Sequence of Activities in Closing Process

Closing process group includes only one process, namely, Close project or phase. This process belongs to the Integration knowledge area.

Close project or phase is the process during which we formally close the project or phase.

Generally, the project charter will include project success criteria, project exit criteria and who will sign off the project. Project exit criteria are the conditions that need to be met in order to close or cancel the project/ phase.

The project management plan defines how the project will be closed.  Before closing the project, the project management plan has to be reviewed to ensure that all the planned work is completed and the project has met its objectives.

The project/ phase closure includes several activities, some of which are listed below:

• Scope

Confirm the formal acceptance of deliverables by the customer

• Cost

Ensure that all costs are charged to the project

Close project accounts

• Quality

Audit project success or failure

• Resource

Check the issue log and ensure there are no open issues

Reallocate the project facilities, equipment and other physical resources

Deal with unused project material

Release/ reassign project team members

• Procurement

Confirm the formal acceptance of the seller

Finalize open claims

Update records and archive

• Stakeholder

Measure stakeholder satisfaction

• Integration

Transfer the product/ service/ result to the next phase or to the operations

Evaluate how the estimates of duration, cost and resources compared with the actual performance

Update lessons learned

Measure whether the benefits of the project were achieved as planned

Validate that the exit criteria have been met

Forward any suggestions for improving/ updating the policies and procedures of the organization

Document the reasons if a project is terminated before completion

Submit a final report providing a summary of the project performance

Archive project documents

And… finally, don’t forget to celebrate the success with the project team.

Meetings

You may have to conduct several meetings as part of the project closure. Some of the meetings that you may conduct are:

• Close-out reporting meetings
• Customer wrap up meetings
• Lessons learned meetings

Lessons Learned

The lessons learned register is created early in the project. It then gets updated throughout the project and gets finalized in the closing process. The information is then transferred to an organizational process asset called lessons learned repository.

It is not just the project manager, the whole team involved in the work is involved in capturing the lessons learned.

Lessons learned can be documented using pictures, video, audio or any other suitable means.

Characteristics of Closing Process Group

The following are the characteristics of the closing process group:

• Probability of completing the project is highest
• Risk of the project is at its lowest level
• Stakeholders have the least amount of influence in the project
• Costs are significantly lower during this process

Sequence of Activities in Closing process group

There are no specific rules regarding the sequence of activities while closing a process. Following is a suggested sequence you may consider:

• Confirm the formal acceptance of the product
• Transfer the product/ service/ result to the next phase or to the operations
• Obtain financial, legal and administrative closure and ensure transfer of liability
• Obtain feedback from relevant stakeholders to evaluate their satisfaction
• Create the final project report
• Update lessons learned
• Archive project documents
• Release resources

This sequence is not written in stone. For example, you may update the lessons learned first and then finish the final report. Or, you may even get different team members to work on these documents simultaneously.

Final Word

I firmly believe it is important to know what happens in the closing process, rather than in what sequence.

If in case the exam tests you on the sequence of activities, use your common sense and project experience to determine the better sequence.

Do you still have any doubts? Please leave your comments below. Let us discuss.