What is PD CEN/TR 15524 – Customer directed information including track and trace about?
PD CEN/TR 15524 is a technical report consisting of three parts. The first part defines, describes, and explains basic concepts typical to all mail communication systems such as; domains, parties, agents and their role in the system, physical and informational objects, processes, interfaces, and relationships.
The first part does not cover more detailed technical aspects of the main concepts such as:
- A detailed description of mail units and sets, their attributes and methods of collection/capture of their values
- Applications describing specific use of the information describing basic objects by mailers, postal operators and recipients
- Data elements, data constructs and message descriptions
The second part of PD CEN/TR 15524 defines the necessary and sufficient concepts for customer-directed information that can be captured by post and made accessible to customers using the post-mailer interface. PD CEN/TR 15524 explains and describes the relationships between these concepts. PD CEN/TR 15524 provides a comprehensive list of mail unit attributes that are involved in forming observations and events significant for postal customers. PD CEN/TR 15524 describes a methodology suitable for the selection of observation points within the postal domain process where the information collected in observations is most useful for customers. PD CEN/TR 15524 does not cover:
- Applications describing the use of collected event information
- Messages and protocols
- Communication infrastructure
The third part of PD CEN/TR 15524 describes:
- A list of specific events knowledge of which is valuable to postal customers (mail senders and recipients) and could be made available to such customers
- Underlying mail unit attributes that form corresponding observations
Data construct supports practical access to information collected within the postal domain about events, underlying observations, and expectations, and in particular information about events, observations, and expectations that are valuable to postal customers. PD CEN/TR 15524 also provides an example of an application that demonstrates the use of specific events and data constructs. PD CEN/TR 15524 makes use of XML schema in describing relevant data constructs. Actual communication messages can be built from data constructs described in PD CEN/TR 15524. However, PD CEN/TR 15524 does not specify the structure of specific messages, nor does it preclude using mechanisms other than XML schema to describe data constructs.
Who is PD CEN/TR 15524 – Customer directed information including track and trace for?
PD CEN/TR 15524 on customer directed information including track and trace is useful for:
- The IT industry
- Data organization and processing
- The transportation industry
- The postal services
- Consumer-supplier relations
Why should you use PD CEN/TR 15524 – Customer directed information including track and trace?
The widespread proliferation of electronic, internet-based data communications provides a cost-effective platform for the effective integration of a global mail communication system. The essence of such integration is an automated exchange of computerized information between mailer, postal, and recipient domains. The main purpose of PD CEN/TR 15524 is to define basic concepts associated with the collection and distribution of post-generated information to postal customers (framed using the methodology of an entity-relationship model), and to describe the content and structure of messages that can be used by posts to communicate this information to its customers using the post-mailer interface. PD CEN/TR 15524 does not describe specific messages and protocols that could be recommended for communicating the collected information nor the methods of its use within sender or recipient environments.
Thus, the main objective of PD CEN/TR 15524 is a description of a standardized method of capturing by post and enabling customers to access information within the postal environment. The basis of the method described in PD CEN/TR 15524 is an entity-relationship model that is widely used in the design of modern computer databases. The methodology described in PD CEN/TR 15524 is also applicable to capturing a broad class of information that is encountered in mail communication systems, for example, information that is important for managing data exchanges between postal operators and between postal operators and their contractors.