UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

Application for 2008 Larry L. Sautter Award for Best IT Practices in Business Processes and Services

Project Summary

The UCSD Shipping Program brings together multiple applications to service and support expedited mail processing. This application interaction allows campus users, administrators, and business officers initiate transactions, reconciliation, tracking, and financial accountability.

UCSD Desktop Shipping Center () provides low volume shippers an easy, intuitive, and financially integrated application that allows them to produce expedited carrier waybills at their desktop, review shipment status, and maintain address books. This program was launched Dec 20, 2007

UCSD SendSuite Shipping () provides high volume shippers a fully integrated shipping environment for the processing of complex, controlled, or hazardous shipments. Launched May 18, 2007

Both of these solutions could be made extendable to the entire UC community through the UCSD implementation with a minimum of support.

UCSD’s MBA (Mail Billing Application) () manages the automated central reconciliation of carrier invoicing through EDI, vendor payment, and ledger posting in an exception based environment. MBA is also the business process management environment for all activities supported by the Mail Services Dept at UCSD. The first module of MBA was launched Sept 19, 2006 and the EDI module was launched June 22, 2007.

Team Members

Susana Alminar

Margaret Coombs

Steven Higgins

Brian Lorentz

Heather MacChesney

Jonathan Weirick

Bob Wintringer

All applications are run behind UCSD firewalls. Please contact Brian Lorentz (blorentz@ucsd.edu) for access or web demos.

Project Description

History

Historically UCSD conducted business with expedited mail carriers through a decentralized system that allowed any campus department or agency account holder to open as many carrier accounts as it wished and to transact with carrier through any interface available. In 2006 there were 800 FedEx accounts, 125 DHL accounts, and 42 UPS accounts conducting in excess of $1.4M a year in activity. All accounts were reconciled by paper invoices delivered to either the department originating the shipment or the Disbursements department. The Disbursements department attempted to identify the responsible campus department and retrieve an agency account to post charges against and then authorize payment to the carrier. On any given day there existed hundreds of abandoned accounts, many with delinquent invoices. Many carrier accounts paid list rates while others paid varying scaled rates sometimes keyed to carrier agreements, sometimes not.

In March 2003 Vice Chancellor Relyea (Business Affairs) authorized the UCSD Shipping Program as a combination of Software purchases and development to be carried out in joint effort by UCSD Mail Services and UCSD BFS Systems departments. Development of MBA commenced in April 2003.

In December 2006 UC Strategic Sourcing signed Freight and Transportation Services contracts with FedEx and DHL. These initiatives focused on the effort to consolidate and centralize accountability in order to maximize the substantial savings achievable through the contracts. This commodity exceeds 10M annual spend across UC for outbound shipping and estimates put inbound spend at another 10M.

Project Elements

UCSD’s Desktop Shipping Center is accessible by all authenticated UCSD employees. The application is an intuitive, user friendly environment designed with the most common shipping needs in mind. Users enter a validated Index (FOPAL), enter recipient information, select contract rates and services, and print a shipment label at their desktop workstation. These processes can be utilized for any domestic shipment and for any single product international shipment. Users may also include a select list of services including: Carrier Notification, 3rd Party billing and Collect shipments, and Signature Required processing. The application allows users to build an address book, track package routing, and look up pickup and drop box locations on Campus. The application maintains detailed shipment history with updated package status. Delivery options can either be selected by choosing standard carriers and services or by “Shopping” for contract rates. All rates are per UC Strategic Source Contract or local agreement.

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UCSD’s SendSuite Shipping application is a fully scaled commercial shipping environment. The application requires training and is intended for use by experienced shippers in high volume or regulated circumstances.

The application is enabled with the full range of carrier services including: Special Delivery Options, Carrier Notification, Carrier International Documentation, Call Tag services, Insurance, Registered Mail, COD, and Delivery Confirmations. The application is Dangerous Goods compliant and IOTA regulation functional.

Users with Dangerous goods shipments, international multi-shipments, or shipments with special requirements transfer the material to be shipped to the appropriate Mail Services or Dangerous Goods coordinator for processing with UCSD’s SendSuite Shipping application. The application is also accessible through UCSD’s Desktop Shipping Center for authorized users who have had training. Most importantly, all regulated shipments can be reviewed and edited as needed by the Dangerous Goods Coordinator before shipments have been transferred to carriers and all documentation is retained and can be reproduced on demand in event of regulatory review.

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On May 7, 2008, while attending the annual UC Mail Managers Forum at UCLA, use of these two applications was offered to all UC campuses, medical centers, and national labs.

UCSD’s MBA (Mail Billing Application) processes all back end Mail Services business operations including: United States Postal Services charges, Campus Messenger Services transactions, Bulk Permit Mail charges, Addressing Services order management, Campus Mail Code management, Pre-Sort Mail, Business Reply Mail, and International Mail. The application manages all functions in a business environment providing full reporting and accountability as well as meeting all interface requirements for interaction with UCSD core accounting system.

As an integral element in the UCSD Shipping Program MBA is the engine that makes

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EDI processing in an exception based environment possible. Electronic invoice files are received from carriers at daily or weekly intervals. Transaction records generated in either UCSD Desktop Shipping Center or UCSD SendSuite Shipping are imported to MBA and validated for account and tracking number accuracy. Invoiced records that match the original transaction record are automatically authorized for payment to the carrier through an automated CheckWrite process. Posting of charges to the General Ledger of the shipper are made at the time of invoice payment. The Ledger posting detail lists the tracking number of the shipment along with the charges.

Currently, about 200 transactions are processed through the EDI module each week. This volume is increasing at a rate of 10% per month as the application is made available to larger segments of the campus.

On average, 6% of invoiced transactions do not match the original record created at the time the shipment was generated and require attention.

Shipping Transactions that do not match the initial shipment record are presented to the Mail Services Billing Staff for reconciliation. The staff is trained to recognize common errors or discrepancies in shipping transactions. Such errors can be extra charges for a residential delivery address vs. a commercial delivery address or credits for the same situation. Unanticipated charges can be incurred for returned shipments, address corrections, or any of a large number of other peripheral fees. Experienced staff is able to quickly recognize and address both valid and invalid charges with carriers.

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Most invoices are cleared within 48 hours of receipt enabling UCSD to capture early payment discounts. Reconciliation that used to commonly take weeks now is completed in hours.

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Individual transaction discrepancies are examined for reconciliation criteria. Three possible conclusions can be reached with any exception record.

1: Approval of full payment to carrier and charges to the agency account.

2: Approval of an adjusted payment to carrier or charges to an agency account.

3: Delete both payment and charges to agency account.

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Technology Utilized

Desktop Shipping Center is 3rd party software written in ASP, VB, and HTML.

SendSuite Shipping is a 3rd party software shell written in VB with all screens and functionality configured by UCSD support staff using VBS and HTML.

MBA is UCSD developed using , C#, SQL Server, EDIDev.

Customer Satisfaction

UCSD Desktop Shipping Center is currently in use for 39 Departments and 175 Users

Rollout to campus departments continues.

UCSD SendSuite Shipping is currently in use for 2 Departments and 27 Users

Rollout to campus departments continues as need and support are identified

UCSD’s MBA is fully engaged and the sole source of Postal and Mail Services business interaction on campus. Volume through the EDI module scales up as more users are added to both Desktop Shipping Center and SendSuite Shipping.

"I really, really like the Desktop Shipping Program.  It is convenient and helps me shop for the best method of shipping.  Also, it is easy to use and the support for the shipping program is great".

Ronnie Pait – UCSD Cancer Center

Submitted by:

Bob Wintringer

Project Manager UCSD Material Support Services

rwintringer@ucsd.edu

858-536-3225 x239

C 858-864-3964

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