Transcript Implementing new software for 130 countries Bernard Smith Billing programme manager

Implementing new software
for 130 countries
Bernard Smith
Billing programme manager
DHL Western Europe and Emerging Markets
E&A review
Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Core Service Offerings
• Core Service is to pick up and deliver shipment in the fastest
and most reliable way
• Particular expertise required in:
– Fast decision-making
– Relationship-building (customs, security)
– IT
• Also provide logistics services
• Many products available, depending on country of operation
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Express Services
• Express international door-to-door delivery of:
– Non-declarable items (eg, documents, invoices,
contracts, reports)
• Express international door-to-door delivery of:
– Declarable items (eg, samples, spare parts, finished
products) May have to pay duty at destination
• Europe, Asia, the US and Latin America have
specific overnight delivery services
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Special Packaging
• Designed for specific types of shipment for example,
– Temperature-controlled packaging that keeps
medical shipments cool
– Shock-absorbing crating for wine bottles
– Jumbo Box (flat fee box, for consolidating
numbers of small items)
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Service Options
• Saturday Delivery
• Same Day Service
• Delivery Duty Paid
• Special Clearance Services
• Banks & financial institutions
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Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Import Express product
• Import Express allows DHL customers to be billed
at Destination for shipments sent by
– their suppliers
– their staff travelling abroad
– anyone else they need to receive shipments from
• Customers are quoted a tariff at destination for
shipments from 215 countries
• Some countries also allow Third country billing
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Business processing- Outbound
• Customers are allocated special account number
for IMP shipments (96…)
• Many customers require a copy of the DHL
paperwork (AirwayBill) before approving the
invoice.
• DHL offices in the shipping country send data to a
central sorting office.
• Copy paper work is sent from the shipping country
to the Billing country
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Business processing - Central
• Central sorting office maintains tariff for each
customer and prices each transaction
• The priced transactions are then sent to the billing
country
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Business processing - Inbound
• Billing countries identify the IMP shipments and
log them.
• When the centrally processed file is received the
billing departments match the logged shipments to
the received data file.
• The pricing of the shipments are then checked.
• If the customer requires backup paperwork then
when it is received from the shipping country it is
attached to the Invoice
E&A review
Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Why the need for the project
• The IMP business had grown by 20% pa since it
was launched in 1995.
• Due to the business volumes the central sorting
office could not maintain the tariffs accurately
• Data and paper transmission is on a monthly cycle
which led to 60 m Euros being unbilled in the
month of shipment
• Reduce the costs of the centralised processing
unit, by de-centralising pricing.
E&A review
Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Business Objectives
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Top 17 countries to be FT compliant by Q3 2001
Reduce large revenue accruals for EXB
Improve I/B cash flow by 10%
Reduce errors for IMP
Harmonise O/B and I/B tariff maintenance
Easier account set-up
Replace BNF process
Reduce CB costs
E&A review
Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
What did we have to do?
• Develop software to enable countries to price IMP
shipments locally
• Amend billing software to be able to send and
receive IMP files weekly
• Deploy software to 84 countries
• Convert data from centralised tariffs to country
tariffs
• Change business processes from monthly to
weekly cycles
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But...
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Number of countries
• 130 countries in Europe Africa and Middle East
– 16 already had a compliant system
– 30 not allowed to sell Import Express product or had
single tariff
– 84 countries to be deployed
• 17 Western Europe
• 25 Central and Eastern Europe
• 42 Africa
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Data conversion issues
• UK had 552,000 Origin-Destination pricing pairs
• Took 5 days to run UK extract!
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How did we do it
• Software built and tested
• Developed CBT Training module
• Guidelines for implementing in countries
– User Guide/Test cases/Project plan
• Developed Harmonised procedures
• Ran central workshop for top 17 countries
• Ran training session in Ivory Coast and Kenya for
African countries
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Country groupings
• Large/Medium sized country
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Extracted tariffs and converted to new structure
Implemented reporting process
Tracked individual country progress
Visited to discuss planning and to help testing
• Small countries
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Centralised training
Countries re-keyed tariffs
Tracked volume of countries live/testing
Countries were clustered for communication with region
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Monthly reporting
Country
Target
Process
impacts
assessed
NBR
2.8.2
live
ERM
live
FT
Live
Last
tariff
update
send to
CB
100%
Local
mods
assessed
&
solution
in place
100%
100%
Date
Date
OB+IB
Date
100%
100%
100%
100%
05/09/01
21/08/01
OB+IB
31/10/01
100%
100%
100%
100%
05/09/01
21/08/01
OB+IB
31/10/01
Project Manager
identified
Project
planned
Project
Start
Date
Target
NBR
live
date
Target
ERM
live
date
ERM
installed
in test
Inbound
tariff
changes
Agreed
CB Tariff
conversion
into test
Tariff
testing
complete
Frequent
transm
testing
complete
Resource name
100%
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date or n/a
100%
Albania
TBA
Jan 2002
01/02/02
01/02/02
Dec2001
Date or
n/a
TBA
Andorra
Desiree Salman
100%
30/01/01
07/06/01
09/09/01
02/03/01
31/08/01
29/05/01
Armenia
Svetlana Kiseleva
20%
09/10/01
01/01/02
01/01/02
Azerbaijan
Svetlana Kiseleva
20%
09/10/01
01/01/02
01/01/02
Belarus
Svetlana Kiseleva
20%
09/10/01
01/01/02
01/01/02
Bosnia&H
TBA
Jan 2002
01/02/02
01/02/02
Dec2001
TBA
N/A
Bulgaria
Valentina Nikolova
01/10/01
05/11/01
01/12/02
01/11/01
15/11/01
N/A
Canary Isl
Desiree Salman
100%
30/01/01
07/06/01
09/09/01
02/03/01
31/08/01
29/05/01
Croatia
Mirna Ana Kardum
100%
01/10/01
01/01/02
01/01/02
01/11/01
15/11/01
N/A
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N/A
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Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Schedule
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Business Objectives agreed - Q1 2000
Software developed Q2/Q3 2000
Software tested - November/December 2000
Software deployed - top 17 - August 2002?
Software deployed Africa/Eastern Europe - Jan 2002
Frequent Transmission switch on - July 2001
Centralised Tariffs switched off - December 2001
E&A review
Regional Activities - Plan
• IS development – budget 0.6 man years
• Deployment
– budget 3.4 man years
• web site for the project
• CBT on using new tariff tool
• Incorporate EXB local modifications in regional s/w
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Regional Activities - Actual
• IS development – actual 4.3 man years (0.6 budget)
• Deployment
– actual 4.4 man years (3.4 budget)
• web site
– (done - but access problem for African countries)
• CBT (done - but countries wanted on site training)
• Incorporate local modifications in regional s/w
– (done e.g. CH rounding, multi-currency tariffs)
E&A review
Country activities - effort
• 2000 estimate for deployment
– 5.4 man years
• Jan 2001 (post beta) estimate
– 12 man years
• Actual effort
– 13.7 man years
• Country effort
– sma1l
– medium
– large
E&A review
plan
actual
58 man-days 60 man-days
118 man-days 120 man-days
175 man-days 192 man-days
Country activities - but
• Projects took 2 months longer than planned due to
other priorities (Euro, EFSS transition, TI2000)
• Tariff extract was difficult
• Local modifications in large countries delayed
implementation
• new Financial Service Center meant that:
– EFSS/Country/Region responsibilities unclear
– lack of EXB expertise delayed implementation
– EFSS transition countries lacked motivation
• Difficult to get 100% progress reporting
E&A review
What we will do differently next time
• Standard project management - (Prince 2 for countries and
region)
• Escalate non-reporting of progress
• Get planning phase kicked off in advance (even if
implementation has to be delayed)
• Send African countries documentation on CD
• Make sure other impacted departments are pushing
their country staff to be involved.
• Get dedicated Data Centre resource for technical work
• Provide more on site support (if deadlines must be achieved)
E&A review
Agenda
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DHL - Overview
What is the Import Express product?
Why the need for the project?
What were the original objectives?
How the project was managed
What happened?
9 months post completion what has happened?
E&A review
Business Objectives
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Top 17 countries to be FT compliant by Q3 2001
Reduce large revenue accruals for EXB
Improve I/B cash flow by 10%
Reduce errors for IMP
Harmonise O/B and I/B tariff maintenance
Easier account set-up
Replace BNF process
Reduce CB costs
E&A review
Follow up actions
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Get countries to bill I/B files within billing month.
Drive out productivity enhancements
Improve ERM functionality e.g. mass update
Harmonise procedures
Upgrade all countries to latest ERM version
E&A review
Overall Business Case
Q1 2000 plan
Actuals
Development/
Deployment cost
Central Bureau
saving
I/B cash flow
9.4 man years
22.4 man years
Reduce IMP
revenue accruals
75%
E&A review
1.6 m USD (16 12 staff
staff)
+10%
+11%*
40%
Overall assessment
• Countries have improved their tariff structure
• Quality of Billing has improved but limited
financial benefits to date
• Cost savings from closing central tariff role were
absorbed by project effort
• Country efficiency improvements were not large
enough to be reflected in reduced headcount.
• Why de-centralise tariffs prior to re-centralising?
E&A review
Finally
• Any questions?
E&A review
Resourcing
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1 Programmer (data conversion)
1 Business analyst/trainer
P/T project management
P/T technical deployment support
E&A review