Priorities implementing Enterprise Architecture Currently, Ralphs Ribs is at the Business Silo stage of architecture maturity.

The company is shifting into the next phase, which is Standardization. To emerge into the next stage, Ralphs will need to re-evaluate the current organizational management structure within the company. Currently the management structure within the company is limited to the CEO, Ralph, and his executive staff, his sons. The company needs to expand the current structure to broaden the business responsibilities and to guarantee the newly formed business processes are in place and operating as planned see Figure .
Figure - New Upper Management Organizational Chart

With this newly formed organizational structure, requires the newly appointed CIO to be less technical and more business knowledgeable. The CIO view is from a business perspective; what can IT technology do for the business.

Changes in Business Process

Restructuring the business processes will shift the company into a more strategic network. Ralphs will have a central headquarters office and will use strategic controls and financial controls to make sure that the franchisees operations generate the most value for the entire company. All decision-making regarding menus and marketing are now going to be made at the corporate level. In setting a solid IT foundation, Ralphs will invest in the development of a point of sale (POS) system and consistent hardware, software, and processes across the restaurants on a nationwide basis. With a strong POS system and consistent hardware, software, and processes; the

data generated by the new system; and the analytics run on the data, Ralphs will make the business a lot more proficient. For instance, food costs and labor are the top costs of Ralphs Rockin' Ribs, and performing analytics over a globally integrated system could enable faster decision making by helping to quickly uncover areas in which greater efficiencies could be realized. Another main concern is information management within the company, that being, the data warehouse, master data management, data storage and shipment, and the overall data governance.

Changes in Business Roles

Nearly any change to technology in the company will have direct impact on business processes, which will in effect directly impact the day-to-day jobs of individual employees. Changes will occur in nearly all facets of the company, from Human Resources and training, marketing and advertising, to the end users serving the customers. Providing for a standardized IT structure and processes will allow the human resources department to better track employees and each franchises operations. Standardization will also improve the marketing and advertising scope of the company in that they will use the customer analytics to better target their current and future customers and markets. Rationale for Changes These changes are important to facilitate the maturing of Enterprise Architecture within the organization. It will greatly reduce the initial cost, thus reducing the overall cost of IT services allowing IT responsiveness to be quicker to the business needs of the company. Business Relationships The business partner relationship will change internally and externally. The franchise owners relationship with the upper management will change to having a buffer between Ralph and his sons by going through the franchise managers. This change will offer Ralph and his sons the ability to focus on ways to improve, increase, and change business processes for higher profits. Todays food industry relies upon a web of inter-company relationships. The business partner relationship with vendors and service providers will change as well with the ability to implement SOAP to dramatically increase order processing. Ralphs Ribs will be able to be on the cutting edge of technology which its vendors will be easier to contact, manage, and ensure correct shipping. IT Adding an IT department alone is a huge change that is necessary to complete the EA structure. It not only brings Ralphs Ribs into the technology age, but it brings them into a cutting edge market that will benefit them for the lifetime of the organization. IT will focus on two different aspects once

the shop is up and running. The first is the business side which will provide the ability to keep Ralphs Ribs competing for the top franchise business. IT responsiveness to business needs increased and a good IT department will be focused on business solutions and eliminating risks which will increase satisfaction from customers and franchise owners alike. The better the IT department in an organization, the more successful the company will be The second focus will be the technical side of IT. This is the process of servicing, maintaining, and administering the daily activities of the network, workstations, and equipment of the entire system. This will include, on site, offsite, and accounts from internal and external sources. A dedicated It department can ensure the network will be up 99.9% of the time with little problems. With the franchise and restaurant industry, maintenance can be accomplished over night which will be a minimal impact on business. Priority Summary The priorities laid out above are significant changes, but are required in order for Ralphs Ribs to transition into an EA strategy. These changes must be made and mastered before Ralphs Ribs can evolve to the next stage. Starting this change and then transitioning into the next stage will require a different model and processes. Once they have the IT foundation in place, they
can then focus their IT efforts on the key part of consumer-oriented business to reach, appeal to, and retain customers