Project Closure

A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it

The closing process signals the end of your project. Project Closure is more than a milestone… it is a process, with deliverables, to successfully conclude your project. To ensure that your project does not languish and has a distinct end, follow this procedure:

• Identify the remaining work and ensure that it gets completed.
• Start releasing your staff if they have successfully completed the work that they were assigned to.
• Finish all administrative tasks such as obtaining final approvals and transactions (invoices).
• Get a final approval from the project sponsor and other key project stakeholders on the closure of the project – hold a formal project closure meeting. At the end of the meeting send out a project closure document that signals the shutdown of all project activities and the formal acceptance of the project’s results.
• Get feedback from the client.
• Individually thank all the team members and their supervisors for their work. If required, you may want to communicate your assessment of team members’ performance to their supervisors.
• Celebrate the end of the project!

Tip: Store all the documents that you produced during the project in your knowledge base for use in a similar project in the future.

Project Evaluation Report

At the end of the project, write a project evaluation report. Such a report can contain the following sections:

• Project performance: a comparison of what the project achieved with what was in the original plan (cost, schedule and outcome). Explain all deviations from the original plan.
• Team member appraisals: (should be confidential): provides an appraisal of the performance of team members during the project.
• Lessons learned: provides information about what worked and did not work during the project.
• Recommendations for future projects.

CONGRATULATIONS! You and your team have successfully completed your project!