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Project Management Orientation

Actions Required for a Successful Project Closing  

Closing the project is the process of reviewing all the documentation and agreements for the project to ensure that they are complete and that all the commitments have been met.  Closing the project also includes reviewing the project to identify lessons learned and the intellectual capital that should be documented for others' use.
  
The following figure is from the WWPMM work pattern, C3: Manage end of project, in the Closing work pattern group.

The purpose of closing a project is to ensure that each of the following items has been completed:

  • All the project commitments have been met and the documentation has been updated.
  • The intellectual capital has been identified and documented.
  • The technical environment has been released. 
  • The customer satisfaction survey has been completed by the customer or the sponsor.
  • The lessons learned have been collected and documented, as part of the project evaluation report.
  • The sponsor agreement has been closed.  

 

As a project manger, you must start thinking about closing the project when it starts.  If you do not anticipate closing the project, you will have difficulty actually doing so.  Therefore, on day one of your project, begin establishing an awareness of, a process for, and a commitment to a successful project closing among all the parties involved in the project. 
  
For assistance with the project closing process, see the WWPMM work pattern, Manage end of project.  This work pattern can be found, along with descriptions and templates for all WWPMM work products, at the WWPMM Web site.

A graphic showing the Manage End of Project workflow described in the text.
1: Getting Started
2: Define the Project Team
3: Team Management
4: Identify and Validate Requirements
5: Create Decomposition Structures
6: Risk Management
7: Project Estimates
8: Project Schedules
9: Change Management
10: Project Control and Execution
Defining the Project
11: Project Management Review
12: Project Closeout
13: Project Management Tool Suite
14: Self-Assessment and Final Exam
Fast Points
Concepts
Seven Keys
Case Study
WWPMM
Mentor
Check Point
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