Implementation of Drive-Thru Windows at McDonald's Stores

The project management plan for implementing drive-thru windows at McDonald's stores involves creating a communication management plan that takes around 3 days to prepare and will be followed until the project is completed. The plan outlines different types of communication, including report updates, announcements, meetings, and presentations. Additionally, a resource management plan is developed within 2-3 days, outlining employee responsibilities and roles for completing tasks efficiently. Overall, the project management plan aims to maximize profitability and sustainable competitive edge by satisfying customer needs.

Running Head: ASSIGNMENT 2
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
[Document subtitle]
STUDENT NAME
STUDENT NUMBER
DATE

ASSIGNMENT 2 1
Executive Summary
The report is being prepared to solve the issue of McDonald's in New Zealand. The company is
not able to provide great quality services to the customers because the employees are busy all the
time in attending the customers and most of the customers leave the stores without having the
meals because they have to wait for long in order to place their orders. Further, the company
wants to solve these issues by providing the facilities of the drive-thru window. The company is
already offering such facility but now wants to increase the number of the drive-thru window.
Further, the project management plan is being created for the effective implementation of the
drive-thru window, and the recommendations and the conclusion are being made accordingly
and it has also been suggested that the company should focus on the maintenance of the
consistency and should come up with new food items in order to expand their operations and
attain a sustainable competitive edge for a longer period of time. Further, the project
management plan works in order to achieve the objectives and to ensure that the project gets
completed in a given period of time, cost and effort.

ASSIGNMENT 2 2
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Project Background.....................................................................................................................................4
Structure and Audience of the Project Management Plan..........................................................................4
Critical analysis of intended audience..................................................................................................4
Existing alternatives for the structure.................................................................................................6
Contents of the Project Management Plan.................................................................................................7
Schedule management plan..................................................................................................................7
Risk management plan..........................................................................................................................8
Communication management plan....................................................................................................10
Resource management plan................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................12
Recommendation......................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................14

ASSIGNMENT 2 3
Introduction
It has been observed that McDonald's is one of the famous restaurants of food chain due to its
great quality of food and the services. The first restaurant was opened in 1976 in New Zealand,
and at present, it has around 165 restaurants along with the franchises. Further, it has been
observed that the restaurants have less number of drive-thru windows and because of this the
restaurants remain chaotic, the customers have to wait in long queues, and they don't even get a
place to sit for hours. The report has been prepared to implement more drive-thru windows in
order to reduce the workload of employees and offer great services to the customers. It is very
important for the McDonalds to use innovative ways of offering services to the customers in
order to attain the sustainable competitive edge and to maximize the profitability to a great
extent. Therefore, the business can only sustain for a longer period of time if they satisfy the
customers by offering high quality of services. McDonald's has to ensure that they offer food
services to the customers according to their needs and the customers do not have to wait for long
in order to get their desired food items.
The report will help in understanding the background of the project along with the audience and
the structure of the project management plan. This will help in understanding the intended
audience and the existing alternatives. Further, the contents of the project management plan will
be discussed like risk management plan, quality management plan, etc. Furthermore, the
recommendations will be made accordingly.

ASSIGNMENT 2 4
Project Background
McDonald's has been taken for this project. The corporation of McDonald's is one of the largest
and the greatest chain of restaurants f hamburger. Further, it serves around 65 million customers
on a regular basis in around 118 countries. McDonald's is headquartered in the U.S., and the
company was established in 1940 as a restaurant of barbecue and was operated by Maurice and
Richard McDonald. Furthermore, in 1948 the business was being recognized as a stand of
hamburger using the principles of the production line. Moreover, the company is offering drive-
thru facilities at various stores in most of the countries, and this helps in maximizing the number
of services and the customers. However, the company is facing some issues in some of the stores
in New Zealand as the customers have to wait for long in order to place and take their orders.
The employees are busy all the time. This further affecting the efficiency and the effectiveness of
the employees to some extent. So, it is important for the company to offer the drive-thru facility
in those stores as well because this will help in maximizing the profitability to a great extent and
it will also help in maximizing the number of consumers (Dalavagas, I 2015)i. The drive-thru
facility will be offered in various stores of the company in New Zealand because the company
has observed the difference in a number of consumers and the profitability of the stores which
have the facility of drive-thru which does not have such facility.
Structure and Audience of the Project Management Plan
Critical analysis of intended audience
The intended audience will be the family along with children, urban consumers and the teenagers
who hang-out with the friends. The table given below will help in understanding the intended
audience in order to avail the facility of the drive-thru.

ASSIGNMENT 2 5
Intended audience What is drive-thru facility for them?
Family along with children Treat to children, can have the meal by
roaming in the car as it is difficult to sit at one
place with children.
Teenager Hanging out along with friends and have a
meal at an affordable price without waiting
for long in queues and looking for a place to
sit.
Urban consumers Good taste, faster service even without
impacting the schedule of work and can have
a meal on their way to work.
The intended audience will be the main audience of the desired project management plan of
McDonald's. The customers prefer McDonald's because it offers hygienic food items and they
are even healthy to eat. According to the researchers, it has been observed that the various food
items of the food chain restaurants have been failed because they were unable to develop a
healthy perspective about their food items in the minds of the customers (Ramseyer, R 2001)ii.
Further, the customers believe that McDonald's respect their values and offer food items
accordingly in a particular country. Moreover, the customers will be required to know that they
will be getting their food items even more quickly because of the facility of the drive-thru. The
customers do not have to wait in long queues to get their desired orders. Whenever the customer
visits the store, they will see the sign board of drive thru their, and if they follow that sign board
then they will reach the drive-thru window. The customers do not have to get down from their

ASSIGNMENT 2 6
cars or other vehicles. They just have to place an order there along with the payment and have to
move towards the next window. Further, they will get their order ready within seconds and can
take the order and enjoy their meals.
The company will be using the plan in order to simply and improve the speed of orders along
with the services. According to the research, it has been observed that the customers prefer Egg
McMuffins along with the Big Macs as they are easy to have on their way to work and even they
are being considered as the healthy food. Further, the customers are so much in a hurry that they
don't have to time to exactly see the menu and order the meal they just order the meal which they
like and which is easy to have on their way to work. Also, it is important for a company to
change their traditional way of working in order to attain sustainable competitive edge for a
longer period of time along with the maximized profitability. The company will use this plan in
order to identify the food items which are preferred most and the items which are not used at all
will be eliminated from the menu in order to reduce the cost of production.
Existing alternatives for the structure
According to the theory, there are various alternatives for the structure of project management
plan as the plan of initiation. It has been researched that this plan of project management helps in
assessing the risk only which is associated with the completion of the desired project. The plan
will contain such activities which will be required in order to start the project. It also includes the
software for project management. Further, it will include all such activities which will be
required in order to assess the project further. Also, the management of the risk is strategic in
nature, and it does not provide the activities in detail as it believes that the tasks will become
chaotic. The other alternative strategy is the base plan (Schwalbe, K., 2015)iii. It is only
concerned about the implementation of the desired project no matter what are the consequences

ASSIGNMENT 2 7
and whether the resources are getting wasted or not. But, the one thing it takes into consideration
is the cost and the flow of the cash in the completion of the project. Further, the plan focuses on
the various allowances which the company uses in order to face the risk at the time of its
occurrence. Further, the next alternative strategy is the contingency plan. The trigger is used in
order to be aware of the existence of the risk, and further, the trigger will reduce automatically
when the chances of the risk reduces. Moreover, the reactive plans are being used in order to
overcome the issue of risks to complete the project effectively and efficiently. Also, the
contingency plan does not talk much in detail about the activities, and it mainly focuses on the
assessment of the risk. The other alternative strategy is the horizontal plan which is being defined
as the technique of planning. The horizontal plan includes various phases and the milestones
according to the requirement. Further, the plans of the project period are compiled together by
leaving the certainty to the upcoming horizon which is being planned later. Furthermore, after
reaching the particular horizon, the implementation plans of the actions are being prepared and
taken into consideration. The motive of the horizontal plan is to ensure flexibility while
completing the project. The other alternative strategy is the action plan, and this starts with the
planning in detail for the every milestone. Further, the action plan helps in defining the
uncertainty which maximizes the risks in the completion of the project. The assessment of the
risk fails because the uncertainty maximizes to a great level which cannot be controlled.
According to the researchers (Martinelli, R.J., and Milosevic, D.Z., 2016)iv, the selected project
management plan is the most suitable one as it helps in defining the activities in detail which
further helps in completing the project effectively and in a given period of time.
Contents of the Project Management Plan

ASSIGNMENT 2 8
Schedule management plan
The schedule management plan will contain all the details like how the project of implementing
drive-thru will be completed. Further, the schedule management plan will help in understanding
that what are the activities will be conducted along with the duration. Furthermore, this will help
in giving the clear view of the implementation in a sequence. The schedule management plan is a
very meaningful document as it brings clarity to the employees about their roles and the
responsibilities. Also, it helps in giving the right information, and it includes every minute detail
in relation to the project (Kerzner, H., 2013)v. Moreover, the project management software is
being used in order to effectively implement the facility of drive-thru for the company to
maximize the profitability and satisfy the customers to a great extent. It helps in understanding
that how the procedure will take place like the plans will be developed for the cost and the risk,
resource and the communication as they are the main aspects of every project management plan
because it helps in identifying the cost which will be required in implementing the plan. Further,
the planning and the designing of the drive-thru window will take place along with the orders of
equipment and their installation. Furthermore, the documentation will take place, and finally, the
project will get sign off. As it can be seen in the figure, it provides the clarity of tasks along with
the duration.
Risk management plan
The risk management plan is an important aspect which is to be focused in order to complete the
project effectively and efficiently. Further, the risk management plan ensures that the project
management plan follows the structured form of approach in order to identify the associated risk
that can occur during the completion of the project and follow the practices depending on the

ASSIGNMENT 2 9
framework to make sure that the contingencies and the responses for the risks are well prepared
(Lientz, B. and Rea, K., 2016)vi. Moreover, in developing the drive-thru window, the risk
management plan will include the risk along with the probability, schedule, cost, quality, scope
and the overall score of the risk. Further, the document of risk management plan is very
beneficial as it will help in identifying that to what extent the risk can be avoided and how it can
be faced so that the actual implementation plan do not get impacted to any extent. Furthermore,
the risk management plan is given below of the implementation project of the drive-thru.
Risk probabilit
y
schedule scope cost quality Score
Work not
finish on
time
30% 4 3 4 4 5.8
Awaiting
approval
30% 2 5 5 2 5.4
Failure of
equipment
20% 3 4 5 4 4.3
Wrong
delivery of
equipment
25% 3 5 4 2 4.0
Delay in
signing of
25% 4 3 5 3 3.8

ASSIGNMENT 2 10
project
Therefore, the risk management plan will help in identifying the probability of occurrence of risk
and the project management team can take the immediate steps accordingly in order to complete
the project effectively and timely.
Communication management plan
The communication plan is the key aspect for the effective execution of the project which helps
the team in order to work effectively to complete the project of implementation of the drive-thru
window. The communication management plan will take around 3 days to get ready, and it will
be followed till the project gets completed. The regular meetings will be conducted in order to
get the report of the process, and if there will be the occurrence of any issue, then they will be
resolved timely without wasting any resources and money. The below given figure helps in
understanding the distinct communication types along with the communication form and the
people who will be involved in the process and who will be responsible for which activity or
deliverable. The communication management plan contains all the required and the relevant
information which is required for the effective implementation of the drive-thru windows of
McDonald's in order to attain sustainable competitive edge and maximize the profitability to a
great extent by satisfying the customers (Berg, J 2005)vii.
Type of
communication
deliverable description Method of
delivery
Frequency owner
reports Report of
project status
Daily updates
on issues
e-mail weekly Team of
project
manager

ASSIGNMENT 2 11
Announcement
of project
Announcement
of risk
Announcement
of mitigation
of risk
meetings According to
requirement
Team of
project
manager
presentation milestones Meetings of
reviewing
milestone
meetings Completion
of milestone
Team of
project
manager
Meetings and
review
Review of
quality and
sign off
Sign off and
inspection
meetings
meetings Monthly and
at the end of
project
Team of
project
manager
Resource management plan
As the part of the management plan of resource and the strategy, the planned and effective
communication will be mainly focused along with the motivation and the creation of team which
will help them to generate deliverables according to the expectations to complete the project
effectively and efficiently (Burke, R., 2013)viii. Further, the people who will be the part of the
implementation of the project will get the desired responsibilities and the roles for the effective
completion of the implementation of drive-thru windows at the stores of McDonald's (Greenfeld,
KT 2011)ix. Furthermore, the resource management plan will help the employees to understand
that what is expected from them and how they have to carry out their duties effectively and
efficiently. Moreover, the resource management plan can be developed within 2 or 3 days, and
the roles and the responsibilities will remain same until the completion of the project. The
employees will be given the batches which will contain the numbers, for example, employee 1,
employee 2, etc. and accordingly they will be divided into the teams (Kiznyte, J, Welker, M &
Dechange, A 2016)x. The below given figure will help in understanding that how the resource
management plan will look.

ASSIGNMENT 2 12
Employee Number Responsibility External/internal
1 Handle the services and
installation of equipment
internal
3 carpenter external
6 Designer of the project internal
The above-given figure will help the employees to understand their job responsibilities, and they
will be expected to work accordingly in order to build the drive-thru windows effectively and
efficiently within a given period of time.
Conclusion
The report has discussed the various components of the project management plan with respect to
the identification of the issues which are being faced by McDonald's and how the drive-thru
window will help the company to overcome their issues and maximize the profitability along
with the sustainable competitive edge. Being an individual, I have identified that the project plan
makes the work easy as it divides the project into parts and it gives more clarity about the task
along with the roles of the employees. The project management plan helps in understanding that
how the drive-thru windows will be implemented for the profitability maximization of the
company. Further, it conforms to the identified theory to some extent as the theory talks about
the control of cost, adaptability, etc. Moreover, every aspect of the outcome of the project is
significant as it gives the clarity about the tasks which will take place one after the other. Also,
the strengths of the project plan are like it gives the clarity about the tasks and it helps in

ASSIGNMENT 2 13
identifying the risk associated with the tasks, and it also helps in providing all the desired
information which the stakeholder wants to know. The project plan is like a blueprint of the
project which helps in completing the project effectively and efficiently. Further, the only
weakness of the project plan is that if it is taken seriously, then the company will not be able to
face the risks which occur one after the other.
Recommendation
The recommendation which are being flowing from the analysis in relation to the selected project
management plan is that being an individual I would like to give more minute details of the task
in the project management plan for the more clarity of the tasks and this will help the employees
to understand their roles and the responsibilities better and they will be able to understand clearly
that what is expected from them in order to complete the project effectively and efficiently.
Furthermore, the only thing which I would like to change in my project management plan for the
future project is that the tasks will be shown in more detail. For example, I have mentioned that
the cost and the risk management plan will be made, but I have not mentioned any task under it.
So, I would like to talk about it in detail in the future projects related to the project management
plan. Moreover, if we talk about the McDonalds, the company can maximize the profitability by
developing drive-thru windows, but the company should ensure that the consistency should be
maintained in the quality and the taste of the food items which they offer. Further, the company
should include more items rather than hamburger only in order to attract more customers and
maximize the number of orders. Therefore, it is essential to keep on experimenting with the
innovative things in order to sustain in the competitive market for a longer period of time by
maximizing profitability and by retaining customers.

ASSIGNMENT 2 14

ASSIGNMENT 2 15
REFERENCES

i Dalavagas, I 2015, 'McDonald’s Corp.: A Short SWOT Analysis',
<
http://www.valueline.com/Stocks/Highlights/McDonalds_Corp___A_Short_SWOT_Analysis.aspx#.W
Gnlyht97cc>.
ii Ramseyer, R 2001, 'CARRIED AWAY?', Restaurant Business, vol. 100, no. 21, p. 42.
iii Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
iv Martinelli, R.J. and Milosevic, D.Z., 2016. Project management toolbox: tools and techniques for the
practicing project manager. John Wiley & Sons.
v Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling.
John Wiley & Sons.
vi Lientz, B. and Rea, K., 2016. Breakthrough technology project management. Routledge.
vii Berg, J 2005, 'Fast-Food Formula Inspires Integrity's Drive-Thru Design', American Banker, vol.
170, no. 219, pp. 6-7.
viii Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
ix Greenfeld, KT 2011, 'Fast and Furious,' Bloomberg Businessweek, no. 4228, pp. 64-9.

x Kiznyte, J, Welker, M & Dechange, A 2016, 'Applying Project Management Methods to the Creation
of a Start-up Business Plan: The Case of Blendlee', PM World Journal, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 1-24.
APPENDIX -1
Project management plan

Risk
APPENDIX -2
Risk management plan