When it comes to pizza, everyone has an opinion. Some of us think that our current pizza is just fine the way it is. Others have a favorite pizza joint that makes it like no one else. And many pizza lovers in America agreed up until recently that Domino’s home-delivered pizza was among the worst. The home-delivery market for pizza chains in the United States is approximately $15 billion per year. Domino’s, which owns the largest home-delivery market share of any U.S. pizza chain, is finding ways with the help of its managers to innovate through overhauling its in-store transaction processing systems and by providing other useful services to customers, such as its Pizza Tracker. And more important, Domino’s is trying very hard to overcome its reputation for poor quality by radically improving ingredients and freshness. Critics believe the company significantly improved the quality of its pizza and customer service in 2010.

Domino’s is part of a heated battle among prominent pizza chains, including Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Little Caesar. Pizza Hut is the only chain larger than Domino’s in the U.S., but each of the four has significant market share. Domino’s also competes with local pizza stores throughout the U.S. To gain a competitive advantage Domino’s needs to deliver excellent customer service, and most importantly, good pizza. But it also benefits from highly effective information systems. Domino’s proprietary point-of-sale system, Pulse, is an important asset for managers especially that they are in charge of planning, creating scope of projects and capturing data from information technology systems. A point-of-sale system captures purchase and payment data at a physical location where goods or services are bought and sold using computers, automated cash registers, scanners, or other digital devices.

In 2003, Domino’s implemented Pulse in a large portion of its stores, and those stores reported improved customer service, reduced mistakes, and shorter training times in addition of providing tools that capture, store, process and exchange information thus improving employees performance. Since then, Pulse has become a staple of all Domino’s franchises. More recently, Domino’s released a new hardware and software platform called Pulse Evolution, which is now in use in a majority of Domino’s more than 5,000 U.S. branches connecting them all together. Pulse Evolution improves on the older Information technology in several ways. First, the older software used a ‘thick-client’ model, which required all machines using the software to be fully equipped personal computers running Windows.

Along with Pulse Evolution, Domino’s rolled out its state-of-the-art online ordering system, which includes Pizza Tracker. The system allows customers to watch a simulated photographic version of their pizza as they customize its size, sauces, and toppings. Once customers place an order, they are able to view its progress online with Pizza Tracker. Pizza Tracker displays a horizontal bar that tracks an order’s progress graphically. In 2010, Domino’s introduced an online polling system to continuously upload information from local stores. Moreover another important feature for these online tools is that it employs an analytic model which helps users gain insights into a problem situation and to examine alternative solutions especially in case of material shortage.

After Domino’s tried to compel those franchises to use Pulse, the U.S. District Court for Minnesota sided with franchisees who claimed that Domino’s could not force them to commit using this system. Now, Domino’s continues to make improvements to Pulse in an effort to make it overwhelmingly appealing to all franchisees. Pizza Hut and Papa John’s also have online ordering capability, but lack the Pizza Tracker and the simulated pizza features that Domino’s has successfully implemented. Today, online orders account for almost 20 percent of all of Domino’s orders, which is up from less than 15 percent in 2008. But the battle to sell pizza with technology rages on.

1. Through the analytic tools provided by the online system at Domino’s, the company is now able to get insights into a problem situation, check for solutions, and perform the right action Hence Domino’s is using a : *
   1. Decision support sequence
   2. Decision support service
   3. Decision support software
   4. Decision support system
2. It was stated in the case that “once customers place an order, they are able to view its progress online with Pizza Tracker. Pizza Tracker displays a horizontal bar that tracks an order’s progress graphically.” This is an example of a/an ____________: *
   1. Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
   2. Customer relationship management (CRM)
   3. Product life cycle management (PLM)
   4. None of the above
3. As mentioned in the case, Domino’s pizza is operating in a very competitive environment. Thus among the main duties that managers should perform is to: *
   1. Analyze the system
   2. Mitigate the risks
   3. Develop the software
   4. None of the above
4. A main obstacle that Domino’s pizza is facing is the fact that it failed to convince franchises to start using the developed information system. ____________ can help Domino’s deal with organizational change. *
   1. Change Management Model
   2. Analysis Management design
   3. Process Information Model
   4. Design Management Model

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 Answer D Decision Support System DSS Dominos is using a Decision Support System DSS which is ab... View the full answer