MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB:
- The Business Analyst is the connection between the Sales; Procurement, Supply Chain, Production Departments and the Finance Department through the management of Inventory levels and costs to ensure that required inventory levels are maintained for optimal production and the elimination of stock-out positions; management of inventory valuations and stock expiry.
- To support the Financial Controller and other Departments with qualitative and quantitative monitoring of Inventory levels and costs.
SCOPE OF JOB
BASIC JOB FUNCTIONS :
3.1. Inventory Levels:
- Responsibility to monitor overall inventory levels on a daily basis with analysis and reporting of any material fluctuations and cause thereof
- Prepare Monthly Management reporting pack for various meetings incl. Inventory/Procurement meeting
- Review, investigate and report on Product Class Fluctuations incl. drivers and reasons of fluctuations
- Review, investigate and report on Warehouse and Regional warehouse fluctuations
- Drive usage of Netstock (or equivalent) with all users for non Made-In items
(where applicable improve or develop equivalent MRP Tools and deploy) - Prepare procurement decision reviews/analysis to support appropriate Level Of Authority decisions and support Procurement/Financial Executives in decision making
- Production planning decisions – establish budgets, road maps and demand models in order to monitor, review and support production planning and Financial Executives incl. compilation of reports and data for monthly report packs
3.2. Validity, Accuracy, Completeness of Inventory Data
- Generically monitor all Inventory related Dashboards and indicators on a daily, weekly and monthly basis
- Monitor and report on all dashboard metrices to ensure no declining of metricies
- Monitor Line Management and Distributor adherence to Standard Operating Procedurs w.r.t. monitoring and timeously responding to issues highlighted in Dashboards
- Current Dashboards in place:
o Lot validity Review
o Lot Completeness Review
o Expiry Dates validity Review
o System Costs Accuracy Review (Supply Chain Transfer (SCT) specifically)
o System Costs Completeness Review
o FIFO review
o Expired Stock Sold
o Expired stock date changes
Dashboards relating to Pricing and Gross Profits)
- Working with Factory management, DC’s and Distributors on Invenotry data, levels, expiry, costs, etc.
- Actively develop additional Dashboards as and when identified as required for users
3.3. Internal Controls and Systems:
- Review of physical custody controls at all warehouses
- Investigation of all material Stock Losses as reported per General Ledger Stock Loss Control Account and monitoring and report of any trends that may indicate either theft or custody issues.
- Review of Lot accuracy – journal analysis of lot corrections to identify and quantify the extent to which the Factory, Distribution Centres or Distributor warehouses have Lot management issues
- Review of Customer Claims – monitor customer claims process and validate reasons for valid claims. Assess internal control weakness in respect thereof and propose internal control improvements as required to mitigate risk
- Purchase Price Variance for Bought-In items – monitor levels of all PPV accounts in the ledgers and obtaining of reasonable explnations for all material items from the applicable Financial Managers / Manager. Report to Senior Management thereon.
- Syspro Systems Development – continuous assessment and monitor of the structures and access levels of Syspro and related internal controls w.r.t. Inventory with the view to improve the risk profile of the business through the management of:
o Access
o Exception control
o Reporting Triggers
3.4. Stock counts and verifications
- Develop Reporting lines and capacity outside of Operations / Local Management with respect to the checking of physical custody and accuracy of inventory
- Develop and deploy system based cycle counting procedures such that cycle counts are sufficient to maintain
o a high level of inventory accuracy (above 99.5% by line item – lot, position, number) and
o prevent the need for annual stock takes
3.5. Expired and Slow Moving Inventory Management
- Convene and manage the Expired / Expiring Inventory meetings on a weekly / monthly basis which includes monitoring of all Sub-Saharan warehouses (Factory; Distribution Centres; Distributors and other Subsidiaries).
- Follow-up and ensure Operationss and Sales Executives provide and execute on plans and resolutions for soon to expire products which are identified as being at risk of expiry before sale
- Analyse Inventory profiles and dashboards to provide support to the financial review of Provisioning by the Finance Business Controller (provide information in respect of adequate levels of provisioning against slow moving inventory)
- Monitor Expired Stock levels at all warehouses and prepare disposal action reports for execution by Operations (including appropriate Levels Of Authority sign-off as required)
- Develop, deploy and monitor Dashboards to analyse slow moving & redundant non-traceable inventory
3.6. Inventory Master Data
- Constantly review Product Class allocations for all Inventory items to ensure proper and accurate allocation of Stock Keeping Units (SKU’s) to the correct and appropriate Product Class.
- Review and propose to Management any update of product class classifications when and if such changes are indicated as needed, working closely with the Master Data Manager
- Deploy, review and maintain the stocking classification system through custom fields in the Syspro inventory module which supports Sales, Researh and Development and planning systems – work/liase closely with Master Data Manager
3.7. Discontinued Inventory Items Management
- Support R&D with the execution of all aspects of product discontinuation including:
o Ensuring demounting of Bill of Materials (BOM’s)
o Product Class reclassification
o Sale/Disposal of remaining inventory
o Status change to Partial and full Hold, where applicable
o Ultimate demounting from warehouses and purge of history
3.8. Non Deli Products
- Support Food Safety with the development and deployment of Food Safety systems for Non-Deli traceable food products
- Support Operations and Procurement with the development and deployment of MRP systems for Non-Deli non-traceable Products
- Support Procurement with the development and deployment of MRP systems for Raw Materials
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:
- A good communicator with the ability to read and write reports in English.
- Organised and good planner.
- Out of the box thinker.
- Must be able to work independently and as part of a team.
- Ability to work under pressure and make good decisions in pressure situations.
- Meticulous with a high level of attention to detail combined with the ability to deliver on tight time schedules.
- Positive and energetic attitude with a hands-on approach to work.
- Mind set of “Finish Today’s Work Today”.
- Firm, friendly and fair – humility.
- Be analytical
- Have creative thinking
-
Be methodical with a strong understanding of the financial metrics of the business
-
QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS
-
A relevant tertiary qualification in Commerce/Cost Accounting/Financial Management
- A minimum of five years of experience in a business analyst (or similar) role (preferable within the Meat Industry or business high level of transactions and SKU’s)
- Very strong inter-personal and communication skills
- High Level user capabilities for data analysis including:
- Excel advanced user including Pivot Table proficiency
- Syspro advanced user
- QlikView (or alternative data analysis tools) advanced user (preferable)
Desired Skills:
- – Syspro advanced user
- Excel advanced user including Pivot Table proficiency
- – QlikView (or alternative data analysis tools) advanced user
Desired Work Experience:
- 5 to 10 years Business Analysis
Desired Qualification Level & Accreditations:
- Degree
- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
- Chartered Institute of Management Accountants