Indexing & developing hris in mostafa group of industries essay sample

Mostafa Group has been engaged in business since 1952 and developed the business activities in commercial Trading, import, export, manufacturing of steel products, Iron, MS Rod, Ship Breaking (Scraping of ocean going vessel), Artificial Leather, Rexine, Shrimp cultivation, processing & Export, Textile & Ready made Garments, Papers, Refining of Palm Oil, Soybean Oil, Coconut Oil, Vanaspati Ghee, Refine Iodized Salt, Tea Plantation & Export, Transport Sector, IT sector and also engaged in the financial sector such as Bank & Insurance , Health & Education sector . Mostafa Group of Industries has been set up a Group of highly experienced, well-educated and financially sounds Bangladeshi promoters who have excellent track record in Industrial and trading business operation. They have gained commendable practical experiences in various type of manufacturing and trading business.

At present Mostafa Group is one of the largest and leading private enterprise initiatives in Bangladesh. Mostafa Group has a filing system that is quite conventional & does not provide a proper systematic approach. It maintains mostly hardcopies for filing and for inter departmental communication. The current filing system has several limitations & the officials have to take a lot of pain for finding the files and in accessing it. From this it was inferred that developing a new system that is based on software can be a good remedy that will ensure a symmetric arrangement of files in a central server that makes it accessible maintaining sufficient privacy. The new system can be designed by outsourcing it to an external firm.

The task from designing to implementation to monitoring will reside with IT department head & he will be helped by one executive from each department who will be responsible for filing their own department.

With the development of central filing system & indexing the privacy of HR documents will be lost and for ensuring its privacy and updating the HR practice HRIS software can be designed that will make the tasks of HRD easier without increasing the number of workforce of HRD. So the decision might be proved economic.

The two systems can’t be put into practice altogether. Rather it is to be implemented by decomposing the entire task into different segments that will make it easier for the administrators to look whether there is any gap between planning & its implementation. It will help to establish a system that can be carried out for a longer period of time that will make the practices of the entire group organized, systematic & balanced.

While working in organizations in todays highly competitive & changing world people come across situations where they are to take decision which forces them either to stick to an existing practice system or to transform the practice system by getting into a new practice. The same is in the case with technology adoption.

Organizations do have a filing system. Everyone has a filing system no matter what whether it is organized or disorganized. With the development of technology the filing procedure is often maintained by using software in PCs (Personal Computers). Some people do it centrally whereas someone decentralizes to maintain this.

The local organizations in the country have been somehow quite reluctant to use technology to the fullest extent at the workplace. As a result of which the system of management becomes a bit disorganized with old school practices. Filing system & indexes are often used by many of the organizations but the problem often occurs with retrieving or finding the files when necessary. If not maintained systematically then there might be problems regarding its retention & effective use. So studies are carried out and must be carried out to show how important it is to have a filing system which is based on software that ensures its retention, timeliness, economy, classification etc.

Besides taking the concept of filing one must take into consideration the HR practices of the country. The concept of HRM is quite new in the country and the concept of HRIS (Human Resources Information System). HRIS is so new in our country that only students having courses of HRM becomes aware of the term. Many of the officials of an organization are still unaware with HRIS.

The study on HRIS needs to be carried out to show how the systematic arrangement of HR practices help organizations to achieve their goals & aligns itself to the business strategy that it pursues. HRIS –its knowledge, adoption, usefulness & process needs to be conveyed to people so that they utilize the benefits of HRIS to the optimum level.

The study carried out in this report the practice of filing & its updating at Mostafa Group of Industries. Besides it also suggests organizing its practices of HR into a sound and balanced HRIS practices that will benefit the organization to reduce its paperwork & the sensitive issue privacy can be maintained to the department. Its accessibility can also be ensured with the help of adoption of such type of system.

So basically such studies are needed to be carried out to inform the usefulness of adopting technology at workplace & suggests how quickly it can adopt and transform to a standard mode of practices.

Objectives of the Study

The Primary objective of the study is to partial fulfillment of internship evaluation at Mostafa Group of Industries. The main objectives of the study are as follows-

➢ To find the current practice of Filing System prevalent at Mostafa Group of Industries ➢ A critical evaluation of the current Filing System as compared to the Standard Filing System ➢ Up gradation of the current filing & indexing system (design & implementation) ➢ Conversion of HR practice of Mostafa Group of Industries to HRIS (Human Resource Information system) ➢ Phase wise planning for the implementation of Filing & indexing System & HRIS.

Methodology of the Study

The study has been conducted mainly with the help of primary data & as well as with the help of secondary data.

Primary Data Sources
➢ Observation Method
➢ Informal Interview with
o General Manager (HR & Admin),
o Senior Executive (HR & Admin).

Secondary Data Sources
➢ Mostafa Group Website (www. mostafagroup. com)
➢ Google (several PDF files & websites),
➢ Existing memos used for filing,
➢ Filing index list provided by HRD.

Literature Review-Some Basic Concepts

Filing-Filing is the concept of keeping the documents at a safe place where it is taken well care of & can be easily found. After a program is terminated it provides a process to store, retrieve & update the files. It is a central record keeping system arranged systematically & is transparent. Its access is not that difficult and is used when people work in groups.

Indexing-It is a device used to locate documents that has been filed. Indexing is an important aid to filing. Filing and indexing are so interrelated That filing without indexing is incomplete and indexing without Filing does not exist.

Indexing is the process of determining the name, subject or other captions under which the documents are filed. Index is a guide to records. The main purpose of an index is to facilitate the location of required files and papers. Index helps the staff to find out whether a particular file exists for a party or subject, and its place in the container. It also facilitates cross referencing. Where records are classified in numerical order, or subject wise an index is necessary.

Essentials of a filing system-the characteristics of an efficient filing system are as follows-
➢ Simplicity,
➢ Compactness,
➢ Flexibility,
➢ Retention,
➢ Accessibility,
➢ Economy,
➢ Safety,
➢ Timeliness,
➢ Classification.

Storage Place- In case of a digital filing system the files can be stored in the HDD, Floppy Disk, Optical disk, Flash memory or a file sever on a network protocol.

Method of Arrangement-Files can be arranged according to
➢ Subjects,
➢ Numbers,
➢ Alphabetical Order,
➢ Geographical order,
➢ Dates/Geographical order.

Filing Process- The process of filing can be discussed in 2 ways.

Way 1- The steps are as follows-
1. Receiving,
2. Action,
3. Follow up,
4. Collect Document to be filed,
5. Filing.

Way 2-The steps are as follows-
1. Separate work from the archival mode,
2. Label work files,
3. Choose location & fix,
4. Arrange.

HRIS- HRIS is software that helps to keep track & record of the HR practices of a particular organization. It divides the works according to HR functions and provides access whenever necessary.

Methods of Filing System- An organization can choose anyone of the two for adopting a filing system. These are as follows- 1. Centralized filing System- In this system a central department or a separate department is there who ensures the efficient storage & retrieval of information when necessary. 2. Decentralized filing system- In this mode the department itself is responsible for filing. In this case one department is not liable for the storage and loss of information by the other department.

Limitations of the study

While preparing the report several difficulties had to be faced this might have hampered the quality of this report. The findings could have been better if these limitations could have been overcome. Although the obstacles might seem less in number but still the hindrances created by this small group was massive which has stopped to produce the quality of the report at the desired or optimum level. The obstacles those were faced while preparing the report are as follows-

➢ Busy Schedule of the HRD,
➢ Lack of information,
➢ Lack of record keeping,
➢ Working with a newer concept,
➢ Disorganized record keeping.

Summary of Findings

1. Current practice of Filing System prevalent at Mostafa Group of Industries- Mostafa Group of Industries uses both softcopies & hardcopies to keep record of the files. But the group has remained with the old school basics of maintaining the records in printed form. Although it has a record keeping software but it still prefers to keep it safe with hardcopy storage. For softcopy storage Mostafa Group of Industries uses software named “ DREAMAPPS”. The softcopy storage in the group is maintained by the department itself in the form of MS Word files. For dispatching the file to an external agency record is kept in with the group name followed by the office name & then the department followed by no of letter, month & year. It is done in the following manner-

MG/HO/Admin/17/03/2012

In the pattern quoted above the first thing that comes is the name of the group that is MG or Mostafa Group. The next thing in the pattern is the name of the office. i. e. HO or Head office. Then comes is the name of the department followed by the no of letter sent by that department for that particular month. The last two blocks are for the month & the year. For internal communication or ensuring the smooth running of information the departments send memos and keep track of it. No formal procedure is applied rather the memos are stored and tracked by the department itself. The files in the department are kept in the desks and piles and are stored in a separate storage according to the specification and requirements of that particular department. In case of factories the responsibility of the filing resides with the registrar of that factory who is also responsible for maintaining the records. Most of the departments so far have not felt the necessity for a central filing system & a more systematic procedure. 2. A critical evaluation of the current Filing System as compared to the Standard Filing System- As said in the literature review an efficient filing system ensures – ➢ Simplicity,

➢ Compactness,
➢ Flexibility,
➢ Retention,
➢ Accessibility,
➢ Economy,
➢ Safety,
➢ Timeliness,
➢ Classification.

If we take Mostafa Group of Industries into account from the characteristics said above it does not ensure anyone of the above apart from the point of retention. It does not provide a systematic access to the files to the concerned officials & at the time when needed its unsystematic maintenance does not provide its retrieval and update.

In an informal interview with the General Manager of HRD & Admin this point came out that the current practice of filing often causes quite a problem to trace, find & use. The main problem occurs during dispatching official letters as quite often the same serial no is allotted to the different official letters. This problem is more particular when external agencies are sent with official letters from different departments to different agencies. Even one department usually does not find any record whether any of the other department has already sent a letter to an external agency.

It is well known that without indexing the filing system is incomplete. The major reason for absence of a sound implementation of a filing system is the absence of indexing. Indexing insures the tracking of the stored file and after a file is stored in a filing system. So although filing system s prevalent at Mostafa Group of Industries but the absence of indexing that (the art of tracking) has made the practice less effective.

The case is particularly true if we take into consideration the factories located at distant places of Mostafa Group of Industries. The quality of filing maintained by the registrar needs an improvement which is a crying need of time.

3. Up gradation of the current filing & indexing system (design & implementation) The current practice of Mostafa Group of Industries needs to be improved and must be brought at an optimum level. Either the existing system must be raised to meet the function of smooth running or a new system must be developed which meets the expectations.

The Senior Executive (HR & Admin) said that factory is the place that is having a vital need for having a sound software based filing system because ultimately factory is the place where the seed for profit is sown. The Registrar can take the responsibility for filing in their respective factories.

One of the proposals that came out during conversation with General Manager (HR & Admin) is to maintain a central dispatch no that can be ensured with a central server which might ensure he smooth tracing & uses of those files. but in the case of update we need somehow a procedure that is more systematic from where we must come to a point that is not only more smooth rather it is updated with time & provide a more systematic in not only external dispatch rather in internal dispatches as well. So a new system must be designed that calls for organizing the internal dispatches that will allow Mostafa Group of Industries to convert its practices of old & conventional memos to the updated filing system. There will be a central tracking no along with department name, organization name and date. So the name of the file would be alphanumeric as a consequence it will be traceable easily & can be searched under different criteria.