ParcFinder Proposal

HOME

PROPOSAL

POSTER

APPLICATION

RESEARCH PAPER

Project Background

Flowchart of Traditional SingPost Delivery Service in E-Commerce

Issues and Problems

With the expansion of E-Commerce in Singapore, there is a growing demand for the provision of effective logistical services to facilitate the delivery and receiving of goods and services to consumers.

As we analysed the entire customer experience journey in the e-commerce industry, we realised that there is a gap in the service delivery process in the event of a missed delivery. A study by the NUS Logistics Institute - Asia Pacific shows that as of 2017, the delivery failure rates in Singapore hover at more than 15%.

Traditionally, customers who missed a delivery from their logistics providers are redirected either to the post office to collect their parcels. They could also be required to make a call to their logistics providers and rescheduling for a redelivery, and at times required to pay an additional fee for the services. As for the logistics providers, carrying out redeliveries incurs additional operational costs in terms of man-hours and resources.

Motivation

Project Aim

Our team aims to address the issue of missed deliveries that occur in the delivery process. In our opinion, the redelivery/missed parcel collection process should be improved such that consumers are not required to go through the additional hassle and incurring additional costs of collecting their missed parcels, and logistics providers can ensure that their customers get their parcels without any additional incurring of operational costs.

POPStation, a self-collection point from SingPost

Proposed Solution

Our team has explored the Self-Collection Points as a viable solution in addressing the issue of missed deliveries. We recognise the importance for Logistic Companies to be able to determine the location of their self-collection points, in order to maximise coverage as well as improving their last-mile delivery service experience for their customers.

Through the conceptualisation of our application - ParcFinder, we provide users with the tools to visualise the geographical accessibility and generate spatial analysis reports of their existing self-collection points. We hope to provide the necessary insights for our users in their decision-making process in the location of their self-collection points.

Methods

• Conceptualisation of Idea
  • Use of SingPost POPStations to address failed deliveries
  • Benefits: Accessibility, Collection can be done 24/7

• Analysis of Project Data
  • Location of existing SingPost POPStations islandwide
  • Location of Ezbuy collection points
  • Analysis: Determine the situation of POPStations as collection points, through the use of Buffer Analysis + Hub Lines

• Map and Application Development

To determine the existing locations of SingPost POPStations To analyse which areas to introduce more POPStations/removal of POPStations To guide SingPost Postman to the designated POPStation in the event of a failed delivery through the use of Hansen’s Potential Model

Project Data Sources

Title	Format	Website Link / Sources
Singapore Population Data	SHP	data.gov.sg
Singapore Map Layer (MP14 Subzone/Planned Region)	SHP	Open Street Map
Singapore Post Office	Unformatted	https://www.singpost.com/list-of-post-offices
POPStation	Unformatted	https://www.mypopstation.com/locations
EzBuy Collection Stations	Unformatted	https://ezbuy.sg/Help/QuickGuide#Delivery

Project Timeline and Task Allocation

• Week 2- Formulation of Project idea
  • Brainstorm Project Ideas (All)
  • Consultation with Prof. Kam for feedback (All)
  • Drafting of proposal after consultation (All)
• Week 3 - Formulation of project idea
  • Consultation with Prof. Kam for feedback (All)
  • Idea Finalization after consultation (All)
• Week 4 - Preparation
  • Search dataset (Zhi Hui, Shu Yan)
  • Development of project ideas (Aaron)
  • Look into potential tools (All)
  • Creation of Wiki Page (Aaron, Shu Yan)
• Week 5- Preparation
  • Download / Compile dataset (Zhi Hui)
  • Generation of story ideas (Aaron, Shu Yan)
  • Wiki Content update (Aaron, Shu Yan)
  • Data cleaning (Zhi Hui)
• Week 6 -
  • Development of story board (Aaron)
  • Compile Dataset (Zhi Hui)
  • Independent learning of R and R Shiny (All)
  • Updating Milestone (All)
  • Research on tools for data conversion (Zhi Hui, Shu Yan)
• Week 7 -
  • Write PHP Script to convert data (Shu Yan)
  • Wiki Content Update (Aaron, Shu Yan)
• Week 8 -
  • Data Conversion (Shu Yan)
  • Consolidate data (All)
  • Preparation for Interim (Aaronn)
  • Convert data to SHP file (Zhi Hui)
  • Interim Presentation Preparation (All)
• Week 9-
  • Interim Presentation with Prof Kam (All)
  • Convert data to SHP File (Zhi Hui)
• Week 10- Map Development
  • Finish up R Shiny Assignment on DataCamp (All)
  • Finish up remaining assignments on DataCamp (All)
  • Interface development (All)
• Week 11-
  • Map Development (All)
  • Starting on project poster and report (All)
• Week 12-
  • Debugging and Analysis (Shu Yan)
  • Deployment to Webserver (Zhi Hui)
  • Map testing and debugging (All)
  • Update of Project research paper and poster (All)
  • Wiki Content update (Aaron, Shu Yan)
• Week 13-
  • Poster Design (Aaron)
  • Report draft (All)
• Week 14
  • Townhall Poster Presentation (All)
  • Updating of Project Wiki Page (Aaron and Shu Yan)
• Weeks 15 and 16
  • Submission of Research Paper (All)
  • Submission of Project Wiki (All)

Project Milestones

Project Storyboard

Project Key Challenges

Data Cleaning and Transformation

• Data retrieved not available in KML/SHP/XML format
  • Team effort to convert to SHP format
  • Documentation to keep track of changes.
• Data (longitude and latitude) not provided
  • Write script to transform postal codes
  • For postal codes that wasn't able to transform using the script, manually retrieve longitude and latitude from Google Map

Project ParcFinder Members

Aaron Ching Kwun Hin

Chien Shu Yan

Lee Zhi Hui

Comments

Please insert your comments here:

No.	Name	Date	Comments
1.	Insert your Name here	Insert Date here	Insert Comment here
2.	Insert your Name here	Insert Date here	Insert Comment here
3.	Insert your Name here	Insert Date here	Insert Comment here