ASDA Case Study.

>> Executive Summary

PL Projects (PLP) played a pivotal role in the successful delivery of ASDA’s multi-year transformation programme following its separation from Walmart. As ASDA undertook one of the UK’s largest retail IT and business separations, PLP was engaged to provide critical planning and project delivery expertise to support the design, mobilisation, and governance of its Future Programme.

Operating within a high-pressure, fast-moving environment, PLP consultants were embedded across strategic portfolios – including Retail, Data & Insights, Commercial, and Customer. Our team worked closely with programme leadership, PMs, and cross-functional stakeholders to assess planning maturity, implement standardised tools, and drive planning excellence across all delivery phases. We introduced scalable planning frameworks, integrated Microsoft Project Online for real-time visibility, and trained internal teams to build lasting capability.

Our support extended beyond planning into delivery assurance, governance optimisation, and the development of enterprise-wide reporting solutions that enabled clear decision-making and risk mitigation at all levels. Throughout our engagement, PLP demonstrated flexibility, professionalism, and a deep understanding of the retail sector’s demands – quickly becoming a trusted partner to ASDA’s internal teams and external delivery partners.

The success of this partnership exemplifies PLP’s core strengths: our ability to deliver in complexity, embed within client environments, and drive sustainable transformation. Our work at ASDA showcases how we empower organisations to move from ambiguity to control, enabling long-term success through people, process, and planning excellence.

The Client.

ASDA is one of the UK’s leading supermarket chains, consistently ranked among the top three British grocery retailers. Founded in 1949, ASDA has grown to become a household name, offering a diverse portfolio of products including food, clothing (under its George brand), electronics, household goods, and financial services. The brand is renowned for its commitment to affordability, customer service, and broad accessibility across the UK.

For over two decades, ASDA was under the ownership of Walmart, the global retail giant based in the United States. During this time, ASDA benefited from Walmart’s global sourcing capabilities, technology infrastructure, and operational expertise. However, the integration also meant that many of ASDA’s key systems – such as finance, HR, payroll, supply chain, and IT infrastructure – were centrally managed or heavily reliant on Walmart’s global platforms and processes.

In 2021, ASDA entered a new chapter in its corporate journey when it was acquired by TDR Capital and the Issa brothers, two British entrepreneurs with significant experience in retail and infrastructure. This landmark acquisition marked one of the most high-profile corporate transactions in recent UK retail history and set the stage for a massive transformation initiative aimed at re-establishing ASDA as a fully autonomous UK-based business.

The separation from Walmart required ASDA to disentangle itself from over 2,500 legacy systems and processes that were deeply embedded in the Walmart ecosystem. To manage this immense undertaking, ASDA launched Project Future, one of the largest and most complex business and technology transformation programmes in Europe. This strategic programme was designed not only to ensure operational independence but also to modernise ASDA’s internal systems, enhance agility, and position the business for long-term growth in a highly competitive retail market.

Today, ASDA operates more than 1,400 stores and over 25 depots nationwide, employs more than 140,000 people, and reported revenues of £21.7 billion in 2024. The organisation is undergoing a cultural and technological shift as it redefines its identity as a standalone UK enterprise, leveraging innovation and improved governance to stay ahead in a fast-evolving consumer landscape.

The Challenge. 

To facilitate the transition from Walmart ownership it was pivotal for ASDA to set up “Project Future”. The portfolio was tasked with separation of more than 2,500 Walmart ran IT systems and transitioning to completely new self-run systems across the business. Some examples include HR, Payroll, eCommerce and ERP systems.   

As with any portfolio of work of this scale the need for a transformation office was identified as imperative. PL Projects were drafted into the Transformation Office to support the programmes planning, and project support initiatives alongside implementation, training & roll out of Project Online. It was important that a programme of this size had sufficient planning maturity in this space to allow delivery to be tracked and managed through fact led decision making.  

The Solution.

Project Online PPM tool Implementation + Training (Project Management) 

Upon our arrival ASDA had begun facilitating the implementation of one of the leading PPM tools within the industry. To ensure project delivery Microsoft’s Project Online was selected as the tool of choice. Our consultant’s role in this deliverable was to Project Mange the implementation and roll out of the tool across the portfolio of work. This included facilitating the requirements gathering process between ASDA and the technical implementation supplier, transitioning off existing off line project plans onto the platform, and training of users. 

To support the roll-out and adoption of this tool it was important that all end users on the portfolio understood the benefits of the tool and how to correctly utilise it. This meant that there was a need for proper Microsoft project training. This was PL Projects are a proud APM accredited training provider, with an experienced team of trainers with experience from a wide array of industries such as retail, finance, construction and even higher education. Meaning we could provide bespoke Microsoft Project training to all Project and Programme managers.

Project/Programme Planning Governance (Planning). 

As part of our initiative, we conducted analysis of planning maturity on the programme. From this assessment the team identified the need for standardised plans across the programme to allow for proper integrated planning, dependency management, and reporting trough the PPM tool. Our consultants then began engaging with the Transformation Office (TO), Project Mangers, Programme Managers, and Directors on their expectations, wants and needs. This allowed us to create a standardised stage gated project lifecycle for all projects across that programme. Alongside this engagement we used tools such as MoSCow to prioritise the artifacts that required sign off to pass through each stage gate and ensured the new project plan templates reflected this. Additionally, alongside this our team created & formalised the overarching planning governance processes, of which included planning standards, dependency management, baseline change management and stakeholder reporting cycles.  

Once the foundations of the planning governance process were agreed and implemented our team of expert planners set out on transitioning existing plans into the new standardised templates. This effort spanned over 200 projects, across 9 programmes. Doing so allowed seamless transition into the new streamlined Project Online platform allowing advanced real time reporting for senior management to use to support strategic decision making.  

Advanced Project/Programme Planning & Tracking (Planning).

It was clear to our consultants and the client that it was absolutely crucial to project success that all the work that has been put into creating a firm foundation of planning maturity that has been implemented through planning standards & governance and standardised templates are not forgotten and built upon. To do this our team of planners were assigned programmes they were responsible for supporting.  

Firstly, our consultants worked closely with all their assigned Project & programme managers in the creation of their plans, ensuring that plans were fit for purpose and met quality standards that were set in the planning governance framework. Following this they then tailored an approach to support their PMs through the maintenance & progress tracking of these plans. Some required more support than others so our planners would facilitate weekly plan update sessions, while some only required ad-hoc support and advice through a drop in style session. It was important to us that we built capability within the organisation which allows project to be successful beyond our presence on the contract.       

Project/Programme Co-ordination (Project/Programme Management Office). 

When the team arrived at ASDA we were immediately immersed into the hub and spoke style PMO to support each of the programmes that had been set up for delivery, these include Supply Chain, Finance, People systems, E-commerce, Retail, Corporate Services, Commercial, Infrastructure & Data. Our PMO consultants were an integral part of the Transformation Office and provided the full suite of PMO support. This spanned across the management of Plans, RAIDD (Risks, Actions, Issues, Decisions, Dependencies), Governance documentation & frameworks, Change management, Governance meeting facilitation, financial management, stage gate process & approval support and project/programme status reporting.  

Initially, upon arrival the team assessed and adopted the way of working that was currently imbedded within the organisation to fully understand all the gaps, pinch points & inefficiencies in order to make beneficial recommendations to the TO’s operating model. Once this stage was complete our consultants worked collaboratively with the client to make these improvements & apply our professional practise in accordance with APM standards.  

The Outcome. 

Our input contributed to a variety of areas across the future programme at ASDA, resulting in the following benefits: 

1. Improved delivery through increasing Planning Maturity: By implementing a tailored and robust governance framework around project/programme planning we were able to build ASDA’s project planning maturity, supporting their efforts in successfully completing the separate from Walmart run systems.  

2. Improved Stakeholder Reporting through PPM tools: Using our expertise in project delivery and project online we were able to transition ASDA from individual project plans to an integrated suite of plans with proper dependency management and reporting capability for improved strategic level decision making.  

3. Improved programme wide project support: Our consultants delivered expert level project support at ASDA for over 3 years (and counting). With their constant support ASDA successfully separated from numerous Walmart systems and rolled out their own.    

Key Obstacles and Strategic Solutions. 

Adoption of Planning & Governance standardised templates  

Initially in the development and roll out of the new planning templates we faced resistance in adoption of the new templates from project and programme managers. Their feedback was that the templates were too complex and time consuming to update. It was absolutely crucial that we listened to their feedback and worked collaboratively to create a template that worked for all stakeholders so our team set out to further streamline the stage gated plan templates by reducing complexity and streamlining stage gate requirements. In doing so our consultants found the buy in and adoption of these new templates were considerably better. This ultimately allowed us to integrate all plans onto Project Online, with top quality plans, resulting in quality outputs for strategic decision making.    

Inconsistent reporting practices 

Each programme/release within the organisation was initially set up in the functional organisation structure meaning that there was no standardisation across the portfolio. This meant that the board of executives were receiving inconsistent reports on a weekly basis. By being embedded within the TO it allowed us to provide support and guidance to all areas of the portfolio meaning that not only did we orchestrate the new standardisation mandate but we were able to support each sub-programme every step of the way, with minimal disruption & confusion.  

When we first arrived at the client site the reporting was fully manual with no real-time data providing an input. An example of this would be milestones reports which only showed what was baselined and showed no forecast date or RAG status. By providing the client with the right level of support for their needs we were able to demonstrate how they can include the outputs of integrated delivery systems into their status reporting template giving senior management to factual data to drive better decision making.   

Operating Model Changes 

As previously stated above, the organisation was initially set up in the functional organisation structure, meaning teams across the programme were working in individual silos.  

18 months after the conception of the programme there was a large restructure to the programme meaning that the programme structure transformed from a functional structure set up to a matrix organisational structure. This was a massive change to the programme which had impacts to ways of working as well as the content of some project/programme level plans. Our consultants worked closely with project & programme managers on ensuring that any impact to the plans and reporting were reflected with minimal disruption to project delivery. Additionally, with the inputs from our consultants we could support the Transformation Office (TO) in implementing further improvements to governance models utilised across the whole programme. 

Conclusion:

The ASDA Future Programme represented not only one of the most significant retail transformation initiatives in recent UK history, but also a defining moment in ASDA’s evolution from a subsidiary of a global conglomerate to a fully independent, UK-focused enterprise. With the challenge of separating over 2,500 systems from Walmart while continuing to deliver business-as-usual operations at scale, the stakes were high and the margin for error minimal.

PLP played an integral role throughout this multi-year transformation, bringing deep expertise in planning, project delivery, governance, and change management. From the implementation and adoption of Microsoft Project Online to the rollout of planning maturity frameworks and standardised governance models, our consultants embedded themselves at every level of the programme – from strategic transformation office governance to tactical project coordination.

Our impact was not limited to process and tooling. We helped embed a culture of fact-based decision making, encouraged collaboration across previously siloed teams, and built internal capability to ensure long-term sustainability beyond our engagement. By aligning closely with ASDA’s internal teams and adapting to changes in operating models, we ensured our support remained responsive, pragmatic, and value-driven.

The success of this engagement is reflected in the measurable improvements to planning maturity, data-driven reporting, and stakeholder confidence across the programme. With PLP’s contribution, ASDA successfully delivered key milestones in its separation from Walmart and laid the foundations for a more agile, responsive, and digitally enabled business model.

As ASDA continues to move forward under its new ownership, it does so with greater autonomy, enhanced systems, and stronger internal capabilities – empowered by a transformation programme where governance, planning, and delivery excellence were the cornerstones of success.

Why PL Projects: A Trusted Partner in Transformation.

At PL Projects, we don’t just support transformation – we enable it. Our reputation as a trusted partner in complex, large-scale change programmes stems from our unwavering commitment to delivery excellence, adaptability, and client-first collaboration.

1. Deep Sector Expertise Across Industries
Our consultants bring a wealth of experience across sectors including retail, finance, healthcare, education, and construction. This cross-industry perspective allows us to bring best practices, challenge assumptions, and tailor fit-for-purpose solutions to unique business contexts. At ASDA, this meant seamlessly integrating with a high-pressure retail environment, supporting frontline business needs while guiding back-end transformation.

2. Proven Delivery in Complex, High-Stakes Programmes
We specialise in high-value, high-risk transformation environments – like the Future Programme at ASDA. Our ability to step into ambiguity, rapidly assess gaps, and implement scalable planning and governance frameworks has proven invaluable to clients navigating significant structural or strategic change. From systems separation to enterprise planning tooling, PLP has consistently delivered impact where it matters most.

3. Practical, People-Focused Approach
We believe transformation is as much about people as it is about process. That’s why we take the time to understand client culture, pain points, and stakeholder dynamics. Our consultants at ASDA worked shoulder-to-shoulder with PMs, programme leads, and senior stakeholders – ensuring that planning standards, tools, and reporting processes were not just rolled out, but truly adopted and embedded.

4. Planning and Governance Excellence
PL Projects is recognised for its leading-edge capabilities in planning maturity, project governance, and portfolio management. We help clients move from reactive delivery to proactive control by building robust planning frameworks, standardised tools, and clear decision-making channels. The success of ASDA’s move to Project Online and integrated planning is a direct reflection of this capability.

5. Accredited Training & Capability Building
Unlike many delivery partners, we don’t just implement – we upskill. As an APM-accredited training provider, PLP ensures clients have the internal capability to sustain improvements long after our engagement ends. At ASDA, our tailored Microsoft Project training and coaching sessions helped build a stronger internal PM and PMO community, reducing dependency and driving sustainable delivery maturity.

6. Embedded, Flexible, Long-Term Support
Transformation is not a one-off event – it’s a journey. Our consultants don’t parachute in with rigid frameworks. We embed within teams, evolve with the programme, and provide long-term, flexible support that aligns with changing needs and operating models. Our multi-year involvement at ASDA stands as a testament to our ability to adapt and deliver value throughout every phase of transformation.

In short, PL Projects doesn’t just support change – we partner in it. Our collaborative, results-driven approach makes us a trusted choice for organisations navigating complex, business-critical transformations. Whether you’re implementing new systems, reshaping your operating model, or maturing your delivery function, PLP is the partner you can count on to deliver with integrity, expertise, and lasting impact.

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