Full Answer Section

Can you identify an example of a business you are familiar with?

I am familiar with Mabati Rolling Mills (MRM), a large manufacturing company based in Mariakani, Kenya, with significant sales and distribution operations across East Africa, including Kisumu County. They manufacture and supply steel building materials like roofing sheets.

List the kind of data the business maintains in its everyday reports.

MRM, as a manufacturing and sales company, would maintain a vast array of data in its everyday reports. Here are some key categories:

• Sales Data:
  • Daily/Weekly/Monthly sales volumes (per product, per region, per sales channel)
  • Revenue generated (gross and net)
  • Customer order details (customer name, product, quantity, price, delivery date, payment status)
  • Sales representative performance data
  • Discount and promotion effectiveness data
• Production Data:
  • Daily/Weekly/Monthly output (units produced per product line)
  • Raw material consumption (steel coils, paint, chemicals)
  • Production efficiency metrics (e.g., uptime, downtime, waste rates, energy consumption)
  • Machine performance and maintenance logs
  • Quality control data (e.g., defect rates, product specifications adherence)
• Inventory Data:
  • Raw material stock levels
  • Work-in-progress (WIP) inventory
  • Finished goods inventory (per product, per warehouse/depot location)
  • Inventory turnover rates
  • Stock discrepancies
• Logistics and Distribution Data:
  • Delivery schedules and routes
  • Delivery success rates and lead times
  • Fuel consumption for fleet
  • Vehicle maintenance records
  • Warehouse occupancy and efficiency
• Financial Data:
  • Accounts Payable (supplier invoices, payment schedules)
  • Accounts Receivable (customer invoices, payment received, outstanding balances)
  • Payroll data
  • Expense reports (operational, administrative, sales & marketing)
  • Budget vs. actual expenditure
• Customer Data:
  • Customer contact information (name, address, phone, email)
  • Purchase history
  • Customer feedback and complaints
  • Credit terms and limits
• Human Resources Data:
  • Employee records (personal details, roles, salaries, leave days)
  • Attendance and absenteeism rates
  • Training records
  • Performance appraisal data

Who or which department(s) maintains this data?

Data maintenance at MRM would be a distributed responsibility across several departments, often facilitated by integrated systems:

• Sales Department: Maintains sales orders, customer details, sales representative performance, and feedback logs.
• Production Department: Maintains production logs, machine performance data, raw material consumption at the factory floor level.
• Procurement/Purchasing Department: Maintains raw material orders, supplier invoices, and procurement records.
• Warehousing/Logistics Department: Maintains inventory levels, goods movement records, delivery schedules, and fleet data.
• Finance Department: Maintains all financial ledgers, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and expense data. They often have an oversight role in data integrity for financial reporting.
• Quality Control Department: Maintains quality inspection results and defect rates.
• Human Resources Department: Maintains all employee-related data.
• Information Technology (IT) Department: While not directly generating the business data, the IT department is crucial for maintaining the databases, servers, and software systems (like Enterprise Resource Planning – ERP systems) where this data resides, ensuring its security, accessibility, and integrity.