Advance Notification Streamlined Acceptance and Visibility for First-Class Mail

1. Advance Notification Streamlined Acceptance and Visibility for First-Class Mail MTAC Workgroup 102

2. Issue Statement and Desired Results • Issue Statement - Define capabilities of advance notification, streamlined acceptance and visibility for First-Class Mail • Develop an approach for First-Class Mail notification and visibility. • Develop an approach for First-Class Mail mailers to provide mailing information electronically using standardized platforms such as mail.dat, web services or postage statement wizard • Develop an approach to communicate this advance notification downstream through postal supply chain • Develop an approach to leverage barcodes to identify assets and mailpieces to streamline acceptance and for additional visibility • Develop an approach to provide visibility at asset level, such as tray scans from air carriers, in conjunction with the piece level information that is available through Confirm today

3. First-Class Advance Notification Pilot Goals • Develop an approach for First-Class Mail notification and visibility by: • Understanding First-Class Mail processing and operations • Determining forecast methods for First-Class Mailings • Determining how advance notification data will optimize the normal day to day activities of USPS systems • Transportation optimization, better planning for air lift and surface transportation • Processing capacity optimization, better forecast of mail volumes and machine utilization • Staffing, enable USPS to forecast resource staffing based on expected mail volume • Mail Transport Equipment, procure and supply MTE based on actual data

4. Pilot Findings • Forecasting • Mailers were able to provide SPLY (Same Period Last Year) information in various formats including mail.dat, MS Excel, and/or text files • Information included Piece counts by Origin – Destination Pair • SPLY information proved to be the most accurate basis to forecast volume • Variations in piece count volumes from day to day between SPLY and current year volumes averaged about 3% • JIT (Just in Time) Information • USPS would like to receive JIT information as far in advance as possible • Mailers were able to forecast the following information in advance: 2 - 4 Weeks in Advance • Induction Date/Time • Plant Load vs. Mailer Drop-off • MTE (Mail Transport Equipment) Type and average number • Type of Handling Unit 2 Days – 24 Hours Prior to Induction • Total Piece Count • Total Weight of Mailing • Number of Handling Units • Number of Pieces per Handling Unit • Presort

5. Next Steps • Develop the requirements and designs for FAST for First-Class • We have begun meetings with Operations to discuss integration with other USPS systems • FAST will allow mailers to provide forecasting and JIT information • Forecasting • New “Forecasting” module to better plan USPS transportation and routing • Forecast Date • Origin/Destination • # of Pieces • Provide forecast information to other USPS transportation scheduling and planning systems so that they may optimize performance. • Allow USPS to better allocate air transportation space • Allow USPS to determine if more transportation capacity is needed between USPS facilities and mailer plants • Allow USPS to determine if more transportation capacity is needed between USPS facilities • Better manage MTE (Mail transport equipment) procurement in order to have adequate quantities available for mailers at all times

6. Next Steps (cont.) • JIT Information • Surface Transportation Scheduling • Demand Based Transportation Scheduling in the FAST system for plant-load pickups • FAST will integrate with systems used by USPS Postal Vehicle Management (PVS) to schedule and optimize transportation between mailer plants and USPS facilities • Air Transportation scheduling • Use JIT information to determine air space availability and if additional air lift is needed • Purpose • Refine forecast information based on JIT information provided • Enable mailers to know transportation schedules for plant load pickups • Enable USPS to optimize transportation planning and volumes

7. Visibility • Seamless Acceptance Pilot participant has included Container and Tray Barcodes • We have shared Container Scan and Tray scan Data • Container/Pallet Scan Data from Surface Visibility • Tray Scan Data from PostalOne! Transportation Management • Air Transport Tray Data from SASS

8. Next Steps • Finalize Visibility Data Elements • Include additional pilot participants • Sunset

9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Position App ID T ID Mailer ID Adjust Field Sequence Number 2N 1N 6N 3N 9N ZIP CIN L sr Mailer ID Adjust Field Sequence Number. T ID 3 or 5 digit N 3N 1N 6N 3N 5N 1N Tray Barcode T ID Spcl Srvs Mailer ID Adjust Field Sequence Number Routing ZIP 2N 3N 6N 3N 6N 0,5,9,11 digit N Barcode "type" indicator Used to identify services requested by the customer (i.e. ACS, Confirm, PostalOne!; Confirm/ACS) Used to identify source "Business Entity" Adjustable field Used to uniquely identify a container, tray, sack, or piece Used to route a tray, sack, or piece Identifies a source system used to create label Intelligent Barcodes Decoded • Intelligent Mail Container Barcode • Intelligent Mail Tray Barcode • Intelligent Mail Barcode Container Barcode 21 Digits 24 Digits Intelligent Mail Barcode 31 Digits