RMCtv : Delivery to specification mail / DTS – Deployment Successfully completed

[POSTMAN]

DTS – Deployment Successfully completed

I am pleased to say that we have now completed the deployment of Delivery to Specification.

Building the Delivery to Specification process was highly complex from a Technology perspective. It involved changes to eight systems in operational and commercial domains, where thousands of test scripts were run regularly with the support of RMG Tech teams and six external suppliers.

The process takes data from our sorting machines on every letter seen and assessing its class and then calculates its due day, which was highly technical. All this data feeds into a logic engine that we had to build from scratch. The data is then assessed, around 135 million calculations a day, to decide which delivery points we need to go to. Of course, the logic engine must take account of any items deferred on previous days and ensure they are released to make sure they hit their service specification. This way of technically assessing letters is a world first and Royal Mail have led with this innovation.

We are in the early days of adoption of the new Economy service, (this is expected to ramp up significantly) but we are already deferring around a million delivery points a day. Delivery teams have fed back to us that Economy service bulk postings are now spread over a number of days utilising other visits to delivery points.

The move to national deployment is a significant milestone, enabling the project to deliver its business commitment to complete deployment by October 21.

(3 Mail Centre catchment areas will go live as part of a later plan as property solutions to incorporate both Delivery to Specification and Parcels automation are deployed).

Getting to the successful position is the culmination of this massive and highly complex programme of work that has included:

· Launching of the new DSA Economy product
· Successful regulatory consultation on DSA Economy product resulting in it being a VAT free product
· Designing and building an algorithm from scratch to select items to be deferred, performing up to 135 million calculations a day
· Developing, testing and nationally deploying software upgrades to our CSS machines to perform the deferral process
· Completing modelling of sequencing requirements for all Mail Centres and MPUs in a changing pandemic environment
· Building a solution that fitted with our current national workplan
· Recommissioning of 40 CSS machines and relocating 27 of our CSS estate to meet national capacity requirements, refining weekend operations and local logistics services
· Signing off DTS principles with the CWU and CMA for inclusion in relevant agreements
· Recruitment and training of CSS operators with the new DTS process

Getting here has required the project to draw on knowledge, experience and activity from across the business including (and not limited too); Technology, Engineering, Data and Engineering (D&E), Operations, Finance, Commercial, Regulation and HR - it has been a massive team effort and thanks to all that have been involved.

A big thank you in particular to the CSS operators across the operation who have been brilliant in supporting us to get this up and running. Also thank you to Derby, Southampton, Croydon and Glasgow who assisted us greatly as our test sites.

If we want more information on DtS here is a link to our previously posted video above.

[SpacePhoenix]

We never implemented it as we don't have the capacity for it. I believe that we're due to lose an iLSM at some point so we'll then have even less mech capacity

[Clappedoutpostie]

Does the system know if your going to a house with a flat/parcel/d2d that day?

[Blaine]

Does the system know if your going to a house with a flat/parcel/d2d that day?

No, nor any manual letters. Lots of DtS sitting in yorks for places I'm actually going to, and then it comes later on the day I wasn't going to that house It's good for making the occasional lighter day even lighter so you end up finishing early, but then you get a heavy day even heavier so you cut off, and a mix in between. I'd rather have a few extra calls on my lighter days to even things up a bit, or if management were smart enough, change the times, but that's too much for them. We have had the occasional Tuesday where the days elapsed on all the mail and 8-10 trays of flats came down for a single walk, that was a nightmare.

[pieoftheday]

Is deferring the same as wilfully delaying?