Transformed Articles PS News How to Close a Project

Forget seagull management or the never-ending story your project needs closure! Organisations characterised by a lot of project activity often finish projects as quickly as possible, wash their hands of them and rush headlong into the next job at hand. Some projects are just left to eventually fade out. Team members gradually disappear, move onto the next shiny, new project or just keep hanging around finishing stuff off. In both cases its unlikely they adopt valuable, formal close out processes. Why Close a Project? By definition, a project has a start and an end. So its vital that each of those key milestones is properly planned and managed to achieve optimum success. With the project management industry growing rapidly and on a steep learning curve, it's more important than ever to pay attention to how projects end. Many organisations don't manage project closures well. Its usually because they dont include the process in the initial project plan. Key Elements of Project Closure There are a number of key elements to project closure. The level of detail and sophistication of each depend on the organisations size and the projects complexity. The key actions involved in project close-out are: Identify lessons learnt Review and document the project Archive project records Recognise outstanding achievement Disburse resources Identifying Lessons Learnt The end of a project is a great time to sit back and reflect on achievements and identify and prepare to share whats been learnt. This is done in a lessons learnt session. This can be an informal gathering of key project people or a large, formal meeting including: the project team, stakeholders (internal and external) executive management, supervisors and operations staff. For optimum results, the lessons learnt session should adopt an aura of constructive feedback. The group should deliberate on suggestions for improvement and new ideas that were very successful on the project. Focus on the top 5 or 10 issues. The outcome should be recommendations, procedures and processes that can be adapted to improve quality of future projects. These reviews can offer practical learning opportunities for everyone involved. Such a session can facilitate official but also emotional closure of a project. It also provides a forum for public recognition of outstanding contribution.

Reviewing and Documenting There are several elements of project documentation that should be covered: a Project Closure Report, Post Implementation Review Report and data archiving. Success (in terms of outcomes) is defined at the early stages of planning the project but there are other factors that need to be measured, including: Were the initial project success factors achieved? Do stakeholders view the project outcomes in a positive light? Was the project well-managed? Did team members work well together? Did the team understand project roles and progress at all points?

When to use a Project Closure Report A Project Closure Report is a document which formalises the closure of the project. It is usually prepared by the Project Manager and presented to the client or project sponsor for sign-off. Ideally the Project Manager should seek input from the entire project team, customers or end-users, and other stakeholders. The Project Closure Report enables the PM to characterise the clients view of the project that will lives on after completion. Whats in a Project Closure Report? The Project Closure Report provides confirmation that the project has met success criteria and requests sign-off from the sponsor to close the project. A Project Closure Report includes: A formal list of completion criteria Confirmation that each criterion has been met A list of outstanding business activities, risks and issues A set of closure actions (eg: hand over deliverables / documentation, terminate suppliers, release resources) A formal project closure request.

In all projects there are some tasks that cant be completed. To effectively manage closure its crucial to identify to whom outstanding issues are to be handed over. After activities have been completed, a Post Implementation Review is undertaken to measure success of the project and record lessons learnt for future projects. What is a Post Implementation Review Report? A Post Implementation Review Report documents the history of a project. It provides a record of the planned and actual budget and schedule. It should contain recommendations for other projects of similar size and scope. The report should document the following analyses: Project organisation including staffing and skills Schedule effectiveness Successful risk assessment and mitigation techniques

 Processes used for change control, and quality management Techniques used for project communication Techniques for handling customer expectations Success factors and how they were met Financial data planned and actual Lessons Learnt (from lessons learnt session) Recommendations to future project managers Of particular importance for learning organisations are documenting lessons learnt and risk management strategies. Lessons learnt should be documented either as new procedures or as comments on the project achievement. Problems encountered by the project team should be presented candidly. Accepting responsibility and ownership for problems is critical to developing useful advice for future activity. On completion of the project, all project risks can be closed, as there should no longer be any risks that may impact the project outcome. Risks should be formally closed by the project steering committee, project board or sponsor. Collecting and Archiving Project Data Following delivery of the Post Implementation Review Report, the project database is archived. Building a repository of past projects serves as both a reference source and as a training tool for project managers. Project archives can be used when estimating projects and in developing metrics on probable productivity of future teams. Typically, the following project data is archived: 1. Post Implementation Review Report 2. Project Plan Project 3. Management Control Documents: a. Correspondence b. Relevant meeting notes c. Status reports d. Contract files 4. Technical documents Prepare an electronic file with all the materials used to plan, execute and evaluate the project. Maybe burn a CD to keep on file for future reference. Recognising Achievement There is general agreement among management experts that rewarding staff achievement is an effective management tool setting the stage for future success. It is important to recognise teams and individuals that have met the goals or exceeded expectations. A wrap-up party is a nice, informal way to do this before team members start to move on. Another option is to provide T-shirts, mugs or other items that commemorate the project.

Other ways to recognise achievement are to promote project successes to key stakeholders or to write articles in industry periodicals about the projects experience and lessons learnt. In addition to recognising staff chronicling projects also helps to contribute to the broader industry body of knowledge. Disbursing Resources There are small tasks that must be completed to physically close the project. These might include: paying everybody, completing any outstanding paperwork, filing required reports, briefing anyone who needs to be briefed, tossing out the rubbish and cleaning up the factory, warehouse or workspace. As part of signing off, the project manager may hold discussions with project staff about what they have learnt and career opportunities that this offers. Generally, once all ts are crossed and is dotted, the slate should be clear and there should not be enduring remains from old projects interfering with future activities. Leaving Satisfied, Educated and Motivated Those who do a great job finishing projects leave fellow team members motivated towards getting involved and doing great things on future projects. A well concluded project will leave sufficient, documentation associated with it that anyone who wants to learn from, duplicate or build on the results in the future is able to do so without having to figure it out from scratch. For expert help to effectively close and document important projects and realise vital learnings, contact the experienced consultants at Transformed. Phone 02 6259 6221 or email: info@transformed.com.au