Assignment on
Information System of
British American Tobacco Bangladesh

Prepared for:
Course Instructor: Dr. Alamgir Hossain
Course No: BUS 516

Prepared by: Name | ID | Israt Nadia Orin | 131 1472 060 | Tazeen Hussain | 131 0699 060 | Marjana Tabassum Anna | 132 0636 060 | Shristi Rana | 131 0733 660 |

Date of Submission: 19-08-2013

School of Business
North South University

Table of Contents 1. Letter of transmittal ……………………………………………………………………………. 3 2. Acknowledgement …………………………………………………………………………… 4 3. Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………. 5 4. Chapter: 1 Organizational Overview ……………………………………………………………………… 6 1.1 Background of British American Tobacco Bangladesh ……………………. 6 1.2 Production Process Overview ……………………………………………………….. 6
Production Process Flow ………………………………………………………………… 7 1.3Green Leaf Threshing Plant ………………………………………………………………. 8 1.4 Primary Manufacturing Departments………………………………………………. 8 1.5Secondary Manufacturing Departments ……………………………………………. 8 1.6 Distribution and Consumer ………………………………………………………………. 8
5. Chapter: 2 Information System in BATB ……………………………………………………………… 9-15 5. Chapter 3 Limitations …………………………………………………………………….. 16-17 6. Chapter 4 Prospects ……………………………………………………………………………. 18 7. Chapter 5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………. 19 8. Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………………. 20

19th August, 2013

The Course Instructor,
Dr. Alamgir Hossain
Business School,
North South University

Subject: Submission of Assignment for completion of course

Dear Sir,
According to our course requirement we are submitting our assignment titled “Management Information System of British American Tobacco Bangladesh.”
Through this course, it was a great opportunity for us to acquire great practical knowledge and insights about information system of a company or a firm.
With your guidance and our outmost effort we have tried to compile the assignment as par your instructions and requirement. We hope our assignment will prove to be satisfactory.

Sincerely Yours,

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Israt Nadia Orin - 131 1472 060
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Tazeen Hussain - 131 0699 060
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Marjana Tabassum Anna - 132 0636 060
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Shristi Rana - 131 0733 660

Acknowledgement
Our first and foremost sincere thanks to Professor Dr. Alamgir Hossain, School of Business,North South University, who gave us the opportunity to carry out this assignment and also provided us with the necessary guidance to complete the assignment. We hope the contents of this course as well as the work experience of compiling this assignment will help us to prosper and enhance our understanding in our career as a business graduate.
We must also thank British American Tobacco Bangladesh for giving us their valuable time to provide us with the necessary information which helped us to prepare this report.
We would also like to thank our all group members who were very friendly and sincere about completing the assignment without which we might not have been able to complete this project work properly.

Finally, we would like to thank our friends and family, for all their support and encouragement.

Executive summary
Information system is the key to the success of an organization today. This report is about the information systems used by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB). It is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, with a ling established reputation for providing its consumers with consistently high quality brands.
The report gives the details regarding the various information system used by BATB. As from our findings BATB is currently using five applications named SAP, BATleaf, IQMS, Business Xpress, Wings in its different business layers of Green Leaf Threshing(GLT) plant, Primary Manufacturing Department, Secondary Manufacturing Department, Distribution and Consumers. Although they are the number one tobacco company in Bangladesh tobacco industry yet they have limitations and facing challenges in every level while competing globally. It is still lagging behind its other global subsidiaries like BAT Malaysia. In our findings, we compare the IS used by BAT Malaysia and strongly recommend BATB to adopt the globally followed IS in order to run the business more efficiently and cost effectively and enhances their performance and increase the profitability.

Chapter 1; Organizational Overview
The British American Tobacco group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cigarettes, marketing its product in almost every country worldwide. This Group companies produce some 684 billion cigarettes through 47 cigarette factories in 40 countries. Four of these and two separate plants also make cigars, roll-your-own tobacco and pipe tobacco.
British American Tobacco Bangladesh, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco is the recognized leader in Bangladesh cigarette market, with a ling established reputation for providing its consumers with consistently high quality brands.
1.1 Background of British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB)
In March 01, 1949 Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) came into existence with the head office in Karachi and the East Pakistan office was set in Motijheel, Dhaka. The first factory in then East Pakistan was set in Chittagong in 1952 which was later closed on 1991 whereas the Dhaka factory came into production in1965.
After independence, Bangladesh Tobacco Company (Pvt.) Limited was formed on February 02, 1972 which was converted to a public limited company on September 03, 1973. British American Tobacco played a pivotal role in BTC’s creation in 1972. To pronounce the successful relationship with BAT, BTC has changed its name and identity to British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) on March 1998.
1.2 Production Process Overview
BATB has a Green Leaf Threshing (GLT) plant in Kushtia. The purpose of GLT is to convert tobacco into form suitable for cigarette production. The tobacco is brought to a uniform moisture level and temperature. Initial blending of different grades of tobacco takes place at GLT. The processed tobacco is sized and packed before delivery to Dhaka factory.
The Dhaka factory has divided its production process to three departments; i.e. ‘Primary Manufacturing Department (PMD)’, ‘Filter Rod Department (FRD)’ and ‘Secondary Manufacturing Department (SMD)’.
PMD processes the bales from GLT and supplies cut tobacco in a perfect condition with required maturity to SMD. SMD also gets filter rods from FRD and the finished cigarette is made and packed here. Seed to smoke:
Cigarette production in BATB consists of four departments namely, Green Leaf Threshing (GLT) - Kushtia, Primary Manufacturing Department (PMD) - Dhaka, Filter Rod Department (FRD) - Dhaka and Secondary Manufacturing Department (SMD) –Dhaka. The entire production process is termed as ‘seed to smoke’.

Growing/ harvesting tobacco

Consumer
Storing/ shipping/ distribution
Secondary manufacturing
Primary manufacturing
Aging/ storing
Green leaf threshing
Curing

Fig: Production Process Flow

1.3 Green leaf threshing plant:
Tobacco is the primary raw material of cigarette which is mainly produced in our country, still some tobacco are exported to add flavors for different brands. In our country, tobacco is mostly harvested in Kushtia and the green leaf threshing plan is situated there.
As tobacco is harvested, it is cured by the farmers. Curing is a carefully controlled process to achieve the texture, color and overall quality of a specific tobacco type. During the cure, leaf starch is converted into sugar, the green color vanishes and the tobacco goes through color changes from lemon to yellow to orange to brown like tree leaves in autumn.
The cured leaf is then processed through green leaf threshing plant. The main purposes are to- * Remove sand, dust, scraps and foreign materials * separate the lamina from the stem (threshing) * drive down the tobacco to a safe keeping moisture content
Processed tobacco is then packed into 200 kg cardboard boxes, for shipping to manufacturing sites.
1.4 Primary Manufacturing departments
When processed tobacco leaf arrives at the Primary Manufacturing Department of the factory, it is checked for quality and carefully blended with other ingredients that the brand recipe may call for, such as flavorings or expanded tobacco. PMD is divided into two lines- Lamina and Stem.
Keeping track of the various types of tobacco and blend components in use is key and computers are increasingly used to track production runs. Moisture content is also crucial. Too dry and the tobacco leaf will crumble; too moist and it may spoil during storage. The blended tobacco is treated with just the right amount of steam and water to make it supple and is then cut into the form used in cigarettes. Excess moisture is then removed so the cut tobacco can be given a final blending and quality check.
1.5 Secondary manufacturing department
Cigarettes are made up and packed in SMD. Here the cigarettes are first made and then packed for final shipping. Its average daily output is approximately 68 million cigarettes.
1.6 Distribution and Consumer: In this part of production process finished products, i.e. cigarettes are sold by different distributors in the country to customers.

Chapter 2; Information System in BATB

2.1 Currently BATB has several applications in different departments and all the BATB applications are distributed into BATB business layer. Such as:

TalenT HR,
Enable HR,
Galaxy Payroll & HR
Midas ,
Reward
Contract Management
Share management

Fig: AS IS application Landscape in Business Layer

2.2 The existing information systems used in different business layers of BATB: I. SAP: SAP or Software Application Product is the most popular system that provides users with real time business application to track business operations and customer relationship. BATB is using SAP in every layer of its business from seed to smoke. Among various SAP applications BATB uses the following : * ERP: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a cross-functional software module that supports the basic internal business processes. It gives an integrated real-time view of BATB’s core business processes such as production, order processing, and inventory management * APO Demand Planning is a set of functionalities around Demand Management, Statistical Forecasting, Promotion and Life-cycle Planning processes. It is an integral part of any organizations Sales & Operations Planning Process. * Customer Relationship Management(CRM) – helps companies acquire and retain customers, gain marketing and customer insight * Supply Chain Management (SCM) – helps companies with the process of resourcing its manufacturing and service processes * Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) – enables companies to procure from suppliers

II. BATleaf is a system developed to automate the following business area of BATB in their leaf operations. * Farmer Management * Management of Materials and Supplies to farmers * Green Leaf Purchase and Payments Management * Green Leaf Inventory Management. * Process Planning * Green Leaf Threshing * Quality Assurance * Packed Leaf Inventory * Factory Efficiency * Traceability

Apart from the above set of functionalities, the following additional features would be provided by the system that would be applicable at a system level:

* Data recording using a defined, standard organization structure for easy consolidation and reporting * Ability to view the inventory position at a higher, macro level (across regions, divisions etc.) as well as at a lower, micro level (Go-down, Pallet level etc.) * Ability to interface with the following devices: * USB Scanners for reading barcodes, RS232 scanner for Weighing Scale application alone for reading the barcode * PDAs for capturing Processing Inputs and Outputs, Inventory, Infestation control activities. * Electronic weighing scales for reading the weight * Generic and Parameter based system to cater to difference in business scenario across operating countries. * Data Synchronization across locations within the company through Replication of data * Ability to save the output of Dynamic Queries as Tab Separated Files * Authorization based on the user profile and data level access control * Audit trails * Data Archival * Interface to existing Quality Assurance systems. * Shipment Instructions and Sales Order Processing * Packing Material Purchases * Interface to other systems for Traceability. * Packed Leaf Costing * Logistics Planning * Machine Maintenance and Spares Management * Plants Performance Management such as Auto recording of downtime, Energy Consumptions etc. * Payments to Other parties like transporters, contract labours, outsourced processing

III. IQMS: Having a huge operation in Bangladesh BATB cares in every step of the production, especially during product manufacturing it is aware about the products’ quality. For ensuring standard quality of the products BATB honors the automated process of quality maintaining. Hence it is using several distinguished computer applications for different modules. Since data are stored separately from different workstations, combined reports from that data is almost impossible or BATB has to get all data together manually and generate reports from there. For this, BATB has an integrated application where all the modules data are stored together for further execution as well as report generation named Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). IQMS is a desktop application that uses a single database for data storing from different workstations installed with the appropriate module and all workstations are network connected with the database server.
As mentioned above, IQMS is used at primary and secondary manufacturing process. They use this for testing temperature, moisture, fill value, filter rod, firmness and pack seal of the cigarettes produced in BATB.

IV. Bxpress : As mentioned above Bxpress is used in the process of distribution and consumer. It has basically two modules; Order placement and Customer feedback. In the Order placement module customers and distributors place their orders for cigarettes for a particular time period, say, ten days while Customer feedback module is designed to take customers complaints about the products. a) Order placement: This modue is used to generate information about monthly and weekly sales of distributors located in different regions across the country. This information is useful for the supply chain management to carry out its functions of purchase and procurement and enhance the functions of PMD and SMD. The weekly and monthly sales information of different distributors helps management: * To know about sales volume * Measure the performance of distributors * Daily delivery report * Sales forecast b) Customer feedback: This module of Bxpress receives customer feedback about the quality of the products. Basically customer complaints are locked in this software such as damp and damage, flaws in packaging and any other physical quality. These complaints are then investigated by the management and checked by tracing back the machine that produced the faulty products.

V. Wings: The Bxpress Wings Process Flow is a new software module designed in a similar way to perform only invoicing feature of SAP software inside Bxpress web application. SAP does not function for reporting reason around four-five days of a month. During these days, of SAP downtime Bxpress Wings Process Flow will work to print Truck Load Order, Invoice, Consignment Note and VAT Challan whenever sales incur or products are moved to depot houses at different locations.

The main function of Wings Process Flow is to continue with the sales process of British American Tobacco Bangladesh by providing them the sales documents. The Wings Process Flow will generate mainly four sales documents that are:

a) Truck Load Order b) Invoice c) Consignment Note d) VAT Challan

The sales process of BATB includes releasing products from CSC to: a) Distributors b) Depots c) Retailers d) Customers.

1. A Truck Load Order is a sales document issued when products are taken out of BATB using a truck. Users can select an order list and click on Truck Load Order to get it printed.

2. Whenever cigarettes are released from CSC to any of the above parties invoices has to be sent to the receiver. Therefore, every time invoices are to be printed through this Wings Process Flow except for Depots. A Consignment Note is issued instead of an invoice for the depots only. Users can get these two sales documents printed by selecting the order and clicking Invoice/Consignment Note.

3. Every time cigarettes are moved from CSC, VAT is added. Therefore a VAT Challan is also printed with every orders made with CSC. It is to be noted carefully that VAT is added when cigarettes are moving out from CSC only and not from depots. Therefore depot users will not be able to print any VAT Challan. After generating Invoice/Consignment Note CSC user will generate and print VAT Challan.

2.3 Human Resource Management System/ Human Resource Information System (HRMS/HRIS): Currently BATB has a system named Galaxy which HR uses for – Payroll process, MIS, LTA, Funds, Tax, Personal Payment, Overtime process, Reward System etc. It is basically combination of different application which shares three different Databases.
Below is the brief of current HR system architecture in words:
A. HR & Payroll for a. Management Employees b. Non-Management Employees: I. Dhaka Factory II. Kushtia Leaf Area c. Seasonal Workers of Kushtia Leaf Area.
B. Features & functionalities of current software: a. HR : I. Detail Employee Profile. II. Employee Life Cycle (Joining, Confirmation, Management Trainee, Transfer, Promotion, Final Settlement) III. Organ-o-gram IV. Head Count Related activities (Non Mgt) V. Leave VI. Disciplinary Module (Non Mgt)

b. Payroll: i. Benefits, ii. Arrears, iii. Loans and advance etc. c. Yearly Activities: I. Bonuses II. LFA III. Provident Fund IV. Gratuity V. Income Tax VI. Provision settlement with SAP. VII. LTA VIII. Season Start, End for Seasonal Workers
C. Other associated Modules: a. Attendance b. TRM (Non Mgt) c. Pension Module (Mgt)

D. Integrations with other systems which are not directly dependent on Galaxy Database: a. SAP b. Lotus Notes c. Dispensary (Developed by CEL using MS VB 6.0)
E. Other peripheral applications which are directly dependant on Galaxy Database: a. Galaxy Self Service b. Instant Reward & Statement(YES & Share) c. Emplopedia (Reporting portal for Non-Management)

Chapter 3; Limitations

4.1 BATB is using multiple local and global applications. Hence it is difficult and time consuming for global management to take any business critical decision in quickest time frame. Manageability of multiple applications also requires higher AMC (annual maintenance contract) which increase the cost of production in tax intensive market. Also, application administration in local market is difficult and expensive.

3.2 Current limitations of HRMS/HRIS: Inaccuracy * Incorrect PF information * Tax assessment * Arrear calculation
Not Integrated * Different module for same database * Complex interface Less room for customization * No option to make any adjustment * Arrear payment Anonymous malfunction * Error in festival bonus calculation. * Final settlement Difficult to generate any report * Difficult to prepare any dashboard/report * Misrepresentative information Manual intervention * LTA Payment * Manually prepared Tax certificates for ex staff * Retrial funds management
Business Continuity * Hampering business continuity Compliance Issue * Compliance issue may arise for any wrong salary and benefit calculation Inefficiency * Extra man hour involved for the inefficient system

Chapter 4; Prospects
4.1 As we have mentioned earlier, British American Tobacco is a multinational company and its subsidiary BATB is the leading company of tobacco industry in Bangladesh. In our analysis we have found that even this giant company has limitations and scope to improve. As being the number one tobacco company in domestic market we can compare the information system of the company with its global subsidiaries. Like, here we have compared the Information System of BATB with that of British American Tobacco Malaysia. They are using one single Information system named TaO (Target Operating Model + OneSAP) for their overall information system throughout each level of its business layers which will remove the need to use a number of applications, their modules and sub modules. Also it is cost effective and time saving for global management decision.
This new system, TaO, will also reduce number software used by HR of BATB. Currently they are using TalenT HR, Enable HR, Galaxy Payroll & HR, Midas, Reward, Contract Management, Share management. If BATB adopts TaO, the new HRMS/HRIS will need to use only Global Contract Management and Share Management

4.2 Application Landscape in Business Layer of BAT Malaysia:

BATB HRIS
Global Contract Management
Share management

Chapter 5; Conclusion

In the conclusion we are able to say from our findings that British American Tobacco Bangladesh, a subsidiary of British American tobacco, which is also the market leader of tobacco industry of Bangladesh, is already using a standard Information System which helps them to perform well and be the market leader from the beginning of its journey. But while comparing globally it is still lagging behind many of its global subsidiaries operating around the world. Thus we strongly recommend them to follow the updated Information System to enable them compete globally.

Bibliography:

1. British American Tobacco Bangladesh. 2. ESDS innovating future technology. (n.d). Retrieved August 2013, from http://blog.esds.co.in/introduction-to-sap-systems-applications-and-products/ 3. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. (n.d). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Applications_Products_audit