Post Office Managment System Essay

Speedy and efficient information processing is crucial to our socially and highly developed technology. Computer can help the intolerable burden of handling the ever increasing amount or information with government department, public services and business concerns expected to contain because of their ability to analyze information as well as to retain, update and reproduce it because of their versatility to present it in a variety of forms. This may also to some extent lead to problems occurring due to information explosion. Post office works in every walk of our life. Through the automation of this system one can easily generate the information about the customer available and also about the old records. Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post. Post offices offer mail-related services such as acceptance of mail and sale of postage stamps, post office boxes, and sale of packaging and stationery. In addition, some post offices offer non-postal services such as passport applications and other government forms, car tax purchase, money orders, and banking services. In a â€Å"sorting office† or â€Å"delivery office†, mail is sorted or processed for delivery. Large open spaces for sorting mail are also sometimes known as a sorting hall or postal hall. Over time, sophisticated mail sorting and delivery equipment has been developed, including Mail Rail The Roman Empire built the most advanced postal delivery system known until that time except for the service in China. Its area was the whole Mediterranean world. Reliable communication from Rome to governors and military officials in faraway provinces was a necessity. Rome met the need by developing the cursus publicus literally, â€Å"public course† a state-sp onsored series of post roads with relay stations at intervals. The speed with which government dispatches and other mail could be carried about the empire was not equaled again in Europe until the 19th century. Using the relay stations, riders could cover about 170 miles (270 kilometers) in a 24-hour period. The collapse of the empire in the West did not immediately destroy the postal system. Vestiges of it endured until at least the 9th century before it became fragmented and fell into disuse. In the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire the system lasted longer because it was eventually absorbed into the Islamic kingdom based in Baghdad. Between 1775 and 1815 Britain was at war almost constantly, either with the United States or with France. To help finance the wars postage rates were increased, and the higher rates remained in force for 25 years after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Spurred by popular discontent over postal rates, the English educator and tax reformer Rowland Hill formulated proposals on reforming the postal system between 1835 and 1837. His pamphlet, â€Å"Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability,† is now regarded as a milestone in the development of the modern postal system. Hill proved that carrying charges were an insignificant factor in the total cost of handling mail. He further proved that the complex series of rates based on distance were needless. Most of the total cost came from administrative expenses. He also noted that the collection of payment for mail on delivery could be avoided. His solution to postal problems was simple a uniform rate of postage regardless of distance and prepayment of postage through the use of adhesive stamps sold by the post office. He proposed that payments be based on weight and suggested a penny for each half-ounce. 1.2STATEMENT OF PROBLEM In Nigeria today; the competition for efficient and better services is high. It is especially high for postal services agencies where private postal service company are forcing out the government owned postal services, common errors found in the manual system that makes it nearly impossible for them to meet up to the challenges are: * Lack of Immediate Retrieval of Information – In manual system, lot of time is wasted in retrieving information. Much searching is required before required is found. This wastes a lot of time of the user as well as the person. * Lack of immediate information storage – In manual system, it is difficult to store information at proper place at that very moment. This is because the person is unable to quickly locate the place where the information is to be stored. * Prompts Updating not Possible – Changes are quite natural in all walks of life. Information and stored data also changes from time to time. These changes should be incorporated in the working also to keep the information up to date. However, bringing about changes through the manual system is a slow and tedious process because of which inaccurate information storage occurs. * Unplanned Working – The manual system lacks the element of planned working. Records are not properly maintained. This creates a lot of problems at times like during information retrieval and storage * Insignificant Generation of Managerial and Strategic Reports – In manual system, reports for management are difficult to be generated and strategic reports are impossible. This is because for these reports proper storage of information, its retrieval and its filtering are very important and very tough in manual system. * Accuracy – The manual system lacks accuracy in working and a number of operations may be performed incorrectly, the computations that are done in the organization may be incorrect and whatever are generated in the system may be inaccurate. 1.3AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT The proposed project work aims to improve on the manual system by making it more efficient and accurate while delivering better services to the customers. It aims to: * Provide immediate retrieval of information – This is to provide quick and efficient retrieval of information, any type of information would be available to the user whenever he requires. Facility would be provided for online query to cut down on the response time greatly. * Immediate storage of information – In the proposed system, it will be easy to store information at any given time at the correct places. The location of storage would be easily available and user will face no difficulty. * Prompt updating of information – In the proposed system, the information will always remain up to date as the updating will be prompt and without any efforts. This factor will be of great importance in the proposed system as it determines the integrity of the information stored. * Fast computation of informat ion – The computation of information will be quite fast in the proposed system. Not only mathematical calculations, but also logical comparisons will be quick in the new system. * Planned approach toward working – The working is the service center information system will be well planned and organized. The data will be stored properly in the data store which will help in retrieval of information as well as in its storage. * Generation of managerial and strategic reports – The new system would provide for regular generation of reports which would help the management in decisions making work and in controlling the over-all working of the organization. The generation of these reports would be possible only if the system is organized such that retrieval of information can be made on conditions. * Accuracy – The level of accuracy in the new proposed system would be higher. All operations and computations would be done correctly and this will ensure that whatever information is coming from the center, it is accurate. * Reliability – The reliability of the proposed system would be high due to the above stated reasons. The reason for the increased reliability of the system is that now there would be proper storage of information, its maintenance would be well managed and retrieval would be possible in the desired manner. * Non Redundant Information – In the new system, utmost care be taken that no information is repeated, any usage of storage or otherwise. This would assure economic usage of storage or space and consistency in the data stored. This will also help make those changes easily as the change would have to be made only at that very place and nowhere else. 1.4SCOPE OF THE PROJECT The project report work covers package posting of customers to their destination, store customers information as well as update as new transaction are carried out as well as displaying details for information a customer may require; it will be accessible to three categories of users which are the public, customers and administrators. 1.5LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT This project work (software application) will be a website application that will provide security with the use of login-id and password, so that any unauthorized users cannot use unauthorized account. Only authorized users have proper access to the application (users, public and administrator), whereby users and public can view, search and users can post their package, the administrator will have full access to the application. The application will cover the state, and not the whole country or international posting. 1.6DEFINITION OF TERMS AUTOMATE-The act of making or converting from manual based to automate state where a system function independently. DISPATCH-The act of sending something from one end to the other. MAIL-Packages that are handled and distributed in a postal system. POST -Letters or parcels that have been sent or are to be send through the postal system. POSTAGE -The price paid for package delivery. SORTING-The process of arranging something orderly. VERSATILITY-Something that is meant to be used in many ways. TAX-The money levied on citizen by government for the operation and smooth running of the state, country or a province. CHAPTER TWO 2.0LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the existing posting system, mail delivery system, courier services, e-servicing and internet as well as their history. In order to grasp the full scope of the project it explains the posting system as a whole. 2.1HISTORY OF POSTAL SERVICES Mail, consisting mostly of government dispatches, was carried from place to place by horse or horse-drawn wagon in ancient Egypt and Persia. Most mail was still being transported the same way in the middle of the 19th century, when stagecoaches carried letters and packages to the West coast. Historical references to postal systems in Egypt date from about 2000 BC. The Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great (6th century BC) used a system of mounted relay messengers. The riders would stop at regularly placed posthouses to get a fresh horse or to pass on their packets of dispatches to another messenger for the remainder of the distance. On the other side of the world, in China, a posthouse service had been started early in the Chou Dynasty (ruled 1122-221 BC). It was used mostly to convey official documents. The far-reaching system consisted of relays of couriers who changed horses at relay posts 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) apart. The system was enlarged under the Han Empire (202 BC-AD 220), when the Chinese came in contact with the Romans and their postal system. The Roman Empire built the most advanced postal delivery system known until that time except for the service in China. Its area was the whole Mediterranean world. Reliable communication from Rome to governors and military officials in faraway provinces was a necessity. Rome met the need by developing the cursus publicus literally, â€Å"public course† a state-sponsored series of post roads with relay stations at intervals. The speed with which government dispatches and other mail could be carried about the empire was not equaled again in Europe until the 19th century. Using the relay stations, riders could cover about 170 miles (270 kilometers) in a 24-hour period. The collapse of the empire in the West did not immediately destroy the postal system. Vestiges of it endured until at least the 9th century before it became fragmented and fell into disuse. In the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire the system lasted longer because it was eventually absorbed into the Islamic kingdom based in Baghdad. With the growth of international commerce during the Renaissance, there was a need for business correspondence. Corporations and guilds set up their own messenger services. The great merchant and banking houses of the Italian city-states provided the most extensive and dependable postal service of the time. By the 13th century links were maintained between the commercial centers of Florence, Genoa, and Siena and several communities in northern France that held annual fairs. These fairs attracted merchants from all parts of Europe. The postal service to France thus provided a major international link for commerce and news. There was also a postal link between V enice and Constantinople, the Muslim capital. Russia too shared in the postal communications of the day. The private postal systems created during the later Middle Ages carried personal mail as well as commercial correspondence. The invention of the printing press late in the 15th century increased the amount of mail and made letter carrying a profitable enterprise. Private postal services emerged to carry mail to all parts of Europe. Private carriers did not give up, however. Some of them found a way to stay in business by introducing a new public service the collection and delivery of mail within cities. William Dockwra opened a Penny Post in London in 1680. The novelty of his operation lay in prepayment for sending letters and in stamping them to show when and where they were sent for delivery. Dockwra was so successful that he was prosecuted for infringing on the state monopoly. His enterprise was shut down in 1682 and quickly reopened as a government agency. It was nearly 100 years before a similar city service was started in Paris, and it too was rapidly taken over by the governme nt. The economic growth in Britain during the 18th century spurred a demand for better mail services. New post roads were built, beginning about 1765. Stagecoaches began carrying mail between cities and towns in 1784. The first route was between London and Bath. Mounted postboys also rode on the main routes. Next-day mail delivery became possible in towns throughout a good part of England by the 1830s. (Mazumdar 1990) Between 1775 and 1815 Britain was at war almost constantly, either with the United States or with France. To help finance the wars postage rates were increased, and the higher rates remained in force for 25 years after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Spurred by popular discontent over postal rates, the English educator and tax reformer Rowland Hill formulated proposals on reforming the postal system between 1835 and 1837. His pamphlet, â€Å"Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability,† is now regarded as a milestone in the development of the modern postal system. Hill proved that carrying charges were an insignificant factor in the total cost of handling mail. He further proved that the complex series of rates based on distance were needless. Most of the total cost came from administrative expenses. He also noted that the collection of payment for mail on delivery could be avoided. His solution to postal problems was simple a uniform rate of postage regardless of distance and prepayment of postage through the use of adhesive stamps sold by the post office. He proposed that payments be based on weight and suggested a penny for each half-ounce. (Lowe 1951) 2.2MAIL DELIVERY SYSTEM Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century national postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is often in the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk mailing. Postal authorities often have functions other than transporting letters. In some countries, a Postal Telegraph and Telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system as well as having authority over telephone and telegraph systems. Some countries’ postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications for passports. (Baldwin, N.C. 1960) 2.2.1Modern transportation and technology The postal system was important in the development of modern transportation. Railroads carried railway post offices. During the 20th century, air mail became the transport of choice for inter-continental mail. Postmen started to utilize mail trucks. The handling of mail became increasingly automated. The Internet came to change the conditions for physical mail. E-mail (and in recent years social networking sites) became a fierce competitor, but online auctions and Internet shopping opened new business opportunities as people often get items bought online through the mail. 2.2.2Modern mail Modern mail is organized by national and privatized services, which are reciprocally interconnected by international regulations, organizations and international agreements. Paper letters and parcels can be sent to almost any country in the world relatively easily and cheaply. The Internet has made the process of sending letter-like messages nearly instantaneous, and in many cases and situations correspondents use electronic mail where previously they would have used letters. Though the volume of paper mail continues to increase, the number of first class mail pieces sent in the United States peaked in 2001.