Centralised Business Management System (CBMS) of AB Lietuvos Paštas

Client: AB Lietuvos Paštas (Post Office of Lithuania)

Sector: public sector, post services

  Centralized Business Management System consists of:

• Universal Postal Service (PostAl1) is a complex centralized solution for automation of all primary transactions of the client administration, accumulation, storing and handling the information;
• The WebFOCUS – business data analysis system, which is used to provide the users with ability to access business data and generate dynamic dimensional reports with ease, speed and flexibility;
• Microsoft Dynamics NAVISION accountingand business management system.

Universal Postal Service (PostAl1)

PostAl1 has the following modular structure:

• Pensions and payouts;
• Transfers;
• Payments;
• Subscriptions;
• Logistics;
• International payments;
• Cash register systems;
• Credits.

Available functional modules of the PostAl1 allows for fully integrated solutions. Main benefit of integration is full functionality of the post operations based on centralized database operating on a single core. This solution allows avoiding works of merging individual components, reducing time and money spent on system support and staff training, and facilitating the change support.

Full module integration allows implementation of a single cell concept within the system, which allows for uniting all the functions of handling the products and services regardless of a particular module. System settings ensure the availability of products and services.

Universal Postal Serviceis written in Visual C# . NET Framework 2.0. Visual C# .NET Framework 2.0 is a new and safe object-oriented programming language, consolidating the possibilities of both Visual C and Visual C++, reinforced with modern and easy-to-use rapid programming tools.

The WebFOCUS business data analysis system is used, providing the users with ability to access business data and generate dynamic dimensional reports with ease, speed and flexibility.

The Universal Postal Serviceis easily integrated with various business systems, e.g. Navision, SAP etc.

2500 users work with the Universal Postal Servicein all Lithuania. CBMS is based on client-server technology and operates both ON-LINE and OFF-LINE. Client connects to server via Virtual Private Network, which ensures safe data transfer.

572 computerized cash registers are used in the primary customer mail service locations throughout Lithuania, and also 913 cash registers are used in locations with lower throughput. Data from such registers is transferred automatically to the central server and adds to the (PostAl1) database via modem connections at the end of the business day.

Main issues solved by the PostAl1

• Reducing transaction risks. Achieved by reducing manual labor in the progress of data collection and handling, annulment of data duplications, supporting centralized information space, transparence of transactions, auxiliary mechanisms and messaging;
• Increasing income. Achieved by easy and flexible introduction of new products and services, automated accounting of the financial data, reducing the information processing data and ensuring better accessibility of the data by using centralized information space;
• Reducing losses. Achieved by high level process and information automation, ensuring the continuance and simplicity of operations, safety, availability and update of the data;
• Increasing client service quality. Achieved by automation of mail batch handling and delivery chain, comprising all the transfers and settlements starting from the batch being received from the sender and ending up to the delivery to the recipient; availability of the service information, speed of data transfer, receiving and handling;
• Ensuring the flexibility required for the needs of changing market requirements. Achieved by ensuring convenient and simple introduction of new products and services, modification of current products and services offered, tariff administration and review options, analysis and accounting of the client data;
• Universal Post Union Standards compliance for all documents and reports of the system, mechanisms of tariff accounting, orders and methods of settlement;
• International Financial Reporting Standards compliance in planning and accounting income and costs.

Advantages of the PostAl1

• Functionality throughout the postal business;
• High level of shaping the system for postal processes;
• Wide range of no-programming settings;
• Mechanisms of administering users, rights and roles;
• Supporting modern postal technologies: integration with postal equipment such as electronic wages, stationary and mobile barcode scanners;
• Supporting various payment methods: cash and card payments via cash registers, payment transfers, prepays, services for business clients;
• Methods of centralized information handling;
• Modular structure, allowing step-by-step system installation;
• Possible integration with other systems;
• Modern standard-compliant level of accounting;
• Opportunity to operate the system during network shortages and offline.

Module description

Pensions and payoffs

Module covers fully the cycle of payments: pensions, allowances and other payoffs.

Data on pensions paid is imported/exported from the clients FTP (the client here is the organization, setting the pension), the data is stored in the centralized database and it is available to all post offices. Possibility to export the data for centralized generating and printing documents required for pension payments throughout the country is provided.

Mechanisms of managing hierarchies of post offices as organizational units and mechanisms of clients (pension setting organizations) management are provided.

Barcode scanners are supported. They are used for reading information from the receipt submitted by the payment beneficiary. Automation of this operation reduces manual work and servicing time, prevents errors in data input.

Mechanisms preventing double payments are provided.

Data can be imported from other systems, processed and tailored for the Pensions and other payment modules or data exports.

Reports by different information aspects can be generated and printed.

Transfers

The Transfers module is used for automation and accounting of receiving and payoff processes for both local and international transfers.

When the transfer is received, information about the sender and receiver, the transfer amount, type, notification and other data is filed. System has statuses for each transfer to indicate time and type of actions performs (transfer received, paid, returned, re-addressed, annulled).

In cases when the client wishes to send more than one transfer at the time, the mechanism of transfer information import from a .csv format file is provided, which spares the need to input each transfer individually.

Data of transfer receiving banks, information from foreign countries and exchange rates is administered in the system. Currency exchange for international transfer amounts based on the exchange rate in another country is provided.

Possibility of importing international transfer lists with the relevant information, received from another country, is provided.

Module registers transfers, sent and received via the Western Union system.

Possibility of wide range reporting is provided, including local/international transfers received, paid, unpaid, transfers with payment requisitions, reports for the Financial Crime Investigation Service and other reports.

Payments

The module computerizes operations of accepting, administering and accounting payments from receiving installments and payments up to the transfers to clients.

Simple mechanisms of receiving, editing and canceling payments are provided. Possibility to enter payments, received in the non-computerized post offices, to the system is realized.

Module has payment cards, which comprises payments for individual paid services. Wide range of administration capabilities for the card content and detail is provided. The following mechanism allows addressing to particularities of payments in different locations throughout the country.

A convenient and flexible logical classification of the payment sorts by groPostal1 is provided.

A flexible system of settling the payments with taxed service providers is realized. The payment orders can be generated with conditions, indicated by the client (taxed service provider). Standard data export structure solutions are provided. Tailored solutions are available by request.

Reports based on data from the payments, installments and payoffs in the post office are generated. Bills of lading for clients and statistical institutions are generated. Detailed sheets and reports on actions performed by a post officer (payments received) are drawn.

Full integration of the module with the accounting systems is provided.

Subscriptions

The Subscriptions module handles subscription processes and information from the publisher to the subscriber.

Publisher and periodic publication data is entered to the central database and therefore available to all the post office providing subscription services. The editing mechanism is provided. Sets of publications can be made and edited. Various sets for the same publication can have various tariffs, subscription periods, units per month, six months, per year, limitations to the delivery. Pricelists are created.

Subscriptions for publications are received and entered in the database in the post offices, and the client can also subscribe to a publication via internet. Subscriptions can be re-addressed/annulled. Subscription orders can be received from publishers and imported from the system via .cvs files.

Accounting of income and costs is based on subscribed publications, income to the post for distributing the publications is calculated, and publishers are invoiced.

General and per post office runs are generated based on the publications subscribed. Dependencies of the post offices, to which certain publications are delivered by the publishers and from there the publications are distributed to various post offices is administered. The routs of distributing the subscribed materials are drawn.

System accumulates and administers subscribers’ data by regions and generates relevant lists.

Various reports (planned/current, info on publications delivered, income received) are generated and printed.

Logistics

The aim of the Logistics module is automation and calculation of all processes starting from the post mails (batches), faxes and receiving mailed goods in the port office and ending with the delivery.

When the shipment is admitted to the post office, all the required data is entered in the system, namely the shipment type, weight, sender/recipient data, financial info, storage term and similar. Each shipment is assigned barcode, which has certain mail information. Mail data is accumulated in a central database and available in each post office throughout the country.

Search mechanisms for mails are provided, allowing search by given mail parameters.

History of mails is supported, providing data on mail handling (name of the action, date, location, other info).

Data for a particular mail is provided for the user via single mail card window.

In case of large mail numbers the mechanisms of mail data import from a .xsl file are provided. After the data is imported, the user can review and edit the list. Functionality of checking the estimated mail data is provided.

Mail services are also available for contractual clients. Data for such senders, mail number, types, quantities and weight limits for mails are entered in the system. Contractual clients can have periodic payments for services provided by the post, periodic invoices issued and discounts applied/calculated. The contract of periodic payment is administered and available for the user of the module.

Generated reports: periodic report on mails sent; financial report on faxes; mailed goods report.

Module has flexible and user-friendly functionality for drawing up the routes of mail delivery based on schedules. Information of the state post offices is administered from the central database, which is used for drawing up such routes.

Mechanism for generating documents to be sent to the post offices to which the mails are received is automated.

International payments

The main function of the International payments module is automated accounting, planning and getting statistical data regarding the international postal services provided. International Postal Services include:

1. Correspondence;
2. Mail (parcels);
3. Fast mail – EMS and Express;
4. Advertisements – IDM;
5. EPG;
6. Transfers via post;
7. Post coupons;
8. Post carriage;
9. Post transit.

Functions and options:

Structured data is received to the International payments module from the post carriage centers, where the information for all mails received/sent (physical data, carriage routes, quantities, weights) is accumulated.

Over 45 various payment documents in the module can be created accordingly to the international services provided. Documents are compliant with standards and regulations of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), they can be printed out in English, French, Russian and Lithuanian. Versions, document status history, data export to .doc, .xls, .pdf files are supported.

Continuance of the data chains, automated document transfer within the chain, application of tariffs and payment amounts’ calculation mechanisms is ensured and supported. Flexible data input and handling methods are provided.

Financial data (tariffs, currencies, payment data, logistics information such as states, post administrations, exchange locations, routes, trips, usage data; methods and order of payments and similar) and other information is entered and stored in centralized classifiers. The mechanisms of generating, editing and deleting entries are implemented to ensure safety and availability of the data.

The module allows generation of detailed periodic summaries by international post services. Summaries include planning, exchange and settlement information, versions and filtering by various criteria is supported. Mechanisms for generating summaries for various periods to comparison are implemented, and the results are presented in a .xls file.

Statistical selection of mails is provided for correspondence, it is entered in the UPU standard-compliant documents. Modern data collection methods are used for statistical purposes, including barcode scanning and processing, collecting data from the scales. Statistical data can be compared to the results from other countries, and the results are presented in a .xls file.

Data can be exported to other systems.

Cash register systems

The Cash register systems module covers all the cash register operations: sales of goods and services, returns, payments of cash and accepting cash as payments, generation and printing of various invoices and reports, functionality of the daily activities of the cashier. Full list of the POS functions is provided, including generation and printing of the X, Z periodic reports, exporting to .xls and .pdf formats, putting cash to the cash register and taking cash out of it, printing of a non-fiscal receipt.

Input of goods and services in the database by their PLU code, name and group is provided. The PLU codes are internal codes of goods and services, indicating name and price per specific quantities (kg, pcs., other). Agreed and specific prices and discounts can be applied.

Possibility to register provided services paid in alternative methods, e. g. international post coupons: the client can send the letter by trading a coupon to post stamps; post stamps: the stamps are bought in one post office, and the letter is registered and sent from different post office.

Module features variety of cash registers accounting reports: cash register note, payment reports, PLU reports, reports by payment type by the cashier and auditory reports. Accounting reports of the individual post offices, consolidated reports for individual post offices and periodic PLU reports are generated. Periodic reports of services provided, analytic reports and PAR reports are available.

Mechanisms of generating and printing reports, re-printing of the invoices and printing from a previously registered receipt are realized. Monthly invoices can be issued.

Module allows installments to the banks’ cards and getting cash from the banks’ cards.

Mechanisms of stocktaking and calculating bonuses with the salaries of post operators are provided.

Data of the employees, clients, goods, services, discounts and discount groPostal1, other cash register data is entered and stored in classifiers. Functionality of flexible tariff input, administration of agreed prices, and usage of quantitative or monthly discounts is realized. Functionality of renewing goods and services data on remote systems is added.

Offline cash register functionality is realized. Possibility of partial return of goods/services by the cash receipt is estimated.

All the financial information is accumulated, and it can be exported to other systems.

Credits

The Credits module acts as an intermediate between the crediting institution and its system and the client. The module not only allows providing the credit in the crediting institutions’ offices, but also in the post offices, which increases the availability and the convenience of use.

Integration with the system of the crediting organization is accomplished. Money is issued to the client based on the endorsements approved by the crediting institution.

Module allows accounting of credits and generation of reports, calculation of commission.

Transfer of the credited amount to the bank account of the client is provided.

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