Project management software can help you organize all these documents. ProjectManager acts like a hub for all your project files. You can track them on our list view, which is more than the usual to-do list app. For one thing, you can see the percentage complete for each item on the list. Now you know if that contractor has been paid and whether you can sign off on the contract. You can even set up notifications to make sure your payments are delivered on time. Try it out for yourself with this free trial.
Once documents are signed off on, then process them and pay off all invoices and close out any project-related contracts.
Once you’ve closed out the project, you now have the documentation to share and talk about with your team. You also get an opportunity to hear from the team in a more intimate and casual way that allows them to express their opinions on the management of the project.
Before you close a project, archive all the documents and any notes and data that could prove useful. Even if you never access it, there’s a need to keep a paper trail of the work done on any project for other people in the organization. This might include legal teams, or HR teams, or even your successor.
Taking the time to have a postmortem after the project closure is complete puts you and your team in a position to start the next project from a more informed place.
Managing a project isn’t only about tasks and resources, budget and deadlines, it’s an experience you can constantly learn from. While you should have been learning throughout the project, now is a great time to look back without the pressure and distractions that might have dulled your focus.
That’s because when you note a job well done you’re building morale. It makes team members feel better . You might have been a hard taskmaster in the project, but you give them their due for a job well done. That creates loyalty, and they’re going to work even harder for you the next time.
Project closure activities ensure the recording project documents, archiving in organizational process assets, making final payments, releasing resources and completing the project. Every project teaches lessons to the organization whether it’s a success or is a failure. So even after a project finishes, the documentation of this project is going to be helpful for completing the coming projects successfully.
Once the project is closing, all deliverables of the project must have been completed and delivered to the customer. You should also take formal acceptance of the customer for the completed work.
Formal acceptance of the project and project deliverables are taken from the customer. Usually, the customer presents a written document, it can be an email or a signed off document, which states that the project has been completed and they accept the outputs of the project.
The final performance of the project is calculated and recorded. These include cost performance, schedule performance, quality performance etc. For instance, whether the project has been completed under budget or if it could not be completed, how much did the project exceeded the planned budget?
Lessons learned is collected and gathered from all stakeholders. Lessons learned documentation is stored in the organizational process assets of the company.
Collected documents are finalized. Final versions of the project management plans and all necessary documents about the project are archived in the company records.
a. Closing includes verifying that all of the deliverables are complete.
A. A project ends because it was successful and achieved the goals and no further work is necessary.
The last process in project integration management is closing the project.
When developing a transition plan, the project team should work with managers in affected operating departments, and the contents should be tailored to fit the support needs of the project.
Only the project manager should determine if all work in each contract was completed correctly an satisfactorly
d. Closing does not include developing a transition plan.
d. You should assign resources to specific project closing tasks
Project closeout is the process businesses use to finalize all completed activities across the phases of a project. The process involves evaluating the project, transferring the deliverables to a client, distributing resources and communicating with the stakeholders during each stage of a project through its completion.
Project closeout is important because it contributes to an effortless financial process that enables you to provide final payments to your team and resources. Additionally, when your project is ending, another is likely to begin, so it is crucial to ensure everybody involved has a good transition process. Performing a project closeout is also:
It is important to perform a successful project closeout without missing important steps. The process involves a series of steps to follow. These are:
Celebrating your success and rewarding the team for their accomplishments creates a sense of confidence, appreciation and builds morale. It also creates loyalty amongst your team and encourages them to work more effectively and harder in future projects. There are many ways you can choose to celebrate with your teammates' success.
During project closure phase, deliverables that need to be completed, payments that need to be made to the suppliers, requirements check whether they all have been met etc. are done. Because these are criteria for project completing and project closure.
The third one is a project termination. Project termination is actually closing the project since the project objectives will not be met anymore or the business case which was the reason for initiating the project is not valid anymore.
The most important step of the project closing phase is getting formal sign-off and acceptance of the customer. Because projects are initiated based on a business need and customer request. Therefore, if the customer does not accept the final outputs and product, a project cannot be closed.
In which cases you can start project closing processes? There are 3 main reasons to trigger project closing processes: The first one is a project phase completion. If there is a large project with several phases, during the closure of each phase, project closing processes are triggered. The second one is project completion.
Project closure processes ensure the successful completion of the project. Therefore, once the project deliverables are completed and delivered, accepted by the customer, project closure processes take place to close the project.
Celebration! Success must be appreciated and celebrated. If the project has been finalized and closed successfully, the project team must be rewarded and this success must be celebrated. This will encourage all employees in the organization for future successes.
The effort made by the project team during the whole project life cycle doesn’t end after the project executing process group. After finishing the actual work of the project, you should be also aware that there’s a phase called the project closing process, as mentioned in PMP certification training. Can you close the project without getting acceptance of the customer? Of course not! This step is one of the 8 steps of project closing.
Project closure is the last stage of a project, when you tie up loose ends, communicate your results, and debrief with your team.
It feels great to achieve your final milestones or hit your goal—but that doesn’t mean your work is finished. After you’ve toasted to your success, there are still some important tasks to check off your list before you officially reach the end of the project.
Before you close your project, you have to determine if it’s complete. But what exactly does that mean?
Closing a project doesn't have to be hard. As you work on projects, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t work for your team. With that knowledge, you can develop your own project closure best practices.
High five—you’ve just successfully closed your project. You’ve checked all the boxes and tied up all the loose ends. Now you can move on to your next initiative with peace of mind, knowing that everything is taken care of and you have a concrete plan for next steps.