CEN/TR 15472:2006

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-januar-2007
3RãWQHVWRULWYH0HUMHQMHþDVDSUHQRVDSDNHWRY]XSRUDERVLVWHPDVOHGHQMDWUDFN
DQGWUDFH
Postal services - Measurement of transit times for parcels by the use of a track and trace
system
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Laufzeitmessung für Päckchen mit Hilfe eines "track and
trace"- Systems
Services postaux- Mesure des temps de transit des colis postaux a l'aide d'un systeme
de traçabilité
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TR 15472:2006
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 15472
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
October 2006
ICS 03.240
English Version
Postal services - Measurement of transit times for parcels by the
use of a track and trace system
Services postaux - Mesure des temps de transit des colis Postalische Dienstleistungen - Laufzeitmessung für
par l'utilisation d'un système de traçabilité Päckchen mit Hilfe eines track and trace- Systems
This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 24 June 2006. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC 331.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, 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
© 2006 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TR 15472:2006: E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
Foreword.3
Introduction .4
1 Scope .5
2 Normative references .6
3 Terms and definitions .6
4 Transit time as a quality of service indicator.8
5 Methodology.14
6 Reporting .16
7 Quality control.18
Annex A (normative) Calculation rule.20
Annex B (normative) Consistency checks.25
Annex C (informative) Estimating the transit time .26
Bibliography .28

Foreword
This document (CEN/TR 15472:2006) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 “Postal
Services”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. CEN [and/or CENELEC] shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission and the
European Free Trade Association.
Introduction
In the Green paper on postal services in 1992 the European Commission emphasised the need to establish
common rules for the development of community postal services and the improvement of quality of service.
The Commission identified requirements for quality of service measurement that included the reliability of
services and treatment of problems of loss, theft and damage.
CEN was asked to draw up standards related to the methodology for the measurement of quality of service of
mail at reasonable cost for some mail types.
The objective of the measurement is to estimate the transit time quality of service given to the customer in
each European country domestically and cross-border between the European countries.
This Technical Report refers to a number of principles and minimum requirements to be applied for the
measurement of transit time of domestic and cross-border parcels using a track and trace system.
A number of standards are available for the measurement of transit time for postal services without the use of
a track and trace system. EN 13850 is for use with priority single piece mail, EN 14508 with single-piece non-
priority mail, and EN 14534 with bulk mail.
EN 14137 may be used to measure loss of parcels using a track and trace system.
1 Scope
This Technical Report specifies methods for measuring the transit time results of domestic and cross-border
parcels, collected, processed and delivered by postal service providers. Transit time is the time elapsed
between initial and final scan of the item. The initial scan may occur at varying points within the pipeline (e.g.
point of posting, entry into the first sorting centre). Similarly the final scan may occur at e.g. exit from the last
sorting centre, final delivery.
Therefore there are two different categories of transit time:
1. End-to-End
A true end-to-end transit time measure may only be possible for some items recorded in the track and trace
system. End-to-end is defined as from the point parcels are placed into the collection/acceptance system
under the responsibility of the postal operators, to the final delivery point under the responsibility of the postal
operators. In many instances postal operators do not extend track and trace to the final delivery point.
These items may not cover the total parcel flow. Generally the results of this subset cannot be taken as
representative of the total flow, but this subset may represent a particular sector, e.g. single parcels sent over
a post-office counter to single receivers. The transit time results of purely this subset are of public concern.
2. Non End-to-End
If initial and/or final scans occur in the sorting centres for at least some parcels, it is possible to calculate the
transit time between sorting centres, e.g. first-sorting-centre-to-last-sorting-centre. This can be done to
calculate transit time results for all parcels in the total flow - this may be reasonable for internal purposes. The
objective of the measurement to estimate the transit time quality of service given to the customer can only be
achieved, if the time elapsed between posting and first scan and between delivery and last scan respectively
can be estimated (eventually by the customer).
The overall transit time quality of service result is to be expressed as the percentage of parcels delivered
within J + n days.
This quality of service indicator does not measure the postal operator’s overall performance in a way that
provides direct comparison of postal service operators, and does not include other service performance
indicators than those related to transit time.
This Technical Report is applicable to those service providers which have a measurement system in place
which
— records an initial scan for each item,
— records a final scan for each item and
— can, by comparing these records, calculate the transit time between initial and final scan.
Therefore for some items the transit time will be from e.g. entry into the first sorting centre to final delivery,
whereas for other items the transit time will be from e.g. point of posting to exit from the last sorting centre.
If a global transit time result is required then all items included in the calculation needs to have been scanned
at the two location points (e.g. entry into first sorting centre, exit from last sorting centre) within the pipeline.
This Technical Report may be used if appropriate to measure the transit time of other types of postal items for
which such a measurement system is in operation.
This Technical Report specifies requirements for the design and operation of the measurement system and for
other procedures to allow the transit time to be calculated.
This Technical Report does not specify the technical requirements of a track and trace system, except for
purposes of measurement.
This Technical Report includes specifications for the quality control of the measurement system and for the
reporting of transit time of parcels.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 14137, Postal services — Quality of service — Measurement of loss of registered mail and other types of
postal service using a track and trace system
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
characteristic
property which helps to identify or differentiate between items of a given population
3.2
country
territory of a nation with its own government
3.3
cross-border parcels
parcels distributed from one country to another country
3.4
date of delivery
date on which a postal item is delivered to the address or to the addressee
3.5
date of deposit (J)
day on which a postal item is posted, provided posting takes place before the last collection of that day
NOTE 1 The term date of deposit is used in relation to quality of service measurement. The definition is based on the
postal Directive 97/67/EC.
NOTE 2 Last collection refers to the advertised last time for collection (not the actual time).
3.6
delivery point
physical location at which delivery of postal items by a postal operator takes place and where they leave the
operator’s responsibility
3.7
discriminant (characteristic)
characteristic affecting the outcome
3.8
domestic parcels
parcels sent and received within one country
3.9
end-to-end (transit time)
from the point parcels are placed into the collection/acceptance system under the responsibility of the
collecting postal operators to the final delivery point under the responsibility of the delivering postal operators
3.10
field of study
total parcel flow or defined section of the total parcel flow between defined postal areas
NOTE 1 For example field of study could be defined as:
- Domestic – one operator in one country;
- Domestic – one operator in one part of a country;
- Domestic – a group of operators in one country;
- Cross-border – one operator to one country;
- Cross-border – one operator to a group of countries;
- Cross-border – one country to one country;
- Cross-border – one country to a group of countries.
NOTE 2 For example defined section of the total parcel flow could be defined as:
- Parcels sent over post-office counter;
- Parcels sent by one single customer;
- First sorting centre to end.
3.11
item arriving late
postal item delivered to the recipient in a time longer than the service provider’s promised service standard but
within a specified period of time
3.12
location id
identification (reference) number of the location of a scan, recorded in the track and trace system
3.13
national and regional holiday
day with limited postal collection or delivery activities

3.14
office of exchange
place where a postal operator accepts cross-border parcels from a postal operator of another country
3.15
on-time performance
proportion of items with transit times meeting the specification (EN 13850)
3.16
parcel
package containing merchandise with or without commercial value
characteristics: - general terms and conditions specified by postal operator;
- individualized item with identification of the sender and addressee
3.17
performance indicator
expression derived from postal transit time statistics and data used to characterise the performance of a
postal operator
3.18
service standard
standard that specifies requirements to be fulfilled by a service to establish its fitness for purpose (EN 45020)
NOTE 1 In this Technical Report, the service standard is the number of working days within which time an item should
normally be delivered.
NOTE 2 The service standard is sometimes expressed in the form J + n, where n is the number of working days. For
example, a service standard of J + 1 means that an item should normally be delivered on the next working day after
posting.
3.19
sorting centre
place where the main sorting of parcels is done
3.20
study domain
subpopulations for which separate results can be appropriate
NOTE Study domains could be defined for example by geographic segmentation or by product.
3.21
time of delivery
time of day when a postal item is delivered at its delivery point
3.22
track and trace system
system which enables the progress (travelled distance) of an item to be monitored and its location to be
established at any time
3.23
transit time
number of days elapsed between initial scan and final scan of a parcel as calculated in 4.2.1
4 Transit time as a quality of service indicator
4.1 General
A monitoring system should be in operation to record an initial scan for each item and a final scan on an
electronic system. It should be possible to compare the initial and final scan information for each item in order
to calculate the transit time for the item. The monitoring system may be used to allow customers access to
information about the posting and delivery records.
The measuring system should provide one annual figure for each relevant field of study.
There should be consistency between cross-border and domestic measuring methods.
The definition of the field of study should include the defined section of the total parcel flow. The field of study
should be used consistently throughout the measuring.
If for a field of study an operator is defined as one operator or a group of co-operating operators, this group
should be used consistently.
When the field of study is a group of countries, this group should be used consistently in the measurement.
Statistical checks should be made for the following types of recording errors:
— items included in the calculation of transit time with incorrect data in the monitoring system;
— items excluded from the calculation of transit time.
The level of recording errors of each type should be compared with the specified control limits and corrections
shall be made to the transit time, according to the requirements of Clause 5 of this Technical Report.
The statistical control checks require a link to the complaints handling system.
4.2 Calculation and presentation of the transit time
4.2.1 Calculation of the transit time
For the purpose of this Technical Report, transit times for domestic and cross-border items may be calculated
according to a five-day working week calculation rule; whereby Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays in
the country of delivery are subtracted, in accordance with A.1.
For domestic items, the transit times may, in addition, be calculated according to the weekend collection and
delivery pattern provided, in accordance with one of the calculation rules of A.2, if required by the national
regulatory authority.
Published regional holidays may be subtracted in the calculation of transit time, by agreement with the
national regulatory authority.
The date (and time) of the first attempted delivery shall be taken as the end point for end-to-end transit time
calculations. The time between the first attempted delivery and the time when the actual parcel was received
by the recipient should be ignored.
The calculation of the transit time should take into account the treatment of items which cannot be delivered at
the first attempt or which are waiting to be claimed.
— If an item cannot be delivered at the first attempt, the transit time should be calculated from the date of the
first scan to the date when the first attempt was made to deliver the item.
— If an item is delivered via a pick-up location, e.g. a PO Box if acceptable, to await collection, the transit time
should be calculated from the date of first scan to the date when the item was placed in the pick-up
location to await collection.
• Special cases
— Items handed over to Customs. The time from handing over until release should be excluded from the
transit time calculation. If items are not released by the customs authorities, then these items should be
excluded from the transit time calculation.
— Damaged items. The time taken to repair or repackage damaged parcels should be included in the transit
time calculation.
4.2.2 Presentation of transit time
4.2.2.1 Measurement unit
The transit time of a postal item may 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 parcels.
All items posted within the period of measurement should be included in the calculations.
Postal items not delivered by J + 30 may be excluded from the calculation. For the purposes of measurement,
items delivered after J + 30 days may be classified as lost or substantially delayed, and will be reported via
the loss calculation (see EN 14137).
4.2.2.2 Service performance indicators
The following indicators should be used in the presentation of the service performance results:
— on-time performance;
— cumulative distribution of delivery days.
The Postal Service provider should specify the service against which it is measuring.
Services that are negotiated in special contracts, and are not subject to the usual service standard should be
excluded from the transit time calculation, but may be reported separately.
If the service specification includes a defined time of delivery then:
— on-time performance result should be presented as the percentage of postal items arriving by the defined
time of delivery on day (J + n) whereby J represents the day of deposit and n the number of qualifying days
for the service standard.
— cumulative distribution of delivery days should be calculated as the percentage of items delivered within a
given period, from target day to last possible delivery time.
If the service specification does not include a defined time of delivery then:
— on-time performance result should be presented as the percentage of postal items arriving by day (J + n)
whereby J represents the day of deposit and n the number of qualifying days for the service standard.
— cumulative distribution of delivery days should be calculated as the percentage of items delivered within a
given period, from J + 1 to J + 10.
4.3 Information to be recorded for domestic parcels
In the logistic chain from posting a parcel to final delivery to the receiver there are several points within the
pipeline where an item is scanned and the following information is recorded:
Identification number of the item, date and time of reading, location-id of the reading. These records make up
the database from which the transit time results can be calculated. In particular items may be scanned at the
following location points:
— point of posting;
— entry into the first sorting centre;
— exit from the last sorting centre;
— final delivery / waiting to be claimed.
For each location-id recorded in the data record, there exists a unique location point category, so that each
record can be categorised.
The number of scanning points an individual item runs through may differ. The number of scanning points
recorded in the track and trace system for each item depends on further information, which may also be
recorded in a database, for example:
— sending region – receiving region;
— posted in a post office / post shop where scanning is possible / not possible;
— versus collected from customers’ premises where scanning is possible / not possible.
If a true end-to-end transit time measure is possible then the following information should be recorded for
each domestic parcel:
— when the item is posted:
— identification number or code of the item;
— date of posting;
— place of posting;
— place of first record in the monitoring system;
— product or service;
— when the item is delivered:
— identification number or code of the item;
— place of delivery;
— date of first attempt at delivery;
— time of first attempt at delivery (if applicable);
— date of successful delivery (if applicable);
— time of successful delivery (if applicable);
— when the item is waiting to be claimed:
— place where waiting to be claimed;
— date when the item is claimed (if applicable);
— when the item is returned to sender:
— place from which item is returned;
— date when item was sent back to sender;
— (or) record that the item cannot be delivered to the address on the item.
4.4 Information to be recorded for cross-border parcels
In cross-border cases further scanning points may be recorded.
In particular items may be scanned at the following location points:
— entry into
...