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Standardization and the UPU Importance, organization and working areas Akhilesh Mathur

Standardization and the UPU Importance, organization and working areas Akhilesh Mathur Programme Manager, Standards and Certification. Presentation subjects. Why Standardization? How is standardization organised within the UPU ? Which UPU Standards exist ? How to get access to Standards

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Standardization and the UPU Importance, organization and working areas Akhilesh Mathur

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  1. Standardization and the UPU Importance, organization and working areas Akhilesh Mathur Programme Manager, Standards and Certification

  2. Presentation subjects • Why Standardization? • How is standardization organised within the UPU ? • Which UPU Standards exist ? • How to get access to Standards • The UPU and other standardization organisations • Are all Standards mandatory ? • How does the UPU assist with the implementation/usage of Standards ? • Important Technical Standards

  3. The Postal world is changing • Deregulation • Privatisation • Competition • Move from single operator to multi-operator environment • Customers get an increased choice • of postal service providers • of services offered • The number of players in the market is increasing rapidly

  4. Universal Business Adapters do not exist Standards can take care of this Connecting organisations/systems

  5. When Standards are not used……..

  6. When Standards are not used……..

  7. When Standards are not used……..

  8. Standardisation, why? • Improving the quality of postal services is the key driver for it all • Mail Operations have to be: • More reliable • Faster • Verifiable • Providing Track and Trace and other additional services • Make use of the latest available technology • NEED FOR STANDARDS

  9. Automation is a driving force • Electronic exchange of information • Between Posts • With airlines • For Customs clearance • With Customers • Enable faster and more reliable processing • Connecting organizations by connecting technological solutions

  10. Scope of UPU activities • Universal postal services as described in UPU Acts • Harmonization of international postal services • Includes the development of new products • Inter-administration payment systems • Technical assistance to developing countries • Standardization of postal procedures/operations

  11. The UPU is an intergovernmental organisation • The UPU does not interfere in matters that fall within the domestic domain of national postal services. • For example, Posts set their own postage rates, decide which and how many postage stamps to issue, and how to manage their postal operations and staff

  12. The 2004 Bucharest Congress • Modified the main structure of the Union • COUNCIL OF ADMINISTRATION • Regulatory matters • POSTAL OPERATIONS COUNCIL • Postal operational Matters • NEW: CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE • Stakeholder view on the postal industry • Private sector participation

  13. The UPU is changing • With the creation of the Consultative Committee, stakeholder participation for the UPU as a whole is a new and very encouraging development • Ensures active participation of Customers, Suppliers, Industry players of the Postal industry • New for the UPU…but not for the Standardization activities of the UPU • UPU Standardization activities have always taken place in an open environment

  14. The UPU Standards Board • Single coordination and approval authority within the UPU for all international postal standards • Detailed process for Standards development and approval • Publication and distribution of standards • Meets 4 times per year • Part of the Postal Operations Council • 7 Permanent Working Groups, ensuring coherent development of standards in particular areas

  15. Working Groups • Physical Encoding Group (PEG) • Electronic Exchange Group (EXG) • Data and Code definition Group (DCG) • Code Allocation and Maintenance Group (CAM) • IATA/UPU Group on EDI • Customs Data Interchange Group (CDIG) • Publications Editorial Board (PEB) • Project groups for individual topics

  16. Standards Board Composition • Posts: • Chair: USA • Members: Australia, China (People's Rep.), Côte d’Ivoire (Rep.), Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iran (Islamic Rep.), Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal, Sweden, Tanzania (United Rep.) • Other participating organisations: • International Post Corporation (IPC) • CEN

  17. Standards Board Composition • Other organisations may participate (with observer status). Any organisation that • has a strong international character • has a relationship with the postal industry • is a representative organisation for a particular industry and/or large geographic/economic area

  18. Standards development • Any interested party (UPU member or not) can submit proposals • Standards Board ensures coordination with relevant parties • Typically, proposals are submitted by: • Standards Board permanent working groups • Other bodies within the UPU • International project teams working on a specific topic • Industry interest groups

  19. Standards Approval Process • Process that ensures • Coordination of proposals for standards • Formal process to come to the adoption of Standards • Detailed process from initial idea to fully accepted UPU standard • 4 stages, each stage to obtain a particular status • Status P - Proposal for New Work Item • Status 0 - Working Draft • Status 1 - Draft Standard • Status 2 - Approved UPU Standard • (Status S - Superseded) • (Status W - Withdrawn)

  20. Almost doubled the number of standards since the 1999 Beijing Congress • From 59 Standards in 1999 to about 110 Standards today: • 67 Technical Standards • 43 Messaging Standards • All published standards are at various levels within the Approval Process

  21. Standards have to be really used • Standards Approval Process requires practical usage of Standards • Status 0 can only be obtained if a number of organizations commit to testing/using the Standard • Status 1 can only be obtained if the Standard has been used, and test results show the effectiveness of the Standard. • Impossible to get a standard published that is not actually used

  22. Standards Policy • Facilitate, not regulate • Use whenever possible existing international standards • Support variety of regulatory frameworks • Take into account move for openness within the UPU • Continue to be enabling for any regulatory developments

  23. Standards development in an open environment • The UPU is a standard-setting body for the postal industry, just as other bodies that are active in their fields: • IATA for the airline industry • WCO for Customs organisations • ITU for Telecommunications • UPU follows an open Standards Development Strategy, like CEN, ANSI, ISO • Standards have to be developed in an open environment, which allows active participation of all interested parties • All the results, and all the intermediary information has to be publicly available

  24. Availability of documentation • All documentation/proposals of the Standards Board and its working groups are publicly available: • http://www.upu.int/standards/en/index.shtml • All final results are also available for any interested party: The UPU Standards Publications

  25. UPU Technical Standards UPU EDI Messaging Standards Comprehensive publications of all postal standards developed by or in cooperation with the UPU Available in paper and CD-ROM version Multi workstation licences as well as single Standards also available Publication of Standards

  26. Which Standards ? • A wide variety of Standards exist, and the number is steadily growing • Now more than 110 Standards, covering different areas: • Mail (various products) • Financial Services • Electronic Services

  27. Mail Related Standards • Identification/codification of postal items, collections of mail, mail processing facilities, etc. • Bar coding applications (id tagging, franking marks, etc.) • Interfaces between Mailers/Posts (EDI messages,Tracking &Tracing capabilities, etc.) • Addressing standards

  28. Examples: EMS barcode labels

  29. Examples: 2D Franking Marks and ID tags

  30. Examples: Usage of envelope space

  31. Standardised EDI message for the exchange of International Money Order information Standardised Identification system for Money orders Based on the ISO License plate standard Standardised Identification of Financial Institutions Financial Services

  32. Electronic Postmark (EPM) Physical or electronic delivery of messages e-Commerce “.post” domain name Electronic Services

  33. Are UPU Standards Mandatory ? • In principle: No • They are recommended practices • Have to prove their usefulness, otherwise they will be ignored • Rules are such that it is impossible to have a UPU Standard that is not used in practice • In some cases: Yes • Vital for functioning of international postal operations • Then reference included in UPU regulations • Regulations are mandatory • Detailed specifications still published as a standard

  34. Are Standards Mandatory ? • Some are mandatory for the entire UPU membership: • S34: Identification/codification of International mail Processing Centres (Exchange Offices) EETLLA (TALLINN PI-2) • Some are mandatory, if used at all: • S18: International ID tag

  35. Are Standards Mandatory ? • Some will only work if adhered to: • All EDI messaging standards • Some create loss of effectiveness if not adhered to: • Item identification standards

  36. Other standardisation organisations • UPU cooperates with a variety of organisations: • International Air Transport Organisation: IATA • World Customs Organisation: WCO • International Organisation for Standardisation: ISO • International Telecommunication Union: ITU • European Committee for Standardisation: CEN • …

  37. Electronic preadvising of mail Electronic message from Airlines informing about the Status of shipments Scanning of standardized Postal receptacle labels Cooperation with airlines

  38. Cooperation with Customs • Customs • Electronic Customs Declaration • Electronic Customs Response message • Goal: Electronic Customs Clearance

  39. Other Cooperation • ISO • Country, Region and Currency codes • License Plate Standard for the identification of transport Units • ….. • United Nations • UN/LOCODE • 5 character unique id for locations • Basis for the identification of Offices of Exchange • 6-character Code • Standard S34

  40. The UPU and CEN • 2 groups, 2 backgrounds: • UPU Standards Board: Specialised body within the UPU for Postal Standards • CEN TC 331: Special Technical Committee for European Standards in postal services • Overlap for particular standards under development • RISK: Conflicting standards • OPPORTUNITY: Use synergies between organisations to come to best possible standards

  41. Current situation • CEN work is mostly driven by the EC • UPU work is driven by individual initiatives • Wide CEN/UPU cooperation for a considerable number of subjects • Cooperation enshrined in a joint Memorandum of Understanding • Together ensuring the best postal standards • for Europe • Worldwide • For all parties involved in postal services

  42. Main topics covered in the MoU • Establishment of a Contact Committee: • Enable agreement coordination and cooperation before either CEN or UPU creates standards within internal process • Standardization procedures: Process to allow joint final approval of standards • Publication procedures: Process to allow publication of standards

  43. Role of the Contact Committee • Consult on (intended) new work items • Establish interest of respective organisations • Coordinate/agree • Information exchange through liaison status • Leadership development • End products • Project plan • Timelines • Ensure coordination and cross-fertilisation • Genuine involvement of both organisations

  44. A fruitful cooperation • Standardization within the UPU and CEN: Different backgrounds, different financing • CEN historically has a strong participation of private industry • UPU historically has a world-wide coverage of postal operators • UPU and CEN jointly ensure that the best standards are created for the postal industry

  45. The UPU assists with Standards • The UPU provides assistance with the introduction of Standards • Guidance by specialists for the various postal products • Letter mail • Parcel Post • EMS • Electronic Services • Regional Advisors • Network with postal experts world-wide regarding new technologies • Specialised departments to provide applications/tools • Postal Technology Centre (PTC) • Logistics Department

  46. Applications/tools available • Barcode labels • World-wide Postal Network: POST*Net • Mail Management Software • International Financial Services Software • Development of new working areas for the Posts: electronic services

  47. Mail Management Software packages: IPS & IPS Light The primary functions of the PTC’s mail management software IPS and IPS Light are to: • Track and trace mail items (EMS, Letters and parcels) • Automate their entire (outbound and inbound) administrative mail handling process with the support of EDI messages. • Generate UPU documents and reports  Today about 100 postal administrations have installed one of the PTC solutions for Mail management

  48. Mail Management Software packages: IPS & IPS Light • IPS is designed to postal organizations with a large volume of mail. It possesses a number of advanced features including an accounting module and an Internet site allowing users to track their despatches • IPS Light is the light version of IPS which is designed for Posts with low to medium mail volumes and a modest IT infrastructure. All that is required is a simple computer and an Internet connection

  49. International Financial software packages: IFS & STEFI • The IFS network is the financial money order transfer network of the UPU. It is composed by all the postal administrations using a PTC application for the exchange and management of electronic money orders with their business partners. • The network is reliable, cheap, fast, available, accessible, and • highly secure  Today 30 postal administrations are using one of the PTC application to transfer money orders.

  50. International Financial software packages: IFS & STEFI • IFS is designed for postal organizations either completely lacking a money order management system or whose existing system is not adapted to processing international electronic money orders. • STEFI (Secured Transfer of Electronic Financial Information) is designed for postal organisation already possessing a domestic electronic system but wishing to join the IFS network of the UPU.

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