Close Project and Celebrate Success!

An exciting and rewarding time in the project lifecycle is the close. It’s when you validate that the t’s have been crossed, the i’s have been dotted, and you celebrate the team’s success. Team members are released and you move on to the next great project. Yet, before doing that … celebrate!

A project-close process should be conducted at the completion of all chartered projects. It typically consists of completing the following steps:

1. Validate that products, processes, or services meet project scope, goals, and deliverables
2. Validate that processes, procedures, records, and training are updated and delivered
3. Confirm that products, processes, or services are delivered to the customer or sponsor
4. Secure acceptance of the products, processes, or services from the customer and/or sponsor
5. Ensure project team evaluations are complete and resources are released
6. Conduct final project review, document lessons learned and add to the intellectual-asset repository
7. Archive project documents and artifacts
8. Deliver final project report
9. Conduct a project team celebration 

All of the project-close items in the list above are important and necessary, yet project team recognition and celebration are critical to the success of future projects and to enhance organizational culture. Recognition and celebration should provide positive reinforcement, in a setting instrumental to personal reward, and conducted or attended by leadership and senior management.

Benefits of project close:

• Provide a collaborative, motivational team environment
• Provide a smooth transition of ownership of deliverables
• Provide a consistent approach for efficiently and effectively closing projects
• Provide a basis for future projects to reference
• Result in a customer-centric approach and environment

The process defined below is an ideal approach for project close.

Project-Close Process:

1. Complete all activities on the project schedule and action plan
2. Complete all items on the project checklist
3. Complete the project-close and sign-off template
4. Conduct a project-close meeting with the appropriate stakeholders and sponsor
5. Secure project approval and sign-off
6. Recognize and celebrate the project team’s success

Note: You may wish to reference PMBOK® 6th Edition for PMI® processes that make up the knowledge area for project integration management, specifically close project or phase. 4.7 Close project or phase by finalizing all activities and project work across all process groups necessary to formally complete the project or phase.

While your project-close and sign-off template may vary slightly, it will likely contain many of the components found in the following example. This image depicts a basic project-close and sign-off template, along with its elements.

Regardless of your project-close and sign-off template, format, and layout, it is fundamental to include such a template in the project toolbox for final close and to secure project sign-off.

Value Generation Partners wishes you much success in your pursuit of successful project close and sign-off, thereby generating greater value in your organization! 

Conducting Project Close is useful in combination with other LinkedIn Pulse posts found at this link.

Find more on related topics in Project Management for Success Handbook, which is available on Lulu.com and other book distributors in paperback and eBook. With the purchase of any handbook, the reader has access to a companion toolbox file containing all referenced templates.