McDonald's

Optimizing work process & increasing efficiency

The McDonald’s restaurant chain in Hungary has 90 restaurants and 58 of them are focused on drive-in service. They opened their first restaurant in 1988 in downtown Budapest and the last one in Gödölö in early 2020, with plans to expand further in the next few years. Over the next 3 years, the client planned to redesign all of their restaurants to the “restaurant of the future” operating form. At the beginning of 2019, the entire Hungarian network was organized by 1 partner under the name Pogress Étteremhálozat Kft., As a Partner of McDonald’s Developmental Licensee.

The application we developed for McDonalds mainly focused on the needs of the HR and Operations departments. They needed a process-centric solution that could empower core competencies of their workers and leverage their intellectual capital.

The client had an old system that was used to schedule and train restaurant workers, which also took into account local labor rules. After initial meetings with their management Fourity had an accurate picture of what features and solutions were needed in these areas, also seeing the shortcomings of the previously used system.

McDonalds needed a technically modern, flexible and upgradeable system, which is functionally sustainable and could effectively replace the old application. It was also very important for our client to eliminate the shortcomings of the previous system.

Our application focuses on meeting the needs of the employees as well as respecting local labor rules. The training process of McDonald’s staff is redesigned as well as the tracking and periodic evaluation of their work. With our HR app now the management of the company can organize their work dynamic more efficiently, create statements as well as different reports and summaries. It supports effective business planning strategies in several areas in the process of optimizing restaurant’s operations management.

The Challenge

  • Redesigned workflow.
  • Applied best practices of business logic strategies.
  • Designed a user interface according to client’s needs
  • Beta tested our designed solution.
  • Developed the HR app.
  • Tested the code for bugs.

Development process insights

The development was implemented in several stages:

Our starting point was based on the client’s previous program. We prepared a development plan, which in terms of several modules goes beyond the old features of the program. After that, module by module, we implemented the development plan in consultations with the customer on a weekly basis. The functions handed over for testing were tested by the customer in 2 test restaurants under restaurant conditions.

First and the most complex function was the Schedule Support Program (BTP), followed by training-related modules as well as functions not found in the old system.

Results:

By using the program, the human error factor in scheduling has been minimized, as the program draws attention to deviations from labor rules while writing the schedule.

The time spent on administration for managers has been reduced, because the program automatically prepares the necessary summaries and statements.

The program supports the accuracy of business planning (eg holiday plan, determination of training needs, etc.), so the client saves millions of forints on costs annually.

Feedback from our client:

Colleagues like to use the new program because it is clearer and easier to use than before. There are features that are also available from home, so colleagues can submit their job application from home as well as be able to watch our completed schedule. Payment papers can also be accessed electronically through the program, so they are properly classified.
In the form of messages, the program can also share important and useful information with colleagues in a timely manner, even by sending them to specific people and positions.