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FINAL PROJECT

GROUP MEMBERS: RIZWAN MIRZA 093341 IMAAD SAEED BUTT TALHA IDREES

COURSE: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

PROJECT: TCS EXPRESS

SUBMITTED TO: SIR ABDUL GHAFOOR KHAN

TCS Express TCS is the leading courier industry of Pakistan. With its 22 years of experience in the express courier industry, it is widely trusted for reliability, speed and convenience. TCS provides time sensitive packages and business documents delivery services across Pakistan, UK and United Arab Emirates. A wide range of document, parcel and cargo services both domestic and international are offered.

Company History Ever since its inception in 1983, TCS Pakistan has continued to lead, the courier and logistics service industry in Pakistan through innovation, pioneering spirit, commitment and passion. Starting with just 25 shipments, the TCS Express saga now spans five continents. TCS with its international look now caters South Asia with over 2000 locations in Pakistan. TCS Pakistan has also largely helped redefine the very path and direction for the entire industry to follow. Vision Statement "TCS will be recognized and respected as professional, innovative, profitable information, and knowledge based logistics/services enterprise. TCS embeds internet based technologies into its internal operating structures and as business solutions for customers; with customer, employee and shareholder interests at the core of its operations; demonstrating a clear concern for ethical conduct and good corporate citizenship; with the objective of growing into a regional and global player, with emphasis on the Middle East, Europe and North America". Mission Statement "To direct all our organizational efforts at building upon the existing organizational strengths and brand recognition to achieve enhanced levels of profitable growth in the core business, and diversify into new areas that compliment and supplement the core business, with the diversification aimed at achieving excellence and industry leader status in the new areas. The TCS People will however be encouraged to be open to unconventional ideas and services and recognize new trends at very early stages".

Services TCS has a strong presence not only in Pakistan but also in the Middle East and North America. It was founded by Khalid Nawaz Awan. He is the Chairman and driving force behind the company. He was largely responsible establishing DHL Pakistan with his elder brother. Today TCS is not just a courier company but a complete Express Logistics service provider - TCS offers international delivery services - International Documents and Parcel Express Delivery - to over 2000 destinations across the world through its extended International Network. It is the only logistics company in Pakistan flying its own aircraft. It started out as a courier company in the 80's and has since evolved and diversified offering complete solutions.Planes they are using include Air Blue, PIA, Shaheen Air, TIC, RAC and many more.

TCS CORE VALUES:

Quality TCS people should direct every effort to deliver maximum value and satisfaction to our customers. Profitability through Efficiency Efficiency will be the hallmark of TCS people to optimize profitability and growth. Ethics Nothing unethical shall be practiced by TCS people in relation to our customers and the world at large.

Justice Justice to be the guiding principle of TCS people.

Exemplary Conduct Inspirational and motivational in everything that TCS people accomplish.

Organization Hierarchy

Management Team

Khalid Nawaz Awan

Chairman

Jamil Janjua
Group CEO

Saqib A. Hamdani
CEO

Ali Leghari
VP - Corporate & External Affairs

Ata-ur-Rehman
Head of Aviation

Imran Younus
VP - Finance

Jamil Ahmed
VP - Operations & BPR and Regional Director South

Rizwan Hafeez
VP - Business Development and Regional Director North

Salman Akram
VP - Sales & Marketing and Regional Director Central

Flow of information inside the organization

For this purpose they have communication resource of outlook and exchange servers in which there is a resource of Quick Com (Quick Communication) in which everyone in the network gives their feedback about day to day activities and development and let them know if there are any new improvements. And all this information goes to Head Office. Then Communication department of Head Office compiles all this information as given by the workers and gives an idea about what activities that have been done the previous day which are uploaded in their system and everyone can see that resulted information in their system.

Flow of information of the organization with the outside world

Communicating with the outside world is the most important thing for a company. It is important for any company to stay in touch otherwise it could result either in loss or total shut down of that particular company.We as all companies do do stay in touch with the outside world. By doing this we are able to know what people want, think and can get feedbacks about our services. For this purpose we do have drop box offices located at different locations all over Pakistan. We also people working for this and to let people know about or company we have different means as well, which include internet, broachers and advertisement on television.

Existing I.T infrastructure

6 Head of IT controls everything. He is available in Karachi Head Office. There he has layers of department under him, who have 3 leaders like for web applications, there is a separate team leader, operations development has another team leader, and for hardware requirement there are other team leaders who monitors and handles it. Apart from that they have hundred and fifty users and eight to ten locations that are linked through towers. Servers that are available to any other organization can be found here

S.W.O.T ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: A complete development tool is available. We dont face problems in order to make any development. Like if we go to some external source to develop something like software, it may take days, weeks or even months to give any result that wastes a lot of time and energy. In IT department even if today any problem occurs then probably the next day we get a solution.

THREATS: As our approach has risen to web base applications, we may dont have resources to adopt those things so promptly. There are many connectivity issues i.e. we need strong connectivity at a certain cost. For high connectivity we need connectivity like VSet so that by web applications, transactions can be carried out. We have so high level transactions that on daily basis millions of transactions take place. And if for web base applications we use centralized servers and bring the database to one place that will be very challengeable to manage. Due to high security there is no such threat of hacking. OPPORTUNITIES: TCS has its own unit named as INFOTHORN.

7 We have opportunities that we design websites for people. Make a set up through which in software development we can provide our softwares to the people.

To what extent the existing IT infrastructure is fulfilling the business needs of the organization

They replied quite confidently that they were happy with the existing infrastructure. When we asked the same question in terms of percentage they replied that 80%-90% of our business needs are fulfilled by the existing I.T infrastructure because the whole set up is running through IT system and nothing is being done manually. But still for new challenges and requirements we might have need to have an approach to web base etc.

Benefit due to the existing I.T infrastructure

One major benefit is the Shipment tracking Operating System. This provides 100% tracking of shipment through IT tools. This helps to let us know that at what stage has the courier reached i.e. either it is in route, transit, courier vehicle or an airplane etc.

IT tools employed by the organization

Every latest technology is entertained and applied by TCS. E.g. HSD is an advanced technology that is being used by them.It is a mini computer that the courier carries with it in the route for delivery and when the courier is delivered we get the data that is transferred through GPRS. It is provided to all their delivery automobiles. Everyone doesnt have it because this results in greater number of transactions. So they are provided to motor vehicles only.

Orientation to the existing IT tools

The company from which we acquire any item first of all trains and guides our IT Team and later on our IT Team visits throughout the Pakistan and guides and trains the people.

How friendly are the existing IT tools?

Yes they are friendly. This is because as we have been using their tools since years and after this long relation of work, automatically a social relation builds up.

Setting up the existing IT infrastructure

IT system is centralized. It is monitored by the Karachi Head Office. We just place our requirements and our material is purchased from there. And all its arrangement is done there. So we cannot quote any specific cost.

Department for the developers & quality assurance of IT tools

The organization has its own internal developers. Every development made in TCS e.g. web development, database development, application or any software development are all done by our own team i.e. in Karachi.We go for external in very rare cases, when we want to adopt some new thing; otherwise all the IT tools are internal. We have our own IT development team.

Comments of a couple of organization hierarchy members over the existing IT tools in use

When the setup is centralized and all the things are being monitored from one place and if the network is very vast then in this case we also have to face some delays and problems, as one unit is controlling all the outlets of Pakistan.I think that if we bring our setup from centralized base to regional base i.e. Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad then our efficiency will improve to great extent. Some of the people who dont even know about the basics of computer and networking and are totally illiterate of computer, forms an issue to deal with. We also had some employees who were totally unaware of computer and its basics. And such employees are trained by us, and that is not less than a challenge to enroll such employee in our setup and train him accordingly.

Decision making
Before making any decision database is always required to be check because in decision making past experience has to be checked. If you are taking any initiative or making any new development you always consider the back experience. So definitely through IT and database you have to collect your information first on the basis of which decisions are taken.

Data Base
All the movements of software operations are carried out by Oracle 9i.

Softwares
Oracle Developer 6i is used for database applications, transactions of all the operations i.e billing, tracking and tracing. For communication: Microsoft Outlook is used in front end. In the backend there are exchangers. Emails are sent through e-mail exchanger servers for communication and domain through domain communication takes place.

Internet Service
We have hired different ISPs for different locations. We have high usage of link.net. And major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are connected through link.net.

Marketing Procedure

10 The online marketing procedure is through website. i.e. www.tcs.com.pk .All the material is available on the websites i.e. our services, rates, locations etc.Moreover, our service of sentiments can also be checked directly through the internet from the website sentimentsexpress.com we have a team of sales and recovery in the market and if we want to gather any information, we easily collect it through them.

Procedure of Investment
There is a complete management group that includes CO, VPs, and Directors. All the setup is done by marketing and regional director operators.All the decisions regarding developments or any new investments are discussed in the boardroom. One of the panel finals it which in turn is further approved by CO and then investments are taken for new developments.We advertise through FM channels e.g. in sentiments occasions, TV channels especially news channels.In Geo it was seen that every material collected for Swat effectives were transferred through TCS services. TCS gave logistic support to them in transporting funds. For advertisements we prefer more to TV channels.

Companies Image
We think that in market we are the better ones. In Pakistans courier industry we are pioneer and are the leaders. Customers have developed trust on us. We are considered as the best courier company.

Competitors & Market Share

Yes we take them as our competitors now.Initially there were no courier companies other than TCS. Basically we introduced the concept of courier service in Pakistan. Afterwards DHL was launched. And it was actually introduced by TCS; it was a franchiser of TCS. Then TCS started domestic courier company. And as DHL is an international courier company and not domestic so there is no competition between our company and DHL because our job are on different routes. We dont consider other courier domestic companies like OCS, LCS, Leopard, TNT and other small companies as our rivals because they have not progressed so far and are not as much developed and organized as our company. They are far behind TCS in terms of experience and services. We have 80% Market share.

Patents & Trade secrets

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Not as such. When the developments are opened at the same time they are discussed in the open forum.

Records kept in I.T department

As the database is under IT department so all kinds of information is stored in IT department. We have main servers through which the information of customers, employers and employees, business, transactions, tracking and tracing methods and sms are stored and managed throughout the IT department.

Public Opinion
We provide drop box facility to customers. In Lahore there are 45 outlets of TCS and through drop box facility we get the information about the views and opinions of the customers.

Stored Data
I. One is in the head Office. II. And the second is in the local area base. There is a database server in the local area base. As it doesnt have high storage capacity so we cannot store the data of the whole year. So after every 2 months or maximum 65 days we store data in the servers of local area rows and then the rest we compile all the data information through a text file and transfer it to the main storage that is in Karachi within a month or more than that period.

Recovery Plan
At server level: We take backup on daily basis about 3 times a day that is stored through DVDs and through other systems. In case if any damage happens we immediately restore our backup on other machine and make our system up and into work within next 2-4 hours.

Records kept in Karachi

12 That depends on our requirement if we need the data for 2 years, 4, 8 or 10 years or any certain period of time. Perhaps data is definitely stored somewhere in different shape like in mass storage media etc from where it can be retrieved when needed.

Records of couriers
Yes, Each and every transaction is recorded in the computer. Either it is courier or of transaction movement or anything else. Keeping the record of transactions and couriers is also important because by keeping them in view, the salaries and incentives are given to the employers. The more the employer works the more incentive he gets. Incentives are given through this system because it is not possible to keep the record of every worker manually.

Operating System
Microsoft XP.

Reasons of using Xp
Our most of the work in the backend and database is XP supported so we have not shifted to Vista. And we are used to it now.

Anti Virus
MCAFEE When we bought it, it was the latest version of that time. It has a centralized control. It automatically updates the client when it is installed in the computer.

Why use MCAFEE

Actually this decision is carried out by the administrator of web communication and exchange servers in Karachi. They analyze that what is suitable for the organization i.e. which anti-virus to use and of which version etc. The whole system is implied through Karachi so these decisions are not taken locally. We have to adopt whatever is decided by the admin of Karachi.

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Slow information processing

We manage through communication by e-mails. But mostly it doesnt happen.

Website
Yes. It gives every information regarding our services, like TCS History Setup Tracking and Tracing System Different services like sentiments etc