solution

Kapur foods are manufacturers of cereal products with
manufacturing plants in Ludhiana, Hisar, Amritsar, Meerut and
Rampur. Company processes of transforming grains into cereal
products begins on the farm with the harvest. Company has a
brand image in Northern India and has a 25% market share in cereal
products. Major competitors of company are international Cereal
suppliers with good supply chain, financial muscle and excellent
marketing.

Farm’s harvest is purchased by company directly from farmers,
Food Corporation of India, private and company collection agents
appointed by company warehouses in the state of Punjab, Haryana and
UP. Warehouses collects and stores grains from areas
allocated to them in their states. This is followed by primary
processing, packing and transportation from company warehouses to
the processing plants (depending on the grain). Company employs
third party road transportation partners for transportation of
grains.

Company website does not have e-Commerce capability and has only
static Web pages about history of company, information on products,
leadership and statutory reports etc. Company has recently
tied up with leading Indian and multinational eCommerce players to
sell its products all across India. Company will be required to
upgrade its IT infrastructure to fulfill B2B e-Commerce
requirements to fulfill partners orders. Company
stated objective for current financial year to optimize cost and
reduce process losses to improve profitability to generate
additional funds for expansion and creating e-Commerce
infrastructure.

Government of India has recently launched a tax incentive scheme
under Atam Nirbhar Bharat scheme for setting up Agro based
industries in rural areas. However, in order to get tax benefits
company has to meet new Agro products guidelines issued by
regulatory bodies & CSIR laboratories. GOI has also taken out
cereals from export ban list and has allowed export of Agro
products freely without any restrictions. FICCI study has indicated
that demand and consumption of cereals is increasing in India
particularly in metro cities because of increasing awareness of
health and fitness in younger population.

In order to encash its brand image and increase its market size
because of increased demand, opportunities for export of products,
and benefits from Government policies, company is planning to set
up state of art six plants in rural areas in Western and Sothern
India in the state of Gujrat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. It has
plan to setup its own warehouses and as an interim measure to use
external vendors warehouse for storage. Company is also
planning to get listed on Indian Stock Exchange in next six months
and issue an IPO to meet its expansion and technology strategy. Pre
IPO work is in progress.

During company annual board of directors meeting, recently
appointed CTO (MBA from IIM Ahmedabad with 20 years industry
experience in Agro Industries) presented report of an internal
study on its various operational processes. It was discovered that
company has serious logistical problem. It lost almost 15% of the
grain value harvested during collection, storage, cleaning, quality
inspection, packaging, wastage and transportation from farms to
warehouses and from warehouses to factories due to high use of
unskilled labor, poor supervision, poor & old technology
infrastructure, lack of automation, poor storage infrastructures,
poor quality purchase, pilferage, corruption, theft and other
issues. CTO proposed a detail study by a consulting company
to improve logistics processes, which was approved in board
meeting.

Consulting firm proposed a Business Analysis team of four
members to undertake detailed study of company processes and
systems from purchase of grains till its storages in processing
plants and suggest improvements to reduce wastage of grains in the
process. Finding & recommendation of team will help in
improving existing plants & designing of new plants and its
processes.

1. Why understanding strategy of company is a must requirement for
   business analysis project. Explain in the context of this
   assignment. Undertake SWOT analysis of company based on your
   understanding of company’s strategy.

1. As Project Manager and lead BA you are required to propose and
   define BPA project life cycle. Among multiple options available,
   which lifecycle you will use for this assignment? Justify your
   selection. What are the major phases/ activities of proposed
   lifecycle?

1. Stakeholder identification is key to success for BPA
   assignments. How will BA team identify stakeholders for this
   project? Identify major four stakeholders for this project with
   justification.

1. You are planning to use CATWOE techniques for
   stakeholder analysis. How does CATWOE help in business analysis and
   decision-making?

1. What are the investigation techniques you will use to
   understand company’s problems? Justify your selection of
   investigation techniques with reasons.

1. To investigate process problems, BA team plans to interview six
   Warehouse Managers, Head of logistics, Head of production and 10
   supervisors. Is this the right approach? Will conduct of
   questionnaire will be a better option. Lead BA has decided to use
   structured interviewing technique. What the advantages and
   disadvantages of structured interviewing in this BPA project.

1. What are the preparations required for conduct of planned
   interviews? What is the structure for conduct of an interview in
   this assignment? What do you understand by following up
   interview?

1. In order to brainstorm findings of interview and agree on
   solution options, BA has proposed to conduct a workshop with major
   stakeholders. What are your recommendations to handle vocal
   participants during workshop?

1. Will you be modeling the company business processes to study
   problems of company? Justify your answer. Which modelling tool will
   you use for this assignment and why?

1. Create a flowchart of Company Procurement Process from grains
   collection from farmers to its storage in cereal manufacturing
   plant.

1. Business Process Analysis assignment is supported by CEO and
   senior management of company but being opposed by trade union
   leaders and labour. Union leader is of the opinion that after
   the assignment company will bring automation and modern tools to
   streamline functions which will reduce manpower and lead in loss of
   jobs. What will be your approach to handle resistant Union leader
   who is opposing this assignment?