Retail Automation in Indian Oil

Description
Retail Automation is an initiative launched by Indian Oil Corporation
Limited for its Retail Outlets exiting across the country. The programme
enables remote access to the numerous data of any of the Automated
Retail Outlet. This is possible through upgradation / modication of
facilities existing at specic Retail Outlets. Through the programme all
the transactions that occur at the Retail Outlet i.e. receipt and
deliveries are captured and are for!arded to the Central "anagement
#erver !here it is stored and updated from time to time. The data is
then analy$ed for various applications.
Indian Oil being the largest national Oil Company has embar%ed on its
Retail Automation mission through strategic planning and pro&ect
execution rather than implementing pro&ects !ith short term
perspective. The Retail Outlet Automation of IOC has a Central
"anagement #ystem developed in'house( !hich is uni)ue in the Oil
Industry. The servers provided centrally at their *ead O+ce in "umbai
maintain total data security and integrity and the entire soft!are has
been developed by in'house experts. The server,s conguration is
scalable to meet the immediate and the ultimate Retail Automation
ob&ectives of IOC to cover all the Retail Outlets selling -.. /L and
above product per month. The Retail Outlets are having total
automation control for the level gauges( density measurement( data
capture for each transaction( stoc% reconciliation( alarms generation(
etc. The design of the system is such that the application can be
scaled for further automation li%e automatic generation of indents for
supplies to the Retail Outlets and integration of daily sales data to their
0R1 system.
2nli%e other Oil Companies( IOC,s strategic planning of having
centrali$ed common control has brought in assured integrity( reliability
and security !hich are essential for trac%ing and curbing adulteration.
The progress on the Retail Outlet automation has started stabili$ing(
!e are condent that by the end of this year !e shall be !ay ahead of
other Oil Companies and there !ould be about -... automated Retail
Outlets fully functional.

The Retail Outlets of Indian Oil Corporation !hich are selling more than
-.. /L/ month are being provided !ith Retail Automation solution.
Features of Retail Automation

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Automate forecourt operations in the Retail Outlet li%e3
Authori$ation of no$$les
Cash transaction
Credit/ 4ebit/ 5TRA1O60R 7leet Card
Capture sale details for fuel( lubricant 8 other
consumables
Inventory management
Online reconciliation of stoc%
9enerating indents
9enerating daily/ !ee%ly/ monthly sales reports
Lin%ing of RO !ith the *ead :uarters ;7ield O+cer/ 4O/ #O/
*O<
9eneration of trend reports ;pea%( lean( festivals(
campaign monitor<
Creation of customer database
=. Main problems which are addressed by Retail Automation
a< Reconciliation of Stocks3 The stoc% reconciliation
!hich !as being done by the dealer manually( meaning the
stoc%s of all the products is manually ta%en by gauging of
storage tan%s and then through caliberation charts the exact
stoc%s available at a particulat time is calculated. All the
4ispensing units are also chec%ed and totaliser reading are
ta%en to establish amount of product !hich have been
dispensed through the 42. The loss/ gain is thereafter
calculated manually. The On line reconciliation of stoc%s is
possible through automation.
b< Daily Stock Register3 There is no need to maintain
4#R as it is automatically generated since entire operations
including sales and receipts of products are captured !ith time
stamp.

c< Eliminate physical presence of Field Ocer3 The
7ield O+cer !ho is 7irst 1erson Responsible for any activity of
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the Retail Outlet need not be present at the RO to ta%e the
various "I# but can have the data through C"#. 0ven the
4ivisional O+ce / #tate O+ce / *ead O+ce can access through
C"# and get the various reports such as nil selling ROs(
Abnormal #toc% Losses( 42s lying idle( lo! stoc%s etc.
!" #ni$ue features%

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. stands beneted from the program in
follo!ing !ays 3
Assured &usiness3 #ince the entire transactions are
captured !ith time stamp( Corporation %no!s of the product
availability / sales being a>ected through each of the Retail
Outlet at any moment. Any Retail Outlet not a>ecting sales
can be established for !hich corrective action can be ta%en
by 7ield O+cer/ 4ivisional "anager.
'ustomer knowledge3 The system allo!s creation
of customer database thereafter( Company gets to %no! it,s
customer based on the customer prole( his buying habits 8
pattern. This can help in understanding the mar%et better.
Sale 'ampaign 3 Company can launch various sale
promotion campaigns through the Automated ROs based on
the buying patterns / pea% hours sales / type of vehicles etc.
8 customer contact information already available in the
customer database.
Energy 'onser(ation 3 The system is designed to
give alerts/ alarms as and !hen the product levels reach a
predetermined level in the storage tan%s. Corrective action
is immediately ta%en to o>set over?o!s from the from the
storage tan%s.
The sytem also captures lea%ages in the pipeline 8
tan%s and gives alarms / alert for ta%ing corrective actions
)" Results%
#ince its inception in the year -..@'.A( under 1hase'I( =-BB Retail
Outlets have been upgraded to automation and plans are for
upgrading additional C.. Retail Outlets during the current year
under 1hase II for !hich
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*" &ene+ts of Retail Automation o(er other competiti(e
alternati(es%
7ollo!ing features and benets o>ered under the program are
uni)ue in nature and are not o>ered by any other oil mar%eting
companies3
2pgrading the existing 4ispensing 2nits and upgrading them
indigenously compatible !ith the Automation system.
.4evelopment of Central "anagement #erver inhouse.
," Management support for de(elopment - nurturing%%
6hile the entire concept and Dusiness Logics !ere provided by IOC(
the development of the various applications have been designed by
the Eendor( "/s *oney!ell 8 Tata Consultancy. !hich are leading
company involved in providing such solutions.
Organi.ational support for the /ro0ect%
a" Idea Management"
4edicated resources !ere identied and entrusted !ith the &ob of
conceptuali$ing.
b" 'ross1functional teams in problem1sol(ing and
crystalli.ing ideas"
The entire concept( its nurturing( development and implementation
!ere done by the cross functional team of IOC comprising of
members from Retail #ales( 0ngineering and Information #ystem
4epartments.
c" 2urturing emotional intelligence and pro(ocation"
The pro&ect !as totally supported by the management in terms of
nurturing the dedicated resources( encouraging them to thin% out of
the box and providing all the necessary nancial allocations.
F F F
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