Chapter 20: Closing a project Flashcards
What is the purpose of the Closing a project process?
The purpose is to provide a fixed point at which acceptance of the project product is confirmed, and to recognize that objectives set out in the original PID have been achieved (or approved changes to the objectives have been achieved), or that the project has nothing more to contribute.
What are the objectives of the Closing a project process?
The objective of closing a project process is to:
- Verify user acceptance of the project product
- Ensure that the host side is able to support the products when the project is disbanded
- Review the performance of the project against its baselines
- Assess any benefits that have already been realised and update the benefits management approach to include any post-project benefit reviews
- Ensure that provision has been made to address all the open issues and risks, with follow-on action recommendations.
Why is a clear end to the project more successful than a drift into use?
Because it enables to make sure that:
* all objectives have been met
* the project has run its course
* the project management team can be disbanded
* the project products can be handed over (either to user or to the programme to use in other projects)
* project costs should no longer be incurred
* (especially in case of premature closure) opportunity to ensure that all unachieved goals and objectives are identified so that they can be addressed in the future
* transfers ownership of products to customers and terminates the responsibility of the project management team
Where should closure activities be planned in?
Closure activities should be planned as part of the stage plan for the final management stage.
Who notifies the corporate, programme management or the customer that the project has closed?
The Executive.
TRUE or FALSE:
The closing a project process should not happen when a project is brought to a premature close.
FALSE
The process should happen, but it can be tailored to the actual project situation.
Why? Because the Board can agree on some products that are already finalized to be put in use. Or, they can agree that it is still worth finalizing some products in the future.
What are the activities within the Closing a project process?
- Prepare planned closure
- Prepare premature closure
- Hand over products
- Evaluate the project
- Recommend project closure
Before closure can be recommended by the Project Manager to the Board, the Project manager needs to endure that the expected results have all been achieved and delivered. How do they do that?
- update the Project Plan with actuals from the final management stage
- request a product status account (i.e., a report on the status of the products) from project support and ensure that the project product has been approved by authorities identified in the project product description & that it meets all the quality criteria, or is covered by approved concessions
- confirm that the project has delivered what is defined in the project product description, and that the acceptance criteria have been met
Why should the project not simply be abandoned? What should rather happen?
Because project products might be salvaged if they are of value.
Also, any gaps left by the cancellation of the project should be raised to corporate, programme management or the customer. In this case, the PM can create additional work estimates (which are further approved by the project board) for finalizing some products that are worth being salvaged.
Through the Prepare premature closure activity, what management products need to be updated?
The Project plan with actuals from the final management stage (the last one to have taken place)
Update the Issue register to record the premature closure of the project.
One of the activities within the Closing a project process is to handover products. What management products are updated or created during this activity?
- End of project report is created with Follow-on recommendations (e.g., any incomplete work, issues or risks)
- Configuration item records are updated to reflect the status = “delivered”
- Benefits Management Approach is updated in case there are any post-project reviews (Note: in this case, the project management team is only responsible for planning, not for executing)
- The PM will request acceptance records from the customer to document the acceptance of the project products
What should the end project report contain?
- the project manager’s summary of how the project performed
- an assessment of the results of the project against the expected benefits in the business case
- a review of how the project performed against its planned targets and tolerances
- a review of the team performance
- a review of the project product (which should include a summary of any follow-on recommendations)
- if necessary, the documented reasons why a project was brought to a premature close
What should happen when Evaluating a project (activity within the Closing a project process)?
The Project Manager should review the project’s original intent from the baselined PID (in the initiation stage).
The Project Manager should review the approved changes as defined by the current version of the components in the PID.
And after this, the PM should create an end project report, and in consultation with the entire project management team should create a lesson report to be used by future projects.
Who approves the lesson report? Who reviews it? Who creates it?
Creator: Project Manager
Reviewers: Project Board and Project Assurance
Approver: Corporate, Programme Management or the Customer.
TRUE or FALSE:
The Communication Management Approach document should be reviewed before recommending project closure such that all relevant stakeholders are informed about the project closure.
TRUE
