Rock in a Hard Place
Management Information Systems
Hardrock Café Case:
1. What problems did the Rank Group find with the Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems (restaurant operations, merchandising, and financial)? Why was this a problem?
Problems the Rank Group found with the Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems -Restaurant operations -Merchandising -Financial
The Hard Rock Cafe had many problems with their operating, merchandising and financial systems. First, there was no standard system. Many cafes and franchise owners installed their own systems and these systems did not integrate or communicate well with each other. Because of this, the planned Data Warehouse did not work at all. Because these systems did not work well, the IT staff spent all its time trying to fix problems with the systems and had no time for new systems or new development. The system ran on a Linux box that was described as "hackerware". The system was never able to get better. Corporate was unable to obtain reliable information and was not able to get any information immediately. Corporate did not know what merchandise was selling and did not have a good idea of what their financials were (money was just sitting for over a week and no one knew it).The financial system was not updated often enough. No one trusted the system. There was no consistency in their product names so Corporate could not figure out what was selling and what wasn't. There were no standards across the company, which prevented comparison and analysis among Cafes.
2. What’s the solution?
The solution to Hard Rock Cafe's problem was multifaceted.
First, the infrastructure and existing systems had to be fixed. One million dollars was spent on installing a data warehouse system that captured and analyzed data corporate wide. Point of sales data was now available regarding all purchases as well as demographic info on customers.
Then, $1.5 million was spent on installing a system
Hardrock Café Case:
1. What problems did the Rank Group find with the Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems (restaurant operations, merchandising, and financial)? Why was this a problem?
Problems the Rank Group found with the Hard Rock’s three main internal information systems -Restaurant operations -Merchandising -Financial
The Hard Rock Cafe had many problems with their operating, merchandising and financial systems. First, there was no standard system. Many cafes and franchise owners installed their own systems and these systems did not integrate or communicate well with each other. Because of this, the planned Data Warehouse did not work at all. Because these systems did not work well, the IT staff spent all its time trying to fix problems with the systems and had no time for new systems or new development. The system ran on a Linux box that was described as "hackerware". The system was never able to get better. Corporate was unable to obtain reliable information and was not able to get any information immediately. Corporate did not know what merchandise was selling and did not have a good idea of what their financials were (money was just sitting for over a week and no one knew it).The financial system was not updated often enough. No one trusted the system. There was no consistency in their product names so Corporate could not figure out what was selling and what wasn't. There were no standards across the company, which prevented comparison and analysis among Cafes.
2. What’s the solution?
The solution to Hard Rock Cafe's problem was multifaceted.
First, the infrastructure and existing systems had to be fixed. One million dollars was spent on installing a data warehouse system that captured and analyzed data corporate wide. Point of sales data was now available regarding all purchases as well as demographic info on customers.
Then, $1.5 million was spent on installing a system