The credit control system introduced into the retail part of a chemicals division was widely regarded in IT, and other parts of the business, as a good example of a successful implementation. As part of the process leading to an internal award for work done well, a review of the new system was undertaken to establish whether the benefits had been realised.

Within hours of the start of the review it was obvious that there was an unexpected issue. The credit system that had been introduced was not being used by anyone, anywhere in the division. It was widely regarded as cumbersome and was giving unusable outputs. The staff had quietly and unanimously reverted to the old method, using spreadsheets and emails, and were content with the familiar process.

This finding was a shock to IT and to many business managers, revealing an important aspect of the project processes in place. The project was considered complete when the delivery was implemented by IT. There had been no ‘transfer to operations’ to provide a governance and management overview of the transition from ‘new’ to ‘normal’ and no-one was charged with making sure the new processes became business-as-usual.
The findings, and the lessons learned, were taken to heart. The PMO became an RMO (a results management office) and projects were not considered complete until operational management had integrated the outcomes into their KPIs, and reported on them.