€PT: Information systems for the Italian Postal Service

€PT software was created for one specific need of the Italian Postal Service, to manage , a truly one stop shop located within special post offices, where users can also purchase, plasma televisions, books, etc,. in addition to products related to the Italian Postal Service's traditional core business, i.e. envelopes and boxes for mailing letters and packages.

It is an truly autonomous division which, thanks to the widespread diffusion of the 14,000 post offices in Italy, benefits from excellent logistical and commercial potential. The PTShop can therefore focus on a vast audience of customers such as over 4 million BancoPosta postal bank account holders and also any users who, visiting the individual offices, may wish to purchase these products. It is expected that financial services such as the disbursement of personal and other types of loans, life insurance policies etc., will soon be integrated in the PtShops.

To computerize all of this, the Italian Postal Service has chosen L’Informatica s.r.l.,who thanks to their twenty years ofexperience in the distribution field, has devised a special Back Office system totally integrated with the central SAP system and capable of supporting operators for all over-the-counter sales and with the issuing of printed sales receipts.

Every day, the Back Office procedure known as €PT gathers data regarding changes in product data charts and in pricing data from SAP allowing the Front Office operators to sell products with continuously updated price listings;at the end of the evening all the PTShops transfer their sales transactions and, at the central office it's thus possible to view and print statistics regarding sales, inventories and useful information regarding Fidelity cards customer groups (Telecom, Enel customers, etc.) benefiting from special discounts. Thanks to this technology, it will be possible to create a continuous connection between the office where the €PT server is installed and the numerous PTShops.

€PT is a comprehensive procedure created using a technologically modern and advanced Customer/Server architecture certified by theItalian Postal Service certifying offices and is this reason why PtShops are able to conduct their business across the entire country.

It is composed of two modules:

EPT_REGISTER

Installed in every Client PC at the point of sales, the EPT_REGISTER interface manages the registration of products located in the product registry and the printing of sales receipts using the Smart Sid sales register (Wincor Nixdorf).

€PT

This software is intended for the management of the Back Office and governs a series of operations regarding the products and the corresponding product registry data, the printing of price lists and labels, administrative printouts, and the adding and removal of goods from inventory.

The program also oversees cash register operability checks, providing detailed printouts. If the fiscal register is out of order, back office allows the manual sales of products. Periodic inventory keeping is also managed along with the handling of products and product registry data according to product category , brand, etc., as well as the invoicing of receipts.

Special attention was given to the compilation of an on-line help and to project manuals. The handbook covers several areas ranging from help-desks to the daily operational procedures and from inventory handling to training manuals.

In the customer oriented strategy, carefully aimed at satisfying the clientele's most current needs, programs such as €PT are indispensable for the rational and efficient management of sales outlets.

Since June 2006, the Back Office procedure already used in PT’s shops will be also used in Kipoint Shops (Poste Italiane’s franchising-shops) contributing to give our firm a national visibility.