Patte,

Thanks for the comment.  One idea for your present situation is to remind the business people that the argument about resource allocation would be considerably different if you failed.  You might even add a sidebar showing the cost over time or the cost of success versus the cost of failure over time. After-the-fact criticism is considerably different when you achieve your goals because many people just HAVE to criticize something.  If you fail, the criticism would be VERY different.  On one project I did, the system has persisted through two asset sales so 3 companies have used the same system that the first company paid for.  When you do something right, it lasts.