Project Closure
Introduction
Project closure is the fourth and the final phase of the life cycle of project. In this phase, the project is closed and the levels of excellence of the project are reported to the sponsors of the project. It involves handing over all the deliverables to the owner of the project, handing over of documentations, canceling the contracts of the suppliers and releasing the equipment and the staff that were used during the project. The stake holders are then informed of the project closure (Lock, 2000). This is followed by a post implementation review so that the success levels of the project are determined and the lessons learnt plus the challenges are analyzed. Most people think that finishing the project is the last phase of the project life cycle but this is wrong. This is because a project finished without the process of closure still has some loose ends that need to be tied. Without a formal process of closure, the teams in the project may fail to realize the end dragging the project after its end thus costing the project manager a lot of money in the process.
The process of the project closure
The process of the project closure is undertaken to ensure that the outcomes of the project are matching with the goals that had been stated and the customers and all the stakeholders are satisfied. It is also done to ensure that the lessons learnt have been documented and the team that has been involved in the delivery of the project has a sense of completion. After the closure, the project material and human resources can now be released to conduct another project.
Some people think that small projects do not require a closure and closure is only meant for large projects but this is a misconception. This is because every project regardless of its size needs to be closed phase by phase. The process of project closure begins with the wrapping up of the documentation of the administrative functions and creating a plan for the support of the maintenance of the final product. This is because most of the documentations of the project are created during the life cycle of the project. Document collection and the procedure updates will have been already established and the next thing in closure should comprise the collection of final time sheets, expense and team status reports, completion and closure of the tasks that had been remaining, collection of schedule and final cost metrics, review and update of log issues, highlight of the issues that are remaining and decisions on how the issues are going to be addressed and the preparation of a plan to handle the continuous product support.
The session concludes with preparation of the final project status report (Phillips, 2003). Capturing of knowledge is very vital in the process of project closure. The project will have produced some documents that are very vital in the future projects or in the troubleshooting of the final product. The documents can also be important in the future process of auditing and the documentation of valuable information derived from the project should not be deferred or overlooked because it is highly valuable. When people become busy with other projects even before they have closed the previous one formally, they are less likely to learn from the previous projects and they may not benefit from the knowledge that would have been accrued during the closure process (Roland, 2006).
Setting up of a library may be very vital in the process of project closure because it makes sure that the information used in a certain projects is available for other projects in the future. Some of the useful documents that can be stored in the library so that the knowledge they contain can be used for future projects include the project planning documents, status reports, risk documentations, test cases and test results, contracts and invoices, time and expense reports, presentation and design documents. Though the library is an integral part of the capturing of knowledge during the process of project closure, it is important to set it at the beginning of the project so that the team members can store the documents as they come and this will ease the amount of workload during the closure phase (Stevens, 2002). The best way to maintain the library is an electronic format because it can be updated and backed up very easily. During the closure, the review of the library is very important because it gives the managers of the project a clearer picture of where they have come from and how they can use the information they have gained to undertake future projects in a better way. Whatever has been learnt during the life cycle of the project needs to be documented. Those lessons can come from various sources.
The first way in which this documentation can be done is through conducting a survey of the team members and this way, the project managers will be able to know what worked and what did not work and why. The other way is by meeting the sponsors and the executive stakeholders so that their thoughts can be captured (Wetzel, 2003). Consultants and vendors can also be asked to give an objective feedback about the organization and execution of the project. A summary of the results of the documentation can then be provided to the team members as a formal document or as a presentation in a certain meeting organized by the project managers. It is very important to ensure all the knowledge attained remains with the organization because that knowledge is more valuable than even the machineries which mean that the consultants should not be let to walk away with that critical knowledge especially the one that concerns product maintenance.
Signing off is another critical stage of project closure (Ireland, 2006). This can be done by meeting the sponsors of the projects and any other critical stakeholder so that the final sign off on the project can be made. The formal sign off is a sign that the sponsor has been satisfied with the project, the set objectives as the project began have been met and the project is finally complete. In the signing off, it is important that the metrics are reviewed, the highs and the lows of the project are highlighted, the contribution of the team members is acknowledged and the key lessons learnt are shared. A discussion of related projects for the future is also worth the time to provide an opportunity for improvement. After the signing off, the office and the premises that the projects has been using can be shut and arrangements can be made to return that space to general use. This may involve the returning of the rented equipment, reassignment of the temporary staff, closing of the LAN and shutting down of all the utilities that were in use during the course of the project.
Penultimately, the team members should be recognized and rewarded for their input that has ensured successful completion of the project. The project manager should have an understanding of the most outstanding team member who would pull the project of every tight spot and the members that had extra ordinary skills that they input into the project. This may be helpful in the success of future projects because this will really motivate the team members (Dinsmore, 2005).
Conclusion
Though most project managers overlook this phase of the life cycle of a project, it is now evident that it is one of the most crucial stages of any project because it involves complete evaluation, assessment, judgment and the final signing off. It is the process that determines the worth of the team that was undertaking the project and their eligibility to be entrusted with other suchlike or different projects in the future. The process also cuts costs because without wrapping up formally, the cost of the project might spiral as the project drags on past its completion.
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