Implementation of Management Information System at Jupiter Infratech

Introduction:
Information System is considered a backbone for organizations of all size. A communication delay can be
fatal for the functioning of organizational process and may sometimes lead to the closure of a business
unit. One may get plenty of research reports based on primary data concluding that on time delivery of
information is must for running a business system effectively and efficiently. This case study will present
the importance of Management Information System for a construction and real estate firm Jupiter
Infratech. The purpose of this case study is to discuss the role of various types of information systems for
a construction and real estate industry vertical, its importance and role in the growth of an enterprise. The
case will also discuss the implementation aspect of Construction and Real Estate Information System.

Background:
Jupiter Infratech, the real estate arm of Jupiter Group, was incorporated in New Delhi, India in the year
2008. Since then it has evolved into one of the leading players in the real estate sector, with outstanding
integrated townships such as Jupiter City, Jupiter City Center and Jupiter Estate. The group has
established itself as one of the leading real estate developers in the country. In addition to the residential
projects, the group also owns two commercial projects named Jupiter Mall, one in Noida, Delhi NCR and
another in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh; and Jupiter Trade Tower in Noida, Delhi NCR. This is a
reflection of the group’s broader approach towards trade and retail businesses. The company is having an
employee base of 5000+ and the annual turnover ending March 2011 was Rs.1077 crores.

Construction and Real Estate Business Process:

In construction and real estate industry, the business processes are project centric. Every project is
different from the other. Therefore, there must be a proper information system based on organization’s
“Best Business Practices” in order to manage different projects running within an enterprise effectively
and efficiently. For organization like Jupiter, real estate management was another challenge. Managing
proper inventory of sold and available residential/commercial units, sale agreements/deeds, maintenance
and brokerage system were few of them. Considering the entire business value chain of Jupiter, the top
management realized that there is an immense requirement of Collaborative Management Information
Implementation of Management Information System at Jupiter Infratech
Dr. Vikas Prasad, Associate Professor, National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR), Pune, prepared this case
solely to provide material for classroom discussion. The author does not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a
managerial situation. The author may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. NICMAR
prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. This material is not covered under authorization
from any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact The Editor, NICMAR
Journal of Construction Management, National Institute of Construction Management and Research, 25/1, Balewadi, N.I.A. Post Office, Pune
411045. Phone (020)27292671, E-mail: [email protected]. The author can be reached at [email protected]
System for managing entire process encompassing all the stakeholders within the Business System
including contractors, suppliers, architects, engineers, managers and customers. The Primary Business
Processes need to be tied together through a proper ICT backbone to manage information flow within the
enterprise. As a proven solution for all industry verticals including that of Jupiter, such type of system can
provide real-time information to all the stakeholders within a click of mouse and streamline the processes
thereby helps in attaining self driven transparent system.

The Concept of Management Information System

The concept of Management Information System (MIS) has evolved over a period of time covering
different facets of organizational functions. MIS offers information system support to all the three levels
of management in an organization. The Management Triangle is given in Figure 1 below.
Management Information System has now become a necessity of every organization. The concept of
Digital Enterprise can be viewed as a concept similar to Management Information System, in which the
prime objective of an enterprise is to achieve paperless business system. Based on extensive research on
the usage of computer system in business by US consulting companies like Booz, Allen and Hamilton and
McKinsey & Company, the concept of MIS evolved during 1980’s [1].
Figure 1: Levels of Management and MIS [2]

In today’s world it is used to describe Computer based Information System that performs the management
functions of planning, managing, coordinating, controlling and decision-making. The term Management
Information System can best be defined as a combination of Management + Information + System.
MIS offers an information system for all the three levels of management- Top, Middle and Lower for the
purpose of strategic planning, tactical planning and operational planning respectively. See Figure 2 below
to know about various types of Management Information System.
1
Robert G. Murdick, Joel E. Ross and James R. Claggett, Information Systems for Modern Management, Prentice-Hall Inc.
2
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/management/the-top-3-levels-of-management-933-words/8602
 Figure 2: Type of Management Information System [3]

In any enterprise, data enters into the system from lower level, through middle level it reaches the top
level. During this process of data traversal, the data gets transformed into information at various stages
and is used for conducting various managerial activities. Lower Level Management is interested in Day-
to-day/ operational planning information, Middle Level Management is concerned about information for
strategic planning and Top Level is more interested in information for decision making.
The type of information and the frequency of its generation depend on the Organizational Structure of an
enterprise. Jupiter organizational structure is given in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Jupiter Organizational Structure [4]

Problems at Jupiter Infratech:

The Management team at Jupiter Infratech was experiencing problem in managing the business processes
and functions related to Construction and Real Estate vertical owned by them. In the absence of proper
information system, planning was a major challenge. It was difficult to produce relevant data and
3
http://www.chris-kimble.com/Courses/World_Med_MBA/Types-of-Information-System.html
4
Feasibility Study Document of Jupiter Infratech
information related to financials, project, materials, contractors, labors, and equipments on time and there
was a delay in the request and response time. Ad-hoc reporting was a real challenge for Middle level
managers.
Whenever the Top management at Jupiter makes specific information request, the data is collected from
different departments, segregated and then disseminated in the form of report. There was no proper system
in place to manage and process the data in order to generate standard Management Information and
Controlling Report for different organizational units. Entire organization was driven through custom built
applications that can cater to the specific requirements of the unit.
There was an immense requirement of centralized data management, reporting and information Systems
based on Jupiter’s “Best Business Practices”.
A list of identified problems categorized on the basis of Management level and Type of planning is given
in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Problems in Management Function at Jupiter Infratech [5]
S.N Problem Management level Type of planning
1 New project planning/Budgeting Top level Strategic planning
2 Project sponsor, Financing Top level Strategic planning
3 Tendering/bidding Top level Strategic planning
4 Equipment procurement Top level Strategic planning
5 Mergers & Acquisitions Top level Strategic planning
6 Recruitment Top level Strategic planning
7 Project risk assessment Middle level Tactical planning
8 Project management/ update Middle level Tactical planning
9 Labor/ Material contracts Middle level Tactical planning
10 Management
Equipment shipping/Relocation Tactical planning
Middle level
11 Project cash flow Middle level Tactical planning
12 Structural engineering change Middle level Tactical planning
13 Requirement
Design change requirement Tactical planning
Middle level
14 Work order management Middle level Tactical planning
15 Materials manufacturing planning Middle level Tactical planning
16 Insurance and statutory requirement Middle level Tactical planning
17 Daily Project reporting /Update Middle level Operational planning
18 Enforcing use of safety tools Middle level Operational planning
19 Materials management at site Middle level Operational planning
20 Labor muster management Middle level Operational planning
21 Management of work completion Middle level Operational planning
22 Certificate
Material quality management Middle level Operational planning
23 Manufacturing shop floor control Middle level Operational planning
 24 Building/ Mall Maintenance Middle level Operational planning
25 Human Resource Management Middle & Lower level Tactical & Operational planning
26 Materials Manufacturing Schedule Middle & Lower level Tactical & Operational planning
27 Managing Contracts of sold out Units Middle & Lower level Tactical & Operational planning
28 Property Sales & Rentals Top & Middle level Strategic & Tactical planning
Strategic, Tactical & Operational
29 Materials Procurement Top, Middle & Lower level
planning
Strategic, Tactical & Operational
30 Real Estate Brokerage Top, Middle & Lower level
planning

Solution to the Problem:

The Top management decided to go for third-party consultancy on IT solution from a leading Independent
Software Vendor (ISV). Based on the feasibility report and recommendations from ISV, Jupiter has
chosen on-premise deployment model. The Management decided to own the entire ICT infrastructure. The
company set up fully fledged state of art ICT department at their New Delhi Head-office backed by strong
IT team headed by Project Manager-IT.
This implementation model has helped Jupiter in establishing a backbone for information workflow within
an enterprise. Jupiter planned to implement tailor-made, 3-tier client/server architecture based
Management Information System. The IT department suggested using Oracle database server at database
layer and Oracle Developer suite as front-end tool for Graphical User Interface (GUI). As Oracle
Developer suite is built on Internet Technology, Jupiter implemented web based information system at its
premise. This IT implementation project was given a name “JupiterSoft”.
Entire Business process including financials, project system, tendering/bidding, contracting, materials
management, procurement, production planning, building information system, mall management system
and human resource management system were integrated as a part of implementation plan. Jupiter has
successfully achieved the connectivity of its Gurgaon, Noida, Lucknow, Bengaluru offices with New
Delhi Head-office through JupiterSoft.
It took approximately 11 months to get the Management Information System “JupiterSoft” in place- from
Requirement analysis to Go-live.
A typical ICT Architecture of JupiterSoft is given in Figure 4 below.

5
Request for Proposal (RFP) Document of Jupiter Infratech
 Figure 4: ICT Architecture of JupiterSoft MIS [6]

The ICT department at Jupiter installed dedicated high performance UNIX operating system based HP
servers fitted with Intel make Itanium and Xeon processors for Oracle database server, Application server
and Apache web server at New Delhi Head-office. Local LAN running on Windows based desktops were
connected through 1Gbps Cisco switch. For internet connectivity there were two Communication channels
- primary internet service through 4 Mbps dedicated BSNL leased line and secondary dial-up connection
from Reliance telecommunications.
High speed routers were connected through Virtual Private Network (VPN) to communicate between New
Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Lucknow and Bengaluru offices. Each branch offices were having LAN based
hardware landscape similar to head office model. Site offices were connected to head office through local
branch offices.
Operational Support System (OSS) was built using Oracle Developer based Graphical User Interface
(GUI) applications. This application can be run on any desktop/laptop having standard web browser. With
this implementation it became easier to capture real-time data and stores it in a centralized database
repository.
Jupiter has planned the information system based on the needs of organizational units defined in the RFP
document, as such the ICT implementation was successful in fulfilling their information needs. This
system now helps in generation of desired Business Processes Management reports on time thereby
overcoming the gap in information and communication delay. This made it easier for all the three levels
6
System Requirement Specification (SRS) Document of Jupiter Infratech
of management to deliver their best in terms of services.

Benefits from ICT Implementation:

Entire users of Jupiter admitted drastic change in information delivery and in overcoming the problems
related to managerial decision making, planning and other activities. Some of the key realized benefits
through Management Information System implementation, as experienced by the users are listed in Table
2 below.
Table 2: Benefits of Management Information System at Jupiter Infratech [7]
S.N Levels of Management Key Realized Benefits of MIS
 Integration of BIM makes project estimation 99.99% accurate
 Project, budgeting & cash flow management is linked to Project Systems and
gives more visibility.
 Integration of DPR helps in providing more precise data on project
deadlines.
 Management of remote project has become very easy and manageable.
 Efforts in materials supplier selection process has reduced to many folds.
 Tendering process has become more intelligent due to implementation of
1. Top Level
decision support system in it.
 Equipment procurement has become more manageable through centralized
materials management/equipment inventory and release data.
 As a result of decision support system it becomes easier to decide lease/
purchase on heavy earthmovers/equipment.
 Engineer-to-order/casting yards can be managed in improved way.
 Decision related to sub-contracting has become more automated and self
driven.
 Project system makes
Contractors it easierhas
Relationship to do risk analysis
improved due toand even
data local agents can
visibility
be easily incorporated in RMMM plan
 Integrated DPR gives enough scope to streamline the project activity so that
the delays may not happen.
 Materials management system makes it easier to plan the procurement
process at a better bargain
2. Middle Level
 100% reduction in inventory management, materials release and
consumption planning, tracking & control.
 Material wastage has reduced to 80%
 Project system makes it easier to sync with the funds release and cash flows.
 Reduction of 65% in time it takes to incorporate the engineering design
change into structural and generation of scope of work.
  Project system has automated the entire process of generation of work
completion certificate.
 In Real-estate process rental/lease agreements reports and information can be
generated hassle free.
 Information on available real-estate inventory both commercial and
residential is easy to obtain.
 Capacity Requirement Planning, Materials Requirement Planning and
Master production schedule can be managed effortlessly for ETO materials.
 Integration of accounting system has smoothened the relationship with labor
contractor
 Digitization of contract agreement has made compliance of contract clauses
more manageable.
 With an automated HRM system, efforts of human resource budgeting and
planning have reduced to 90%.
 Information related to problems and resolutions can easily be managed
through ticket handling system for mall management module.
 In Real-estate module, Brokerage management has become hassle free.

 DPR management has become easier, one can generate the actual project
progress within a mouse click on real-time basis.
 Safety equipment/ statutory compliance can be recorded and enforced
 Daily material requirement, release & consumption can be recorded and
planned ahead of schedule, thereby reducing project delays.
 Automation of labor muster makes sub-contractor payment report generation
automatic.
3. Lower Level
 Compliance and generation of material quality report has become easy.
 Labor requirement report makes it easier to plan the daily labor requirement
ahead of schedule.
 Through equipment inventory system it becomes easier to plan the release
and utilization of equipment at Site.
 Daily data management and reporting work has reduced to 85% as compared
to manual system.

Question for Discussion:

1. Can you identify the sub-systems within the Jupiter-soft?
2. Can you identify the types of Information Systems for different levels of management?
3. Can you identify the components of MIS for construction?
4. Can you propose any improvements in the system based on latest IT trends nowadays?

7
User acceptance and feedback system of Jupiter Infratech