Project Closure

The three major deliverables for project closure are described below:
1. Wrapping up the project.
The major wrap-up task is to ensure the project is approved and accepted by
the customer. Other wrap-up activities include closing accounts, paying bills,
reassigning equipment and personnel, finding new opportunities for project
staff, closing facilities, and the final report. Checklists are used extensively to
ensure tasks are not overlooked. In many organizations, the lion’s share of
closure tasks are largely done by the project office in coordination with the
project manager. The final report writing is usually assigned to one project
office staff member, who assembles input from all stakeholders. In smaller
organizations and projects, these closure activities are left to the project
manager and team.
2. Evaluation of performance and
management of the project.
Evaluation includes team, individual team
members, and project manager
performance. Vendors and the customer
may provide external input. Evaluation of
the major players provides important
information for the future.
3. Retrospectives.
Retrospectives of lessons learned are
designed to improve performance on
current and future projects. Today, most
retrospectives are the responsibility of an
independent facilitator. The facilitator also
provides major input to the closure report
that will include lessons learned. These
post-project reviews should be held with
the team to catch any missing issues or
gaps.
Types of Project Closure
• Normal: The most common circumstance for project closure is simply a completed
project. For many development projects, the end involves handing off the final design to
production and the creation of a new product or service line. For other internal IT
projects, such as system upgrades or creation of new inventory control systems, the end
occurs when the output is incorporated into ongoing operations. Some modifications in
scope, cost, and schedule probably occurred during implementation.
• Premature: For a few projects, the project may be completed early with some parts of
the project eliminated. When the pressure is on to finish the project and send it to
production. Before succumbing to this form of pressure, the implications and risks
associated with this decision should be carefully reviewed and assessed by senior
management and all stakeholders. Too frequently, the benefits are illusory, dangerous,
and carry large risks.
• Perpetual: Some projects never seem to end. The major characteristic of this kind of
project is constant “add-ons,” suggesting a poorly conceived project scope. At some
point the review group should recommend methods for bringing final closure to this type
of project or the initiation of another project. For example, adding a new feature to an
old project could replace a segment of a project that appears to be perpetual
• Failed Project: Failed projects are usually easy to identify and easy for a review group to
close down. However, every effort should be made to communicate the technical (or
other) reasons for termination of the project; in any event project participants should
not be left with an embarrassing stigma of working on a project that failed. Many
projects will fail because of circumstances beyond the control of the project team.
• Changed Priority: Organizations’ priorities often change and strategy shifts directions.
For example, during the 2008–10 financial crisis organizations shifted their focus from
money-making projects to cost savings projects. The oversight group continually revises
project selection priorities to reflect changes in organizational direction. Projects in
process may need to be altered or canceled. Thus, a project may start with a high priority
but see its rank erode or crash during its project life cycle as conditions change. When
priorities change, projects in process may need to be altered or canceled. Different types
of project termination present unique issues. Some adjustments to generic closure
processes may be necessary to accommodate the type of project termination you face
Wrap-up Closure Activities
• The project manager’s challenge is to keep the project team focused on the remaining
project activities and delivery to the customer until the project is complete.
• Communicating a closure and review plan and schedule early allows the project team to
(1) accept the psychological fact the project will end and
(2) prepare to move on.
The ideal scenario is to have the team member’s next assignment ready when project
completion is announced. Project managers need to be careful to maintain their
enthusiasm for completing the project and hold people accountable to deadlines, which
are prone to slip during the waning stages of the project. Implementing the closure process
includes several wrap-up activities. Many organizations develop lengthy lists for closing
projects as they gain experience.
These are very helpful and ensure nothing is overlooked. Implementing closedown includes
the following six major activities:
1. Getting delivery acceptance from the customer.
2. Shutting down resources and releasing to new uses.
3. Reassigning project team members.
4. Closing accounts and seeing all bills are paid.
5. Delivering the project to the customer.
6. Creating a final report
Creating the Final Report
The final project report summarizes project performance and provides useful information for
continuous improvement. Although the final report will be customized to your project and
organization, the content of the final report typically includes the following topics: executive
summary, review and analysis, recommendations, lessons learned, and appendix.
• Executive Summary: This summary simply highlights the key findings and facts relating to the
project implementation. For example, the project goals for the customer were met, or not. Are
stakeholders satisfied that their strategic intents have been met? What has been user reaction
to quality of the deliverables? Are the project deliverables being used as intended and
providing the expected benefits? Final time, cost, and scope performances are listed. Any
major problems encountered and addressed are noted. Key lessons learned are identified.
• Review and Analysis: Data are collected to record the project history, management
performance, and lessons learned to improve future projects. Analysis examines in detail the
underlying causes of problems, issues, and successes. The analysis section includes succinct,
factual review statements of the project—for example, project mission and objectives,
procedures and systems used, and organizational resources used. It is common to collect data
from the organizational view and from the team view. The project office or closure facilitators
often use questionnaires and surveys to pick up on issues and events that need to be
examined further.
• Recommendations: Usually, review recommendations represent major
improvement actions that should take place. They are often technical in
nature and focus on solutions to problems that surfaced. For example, to
avoid rework, the report for a construction project recommended shifting
to more resilient building material. In other cases, they may include
terminating or sustaining vendor or contractor relationships.
• Lessons Learned: Perhaps lessons learned are the most valuable
contribution of the closure process. Given the process evaluation and input
from the stakeholder meetings, lessons learned should be succinctly and
clearly set out. Stress the need to help others in future projects. In practice,
new project teams studying past project reports similar to the project they
are about to start have found past review reports very useful.
• Appendix: The appendix may include backup data or details of analysis that
would allow others to follow up if they wished. It should not be a dumping
ground used for filler; only critical pertinent information should be
attached.
 Post-Implementation Evaluation
• The purpose of project evaluation is to assess how well the project team, team members, and project
manager performed.
• Team Evaluation: Evaluation of performance is essential to encourage changes in behavior and to support
individual career development and continuous improvement through organizational learning. Evaluation
implies measurement against specific criteria. Experience corroborates that before commencement of a
project, the stage must be set so expectations, standards, supportive organizational culture, and constraints
are in place; if not, the effectiveness of the evaluation process will suffer.
Some typical conditions are listed here in the form of questions:
• 1. Do standards for measuring performance exist? (You can’t manage what you can’t measure.) Are the goals
clear for the team and individuals? Challenging? Attainable? Lead to positive consequences?
• 2. Are individual and team responsibilities and performance standards known by all team members?
• 3. Are team rewards adequate? Do they send a clear signal that senior management believes that the synergy
of teams is important?
• 4. Is a clear career path for successful project managers in place?
• 5. Is the team empowered to manage short-term difficulties?
• 6. Is there a relatively high level of trust emanating from the organizational culture?
• 7. Team evaluation should go beyond time, cost, and specifications. Are there criteria beyond the constraint
criteria? Creation of project deliverables would be a good place to start.