Web-based Fright Forwarding Information System for Logistics Management in East Africa

Abstract

Freight forwarding is the process of offering logistical services on behalf of shippers in delivering goods from point of origin and moving to the final destination using single or multiple carriers. The rising of universal e-commerce is stimulating change and innovation in the freight forwarding industry and the current generation of digital devices such as smartphones, and tablets and the availability of the internet has enabled the freight forwarding industry to thrive in facilitating both local and international services. Therefore, the freight forwarding sector in East Africa is moving from manual handling of freights to electronic-freights because of the ever-changing needs of technologies. The study aimed to develop freight forwarding web-based information system for logistics management that will streamline the customer experience and improve logistics services resulting to cost reduction and increase productivity. The author used mixed methods to gather the data and Extreme Programming (XP) system development model was used. Unit testing, integrated testing, and system testing were used to test and evaluate the developed system. The system was validated by structuring a survey questionnaire and distributed to the end users. According to the results, the system met the requirements and the users were satisfied because the system was easy to use and very interactive. With the development of this system, work overload and costs of operations are reduced, errors are minimized and the goods are expected to be delivered timely. For further studies, the author recommends the use of mobile app and Geographical Positioning Service (GPS) for real-time tracking.