Hard Rock Cafe Case Study PDF

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This is the hard Rock Cafe Case study, it is one of the assignments for the class....

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Hard Rock Café Case Study 5/30/21 MISM 2301

1. What were the three most problematic information systems the Rank Group initially identified at Hard Rock Café? As part of your answer, describe why each of these became the most important requirements for improvement based on how it impacted the company’s ability to conduct day-to-day operations and process transactions, ensure adequate management and control over resources, and ultimately inform and execute corporate strategy – such as the “second wave of IT-based initiatives” that led to the implementation of a so-called customer relationship management system. (Reminder: a single problem can actually create multiple needs for improvement across more than just one of the information requirements as shown within the MIS Integrative Framework) 3 problematic information systems identified in Hard Rock Café: 1. Restaurant management System: The Rank Group decided to buy back and repurchase all the franchises in the United States under one brand. This was only the first step in trying to unify the Hard Rock Café brand once again. All 50 of these Hard Rock Café’s had different owners and slightly different technological standards implemented by the previous franchisees, meaning that none of these cafes/restaurants had the same restaurant management systems. All of the restaurants lacked standards in order for the corporate office of the Rank Group to understand any information coming in from these various restaurants. This meant that there needed to be a new wide-scale information system implemented in order for the restaurants to run smoothly under a singular entity. This meant that the Rank group could NOT implement any corporate strategies until the restaurants were actually unified using the same technology and software. This is the first necessary step in order to fix and solve all the other problems down the line, such as the improvement of dayto-day operations, process transactions, and oversee adequate management and control over each individual restaurant’s resources. Without a set standard for restaurants management systems, all 50 of these restaurants would be a problematic mess for the corporate office to understand the data, figure out a plan to fix all the other necessary problems, and finally implement the fixes it to all 50 restaurants.

2. Merchandise Inventory System: The merchandise system for Hard Rock Café was a HUGE mess. The old system merely relied on managers noticing that they ran out of inventory and then contacting corporate in order to ask for more merchandise when it was needed (basically there was no system). Considering merchandise sales accounted “for hundreds of millions of dollars per year- half of the Hard Rock’s revenues”, there needed to be an adequate system in place in order to manage inventory and sales easily across all 50 chains. Considering that HALF of Hard Rock Café’s revenues came from merchandise, there needed to be a well-built merchandise inventory system in place in order for the chain to capitalize on this aspect of their business (for all we know merchandise sales could have been ¾ of total revenues if there was an adequate system in place). The control over inventory resources was horrific prior to the implementation of the MicroStrategy platform. Day to day operations were impacted significantly, such as the time when a new Hard Rock Café was opened and it could not sell any T-shirts for 3 weeks due to the inadequate system that was being used. Potential profits were lost due to not having a simple merchandise inventory system, and profits play a significant role in almost all aspects of a business (profits can be reinvested in order to improve the company as a whole). 3. Financial System: The final and possibly most problematic information system identified was the financial system. The financial system, just like the inventory system was a complete headache and mess. The “system” (if you can even call it that) entailed all 50 restaurant managers to email a copy of financial statements to some person in corporate. This person would then go on to put these numbers into a Excel sheet and then put these numbers into a Lawson Software Financial Module. This system had 50 different general ledgers for each of the restaurants and was a headache for corporate to understand. Not only was the information not layed out in a concise manner, it also had a chance in being wrong due to human error. The chance of all 50 ledgers being correct isn’t too high when they are being manually put into a system and an error in the system will lead to other various problems across the corporation. Having to look at 50 general ledgers and then trying to incorporate and execute corporate strategy would be a HUGE headache, meaning the whole financial system needed to be changed. Without an adequate financial system in place, corporate could not oversee day-to-day operations because they cant see the numbers and see what is going on at a specific Hard Rock Café. Now with an actual system in place, corporate can

see the sales of an exact location day to day, and not have to wait for each data set to be inputted manually by the LARGE finance staff. Without the implementation of these KEY information systems conducting day-to-day operations, processing and understanding transactions, ensuring adequate management and control over resources across all 50 chains, and most importantly being able to implement corporate strategy across the board would have been IMPOSSIBLE. Through using money to purchase these new and necessary systems, Hard Rock Café was able to solve these problems without wasting valuable resources trying to implement a corporate strategy across this ‘mess’. 2. Using the Table 3.1 on page 46 of the textbook (in Chapter 3), assess the data quality of Hard Rock Café’s financial reporting in the period when they had 50 different general ledgers and why you think each dimension is either adequate or inadequate.

Accurate

Inadequate: The financial reporting system could not have been more of a mess. In order to get the information into each respected ledger, it had to be passed on through 3 people, meaning there was an extremely high chance of there being an error in the information being inputted. If one of those people make a mistake, it keeps getting passed on until it finally get to the ledger, meaning one mistake by the staff will cause for a mistake across the whole financial system. This system is too inadequate due to the chances of there being an error and the way the whole system in itself works, there is a high chance that the info that made it to the ledger is NOT correct, free from error, which in turn makes it NOT reliable.

Believable

Inadequate: Considering that each of the 50 restaurants had their own restaurant management system, the information being provided across the board will be slightly or more than slightly different. When the information goes through the hands of multiple finance staff there could quite possibly be some kind of error, which in turn will lead to the information not being true and credible. ALSO,

most of the information provided by the managers at each respective chain location could be flawed in a way that boosts their individual performance. This could lead to false information being reported, considering each manager can change the information.

Objective

Inadequate: As mentioned previously in the believable section, information may be flawed in a way that makes the performance of one chain to be seen as being better than it actually is. Although this case would be unlikely, there is still a chance for ‘accidental’ bias that makes one chains performance seem better than it actually is.

Consistent

Inadequate: The data may be consistent when considering the data provided by each respective chain will be the same. But the data provided across all 50 chains will definitely be different considering that they each use their own restaurant management systems. For that reason, I believe the data to be inconsistent due to each restaurant will be sending in slightly different information to corporate, which just makes the job that much more confusing and harder for the finance staff.

Understandable Inadequate: As mentioned previously, each restaurant uses their own restaurant management system, meaning that information will be different across the board. That being said, I am answering this question from the perspective of the finance staff having to input this information. Each chain will have their own way of writing and sending in the information, which can make it difficult to understand and comprehend how they are using resources or what merchandise they are selling (just an example).

Relevant

Inadequate: The information needs to pass through a series of finance staff until it can finally make it’s way to the 50 respective ledgers. This information was not passed down daily, or hourly, but probably weekly, meaning the information will lack the necessary timing and will probably not be applicable to the respective task.

Timely

Inadequate: The information available on the ledger was definitely not timely. The time it took for the information to get to the ledger really depends on how long it took for the finance staff to input it. This means that if someone on the staff was having a bad day, that would translate into the data being possibly flawed or the data just taking longer to get ‘processed’ and put into the ledger. The new system in place by MicroStrategy allowed the data to be available instantly and be reconciled daily.

Comprehensive

Inadequate: The information available across all 50 chains is the information that each respective manager decided to give to the finance staff. Some information may be lacking in certain cases or may just have not been made available. Furthermore, examining 50 ledgers and trying to comprehend the information would honestly be IMPOSSIBLE. One will be able to see the numbers, but to comprehend it and understand it will be a challenging task.

Current

Inadequate: Prior to the new system being implemented there was definitely a considerable delay in when corporate gets the information, puts it in, and then processes it into the 50 respective ledgers. Assuming the information was sent in daily, it would still take at least half a day to process and input the information into the ledger. If the information is sent in weekly, then there is a huge delay in when the information becomes available to the necessary

people reading each respective ledger.

3. The Hard Rock Café case mentions the “completed data warehouse project laid the foundation” for other information system improvements. Go to chapter 14 in the textbook and read the section on Data Warehousing. Why would the implementation of this sort of thing be considered a foundation for data management at Hard Rock Café?

The data warehousing system for Hard Rock Café did not work at all, as mentioned by Ward and Little. Through using a data warehouses necessary information such as: restaurant point-ofsales customer data would be stored, including merchandise sales, customer demographics and customer preferences. As answered in the first question, merchandise sales are a VERY important aspect of Hard Rock’s business, meaning that there needed to be a place where the data regarding sales and inventory of merchandise can be stored. The implementation of data warehousing is a KEY foundation of data management because it allows for other systems to be built off of it. Without the first step in creating a data warehouse, none of the other new systems implemented would have been possible to be made. The implementation of data warehousing in turn translates into business leaders being able to make and implement better decisions for the business to improve and succeed, these decisions include adding information systems to better the company and manage the data coming in. Consider a data warehouse like a regular warehouse where you store your inventory. If you want to sell toy cars you will need a warehouse where you can store all your inventory, and then send it out to where it needs to go. A data warehouse acts the same way, it can store information, and if that info is needed in lets say the merchandise inventory system, it can take data from there and put it into that respective system.

4. What business needs (or primary value discipline) do you believe applies most to Hard Rock Café that eventually led them to implement a customer relationship management system, and what additional requirements for data management did this create? (To learn more about customer relationship management

systems go to the index on page 371 of the textbook which lists the pages where you can read more about them, and/or do some companion research of your own). The primary value discipline that applies to Hard Rock Café and their implementation of a customer relationship management system would have to be customer intimacy. Customer intimacy is about understanding the needs and wants of the customer and even providing offers that go with a specific customer wants and needs. This helps build on the company’s customer loyalty due to the company and the customer building a sort of bond through customer intimacy, which leads to customers coming back and eating at Hard Rock Café. Focusing on customer intimacy and implementing a customer relationship management system will help Hard Rock manage its interactions with customers. Not only will it manage customer relationships, it can also help Hard Rock Café offer personalized products or services for existing and loyal customers. When implementing a CRM system Hard Rock will need to additionally store information about customers name, email address, order history (regarding merchandise and possibly food), and how the customers feel about the brand in general. Then they will be able to use this information to tailor personalized offers to loyal customers, by offering discounts, merchandise gifts or other possible promotions....