Project Closure - Overview and Objective

Objective

 

To

 

            -  formally close the project,

 

in a way that

 

            -  establishes mechanisms for the continued development or improvement of the final product of the project,

 

            -  improves the standard process for this type of project,

 

            -  updates the estimating model for this type of project,

 

so that

 

            -  the project resources can be re-deployed.

 

Overview

 

All good things must come to an end.  Projects are designed to end at some point, that is the nature of project work.  To gain maximum benefit from a project, the project should go through a formal close down.

 

There may be some outstanding work that needs to be carried out on the products of the project.  This work should either be canceled, or mechanisms, such as a maintenance program, or additional projects, should be established to complete the work.

 

The project will have been using several lists and tracking mechanisms, such as the change request log and the issues log. These need to be formally closed.

 

The members of the Project Organization will have learnt how to carry out this type of project better in the future, and will have a better idea of how long the various activities on this type of project will take to do.  These learnings should be captured for future use.

 

There will be a lot of information generated during a project, and this will have been stored with varying degrees of formality by the members of the Project Organization.  This information needs to be formally filed away for possible future use.