Rahul Agarwal, Shashwat Bajaj, Anita Kumari Gupta, Rahul Sharma, Ankit Mittal

Gap Analysis and Business Process Reengineering for Speed Post Bag
Tracking System for Department of Post

Rahul Agarwal, Shashwat Bajaj, Anita Kumari Gupta, Rahul Sharma, Ankit Mittal

Abstract. : India has 154,551 post offices that handle a total of 15.78 billion
articles every year. Among the various services offered by Department of Post
(DoP), the Speed Post - the express mail service of DoP -, is the most profitable. It
is the market leader in the express delivery industry in the country, with monthly
volumes exceeding 14 million articles.
DoP is currently using a barcode-based system to track the speed-post bags.
Articles are placed in bags, which are tied with labels having barcodes. Barcode
scanners are used to scan these bags at important transit points en-route – viz. -
Speed Post Centres (SPC) and Transit Mail Offices (TMO). The SpeedNet system
of DoP brings this information to a centralised server that provides the tracking
information of articles over its website.
Due to the manual process involved in scanning the barcode label in the speed-post
bag, the operation becomes error-prone. The errors introduced in this primary
information input stage jeopardises the entire process of tracking. This results in
unreliable tracking reports, causing widespread customer dissatisfaction.
Usage of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in place of barcode
scanning was proposed as a solution to eliminate the problems associated with the
manual operation. This is an already working solution in many other countries.
However, the existing operational scenarios in DoP in India are very different and
the solution need not work well in the Indian conditions. Therefore, it was decided
to conduct a gap analysis on the present operations and determine the optimum
Business Process Reengineering needed. The study was conducted in the three
major metros in the country -viz. - Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. This paper
presents the major finding of this analysis.

Keywords: RFID – Radio Frequency IDentification, Gap Analysis, BPR –

Business Process Re- engineering.

1. Introduction

Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, has sponsored a

project titled “National RFID Programme”, to popularize the usage of RFID technology in
different application areas in the country. This is a multi-institution project involving
CDAC, Noida, IIT Kanpur and SAMEER, Mumbai. As part of this, CDAC, Noida was to
integrate a few real-life systems of national importance, primarily as a technology
demonstration exercise. At the same time, DIT has desired that such project should be
operationalised and continued to be used by the beneficiary organization even after the
completion of the project.
Tracking of the speed-post bags is one such system identified for possible implementation.
CDAC, Noida has conducted two field trials in this connection. These trials brought out a
number of problems connected with the initially envisaged project. It also gave their

Proceedings of ASCNT – 2009, CDAC, Noida, India, pp. 204 – 214

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implementation team confidence that the project is technically sound and is viable for
implementation in the Indian context, provided some key aspects are taken care of.
Based on this, a proposal was submitted to DoP that envisaged (a) Replacing the existing
paper based bar-code tags used at time of bag closing with RFID tags and (b) Setting up of
RFID readers at important exit points of the closed bags, like, SPC, TMO, etc. The bar-
code number will be printed on the RFID tags. Thus, it can be read either by the RFID
reader or by the bar-code reader. The RFID readers track the passage of the bags within
one meter of its vicinity, without any human intervention. The data so collected by the
readers are time-stamped and sent to a central database for monitoring, report generation,
and raising of appropriate alarms in case of delayed or missing bags. The above eliminates
manual intervention for bar code scanning of the closed bags.
DoP accepted the above proposal for a trial implementation in three metros –viz.- Delhi,
Mumbai and Chennai. Fig 1 gives the proposed system configuration. It envisages
augmenting the existing local servers in the speed post collection centres, SPC and the
TMO. These are presently connected to the NIC Server at New Delhi via dial-up or
broadband lines. The proposal envisages that they be augmented with a GPRS card so that
an alternate communication path based on the mobile network is established. This will
ensure that even if one network is down for any reason, data could still reach the
centralized server, through the alternate route. The proposal envisages that for the first two
phases, the data will be made available to the CDAC, Server, in addition to the NIC Server.
This is to enable CDAC monitor system efficacy. It will also provide complete redundancy
of the data over two different servers. Fig 1 shows a pipe between NIC server and CDAC
server. This is an optional item. It will provide an alternate path for flow of information
between the servers. [1]
Collection
Centres
Chennai
NIC SERVER

SPC
Chennai

MOBILE SPC
NETWORK Mumbai

TMO
Palam

SPC, Delhi

Collection
Centres
Collection Mumbai
Centres
Delhi

CDAC SERVER

Fig.1. Proposed System Configuration

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The system doesn’t envisage any change in the present workflow in the speed-post bag
handling. The only difference is that instead of the present paper bar code tags tied along
with the bags, a moderately hardened, plastic, RFID tag with a bar code strip pasted on it
would be used.
During the trial implementation, these tags will be used in selected routes – viz. - Delhi-
Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Chennai, Chennai-Delhi and Chennai-
Mumbai. This might create some confusion initially, since paper tags are to be used in
other routes. It is hoped that proper software screens, training and initial handholding
would solve this.
The above tags will be initially distributed to the collection centres by the SPCs. They will
circulate in the routes considered and on reaching the destination they be returned to the
SPC for re-writing and re-circulation. Once the bags are RFID enabled, the servers will
receive tracking data automatically as bags transit through the SPCs, TMOs, etc. In the
case of data in the NIC Server, the SpeedNet software will do this tracking. For the data in
the CDAC Server, additional tracking software will be generated by CDAC, without any
reference to the SpeedNet software. This will help in parallel development of screens and
reports that DoP might find useful later, without affecting the existing operational software
in any fashion.
The tracking software will be able to provide the track of the articles in the bag from the
booking time through various SPCs, TMOs and final destination. These are browser-based
systems and therefore, the information could be seen from any computing platform having
a browser interface.
In order to determine the feasibility of the above proposal in the actual working conditions
in DoP and to decide on the optimum BPR during its implementation, it was decided to
conduct a gap analysis. This was conducted at SPC, TMO and 25 Collection Centers at
Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai It was conducted at Collection centers, SPC and TMO at
Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai between December 2008 and January 2009. It consisted of
visit to these sites and a series of interviews of the personnel of the DOP. The Questions
were developed focusing on the development and the implementation process of the
project. For Tag accountability, previous records were cross checked at each location. The
cell phone connectivity was checked to analyze GRPS connectivity.
The remaining sections of the paper present the finding of this study. Section 2 gives a
detailed overview of the layout and workflow of current systems at the three metros.
Section 3 gives the identified gaps. Section 4 gives the proposed business process
reengineering solution for these. Section 5 gives the estimate of the hardware requirement
for trial implementation of the proposed solution.

2. Current System

This section gives an overview of the current system in the three metros under the scope of
study. At Chennai, the SPC, located in Mount Road Post Office, handles all activities
connected with collection, sorting and dispatch. At Delhi there are two locations - SPC
located near Sardar Patel road and TMO located at Palam airport. At Mumbai, the SPC and
one TMO is in a single location as in Chennai. But there is another TMO inside the airport
premises that only forwards the bags. The current work flow in these locations is described
in the remaining subsections of this section.

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2.1 Layout and Workflow - Chennai SPCC

Fig 2 gives the layout plan of Chennai SPCC. Only one gate is available for entry and exit
of bags. It is functionally divided into SPCC and TMO segments. SPCC section is for
booking and scanning of articles and TMO section is for preparation of transit bags and
forwarding of direct bags.

Fig.2. Layout of Chennai SPCC Functional Areas with Location of Proposed RFID
Antennas

When a mail van arrives, the supervisor checks that all the bags have arrived by comparing
them with delivery bill sent through the delivery van driver. SPCC handles town delivery
bags and bags to be routed through surface transport. TMO handles bags routed through
aircrafts. Chart preparation for the airline is a manual operation in which a hand written
chart is prepared which includes source, destination, flight number, and approximate
weight of the bags.

2.2 Layout and Workflow - Delhi SPCC

Fig 3 gives the layout plan of Delhi SPCC. There are 3 entry points and 1 exit point. The
bags are loaded and unloaded at the backside of SPC building. The unloading takes place at
the platform behind the building of SPC. Here, each bag is verified with the delivery bill
provided by the driver. Sometimes the forward bags get unloaded at the area near to stairs.
The bags are segregated according to the zone and are kept at different areas. Direct bags
are kept at the ground floor itself. Forward bags are sent to speed post sorting room on the
first floor. Forwarded bags are opened, sorted, and new bags are created. The SpeedNet
software system running on the control computers facilitates this. Closed bags are slided
over to the ground floor for loading. During loading of bags, a handwritten list is generated
and is handed over to the mail van driver in which the destination of bags and the bags
count are recorded.

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Fig.3. Layout of Delhi SPCC Functional Areas with Location of Proposed RFID Antennas

2.3 Layout and Workflow - Delhi TMO

Fig 4 gives the layout plan of Delhi TMO. There are three gates. The bags (speed post and
ordinary mail bags) are loaded and unloaded from mail van on Gate 1 and Gate 3. These
are verified against the delivery bills. Sometimes, during peak hours, the bags are loaded
outside the Gate 3, on the road. There is almost no automation. Manually generated
delivery lists are handed over to the supervisors, even for bags going to the airlines. A
section is available that handles transit bags where opening and closing of these bags take
place.

2.4 Layout and Workflow – Mumbai SPCC

Fig 5 gives the layout plan of Mumbai SPCC. As in the case of Chennai, it has an SPCC
segment and a TMO segment. The workflow also is very similar to one given in 2.1.

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Fig.4. Layout of Delhi TMO Functional Areas with Location of Proposed RFID Antennas

Fig.5. Layout of Mumbai SPCC Functional Areas with Location of Proposed RFID
Antennas

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2.5 Layout and Workflow – Mumbai TMO2

Fig 6 gives the layout plan of second TMO in Mumbai inside the airport complex.
There is one gate for unloading the bags. All the direct bags and transit bags come here.
They are sorted according to the destination. If the bags are going to other locations via
Mumbai they are forwarded to the destination. Bags for Mumbai region are sent to SPCC.
Since, it only forwards the Speed Post bags, it doesn’t have a section for opening, article
sorting and closing of bags.

Fig.6. Layout of Mumbai TMO2 Functional Areas with Location of Proposed RFID
Antennas

2.6 Current Business Process for Tracking of Bags at SPCC and TMO
After arrival of the mail van at unloading area at SPCC and TMO, one supervisor and two
helpers are responsible for handling of bags. One helper enters into the mail van and starts
unloading the bags. During unloading process, the source and destination written on the
bag is informed to the second helper verbally who is responsible for creating handwritten
list.
The bags with the same destination are placed at a location and bags heaps are formed.
During this time, the supervisor crosschecks the delivery bill with the list created by the
second helper to ensure that all the bags have been received from the mail van. This
completes the process.

2.7 Current Business Process for Chart Preparation

Chart preparation for delivery of bags to airlines involves a supervisor and a helper. The
helper announces verbally the information of bag to the supervisor, who manually enters it
on paper. This includes approximate weight, source and destination. He calculates total
weight and number of bags and enters them, along with the flight number. This handwritten
chart is handed over to the airline staff when they arrive for collection.

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3. Identified Gaps

The major gaps in the proposal given in section 1, as identified by our analysis are listed
below:
3.1 There is no fixed entry and exit gate for the bags. They are unloaded in a
haphazard manner and therefore, automatic tracking by a fixed antenna is
difficult.
3.2 The SpeedNet software is not used by many offices and due to this, end-to-end
data communication doesn’t occur. Exchange of information between SPC/TMO
and collection centres is done through handwritten lists most of time. Therefore,
there is no culture of automation.
3.3 While preparing Delivery Bill for airlines, approximate weight of Bag is taken. To
the operational staff, this may appear to be an easy solution, even though it may
be leading to loss of revenue to DoP.
3.4 The system may not be acceptable unless there is demonstrable reduction in the
workload of current staff employed. This is a difficult proposition, since, for the
trials, we have a mixed system with both type RFID and Barcode tags.

4. Solutions for Gaps

After detailed deliberations on the above gaps and the solution strategies for them, it is felt
hat the following strategy would provide the solutions for the identified gaps.
4.1 RFID readers and antennas are to be installed at all key locations with appropriate
software that will automatic tracking of bags. Since, completely ubiquitous
tracking may not be feasible, a hand-held reader has to be made available with the
supervisor at all the SPCC and TMO. The SPCC and TMO are to be WiFi
enabled, so that the hand-held reader can obtain information about the tags seen
by other readers installed in the same location. This set-up ensures that all RFID
enabled bags can be easily tracked by the system and that a supervisor can be
made responsible for the tracking. However, it necessitate procurement of a
handheld reader for each location and WiFi enabling of SPCC and TMO.
4.2 Before starting of the trial operations, we should ensure that all identified
problems of SpeedNet software are corrected in all the identified trial locations.
Also, one should ensure that the communication infrastructure is functional at all
locations throughout the period of the trial.
4.3 Automated weighing systems are to be introduced at the SPCC and TMO. The
chart preparation operation has to be automated. This will reduce the workload,
and provide better efficiency and reduce revenue loss to DoP.
4.4 The staff members involved are to be adequately trained. Mechanisms for
monitoring field problems and solving them urgently are to be put in place before
start of the trials.

5. Hardware Positioning

One of the important aims of the site study was to determine the hardware positioning
aspects at each centre. This is needed to finalize the total hardware requirement of the
system. Fig 2-6 gives the proposal as per our study. The symbols used in these figures

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relating to hardware positioning are the fixed RFID antenna, the weighing machine, the
hand-held reader and the mail van. They are given in Fig 7.

Fig.7. Symbols Used in Fig 2-6

As may be seen from Fig 2, two fixed readers, one hand-held reader, and a weighing
machine will be required at the Chennai SPCC. In case we could manage with one antenna
in at least one of the gates, one fixed reader could be reduced from this list. A very similar
set-up is needed in Mumbai SPCC as well. See Fig 5. For Mumbai TMO2, one hand-held
reader with linkage to the computer through WiFi network (see Fig 6) will be sufficient.
For Delhi SPCC, the proposed for RFID infrastructure includes scanning of bags through 4
numbers of fixed antennas fitted on the wall and grills where the speed post bags are kept
at the ground floor. See Fig 3. These antennas will help to scan the RFID tagged bags
during loading and unloading of bags. Also, one antenna will be fixed on the wall at the
starting point of the slider for the scanning of bags that are slide over to ground floor and
one antenna on the wall of the entrance of the sorting room. An antenna will be fixed on
the weighing machine, which will be kept in speed post sorting room. This will enable
automatic weighing of bags as soon as they are kept on weighing machine. One antenna
will be reserved for reprogramming of the RFID tags. A handheld reader will also be
provided to the supervisor who will be responsible for loading and unloading of bags. This
will ensure scanning of each and every bag having RFID tag. In all two fixed readers, one
hand-held reader and a weighing machine will be required. Similar set-up will be required
in Delhi TMO as well. See Fig 4.
Table 1 below gives the daily RFID Tag requirements at various metros. This is based on
the information collected from respective Collection Centers, SPC and TMO.

Table1. RFID Tag Requirement at Various Locations

Location Delhi Mumbai Chennai
Collection Center 9*25 9*25 7*25
(25)
SPC 140 120 100
TMO 25 60 25
Total (9*25)+140+25= (9*25)+120+60=40 (7*25)+100+25=
390 5 300

6. Proposed Business Process Re-Engineering

No major process re-engineering is needed for operationalising the proposed modifications.

In the case of operations at collection centres, the only modification is that instead of bar
code labels for closing of bags, RFID tags are to be used for bags going to Mumbai, Delhi,
and Chennai.

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The current tracking of bags indicated in 2.6 will get simplified. In the new scenario, the
supervisor carries a handheld RFID Reader which contains information about the bags
which the mail van is carrying. As the bags get unloaded from van, RFID handheld reader
as well as the fixed reader scans the bags containing RFID tags. The system automatically
checks all the received bags. If there is any missing bag it will be intimated to supervisor,
who uses the handheld reader to look for it.
Similarly, the chart making process indicated in 2.7 will get automated. The RFID tagged
bag is put on the digital weighing machine and weight would be recorded automatically
into the system. The source and destination information will be fetched from centralized
server. After entering the Flight information, the chart will be printed with accurate weight
with source and destination information.

7. Conclusion

This paper presents an RFID based tracking system for Speed Post articles and presents the
identified Gaps from field visits. It proposes appropriate solutions for bridging this gap. It
presents the scheme of Antenna positioning required to operationalize the scheme and
indicates the business process re-engineering required.

8. Future Work

There is a need to test the proposed hardware infrastructure and solution, before operational
deployment. Presently, the test cases are already defined. The actual working environment
will have be setup and test conducted to verify the analysis results presented herein. This is
the immediate next step for this project.

Acknowledgement

This work was part of the project, “National RFID Programme”, sponsored by DIT and
presently on-going in CDAC, Noida. The authors are grateful to the sponsoring agency and
CDAC Noida for giving them an opportunity to work on this. They also are grateful to Mr.
S.D. Meheto at SPC Delhi, Mr. T.D. Raskar at SPC Mumbai, Mr. T. Ravichandran at SPC
Chennai, Mr. Rajbir Singh at TMO Delhi, Mr. D.S. Shukla at TMO Mumbai, and Mr.
Mallika Arjuna at TMO Chennai for their valuable support.

References

[1] “High level design document for RFID based Parcel tracking system for DoP” January
09. (Internal Document)

About Authors
Mr. Rahul Agarwal is Management Trainee with CDAC, Noida. He has
completed his MBA in Software Enterprise Management from
GGSIPU, Delhi & B.Tech in Electronics and Communication from
Kurukshetra University. He has been working with CDAC-Noida for
past one month, in the field of National RFID Programme.

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Mr. Shashwat Bajaj is Management Trainee with CDAC, Noida. He has

completed his MBA in Software Enterprise Management from
GGSIPU, Delhi & B.Tech in Computer Science from Uttar Pradesh
Technical University. He has been working with CDAC-Noida for past
one month, in the field of National RFID Programme.

Mr. Anita Kumari Gupta is Management Trainee with CDAC, Noida.

She has completed her MBA in Software Enterprise Management from
GGSIPU, Delhi and B.Tech in Computer Science & Information
Technology from Hyderabad University. She has been working with
CDAC-Noida for past one month, in the field of National RFID
Programme.
Mr. Rahul Sharma is Management Trainee with CDAC, Noida. He has
completed his MBA in Software Enterprise Management from
GGSIPU, Delhi & B.Tech in Electronic Communication from Uttar
Pradesh Technical University. He has been working with CDAC-Noida
for past one month, in the field of National RFID Programme.

Mr. Ankit Mittal is a Management Trainee with CDAC, Noida. He has

completed his MBA in Software Enterprise Management and B.Tech in
Electronics and communication from GGSIPU, Delhi. He has been
working with CDAC-Noida for past one month, in the field of National
RFID Programme.

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