MIS- Case Study Report

Topic: TESCO- Management Information System

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Contents
Background of Tesco plc.............................................................................................................................3
Information System.....................................................................................................................................4
Management Information Systems..............................................................................................................4
Application of Management Information Systems in Tesco Plc..................................................................5
a. One in front Camera system:...............................................................................................................5
b. Symbol MC50.....................................................................................................................................6
Operative uses of MIS in TESCO................................................................................................................6
Use of TPS in TESCO.................................................................................................................................8
Performance of TESO: Evaluation..............................................................................................................9
Interconnectivity within different departments............................................................................................9
Recommendations:......................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10

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Identify a business that has recently taken advantage of opportunities related to

information systems/technology management from the list contained on the last page of this
document. The content of the report must indicate a sound knowledge of the use, and impact, of
information systems within the researched organization. You will analyse the enterprise’s
management information systems and make recommendations including the strengths and
weaknesses that were revealed. Describe how the MIS system(s) are used to help the organisation
gain a strategic or competitive advantage in the industry.

Background of Tesco plc

Tesco Plc is a well-known retailer brand which has made its name in the industry a century ago. It is
listed as number 1 in the market of the United Kingdom and made itself 3 rd in the world (Berghout, 2020).
The company has listed around four several kinds of businesses under its name and has successfully
entered into the retail world through club cards, tech support, telecom and fuel. The primary source of
income remains the same for Tesco which is retail markets. Although it has invested in different stores
within the United Kingdom such as Tesco Extra, Tesco Metro, Tesco Superstores and Tesco Express. It
has known to have around 2400+ stores across the United Kingdom and around 2300+ worldwide
(Pratomo and Hapsari, 2017).

In the retail Industry, Tesco Plc limited bags around 30.5% of the total retail market, which consequently
leaves around 16.9% to its competitor ASDA, Morrison’s 12.3% and lastly Sainsbury occupies 16.3% of
the total market (Pratomo and Hapsari, 2017). The corporate strategy which aids Tesco's business is
marvellous and maleficent as they don't rely on the third party for trading. The core of the business lies in
implementing vertical integration which is successful due to its subsidiary businesses. Such strategy
which has over the years improved, advanced and innovate the Tesco plc is solely due to these novel
technologies. The credit for such advancement can only be given to its information System.

Information System

The mechanism to assure that the information is readily available to the managers to make sound
decisions is the core function of any information System. The information attained through such an
innovative system aids in taking better decisions for the organization (Berghout, 2020). The Computer
System are ready to aid the companies in evaluating and processing the raw data into information that is

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cost-effective, well presented and helpful in making future decisions. The people who are involved in
managing the Information system are responsible for the relevancy, timing and concision of the data.

Management Information Systems

The study conducted by the Hasan et al states that Management Information System (MIS) is the
application that is crucial in taking the internal data from the system and converting it in a manner that is
not only useful for the organisation but good for decision making for the management.

TESCO is one of the largest and global retailers that has successfully implemented the SAP and Oracle
Business Objects Pollsters applications. It is preferred because it is indeed an enterprise system.
Feasibility is the essential goal for using these applications which would help TESCO in the longer run
(Pratomo and Hapsari, 2017). To run its processes and operations locally and internationally, TESCO had
to implement different management information systems such as Oracle Marketing, accounting, HR, BI
and SAP.

MIS further helps the system in predicting the future of the processes by judging its present values. It
helps evaluate, manage and run the different departments which help in predicting and making better
decisions. The company can easily attain the reports of its employees and receive the monthly reports
which would help create analysis (Berghout, 2020).

The Business processes at Tesco are managed by the MIS. Considering, Tesco is a huge name on its own.
It comprises several business processes. Tesco has collaborated with the Hindustan service centre which
is situated in Banglore. It is the central hub of all the MIS used by the company. Moreover, it also is a
call centre, through which all the customer's complaints and after-sale service queries are handled (Rekha,
2014). Tesco provides Club cards to its customers. The use of club cards has made shopping easier for
the customers. One of the important processes maintained by the company is the supply chain, MIS is
used efficiently for communication between the retails and suppliers so that direct delivery of goods can
be made without intervening in the warehouse. It resulted in better stock control and handling of returns.

All such efficient system is introduced by TESCO are profoundly working on the management level, but
the company is recently working on the strategic level, it is trying to control one of the leading world
problems i-e carbon emission from all its stores for saving the environment (Rogers, 2018). A deadline is
handed over to the managers but the work on the software is still under process. There is a lack or
inaccuracy of the carbon emission by the TESCO stores. Although the company has already taken

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initiatives to deploy systems that would help in eliminating the waste products that could affect the
environment.

It should be noted that all the systems which are implemented due to MIS have been connected from the
top to the lower level of the company (Dubova & Kulemin, 2020). As the former setting was to centralize
the whole IT applications. This school of thoughts is declined as every concerned department uses a
module from the MIS which helps to facilitate the concerned stakeholders of the application.

Application of Management Information Systems in Tesco Plc

In general, The core advantage of any Management Information System lies with the managers so that
they can help the organizations in taking better decision (Dubova & Kulemin, 2020). This is a bargain for
every company to at least place the information systems around their all branches and shops, Tesco Plc
was one of the succeeding organizations who were successful in keeping their information systems
available to all the company’s sectors. Tesco also made sure that all the level such as from the employees
to heads, every operation within the organisation was automated (Rekha, 2014).

The MIS implemented within Tesco comprises further divisions which are insightful in attaining better
results. A few of the systems implemented are discussed below:

a. One in front Camera system:

The intended users for the system were the employees of Tesco which were assigned on the
management level. The reason was based to decrease the ques of the customers. The system
helped in providing or alerting the managers to open more aisles for the customers so that they
can be accommodated. Considering the condition of Covid 19, implementing the Covid
19restricted rules was a challenge on its own. The company had to implement such a system`
which could notify the amanger when the lines were long so that crowds manager avoided at the
billing counters. Additionally, there was criticism In the past over Tesco for keeping the
customers' weight. The implementation of such a system was insightful for the company in
numerous ways. The working of the system was easy, if there were more than two customers
ahead, another billing /cash counter would be open for the customers (Dubova & Kulemin, 2020).
The system was designed with help of the infrared which was mounted on the wall which helped
to judge the behaviour of the customer. The use of thermal imaging technology helped to judge
the number of waiting customers, it helps managers to make the right decision at the right time.

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b. Symbol MC50

The core idea of introducing such a management system device was to enhance the work
efficiency of the managers. The managers were mostly busy on their desks analyzing the data,
working and engaging themselves in the IT and business applications. Such involvement resulted
in little to no time for the managers to oversee the sales floor or see the work of the employees in
person (Rekha, 2014). To solve the issue, Tesco introduced the Symbol MC50, it was the
integration of all the work which was needed by the managers to get better results. It was
successful in integrating the Enterprise application of the company; it had other management
tools which could be helpful for the managers in the longer run. It also included security options,
device-level management, private bank exchange, inventory management and data capturing
tools. It also contained a bar code reader which could get the information of the product
profoundly. It was a good solution as it helped the managers to handle their manerial duties as
well as helping them in making sound decisions for the company.

Operative uses of MIS in TESCO

1. Department of Marketing and Sales :

Formerly, TESCO invested in the Linux system which could help in achieving the digital
marketing goals (Malshe, 2009). But later on, the company was compelled to switch to the
marketing platform of Oracle due to its evident results. The company was closer to its customer
than before. The digital marketing services of great help in providing the intelligence needed for
attaining and highlighting the targets set by the Consumer buying habits. The MIS was successful
in personalizing the discounts and the incentives to its customer so that it can promote customer
loyalty. The customers were encouraged to register to receive the Oracle promotions by using
their debit or credit cards. Every time a purchase was made by the Oracle customers, the data was
accumulated and more could be learned about the shopping behaviour of the customer. It was a
deep analysis of the customers so that their buying behaviours can be predicted (Walter, 2010).

2. Department of Accounting

The MIS implemented in the accounting sector had its usage and advantages. The company was
successful in attaining the crucial details regarding the customer, suppliers, inventory control,
Ledgers of sales and purchases, details of the products, invoices. It was very important as it

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helped in controlling the internal structure for that the compliance and audit reviews could get
better.

3. Human Resource Management

Tesco believes in the power of the human workforce. It is a vital key that aids in understanding
the success of a business based on its work (Tian, 2021). TESCO essentially believes in providing
different opportunities to its workers and encourages them to take part in higher education
programs for better certification. IT will help to enhance their skills. TESCO invested in mainly
providing two courses for its employees. The company wanted to introduce the training programs
so that the promotions within the company can be based on the results of such programs. These
programs were Pre optical test and optical test.
The target of such training programs was to improve the customer service skill and the retail
skills of the employees. To achieve this goal, software was used to provide the workforce
information was to the manager. The manager was informed of the start and end of any job
assigned to the worker (Armstrong, 2006). The Human resource management system was also a
great help to bring customer loyalty and retention.

Another essential use of the MIS HR System was helpful in theft issues within the retail shops.
The losses bared due to the theft are not only because of the shoplifting incidents but also
signified the poor information management (Tian, 2021). To contain such great losses of the
company, a disciplined approach must be carried out. It was attained by implementing the Point
of Sale (POS) systems which connected to the HR. The fraudulent returns can be managed
through the POS systems which can help the sales staff in searching through the information of
the customer which shows the inventory and financial information so that the staff can judge the
customer wisely and decide bitterly if the case is genuine or not. It is indeed very difficult to
judge such a situation without any support or proof.
The current system installed by TESCO is efficient enough that it keeps the finance and the
personal department updated. It contains all the information from the bank account to tax
contributions. The employees are observed on entry and exit of their job timings as it helps the
personnel department to sort out the wages and taxes of the employees profoundly.

4. Production and Manufacturing

There are at times several business situations that require quick action. The Business Intelligence
applications tend to give the schedules, proactive and even based alerts to the users directly

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through their emails (Nurwidayat et al., 2019). The Business Intelligence applications help in
keeping in check the overtime levels at any production facility to know if the budget has
exceeded, if such cases the alerts are sent to the concerned person or department, in most cases it
is the plant manager. The deviations are probably corrected and the profit margins are secured. To
a great extent, if needed new hiring can also take place to overcome the overtime.

Use of TPS in TESCO

1. Transactional Processing System
Most commonly known as TPS is one of the information systems used in the MIS which is
crucial and helpful in collecting, storing, retrieving and modifying the transactions that occur
within the organisation (Malshe, 2009). Any System can become TPS if it is successful in passing
the ACID Test. The ACID is the abbreviation of Atomicity, Consistency, Isolating and
Durability. The competence is enhanced with the help of standardization. TESCO has
implemented customer-made TPS for its company which has been aligned with the processes and
the business strategy of the system (Tian, 2021). The nature of the transactions within the
company are of two types :
i. Batch processing
ii. Real-Time Processing

The Batch processing is intrinsic for collecting the data at times when it's pre-defined. A huge amount of
data is processed by using unlimited resource. On the contrary, real-time systems help react to an event
which can be done in a pre-arranged time. Such systems are helpful in banks.

TESCO is dependent on the Transactional Processing System due to the number of transactions that are
made to different customers, suppliers and tertiary parties. It also helps to process the data of customers,
suppliers and employees on daily basis (Nurwidayat et al., 2019). It helps to attain patterns and data
mining techniques are used for extracting information from the collected data. The TPs used by TESCO
promises to deliver better results due to their inflexibility, reliability, rapid response and control
processing.

Performance of TESO: Evaluation

TESCO is indeed a service-based company that aids to provide its services around the globe in numerous
different sectors. It provides services with the help of different stores situated at different locations. The
organization n is habitual of following a hierarchy structure that uses the 3 tier structure, top-level

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(Heads ), middle level (Managers), and the low level (Crew members ) (Armstrong, 2006). There is no
doubt that the performance of TESCO has proven to be marvellous in the past decades, but its
performance has increased with the use of MIS. It should be noted that the organization has been able to
achieve optimization. The use of MIS efficiently has given the company a great advantage over its
competitors.

Interconnectivity within different departments

The centralized IT applications such as the Tera data MIS, HRM, Financials helps in attaining the
information on the different stores located at different places on a single network (Nurwidayat et al.,
2019). The company aims to get a common business process that should be aligned with the technology
to stay in the competitive market. The implementation of a centralised purchasing system has removed
the risks associated with foreign markets. Productivity and market competency has tremendously
increased by centralizing different departments.

Recommendations:
Currently, TESCO has successfully been using the MIS software provided by Oracle and SAP but the
bitter reality is none of them is fulfilling the required target. As there is a need for a system that can
accommodate employees around the globe.

The company needs to take part in social programs, work out on donations and help in the world crisis.
Since Tesco is a brand, and to attain that level of competency with its competitors. The organization
needs to actively take part in social services and promote their work.

The company needs to expand its business in Asia, the company needs to analyze the cultural and
strategic values of Asia before investing. It can be achieved if an MIS is implemented that can help in
data mining and help to attain meaningful results.

Conclusion
Tesco is a world-renowned brand that has made itself one of the top retailers in the country. It has got
benefits from both the MIS and TPS. Using such automated systems has only helped TESCO in analyzing
its sales figures and helping in increasing the revenues. Management Information Systems have always
made businesses successful and such efficiency can also been seen in TESCO core processes.

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References

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Berghout, E. (2020). COVID and Opportunities for Information Systems Management

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Dubova, M., & Kulemin, A. (2020). Development and Description of a Retail Outlet Simulation Model
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Malshe, A. (2009). Strategic sales organizations: transformation challenges and facilitators within the
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Nurwidayat, A., Sudarsono, B., Pratiwi, K., & Havity, M. (2019). Implementation of Information System
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Pratomo, D. and Hapsari, D., 2017. The Factors Affecting Information System Success in Inventory
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Rekha, Y. (2014). Performance Management System concerning Retail Industry. SSRN Electronic
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Rogers, K. (2018). Tesco adopts 100% degradable plastic bags. Plastics, Additives And
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Tesco boosts investment in leadership development. (2010), 42(2).

https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2010.03742bab.003

Tian, Q. (2021). Analysis of the Business Strategy of Tesco in the Chinese Market. Modern Economics &
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