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Project Closing

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Project Closing

• The Close Project process also

establishes the procedures to
coordinate activities needed to
verify and document the project
deliverables and to coordinate
and interact with formalized
acceptance of those deliverables
by the customer or sponsor. Two
procedures are developed to
establish the interactions
necessary to perform the closure
activities across the entire project
or for a project phase:
• Administrative closure
procedure
• Contract closure procedure
Make sure project plan
has time/budget
allocated
for proper closure!!!

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• PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition, p. 100-101

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Project Closing

• Performing the administrative

closure process includes
integrated activities needed to
collect project records, analyze
project success or failure, gather
lessons learned, and archive
project information for future use
by the organization.

• PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition, p.

100-101

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Project Closing

• We seek to learn lessons from each

project. The post-project review, the
archiving of project records, and
performance evaluations are all
means for learning. This learning
should not be limited to the project
team members.
• The overall project management
process should include procedures
for transferring knowledge to people
throughout the organization. These
include:
• Coaching
• Creation of a “knowledge
database,” with access by type of
project, specific topics or issues
• Peer support groups

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Project Closing

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Project Closing

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Project Closing

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Project Closing

• The decision to disband the

Project Team will be made by the
Steering Committee, as proposed
by the Project Sponsor, in
consultation with the Project
Manager. Ideally, the Project
Team have been provided with an
opportunity to contribute their
‘lessons learnt’ throughout the
project.

• There should be plans for

releasing resources before the
project is to be finalized, and
Project Teams should be
gradually wound down. This
should be done compassionately,
as people have put a great deal
of effort into the project, and it will

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create bad feelings if they feel they are treated unfairly at this stage.

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Project Closing

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Project Closing

• The Steering Committee can close the project even though the
target outcomes (benefits) have not been fully realized.

• In this case it is vital that arrangements be made for the client to

formally report progress against the longer-term target outcomes
through existing Agency or Divisional processes, such as the
annual reporting cycle or corporate reporting processes.

• These arrangements should be documented in the Outcome

Realization Plan.

• This would normally be the case when it will take a number of

years before the target outcomes will be fully achieved.
• The Steering Committee can close the project even though all of
the outputs have not been delivered. In this case it is important to
establish what will happen to those outputs not delivered, for

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 example:
• they will not be produced at all; or another body or project will take

over their development .

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Project Closing

• Other means, to ensure

outstanding work is not forgotten,
include controlling work at a
greater level of detail, holding
more frequent Project Team
meetings and/or creating a
special taskforce for completing
outstanding work.

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Project Closing

• Whether a formal product launch

or an informal gathering for those
involved in the project, a project
completion celebration is a good
way to mark the end of what may
have been a significant period for
those involved.

Make sure project plan has

time/budget allocated
for proper closure!!!

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