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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this work titled Design and Implementation of a Courier Management System is to identify the setbacks involved with manual handling of the records of the movement of consignments in a courier company and highlighting the various ways in which the use of a computerised means would help improve the services. Through interviews and record reviews several issues such as delay in preparation of reports, duplication of files and repetition of processes were discovered as part of the challenges with the manual system. The result of the work is the development of a computerised system which promises speedy access to files and records, increased efficiency and effectiveness in handling records on consignments. In using the new system, care should be taken to avoid unauthorised access to files, wrongful deletion of records and breakdown in the system.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE:
DEDICATION ii
DECLARATION iii
CERTIFICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v
ABSTRACT vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES x
CHAPTER ONE 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 2
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 2
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 3
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4
1.8 PROJECT LAYOUT 4
1.9 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS 5
CHAPTER TWO 7
LITERATURE REVIEW 7
2.1 INTRODUCTION 7
2.2 COURIER 8
2.2.1 COURIERS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL ERA 9
2.2.2 TYPES OF COURIERS 9
2.3 ROLE OF COMPUTER IN COURIER INDUSTRY 10
2.4 COURIER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE 13
CHAPTER THREE 14
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 14
3.1 INTRODUCTION 14
3.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 14
3.3 ANALYSIS 14
3.4 DESIGN 17
3.4.1 SYSTEM DESIGN 17
3.4.2 DATABASE DESIGN 20
3.5 ALGORITHM 23
3.6 FLOWCHARTS 26
CHAPTER FOUR 35
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION 35
4.1 PROGRAMMING PLATFORM 35
4.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS/SPECIFICATIONS 36
CHAPTER FIVE 39
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 39
5.1 SUMMARY 39
5.2 CONCLUSION 39
5.3 RECOMMENDATION 40
REFERENCES 41
APPENDIX “A” 42
APPENDIX “B” 50
4.3 SAMPLE OUTPUT 51
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The world is said to be a global village. People need to interact with and share things with counterparts in different parts of the world with ease and less trouble. Information and communication technologies are improving on a daily basis, making sharing of information easier and more effective. But it is not only data or information that needs to be shared; other material items also require distribution. It is said that we are in the jet age; hence, everyone desires speed in everything they do. Courier services help in ensuring that these material goods are transferred from one source location to the destination, with ease on the part of the sender, and at a much faster speed.
Now, not only can one enjoy the benefits of a global market, with a wider range of varieties and available options from which to choose, but also people in different parts of the world have the chance to share in the experience of the rich cultural, technological and even economical heritage peculiar to other areas, distance not been a barrier. Business transactions are enhanced and better results are achieved.
The courier company, vested with this responsibility on ensuring safe and speedy transfer of items from one part of the world to the other, invariably needs to employ adequate technology in ensuring that this goal is met. Each courier company has its area of coverage, and will have a branch office in every major city within its scope. Currently there are those that cover almost all, if not all, parts of the world. But whether or not the coverage area is just within a particular country or the world, the need arises for an efficient system with which to manage the daily business of receiving, transferring and delivering items from one place to another.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Efficiency and effectiveness are the keywords for every organisation. They are what ensure the growth and prosperity of business endeavours. Therefore it is important that each organisation will put in place an efficient and effective system, and the courier company is not left out of this. The job of a courier company, when looked at superficially, might seem simple: movement of goods from one place to another. But when studied closely, one will discover it is more complex than one would think. Hence, it is highly imperative that a proficient courier management system be developed for managing the activities of the courier company in order to ensure increased productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.
DHL is one of the world’s largest logistics companies. It is the global delivery wing of Deutsche Post-DHL. Originally founded in 1969 to deliver documents between San Francisco and Honolulu, the company expanded its service throughout the world by the late 1970s.
DHL in Nigeria had very humble beginnings in 1978. Within 12 months DHL had opened its second office in Warri in response to the needs of the Oil & Gas Industry. It has further opened branch offices in eleven (11) other cities including Port Harcourt.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Haven seen some of the constraints of manually handling a courier company, this study is geared toward one objective, and that is to develop a computerised courier management system. This system promises to be able to overcome most (if not all) of the limitations posed by a manual system.
Some of the features to be enjoyed from the new system include;
- Quick computation of rates
- Fast access to records
iii. Bill issuing procedure becomes faster
- Easy duplication of documents without refilling them
- Reduction in workload and increase in speed and accuracy
- Better storage options
vii. Easy update of information
viii. Better platform for providing online services
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This work is limited to the confines of DHL Port Harcourt, but can also be used in any other branch of DHL. With some modifications, where necessary, it can be made to serve any other courier company in general.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
A Courier Management System, when developed will help increase and improve the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of a courier company. By simplifying the work process of recording details of consignments received, dispatched, record keeping and other necessary operations of the company will be adequately handled. This, of course, will yield more returns to the courier company and help serve customers better.
1.6 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
During the study, I was confronted with a lot of constraints that inadvertently posed some sort of inconvenience on me during the project work some of which include:
Lack of financial backup to fund the project.
Time constraint: time is a commodity man will always long for it, due to the limitation of time; some few features which will have been added to the project were eliminated.
Electricity: the power sector of the economy has over time diminished its provision of adequate service and hence, I had to limit myself to working on the project when electricity was available and when the computer hard battery power. And this reduced the already limited time available for the project work.
Internet access: the internet service in Nigeria can be erratic sometimes, especially during the rainy season, and as such I had to go the cyber café a number of times to have adequate access to the internet.
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Object Oriented analysis and design methodology (OAD) is adopted in this study. This analysis will be done under the following sub heading which include: methods of data collection, analyses of the existing system, advantages of the existing system, disadvantages of the existing system, analyses of the proposed system, advantages of the proposed system, disadvantages of the proposed system, system plan and database design.
1.8 PROJECT LAYOUT
The analysis, design and implementation of the proposed system will be carried out in five chapters ranging from chapter one to five respectively. Chapter one contains the introduction of the research work, chapter two is where we are going to carry out the literature review of what others have done in relation to this research work, in chapter three, the analysis and design of the proposed system will be done, chapter four is where the actual implementation of the proposed system will be carried out using the appropriate programming language and finally, chapter five will contain the summary, conclusion and recommendations.
1.9 DEFINITION OF KEY WORDS
COURIER: An agent or company that delivers messages, packages, and mail.
LOGISTICS: The management of the flow of resources between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet some requirements
CONSIGNMENT: a batch of goods destined for or delivered to someone
CONSIGNEE: is the person to whom something, such as goods or merchandise, is to be delivered
CONSIGNOR: Person who delivers a consignment to a courier for transporting it to a consignee
SOURCE: The city or courier branch from where a consignment originates
DESTINATION: The city or courier branch where a consignment is to be delivered
SHIPMENT: This is the same as consignment.
SHIPPER: This is the same for consignor.
DESK OFFICER: This is the worker at the courier company that accepts the consignment from the consignor.
MANIFEST: A document containing the list of all the consignments being transported at a particular time from a courier branch to another.
DELIVERY RUN SHEET: A document carried along by a delivery worker of a courier company containing details of the parcels to be delivered, with a provision for where the receiver will sign to show receipt of items.
REFERENCE NUMBER: This is a number given to all the consignments by the courier company for unique identification and record purposes.
COURIER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: A computer application created to automate most of the processes of the courier company especially as concerned with the recording of receipts and delivery of goods.
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