Inputs of Close Project or Phase

For the exam, know the eight inputs of the Close Project or Phase process:

Project Charter The project charter contains the success criteria and other approval requirements necessary to close out a phase or project.

Project Management Plan For a project to be considered closed, the project management plan will be reviewed by the project manager to ensure completion of the deliverables and that all objectives of the project have been met.

Project Documents Several project documents can be referenced to validate that closure requirements have been met. According to the PMBOK^® Guide, the following are examples of documents that may be referenced:

• Assumptions log: Contains assumptions and constraints
• Basis of estimates: Contains details behind estimates produced
• Change log: Details status of all change requests
• Issue log: Contains status of all open issues
• Lessons learned register: Includes lessons learned from the phase or project to be finalized
• Milestone list: Contains final dates on which milestones are to be accomplished
• Project communications: Includes all communications created to date
• Quality control measurements: Contains results of quality control activities to determine compliance against requirements
• Quality reports: Includes quality assurance issues, recommendations for improvement, and summary of quality control findings
• Requirements documentation: Used to demonstrate compliance against the project scope
• Risk register: Provides details about risks captured
• Risk report: Provides summary of information on risk status

Accepted Deliverables Accepted deliverables are an output of the Validate Scope process. This input is necessary to determine whether all deliverables have been successfully completed.

Business Documents Business documents typically referenced include the business case, which contains the cost benefit analysis and business need being satisfied, and the benefits management plan, which notes when benefits are expected to be achieved.

Agreements Agreements become a necessary input to the process, since it’s through this process that procurement activities are finalized. Agreements contain the terms and conditions related to contract closure.

Procurement Documentation According to the PMBOK^® Guide, procurement documentation is collected, indexed, and filed through the Close Project or Phase process. Procurement documentation typically includes the following:

• Contract schedule
• Scope
• Quality
• Cost performance
• Contract change documentation
• Payment records
• Inspection results

Organizational Process Assets The following organizational process assets are typically used in this process:

• Guidelines for closing out the project or project phase
• Historical information and lessons learned
• Project closure reports
• Configuration management knowledge base

Tools and Techniques of Close Project or Phase

The Close Project or Phase process has three tools and techniques: expert judgment, data analysis, and meetings.

Expert Judgment Subject matter experts can help ensure that the process is performed according to the organization’s standard and to project management standards. Experts typically include other project managers, the project management office, and organizations such as PMI^® or other technical organizations that publish standards and resources.

Data Analysis Analytical techniques may be used to ensure that closure activities are ready to be performed and are performed correctly. Regression analysis and trend analysis are two examples of techniques provided by the PMBOK^® Guide, as well as document analysis and variance analysis. These data analysis techniques help teams gather lessons learned to improve the performance on projects taken on in the future.

Meetings Meetings are often used as a means of bringing experts together to validate that deliverables have been accepted. Other uses of meetings at this stage include transferring knowledge, capturing lessons learned, and celebrating successful closure of a phase or project. Meetings may occur in a variety of formats, such as in person or virtual.

Outputs of Close Project or Phase

The four outputs that result from carrying out the Close Project or Phase process are as follows:

Final Product, Service, or Result Transition Final product, service, or result transition refers to the acceptance of the product and the turnover to the customer or into operations. This is where information is distributed that formalizes project completion.

Final Report The project’s final report includes an overall summary of how the project has performed. According to the PMBOK^® Guide, it may include things such as these:

• Summary description of project or phase
• Objectives and criteria used to evaluate the following metrics:
  • Scope
  • Quality
  • Schedule
  • Cost
• Summary of how the final result achieved the targeted benefits and business needs
• Summary of risks

Project Documents Updates Any and all project documents may be updated as a result of carrying out this process. One document, in particular, that is important is the lessons learned register.

Organizational Process Assets Updates The following organizational process assets are typically updated as a result of the Close Project or Phase process:

• Project files, such as the project planning documents, change records and logs, and issue logs
• Project or phase closure documents, which include documentation showing that the project or phase is completed and that the transfer of the product of the project to the organization has occurred
• Project closure reports
• Historical information, which is used to document the successes and failures of the project
• Operational or supporting documents
• Procurement file, which includes all of the procurement records and supporting documents
• Deliverable acceptance, which is a formal written notice from the buyer that the deliverables either are acceptable and satisfactory or have been rejected
• Lessons learned documentation

Release Resources

Although releasing project team members is not an official process, you will release your project team members at the conclusion of the project, and they will go back to their functional managers or be assigned to a new project if you’re working in a matrix-type organization. The release of project resources is addressed within the resource management plan, which is created through the Plan Resource Management process.

As you learned in Chapter 5, “Planning Project Resource, Communication, Procurement, Change, and Risk Management,” the resource management plan includes a section called “project team resource management,” which includes details of how resources will be defined, staffed, managed, and released. The resource management plan is a subsidiary plan of the project management plan. It typically addresses the release of resources (not just at the end of the project, but in general at any point within the project), outlines the method for resource release, and defines when resources are to be released.

Once resources are released, the costs of the resources are no longer charged to the project. The resource management plan helps mitigate human resource risks that may occur during or at the conclusion of the project.

Perform Administrative Closure

Administrative closure procedures involve the following:

• Collecting all the records associated with the project
• Analyzing the project success (or failure)
• Documenting and gathering lessons learned
• Properly archiving project records
• Documenting the project team members’ and stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities:
  • Approval requirements of the stakeholders for project deliverables and changes to deliverables
  • Confirmation that the project meets the requirements of the stakeholders, customers, and sponsor
  • Documented actions to verify that the deliverables have been accepted and exit criteria have been met

Figure 9.2 shows the elements of the administrative closure procedures.