Decision making is an integral part of the functioning of any organization.

To facilitate Decision making in this ever-competitive world it is

imperative that managers have the right information at the right time to
bridge the gap between need and expectation. To facilitate better flow of
information adequate Management Information Systems (MIS) is the need
of the hour. Thus it is important to have an understanding of the MIS
followed in an organization by all levels of management in order to take
effective decisions.

A management information system collects and processes data

(information) and provides it to managers at all levels who use it for
decision making, planning, program implementation, and control. The MIS
has many roles to perform like the decision support role, the performance
monitoring role and the functional support role.

To get a realistic and holistic view of the MIS, MIS of ACC Limited was
taken as a case study. To get a more detailed understanding of a
particular function of the company, we studied the need, uses and
benefits of MIS with respect to the Material Department of the company.
Inventory Management was of prime focus in our study.

ACC Limited is one of the first Indian companies to realize the potential
and importance of information technology and adopt automation and IT.
The organization started computerizing its systems as early as 1968.

The organization has travelled a long way from the days in 1968 when it
was using simple keypunching machines. Significant improvements have
been made in the application systems and infrastructure. From Batch
processing to on-line systems, from IBM1401 to the latest UNIX and
Windows 2003 based machines it has made timely transitions determined
by available technologies and business requirements. The MIS has greatly
facilitated and synchronized the information flow in the organization and
the management feels that is has played a role in the growth and
increased performance of the company.

INTRODUCTION

Management Information Systems (MIS) is a system consisting of people,

machines, procedures, data bases and data models, as its components.
The system gathers data from Internal and External sources of an
organization; processes it and supplies Management Information to assist
managers in the process in decision making. Thus it is safe to conclude
that an information system is "a system consisting of the network of all
communication channels used within an organization".

There are many potential benefits of MIS investments

Investing in information systems can pay off for a company in many ways.
 1. It can support a core competency.
2. Enhance distribution channel management.
3. Builds brand equity.
4. IT investment can boost production processes
5. Information systems allow company flexibility in its output level.

An information system comprises of all the components that collect,

manipulate, and disseminate data or information. It usually includes
hardware, software, people, communications systems such as telephone
lines, and the data itself. The activities involved include inputting data,
processing of data into information, storage of data and information, and
the production of outputs such as management reports.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this project is to study the MIS implementation of ACC

Ltd. and with the help of this domain, to get an insight into the needs of
MIS in business setups on a big scale, various functions performed by the
MIS, benefits derived out of such a system and the risks involved.

The study focus was analysing the business needs of the organization, key
challenges or desired functional requirements of the MIS, the IT solution
that is currently implemented and the outcome of such a system.
ACC Ltd. requires MIS to map internal processes and interaction with the
external environment to the technology and ensure the solution delivers
real benefits to the business.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of our study is to understand the reasons behind the need of
MIS in ACC. The study would develop knowledge of what information is
needed on a regular basis for decision making purposes and how it is
sought and used by ACC with the help of MIS .During the study , the MIS
support to the Company as a whole with special emphasis on Inventory
Management practiced in the Material Stores Department of the company
is covered .

METHODOLOGY

The Primary Data was collected from SAP Implementation Head IT

Infrastructure Managers in the Information System department of ACC
Limited by conducting telephonic interviews and collecting documentation
which gave an insight into the procedures being followed with regards to
the functioning of MIS.

The Secondary Data was taken from various online sources like the
website of the company www.ACCcement.com and various reference
books on MIS.
NEED FOR MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

This is a universally accepted fact that all managerial functions are

performed through decision making. For taking rational decisions, timely
and reliable information is essential and is procured through a logical
method of information collecting, processing and disseminating to
decision makers.

In today’s world of ever increasing complexities of carrying out business,

every organization, in order to survive and grow, must have a properly
planned, analysed, designed and maintained MIS. This need is even more
increased because organizations now have to compete not only locally but
also globally.

MIS assist decision makers, by providing the required information at

various stages of decision making and thus greatly help the organization
to achieve its goals and objectives. On the other hand, if an MIS is poorly
planned and constructed, it may provide inaccurate, irrelevant or obsolete
information, which may even prove fatal for the organization.

TYPES OF MIS AND USES

MIS is a concept, which is a matter of degree rather than an absolute one.

In management there are perhaps few other areas other than MIS which
gas created so much controversy. We would make an attempt to try to
look into different types of MIS as they have evolved during the course of
time.

1. Transaction Processing System

2. Management Information System
3. Decision Support System
4. Executive Support System
5. Office Automation System
6. Business Expert System

Transaction Processing System: It processes transactions and

produces reports. It represents the automation of fundamental, routine
processing used to support business operations. It does not provide any
information to the user for decision making. TPS uses data and produces
data. Management Information System: MIS in an information system
that processes data and converts it into information. A management
information system uses TPS for its data inputs. The information
generated by the information system may be used for control of
operations, strategic and long-range planning, short-range planning,
management control and other managerial problem solving.

Decision Support System: A decision support system is an information

system application that assists decision-making. DSS tends to be used in
planning, analyzing alternatives and trial and error search solutions. They
incorporate a variety of decision-making models and thus area capable of
performing what-if analysis.

Executive Support System: An ESS is a special kind of DSS. It is

specially tailored for the use of chief executives of an organization to
support his decision-making. Thus ESS is a comprehensive information
system that includes various types of decision support systems, but it is
more specific and person oriented.

Office Automation System: Office automation refers to the application

of computer and communication technology to office functions. Office
automation systems are meant to improve the productivity of managers
at various levels of management by providing secretarial assistance and
better communication facilities.

Business Expert System: A BES is a knowledge based information

system that uses its knowledge about a specific, complex application area
to act as an expert.

ROLES OF MIS

THE PERFORMANCE MONITORING ROLE

MIS are not just statistics and data analysis. They have to be used as an
MBO (Management by Objectives) tool. They help:

 to establish relevant and measurable objectives

 to monitor results and performances (reach ratios)
 to send alerts, in some cases daily, to managers at each level of the
organization, on all

deviations between results and pre-established objectives and budgets.

THE FUNCTIONAL SUPPORT ROLE

Business processes and operations support function is the most basic. It

involves collecting, recording, storing, and basic processing of data.
Information systems support business processes and operations by:

 recording, storing and processing sales data, purchase data,

investment data, payroll data and other accounting records
 recording, storing and processing inventory data, work in process
data, equipment repair and maintenance data, supply chain data,
and other production/operations records
  recording, storing and processing personnel data, salary data,
employment histories, and other human resources records
 recording, storing and processing market data, customer profiles,
customer purchase histories, marketing research data, advertising
data, and other marketing records
 recording, storing an processing business intelligence data,
competitor analysis data, industry data, corporate objectives, and
other strategic management records use of all the above to
implement, control, and monitor plans, strategies, tactics, new
products, new business models or new business ventures.

THE DECISION SUPPORT ROLE

The business decision making support function goes one step

further. It is an integral part of making decisions. It allows users to
ask "What if...?" questions: What if we increase the price by 5%?
What if we increase price by 10%? What if we decrease price by
5%? What if we increase price by 10% now, then decrease it by 5%
in three months? It also allows users to deal with contingencies: If
inflation increases by 5% (instead of 2% as we are assuming), then
what do we do? What do we do if we are faced with a strike or a new
competitive threat?

COMPANY PROFILE

ACC Limited is India's foremost manufacturer of cement and concrete.

ACC's operations are spread throughout the country with 14 modern
cement factories, 13 Ready mix concrete plants, 19 sales offices, and
several zonal offices. It has a workforce of about 9000 persons and a
countrywide distribution network of over 9,000 dealers. ACC's research
and development facility has a unique track record of innovative research,
product development and specialized consultancy services. Since its
inception in 1936, the company has been a trendsetter and important
benchmark for the cement industry in respect of its production, marketing
and personnel management processes. Its commitment to environment-
friendliness, its high ethical standards in business dealings and its on-
going efforts in community welfare programs have won it acclaim as a
responsible corporate citizen. ACC has made significant contributions to
the nation building process by way of quality products, services and
sharing its expertise.

In the 70 years of its existence, ACC has been a pioneer in the

manufacture of cement and concrete and a trendsetter in many areas of
cement and concrete technology including improvements in raw material
utilization, process improvement, energy conservation and development
of high performance concretes.

ACC’s brand name is synonymous with cement and enjoys a high level of
equity in the Indian market. It is the only cement company that figures in
the list of Consumer Super Brands of India.

The company's various businesses are supported by a powerful, in-house

research and technology backup facility - the only one of its kind in the
Indian cement industry. This ensures not just consistency in product
quality but also continuous improvements in products, processes, and
application areas.

ACC has rich experience in mining, being the largest user of limestone,
and it is also one of the principal users of coal. As the largest cement
producer in India, it is one of the biggest customers of the Indian
Railways, and the foremost user of the road transport network services for
inward and outward movement of materials and products.

ACC has also extended its services overseas to the Middle East, Africa,
and South America, where it has provided technical and managerial
consultancy to a variety of consumers, and also helps in the operation and
maintenance of cement plants abroad.

ACC demonstrates the practices of being a good corporate citizen

undertaking a wide range of activities to improve the living conditions of
the under-privileged classes living near its factories.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE ACC LTD.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
A product that is in excessive demand is usually extremely difficult to
manage. Supplying the right amount of products implies that an accurate
demand forecast is essential. This impacts the entire supply chain to
facilitate efficient consumer response based on consumer demands it
becomes imperative that such companies consider inventory
management seriously. Making accurate demand and supply predictions
is an ideal situation that anyone in the supply chain management arena
could dream off.

By providing timely accurate information pertaining to inventory location,

movement and valuation, receipt of goods, sale and return of goods and
profits you can make sure that your inventory is visible throughout a
network.

With inventory management you can set your product catalogue to hide
products that are not in stock, or change prices based on the amount of
products available in the warehouse. The quantity available can be
displayed to the shopper and this can prevent unnecessary confusion
when the shopper adds items not available to a shopping cart. The store
buyer can be automatically notified about low inventory levels.

IT (Information Technology) is a key enabler in the transformation of

purchasing into a strategic business function. The challenge is to find a
way to put these technologies to use and create value and competitive
advantage.

The Main Objectives in Inventory Management are:

 Improved customer service

 Reduced inventory investment
 Increased productivity
 Benefits of inventory management applications
 Complete control of inventory.
 Complete information about the value of the inventory
 Complete visibility on Quantities on hand, Quantities committed and
Quantities sold  Response time to demand changes reduced
 Increased sales
 Knowledge of the exact size of merchandizing inventory
 Taxes and insurance premiums paid on excess merchandize inventory
avoided.

MIS AT ACC CEMENT

ACC is one of the first Indian companies to realize the potential and
importance of information technology and adopt automation and IT. The
organization started computerizing its systems as early as 1968.The
organization has traveled a long way from the days in 1968 when it was
using simple keypunching machines. Significant improvements have been
made in the application systems and infrastructure. From Batch
processing to on-line systems, from IBM1401 to the latest UNIX and
Windows 2003 based machines it has made timely transitions determined
by available technologies and business requirements.

ACC has made a quantum jump from in-house developed systems using
Oracle 9i and Developer 6i to an ERP based solution. This decision was
solely based on its strategic objectives and the business benefits that are
expected to follow. With this move people, business processes and
technologies across the country are aligned.

The implementation of ERP solution for process control is shown in the

figure below.

Fig.1 The ERP implementation for process control at ACC Ltd.

IT department is still continuously working on improving the functionality

and removing the errors of the system. As a result system is becoming
better day-by-day, thus improving the productivity of the company.

NEED FOR AN INTEGRATED MIS

The benefits associated with an integrated MIS are

  Better processing of the large volume of data in an organization.

  Reducing the Redundancy of Data that occurs in case of separate
packages.
  Availability of all the required information about any department
through a common system.
  Making the system capable of supporting the managers in making
decisions.
  Facilitate the communication between the various regional offices
of the company and the

corporate office along with the main plant.

 Use of online data to speed up the information flow of the organization
and facilitate decision-making

FUNCTIONS PROVIDED BY CURRENT MIS Plant

(Manufacturing & Maintenance) Production

 Break down and Plant performance Module

 MIS Reports and stoppage Module, Stock position Raw Materials
Management System
 Integration with Weigh Bridge and Security Gate
 Daily stock, issue position and bill passing
 Transport Freight Payment Systems

Weigh Bridge

 Integrated with Security Gate

 Stopped one mechanical weigh bridge
 500 trucks can weigh for gross and tare in single day

500x2 = 1000

 Time Management Reports, Truck Movement reports

 Weighment is integrated with invoice cum challan freight
 Payment
 Truck position inside and outside the plant.
 Computerized Preventive Maintenance Software

 Both plant are using this module

 Preventive Maintenance and Break down Module
 Shutdown module and integrated with inventory
 Forecasting of spares and skills usage module

Inward & Outward Materials Security

 Control on returnable goods

Work Order and analysis

 Work Order will be prepared by authorized person

 Provided to all departments. Integrated with Rate Master
 And budget.

Labour Deployment and accounting System

 Daily supply of Contractor Labour deployment

 Against regular, ad hoc and shutdown requirements
 Daily/monthly/yearly analysis reports
 Contractor labour Bill passing system

Commercial Applications
Marketing accounting and analysis System

 Excise module and Sales Tax Module

 Transport Bill passing module
 Order Confirmations and Dispatch Instruction
 Free Market Requirements, Railway Receipt
 Commercial Invoice, Debit Note, Credit Notes.

Stores Inventory & Non Inventory

 On Line indent, Issue and Receipt Materials

 Delivery Schedule
 Controlling the inventory
 Controlling the increased inventory
 Stores Ledger, consumption Summary
 MIS reports, Budget V/s Actual Consumption.
 Integrated with financial Package
 Repair & maintenance inventory, Department Wise Expenses.

Purchase Management System

 Purchase Order integration with indent

 On line enquiry, Party wise information
 Pending list of purchase order
  MIS reports, Purchase / Indent Register

 Payment Advice System (Advance, regular) Financial accounting

System

 All types of voucher feeding

 Purchase and freight bill passing
 Other Expenses bill passing and TDS Module
 General Ledger, Sub Ledger and Trial balance of two
 Financial years.
 Auto payment advice, Bank forwarding letters, payment
 System, Overhead Analysis reports.
 Integrated with inventory and Payroll module MIS Reports
 Cash Budget,

Vehicle Movement

 Controlling on Taxi, Car etc On line General information System

 Information provided to Users about

 On line Leave status I.e. opening, availed and closing status
 Electricity Deduction Employee wise, Quarter wise
 Over time Status department wise
 Welfare rules and Regulations, Telephone list, etc
 Actual Consumption against budget, Welfare information

Human Resource Development

 Topic Courses, General Awareness Programme,

 TNA of Workmen, TNA of LCW, Individual record of ext/int
 Training, Pending Training etc.

Payroll & PIS Module

 Pay slip of Staff, Worker, School, Badli & Casual Worker

 PF, VPF, Bonus, Gratuity Module
 LIC, CTD, Thrift Society, Co-operative advances Module.
 Recovery & Deduction, PIS and Income Tax Employee wise
 Integrated with Financial Package
 Over Time, C-off Module
 Payroll of Marketing Department (Transferred from HO)

Sales accounting Systems

 Sales accounting Systems, Rent Payment System
 Data loading, Expenses Payment System,
 Freight Payment, MIS, Transferring in FAS

Gate Pass System (Returnable &Non-returnable goods)

 All goods send through Computerized Gate Pass
 Integrated with Gate System.
 Pending repair items information

Architecture of MIS at ACC Limited

Inventory Management Module of Current MIS

Current MIS of the company is basically a In-house developed system, also

comprising of few specialized readymade software packages bought from
outside developers. It comprises of 11 main modules covering all the main
functions of the company.

Inventory Management Module is one of the most important parts of the

system. It is highly integrated with the other modules and capable of
functionalities like Auto Alarming when inventory is low. It is capable of
generating more than 200 different types of reports to help managers in
different required ways. Its main parts include Inventory issue, purchase,
bill passing, other OER passing, freight passing, stock updation etc.
DFDs and Data processing diagrams:

Inventory Package Context Level Diagram (CFD):

Inventory Package Issue DFD:

Inventory Purchase DFD:

Data Processing (Full Inventory Module)

Application used for Work order Preparation at The ACC
Ltd.

1. ITEM CODE CREATION

 There are 9 types of item group in Non Catalogue Item

– Medicines 806
– Stationary 807
– Repair Order 808
– Transportation Order 809
– Raw materials 810
– Capital Orders 811
– Job Orders 812
– Laboratory Items 813
– Direct book orders 814
 Indent Posting & Sanctioning
 Indent Type Updating
 Order Preparation
 Order Printing

After analysing the system properly, it was concluded that system is

working fine at an overall level and consisting of very minimal problems.
These problems can’t be stated as such problems and instead can be
stated as future path as follows: -

 Still lack of system integration after a level. Though inventory

management module is integrated well with all the other modules like
financial system, thus reducing the redundancy. But still there is need
of paper work and manual intervention when reordering is required.
System cannot be configured to reorder automatically, even for the
fast moving raw material.

 Lack of Web Integration: ACC hasn’t still employed the concept of

taking orders or ordering through web and have no integration of its
system to its website.

 Legacy Network Support: Backbone network used by ACC is still the

same, which they used in 1993. They haven’t upgraded the network
support from then, which has started creating problems for them
already. As MIS of the company is improving day-by-day including more
and more functionalities, the network has already become very slow.

 Lack of training to managers to effectively use the decision support

functionalities of system: This is another problem that we felt at the
company. IT department is basically making the improvements in the
system continuously with new added functionalities, but there is lack of
training to managers to effectively use these functions in way that can
support them to make better decisions. For example, on an average, a
manager uses only 10-15 types of reports out of more than 200 types
of reports available.

CONCLUSIONS

Considering the given problems, their analysis and research on

comparative MIS systems used in the similar kind of industries,
following recommendations for the company are suggested.

 IT department of the company should now work towards integrating

the system on a higher level and making the company Paper-Less
Office. This should be done by integrating the system in a way that
the manual intervention be minimized in the day-to- day process.
 The company should also start Web-Based ordering and selling, so
that to be able to catch up with the growing industry.
 As more improvements in MIS would be done, and Web-support to
be also incorporated, it is more than sure that current Network
available is going to crash. To cop this, company needs to upgrade
its network. For this purpose, it is suggested the tie-up of company
with some outside contractors like IBM or CISCO to continuously
upgrade and maintain their network.
 With each up gradation, it is suggested to give training to the
managers of the company about effectively using the added
functionalities and use of them in a better way. This can be also
done by providing a handbook along with each up gradation.