UPU CASH CARD

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Standardization and the UPU Importance,
organization and working areas Akhilesh
Mathur Programme Manager, Standards and
Certification

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Presentation subjects

• Why Standardization?
• How is standardization organised within the UPU ?
• Which UPU Standards exist ?
• How to get access to Standards
• The UPU and other standardization organisations
• Are all Standards mandatory ?
• How does the UPU assist with the
  implementation/usage of Standards ?
• Important Technical Standards

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The Postal world is changing

• Deregulation
• Privatisation
• Competition
• Move from single operator to multi-operator
  environment
• Customers get an increased choice
• of postal service providers
• of services offered
• The number of players in the market is increasing
  rapidly

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Connecting organisations/systems

• Universal Business Adapters do not exist
• Standards can take care of this

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When Standards are not used..
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When Standards are not used..
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When Standards are not used..
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Standardisation, why?

• Improving the quality of postal services is the
  key driver for it all
• Mail Operations have to be
• More reliable
• Faster
• Verifiable
• Providing Track and Trace and other additional
  services
• Make use of the latest available technology
• NEED FOR STANDARDS

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Automation is a driving force

• Electronic exchange of information
• Between Posts
• With airlines
• For Customs clearance
• With Customers
• Enable faster and more reliable processing
• Connecting organizations by connecting
  technological solutions

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Scope of UPU activities

• Universal postal services as described in UPU
  Acts
• Harmonization of international postal services
• Includes the development of new products
• Inter-administration payment systems
• Technical assistance to developing countries
• Standardization of postal procedures/operations

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The UPU is an intergovernmental organisation

• The UPU does not interfere in matters that fall
  within the domestic domain of national postal
  services.
• For example, Posts set their own postage rates,
  decide which and how many postage stamps to
  issue, and how to manage their postal operations
  and staff

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The 2004 Bucharest Congress

• Modified the main structure of the Union
• COUNCIL OF ADMINISTRATION
• Regulatory matters
• POSTAL OPERATIONS COUNCIL
• Postal operational Matters
• NEW CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
• Stakeholder view on the postal industry
• Private sector participation

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The UPU is changing

• With the creation of the Consultative Committee,
  stakeholder participation for the UPU as a whole
  is a new and very encouraging development
• Ensures active participation of Customers,
  Suppliers, Industry players of the Postal
  industry
• New for the UPUbut not for the Standardization
  activities of the UPU
• UPU Standardization activities have always taken
  place in an open environment

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The UPU Standards Board

• Single coordination and approval authority within
  the UPU for all international postal standards
• Detailed process for Standards development and
  approval
• Publication and distribution of standards
• Meets 4 times per year
• Part of the Postal Operations Council
• 7 Permanent Working Groups, ensuring coherent
  development of standards in particular areas

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Working Groups

• Physical Encoding Group (PEG)
• Electronic Exchange Group (EXG)
• Data and Code definition Group (DCG)
• Code Allocation and Maintenance Group (CAM)
• IATA/UPU Group on EDI
• Customs Data Interchange Group (CDIG)
• Publications Editorial Board (PEB)
• Project groups for individual topics

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Standards Board Composition

• Posts
• Chair USA
• Members Australia, China (People's Rep.), Côte
  dIvoire (Rep.), Egypt, Finland, France, Germany,
  Great Britain, Iran (Islamic Rep.), Italy, Japan,
  Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan,
  Portugal, Sweden, Tanzania (United Rep.)
• Other participating organisations
• International Post Corporation (IPC)
• CEN

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Standards Board Composition

• Other organisations may participate (with
  observer status). Any organisation that
• has a strong international character
• has a relationship with the postal industry
• is a representative organisation for a particular
  industry and/or large geographic/economic area

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Standards development

• Any interested party (UPU member or not) can
  submit proposals
• Standards Board ensures coordination with
  relevant parties
• Typically, proposals are submitted by
• Standards Board permanent working groups
• Other bodies within the UPU
• International project teams working on a specific
  topic
• Industry interest groups

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Standards Approval Process

• Process that ensures
• Coordination of proposals for standards
• Formal process to come to the adoption of
  Standards
• Detailed process from initial idea to fully
  accepted UPU standard
• 4 stages, each stage to obtain a particular
  status
• Status P - Proposal for New Work Item
• Status 0 - Working Draft
• Status 1 - Draft Standard
• Status 2 - Approved UPU Standard
• (Status S - Superseded)
• (Status W - Withdrawn)

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Almost doubled the number of standards since the
1999 Beijing Congress

• From 59 Standards in 1999 to about 110 Standards
  today
• 67 Technical Standards
• 43 Messaging Standards
• All published standards are at various levels
  within the Approval Process

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Standards have to be really used

• Standards Approval Process requires practical
  usage of Standards
• Status 0 can only be obtained if a number of
  organizations commit to testing/using the
  Standard
• Status 1 can only be obtained if the Standard has
  been used, and test results show the
  effectiveness of the Standard.
• Impossible to get a standard published that is
  not actually used

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Standards Policy

• Facilitate, not regulate
• Use whenever possible existing international
  standards
• Support variety of regulatory frameworks
• Take into account move for openness within the
  UPU
• Continue to be enabling for any regulatory
  developments

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Standards development in an open environment

• The UPU is a standard-setting body for the postal
  industry, just as other bodies that are active in
  their fields
• IATA for the airline industry
• WCO for Customs organisations
• ITU for Telecommunications
• UPU follows an open Standards Development
  Strategy, like CEN, ANSI, ISO
• Standards have to be developed in an open
  environment, which allows active participation of
  all interested parties
• All the results, and all the intermediary
  information has to be publicly available

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Availability of documentation

• All documentation/proposals of the Standards
  Board and its working groups are publicly
  available
• http//www.upu.int/standards/en/index.shtml
• All final results are also available for any
  interested party The UPU Standards Publications

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Publication of Standards

• UPU Technical Standards
• UPU EDI Messaging Standards
• Comprehensive publications of all postal
  standards developed by or in cooperation with
  the UPU
• Available in paper and CD-ROM version
• Multi workstation licences as well as single
  Standards also available

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Which Standards ?

• A wide variety of Standards exist, and the number
  is steadily growing
• Now more than 110 Standards, covering different
  areas
• Mail (various products)
• Financial Services
• Electronic Services

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Mail Related Standards

• Identification/codification of postal items,
  collections of mail, mail processing facilities,
  etc.
• Bar coding applications (id tagging, franking
  marks, etc.)
• Interfaces between Mailers/Posts (EDI
  messages,Tracking Tracing capabilities, etc.)
• Addressing standards

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Examples EMS barcode labels
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Examples 2D Franking Marks and ID tags
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Examples Usage of envelope space
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Financial Services

• Standardised EDI message for the exchange of
  International Money Order information
• Standardised Identification system for Money
  orders
• Based on the ISO License plate standard
• Standardised Identification of Financial
  Institutions

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Electronic Services

• Electronic Postmark (EPM)
• Physical or electronic delivery of messages
• e-Commerce
• .post domain name

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Are UPU Standards Mandatory ?

• In principle No
• They are recommended practices
• Have to prove their usefulness, otherwise they
  will be ignored
• Rules are such that it is impossible to have a
  UPU Standard that is not used in practice
• In some cases Yes
• Vital for functioning of international postal
  operations
• Then reference included in UPU regulations
• Regulations are mandatory
• Detailed specifications still published as a
  standard

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Are Standards Mandatory ?

• Some are mandatory for the entire UPU membership
• S34 Identification/codification of International
  mail Processing Centres (Exchange Offices)
• EETLLA (TALLINN PI-2)
• Some are mandatory, if used at all
• S18 International ID tag

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Are Standards Mandatory ?

• Some will only work if adhered to
• All EDI messaging standards
• Some create loss of effectiveness if not adhered
  to
• Item identification standards

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Other standardisation organisations

• UPU cooperates with a variety of organisations
• International Air Transport Organisation IATA
• World Customs Organisation WCO
• International Organisation for Standardisation
  ISO
• International Telecommunication Union ITU
• European Committee for Standardisation CEN

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Cooperation with airlines

• Electronic preadvising of mail
• Electronic message from Airlines informing about
  the Status of shipments
• Scanning of standardized Postal receptacle labels

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Cooperation with Customs

• Customs
• Electronic Customs Declaration
• Electronic Customs Response message
• Goal Electronic Customs Clearance

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Other Cooperation

• ISO
• Country, Region and Currency codes
• License Plate Standard for the identification of
  transport Units
• ..
• United Nations
• UN/LOCODE
• 5 character unique id for locations
• Basis for the identification of Offices of
  Exchange
• 6-character Code
• Standard S34

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The UPU and CEN

• 2 groups, 2 backgrounds
• UPU Standards Board Specialised body within the
  UPU for Postal Standards
• CEN TC 331 Special Technical Committee for
  European Standards in postal services
• Overlap for particular standards under
  development
• RISK Conflicting standards
• OPPORTUNITY Use synergies between organisations
  to come to best possible standards

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Current situation

• CEN work is mostly driven by the EC
• UPU work is driven by individual initiatives
• Wide CEN/UPU cooperation for a considerable
  number of subjects
• Cooperation enshrined in a joint Memorandum of
  Understanding
• Together ensuring the best postal standards
• for Europe
• Worldwide
• For all parties involved in postal services

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Main topics covered in the MoU

• Establishment of a Contact Committee
• Enable agreement coordination and cooperation
  before either CEN or UPU creates standards within
  internal process
• Standardization procedures Process to allow
  joint final approval of standards
• Publication procedures Process to allow
  publication of standards

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Role of the Contact Committee

• Consult on (intended) new work items
• Establish interest of respective organisations
• Coordinate/agree
• Information exchange through liaison status
• Leadership development
• End products
• Project plan
• Timelines
• Ensure coordination and cross-fertilisation
• Genuine involvement of both organisations

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A fruitful cooperation

• Standardization within the UPU and CEN Different
  backgrounds, different financing
• CEN historically has a strong participation of
  private industry
• UPU historically has a world-wide coverage of
  postal operators
• UPU and CEN jointly ensure that the best
  standards are created for the postal industry

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The UPU assists with Standards

• The UPU provides assistance with the introduction
  of Standards
• Guidance by specialists for the various postal
  products
• Letter mail
• Parcel Post
• EMS
• Electronic Services
• Regional Advisors
• Network with postal experts world-wide regarding
  new technologies
• Specialised departments to provide
  applications/tools
• Postal Technology Centre (PTC)
• Logistics Department

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Applications/tools available

• Barcode labels
• World-wide Postal Network POSTNet
• Mail Management Software
• International Financial Services Software
• Development of new working areas for the Posts
  electronic services

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Mail Management Software packages IPS IPS Light

• The primary functions of the PTCs mail
  management software IPS and IPS Light are to
• Track and trace mail items (EMS, Letters and
  parcels)
• Automate their entire (outbound and inbound)
  administrative mail handling process with the
  support of EDI messages.
• Generate UPU documents and reports
• ? Today about 100 postal administrations have
  installed one of the PTC solutions for Mail
  management

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Mail Management Software packages IPS IPS Light

• IPS is designed to postal organizations with a
  large volume of mail. It possesses a number of
  advanced features including an accounting module
  and an Internet site allowing users to track
  their despatches
• IPS Light is the light version of IPS which is
  designed for Posts with low to medium mail
  volumes and a modest IT infrastructure. All that
  is required is a simple computer and an Internet
  connection

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International Financial software packages IFS
STEFI

• The IFS network is the financial money order
  transfer network of the UPU. It is composed by
  all the postal administrations using a PTC
  application for the exchange and management of
  electronic money orders with their business
  partners.
• The network is reliable, cheap, fast, available,
  accessible, and
• highly secure
• ? Today 30 postal administrations are using one
  of the PTC application to transfer money orders.

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International Financial software packages IFS
STEFI

• IFS is designed for postal organizations either
  completely lacking a money order management
  system or whose existing system is not adapted to
  processing international electronic money orders.
• STEFI (Secured Transfer of Electronic Financial
  Information) is designed for postal organisation
  already possessing a domestic electronic system
  but wishing to join the IFS network of the UPU.

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Electronic services

• Postal sector can play a key role in the
  Information Society
• New products/services based on new technologies
  usePosts extensive physical network
• Electronic Postmark (EPM)
• Physical or electronic delivery of messages
• e-Commerce
• .post domain name
• Developed and promoted within the Postal
  Technology Centre

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RFID Standards-1

• S20-3 Identification and marking using Radio
  Frequency Identification Technology Reference
  architecture and terminology
• S22-3 Identification and marking using Radio
  Frequency Identification Technology Reference
  architecture and terminology System requirements
  and test procedures

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RFID Standards-2

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Radio
  Data Capture (RDC) Systems-
• Air interfaces Communications and interfaces
• S23a-2 Definitions of parameters to be
  standardized
• S23b-1 Parameter values for 5.8 GHz RFID Systems
• S23c-1 Parameter values for 2.45 GHz Narrow Band
  RFID Systems
• S23g-1 Parameter values for 13.56 MHz Band RFID
  Systems

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S 42-5 International postal address components
and templates

• The standard is based upon a comprehensive list
  of name and address elements
• These elements define the smallest meaningful
  parts of names and addresses
• The set of elements has been sufficient to
  represent names and addresses in a number of
  non-European countries, including the US

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Status of S42-5

• UPU S42, was approved at
• Status 0 in November 2002
• Status 1 in February 2004
• Last version of the standard S42-5 was approved
  in February 2006. In response to CEN request, S42
  was divided, in this version, into a stable and
  non-country specific Part A and a Part B
  containing all country specific information as
  well as considerations regarding element mapping,
  template design, and rendition rules.

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S43-2 The Digital PostMark

• An Digital Post Mark (DPM) provides evidence of
• Who signed the document / transaction
• What was signed
• When it was signed
• Plus Storage and Archival of this evidence for as
  many years as required
• Standard S43-2 Digital PostMark (DPM) interface

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Standardization Status of the DPM

• S43 interface protocol was approved and given
  Status 0 by the UPU in January 2003
• The updated S43 protocol was approved for UPU
  Status 1 on Oct 20, 2003
• UPU DPM interface protocol jointly developed by
  10 postal administrations

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DPM is a Postal Service

• A regulated UPU Postal service Adopted by 2004
  UPU Congress as an official optional postal
  service

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DPM is a Postal Service

• Microsoft Office 2007 views DPM as key
  strategic elements to its Trustworthy Computing
  Campaign (by having Posts serve as trusted third
  parties worldwide). An S43 Office 2007 plug-in
  will be launched in 2007
• Adobe Wants to bundle UPU S43 with Acrobat and
  Acrobat Reader

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Future orientations

• Areas suitable for certification will be
  identified, and the relevant procedures and
  checklists enabling certification will be
  developed.
• Automation of operating and accounting
  procedures. This is a strategic project with
  long-term implications for the UPU.
• The International Bureau and the Standards Board
  will continue to press for the adoption of
  standards by members. Possible revisions to the
  Regulations to facilitate this objective are
  being examined.

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Conclusion

• Standards are crucial for the future of the Post
• The UPU is the worldwide standard-setting body
  for the postal sector
• The UPU cooperates closely with all important
  players in the postal industry
• Everybody is invited to actively participate

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• Thank you for your attention!
• Contact akhilesh.mathur_at_upu.int
• Tel [phone]

Questions or Comments