Governance & delivery
Who should own a digital change after the project team leaves?
The handover is incomplete if IT owns the software but nobody owns the way the business now works.
Published 25 September 2026
A new approval workflow launches, then a request arrives that does not fit its categories.
The business owner decides how it should be handled and whether the rule should change. Technical support implements the agreed change; it should not invent policy.
Divide responsibility by decision
Name a business owner for the outcome and the operating rules, a technical custodian for reliability and access, and an authorised route for unusual cases. One person may hold more than one role in a small organisation, but the decisions still differ.
Write down who can change a rule, approve a release, resolve a disputed record and retire the system. If everyone assumes the project team will handle it, the arrangement will fail when that team moves on.
Test ownership before handover
Walk through a failed notification, an access request, an incorrect record and a policy exception. Can the named people see what happened and act without reconstructing the project?
A handover is complete when routine support, exceptional decisions and future change have a home. A document repository alone is not ownership.