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 Describe common ways to close or terminate projects

 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
 Summarize advice on closing projects

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 Closing projects or phases involves finalizing all

activities and bringing the project or phase to an orderly
end
 It includes archiving project information, ensuring the
planned work is complete, and releasing organizational
resources
 It often includes a final presentation and report
 It is also important to reflect on what can be learned to
improve future projects. As philosopher George
Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it.”
 It is also important to plan for and execute a smooth
transition of the project into the normal operations of the
company

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  Integration: A project is completed, and products and
services created are integrated into operations; most
common approach
 Addition: A project creates a new product or service that
results in a new unit in the organization, such as a
department, division, or company
 Extinction: A project ends because it was successful
and achieved its goals, or it was unsuccessful or
superseded; termination by murder is when there is a
sudden end to a project.
 Starvation: A project ends by decreasing its budget or
suddenly ending funding; also known as withdrawal of
life support

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Knowledge area Closing process Outputs

Project integration  Close project or phase Project documents updates
management Final product, service, or result 
transition
Final report
Organizational process assets 
updates

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 Project documents updates: All project documents should be

reviewed and marked as final versions, and the lessons learned
register should include lessons learned during the closing process
 Final product, service, or result transition: Project sponsors are
usually most interested in making sure that the final products,
services, or results are delivered and transitioned to the appropriate
part of the organization.
 A final project report and presentation are also commonly created
during project closing
 Updates to organizational process assets: Recall that organizational
process assets help people understand, follow, and improve business
processes. Examples include plans, processes, policies, procedures,
and knowledge bases, such as templates and lessons-learned
reports. During closing, the project team should update appropriate
process assets, especially the lessons learned repository

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  Summary level description of the project or phase
 Scope objectives, the criteria used to evaluate the scope, and
evidence that the completion criteria were met
 Quality objectives, the criteria used to evaluate the project and
product quality, and the verification and validation information
 Schedule objectives including planned and actual milestone delivery
dates and reasons for variances
 Cost objectives, including the acceptable cost range, actual costs,
and reasons for variances
 Summary of how the final project, service, or result achieved the
benefits that the project was undertaken to address.
 Summary of how the final project, service, or result achieved the
business needs identified in the business plan.
 Summary of any risks or issues encountered on the project and how
they were addressed

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 In closing the Just-In-Time Training project, Kristin

and her team prepared:
◦ A customer acceptance/project completion form
◦ A final report and presentation
◦ A transition plan (provided as part of the final report)
◦ A lessons-learned report (after a “sticky note” party)
 Kristin also organized a luncheon for the project
team to celebrate a job well done

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1. Was this project completed to your satisfaction? __X__ Yes _____ No

2. Please provide the main reasons for your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this project.
The project met and exceeded my expectations. In my 15 years with this company, I have
never seen workers so interested in training courses. Kristin effectively coordinated all of
the people who worked on this project. We worked with a number of new suppliers, and
everything went very smoothly.
3. Please provide suggestions on how our organization could improve its project delivery
capability in the future.
One suggestion would be to try to improve our estimating and forecasting abilities. The
project costs were slightly over budget, even with some reserve built in. The schedule buffer
prevented the project from finishing late. We also need to improve the way we forecast the
number of people who want to take courses. The demand for the Web-based courses was
much higher than expected. Even though that was a pleasant surprise, it was still poor
forecasting and caused extra work for project and support staff.

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 Project Name: Just-In-Time Training Project
1. Project Description and Summary of Results
2. Original and Actual Scope
3. Original and Actual Schedule
4. Original and Actual Budget
5. Quality Objectives, Verification, and Validation
6. Risk/Issue Summary
7. Project Assessment
8. Lessons Learned Summary
9. Transition Plan
10. Training Benefits Plan
Attachments:
A. Key Project Management Documentation
 Business case
 Project charter
 Project management plan
 Performance reports
B. Product-Related Documentation
 Survey and results
 Summary of user inputs
 Report on research of existing training
 Partnership agreements
 Course materials
 Intranet site training information
 Summary of course evaluations

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Introduction
The main goal of this project was to develop a new training program at Global Construction to provide
just-in-time training to employees on key topics, including supplier management, negotiating skills,
project management, and software applications. New courses were developed and offered in instructor-
led, CD-ROM, and Web-based formats. These courses will continue to be offered at Global
Construction for the next several years. This transition plan describes the work required to support these
courses.
Assumptions
 Support for the just-in-time training will be handled by staff in affected operational departments,
including the training, IT, HR, and contract departments.
 Funding for the required support is budgeted at $400,000 per year for three years. These funds will
be used to pay staff in the operational departments supporting this project, experts providing
information for courses, and suppliers providing training materials and courses.
 New course topics will be developed under a new project and are not part of this transition plan.
Organization
The Training Director, Lucy Camerena, will lead all efforts to support the Just-In-Time Training courses.
Staff from the training, IT, HR, and contract departments will provide support as required. See the
organizational chart provided in Attachment 1.
Work Required
The main work required to support the training developed from this project includes:
 Maintaining related information on the intranet site
 Handling course registration
 Determining the number of courses offered each year and when they will be offered
 Providing classrooms for the instructor-led training
 Coordinating with suppliers for all training courses
 Planning and managing the internal experts who provide some of the training and expert support for
the courses
 Collecting course evaluation information and suggestions for changing the content or format of
courses
 Reporting information to senior management on a monthly basis

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 Employee knowledge or human capital is a key asset

 Recall that knowledge management is a process included
under execution
 Knowledge transfer is the process of communicating
knowledge that was developed by one person or in one part of
an organization to another person or other parts of an
organization
 In particular, people who will take over products or results
produced as part of the project would need to spend time with
project team members so they understand what is involved in
detail
 For example, people from the training, IT, HR, and contract
departments would gain from knowledge transfer from the
Just-In-Time Training project

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 Project Name: Just-In-Time Training Project
Project Sponsor: Lucy Camerena
Project Manager: Kristin Maur
Project Dates: July 1 – June 30
Final Budget: $1, 072,000
1. Did the project meet scope, time, and cost goals?
We did meet scope and time goals, but we had to request an additional $72,000, which the sponsor approved. We actually exceeded
scope goals by having more people take training courses than planned, primarily the Web-based courses.
2. What was the success criteria listed in the project scope statement?
The following statement outlined the project scope and success criteria:
“Our sponsor has stated that the project will be a success if the new training courses are all available within one year, if the average
course evaluations are at least 3.0 on a 1-5 scale, and if the company recoups the cost of the project in reduced training costs within
two years after project completion.”
3. Reflect on whether or not you met the project success criteria.
All of the new training courses were offered within a year, and the course evaluations averaged 3.4 on a 5-point scale. The number
of people who took the Web-based training courses far exceeded our expectations. Because the Web-based training is more cost-
effective than the instructor-led training, we are confident that the cost of the project will be recouped in less than two years.
4. In terms of managing the project, what were the main lessons your team learned from this project?
The main lessons we learned include the following:
 Having good communications was instrumental to project success. We had a separate item in the WBS for stakeholder
communications, which was very important. Moving from traditional to primarily Web-based training was a big change for
Global Construction, so the strong communications was crucial. The intranet site information was excellent, thanks to support
from the IT department. It was also very effective to have different departments create project description posters to hang in
their work areas. They showed creativity and team spirit.
 Teamwork and supplier partnerships were essential. It was extremely helpful to take time to develop and follow a team
contract for the project team and to focus on developing good partnerships with suppliers. Everyone was very supportive of
each other.

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•Good planning paid off in when plans were executed. We spent a fair amount of time developing a good project
charter, scope statement, WBS, schedules, and so on. Everyone worked together to develop these planning documents,
and there was strong buy-in. We kept the plans up-to-date and made key project information available for everyone on
a secure Web site.
•Creativity and innovation are infectious: Many creative and innovative ideas were used on this project. After
departments had so much fun making their posters in their work areas, people picked up on the idea of being creative
and innovative throughout the project. Everyone realized that training and learning could be enjoyable.
•The project steering committee was very effective. It was extremely helpful to meet regularly with the project steering
committee. Having members from different departments in the company was very important and helped in promoting
the training created as part of this project.
5. Describe one example of what went right on this project.
We were skeptical about hiring an outside consultant to help us develop a short list of potential suppliers for the
training courses, but it was well worth the money. We gained a good deal of useful information very quickly, and the
consultant made excellent recommendations and helped us develop partnerships that benefited suppliers and us.
6. Describe one example of what went wrong on this project.
The senior supplier management specialist assigned to the team at the beginning of the project was not a good fit. The
project manager should have more involvement in selecting project team members.
7. What will you do differently on the next project based on your experience working on this project?
For future training projects it would be helpful to line up experts and mentors further in advance. We underestimated
the number of people who would take the Web-based courses, and participants liked the interactive features, such as
getting expert advice and having a list of people willing to mentor them on various topics. We were scrambling to get
people and had to figure out how to organize them in an effective manner.

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 Everyone seems to agree that it is important to

document and share project lessons learned, yet a
survey of 961 experienced project managers found
that although 62 percent had formal procedures for
learning lessons from projects, only 12 percent
adhered closely to them.
 “End-of-project post-mortems were infrequently and
inadequately performed. Project managers cited the
usual problems: a lack of time, key people not
available, a culture of blame. And, as one interviewee
noted, ‘Most projects don't have enough budget to
support any good closure.’"

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 [Project Name]
Project Lessons Learned
Department: Document Owner:
Focus Area: Project or Organization Role:
Product or Process:
Version Date Author Change Description

LESSONS LEARNED PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

Throughout each project life cycle, lessons are learned and opportunities for improvement are discovered. As part of a continuous
improvement process, documenting lessons learned helps the project team discover the root causes of problems that occurred and avoid
those problems in later project stages or future projects. Data for this report was gathered by using Project Lessons Learned Record sheets
and is summarized in the table.
The objective of this report is gathering all relevant information for better planning of later project stages and future projects, improving
implementation of new projects, and preventing or minimizing risks for future projects.
Lessons learned questions
•What worked well—or didn’t work well—either for this project or for the project team?
•What needs to be done over or differently?
•What surprises did the team have to deal with?
•What project circumstances were not anticipated?
•Were the project goals attained? If not, what changes need to be made to meet goals in the future?

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 At this meeting, like the kick-off meeting, you should

invite key project stakeholders. Some people call this
close-out meeting a post-mortem since it is normally
held after the project has died or been put to rest. The
project champion should start off the meeting, and the
project manager and his/her team should review
information like the following:
◦ The scope, time, and cost goals and outcomes
◦ The success criteria and results in achieving them
◦ Main changes that occurred during the project and how they
were addressed
◦ The main lessons learned on the project
◦ A summary of the transition plan

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 Determine how project, program, and portfolio

management will work best in your own organization.
 Involve key stakeholders—including shareholders,
customers, and employees—in making major decisions.
 Develop and follow a formal project selection process to
ensure projects support business needs.
 Lay the groundwork for projects before they officially
start.
 Separate projects by phases when it makes sense to do
so.
 Designate a project champion to provide high-level
support and participate in key meetings.

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  Assign a project manager from operations to lead
projects that affect operations.
 Form a steering committee with key managers from
various departments for projects that will cause major
organizational change.
 Provide mentoring and training for project managers and
other stakeholders.
 Document action items at meetings, and set the next
meeting time.
 Document meeting with minutes, focusing on key
decisions and action items, and send them out quickly.
 Use more than one approach for creating cost estimates.

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 Use formal supplier evaluation procedures to help select

sellers.
 Include a detailed statement of work and schedule in contracts.
 Develop and follow a formal change-control process.
 Work with suppliers to ensure that deliverables are produced
properly.
 Follow a deliverable acceptance process to verify project
scope.
 Be clear and honest in communicating project status
information, and share the responsibility for project
communications with the entire project team.
 Formally close projects and share lessons learned.

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 Plan for project closing. There should be tasks in the

WBS and resources allocated for closing
 It will be much easier to close a project if the project
team captures lessons learned and other important
information required for closing as soon as possible
 Project managers should take time to thank their team
and other project stakeholders and have some type of
closing celebration

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  Popular television shows likes American Idol and The Voice
have great closing shows. For example, in 2016, several
famous celebrities (Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, etc.)
performed before ending the fifteenth season of American
Idol and announcing the new winner, Trent Harmon.
 Many viewers get tears in their eyes watching the last few
minutes of Extreme Home Makeover episodes. Ty
Pennington and his team of designers, builders, volunteers,
friends, family, and neighbors gather to see the new home
built quickly for a family in need. Everyone enjoys the
tradition of shouting, “Move that bus!”

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Using the guidelines provided, develop a lessons learned presentation for

your project. Reflect on the following and tell a story:

 The key takeaways at each phase of the project ( Align to each process
group and key deliverables created by your team): Consider:
◦ What worked well—or didn’t work well—either for this project or for
the project team?
◦ What needs to be done over or differently?
◦ What surprises did the team have to deal with?
◦ What project circumstances were not anticipated?
 Use the team checklist provided as input into this presentation.
(Consider Tuckman’s stages of group development)
 Use examples graphics/illustrations to support your analysis
 Examples/Anecdotes encouraged
Cont’d

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 Assume you are in the middle of your project execution.

 Create a dashboard with thresholds to measure
performance/status of your project . It is the OPA that will
be used to bring management totally up to date on the
status of your project on a regular basis
 Your dashboard should include scope, time, cost, and
other relevant data – what information would you collect
for each performance area?
 What would you use to determine green, yellow or red
status for each. Use the PMPG Status Report Template
as a guide but create your own OPA!
 What process would you use if changes were required?
 Incorporate your Dashboard into your Final Presentation
(Assignment #10 – Draft next class…
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  This will be a team presentation. You
should not exceed12 minutes.
 You are free to select a format of your
choice e.g. PowerPoint presentation, role
play, panel discussion etc.
 Be creative!
 All team members are required to
participate!
 Upload a copy of your presentation to
Blackboard (a simply summary/script if role
play format is selected for Part B)
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 Closing projects or phases involves finalizing all activities

and bringing the project or phase to an orderly end. It
includes archiving project information, ensuring the
planned work is complete, and releasing organizational
resources.
 Closing outputs related to integration management
include project documents updates, final products,
services, or result transition, a final report, and updates to
organizational process assets.
 Helpful advice for closing projects includes planning for
closure, documenting lessons learned and other
important information as soon as possible, and
celebrating project closure.

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