Project closure

Following the acceptance of all project deliverables by the customer, the project will have met its objectives and be ready for closure. Project closure is the last phase in the project life cycle, and must be conducted formally so that the business benefits delivered by the project are fully realized by the customer.

Perform project closure

Project closure, or ‘close-out’, essentially involves winding up the project. This includes:

• determining whether all of the project completion criteria have been met;

• identifying any outstanding project activities, risks or issues;

• handing over all project deliverables and documentation to the customer;

• cancelling supplier contracts and releasing project resources to the business;

• communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders and interested parties.

A project closure report is documented and submitted to the customer and/or project sponsor for approval. The project manager is responsible for undertaking each of the activities identified in the project closure report, and the project is closed only when all the activities listed in the project closure report have been completed.

Review project completion

The final activity within a project is the review of its success by an independent party. Success is determined by how well it performed against the defined objectives and conformed to the management processes outlined in the planning phase. To determine how well it performed, the following types of questions are answered:

• Did it result in the benefits defined in the business case?

• Did it achieve the objectives outlined in the terms of reference?

• Did it operate within the scope of the terms of reference?

• Did the deliverables meet the criteria defined in the quality plan?

• Was it delivered within the schedule outlined in the project plan?

• Was it delivered within the budget outlined in the financial plan?

To determine how well it conformed, an assessment is made of the level of conformity to the management processes outlined in the quality plan. These results, as well as a list of the key achievements and lessons learnt, are documented within a postimplementation review and presented to the customer and/or project sponsor for approval.

This completes the project life cycle overview. I hope that by now you will have a strong appreciation of the steps involved in undertaking a project. We will now explore the project initiation, planning, execution and closure phases in depth, providing you with all of the knowledge required to successfully complete your project.