Ashoka University Mailroom Digitisation

Overview

The University mailroom was digitised end to end with a locally deployed web app that logs and hands out 1,000+ parcels a day. It had to work for three groups at once: students, the administration and the mailroom staff. Between Nov 2024 and Mar 2025, it replaced paper registers and long queues with an ID-scan workflow, and 70%+ of students adopted it within 2 weeks.

The problem

Students lost time in queues, paper was wasted, processes were slow, and nobody knew whether a package had arrived. The fix could not disrupt the old workflow, so I scoped the constraints first. It had to reuse the admin's existing ID infrastructure, run on low bandwidth and low-cost hardware, and be usable by staff with limited digital experience.

The solution

The app is built on Node.js, EJS and MySQL and runs locally, so lookups stay fast even on weak networks. Students are recognised by their existing ID, and every parcel is logged in one structured database, then checked out on collection. The interface is icon-led and almost text-free, with bright, bold nudges showing the next step, so staff need no prior training. Authentication and access controls guard against mismanagement.

Student communication

Nodemailer emails a student when a parcel is logged and again when it is collected, each with a cat meme that made the notifications something people open. Volumes were high enough (1,000+ parcels logged and 700+ collected daily) that other campus organisations began using the emails for their own marketing.

Impact

Per-person waiting time fell around 79% and paper logging was eliminated entirely, replaced by one unified digital record. 70%+ of students adopted it in 2 weeks. Staff were trained individually over a month, reaching 100% onboarding across a team with little digital experience.