Authors: Evripidis Kechagias, Georgios Papadopoulos, Georgios Chatzistelios, Aggeliki Deligianni

Title: A Software as a Service System Solution for Distribution in Urban Areas

Abstract

Today's era is characterized as a digital age. The use of the internet is so extensive that we meet it daily without recognizing it many times. Therefore, the use of the Internet could not be missed by the supply chain management processes, especially in the field of product programming and distribution. However, in most cases, the information systems for routing and scheduling distributions are locally installed on the servers of the company. However, the need for real-time programming would make it impossible and economically inaccessible to link each company with dynamic data providers, such as geographic and traffic data providers. The solution to this problem is the development of a web-based software designed to route and schedule the distributions of each company, that will be distributed as Software as a Service. In this way, logistics companies are not obliged to communicate with the providers of dynamic data that are not relevant to them but only pay the licenses to the Software Provider. The scope of this paper is to present an architecture for such a system and  investigate technologies needed to implement such an idea. A system architecture is proposed according to the data needed for its operation. Based on this architecture various suitable technologies are proposed for the development and interconnection of the individual subsystems. The system will be able to create an initial routing plan for urban transport, track the distribution fleet, detect deviations from the original plan and schedule, to indicate optimal routing. Using this system, data on unpredictable events makes distribution faster and more economical, while ensuring better customer service.