OCS-India.com – Overseas Courier Service (OCS) required redesigning its operations management solution to extend and improve the functionalities of the previous system. The aim was to automate processes for OCS-India’s courier service network. Managing its operations through courier service agents, OCS-India required a Web-enabled system to coordinate its activities, spanning across different zones. In the process, they ventured with DevelopmentIndia to develop this business automation system. Analyzing the processes followed by OCS-India, the DevelopmentIndia team deciphered the system design and modules for managing tariffs, OCS-India’s fee structures, custom duty reports, and different hubs.
Customer Profile
OCS is a worldwide network specializing in customized distribution and time-sensitive delivery of international business materials. With more than 250 offices and substations, OCS offers courier services across the globe. OCS-India manages the India operations within different zones through its network of agents.

Business Requirement
OCS-India wanted to enhance the functionality available in the administrator and agent modules on OCS-India.com. The new system would provide an integrated set of Web-enabled modules to manage & track shipments, OCS service charges (fees), custom duty, & tariffs.


Solution

Benefits
 Synchronized processing of network-wide activities

 Enhanced functionality for automating new business policies

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

Technologies Used
  PHP
 MySQL
 JavaScript

Requirements

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

 Upload manifests for dispatch & arrival of shipments
 Manage tariffs between importers & exporters
 Manage OCS-India courier service stations
 Manage OCS-India services charges or fees
 View custom duty reports

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