ABSTRACT

In Malawis business sector, companies that provide delivery of goods from door-to-door delivery of goods are vital in boosting the countrys economy. Times Courier Services is one such company. The Times Courier Services System requires a lot of time to have all processes that precede and succeed parcel delivery carried out by the clerk. For this reason, an online Courier Service Management System is required specifically for the purpose of providing a more organized and smoother running courier company. This document intends to specify the requirements of an automated online Courier Service Management System for Times Courier Services. The automated web-based system will enable Times Courier Services to manage all parcel delivery, transactions, driver allocations and customer payment details.

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Table of Contents

1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 3 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................ 4 Project Scope ................................................................................................................ 4 System Personnel .......................................................................................................... 6 System Overview .......................................................................................................... 7 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ......................................................................................... 11 Functional Requirements ............................................................................................ 11 Non-functional requirements ....................................................................................... 12 System-Related Non-Functional Requirements .................................................... 13 User-Related Non-Functional Requirements ........................................................ 16 PROJECT PLAN ........................................................................................................... 17 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 19 GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................. 22 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 23

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

In Malawis business sector, companies that provide delivery of goods from door-to-door delivery of goods are vital in boosting the countrys economy. Times Courier Services is one such company. Times Courier Services was introduced in early 2010 and currently operates in all three regions of Malawi. Times Courier Services does not deliver goods to P.O box numbers. Times Courier Services only delivers goods to physical addresses.

Customers can have their packages picked up from specific locations or they can bring forth the packages to Times Courier Services offices. The packages can either be in the form of documents or parcels. A waybill is filled out by the Clerk. The waybill contains sender details, name of receiver, delivery address, type of service and goods description e.g. dimensions weight etc. The waybill is then signed by the sender and the clerk. A payment for the goods is made in three ways. Either the sender pays in advance or the receiver pays upon delivery in what is known as cash on demand or using customer accounts. This payment information is also recorded on the waybill. The waybill has for copies, one for the filing section, one for the customer, one for receiver and one for the Sales Department.

When receiving the package, a delivery sheet is filled out by the clerk and returned to the office for filing. The delivery sheet has the receivers name, waybill number, name of deliverer and time of delivery. At the end of each day, all goods transactions are forwarded to the Sales Department for accounting purposes.

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1.1

Problem Statement

The Times Courier Services System requires a lot of time to have all processes that precede and succeed parcel delivery carried out by the clerk. Also, there are no standard driver allocation procedures, meaning that tracking down and allocation of drivers to parcels is an arduous task. The Service attaches a receivers copy of the waybill on the parcel which can easily get lost during transportation. Because of the physical filing system, keeping track of parcels, their owners, and their delivery is a very difficult task for the clerks. Creating daily records on excel sheets and keeping track of customer account payments for the Sales Department is tiresome to clerks.

1.2

Project Scope

With the proposed system, a clerk shall be able to perform daily tasks that involve parcel delivery on this centralized Courier Service Management System. The clerk as a user shall have an interface where the customer and parcel details shall be entered into the system. Each customer entry shall contain a list of all addresses from and to which their parcels have to be delivered. During the collection capture, users shall be able to select one of these addresses from a simple drop-down list, or enter a new address if needed. Once the collection has been captured, the users shall have the option of assigning the collection to drivers or agents. As soon as the collection is assigned to a driver, an SMS shall automatically be generated and sent directly to that driver's cell phone. This message contains the exact physical address of the collection, as well as additional details such as the closing time. In this way, each driver shall have an accurate list of all collections on his cell phone. Once the driver has made the collection, he shall simply send a return SMS with a unique collection code and the collection is automatically marked as collected. Collection status shall be Page 4 of 23

color coded in such a way that users can see at a glance the status on all outstanding collections for the day. As the closing time of each customer approaches, the status color shall change, meaning that drivers can be re-routed where necessary. As collections are checked in, the final destination address and other details shall be captured from the physical waybills. Drivers shall be manually assigned to deliveries. The user shall also be able to keep track of the account payment details of customer. The user shall set up customer accounts with their exact billing details. Rates shall be configured in a number of ways. Waybills shall be charged per piece or per KG.

With the Courier Service Management System, the user shall be able to print reports that are needed by the Regional Manager and Sales Department. The Administrator will be responsible for creating users of the system, passwords and also monitoring the usage of the system. The administrator can carry out all functions that a user is capable of.

The system shall have a search facility that will enable an expert user to search and find specific customers and parcels. This feature shall allow a user who is logged into the system to perform a search query for specified details. Dependent on the search parameters provided, the system shall return a table of all details that match with the attributes. If a user clicks search leaving the fields empty, the system shall return nothing. From the search set, a user shall be able to view details of the specified entry. The user shall edit the details or delete the entries if necessary. The system shall also print specified daily reports that are required by the Regional Manager and Sales Department.

However, the system shall not provide an online tracking facility using Tracking Systems that use GPS to allocate exact positions of goods and the vehicles that are transporting them. This is due to the unavailability of devices that are used in tracking systems. Page 5 of 23

1.3

System Personnel

The system developer is Juvenalis Mambo, a fourth year Bachelor of Science in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) student at Mzuzu University. The user classes shall be the Administrator, Expert users and Novice users. Administrator shall have full rights to configure and manage the entire system, including user registration. Expert users (Times Courier personnel) shall be able to manage parcel data and create user accounts for customers. Novice users (Customers) shall be able to request proof of deliveries (POD), book deliveries and request billing details.

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1.4

System Overview

This section describes the high level overview of the system using Data Flow Diagrams. 1. Current System

Figure 1.1: Context Diagram of current system Page 7 of 23

Receiver

Sender details
Figure 1.2: Level 0 DFD of Current System Page 8 of 23

Sender

Senders copy

Proposed system

Admin

Figure 2.1: Context Diagram of proposed system

Login details

User info Customer details

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Expert

Payment info Parcel details

Figure 2.2: Level 0 DFD of proposed system Page 10 of 23

2.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

This Section describes software requirements identified during the analysis. The requirements are divided into functional requirements, interface requirements and non-functional requirements.

2.1 Functional Requirements

This section enumerates functional requirements. These requirements shall apply to specific functionality (including security functions) of the system. Req. # FR001 Requirement Description system shall permit only

The system shall perform user authentication The

authorized users to interact within the system. FR002 The system shall allow registration of user Users shall be able to create customer accounts accounts booking FR003 The system shall automatically generate and Once waybill data is entered and the billing information to customers parcel is delivered with valid proof, the system shall calculate the cost and notify customers via email or SMS. FR004 The system shall assign deliveries and send Users will manually assign the drivers SMS to the assigned driver and the system shall automatically generate an SMS with delivery for billing and parcel

information to the driver.

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FR005

The system shall generate and send package Registered customer shall receive delivery details to customers package delivery information via SMS or email.

FR006

The system shall have a search facility

correct

list

of

package

and

customer details shall be returned if the records match attributes of a query that was entered into the search field. FR007 The system shall generate reports Every report generated by the system shall be able to be previewed onscreen prior to printing. This allows zooming, panning, selection of specific pages, searching on data, etc. Reports can be sent to any Windows printer, fax server, or other Windows registered device.

2.2 Non-functional requirements

Non-functional requirements address issues of the system other than the specific functions it performs. These issues include system performance, reliability, security and portability. They also address issues of the system development process and operational personnel.

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2.2.1 System-Related Non-Functional Requirements

This section enumerates the performance requirements, those that are measurable and usually encompass a series of unique requirements.

1.

Performance Requirements

Performance Requirements Table Req. # PR001 Non-Functional Requirements The system shall have fast response time Description Affected Req.#

Machines that fit the FR003, FR006 minimum requirements will benefit

PR002

The system shall update records

Records updates shall be done once deliveries are performed

FR003, FR004, FR 005

PR003

The system shall require adequate disk space

At least 20GB of hard disk space shall be needed to accommodate the systems database.

FR002, PR002,

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2.

Security Requirements
The Courier Service Management System supports user Id/password based authentication. Users shall be required to provide user ID and an encrypted password. User Ids and initial passwords will be sent to that particular user via email. In case a user forgets their password, the user will have to contact the administrator who will create a password and send it to them. In this case, they will be required to change it upon logging in.

3.

Operational Environment
1. Hardware Platform Pentium 4 or Pentium 5 computers with at least 512MB of RAM and 1.6GHz Processor Speed shall be required. Internet access shall also be needed to access the system. 2. Software Platform The systems server shall run on a 32-bit Windows XP/Vista Operating System. It shall run WAMP server, Version 1.7.4 or higher which will connect to MySQL database utility for storing data. The system shall support any web browser e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera etc.

4.

General Characteristics
Reliability The system shall always be available as long as internet is running and the server is running. It shall depend on continuous power supply.

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Data Accuracy The system shall only accept correct data entries into the system such that fields intended for integers will only accept integer values. In some cases, combo boxes shall be provided to allow users to choose from specific lists. Privacy The system shall allow users to access information according to their user levels e.g. a customer shall not have rights to view all customers available in the system as a user will. This shall be achieved by assigning different privileges to users.

Portability The system shall run on different software platforms such as Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux. However, WAMP Server and MySQL software have to be installed on such machines prior to usage.

Modifiability The system shall be very flexible such that the source code can be changed shall there be a need. The system shall be extensible so that new users, new system features and new resource type can be added to the system.

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2.2.2 User-Related Non-Functional Requirements

Skill Users should have knowledge of computers, internet and SMS. An online support shall be available on each page using Help and FAQ buttons.

Training Users and the systems administrators will be trained on how best they can use the system. The user manual will be distributed to users as a systems readily available support. An online support shall be available on each page using Help and FAQ buttons.

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3.0 PROJECT PLAN

Development Cost The system developer will require stationary and money for printing and time spent during the research of new programming languages and the systems development itself. Appendix B shows the projects financial budget.

Constraints During the development period, there may be constraints like using unfamiliar programming languages which would require time to learn. The system will also require training of end users on how to use the system itself after implementation. Lack of appropriate project resources like a Laptop with 24hr internet service may also be one of the difficulties to the development.

Deliverables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. System Proposal Document Software Requirements Specification Document Detailed Design Document Working System System Manuals

Installation Parallel running will be used as an installation method whereby the current system and the proposed system will run concurrently until the new system has proved to be working. Source

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code plus deliverables defined above will be given to Times Courier Services to guide them during system maintenance. Development Time The development of the system will roughly take nine months, starting from August 2011 to April 2012. Appendix A shows the project plan.

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4.0 APPENDICES

1.

Project Plan The following Gantt chart illustrates the project plan:

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2.

Project Budget The following is the breakdown of the cost of the whole project:

Category Stationary

Quantity 2 reams of plain papers

Price (MK) 1,000

Total(MK) 2,000

Unit of pens

50

500

Stapling pins

100

100

Stapler Communication 8 hrs

650 1600 per hour

650 12,800

Internet

60 hours

50

3000

Printing

250 pages

20

5000

Transport

To and from Times Courier Services offices (15 trips)

200

3000

Contingency TOTAL Page 20 of 23

2,500 29550

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5.0 GLOSSARY

The following table presents a glossary of terms used in this document and their definitions: Word/Phrase DFD Meaning Data flow diagram diagram used to describe an overview of the system and its processes Authenticate A way to acknowledge that the person is indeed who they claim to be Online Something that is readily available on the internet POD FAQ WAMP Server Proof of Delivery Frequently asked questions A software that is installed on a server machine to interact with the systems database MySQL Database engine software that allow database definition, manipulation and structured record keeping RAM Random Access Memory used by computers for temporary storage of information GB Gigabytes measurement of memory in computer systems Web-based system A system that can be remotely accessed using network e.g. internet. Page 22 of 23

REFERENCES

Mr. Drycon Nantupa, Times Courier Services Clerk (Mzuzu Branch) Ian Sommerville, Software Engineering, 6th Edition Skidmore Steve, Introducing Systems Analysis and Design, 2nd Edition

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