Renault became involved with ECDL in 2000, when Jean-Pierre Corniou, Renault's Chief Information Officer (CIO), decided to improve employees' grasp of office computer applications. Mr Corniou is the president of the association which represents CIOs of French Fortune 100 companies, so he decided to put Renault into a position of leadership by being one of the first major French companies to implement ECDL on a major scale.

"I am responsible for a EUR165 million IT budget and I was very conscious that we need to see a return on investment for this infrastructure," said Mr Corniou, speaking at the MEDEF (French Employers' Federation) award ceremony in November 2002, where he received an honorary ECDL award from ECDL France. "I wanted everybody to be comfortable with their computer...and to take full advantage of the IT facilities of the company."

Arlette Gavalda-Spitz, Renault project manager for the ECDL programme, was responsible for establishing the criteria for the operation and measurement of success of the project.

"We wanted to promote the best IT practices among our staff, to optimise use of our IT infrastructure and to develop the abilities of our staff," she said. "We also wanted to develop these skills through a certification programme that was recognised throughout Europe."

The certification process began in December of 2001 and continued until December 2002. The aim was that 80 percent of participants should seek certification and 80 percent of those should achieve their goal.

Mr Corniou also took the important step of deciding that he and other senior managers would be the first to undergo assessment and certification.

"In fact we exceeded our goal - 82 percent took part and 82 percent of those achieved certification," said Gavalda-Spitz. "The senior managers were the first to seek certification and to attain an ECDL."

Participants say they are now prepared to take more responsibility for their daily computer work, thanks to the knowledge and confidence they gained while working towards the ECDL. Others said they gained a realistic assessment of their skill level from the ECDL and have set goals for further learning. Senior management's first-hand experience of ECDL has helped convince Renault of the value of the certification programme. This has resulted in Renault Spain initiating an ECDL programme at the end of 2002, and Renault Romania is also planning to follow Renault France's success with an ECDL programme of its own.