PDS recently delivered a mobile computing solution for a national parcel courier. PDS are now promoting this solution to the courier and parcel sector. The following is a summary of how the parcel courier project was handled.

The high level requirement was clear enough - the removal of all paperwork from the sortation processes across the UK. Careful analysis by PDS helped identify how the existing paper-based systems being utilised were not always as expected.

We provided a distributed solution comprising of :

• A central database with filtered replication to satellite databases at each of the sortation locations
• A mobile data capture application with barcode scanning and real-time validation of parcel movements, along with caching during network downtime
• Localised web services pooling access to the databases
• A centralised web application providing administrative functions
• Direct integration with the existing legacy systems

The solution was developed using the following technologies:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (Enterprise, Express and Compact editions)
• Microsoft Internet Information Services with ASP.NET & .NET Framework
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 & .NET Compact Framework

Benefits

• Reduced sortation times achieved by the removal of paper-based systems
• Sortation accuracy improved by real-time validation of package movements
• Improved customer relations due to the availability of additional package tracking information