PLANNING & PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Closure

The Project Closure process group involves finalizing all project activities as needed to formally close and transfer a project. This process group includes administrative procedures, contract closure and formal customer and sponsor acceptance procedures, and organizational procedures.

 

Key Concepts – Project Closure
Entry Criteria:

Project Closure begins when the project team has completed the work required to develop the project deliverables. Project Closure also begins when a project is cancelled in one of the other process groups.
Purpose:

The goal of this process group is to verify customer acceptance, to successfully transition the project to its next stage (e.g., production, operation), and to capture and share information that could be helpful to future projects.

Responsibilities:

The Project Manager/Lead is responsible for the completion of the Project Closure process group.

Exit Criteria:

Project Closure is complete when all project activities and deliverables have been finalized.

Steps – Project Closure

Project Closure involves several categories of activities: Administrative, Contractual, and Organizational. Depending on the size and nature of your project, some or all of these may apply.

  1. Administrative: Notify management when project team staff have completed their tasks and can be reassigned or released. Transfer the project to production, operations, or both.

  2. Contractual: Formally close all contracts/agreements between the requesting and performing organizations. Obtain formal acceptance, including receipt of a formal statement/sign-off that the terms of the contract/agreement have been met.
  3. Organizational: Organize a repository for project documentation, including formal acceptance documents, project files (e.g., Project Charter, Scope Statement, risk register, communication plan), lessons learned, and other historical information.
Deliverables – Project Closure

Lessons Learned

The lessons learned deliverable involves gathering, documenting, and publishing information on how well the project was initiated, planned, executed, and controlled.

 

Who is responsible? The Project Manager/Lead is responsible for the completion of this deliverable.

When is this started? This deliverable is started during the Project Closure process group.

Where do I begin? Lessons learned may be gathered in a meeting, from a questionnaire, or both. The goal is to obtain candid, objective information on what went well (i.e., what do we want to repeat) and what did not go well (i.e., what do we want to fix and how). The results are documented and made available to the project team in a central repository. A few suggestions:

  • Involve key project personnel, both business and technical.

  • Document lessons as they occur.

  • Keep the process objective. Avoid fixing blame.

  • Avoid personal references when documenting feedback.

  • Place at least as much emphasis on what went right as on what could have been improved.

  • Don’t stop at “what”…ask also for recommendations on how to improve or enhance.

  • Publish the results.

Possible format for a Lessons Learned session:

  • What went right?

  • What could be improved upon?

  • Recommendations for the future.

  • Most significant impression.

  • Quick review of positives.

Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring/Control | Closure

 

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