There are a number of tasks that need to be accomplished during the closure phase. To share some ideas, the Excel template checklist that accompanies this article provides a list. At a high level, the main categories are as follows:
Documentation
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Ideally, project documentation should be an ongoing process during the course of the project. By placing documentation audits as part of the control gate review (CGR) process, project managers can ensure that documentation is being kept up to date. During the closure phase, the documentation needs to be assembled, organized and edited.
Organizations need defined data retention policies that identify what types of data should be stored, for how long and additional details about how it is stored, who audits for the destroy date, how data will be destroyed and so on. To complicate matters further, the project management organization may have one policy and the client another. Therefore, it is wise to ensure that both groups formally document what happens to intellectual property, data files, etc. In the long run, this type of planning and mutual understanding will protect all of the parties involved.
Time and Expense Reports
Time and Expense Reports (T&Es) seem to be a universal problem in terms of receiving them timely and accurately from the project team members. During the course of the project, project managers should be ensuring they have everybody's reports and keeping the project accounting up to date. During the closure phase, the project management team needs to make sure that all T&Es have been collected, time has been assigned appropriately and begin generating the final billing information.
Accounting
In addition to time and expense reports, the project team also needs to track all of the capital and operating expenses of the project relative to the budget. Again, this should be ongoing throughout the course of the project. In the closure phase, the project's accounting records should be cross examined to look for various book keeping errors ranging from transposed numbers to data entry mistakes to omissions.
Both time and expense reports and project accounting should be finalized prior to the final billing being presented to the customer in case there are any errors.
Post Project Reviews (PPRs)
PPRs are very important. They let the project team and affected parties compare actual results to planned results. Furthermore, by conducting PPRs, firms can gain insight into what works well, what needs to be improved and so on. They are powerful tools for learning and process improvement. For additional information on PPRs and templates relating to the review process, please see my previous gantthead article, Move Over, Post-Mortems....
Closure Letter and Sponsor Meeting
After the review process, a formalized closure letter needs to be written that concisely identifies the project, any key aspects about it and the fact that it is now formally complete. The project manager should schedule a meeting with the sponsor to discuss the project and submit the closure letter along with any final documentation the sponsor needs. To give an idea of what a letter looks like, a sample accompanies this article.
The reasons for this formal process are interesting. First, not everyone may realize that the project is over. By formalizing the notification of completion, any remaining issues will immediately surface. Second, this clear notice also helps to stop any last minute scope creep by removing ambiguity as to whether or not the project is over. Third, this notice is the signal that the project is complete and if appropriate, that it is time to pay the bill!
Lastly, do not miss the opportunity to solicit additional work, especially if you are an outside consultant. If things went well, be sure to point that out. The experience gained can benefit the client's organization in the future.
Organize and File Work Papers
All documentation and records, physical or electronic, need to be systematically reviewed, organized and sent to the central work paper archive. Ideally, during the course of the project, all records that deal with material issues surrounding the project should be stored in the file.
As the project wraps up, records that are no longer necessary should be discarded bearing in mind any legal limitations, the sponsoring organization's records retention policy as well as your own organization's records retention policy. To be clear, it is important these days that a records retention clause be included in the statement of work (or engagement contract) that clearly identifies expectations surrounding records retention.
Otherwise, it is all too possible to arrive at the end of the project and find out that some records were not maintained. Bear in mind that failure to maintain records can be just as illegal as willfully destroying documentation depending on what type of engagement you are working on.
Shutdown the Physical Project Office
If a checklist was used to set up the project office, use it as a guide to close the office. All utilities need to be disconnected, rented equipment returned, any temporary staffing arrangements ended, and so on.
Summary
The project doesn't end with the promised deliverable(s) at the end of the implementation phases. There still is work to be done. The project closure phase is just as important as all of the other phases of the project plan. The tasks that comprise the closure phase need to be managed just like all of the other tasks performed to date. Errors during the closure phase can easily leave stakeholders and sponsors of a great project with some very unpleasant memories. Alternatively, and with some effort, the closure phase can wrap up a project and leave everyone with positive memories and opportunities for additional work.
Do you have thoughts about project closure that you'd like to share? If so, please contact the author at [email protected].
George Spafford is a project management consultant and instructor living in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In total, George has more than 10 years of experience in information technology and project management. His areas of personal interest include project management, software engineering, organizational learning and maximizing the value added by information technology to an organization. He can be reached at [email protected].
