CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
A courier service is an organization which offers special deliveries of packages, money, documents or information. Courier services usually boast faster delivery times than any alternative method of transporting documents, and many services in the modern world rely on it. The idea of couriers and a courier service has been around almost as long as civilization, with rulers in antiquity using couriers as a means to make new laws and edicts known throughout their lands.
In the modern age of international business, the courier service has become a keystone of enterprise, even as emerging technologies such as the fax machine and Internet have rendered them less useful in some areas.
The largest courier service in the world is the United Parcel Service (UPS), which delivers more than 12 million packages globally each day. UPS had its roots as a courier service in the beginning of the 20th century, when it was known as the American Messenger Company. UPS survived the depression and the World Wars, and went on to thrive in the global age. Throughout the years it acquired other courier services, including the Motorcycle Messengers and a number of smaller European companies. Federal Express (FedEx) and Dalsey
Hillblom Lynn, now Deutsche post AG (DHL) are other well-known global examples of the courier service, both with their roots in the early 1970s. Though not nearly as large as UPS, each company controls sizable portions of the
1 market. FedEx is particularly well-respected for its overnight courier service, the first of its kind. DHL originally focused exclusively on the route between
Honolulu and San Francisco in the United States, but grew to encompass the
Pacific Rim and spread to Europe and the Middle East.
Smaller courier services abound, particularly in cities. This type of courier service finds its niche in smaller packages and documents which need to be transported from one location in a city to another as quickly as possible.
Couriers in these companies often ride bicycles or motorcycles in order to achieve the shortest turnaround times from pickup to delivery. Indeed, the bicycle messenger, whizzing through crowded traffic at unbelievable speeds with a satchel over one shoulder, has become a symbol of the youthful daredevilry of city life. In recent years, with the emergence of more sophisticated communications technologies and harsh price competitiveness, the number of bicycle couriers in most cities has decreased significantly, but the market remains strong for those who continue to work.
There is also a type of courier service which utilizes the extra baggage allotment of airline passengers to transport documents quickly and easily, with less hassle, through the Customs office of a country. These courier services offer greatly discounted fares on commercial tickets to foreign locations in exchange for the use of the passenger's baggage space. The passenger is then given all the requisite paperwork, which they simply deliver to the Customs agent at the receiving end.
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Though technology has replaced many traditional uses of the courier service, there still exists a constant need to transport physical goods and documents over both short and long distances as quickly as possible.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS
Keeping record of parcels in a courier service company and their delivery information is carried out manually. A lot of files are opened for daily record of parcels received or delivered. This litters the office with much paper documents. Most often records are misplaced and when a client comes to collect his parcel, he\she spend some hours waiting for confirmation of the parcel. Hence delay is bound to occur while delivering parcel to customers.
Also, customers must visit the post office before they can purchase stamps or any other item.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The objectives of this project are as follows.
Analyzing global trends in e-commerce and why it is important for
economic developments.
Identifying benefits of the adoption of e-post management system by
courier Service Company.
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Developing an e-post platform that can be used by customers to order for
post office items and make payment online.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
The scope of this project covers all details of a typical e-post application, with emphasis on the front-end portal but excludes the gateway application implementations and technologies. The gateway end which is a very secure e- payment environment is often times built using SSL protocol, which can be procured from the gateways companies and integrated to the e-commerce site to support online, onsite payment management. However we have chosen to incorporate a demo copy of the gateway end to showcase its activities for the audience to appreciate such integration.
1.5 PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
The advantages of e-commerce for business entities can be summarized thus: e- commerce can increase sales and decrease costs. A firm can use e-commerce to reach narrow market segments that are widely scattered geographically. The internet and the web are particularly useful in creating virtual communities that become ideal target markets. A virtual community is a gathering of people who share a common interest, but, instead of this gathering occurring in the physical
4 world; it takes place on the internet. So the e-post management system developed will assist courier Service Companies to:
1. Increase sales opportunities for the seller, thereby increasing
purchasing opportunities for the buyer.
2. Provide buyers with a wider range of choices than traditional
commerce, because they can consider many different products and
services from a wider variety of sellers.
3. The benefits of e-commerce also extend to the general welfare of
society. Electronic payments for goods cost less to issue and arrive
securely and quickly when transmitted via the Internet.
4. Furthermore, electronic payments can be easier to audit and monitor
than payments made by check, which can help protect against fraud
and theft.
5. E-Commerce platform can make products and services available in
remote areas.
1.6 PROJECT REPORT ORGANIZATION
The project is organized as follows;-
Chapter one comprises the background of the project with the statement of the problems, objectives of the project, scope of the project, project justification and definition of terms pointed out.
Chapter two reviews previous literatures on cargo transportation systems
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Chapter three discusses methodology and system analysis. It deals with the approach used for the project, tools used, information gathering, data analysis and limitations of the existing system.
Chapter four covers the system analysis and design. It highlights the project modules, system and program flow charts, and the database design.
Chapter five discusses the system implementation and testing.
Chapter six covers the summary and conclusion of the project.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Courier: A courier is a person or company employed to deliver messages, packages and mail.
Database: A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called databank.
File Transfer: Any kind of computer file can be sent via the Internet from one
Internet user to another. Table of accounts on spreadsheets, design by a graphic artists, music sound files etc, can all be exchanged in this way.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 CARGO SHIP
According to Systematics (1998), cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another.
Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usually specially designed for the task, often being equipped with cranes and other mechanisms to load and unload, and come in all sizes. Today, they are almost always built of welded steel, and with some exceptions generally have a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years before being scrapped
Cargo ships/freighters can be divided into four groups, according to the type of cargo they carry. These groups are:
1. General Cargo Vessels
2. Tankers
3. Dry-bulk Carriers
4. Multipurpose Vessels
General Cargo Vessels carry packaged items like chemicals, foods, furniture, machinery, motor vehicles, footwear, garments, etc.
Tankers carry petroleum products or other liquid cargo.
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Dry Bulk Carriers carry coal, grain, ore and other similar products in loose form.
Multi-purpose Vessels, as the name suggests, carry different classes of cargo – e.g. liquid and general cargo – at the same time.
Specialized types of cargo vessels include container ships and bulk carriers
(technically tankers of all sizes are cargo ships, although they are routinely thought of as a separate category). Cargo ships fall into two further categories that reflect the services they offer to industry: liner and tramp services. Those on a fixed published schedule and fixed tariff rates are cargo liners. Tramp ships do not have fixed schedules. Users charter them to haul loads. Generally, the smaller shipping companies and private individuals operate tramp ships. Cargo liners run on fixed schedules published by the shipping companies. Each trip a liner takes is called a voyage. Liners mostly carry general cargo. However, some cargo liners may carry passengers also. A cargo liner that carries 12 or more passengers is called a combination or passenger-cum-cargo line.
The earliest records of waterborne activity mention the carriage of items for trade; the evidence of history and archaeology shows the practice to be widespread by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The desire to operate trade routes over longer distances and at more seasons of the year motivated improvements in ship design during the middle Ages.
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Before the middle of the 19th century, the incidence of piracy resulted in most cargo ships being armed, sometimes quite heavily, as in the case of the Manila galleons and East Indiamen. This sometimes resulted in the ships being escorted.
The words cargo and freight have become interchangeable in casual usage.
Technically, "cargo" refers to the goods carried aboard the ship for hire, while
"freight" refers to the compensation the ship or charterer receives for carrying the cargo.
Generally, the modern ocean shipping business is divided into two classes:
1. Liner business: typically (but not exclusively) container vessels (whereas
"general cargo" is carried in 20 or 40-foot "boxes"), operating as
"common carriers", calling a regularly published schedule of ports. A
common carrier refers to a regulated service where any member of the
public may book cargo for shipment, according to long-established and
internationally agreed rules.
2. Tramp-tanker business: generally this is private business arranged
between the shipper and receiver and facilitated by the vessel owners or
operators, who offer their vessels for hire to carry bulk (dry or liquid) or
break bulk (cargoes with individually handled pieces) to any suitable
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port(s) in the world, according to a specifically drawn contract, called a
charter party.
Larger cargo ships are generally operated by shipping lines: companies that specialize in the handling of cargo in general. Smaller vessels, such as coasters, are often owned by their operators.
2.2 COURIER SERVICE COMPANY
According to Nick Mathiason (2007), a courier is a person or company employed to deliver messages, packages and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of services, and committed delivery times, which are optional for most everyday mail services. As a premium service, couriers are usually more expensive than usual mail services, and their use is typically restricted to packages where one or more of these features are considered important enough to warrant the cost. Different courier services operate on all scales, from within specific towns or cities, to regional, national and global services. The world's largest courier companies are Aramex,
DHL, FedEx, TNT N.V. and UPS. These offer services worldwide, typically via a hub and spoke model.
In ancient times runners and homing pigeons were used to deliver timely messages. When the horse became domesticated, its use was rapidly adopted by couriers. Before there were mechanized courier services, foot messengers
10 physically ran miles to their destinations. To this day there are marathons directly related to actual historical messenger routes.
In cities, there are often bicycle couriers or motorcycle couriers but for consignments requiring delivery over greater distance networks, this may often include trucks, railways and aircraft.
Many companies who operate under a Just-In-Time or "JIT" inventory method often utilize on-board couriers. On-board couriers are individuals who can travel at a moment's notice anywhere in the world, usually via commercial airlines. While this type of service is the second costliest - general aviation charters are far more expensive - companies analyze the cost of service to engage an on-board courier versus the "cost" the company will realize should the product not arrive by a specified time (i.e. an assembly line stopping, untimely court filing, lost sales from product or components missing a delivery deadline, organ transplants).
Over time, demand for a new type of representative courier has emerged. With the increase in fuel prices and productivity goals monitored closely by companies, this new type of all-in-one courier has been developed to "take care of business". Workers in companies have more work and less time to be out of the office. Operating largely using independent contractors that have gone through a screening process and background checks have found a niche in the courier industry. Research, in transit pet care, complex paperwork filing, and a host of other services are now offered in this new category of courier service.
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The genus of the UK same-day courier market stems from the London Taxi companies but soon expanded into dedicated motorcycle dispatch riders with the taxi companies setting up separate arms to their companies to cover the courier work. During the late 1970s small provincial and regional companies were popping up throughout the country. Today, there are many large companies offering next-day courier services, including City Link Ltd. and UK divisions of worldwide couriers such as APC Overnight, FedEx, DHL, UPS and
TNT.
There are many 'specialist' couriers usually for the transportation of items such as freight/palettes, sensitive documents and liquids.
The 'Man & Van'/Freelance courier business model is highly popular in the
United Kingdom, with thousands upon thousands of independent couriers and localized companies, offering next-day and same-day services. This is likely to be so popular because of the low business requirements (a vehicle) and the lucrative number of items sent within the UK every day. Since the turn of the millennium there has been a noticeable increase in owner drivers, self employed couriers, operating mainly from home with a sole vehicle. Advantages of this rather than working for an established same-day courier firm are that they are able to offer far better rates to their customers. Self employed couriers come from varied employment backgrounds; from non-skilled through to highly qualified trades people.
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Motorbike couriers still exist, but mainly in and around London (and other large cities), where there is often congestion, as they are much cheaper to run in heavy traffic.
Large companies such as APC Overnight, Interlink Express, Citylink and FedEx all now provide P.O.Ds online. Lots of the smaller companies and freelance
'Man & Vans' are unable to provide this, but this is changing with forever lowering costs of technology.
Royal Mail was up until recently a reasonable competitor of most of the large couriers; offering next day and special delivery services. This has however changed, with higher costs, strike action and a lowering public perception of the company. With companies like Royal Mail & the DX (who offer a private courier 'box network'), it can be difficult to draw a clear-cut line between postal services and couriers.
Some UK couriers offer next-day services to other European countries. FedEx and Interlink Express both offer next-day air delivery to many EU countries.
Cheaper 'By-Road' options are also available, varying from 2 days delivery time
(e.g. France), up to a week (e.g. Former USSR countries).
Large couriers often require an account to be held (and this can include daily schedule collections). Senders are therefore primarily in the commercial/industrial sector (and not the general public); some couriers such as
DHL do however allow public sending (at higher cost than regular senders).
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The courier industry has long held an important place in United States commerce and been involved in pivotal moments in the nation's history such as westward migration and the gold rush. Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 and rapidly became the preeminent package delivery company. The company specialized in shipping gold, packages and newspapers throughout the West, making a Wells Fargo office in every camp and settlement a necessity for commerce and connections to home. Shortly afterward, the Pony Express was established to move packages more quickly than the traditional method, which followed the stagecoach routes. It also illustrated the demand for timely deliveries across the nation, a concept that continued to evolve with the railroads, automobiles and interstate highways and which has emerged into today’s courier industry.
The Courier industry in the United States is a $59 billion industry, with 86% of the business shared by only four companies, including DHL, FedEx and UPS.
The remaining 14% shared among almost 11,900 other small businesses ranging in size from 1 employee to over 600. These businesses comprise of mostly same day deliveries and are strong offline businesses like Diamond Express and strong online businesses like Naparex.
According to Fincham, Ben (2004), Same-day couriers deliver in less than 24 hours and are an integral part of any modern economy. There are roughly seven thousand courier companies in the United States that make up this multi-billion dollar sector. The business model for the courier industry is particularly
14 dependent on independent contractors. It is estimated that 50-65% of U.S. courier companies use independent contractors to make deliveries in addition to their own dedicated employee resources. The nature of the industry, with its on- demand, often unscheduled delivery model, requires a varying number of courier drivers on any given day and time of day to complete a set service.
Experts in this method of network delivery maintain hundreds of standby couriers in a "ready to move" status as devised by Mark Kent, professor of
Logistics at the University of Ghent. However, this business model is under threat from IRS Reclassification where IC's are being re-categorized as W-2 employees. This reclassification typically results in fines being imposed on the offending courier company.
In December 2007, the Internal Revenue Service of the US 'tentatively decided' that FedEx Ground Division might be facing a tax liability of $319 million for
2002, due to misclassification of its operatives as independent contractors.
Reversing a 1994 decision which allowed FedEx to classify its operatives that own their own vehicles, the IRS is auditing the years 2003 to 2006, with a view to assessing whether similar misclassification of operatives has taken place.
FedEx denies that any irregularities in classification have taken place, but is facing legal action from operatives claiming benefits that would have accrued had they been classified as employees.
Many expedited courier companies are regional; small businesses which can also provide additional services such as logistics management, archive
15 warehousing, messenger centres, outsourced mailroom services and coordinated airfreight forwarding delivery services.
In the UK, most of the couriers or dispatch riders were motorcyclists when the same-day delivery business started to show up in London. These tended to evolved from taxi companies but soon regional courier companies were popping up throughout the country. Starting in the mid 1980s, bicycle couriers, who were more economical for shorter distance deliveries, began to supplant motorcycle couriers in the larger cities. Rising costs, including insurance premiums and petrol, made motorcycle couriers less competitive. Except for the metropolitan areas most of the same-day couriers throughout the country now use small vans to do deliveries. Under the current financial climate the trend has seen corporate businesses evaluate courier costs and steer away from same-day couriers and tend to sway towards the cheaper next day delivery solution.
These couriers specialize in delivering important or sensitive packages that need to be received in the local area; and/or because of time and temperature concerns, such as organs for transplant or key equipment or parts that are necessary for day to day operations. While most companies use courier services, certain industries depend on couriers on a daily basis. Biomedical labs need samples for testing and evaluation, manufacturing industries require parts to keep their plants operating smoothly, financial institutions transfer multiple documents every day between branches and processing centres, law firms must deliver confidential signatured documents on very strict deadlines for court
16 filings and pharmaceutical distributors use couriers to transport medications to hospitals and nursing homes.
Even two-day delivery services use courier firms. When a mistake has been discovered, courier firms fill in the gaps and ensure packages are delivered on time. One of the leading UK next day couriers, APC Overnight, ensure that any timed delivery mis-sorted parcels are urgently collected and run to their destination on same-day delivery vehicles to ensure that the customer still receives the service that they paid for.
Courier firms specializing in same-day delivery provide an invaluable service because the "big five" (Aramex, DHL, FedEx, TNT N.V., and UPS) in the delivery business simply do not provide same-day delivery services uniquely designed to meet specific individual customer needs. Expedited delivery firms also prevent the big five from having a complete monopoly on deliveries that must be completed in a short period of time. This competition, both among couriers and with the big five, has greatly increased the quality and professionalism of the industry, while also ensuring reasonable rates for customers. These 7,000 plus small businesses also help to keep the pricing competitive and the big five honest. Additionally, the courier industry consists almost entirely of small, locally owned and operated businesses, ensuring that revenue is retained within the community served, rather than siphoned off by a multi-national corporation. Ron Da Parma (2007).
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The conditions of employment of couriers vary from country to country, city to city and even company to company. Contracts governing the relationship between individual courier and company are subject to customary practice, as local ordinance. In some places, couriers are independent contractors paid on commission and do not receive benefits such as health insurance. In other places, they are regular employees of the courier company enjoying all the benefits thereof.
In the US, the Obama-Durbin Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007 was introduced to deal with the problem of workers 'misclassified' as independent contractors. It is not clear what effect this legislation, if enacted, will have on the U.S. courier market. But if, as is the Act's intention, courier companies are forced to treat those workers that they previously declared independent contractors, as employees, with all the benefits thereof, then there is no doubt that costs will rise.
2.3 E-COMMERCE
To many people, the term electronic commerce (sometimes shortened to e- commerce) (Kalakota & Whinston 1999) means shopping in the part of the internet called the World Wide Web. However, e-commerce has a much broader scope and encompasses many more business activities other than just web shopping. Some people and businesses use the term electronic business (or e- business) when they are talking about e-commerce in this broader sense. In this
18 paper, we will use the term e-commerce in its broadest definition. Although the web has made online shopping possible for many businesses and individuals, in a broader sense, e-commerce has existed for many years. For decades, banks have been using electronic funds transfers (EFTs) (Schneider & Perry 2001), which are electronic transmissions of account exchange information over private communications networks. Businesses also have been engaging in a form of e-commerce, known as electronic data interchange (EDI), for many years. EDI occurs when one business transmits computer readable data in standard format to another business. In the 1960s, businesses realized that many of the documents they exchanged related to the shipping of goods – such as invoices, purchase orders, and bills of lading – and included the same set of information for almost every transaction. They also realized that they were spending a good deal of time and money entering these data into their computers, printing paper forms, and then re-entering the data on the other side of the transaction. Although the purchase order, invoice, and bill of lading for each transaction contained much of the same information, each paper form had its own unique format for presenting that information. By creating a set of standard formats for transmitting that information electronically, businesses were able to reduce errors, avoid printing and mailing costs, and eliminate the need to re-enter data. Businesses that engage in EDI with each other are called trading partners. The standard formats used in EDI contain the same
19 information that businesses have always included in their standard paper invoices, purchase orders, and shipping documents.
A good definition of e-commerce would mention the use of electronic data transmission to implement or enhance any business process. Some people use the term “internet commerce” to mean e-commerce that specifically uses the internet or the web as its data transmission medium. IBM has defined electronic business to be “the transformation of key business processes through the use of
Internet technologies”.
Several technologies are needed for e-commerce to exist. The most obvious one is the internet. Beyond that system of interconnected networks, many other sophisticated software and hardware components are needed to provide the required support structure: database software, network switches and hubs, encryption hardware and software, multimedia support, and the World Wide
Web. Methods of connecting all the software and hardware elements in just the right way to support electronic commerce are changing and evolving every day.
The rate of change is rapid for all elements that support electronic commerce.
Any business that engages in e-commerce and hopes to compete in the future must adapt to new internet technologies as they become available. The anticipated e-commerce overload requires companies to find faster and more efficient ways to deal with the ever-increasing rush of online shoppers and the increasing traffic between businesses.
The following are the characteristics of e-commerce technologies (Burns 2002):
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Ease of automated processing: A payer can now easily automate the generation and processing of multiple payments with minimal effort and cost.
Previously, the dependency upon banks to handle most payments and the lack of a cheap, ubiquitous communications technology made automation of payment processes expensive and difficult to establish.
Immediacy of result: Payment immediacy occurs because of automation and the ability of the intermediate systems and providers to process payments in real-time. In manual, paper based systems there exists a time delay due to the requirement of human intervention in the process.
Openness and accessibility: The availability of cheap computing and communications technology, and appropriate software enables small enterprises and individuals to access or provide a range of payment services that were previously only available to large organizations via dedicated networks or the transactional processing units of banks.
Loss of collateral information: The new technology dispenses with, or alters, collateral information accompanying transactions. This information has traditionally been part of the transaction, and has been relied upon by the transacting parties to validate individual payments.
Globalization: Globalization, or the minimization of geographical factors in making payments, is an obvious aspect of the new payments systems. Its effect is upon areas such as size of the payments marketplace, uncertainty as to legal jurisdiction in the event of disputes, location and availability of transaction
21 trails, and the ability of a payment scheme to rapidly adapt to regulatory regimes imposed by one country by moving to another.
New business models: New business models are being developed to exploit the new payment technologies, in particular to address or take advantage of the disintermediation of customers from traditional payment providers such as banks. Disintermediation is where the technology enables a third party to intervene between the customer and the banking system, effectively transferring the customer’s trusted relationship with the bank to the new party.
2.4 POSTAL SERVICES
The Post Office provides information on services and accepts postal items and payment on behalf of the two collection and delivery divisions of the Royal
Mail group, Royal Mail and Parcel force. These include a variety of ordinary and guaranteed services both for delivery within the United Kingdom and to international destinations. Postage stamps (including commemorative stamps and other philatelic items), air letters and international reply coupons are sold, while applications for redirection of mail are accepted on behalf of Royal Mail.
Post Office Local Collect is a scheme whereby undelivered mail can be redirected at customer request to a post office for convenient collection.
Personal banking services are offered on behalf of a number of "partner banks" that the Post Office has agreements with. Although different services are
22 available on behalf of different institutions, these may include cash withdrawals, paying in cash and cheques, balance enquiries and cheque encashment. Some post offices also have cash machines, mainly provided by Bank of Ireland. The
Post Office Card Account is a basic bank account allowing customers to collect benefit payments. Most other basic accounts can also be accessed through post offices. The Card Account cannot be accessed anywhere other than a Post
Office Counter or ATM at a Post Office. These accounts are limited to
Department of Work & Pensions deposits of benefit payments and HMRC Tax
Credits/Child Benefit. Housing Benefit from the local Council for example, must be paid elsewhere. If the account remains dormant for one year, it is closed. These bank accounts are run by J.P. Morgan Europe Ltd on behalf of the
Post Office. To open an account, you must be in receipt of benefits and a referral is made via the Jobcentre Plus.
Business banking services are also offered, mainly through Alliance & Leicester
Commercial Bank (the successor to the Post Office Girobank).
2.5 SAVINGS PRODUCTS
The Post Office has long been an agent for National Savings and Investments, which was originally the Post Office Savings Bank but is now a wholly separate institution. Information is available for most NS&I products, including
Premium Bonds, and numerous transactions can be carried out in post offices.
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In recent years the Post Office has launched its own range of branded savings products, which are sometimes in competition with those offered by NS&I. The most recently introduced, in September 2008, is a Post Office ISA. Also on offer is an instant access account (Instant Saver), while issues of two fixed term investments (Five Year Saver and Growth Bond) are periodically available. The
Post Office is also a provider for the Child Trust Fund.
The Post Office operates as a provider of a home landline telephone service
(branded as Post Office Home Phone) and has recently added broadband internet to its portfolio. Mobile phone E Top-up is available on behalf of most networks. Post Office branded prepay phone cards are available, offering potential savings particularly on international call rates.
The Post Office is now seeking to establish itself as a financial service provider and provides a number of branded insurance products including for cars, vans and motorbikes; home insurance (buildings and/or contents); pet insurance and travel insurance. Life insurance, over 50s life cover and lifestyle protection insurance are also available.
The Post Office is now offering itself as a mortgage lender and also offers personal loans, although the latter are now marketed purely through the company's website and not through the branch network.
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A number of bill payments can be accepted on behalf of a variety of organizations including utilities, local authorities and others. These can be in the form of automated payments (bar coded bills, swipe cards, key charging) or manual transactions through the Alliance & Leicester Transcash system. The name Transcash was formerly used by Girobank. The Transcash service is not advertised and a search for "Transcash" on the Post Office website returns no results. However, Transcash forms (still marked "Girobank") were still available at Post Office counters in October 2010.
Check and send services are available for applications made to several government institutions, including Her Majesty's Passport Office (for British passport applications), DVLA (for driving licenses and the Department of
Health (for the European Health Insurance Card). Fishing licenses are issued on behalf of the Environment Agency from branches in England and Wales.
Selected branches issue international driving permits.
Post Office savings stamps were first introduced by Henry Fawcett in the 1880s but were phased out in the 1960s. They were re-introduced in August 2004 because of consumer demand. In 2010 saving stamps were withdrawn and replaced by the Budget Card. In 2011 it was announced that Post Office saving stamps would have to be redeemed by 28th February 2011, although any customers who miss the deadline can post their saving stamps to a central Post
Office location where the stamps will be validated.
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CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY AND SYSTEM ANALYSIS
According to oxford advanced learners dictionary, methodology is a set of
methods and principles used to perform a particular activity. This chapter deals
with the methods used in carrying out the project and the analysis of the
methods used.
3.1 APPROACH
The software development approach used in the design of this project is the top-
down approach. A top-down approach (also known as stepwise design or
deductive reasoning) is essentially the breaking down of a system to gain insight
into its compositional subsystems. In a top-down approach, an overview of the
system is formulated, specifying but not detailing any first level subsystem.
Each subsystem is then refined in yet greater detail, sometimes in many
additional subsystem levels, until the entire specification is reduced to base
elements.
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Main Menu
Customers Control Panel Admin Database Administrator Exit
Add Create Admin Products View Password Products Delete
Check Credit Products Card Balance Create Credit Card Update Products View Cart Fund Credit Card View Order List Place Order View Payment Make Payment View Customers
Home
Browse
Fig3.1: Main menu block diagram
Fig 3.1 is the main menu block diagram which comprises of the various users that can use the website and the various pages that each user is allowed access to.
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3.2 TOOLS
The tools used for the project are PHP, mysql, and web server (wamp).
3.3 INFORMATION GATHERING
During the project work, data collection was carried out in various ways. In
gathering and collecting necessary data and information needed for the project,
Magazines, Journals, Articles, e-books and the Internet in general were sourced.
3.4 DATA ANALYSIS
I. General Analysis of the Existing System
The existing system in a courier service company is manual. Documents for
delivery are documented in a file and a payment receipt is issued. These
packages are categorised according to their destination, state or country.
Arrangement is made for their transportation down to their destination. On
arrival, these documents are distributed to the owners and a manual record is
prepared for each delivery. Sometimes customers come to the office to claim
their parcel and a manual search operation is carried out to locate the parcel for
the customer.
II. Input Analysis
Data analysis and restructuring was based on the identification of the basic
needs and the structure required for the project. The information gathered were
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analyzed and restructured in such a way that the subsystems and the modules
were achieved efficiently. The analysis and restructuring of these data were
such that the system is capable of entering the data to the input form.
III. Process Analysis
The information gathered was processed into a more meaningful format for
entry into the system. The processing was basically on the parcel records.
IV. Output Analysis
The output from the system designed is generated from the system inputs. More
of the output generated is on parcel received and delivery information.
3.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM
Due to the manual means being used by courier Service Company in keeping
parcel records information, lots of problems was encountered which includes:
a. Delay in processing parcel files
b. Loss of vital documents as the filing system is manual
c. Damage of documents due to fire incident.
d. Illegal removal of files by fraudulent staff leading to insecurity.
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3.6 OVERVIEW OF THE ENVISAGED SYSTEM
The new system is designed to solve problems affecting the manual system in
use. It is designed to be computerised thereby relieving both the customers and
staff from much stress as experienced in the manual system. This system will do
the analyzing and storing of information either automatically or interactively.
The proposed system will also have some other feature like:
Accuracy in the handling of data.
Fast rate of operation and excellent responses time
Easy way of back up or duplicating data in diskettes in case of data loss.
Better storage and faster retrieval system.
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CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM DESIGN
4.1 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The project applies a modular architecture with the various project features
represented using modules.
4.2 PROJECT MODULES
Sign in module
This module enables a user or administrator to log in to an already created
account. Text boxes are provided for the user name and password, and an
option box for selecting which type of user you want to sign in as.
Fig 4.1: sign in module
Register module
This module enables a visitor to the site to register as a new user. The
following information must be entered before the visitor is registered as a
31 new user: user name, password, re-password, first name, last name, phone number, e-mail address and home address.
Fig 4.2: register module
Check balance module
This module enables the user to check his account balance on his credit card by inputting his card number and pin and clicking on the check balance control button. His credit card balance will immediately be displayed in the balance textbox.
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Fig 4.3: check balance module
View cart module
This module provides the user with an interface where the user can view the items already ordered and placed on cart. The user can remove item(s) from the cart here. Once he is satisfied with the items, he then proceeds to pay for them in the payment module.
Product ID Product Price Date Delete
name
Fig 4.4: view cart module
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Payment module
Here, the user can pay for the goods selected by filling out his information such as first name, last name, card number, expiry date, secret pin and signature. The total sum of goods and number of items are displayed automatically.
Fig 4.5: payment module
Create administrator module
This enables the control panel administrator to add/create a new administrator account. This is done by inputting the user name, password and re-entering it to confirm.
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Fig 4.6: create admin module
Create credit card module
This is an ideal, demonstrative module showing how a credit card is created on the bank end. The card number and signature is automatically generated by the bank.
Fig 4.7: create credit card module
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Fund credit card module
This module is not a real module, rather an ideal, demonstrative module.
Since this project is executed on a virtual server, it is not possible to pay in money online. Therefore, this module demonstrates how money is paid into a user’s credit card on the bank end.
Fig 4.8: fund credit card module
Add product module
In this module, an administrator can add a new product by keying in the
product name, price and selecting the image from a memory location.
Once this is done, the new product will be visible to any user that checks
his account.
Fig 4.9: add product module
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Delete product module
This module deletes a product from the products displayed in the user’s account home page.
Fig 4.10: Delete product module
Update product module
This module updates the information of a product, such as its price, image, and name.
Fig 4.11: Update product module
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View order list module
This module demonstrates the list of users and products they ordered. A user or product can occur multiple times, depending on how many times a user orders a product or how many times a product is ordered.
User Product Product price Status Date
ID name
Fig 4.12: view order list module
View payment module
This displays the user, product and amount paid for each product purchased.
User Price Date
Fig 4.13: view payment module
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View customer module
This displays a list of customers that have purchased a product.
User name First name Last name Phone E-mail Address
number
Fig 4.14: View customers module
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4.3 FLOWCHART
Input Data - Form
Input From the Keyboard Result to Screen
Control Unit
Disk Storage Output (Report) Store internally
Fig 4.15: system flowchart
From the flow chart, an input data form is displayed which allows a user to key in values (numbers or characters) from the keyboard. The control unit is accessed and information is stored on or retrieved from the disk storage, stored internally and an output (report) is generated.
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Program Flowchart
Start
Display home page and the option buttons
Select menu option
Yes A User login
No Yes C Admin Login C
No Yes Control Panel D
No
Stop
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A
Select Menu Option
Enter Sign Up? Yes Customers Registration Information No
Enter User Name & Password
No Valid?
Yes
Place Your Purchase Order
No Display Invalid Valid Credit Credit Account Account? Information
Yes Submit the purchase order
Exit
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C
Enter Admin Password
No Valid Password?
Yes Select Menu Options
Enter Product Information and Picture New Yes Product ?
No Edit Product Information Update Yes Product?
No Display Yes customers View Product Order Order?
No Display Yes customers View payment Income?
No
Stop
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D
Enter control Password
No Valid Password?
Yes Select Menu Options Enter Admin ID New ID? Yes
No Edit credit Card New Card? Yes Information
No Update Credit Yes card account Funding?
No
Stop
Fig 4.16: program flow chart
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In figure 4.16, the user opens the website and views the various login options.
Clicking on the user login option will take him to the user login page (A), else clicking on the admin login option will take him to the administrator login page
(C), if not clicking on the control panel option will take him to the control panel login page (D). If none of the options are clicked, the user may exit the site.
In option A, the user can select a variety of options. If he chooses to sign up, he must enter customer’s registration information and exit the page, else he can sign in by entering his user name and password. If not confirmed, he must enter them again, if confirmed, he can place an order. If his credit card is not valid,” invalid credit card” information is displayed and he must enter it again. If valid, he can submit the purchase order and exit
In option C, inserting the admin password will display the admin menu, if not, it must be typed again. Amongst the menu options are new product, update product, view order and view income.
In option D, inserting the control panel password will display the admin menu, if not, it must be typed again. Amongst the menu options are new ID, new card and funding.
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4.4 DATABASE DESIGN
MySql database was used in the design of the new system database. The structure of the data tables in the database includes:
ecard
tbl_admin
tbl_cpanel
tbl_order
tbl_payment
tbl_product
tbl_user
Field Type Null Key Default
First name varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Last name varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Card number varchar(40) NO PRI
Signature varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Exp date Date YES (NULL)
Pin int(6) YES (NULL)
Amount Double YES (NULL)
Table 4.1: E-card
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The field column here contains the user’s credit card information such as first name, last name, card number, signature, expiry date, pin and amount. The type column specifies the data type used and maximum length. The null column contains null values and is set to yes, except for the primary key which is set to no. The key column specifies the key used in the database design. Only the primary key is specified here. The primary key constraint specifies that the column(s) of a table can contain only unique non null values. Only one primary key can be specified for a table, whether as a column or table constraint. The default clause assigns a default value for the column whose column definition it appears within. All the cells in the default column are set to null.
Field Type Null Key Default username varchar(10) NO PRI (NULL) password varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Table 4.2: Admin
The field column here contains the username and password. The type column specifies the username and the password rows as variable character (varchar) types of lengths of 10 and 20 characters respectively. The null column is set to
YES except for the primary key which is set to NO. The key column is set to primary for the first row and the default column is set to NULL for both rows.
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Field Type Null Key Default
Sn int(4) NO PRI (NULL)
Id int(4) YES (NULL)
User varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Dates Date YES (NULL)
Status varchar(10) YES (NULL)
Price Double YES (NULL)
Product varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Table 4.3: Order
The field column here contains the serial number, identification (ID), user, dates, status, price and product. The type column specifies the serial number and the ID rows as integers (int) of lengths of 4 numbers, the user, status and product rows as variable character (varchar) types of lengths of20, 10 and 20 characters respectively, the dates row as a date type and the price row as a double type. The null column is set to YES except for the primary key which is set to NO. The key column is set to primary for the first row and the default column is set to NULL for all rows.
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Field Type Null Key Default
Username varchar(10) NO PRI (NULL) password varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Table 4.4: C panel
The field column here contains the username and password. The type column specifies the username and the password rows as variable characters (varchar) type of lengths 10 and 20 characters respectively. The null column is set to YES except for the primary key which is set to NO. The key column is set to primary for the first row and the default column is set to NULL for both rows.
Field Type Null Key Default
Sn int(5) NO PRI (NULL)
Id int(5) YES (NULL)
User varchar(15) YES (NULL)
Items int(5) YES (NULL)
Amount Double YES (NULL)
Dates Date YES (NULL)
Table 4.5: Payment
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The field column here contains the serial number, identification (ID), user, items, amounts and dates. The type column specifies the serial number, ID and the items rows as integers (int) of lengths 5 numbers, the user row as a variable character (varchar) type of length 15 characters respectively, the dates row as a date type and the amount row as a double type. The null column is set to YES except for the primary key which is set to NO. The key column is set to primary for the first row and the default column is set to NULL for all rows.
Field Type Null Key Default
Id int(5) NO PRI (NULL)
Productname varchar(50) YES (NULL)
Img varchar(50) YES (NULL)
Price Double YES (NULL)
Table4.6:Product
The field column here contains the identification (ID), product name, image and price. The type column specifies the ID as an integer (int) of length 5 numbers, the product name and image rows as variable character (varchar) types of lengths 15 characters respectively and the price row as a double type. The null column is set to YES except for the primary key which is set to NO. The key
50 column is set to primary for the first row and the default column is set to NULL for all rows.
Field Type Null Key Default
Username varchar(10) NO PRI
Password varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Firstname varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Lastname varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Phone varchar(13) YES (NULL)
Email varchar(20) YES (NULL)
Address varchar(50) YES (NULL)
Table 4.7: User
The field column here contains the username, password, first name, last name, phone number, e-mail and address. The type column specifies the username, password, first name, last name, phone number, e-mail and address rows as variable character (varchar) types of lengths 10, 20, 20, 20, 13, 20 and 50 characters respectively. The null column is set to YES except for the primary key which is set to NO. The key column is set to primary for the first row and the default column is set to NULL for all rows.
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CHAPTER FIVE
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING
5.1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Computer system is made up of units that are put together to work as one in
order to achieve a common goal. The requirements for the implementation of
the new system are:
The Hardware
The Software
Software Requirement
For the effective implementation of the new system, the following software has
to be installed on the computer system.
Windows Xp, Windows 2000 , Windows Vista ,Windows 7or above
PHP
Mysql
Web Server
Hardware Requirement
Pentium VI and Above
1GB Ram and above
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40GB HD
Internet Access
5.2 SYSTEM MODULE IMPLEMENTATION
Fig 5.1: Home page
This is the home page of the e-post management system. Here, one can log in or
register as a new user to the site
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Fig 5.2: Login Form
This is the user login form, a pictorial view of the login module already explained in fig 4.1
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Fig 5.3: User Registration Form
This is the user registration form, a pictorial view of the registration module already explained in fig 4.2.
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Fig 5.4: Product Price list and ordering Page
This is the product price list form where customers can view products
available for purchase and order them.
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Fig 5.5: view cart form
This is the view cart login form, a pictorial view of the view cart module
already explained in fig 4.4.
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Fig 5.6: Credit card balance checking Form
This is the check balance form, a pictorial view of the check balance module already explained in fig 4.3
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Fig 5.7: Product order payment Form using credit card
This is the payment form, a pictorial view of the payment module already explained in fig 4.5.
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Fig 5.8: New Product Entry Form
This is the add product form, a pictorial view of the add product module already explained in fig 4.9.
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Fig 5.9: Delete product form
This is the delete product form, a pictorial view of the delete product module
already explained in fig 4.10.
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Fig 5.10: Update product form.
This is the update product form, a pictorial view of the update product
module already explained in fig 4.11.
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Fig 5.11: view order list form
This is the view order list form, a pictorial view of the view order list module
already explained in fig 4.12.
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Fig 5.12: View payments form
This is the view payment form, a pictorial view of the view payment module already explained in fig 4.13.
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Fig 5.13: View customers form.
This is the view customer form, a pictorial view of the view customer module already explained in fig 4.14.
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Fig 5.14: Create admin
This is the create administrator form, a pictorial view of the create administrator module already explained in fig 4.6.
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Fig 5.15: Credit Card Account Opening Form
This is the create credit card form, a pictorial view of the create credit card module already explained in fig 4.7.
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Fig 5.16: Fund credit card form
This is the fund credit card form, a pictorial view of the fund credit card module already explained in fig 4.8.
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5.3 SYSTEM TEST
There are two types of system test: unit/module test and system test
Unit/Module test: Here, the individual modules are executed to test for
efficiency. This ensures that all units of a system are working correctly.
System test: Here, the whole system is run ad errors are debugged.
Both types of test were carried out on this system and errors were debugged.
5.4 SYSTEM PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
The system performs at a short response time and is fast and very effective. The
speed of execution varies from system to system.
5.5 BILL OF ENGINEERING MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION
(BEME).
S/N ITEM PRICE (₦)
1 Dream weaver software 5000
2 Transport for research 5000
3 Internet subscription for research 6500
4 Laptop 120000
5 Total 136500
Table 5.1: Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation
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CHAPTER SIX
SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
6.1 SUMMARY
E-post is a major improvement on the post office as it delivers better services in
a very convenient manner and eliminates the time wasted in standing in long
queues waiting to buy stamps and other postal products. This system enables a
registered user to buy postal products online and have them sent to his mail box
without having to visit the post office. It also enables him to buy goods online
and have them delivered to his residence address via courier service. This
makes the prospect of using this service more appealing as it saves time and
money, plus it is a very fast way of purchasing goods online.
6.2 PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
Some problems were encountered in linking the various pages and creating a
control panel level embedded in the normal home page login level. Also,
creating and arranging the database tables effectively was tedious and bulky.
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6.3 RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that:
The management of DHL Enugu should adopt the automated method rather
than continuing with their manual system.
The staff of DHL Enugu should be given training on how to use this system and
other related computer application.
CONCLUSION
The project work has exposed a lot of information relating to courier service
information management. Also it has been observed that with the trend in
technology, most businesses are computerized and with the computerization of
the process for parcel delivery record, the courier service company can easily
track purchases and online product ordering records.
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APPENDIX A SOURCE CODE
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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APPENDIX B User manual 1. Turn on the system 2. Click on the windows button to bring out the start menu 3. Click on the web browser icon 4. Type in the following URL (uniform resource locator): http://localhost/E- post/signin.php. This will bring out the home page of the website.
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