Week 1 - UPS COMPLETES GLOBALLY WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Company History

Founded in 1907 as a messenger company in the United States, UPS has grown into a multi-billion-dollar corporation by clearly focusing on the goal of enabling commerce around the globe. Today, UPS is a global company with one of the most recognized and admired brands in the world. We have become the world's largest package delivery company and a leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services. Every day, we manage the flow of goods, funds, and information in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Relationships With Benefits.

There are a lot of benefits for small business when have a relationship with local The UPS Store. Not only do provide excellent customer service, but also provide the necessary tools to help small business thrive. The Company offer in-store and online printing, notary, document finishing, mailbox services, packing and shipping, all tailored to fit small business. That’s why this company is community small business resource center.

Small businesses helping small business – that’s The UPS Store network. Customers and business clients rely on The UPS Store for superior business service solutions and impeccable customer support. The Company looking for qualified franchise owners who are dedicated to serving customers and making their lives a little bit easier.

SUGGESTION AND ACTION

QUESTION 1:

What are the inputs, processing, and outputs of UPS's package tracking system?

ANSWER:

The input-process-output (IPO) model, also known as the IPO+S model, is a functional model and conceptual schema of a general system. An IPO chart/table identifies a program’s inputs, its outputs, and the processing steps required to transform the inputs into the outputs.

The components of the IPO model are defined as:

I: Input            - The information, ideas, and resources used in creating a program

P: Processing - Actions taken upon/using input or stored material

O: Output       - Results of the processing that then exit the system

S: Storage      - Location(s) where material inside the system is/are placed for possible use at a later point in time

For the UPS's package traking sytem, the IPO was stated below:

• Inputs: The inputs include package information, customer signature, pickup, delivery, time-card data, current location (while en route), and billing and customer clearance documentation.
• Processing: The data are transmitted to a central computer and stored for retrieval. Data are also reorganized so that they can be tracked by customer account, date, driver, and other criteria such as the consolidation of orders for efficient final delivery of packages.
• Outputs: The outputs include pickup and delivery times, location while en route, and package recipient. The outputs also include various reports, such as all packages for a specific account or a specific driver or route, as well as summary reports for management.

QUESTION 2:

What technologies are used by UPS? How are these technologies related to UPS's business strategy?

ANSWER:

The technologies used by UPS include handheld computers, bar code scanners, wired and wireless communications networks, desktop computers, UPS’s data center, storage technology for the package delivery data, UPS in-house package tracking software, and software to access the World Wide Web.

How are these technologies related to UPS's business strategy?

UPS’s business strategy is best service and lowest rates. By using these technologies, UPS creates the most efficient delivery route for every package. Thus the costs are reduced significantly. Additionally, customers can access the UPS web site to check delivery routes, calculate shipping rates, determine time in transit, print labels, schedule a pickup, and track their packages whenever they want to. These bring a lot of convenience to customers and therefore, give customers the best services.

QUESTION 3:

What strategic business objective do UPS's information system address?

ANSWER:

The business objective of UPS is to make their customer satisfied with their services. By solve activities relate to logistics and supply chain including other companies. These services include supply chain design and management, customs brokerage, mail services, multimodal transportation and financial services.

In addition, they it cuts down on travel time, avoids left turn in urban areas, & save millions of dollars every year. They discovered that if they only make right turns with their delivery trucks they can spend much less time stopped in traffic. So they arrange deliveries so that drivers can pretty well eliminate left turns, thus saving the company millions of dollars in fuel costs each year.

As a result, by using the information system, UPS can introduce efficiency in performance their services. In other hand, they can increase their customer services with the lower cost of managements.

Question 4:

 What would happen if UPS's information systems were not available?

ANSWER:

Firstly, UPS company will not very efficiency. In addition, customer cannot ask their require by the internet, the technology were not available, and then UPS would, as it has through most of its history, attempt to provide that information to its customers, but at higher prices. From the customers’ perspective, these technologies provide value because they help customers complete their tasks more efficiently.

Customers view UPS’s technology as value-added services as opposed to increasing the cost of sending packages. People cannot know where the package has arrived. The cost will be increased. The whole process will not so convenient.