult to discover. Freight brokers help motor carriers in making their trucks full to earn money by transporting a wide variety of parcels with varied items. Freight brokers earn commissions for the efforts they do. Freight brokers utilize technological resources and their knowledge about the shipping industry in order to assist shippers and motor carriers achieve their goals. Many organizations find the services offered by the freight brokers absolutely necessary to run their operations [4]. As a matter of fact, some organizations hire freight brokers to coordinate for all of their shipping requirements. Freight brokers are quite often confused with the forwarders. Even though the freight forwarders do some of the tasks which are performed by the freight brokers also, but both are quite different. The forwarders take possession of the material being shipped by them, consolidate small freights, and make arrangements for the transportation of the consolidated shipments [3]. On the contrary, a freight broker is never supposed to take possession of the material being shipped by them.
2. Problem analysis
2.1. Front-end customer experience
2.1.1. Service 1 (ship a parcel)
From the perspective of the customer which in this case is the shipper i.e., the one who will be giving the parcels to the broker would typically make use of the web based system of the broker. In order to do this, the customer would login into the broker’s site and register first before putting up his first request. He would then need to provide the details of the parcel i.e., the size, weight, dimensions among other things. He would then need to specify the destination and pick up location and the respective time for each if the broker provides such flexibility. Once the details have been specified, the shipper i.e., the customer can place the order request, post which the broker will either pick up the parcel or the customer might have to ship it initially to a certain location using postal or other local services.
From the perspective of the operators who will be making use of the broker management system, the experience would be a little different. The operators would see an upcoming request by the shipper wherein they would have mentioned the complete details of the parcel to be shipped and the quote accordingly. If all goes well, he would accept the order. He would then combine it with rest of the packages and choose a suitable service provider to ship which matches with the timeframe which the customer has provided and the quotation. Once the parcel is ready to be shipped, depending upon the broker management system, the parcels would be load matched to available trucks and send across to the warehouse of the service provider.
2.1.2. Service 2 (see a shipping history)
From the perspective of the customer i.e., the shipper he would typically need to create an account before shipping a parcel. Once the shipper has shipped at least a few parcels he would be able to see the shipping history. Typically he would be able to learn past shipments i.e., see the shipping history and it’s corresponding details. This includes things such as when a particular parcel was picked up, what was the specification of the shipment and when did it reach the destination.
From the perspective of the broker, the operators of the backend broker management system would typically not only be able to see the shipping history of the particular shipper, but all of the shippers combined and even the shipping history with a particular service provider. Simultaneously just like the shipper the operators of the broker management system would be able to learn about the shipment’s corresponding details such as when the parcel was picked up, what was the specification of each of these shipment and when did it reach the destination among others.
2.2. Service provider interaction
From the perspective of the shipper his or her’s immediate service provider becomes the company which is providing them with the services. In this case the shipper will be interacting with the broker. Hence from the perspective of the shipper the broker is the service provider. His interaction with the broker occurs only when the shipper has to either ship, get a quote or track the parcel he has shipped.
From the perspective of the broker, the service provider becomes the carrier and the interaction with the service provider is comparatively more complex. To begin with when the broker has enough parcels to ship, he begins the search for a carrier. This search begins with a list of different requirements that would need to be fulfilled before the appropriate carrier has been chosen. Once that is done, the broker would either transport the products to the carrier who will then ship it to the required destination. However, the entire process is made easier with a broker management system. The system helps the broker choose the best carrier based on it’s history and cost after having being gone through different checklists such as insurance, carrier’s authority, equipment among others. The system also allows the broker to check the carrier based on the available load and whether or not the carrier operates on the destination the parcels are destined to be shipped. The system allows for automated requests and retrieval of specific quotes, carrier confirmtion including multiple pickups and drops among other things. As a result the entire interaction with the carrier is streamlined and nearly automated with the help of a broker management system.
2.3. Management information and controls
Freight broker business like any other business involves a great deal of management. The managers would typically have to manage the personnel i.e., the staffs of the business. A typical size of a freight broker business is 25 thus having different set of employees with specific goals and responsibilities. If the freight broker business provides pickup services from the customers then they woulld also need to arrange for drivers which would also mean managing drivers heallth insurance number, license, employment history and certificate renewals. ALong with this, the business also has to manage customers, equipment which they are in hold of and also the list of carriers with which they operate. The broker management system can ease the work of the managers with a great degree. It can not only streamline but automate various process by some degree such as managing drivers automatically, managing customers and categorizing them, generating automated alerts for quotes, requests, payments among others. In addition to this, the managers would also be in need of various reports which are vital to understand the overall profitability of the business which is a key decisoin makers so as to help them to understand what they can do to improvise it. These could include information such as what kind of parcels are their customers shipping, which is the top destination for customers, which carriers has consistently provided them with cheapest service per package among others [2].
2.4. Legal compliance (& tax man)
There are different set of legal requirements to deal with. To begin with, certain goods are off-limits and are never shipped no matter what. These includes drugs, arms and ammunitions, certain perishable products, products which are too fragile among others[1] Simultaneously, very large products cannot be shipped as well. At the same time, different carriers have their own set of requirement permitting as well as denying certain type of goods. There is also an element of legal documentation such as freight bill, transfer bill, settlement reports, posts invoices among others. The broker has to comply with the requirements set by the carrier which is inturn based on the state and national laws of the country and pass the same legal requirement to the shipper as well. On the other hand, taxation is a rather complicated element in the broker business. There are different kinds of taxes that they have to deal with on a daily basis which service tax, sales tax, fuel taxes among others. A good broker management system with an integration module to Quickbooks, Sage 50 or such popular accounting packages can help make the accounting taxation part downright simple.
2.5. Use cases
| Use Case | To ship a parcel |
| Actors | Shipper |
| Description | Shipper wants to create a new courier request. |
| Pre-Condition | The Customer is an existing customer. |
| Post-Condition | The Customer has created a new courier request successfully. |
| Type | Moderate |
| Normal Course of Action | 1. Shipper enters login and password.
2.1: If entered login and password are correct, then system home screen appears. 3. Shipper click “New”, a screen with following controls is displayed: • Weight of the parcel • Number of units of parcel • Name of the receiver • Destination address 4. Shipper enters the data and click “Submit”. 5. New request has been created successfully. |
| Alternate Course of Action | A2: Incorrect or not formatted information has been entered by the cutomer. Login screen is displayed again.
A5. If all the mandatory data are entered then error message is displayed. If the mandatory information is entered in correct format, then the new shipment request is created. |
2.6. What can go wrong?
In a freight broker business there are lot of things to go wrong. Legally, operationally or from administration point of view, there are lot of things that could disrupt the business and bring it to a halt. To begin with, starting up a freight business requires certain legal requirements such as getting the broker authority, depositing money with the bank, getting the license and insurance among others. Typically first time business owners in enthusiasm and desperation to start up the business might miss on a few important requirements which could later on end up costing them their business. In terms of operation, things as simple as misplacement of a particular order could cost the business it’s reputation. This could happen with a simple mistake such as the operator binding the customer’s parcel with a different set of parcel headed to another destination. If not for destination, then the operator might just get the dates wrong. The parcel could get damaged simply because it was not categorized with other fragile parcels and transported with care or if in case of a parcel which requires refrigeration, the parcel being shipped in a standard container. Another major problem faced by the freight brokers is combining the products and shipping with the lowest cost carrier to maximize profit. Sometimes these are not always feasible and at times it could happen, that the broker could end up making so little that it could barely cover their own expenses. Arranging pickups from the shipper and then delivering it on trucks to the final carrier is also a challenging and complicated task. Although it is simplified by the software, a major part of the operation is still not under control by the broker and hence that leaves a room for errors. These could include anything ranging from non-availability of trucks to delayed transport to the courier and so on.
3. Solution design
3.1. Literature Review
The market is flooded with various softwares which can be implemented for managing the parcel broker system. These tools are mostly web-based and not limited by number of users. They offer support for agents and is efficient to handle brokerage/3PL/4PL. They also manage transportation management and provide support to shipper. Since in broker system, users are distributed across different locations, multi-office feature is very critical which is offered by many such tools. They also save costs through use-per-pay feature. Apart from these features, the tools work on paperless system. They also provide support for multiple currencies and login functionality.
The functionalities of the tools are divided into three categories: administrative, managerial and operational.
Administrative – Following are administrative features of a parcel broker system management tool:
• Invoice generation – The tool can automatically generate invoices from work orders. The consolidation can also be performed from multiple work orders. It can add extra costs such as fuel surcharges and accessories charges to the final invoice. In addition to these costs, tool is capable enough to adding invoice fees and tax fees manually or by formula.
• Availability of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) option – EDI contains a set of standards which are used for structure the information which is to be transferred electronically between and within the businesses, government organization and other groups. The standards provide a structure to be used for emulating the documents. EDI also refers to the operation and implementation of systems and business processes for creating, transmitting and receiving of EDI documents. EDI is also considered to be a technical interpretation of business conversations. These conversations happen between two entities i.e. external or internal. It usually contains same information as present on the paper document being used for same organization function. EDI availability feature helps in exporting accounts and posting invoices to the chosen accounting package. It can be connected with various interfaces and extra interfaces can be obtained on request. With this option, user can develop an accounting interface in order to customize the accounting module.
• Accounting – The tools possess interface for different accounting systems. They provide support for trip clearing module and AR/AP transfer module. The tool also manages driver/owner operator settlement.
• Report generation – This feature comes under both administrative and managerial features. Under administrative, it manages comprehensive standard report and also exporting it to different formats like Excel.
• Tracking – This feature helps the users to track the shipment to its finest details which range from arrival/departure dates and time to places. Users can track the link on the online system. It provides web-based and real-time tracking mechanism which allows shipments to be tracked from anywhere and anytime.
• Backup – The web-based tools allow the administrator to take data backup from time to time which increases the reliability of the system. In case of any unforeseen disaster, data can be recovered and fed again into the system which brings back on the track within few hours of halting.
• Cross border management
Managerial – Following are managerial features of a parcel broker system management tool:
- Report generation – It includes generating standard and customized reports
Operational – Following are operational features of a parcel broker system management tool:
• Sales features – It allows automatic commission calculation by flat rate, percentage of revenue or percentage of net profit, tracks performance of salesperson, posts commission to accounting software, order entry by multiple salespersons, tracks the leads which include status monitoring, automatic conversion of lead to bill to be sent to shipper and Consignee, spots quotes and rates quotes which can be automatically converted to rate tables. In addition to this, rates table can be assigned to multiple customers. The tool also provides support for multi-currency.
• Dispatch feature – It provides support for: comprehensive search facility in shipping history database, carrier search on the basis of availability of equipment, carrier insurance expiry reminder, carrier confirmation i.e. pick and drop, map display, load tracking i.e. loads pick up, transit or delivered, overdue work order reminder, customer confirmation and automatic faxing. Along with this, dispatch feature also supports order management, load planning, carrier management, driver/truck management, load management and invoicing. Order management manages status of driven order, searches shipment and comprehensive order searches and document imaging. Load planning manages trip manifesting, order splits, selection of best route, automatic shipment temperature compatibility check and also equipment compatibility check. Load management checks for location updates, drops order for re-delivery, dynamic pick-up and delivery updater. Invoice feature allows for easy creation of invoice and also email them to the customers. Carrier management allows for expiration tracking and warning system, carrier search based on lanes and equipment and carrier self-managed updates of shipments. It also offers score-carding facility. Truck/Driver management offers credential tracking of driver, cash and advance management and equipment location board.
3.2. Overall architecture
Figure 1: Multi-tier architecture
We have implemented three tier architecture in our system in order to ensure that the system is robust, flexible and ready to adopt potential changes. The three tier architecture of the system includes three layers: the first one is user interface layer, the second one is application logic layer, and last one is database layer. The three tier system architecture intends to solve many recurring design and development issues in order to ensure the application development process easy and efficient. The user interface layer provides the users a convenient and friendly entry point to communicate with the system. The application logic layer does the controlling set of functions and manipulates the underlying logical connections of information flows. The database layer conducts the data modelling job in order to store, index, manage, and model the information required for the application. There a number of benefits provided by the three tier system architecture over the traditional two tier or single tier designs including:
- It requires less expensive hardware due to the use of thin clients
- It provides centralized application maintenance as business logics running at various end user machines are transferred to the single application server. It eliminates the need of software distribution which is complicated and problematic in the case of traditional client-server two tier model of the system architecture.
- The modular architecture of three tier system offers convenience in modifying or replacing one tier without impacting other tiers of the system.
- The load balancing requires comparatively little effort as the core business logic is separated from the database functions.
In addition, the three tier architecture of system maps quite well with the web environment of today’s IT world, where the web browser acts as the thin client and the web server acts as the application server. The three tier system architecture is capable of being extended to n-tiers, where additional tiers are added in the system to offer more scalability and flexibility. For instance, the middle tier in the three tier system architecture can be split into two, where one to form the web server and another to form the application server.
3.3 Application Logic Tier
The application tier is the middle tier between other two tiers to bridge these other two tiers i.e. user interface tier and the underlying database tier. The application logic tier owns those processes which manage the business logic of the deployed application in the system. The application logic tier represents the layer which facilitates majority of the processing works to occur. The application logic tier is accessed by multiple client side components simultaneously, and hence the application logic tier needs to manage its own transactions.
For instance, in the case of an e-commerce website, if a number of customers try to place an order for the same product, of which only one quantity is remained in the stock, the application logic tier will need to determine which customer has the right to purchase that product, update the changes in database to reflect the purchase performed by the particular customer, and communicate all other customers that the particular product is no more available for purchase. If there would not be any application logic tier between the user interface and the database tiers, the client components will need to directly access the product database. The database tier needs to manage its own transactions, most of the time locking out a record which is being accessed. Whenever a product is placed into a shopping cart by a customer, a lock can happen to prevent all other customers from taking it into account for purchase. Separating the user interface tier and application logic tier reduces the load on services provided by the user interface tier, supports better and effective management of the various connections initiated by multiple users, and improves the overall performance of the network infrastructure.
All the three tiers including the application logic tier communicate with each other using the open and standard protocols, and exposed APIs that simplify the overall communication. Such communication options between the tiers allow client components to be written in any programming language like C++ or Java and get deployed on any standard operating system, and also allows the database to be of any kind or design if the application logic tier is able to query and manipulate the database as needed. The application logic tier plays a key role in the communication happening among all the three tiers.
3.4 The Database Tier
The database tier is not directly accessed by the client components residing in a secured network. All the interactions between client components and the database tier happens through the application logic tier. The database tier is responsible to model and store the information required for the system and also for optimizing the data access process. Whenever the data is required by the application logic tier, it is retrieved from the underlying database and processed by the application logic tier, and after the processing done by the application logic tier, the computation result of the process is stored back in the database. As the data is very crucial aspect of any information system implemented in an organization, it is necessary to structure the system properly. The rules and the facts captured while the data modelling and processing period are crucial for ensuring the integrity of data.
In the three tier architecture of the system, the responsibility of the database tier is to manage the data which generally involves storage and retrieval of the data, apart from managing updates, allowing the concurrent or simultaneous access by multiple application tier processes, providing security, making certain the integrity of data, and offering support services like backup of the data. In most of the cases, the database tier services are facilitated by a RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) system, where the data is stored in a relational database. To manage the relational data in the database tier, a complex RDBMS software is needed. Majority of the DBMS (Database Management System) are well designed to hide the software complexities. Keeping the effective use of the DBMS in mind, databases are designed and commands & queries are formulated to fetch information from the DBMS. Majority of the databases use SQL as the query language. Along with this, database was integrated with hibernate and hence this tier is termed as integration tier as well.
Following tehcnologies are used in the implementation of multi-tier architecture:
- Presentation tier – The architecture will allow presentation layer to become the WYSIWYG layer. In this system, the presentation tier will become rich like that of desktop applications [6].
- Technological platform for integration – Web services and SOA are used for implementing the interfaces between different solution providers. For web development technique, web 2.0 and ajax are used. In addition to this, semantic interoperable services are used. These technologies along with existing enterprise web platforms and portal frameworks make it possible to design the integrated portals [6].
- Database tier – To implement this tier, Oracle database can be used. It’s a licensed software. MySQL can not be used because of the size of required data.
Along with these technologies, advanced IT solutions such as Artificial Intelligence, Simulation, Virtual reality tools and Busines Process modelling are also used [6].
4. Solution detail
The operational module of the broker management system is the core functionality of the system and comprises of the most important set of features. It contains several different components including sales, dispatch, carrier management, personnel management, driver management, equipment management and also the ability to track shipments. The operational module of the system can be operated by an individual but will usually be accessed by a group of individuals. Quite possibly, each individual will be assigned towards a specific component of the module.
Sales
The sales component of the module will allow the company to spot rates and convert it to orders which then can be assigned to multiple customers. There will be order and quote templates which the customers can use to submit their requests. There also should be ability to calculate commission for the sales staff. There should be reminder functionality for quotes which are about to expire. Ability to track every order as well as a group of orders based on their current status. Ability to track proof of delivery and should support multitude of currency conversions.
Dispatch
The dispatch functionality should list each and every orders which have been processed along with their status similar to the sales component earlier. The ability to track company drivers and supported third party transporters and to get confirmation along with the copy of receipts through emails such as driver trip manifests, load confirmations, bill of lading among others. Simultaneously, upon successful delivery be able to calculate the cost associated with the company drivers or third party transportes so that their payment could be made. It should also allow to search for different carrier based on their availability, rates among other things. Carrier confirmations upon loading and upon final delivery should also be possible along with the ability to pay both of them. Finally, if there’s any overdue work order, it should alert the operators from time to time.
Carrier Management
The carrier management component should allow the ability to list all the carriers supported by the system and in addition ability to list new carriers and select favorites. The carrier component should automatically gather information both from the vendors website as well as the past transactions from the dispatch component. This way the system should be able to record all current as well as historical activity, credit terms, equipment types, cargo types and quantity supported, lanes of operation, insurance among others. Based on this information, the system should give a rating to the vendors which in turn over a period of time will give result to the best carriers in terms of success rate and average price. Finally, it should also come with the ability to set up reminders for accounting staffs so as to make the payment according to the amount due for each of the carriers.
Personnel Management
The system should allow one to setup different groups of employee and each one with specific roles to designate responsibilities. Additionally, the system should allow to create a multi-level of security which will allow and deny the specific areas within the system based on the employees roles and responsibilities.
Driver Management
The driver management component must allow the ability to list down all drivers of the company if the company has it’s own pickup service. The system should allow one to record drivers details such as their health insurance, their license, certificate issued and employment history. Apart from this, the system should allow one to assign drivers to pickup orders and to also track success rates.
Equipment Management
If the company has employed drivers, then they most likely are going ot have to their own set of vehicles for the pickup and drop service. In this case, the system should allow one to track the positions of the vehicles. It should also has the ability to perform calculations to optimize the truck/van load simultaneously also optimizing the parcels to be put enroute to the drop location. Apart from this, there should also have the ability to track which parcels they are carrying. Additionally, the system should be able to schedule regular maintenance and checks as well as set reminders for the same.
Customer Management
Under customer management, the system should allow storing of several details of the customer and categorize them based on their profile such as individuals or business and the type of business they are in to. Additionally, alerts could be setup for customers such as when the customer has asked for a quote or requests something else. The customer management component must also comprise of a customer shipping history so that past orders from the customers can be viewed along with the on-going orders. The system should also support automated replies to customer such as a notification when the quote has been received. Simultaneously there should also be an ability to to write and reply to messages sent by the customer.
Inventory management system
System will be able to track the inventory including the new and processed orders. It will help in assisting the asset tracking, storage and organizing using modern techniques like barcode and RFIDs. The inventory management system will act as a bridge between customer and broker. Customer will be able track the movement of his/her packages [8].
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
When the ERP system is used along with the proposed system, it will help in controlling and facilitating the flow of information across the organization and also among different organizations. It will also help in managing the connections between internal and external stakeholders. It offers various modules – sales and distribution module, supplier order management, inventory management module, finance module, etc. which can be used in connection with different sub-systems of proposed system.
5. Conclusion
The usage of web based information system can automate and optimize a business to a great extent. In this paper, we learned how a freight broker can make use of a good freight broker management system to optimize and automate the business, which otherwise would be too limited. While it may not be possible to replace each and every process of the business with an IT system, but whatever processes the system can replace and if done effective will greatly help the business in being sutainable and reaching it’s goals.
References
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[2] Findaccountingsoftware.com, ‘ArcFreight | Demo, Pricing, Features’, 2014. [Online]. Available: http://findaccountingsoftware.com/directory/arcline-2000/arcfreight/. [Accessed: 11- Dec- 2014].
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