Title: Closing Projects
Course: MAN 2582 Intro to Project Management > Section: Module 7

Introduction

"No one cares what you start. They only care what you finish."

Closing the project is the process of finalizing all the activities across all the management processes. The most common activities of this phase include:

- obtaining formal acceptance of all deliverables
- comparing final project results to the project objectives; product requirements; and the scope, schedule, and cost baselines
- conducting a lessons learned session
- documenting the results and disputing them as indicated in the communication management plan
- releasing project resources
- organizing and archiving all project documentation
- closing out all contracts
- acknowledging the competence of the team and celebrating their success

These are usually accomplished at the project closeout meeting which is a formal conference involving all participants and stakeholders or their representatives.

Objectives

Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

- Describe common ways to close or terminate projects
- List several processes and outputs of project closing
- Discuss the process of closing a project or phase performed as part of project integration management
- Explain the importance of a project close-out meeting and knowledge transfer
- Describe the contents of a customer acceptance/project completion form, final project report, and lessons-learned report
- Explain the process of closing procurements performed as part of project procurement management and describe the contents of a written notice of a closed contract

Readings & Resources

An Introduction to Project Management, 4th Edition

- Chapter 8