On the morning of October 31st, Elaine Black, Chief Information Officer at Robatelli's
Pizzeria, was waiting for both Jim Saxton, database administrator, and Peter
Greyton, operations manager, to come to her office for a meeting. While waiting,
Elaine was thinking about the surge of telephone and Internet orders expected to be
received through the company's customer order center within the next 12 hours.
Halloween had always been the most popular day of the year for people in the
greater Pittsburgh area to order pizza from Robatelli's. There were 53 restaurant
locations to serve these customers, but only one location to receive all of the orders
and forward them to the right restaurant. Elaine's thoughts were interrupted as Jim
and Peter entered her office. The following conversation took place:
ELAINE Well, guys, it's here again, our biggest day of the year. Not only is
Halloween a busy day, but we have the upcoming day after
Thanksgiving, the week before Christmas, and Super Bowl Sunday. Can
our current computer system's infrastructure and people keep pace with
the orders we expect?
JIM I think our systems are all running at peak performance. We shouldn't
have any computer concerns for today or those other busy days.
PETER Everyone in the customer order center is focused on making sure that our
customers get their pizzas as ordered. We have plenty of people
scheduled to work tonight, so we're good to go.
ELAINE Terrific. But every time we face one of these peak sales days, I start
wondering about the long-term capacity and effectiveness of our
computer systems. Jim, we need to think long term about our computer
system. I was just reading an article that I'd like you to take a look at. It's
about Anheuser-Busch Companies and their use of data mining.
JIM I do agree with you, Elaine; we should always be thinking about how
newer IT systems can help us. Could you e-mail me the link to the
article?
ELAINE Sure, and I would like you to think about how we might use the same
approach in our business. Peter, your order center people are doing a
great job, but again there's something I'd like us to think about in the long

run. As you know, we now have to manually enter all customer order
center sales and store sales into our general ledger (GL). I think we could
improve a lot of things if those sales are automatically fed into our GL
software. Why don't you think about any advantages you see for an
automatic interface, and we'll look at the costs compared to those
advantages. How's that sound?
PETER I'll do that. I'll give it some thought and work on a report about an
automatic interface between our GL software and the point of sale
systems in our restaurants as well as the phone and Internet sales. How
soon do you want to meet again to look at these issues?
ELAINE Let's say, in two weeks at the same time.
As Jim and Peter left her office, Elaine continued to think about the features of the
company's accounting information systems and whether or not data extracted from
these systems could facilitate the multiple needs of the company. The focus had
always been on providing accurate financial accounting information from the various
locations; however, the company's aggressive growth strategies meant increased
emphasis on the system's ability to analyze detailed customer information that could
be translated into increased sales opportunities.
Elaine knew the challenges they faced could very well affect the company's ability to
maintain its competitive advantage. She realized that her department must
continually improve the company's information systems to help it achieve growth
strategies. Operating state-of-the-art systems was imperative to position the
company to execute those growth plans. However, she was concerned about the
possibility that restrictions of the current information systems could actually prevent
the company from doing what it wanted to do. Allowing restrictive systems to
prevent them from achieving business strategies was a risk that Elaine would not
tolerate!
Background
Robatelli's Pizzeria is a great American success story. Started by Dino Robatelli in
the 1960s, the business impetus was a family pizza recipe. Introduced to the public
at a church festival in Pittsburgh's Little Italy, Robatelli's pizzas are now a
recognized tradition in the Greater Pittsburgh area. A full menu and local expansion
have led to its growing popularity over the years and have helped it achieve nearly
50 percent of the area market share. Annual sales now exceed $100 million.

Briefly describe Robatelli's conversion processes—that is, what gets converted, how is it done, and where are the underlying processes performed [at which Robatelli's location(s)]?

What procedures and internal controls would you recommend to Robatelli's to minimize the risk of lost sales due to stock-outs (i.e., running out of ingredients) and the resulting idle time that may be incurred while employees are awaiting delivery from the commissary?

Question

On the morning of October 31st, Elaine Black, Chief Information Officer at Robatelli's
Pizzeria, was waiting for both Jim Saxton, database administrator, and Peter
Greyton, operations manager, to come to her office for a meeting. While waiting,
Elaine was thinking about the surge of telephone and Internet orders expected to be
received through the company's customer order center within the next 12 hours.
Halloween had always been the most popular day of the year for people in the
greater Pittsburgh area to order pizza from Robatelli's. There were 53 restaurant
locations to serve these customers, but only one location to receive all of the orders
and forward them to the right restaurant. Elaine's thoughts were interrupted as Jim
and Peter entered her office. The following conversation took place:
ELAINE Well, guys, it's here again, our biggest day of the year. Not only is
Halloween a busy day, but we have the upcoming day after
Thanksgiving, the week before Christmas, and Super Bowl Sunday. Can
our current computer system's infrastructure and people keep pace with
the orders we expect?
JIM I think our systems are all running at peak performance. We shouldn't
have any computer concerns for today or those other busy days.
PETER Everyone in the customer order center is focused on making sure that our
customers get their pizzas as ordered. We have plenty of people
scheduled to work tonight, so we're good to go.
ELAINE Terrific. But every time we face one of these peak sales days, I start
wondering about the long-term capacity and effectiveness of our
computer systems. Jim, we need to think long term about our computer
system. I was just reading an article that I'd like you to take a look at. It's
about Anheuser-Busch Companies and their use of data mining.
JIM I do agree with you, Elaine; we should always be thinking about how
newer IT systems can help us. Could you e-mail me the link to the
article?
ELAINE Sure, and I would like you to think about how we might use the same
approach in our business. Peter, your order center people are doing a
great job, but again there's something I'd like us to think about in the long

run. As you know, we now have to manually enter all customer order
center sales and store sales into our general ledger (GL). I think we could
improve a lot of things if those sales are automatically fed into our GL
software. Why don't you think about any advantages you see for an
automatic interface, and we'll look at the costs compared to those
advantages. How's that sound?
PETER I'll do that. I'll give it some thought and work on a report about an
automatic interface between our GL software and the point of sale
systems in our restaurants as well as the phone and Internet sales. How
soon do you want to meet again to look at these issues?
ELAINE Let's say, in two weeks at the same time.
As Jim and Peter left her office, Elaine continued to think about the features of the
company's accounting information systems and whether or not data extracted from
these systems could facilitate the multiple needs of the company. The focus had
always been on providing accurate financial accounting information from the various
locations; however, the company's aggressive growth strategies meant increased
emphasis on the system's ability to analyze detailed customer information that could
be translated into increased sales opportunities.
Elaine knew the challenges they faced could very well affect the company's ability to
maintain its competitive advantage. She realized that her department must
continually improve the company's information systems to help it achieve growth
strategies. Operating state-of-the-art systems was imperative to position the
company to execute those growth plans. However, she was concerned about the
possibility that restrictions of the current information systems could actually prevent
the company from doing what it wanted to do. Allowing restrictive systems to
prevent them from achieving business strategies was a risk that Elaine would not
tolerate!
Background
Robatelli's Pizzeria is a great American success story. Started by Dino Robatelli in
the 1960s, the business impetus was a family pizza recipe. Introduced to the public
at a church festival in Pittsburgh's Little Italy, Robatelli's pizzas are now a
recognized tradition in the Greater Pittsburgh area. A full menu and local expansion
have led to its growing popularity over the years and have helped it achieve nearly
50 percent of the area market share. Annual sales now exceed $100 million.

Briefly describe Robatelli's conversion processes—that is, what gets converted, how is it done, and where are the underlying processes performed [at which Robatelli's location(s)]?
What procedures and internal controls would you recommend to Robatelli's to minimize the risk of lost sales due to stock-outs (i.e., running out of ingredients) and the resulting idle time that may be incurred while employees are awaiting delivery from the commissary?

Accepted Answer

The case of Robatelli's Pizzeria presents a unique and insightful perspective on the challenges…