What We Liked - Project Closure
Jason concludes:
"Project closure involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation to the business, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources and communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders. The last remaining step is to undertake a post implementation review to quantify the level of project success and identify any lessons learnt for future projects."[11]
"Following the acceptance of all project deliverables by the customer, the
project will have met its objectives and be ready for closure. Project closure
is the last phase in the project life cycle, and must be conducted formally so
that the business benefits delivered by the project are fully realized by the
customer. The activities outlined in Figure [5] are undertaken.
Figure 5: Project closure activities
"Perform project closure: Project closure, or 'close out', essentially involves winding up the project. This includes:
- Determining whether all of the project completion criteria have been met;
- Identifying any outstanding project activities, risks or issues;
- Handing over all project deliverables and documentation to the customer;
- Canceling supplier contracts and releasing project resources to the business;
- Communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders and interested parties.
"A project closure report is documented and submitted to the customer and/or project sponsor for approval. The project manager
is responsible for undertaking each of the activities identified in the project closure report, and the project is closed only
when all the activities listed in the project closure report have been completed.
"Review project completion: The final activity within a project is the review of its success by an independent party. Success is determined by how well it performed against the defined objectives and conformed to the management processes outlined in the planning phase. To determine how well it performed, the following types of questions are answered:
- Did it result in the benefits defined in the business case?
- Did it achieve the objectives outlined in the terms of reference?
- Did it operate within the scope of the terms of reference?
- Did the deliverables meet the criteria defined in the quality plan?
- Was it delivered within the schedule outlined in the project plan?
- Was it delivered within the budget outlined in the financial plan?
"To determine how well the project conformed, an assessment is made of the level of conformity to the management processes outlined in the quality plan. These results, as well as a list of the key achievements and lessons learnt, are documented within a post-implementation review and presented to the customer and/or project sponsor for approval."
Note how each phase described in the preceding pages ends with a Stage Gate or Phase Review. A Phase review is defined in the book's Glossary as: "A checkpoint at the end of each project phase to ensure that a project has achieved its stated objectives and deliverables as planned" (for that phase).[12]
11. Ibid, p5
12. Ibid, p225
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What
We Liked - Project Execution 
