The outputs should be defined in terms of the following points:

Principal design features:

What Is a Shipper?

What Is a Carrier?

FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Bill of Landing

Liability and Ownership

INTRODUCTION

Purpose of Project

This document contains a description of the “Freight Management System”. This document will contain the functional requirements of the project and how the developers will enhance the project to achieve all the objectives.

COMMON CONCEPT / TERMINOLOGY IN FREIGHT

The shipper is the supplier in a commerce transaction. For instance, a shipper may be the individual who sends your business key components that you incorporate into your production processes. Traditionally, shippers are responsible for preparing your goods for shipment and packing them in an approved container.

While shippers and sellers may be the same entity, this is not always true. Some businesses, especially smaller ones, may partner with a distributor or fulfillment center. The fulfillment center provides packaging and shipping services to the actual seller.

Once your goods are prepared for shipping, they are turned over to the carrier. A carrier is an entity responsible for delivering the products to the buyer or consignee.

Carriers may utilize several transport mediums to deliver products, including planes, ocean freight, and truck lines. Examples of carriers include Uber Freight, USPS, and UPS.

Comparing Shippers and Carriers

To help you better understand the relationship between a shipper vs. carrier, we take a closer look at some other key terms you will encounter when selling or purchasing freight.

The bill of landing is a document that is issued by the carrier. It contains essential information necessary to transport a shipment.

Information contained in the bill of lading includes the destination quantity and type of cargo shipped. Every bill of lading will list the three entities that are vital to the freight shipping process — the carrier, shipper, and consignee.

The bill of lading is a legal document, which is why it plays such an integral role in shipping. Specifically, the bill of lading serves three purposes.

First and foremost, a bill of lading is similar to a title in that it proves ownership of the goods being delivered. In addition, the bill of lading serves as a contract that documents the agreement between the carrier and shipper for the delivery of the goods.

Finally, the bill of lading acts as a receipt, which confirms that the carrier took possession of the freight from the shipper.

When a shipper and consignee enter into an agreement, the former is responsible for delivering goods to the latter. If they fail to do so, then they may have to issue a refund to the consignee or might be subject to civil action. However, the shipper is not solely responsible for delivering the goods to the consignee.

Once the shipper transfers the freight to the carrier, the transporting entity then assumes liability and ownership of the cargo. If the cargo is damaged, delayed, or lost while in transit, the carrier will often be responsible for absorbing these costs.

Consignor

Depending on the country that products are originating from or being delivered to, the shipper may be referred to as the consignor. These terms can be used interchangeably, as both refer to the entity supplying the commodities being shipped.

However, the shipper/consignor may not be the same entity as the seller. For example, the seller may contract with a distributor to act as their shipper or consignor.

Do Shippers Work Directly With Carriers?

Typically, yes, shippers will work directly with carriers. When a shipper prepares a product for a consignee, they will arrange pickup with the carrier. The carrier will then respond to the designated pickup location, retrieve the freight, and deliver it to the consignee. Once the carrier takes possession of the freight, they are responsible for it until it is delivered to the consignee.

Scope and objectives of the project

The scope of the Freight Management System project encompasses the development and implementation of software designed to streamline and optimize various aspects of freight and logistics management. This comprehensive software solution aims to enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and control of freight-related operations for businesses involved in shipping, logistics, and supply chain management.

Brief Description of the Application to be Developed:

The Freight Management System is a robust and user-friendly software platform designed to address the following key functionalities:

Shipment Management:

Efficiently create, manage, and track shipments.

Store and retrieve shipment details, including origin, destination, cargo, and shipping instructions.

Carrier Management:

Maintain a database of approved carriers with detailed profiles.

Facilitate carrier selection based on criteria such as capacity, availability, and performance history.

Route Optimization:

Automatically calculate optimal routes for shipments to minimize transit time and costs.

Consider factors like distance, traffic conditions, and load capacity.

Real-Time Tracking:

Provide real-time tracking and visibility of shipments in transit.

Enable stakeholders to monitor the status and location of goods.

Document Management:

Digitally manage and store important documents such as bills of lading, customs paperwork, and shipping contracts.

Streamline document retrieval and sharing.

Invoicing and Billing:

Generate invoices for completed shipments.

Track payments, manage billing cycles, and handle discrepancies.

Reporting and Analytics:

Generate comprehensive reports and analytics on various aspects of freight management.

Gain insights into performance, costs, and trends for informed decision-making.

User Access and Permissions:

Implement secure user access controls with role-based permissions.

Ensure data privacy and compliance with relevant regulations.

Integration Capabilities:

Integrate with external systems and services, such as GPS tracking, accounting software, and transportation networks.

Notifications and Alerts:

Send automated notifications and alerts to relevant stakeholders for critical events and updates.

Customization and Scalability:

Provide options for customization to meet specific business requirements.

Ensure scalability to accommodate growth and changing needs.

The Freight Management System will offer a centralized, automated, and data-driven approach to managing the complexities of freight and logistics operations. By implementing this software, businesses can expect to optimize their supply chain processes, reduce operational costs, enhance customer service, and gain a competitive edge in the logistics industry.

SYSTEM ANALYSIS

System analysis is a critical phase in the software development project for a Freight Management System. It involves thoroughly understanding the requirements, processes, and objectives of the system. Here's an overview of the key aspects to consider during the system analysis phase:

1. Requirements Gathering:

Collaborate with stakeholders, including shippers, carriers, and administrators, to gather detailed requirements.

Identify both functional requirements (features, processes) and non-functional requirements (performance, security).

2. Current System Assessment:

Evaluate the existing manual or legacy systems, if any, to understand current workflows and pain points.

Identify areas where automation can provide the most significant benefits.

3. Stakeholder Identification:

Identify all user roles within the system (e.g., shipper, carrier, administrator) and understand their specific needs and responsibilities.

4. Data Analysis:

Analyze the data required for the system, including shipment details, carrier information, route data, and financial records.

Determine data sources, data formats, and data flow.

Agile Model:

The Agile Model is an iterative and incremental approach that works well for projects with evolving requirements. It's often used when flexibility and the ability to adapt to changes are crucial.

Example: Consider a freight management startup that is constantly adapting to changing market dynamics and customer demands. They want to develop a Freight Management System that can evolve quickly to meet new requirements.

Requirements: Start with a high-level understanding of requirements but remain open to changes throughout the development process.

Sprints: Divide the project into short development cycles (sprints) of, say, two to four weeks each.

Development: In each sprint, develop a portion of the software, focusing on the highest-priority features.

Testing: Test and validate the features developed in each sprint.

Feedback: Gather feedback from stakeholders after each sprint, allowing for adjustments and changes in subsequent sprints.

Deployment: Release new features to production as they become available.

Continuous Improvement: Continuously refine and improve the software based on user feedback and changing requirements.

The Agile Model is well-suited for FMS projects where requirements are expected to change or evolve over time. It allows for flexibility and rapid adaptation to market needs.

Process Modeling:

Create process models (flowcharts, DFDs) to represent how different functions and processes will work within the system.

Map out the flow of activities from shipment creation to delivery and billing.

The DFD diagram shows the main functions or sub-processes of the freight forwarder system and how they are connected by data flows. The functions are:

Level 1 DFD

Level 2 DED

Level 3 DFD

Register Shipper: This function registers a new shipper in the database by validating and storing their personal and contact information.

Register Carrier: This function registers a new carrier in the database by validating and storing their personal, contact, and transport information.

Create Shipment: This function creates a new shipment in the database by validating and storing the shipment details provided by the shipper.

Assign Transport: This function assigns a suitable transport to a shipment by matching the shipment requirements with the transport availability and preferences provided by the carrier.

Generate Invoice: This function generates an invoice for a shipment by calculating and storing the amount of money that the shipper owes to the carrier based on the shipment details and transport type.

Process Payment: This function processes the payment for a shipment by sending and receiving payment information to and from the bank and updating the invoice status accordingly.

Track Shipment: This function tracks the location and status of a shipment during its transportation by receiving and storing tracking information from the carrier.

ER Diagram for Freight Management System

An ER diagram is a type of flowchart that shows how entities, such as people, objects, or concepts, relate to each other within a system. ER diagrams are often used to design or debug relational databases, which store data in tables. ER diagrams can help to understand the logical structure of the data and how it can be accessed and manipulated by the software.

Entities: These are the things or objects that exist in the system and have some properties or attributes. Entities are represented by rectangles in an ER diagram.

Attributes: These are the characteristics or features of an entity that give it its identity. Attributes are represented by ellipses in an ER diagram.

Relationships: These are the associations or connections between entities that show how they interact with each other. Relationships are represented by diamonds in an ER diagram

Use Case Analysis:

Develop use cases to describe interactions between users and the system.

Detail scenarios for creating shipments, optimizing routes, tracking shipments, and generating invoices.

Functional Requirements Specification:

Document detailed functional requirements for each module or component of the system, including input, processing, and output.

Specify user interfaces, reports, and notifications.

Non-Functional Requirements Specification:

Define non-functional requirements related to performance, scalability, security, and compliance.

Ensure that the system meets industry standards and regulatory requirements.

User Interface Design:

Create wireframes and mock-ups of the user interface to visualize the user experience.

Consider user-friendly design, accessibility, and usability.

Technology Stack Selection:

Identify the technology stack (programming languages, databases, frameworks) that best suits the project's needs.

Risk Assessment:

Identify potential risks and challenges in the project, such as data security, integration issues, or scope creep.

Develop mitigation strategies.

Feasibility Study:

Evaluate the technical, operational, and economic feasibility of the project.

Determine if the benefits outweigh the costs and potential risks.

Documentation:

Maintain detailed documentation of all analysis activities, including requirements documents, process models, and risk assessments.

Validation and Verification:

Validate requirements with stakeholders to ensure they accurately represent their needs.

Verify that the proposed system aligns with the project objectives.

Project Timeline and Budgeting:

Create a project timeline, outlining milestones and deadlines.

Estimate project costs and allocate resources effectively.

The system analysis phase lays the foundation for the successful development of the Freight Management System. It ensures that the system's design and functionality align with the needs of stakeholders and industry standards.

Project Schedule

In project management, a schedule consists of a list of a project's terminal elements with intended start and finish dates. Terminal elements are the lowest element in a schedule, which is not further subdivided., Those items are often estimated in terms of resource requirements, budget and duration, linked by dependencies and scheduled.

Gantt Chart Work Schedule

PERT CHART

Activities	Duration (in Days)
Analysis (T1)	45
Design (T2)	19
Coding (T3)	40
Testing (T4)	12
Complete Documentation (T5)	14

STUDY OF THE SYSTEM

In the flexibility of the uses, the interface has been developed with a graphics concept in mind, associated with a browser interface. The GUI at the top level have been categorized as

1. Administrative user interface

2. The operational or generic user interface

The administrative user interface concentrates on the consistent information that is practically, part of the organizational activities and which needs proper authentication for the data collection.

The operational or generic user interface helps the users of the system in transactions through the existing data and required services.

Modules

The project is mainly divided into 4 modules:

1). Administrator

This administrator will maintain all the master information like patient Information, doctor information, Disease information, etc;

2). Consigner

The Consigner Module is responsible for publishing the Loads for the carriers and brokers to be delivered safely to the destination.

3). Broker

The broker module is responsible for searching the trucks for particular routes and doing the negotiations and getting the load delivered.

4). Shipper :

This Module is responsible for delivering the loads with the proper point of delivery to a particular lane within the state or outside the state.

5). Inventory

This module is responsible for maintaining the inventory of the freight broker

6). Chat module

This module is used for communication with shippers for monitoring and Query-solving

2.4 System Requirement Specifications

Hardware Requirements:

· I5 2.8 GHz Processor and Above

· RAM 4 GB and Above

· HDD 80 GB Hard Disk Space and Above

Software Requirements:

WINDOWS OS ( windows 11 / Win 10 / 208 Server)
Visual Studio .Net 2008 Enterprise Edition
Internet Information Server 7.0 (IIS)
Visual Studio .Net Framework (Minimal for Deployment) version 3.0
SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition

Feasibility Report

The main objective of the feasibility study is to test the Technical, Operational, and Economic feasibility of adding new modules and debugging the old running system.

· Technical Feasibility

· Operational Feasibility

· Economical Feasibility

3.1. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY

The technical issue usually raised during the feasibility stage of the investigation includes the following:

· Does the necessary technology exist to do what is suggested?

· Do the proposed types of equipment have the technical capacity to hold the data required to use the new system?

· Will the proposed system provide adequate response to inquiries, regardless of the number or location of users?

· Are there technical guarantees of accuracy, reliability, ease of access, and data security?

3.2. OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY

Some of the important issues raised to test the operational feasibility of a project include the following: -

· Is there sufficient support for the management from the users?

· Will the system be used and work properly if it is being developed and implemented?

· Will there be any resistance from the user that will undermine the possible application benefits?

3.3. ECONOMICAL FEASIBILITY

A system can be developed technically and that will be used if installed must still be a good investment for the organization. In the economic feasibility, the development cost of creating the system is evaluated against the ultimate benefit derived from the new systems. Financial benefits must equal or exceed the costs.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION

Purpose: The main purpose of preparing this document is to give a general insight into the analysis and requirements of the existing system or situation and to determine the operating characteristics of the system.

Scope: This Document plays a vital role in the development life cycle (SDLC) and it describes the complete requirements of the system

OUTPUT DESIGN

Outputs from computer systems are required primarily to communicate the results of processing to users. They are also used to provide a permanent copy of the results for later consultation. The various types of outputs in general are:

· External Outputs, whose destination is outside the organization.

· Internal Outputs whose destination is within the organization and they are the

· User’s main interface with the computer.

· Operational outputs whose use is purely within the computer department.

· Interface outputs, which involve the user in communicating directly.

OUTPUT DEFINITION

§ Type of the output

§ Content of the output

§ Format of the output

§ Location of the output

§ Frequency of the output

§ Volume of the output

§ Sequence of the output

It is not always desirable to print or display data as it is held on a computer. It should be decided as to which form of the output is the most suitable.

For Example

§ Will decimal points need to be inserted

§ Should leading zeros be suppressed.

Output Media:

In the next stage, it is to be decided which medium is the most appropriate for the output. The main considerations when deciding about the output media are:

The suitability of the device to the particular application.
The need for a hard copy.
The response time required.
The location of the users
The software and hardware are available.

Keeping in view the above description the project is to have outputs mainly coming under the category of internal outputs. The main outputs desired according to the requirement specification are:

The outputs needed to be generated as a hot copy as well as queries to be viewed on the screen. Keeping in view these outputs, the format for the output is taken from the outputs, which are currently being obtained after manual processing. The standard printer is to be used as output media for hard copies.

INPUT DESIGN

Input design is a part of the overall system design. The main objective during the input design is as given below:

· To produce a cost-effective method of input.

· To achieve the highest possible level of accuracy.

· To ensure that the input is acceptable and understood by the user.

INPUT STAGES:

The main input stages are listed below:

· Data recording

· Data transcription

· Data conversion

· Data verification

· Data control

· Data transmission

· Data validation

· Data correction

INPUT TYPES:

It is necessary to determine the various types of inputs. Inputs can be categorized as follows:

· External inputs, which are prime inputs for the system.

· Internal inputs, which are user communications with the system.

· Operational, which are computer department’s communications to the system?

· Interactive, which are inputs entered during a dialogue.

INPUT MEDIA:

At this stage choice has to be made about the input media. To conclude about the input media consideration has to be given to;

· Type of input

· Flexibility of format

· Speed

· Accuracy

· Verification methods

· Rejection rates

· Ease of correction

· Storage and handling requirements

· Security

· Easy to use

· Portability

Keeping in view the above description of the input types and input media, it can be said that most of the inputs are of the form of internal and interactive. As

Input data is to be directly keyed in by the user, the keyboard can be considered to be the most suitable input device.

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

Performance is measured in terms of the output provided by the application.

Requirement specification plays an important part in the analysis of a system. Only when the requirement specifications are properly given, it is possible to design a system, that will fit into required environment. It rests largely in the part of the users of the existing system to give the requirement specifications because they are the people who finally use the system. This is because the requirements have to be known during the initial stages so that the system can be designed according to those requirements. It is very difficult to change the system once it has been designed and on the other hand designing a system, which does not cater to the requirements of the user, is of no use.

The requirement specification for any system can be broadly stated as given below:

· The system should be able to interface with the existing system

· The system should be accurate

· The system should be better than the existing system

The existing system is completely dependent on the user to perform all the duties.

SELECTED SOFTWARE

INTRODUCTION TO .NET FRAMEWORK

The Microsoft .NET Framework is a software technology that is available with several Microsoft Windows operating systems. It includes a large library of pre-coded solutions to common programming problems and a virtual machine that manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. The .NET Framework is a key Microsoft offering and is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform.

The pre-coded solutions that form the framework's Base Class Library cover a large range of programming needs in a number of areas, including user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. The class library is used by programmers, who combine it with their own code to produce applications.

Programs written for the .NET Framework execute in a software environment that manages the program's runtime requirements. Also part of the .NET Framework, this runtime environment is known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR). The CLR provides the appearance of an application virtual machine so that programmers need not consider the capabilities of the specific CPU that will execute the program. The CLR also provides other important services such as security, memory management, and exception handling. The class library and the CLR together compose the .NET Framework.

Task Name

Duration

Sep OCT

Preliminary Investigation

Requirement Analysis

Interoperability

Common Runtime Engine

Base Class Library

Simplified Deployment

Security

Portability

Common Language Infrastructure

The core aspects of the .NET framework lie within the Common Language Infrastructure, or CLI. The purpose of the CLI is to provide a language-neutral platform for application development and execution, including functions for exception handling, garbage collection, security, and interoperability. Microsoft's implementation of the CLI is called the Common Language Runtime or CLR.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

· FOR .NET INSTALLATION

www.support.mircosoft.com

· FOR DEPLOYMENT AND PACKING ON SERVER

www.developer.com

www.15seconds.com

· FOR SQL

www.msdn.microsoft.com

· FOR ASP.NET

www.msdn.microsoft.com/net/quickstart/aspplus/default.com

www.asp.net

www.fmexpense.com/quickstart/aspplus/default.com