Incident: McDonald's Monopoly App Error Leads to 4 Jackpot Winners

Published Date: 2019-11-28

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident happened within just a few hours after the app went online, as reported in the article. 2. The article was published on 2019-11-28. 3. Estimation: Given that the incident occurred within a few hours after the app went online, and the article was published on 2019-11-28, we can estimate that the software failure incident happened on 2019-11-28. Therefore, the software failure incident happened on 2019-11-28. [92612]
System 1. McDonald's Monopoly promotional app in Germany [92612]
Responsible Organization 1. Testers of the app who left the program open for too long, causing the software error [92612].
Impacted Organization 1. Customers participating in the McDonald's Monopoly game [92612] 2. McDonald's Deutschland [92612]
Software Causes 1. The software error occurred due to testers leaving the program open for too long, which resulted in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time [92612].
Non-software Causes 1. Testers leaving the program open for too long, leading to more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time [92612].
Impacts 1. Four diners mistakenly won 100,000 euro jackpots due to the software error, causing McDonald's Deutschland to be 200,000 euro out of pocket [92612]. 2. The software failure led to more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time, affecting the intended promotion timeline and budget [92612]. 3. McDonald's had to write off the extra money as training cash and add two more jackpots to continue the competition, impacting their financial planning [92612]. 4. The mistake caused distress to the colleagues working on the software, leading to sleepless nights and emotional strain [92612].
Preventions 1. Implementing proper testing procedures: The software failure incident could have been prevented if the testers had followed proper testing procedures and closed the program after testing to ensure that the correct number of prizes were available [92612]. 2. Implementing stricter access controls: By implementing stricter access controls to prevent unauthorized changes or access to the software, the incident could have been avoided [92612]. 3. Conducting regular monitoring and oversight: Regular monitoring and oversight of the software could have helped detect the error sooner, allowing for corrective action to be taken before multiple jackpots were mistakenly awarded [92612].
Fixes 1. Implement stricter testing protocols to ensure that programs are not left open for extended periods of time, leading to unintended consequences [92612]. 2. Enhance monitoring and alert systems to quickly detect anomalies or unexpected outcomes in software operations [92612].
References 1. Local media [92612] 2. McDonald's Deutschland spokesperson 3. McDonald's Germany Twitter account

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring unknown (a) The software failure incident related to the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany does not indicate that a similar incident has happened before within the same organization. (b) The software failure incident related to the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany does not mention any similar incident happening at other organizations or with their products and services.
Phase (Design/Operation) design (a) The software failure incident in the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany was attributed to a design-related issue. The error occurred because the testers of the promotional app left the program open for too long, resulting in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time after the app went online [92612]. This design flaw in the system development process led to the unintended consequence of four diners winning 100,000 euro jackpots due to the software error.
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system (a) The software failure incident in the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany was within_system. The failure occurred due to a software error caused by testers leaving the program open for too long, resulting in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time after the app went online [92612]. The mistake was internal to the system and not due to external factors.
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions (a) The software failure incident in this case occurred due to non-human_actions. The error was attributed to a software glitch caused by testers leaving the program open for too long, which resulted in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time after the app went online [92612].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident in the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany was not attributed to hardware issues but rather to a software error. The mistake occurred due to testers leaving the program open for too long, resulting in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time [92612]. The incident was described as a software error that allowed four diners to mistakenly win 100,000 euro jackpots [92612].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident in this case was non-malicious. It was caused by a software error in Germany that made extra prizes available in a McDonald's Monopoly game due to testers leaving the program open for too long, resulting in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time [92612]. The mistake was not intentional and was attributed to a human error rather than malicious intent.
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) accidental_decisions (a) The intent of the software failure incident was accidental_decisions. The incident occurred due to a software error in Germany that made extra prizes available in a McDonald's Monopoly game. The mistake happened after the testers of the app left the program open for too long, resulting in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time [Article 92612].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident in the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany was not due to development incompetence. It was reported that the mistake happened after the testers of the app left the program open for too long, resulting in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time [92612]. (b) The software failure incident was accidental in nature. The extra prizes being made available due to a software error was not intentional but a result of the testers leaving the program open for too long, leading to the unintended outcome of four diners winning 100,000 euro jackpots [92612].
Duration temporary (a) The software failure incident in the article was temporary. The incident occurred due to testers leaving the program open for too long, which resulted in more prizes being available than planned in a shorter period of time after the app went online. McDonald's discovered the mistake after a couple of hours, indicating that the failure was not permanent [92612].
Behaviour omission, timing, value, other (a) crash: The software failure incident in the McDonald's Monopoly game in Germany was not a crash. The system did not lose its state and stop performing its intended functions. Instead, the error led to additional prizes being awarded due to a software glitch [92612]. (b) omission: The software failure incident can be categorized as an omission. The system omitted to perform its intended function correctly by allowing more prizes to be won than planned due to a software error [92612]. (c) timing: The timing of the software failure incident was crucial. The system performed its intended functions incorrectly by making extra prizes available too early after the app went online, leading to four diners winning the jackpot within a few hours [92612]. (d) value: The software failure incident can also be attributed to a value-related issue. The system performed its intended functions incorrectly by allowing more prizes to be won than intended, resulting in McDonald's being 200,000 euros out of pocket [92612]. (e) byzantine: The software failure incident does not align with a byzantine behavior. There were no indications of inconsistent responses or interactions in the articles related to this incident [92612]. (f) other: The other behavior exhibited by the software failure incident was that the company decided to continue with the game despite the error and added more jackpots to compensate for the additional prizes won. This response was not a typical reaction to a software failure incident [92612].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence property (d) property: People's material goods, money, or data was impacted due to the software failure The consequence of the software failure incident in the McDonald's Monopoly game was financial. Due to a software error in Germany, four diners mistakenly won 100,000 euro jackpots that were not intended to be available. This resulted in McDonald's Deutschland being 200,000 euro (£170,000) out of pocket. The company decided to write off the money as training cash and pay out the prizes to the winners [92612].
Domain sales (a) The failed system was related to the sales industry as it involved a promotional app run by McDonald's Deutschland where customers could win prizes, including up to 100,000 euros, through the Monopoly game [92612].

Sources

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