CEN/TR 14709:2003

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-julij-2006
Poštne storitve – Kakovost storitve – Vodilo za uvajanje EN 13850
Postal services - Quality of service - Guide for the implementation of EN 13850
Service postal - Qualité de service - Guide d'implémentation de l'EN 13850
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TR 14709:2003
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

TECHNICAL REPORT
CEN/TR 14709
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
September 2003
ICS 03.240
English version
Postal services - Quality of service - Guide for the
implementation of EN 13850
th
This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 13 September 2003. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC 331.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United
Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
Management Centre: rue de Stassart, 36  B-1050 Brussels
© 2003 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TR 14709:2003 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents
Foreword.3
Introduction .3
1 Scope .3
2 Purpose and use of postal quality of service standards.4
2.1 General.4
2.2 Benefits of the quality of service standards .4
2.3 Limitations of EN 13850 .4
2.4 Interpretation of results .4
2.5 Use of survey results for quality improvement. .5
3 Considerations before implementing the EN 13850 .5
3.1 Regulations .5
3.2 Measuring body (Contractors for survey operation).5
3.3 Real mail information.6
4 Implementing the standard.6
4.1 Steps to consider before implementation.6
4.2 Considerations in case of multiple operators .7
4.3 Extension to a wider EU.8
4.4 General guidelines for regulators.10
4.5 Adjustments to design requirements to take account of national peculiarities. .10
4.6 Reporting of results. .11
5 Information regarding the interpretation of specific clauses and formulae in the standard .12
Annex A  Implementation timetable.19
Foreword
This document (CEN/TR 14709:2003) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331, "Postal services",
the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following
countries are bound to announce this CEN Technical Report: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Introduction
This Technical Report is supplementary to EN 13850 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of transit
time of end-to-end services for single piece priority mail and first class mail.
It provides information to be considered when implementing the EN 13850. It has been developed to guide postal
operators and regulators as to the use, benefits and restrictions of EN 13850. The first part of this report contains
general information to guide regulators and operators in their decision on how and when to implement the
standard. The second part of the report contains detailed information on how to interpret specific clauses in
EN 13850 and should be read in parallel with the standard.
In addition to referencing this technical report, those seeking to implement the standard are advised to consult
requirements and guidance from the national regulators and legislation that apply in their jurisdictions.
EN 13850 provides a defined set of minimum requirements to satisfy the information interests of the national
regulatory authorities, postal customers and postal service providers for quality of service measurement, and to
allow postal service providers to comply with the requirements of the 1997 Postal Directive of the European
Commission.
1 Scope
This Technical Report is an implementation guide to EN 13850 for use by postal operators, regulators and those
responsible for commissioning, carrying out, or auditing the measurement of postal service quality. It gives
information, which will facilitate the implementation of EN 13850. It gives an overview of the processes required
and factors to consider when measuring quality of service. It provides guidance on alternative approaches allowed
in the Standard including how to select and calculate alternative or additional discriminant factors and methods for
weighting of strata. It describes a process for implementation of the measurement system, and provides examples
and clarification on specific requirements of EN 13850. It gives information on how to interpret the test results
obtained by measurement according to the standard.
This Technical Report does not alter in any way the requirements of EN 13850. It is concerned with technical
issues in the implementation of the measurement system. The Technical Report provides guidance but it does not
specify how the regulators shall enforce and monitor the use of the standard since this is the responsibility of the
European Commission and the national regulatory authorities themselves.
Parts of this Technical Report may also be considered for guidance when implementing the following quality of
service standards:
— prCEN/TS 14773 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of loss of non-registered mail
— EN 14508 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for
single piece non-priority and second class mail
— prEN 14534 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for
bulk mail
2 Purpose and use of postal quality of service standards
2.1 General
EN 13850 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of transit time of end-to-end services for single piece
priority mail and first class mail has been developed in order to provide a standardised method that can be used
throughout Europe for measuring the transit time of end-to-end mail services and to assist postal service providers
in complying with the requirements of the 1997 Postal Directive of the European Commission.
For the implementation of EN 13850 and to guide the user of this and other quality of service standards the
following facts and precautions may be considered.
EN 13850 contains a number of requirements which may be agreed with or should be approved by national postal
regulators.
EN 13850 specifies technical requirements for the measurement including the preparation of reports on the results
of measurement. However EN 13850 does not state how and when results should be shared with postal customers
and users, who will order measurement to take place, and who will pay for the measurement; these subjects are
outside the standard and will be determined by legal and regulatory requirements.
2.2 Benefits of the quality of service standards
The standardised quality of service measuring methods provide a uniform way for measuring the end-to-end transit
time of postal items. Postal regulators can refer to the standard when requiring information about quality of service
for postal operators. For any minimum service levels required by the European Commission or by national
Directives for operators in the universal service, requirements can be made that the service be measured according
to EN 13850.
Standardised measurement methods may help to keep the cost of measuring down. They could also make it easier
to find contractors familiar with the methods and to evaluate the work of contractors for measuring and auditing.
The standardised measuring methods may also eliminate debates and uncertainties about results from varying
measuring methods.
Using standardised measuring methods will assure that the measurement will be done in an objective and equal
way for all operators in accordance with the requirements of the 1997 Postal Directive of the European
Commission.
The use of standards will ensure that reliable and correct information can be collected which can be presented to
regulators and the public in an understandable way. It also allows the regulator to collect this information.
2.3 Limitations of EN 13850
The standard considers only the measurement of transit time (expressed as the percentage of mail delivered within
J + n days end-to-end) and does not consider other aspects of service performance. For example, the date of
deposit is defined by the last collection of the day but the standard does not measure whether the timing of the last
collection of the day meets customers’ requirement, nor how the times compare for different service providers.
Similarly the standard considers the date of delivery but does not take into account the time of day when the item
was delivered, whether or not there are more than one delivery each day, the condition of items when delivered or
the queuing time at post offices etc.
Although the standard specifies a method that will be used by many postal operators, it shall be noted that the
overall transit time quality of service result does not measure the postal operator’s overall performance in a way
that provides direct comparison of postal service operators.
2.4 Interpretation of results
Results from the quality of service measuring cannot always be used for direct comparison of the overall quality of
service.
Direct comparison of two operators can be difficult to make. Frequently one is interested in comparing two
operators covering the same geographical area, i.e. the quality that a customer receives when using one or other of
the operators for collecting and distributing mail within an area. To do this, it is necessary to compare the transit
time of the operators over similar studies of domains. The two overall figures of the operators’ on-time performance
may be misleading.
When interpreting the results from the measurement it is important also to consider the stratification and national
and other peculiarities that apply in each specific case.
2.5 Use of survey results for quality improvement.
The standard sets out minimum requirements in order to produce one overall figure. It is recognised that operators
or other bodies may wish to go beyond these minimum requirements in order to produce information to identify and
correct specific areas of poor performance. The survey design can be expanded to collect this information.
EN 13850 provides minimum requirements and allows measurement systems to be enhanced. It should be noted
that other methods are available to find problematic areas and that the standard may not be the only method to use
for this purpose.
EN 13850 allows the use of test items containing electronic chips or other advanced technology so that each test
item can be monitored at pre-defined points or throughout its whole journey to allow for more detailed diagnostic
analysis of the transit time. If these are used, the organisation operating the measuring system shall take steps to
ensure that the diagnostic system does not introduce biases in the end-to-end measurement system.
3 Considerations before implementing the EN 13850
3.1 Regulations
The standard itself is not meant to specify how the regulators shall enforce and monitor the use of the standard.
This is to be done through the European and national regulatory work. In particular it does not specify how results
shall be published by the regulator.
3.2 Measuring body (Contractors for survey operation)
EN 13850 states that measurement shall be carried out by an independent performance-monitoring organisation.
This is defined as a body charged with the monitoring of the quality of service which is “external to, and having no
links of ownership or control with the postal service provider thus monitored”.
The independent performance-monitoring organisation is responsible for undertaking the survey. Usually this
performance-monitoring organisation will act as a contractor for a sponsoring organisation which may be, for
example, the postal service provider itself or a national regulatory authority.
The independent performance monitoring organisation provides a guarantee that results of the measurement have
not been wrongly influenced by the postal service provider. Factors normally taken into account in choosing a
performance monitoring organisation include the capability, experience and reputation of the organisation as well
as any legal or regulatory requirements and, of course, cost. To cover all these points it is common to go through a
formal tender process. Organisations which may have undertaken quality of service measurement include e.g.
research institutes, consultancies, market research companies, universities and government organisations.
The performance monitoring organisation is required to ensure that the panel of senders and receivers is
independent of postal operators and to manage the panel according to the International Chamber of
Commerce/ESOMAR International Code of Marketing and Social Research Practice. This is intended to ensure
that the postal operator cannot influence either the behaviour or reporting of the panellists, or the quality of service
provided specifically to them. These codes of practice also require among other things that the identity of the
panellists is not revealed to anyone outside the monitoring organisation, except with the prior permission of those
panellists (see the comments on 5.1 in Clause 5 of these guidelines).
3.3 Real mail information
The purpose of real mail studies is to collect information on the flows and other characteristics of mail. They may
use management systems or surveys specifically designed for the purpose.
It may not be necessary to wait for all real mail information before starting to use the standard as weighting can be
applied after the event
5.3 of EN 13850:2002 “Real mail studies” lays down that the frequency of real mail studies shall be determined in
accordance with the national regulatory authority and shall be performed at a minimum once every third year. The
reason why real mail studies shall be repeated at intervals is that type of senders, type of mail, distribution
channels, volumes of posted mail and other factors may have changed over time.
The review of the real mail studies aims at reflecting changes in the postal environment. Reasons to review and
perform new real mail studies may be the following events:
a) General
- substantial increase/decrease of the economy in general
- substantial increase/decrease of the number of (a specific type of) postal items
b) Operational
- introduction of new postal products with considerable market share
- introduction of new logistics that affect the acceptance/distribution of mail or the weight/number of strata
- change of tariff structure
c) Legislative
- decrease of the reserved area
- increase/decrease of the universal service area
d) Others
- increasing/decreasing market share of other postal operators with branch or regional oriented customers
and/or specialised services
- substantial changes in distribution between rural and urban populations (e.g. drift to the city)
This list is only exemplary. There might be many more reasons based on national peculiarities and/or general
effects that may prove the need for the performance of additional real mail studies.
Real mail studies can be expensive which is why EN 13850 allows up to 3 years between studies. Nevertheless
there may be situations where real mail studies should be made more often, such as rapidly changing events in the
areas a) to d) above. It is also necessary to consider the effect on the measured quality of any changes in the real
mail parameters. If a factor is not very discriminant in practice then big changes in the real mail parameter may
have little effect and three years would be sufficiently frequent. However, if a factor is very discriminant then small
changes in the real mail parameter could have such a big effect on quality of service that more frequent real mail
studies are needed.
4 Implementing the standard
4.1 Steps to consider before implementation
In principle the following steps are required in order to implement quality of service measurement in accordance
with the Standard. Indicative time periods are shown for each stage. GANTT charts showing the different stages
are contained in Annex A.
a) Study the Standard and this implementation guide and produce an outline specification for the survey. This
specification should identify, in particular, the geographical stratification that will be used and the discriminant
parameters that will need to be considered. (up to 6 months)
b) Organise real mail studies to collect the information required for the survey. The real mail study shall cover
different days of the week and periods of the year. (between 6 and 12 months)
c) It is possible to proceed with call for tender processes, the selection of an independent survey operator, and
begin contract negotiations before the final results of the real mail studies are known (preliminary estimates can
be used instead). (up to12 months, at the same time as b. is performed)
d) Once full results of the real mail studies are available the design of the survey can be finalised and contractual
negotiations with the survey operator completed. (up to 4 months)
e) A period will be necessary for set up and testing of the survey. (up to 9 months)
The timetable for activities a. through e. should be planned so as to have them completed at the end of a calendar
year.
f) Full survey operation will start at the beginning of a calendar year and is required to last for 12 months in order
to meet the requirements of the standard. (12 months)
g) Reports shall be available within 3 months of the end of measurement period. (up to 3 months)
Many universal service providers already have some system in place for measuring end-to-end quality of service.
If there is no existing real mail study in place but a system to measure quality of service already exists, it may be
possible to speed up the collection of information on real mail by using existing management information available
to the postal service provider. In other words the real mail studies would run in parallel with the quality of service
survey, and the results of the quality of service survey would be adjusted retrospectively using weighting at the end
of the first year of operation. It could then take 16 to 24 months to the start of the measurement period and a further
15 months before results for the calendar year are available (see Table A.1).
In a number of cases faster implementation may be possible:
— If a system to measure quality of service already exists with a design already based on real mail studies and
concepts, with minor modifications required, it should be possible to make the modifications required for
compliance with the standard with little delay. (6 to 12 months to start of measurement period, see Table A.2)
— If a system to measure quality of service already exists with a design already based on real mail studies and
concepts, but major modifications are required before the survey is compliant with the standard, there may be
significant contractual issues with the survey operator. Time will have to be allowed for this, more time being
required for a bigger survey. (12 to 18 months to start of measurement period, (see Table A.3)
In the worst case where there is neither a system to measure quality of service nor an existing real mail study in
place it could take up to about 30 months to the start of the measurement period and a further 15 months before
results for the calendar year are available. (see Table A.4).
4.2 Considerations in case of multiple operators
EN 13850 can be used both by universal service providers and by other postal service providers operating in a
liberated market.
4.2.1 Field of study
The first step in designing the measurement system is to decide on the field of study. EN 13850 provides for a
number of alternatives.
— For domestic services, the field of study defines the parts of the country in which items will be posted and the
parts of the country where they will be delivered. Thus if a postal service provider only offers a service in certain
parts of the country, the field of study may be restricted to those parts of the country. On the other hand it is
important to make sure that all parts of the country served by the service provider are covered in the field of
study, including those parts served through collection or delivery agents.
— For cross border services, the posting or the delivery field of study may, for example, be defined as the whole of
a single country or as a group of countries. It may be useful to measure the overall service to/from a group of
countries in order to reduce the work in the case of an operator forwarding or receiving small amounts of mail
to/from several countries.
— For both domestic and cross-border services the standard may also be used to measure the service provided by
a group of operators.
4.2.2 How and when to use EN 13850 or other quality of service standards
For technical reasons EN 13850 may not in all parts be suitable for the measurement of very small volumes of mail
and for operators with limited coverage. For these reasons the following technical points should be considered by
service providers operating in a liberated market:
— The geographical stratification and discriminant factors should be examined to ensure that they are appropriate.
For example, addressing characteristics may be highly discriminant if the operation is highly automated.
EN 13850 allows discriminant characteristics to be changed if necessary.
— The types and numbers of customers who can take part in the survey should be examined. If an operator is only
offering service to limited numbers of customers, it may be difficult to recruit sufficient panellists, particularly
since the survey requires co-operation from customers.
— The types of induction should be examined. For example, if preferential treatment is offered to certain classes of
customers, then the class of customer becomes an important discriminant characteristic
— It is important to consider how dates of induction and delivery can be recorded accurately and without bias. For
example, if receivers receive high volumes of real mail each day there may be problems in intercepting test
items. Alternatively if the volume of real mail per poster or receiver is very low, it may become noticeable to the
postal operator that a panellist in the survey is sending or receiving test letters with a consequent risk of bias to
the survey results.
— Information on real mail will be required for geographical stratification and the discriminant characteristics.
— Operators offering delivery by a specific time should note that the time of day of delivery is not measured in the
Standard
— If an operator is accepting mail only under special conditions of posting, it may be more appropriate to use the
Standard for bulk mail.
— If an operator is using an end-to-end track and trace system it may be more appropriate to obtain quality of
service information from the track and trace system. (CEN/TC 331 intends to develop a standard for
measurement of (parcels) quality of service using a track and trace system.)
— For cross-border mail, real mail information is required for both the posting and delivery countries. In many
cases the operators in the two countries will collect and share information on real mail flows in their own
countries. If shared information is unavailable the operator commissioning the survey will have to collect
information about the flows in both countries.
The results from the quality of service measurement will provide as a minimum a single overall figure for each
operator. When interpreting the quality offered by different operators (see 2.4) it should be borne in mind that there
may be several factors affecting the comparison. For example, one operator may be providing a service for local
mail posted and delivered within a city whilst another operator offers a national service. Similarly two operators may
both offer a national service but in practice have different patterns of real mail.
For closer comparisons between operators, it may be necessary to compare their performance in similar
circumstances. EN 13850 allows this to be done by calculating transit times for particular study domains which form
subsets of the field of study. The geographical stratification, e.g. local mail, long distance mail, or rural mail, and the
methods of induction and delivery may be useful as study domains.
(The need for new standards or changes to existing standards to deal with liberalised markets will be further
studied by CEN/TC 331.)
4.3 Extension to a wider EU
By 2004 the European Union will be enlarged by the accession of a number of additional European countries, and
preparing the additional countries for using the standard is a highly important subject. The new mandate M/312
given by the European Commission to CEN mandate provides therefore for a dedicated Work Item to work on
these issues.
The need, based on requirements of the European Commission, for application of this standard in the short run is
given for EU member countries only. As shown in 4.1 of this paper the steps to be considered before the standard
can be implemented may require a substantial period of time.
In terms of the domestic measurement system every single member state will have to undertake these steps on its
own. To ensure that new EU member countries are able to comply with the standard when joining the European
Union it is therefore highly recommended that pre-accession countries should start to undertake the necessary
steps (4.1 a-e) as soon as possible. As far as cross-border flows are concerned this will need to be done by
present EU members as well as pre-accession countries.
EN 13850 includes flexibility areas for adapted implementation; however, these flexibility areas may not be
sufficient and some important questions need to be addressed and answered about, for example, the cost of the
monitoring system for small cross-border flows or for small operators.
The following questions in particular need to be studied:
— Should the new countries have the same timetable for implementation?
— Which are precisely the flexibility areas in the current standard available to new countries that could solve some
of the issues?
— Which other issues require further investigations in order that they are addressed within the new Work Item
mandate?
The topic of new countries and the application of the standard differs whether we consider the domestic or the
cross-border element.
4.3.1 Domestic
In principle and a priori each Pre-Accession country has a domestic market and postal volumes which are large
enough to apply the current standard without modification. There might be a need to consider some transitional
period to reach the full application, principally in the area of the real mail studies.
4.3.2 Cross-border
The enlargement of the EU by 10 new countries will considerably expand the size and cost of the required
measurement system. The current standard requires a specific statistical accuracy to be achieved on every
country-to-country link. With 15 members, this means the monitoring of 210 links. With 25 members, it would mean
the monitoring of 600 links. In addition, priority mail volumes on a large number of these additional links are very
limited.
The statistical design and in particular the geographical coverage have therefore to be reconsidered within the new
Work Item. The concept in general could be that the level of accuracy and representativity of the measurement
system should be proportional to the size of the actual mail volume.
One practical area for solutions to limit the size of the cross border study and for cost effectiveness is the concept
of grouping countries by geographical regions. For example instead of requiring a specific annual accuracy
between Portugal and Latvia, it could be as appropriate to require a specific accuracy between the Iberian
countries as a group and the Baltic countries as another group. Similarly, lower accuracy requirements could be
required for the smallest actual mail flows links. Many design scenarios, including simplification of some mail
characteristic requirements for small flows can be considered and should be studied by the new Work Item.
EN 13850 already allows for a field of study to contain a group of countries. If the field of study covers a group of
countries, the country of posting and/or delivery may need to be included in the geographical stratification.
It should be specified that the redesign of the cross-border study for the enlarged EU should not be limited to the
new links with the joining pre-accession countries, but should apply on a similar basis within the current EU.
As far as the timetable for the cross-border study is concerned, the implementation process can only start when the
Work Item group has concluded its work and CEN/TC 331 has formally proceeded with the modification of the
standard. This will probably be several years from the publication of the current standard.
Pre-accession countries will not be able to begin their preparations until a common specification has been agreed.
4.4 General guidelines for regulators
In the standard in a number of places there is room for some modifications expressed by the wording “by
agreement with / in accordance with / if required by the national regulatory authority” (NRA). These points are
summarised below:
— In the case of “force majeure” events such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks the period affected may be
removed from the reporting period. (see 4.2.2)
— For domestic mail, the transit times may be calculated according to the weekend collection and delivery pattern
provided, in accordance with one of the calculation rules of Annex B.2. (see 4.2.3)
— Published regional holidays may be subtracted in the calculation of transit time. (see 4.2.3)
— The frequency of the real mail studies shall be determined in accordance with the NRA. (see 5.3)
— The minimum geographical stratification specified in the standard may be replaced by other geographical
parameters if it is demonstrated by auditable proof, that these are more discriminant. (see 5.4.1)
— The definitions of outskirts, urban, rural, local and distances may take national peculiarities into account. (see
5.4.2)
— The distribution of the panel shall be done according to random sampling. There shall be at a minimum 30
postal areas evenly spread over the whole field of study and the postal areas shall be defined by agreement
with the national regulatory authority. (see 5.5)
— For the domestic measurement systems, the list of all discriminant mail characteristics from one operator may
be revised based on the results of empirical studies on the subject. (see 6.1)
— PO boxes may be excluded from the measurement system by agreement with the national regulatory authority.
(see 6.2)
Additional reasons, backgrounds and appropriate solutions for each point are described in section 5 below.
4.5 Adjustments to design requirements to take account of national peculiarities.
EN 13850 sets out, in 5.4, minimum requirements for the geographical factors to be taken into account in the
survey design. These factors were determined after studying the results of a number of domestic and cross-border
quality of service surveys. The factors are:
— The distance travelled by a letter: local, short distance, or long distance.
— Whether the letter was posted in an urban or rural area.
— Whether the letter was delivered in an urban or rural area.
EN 13850 recognises that there may be national peculiarities for which the definitions of the geographical
parameters may not be fully appropriate, In particular the definitions of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’, ‘local’ and ‘distance’ may
need to be changed in order to reflect national conditions. If that is the case, they can be changed by agreement
with the national regulatory authority.
The geographical stratification specified in 5.4 is a minimum requirement. This stratification may be expanded to
include other geographical factors provided that the minimum requirements are still met. For example, the part of
the country where an item was posted or delivered could be taken into account, or a larger number of ‘distance’
categories could be used.
EN 13850 sets out, in clause 6, the discriminant factors which should be taken into account in the survey design:
day of week and time of day of induction, methods of delivery, type of induction, formats, weight breaks, addressing
methods and types of payment. These factors have been included because they have been found frequently to be
discriminant. The factors which are discriminant depend in practice on the detailed operation of the postal system,
and it is possible that factors which are important for one service provider may not be important for another. For
domestic measurement systems, the list of discriminant factors may therefore be revised based on the results of
empirical studies on the subject.
When considering whether additional geographical factors or mail characteristics should be included in the survey
design, the following should be taken into account.
— Are the new factors discriminant? To what extent do the factors affect the quality of the service provided?
— Can the factors be defined and applied consistently? Is there a nationally established definition which can be
used?
— Can relevant information be provided? For example, is information on real mail characteristics available, can
factors such as ‘distance’ and ‘urban’ be determined easily for an individual letter or panellist, and is a suitable
sampling frame available if needed?
— Are the factors easy to understand? For example, technical terms like ‘machine readable’ may not be
understood.
— How will the cost of the survey be affected?
4.6 Reporting of results.
Minimum requirements for the reporting of results are set out in clause 7 of EN 13850:2002. This states that reports
should be provided “at least once a year, based on the calendar year” and issued within 3 months of the end of the
test period.
Clause 7 gives detailed requirements for the information to be included in the report.
— Results are presented in terms of on-time performance and cumulative percentage of mail delivered within n
days for n = 1 to 10. On-time performance is measured against the service standard, i.e. the number of working
days within which items should be delivered. This service standard may be set by regulatory authorities or by
the service provider. (The European Commission has proposed service standards of 1 day and 3 days for
domestic and cross-border priority mail respectively.)
— For domestic mail EN 13850 allows a number of different methods of calculating the transit time, depending on
the service offered at weekends and on whether delivery takes part on 5 or 6 days of the week. For cross-
border mail only one calculation method is allowed for the purpose of the standard.
— The report should describe the mail types and categories measured in the survey.
— The total sample size and the accuracy of the results should be given in the report. EN 13850 states minimum
requirements for the accuracy of domestic and cross-border on-time performance.
— The period of the measurement should be stated.
— The report should also describe any failures to meet the requirements of EN 13850, and give the identity of the
independent performance monitoring organisation and the audit.
To assist in the interpretation of results, the following points should be noted.
— Results need to be compared against the same service standard. If the results have been reported using
different service standards, the cumulative distribution of mail delivered within n days can be used to obtain
consistent results.
— The calculation method used will affect the on-time performance. It should also be noted that the standard is
only concerned with the measurement of transit time. It does not consider other aspects of service which are
relevant to customers and users, such as the time of collection and delivery or the days on which deliveries are
made.
— The minimum requirement of the standard provides for one figure. Additional information may be provided for
different study domains. The most useful factors to be considered as study domains are the geographical and
the discriminant mail characteristics stated in the standard.
— Some operators may not cover all discriminant factors. This should be clear from the types and categories of
mail covered in the report.
— If results are presented for study domains, information should also be given on the accuracy of those results.
— The period of measurement should include a description of any exclusions due to force majeure.
— The minimum requirement in the standard is to provide figures for the calendar year. Results may also (but do
not have to) be reported for other periods of the year and information should be given on the accuracy of those
results.
5 Information regarding the interpretation of specific clauses and formulae in the
standard
This section provides guidance on the interpretation of specific clauses of EN 13850. It should be studied in parallel
with the standard.
No. Item concerned and Comment
4.2.1 “The transit time of a postal item shall be measured in units of days and expressed as (J + n) days. (J) is
the date of deposit provided posting takes place before the published last collection time at the point of
induction of the mail.”
Comment Date of Deposit:
The date of deposit (J) is the date on which a postal item is posted, providing posting takes place before
the last collection time of that day. Therefore, provision has to be made for items posted after the last
collection. Confirmation of posting time relative to the advertised or contracted latest time of posting is a
usual requirement.
‘Last collection’ refers to the advertised last time for collection (not the actual time) or to the contracted
latest time for collection. Additionally, if a postal item is posted after the last collection then J should be
adjusted to the next working day for that type of mail.
In practical terms, panellists may sometimes need to post on a calendar day ahead of the date of deposit
to meet a specific requirement. For example, in some rural areas there may be an early last collection
time, particularly at weekends. In these circumstances, panellists may be permitted, for example, to post
a planned Sunday deposit test item on Saturday evening provided it is posted after the last Saturday
collection and before the Sunday collection; the test item will be counted as having a Sunday date of
deposit.
Restricted collections, e.g. later collection times for delivery within a local area, may be taken into account
provided they have been advertised to customers.
Comment Date of Delivery:
There are three key points here:
a) It is necessary for the organisation conducting the monitoring to ensure that panellists can identify the
delivery of the item to the address, not the receipt of the item to a named individual. This is particularly
important in the case of businesses in order to avoid the so-called ‘mailroom effect’, but could also
apply in the case of residential premises with a central delivery point from which residents shall collect
their mail. (It may require that time-locked premises are avoided, for example.)
b) As a special case of this, if PO Boxes are to be included in the sample, panellists will need to be able
to confirm that they collect the mail daily after the published up-time. (This is the published time by
which the postal administration commits to ensuring that the day’s post is available in the PO Box for
collection.) If there is no published up-time, this may make the accurate measurement of the day of
delivery difficult. For example, a panellist collects the mail at 10 am, which is almost always available
by then, but the postal administration aims to have had post available by 10.30, without publishing an
uptime. On this day the mail is put in the box at 10.10, after the panellist has left. Is this a failure? The
panellist would report it as delivered the following day, when he collects the next day’s post. Rules will
need to be determined, in such cases, as to whether PO Boxes should be excluded entirely, or as to
the time at which the panellist or the postal administration should be given the benefit of the doubt.
(see also 6.2)
c) If there are items included in the survey which are not letter box friendly, and require to be collected, or
for some reason cannot be delivered without the
...