Hardrock Case Study

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?

INTERNAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROBLEMS EFFECTS
Restaurant Operations - Different management systems adopted by the franchisees
- No unified standards for all outlets
- Flow of business processes are in a mess
- Lack of communication
- Used the Linux box network which is prone to hackers - Customers will not be able to taste the signature food designed for Hard Rock
- Decrease in customer satisfaction as every outlet provides different standards of food offered
- Difficulty for corporate office to analyze sales record
- Lack of security
Merchandising Inventory System - Rely on inexperienced restaurant managers to order inventory
- No consistency in inventory system
- No automated system to keep track of inventory purchased or ordered - Inventory are either over or under purchase
- No stock available for customer purchase
- Inaccurate sales report
Financial System - System was not updated daily or automatically
- There are 3 set of books maintained by Operation, Finance, and Management department
- Different applications are used (Lotus Notes, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets, Lawson Software Financial Module)
- Lawson system had 50 different ledgers for each restaurant - Unable to detect discrepancy
- Unable to generate an accurate income statement
- No consistency in the ledgers
- May lead to pilferage

2. What’s the solution?

INTERNAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS
Restaurant Operations - Bought back the brand from all the franchisees and unify the brand name
- Implemented a million-dollar data warehouse system from Vienna (MicroStrategy)
- Able to store all restaurants Point-of Sales customer data
- All records are updated and reported daily
Merchandising Inventory System - Installed a chain wide merchandise system to manage inventory (Radius Inventory