Calberson satisfies customers with web-based shipment tracking

Calberson's ambition was to differentiate its express carrier and package delivery service in France from its competitors, both domestic and international. The idea was to give customers more control over their deliveries.

To achieve its business objective, France's largest shipping group had to offer a new service that would enable customers to track their shipments on the web. This meant developing and hosting a new application.

The shipment-tracking application is an outgrowth of Calberson's operations information system. The back-end segment is organised around a central MVS™-based site connected to more than 50 regional platforms. The system combines EDI and physical tracking of packages using bar codes.

The solution created by IBM Global Services involved several groups, including custom application development, hosting, installation and network configuration. The customer service application resides on a web server running Microsoft Windows NT, installed as a front-end computer at an IBM e-business Hosting centre in Europe. The web application allows customers to look up the status of shipments by destination, French department or town via a very user-friendly, browser-based interface. Java™ developments were made in the IBM WebSphere Application Server environment dedicated to e-business applications.

IBM Global Services turned the idea into a web application quickly. IBM demonstrated a prototype of the new service at an executive seminar, with great success, and implemented the solution in record time. Now, Calberson's customers track their shipments directly on the web. What's more, customers with multiple sites and multiple accounts can track their shipments enterprisewide, using a single customer number.