EMS
EMS is a service that requires postal operators to provide high-quality delivery performance. In 1993, a group of seven postal operators formed the EMS Task Force to help one another meet agreed upon performance targets for handling and delivering EMS items.
Today, the EMS Task Force group, lead by IPC, is made up of 13 IPC members from North America, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific and drives improvement of how members measure EMS performance. Although the initial aim of the EMS Task Force was to improve the delivery service for its members, the group now offers services to a wider EMS community. The group also works closely with the EPG and PRIME groups and with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) EMS Cooperative and UPU/PTC groups.
In addition to leading the EMS Task Force group, IPC produces the EMS performance reports on Return of Tracking, Quality of Service, Customer Service performance and payment reports on behalf of the UPU EMS Cooperative.
Provision of item monitoring and performance analysis is the core task of the EMS Task Force service. Members receive EMS delivery performance for their inbound and outbound traffic on export (from lodgment to outward OE), transport (from outward OE to inward OE at the destination), and delivery (from inward OE to delivery). Complete reporting on return of tracking performance, including for PREDES/RESDES messages is available.
IPC has moved from monthly paper reporting to on-line diagnostic tools that report up-to-date performance and advance notification of potential IT or operational issues. Members have access to ad-hoc reporting developed on request to focus on any particular aspects of the end-to-end network that are of interest to each member. On-site visits to assist each Task Force member to use the reports to improve operational performance are scheduled on request. IPC offers technical support regarding message exchange, EDI standards, and all other aspects of performance measurement.
Among the achievements of the EMS Task Force group is the development of the business requirements for the recently approved UPU Standard EMSEVT V3 message that is used to track items. This message supports an expanded set of item-level tracking events and will change the way service performance is measured for postal operators. The Task Force will be one of the primary groups using these new messages for measuring performance of export and transport activities, as well as delivery.