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 (https://ship.ucsd.edu) 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 (https://shipping.ucsd.edu) 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) (https://bfsweb.ucsd.edu/mba) 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 ASP.NET, 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