Closing a Project

Conditions for Project Closure

Project closure happens after all of the project work is done—goals are achieved, agreements are fulfilled, and the end user accepts the project as finished.

The following conditions must be met to transition into the project closure phase

• All project goals are met and deliverables completed.
• All project processes are executed.
• The project team and management formally agree that the project is complete.
• The project is accepted as complete by the client, customer, or end user.

However, the process of closing a project involves more than just the project's delivery. There are several other steps that the project manager must take to ensure the project handoff goes smoothly, agreements are met, and the business can return to normal operations.

There are 7 steps to close a project effectively.

1. Obtain Approvals
   Your work isn’t truly finished until you’ve obtained approval from the client, customer, or end user. They must formally accept the project and recognize it as complete. Get signatures or a written confirmation when a project is transferred to the end user and has fulfilled all project goals and deliverables. Keep proof of approvals and transfer of project ownership for your records.

2. Archive Documentation
   There are likely several documents that you’ve used throughout the initiation, planning, execution, and monitoring phases of the project. Even if you don’t need those documents now, you may need to access them in the future. Organize and archive all project documents so that they are accessible and easy to find again.

3. Close Finances and Contracts
   Review and close all contracts with the project team, suppliers, or any other internal or external vendors. Make sure you have upheld your end of all contracts, and suppliers or vendors have upheld theirs. Complete any outstanding payments. Finalize any last financial processes or reports. While all of these activities may seem mundane, they’re very important to protect your company from liability.

4. Review Lessons Learned
   Call your project team together to conduct a post-mortem meeting and review lessons learned from the project. Ask your team the following prompts:

   • What worked well?
   • What didn’t work well?
   • How could the project or process be improved?

Document lessons learned and review these insights for similar projects in the future. Captured lessons learned can help you avoid the repetition of mistakes. These lessons can also help you to hone your project management process, improve project efficiency or quality, and save time, money, and other resources.

1. Release Resources
   The final step to close a project is to release the project’s resources. That means you need to officially disband the project team for reassignment to other projects or normal business operations. It also means returning any equipment or tools to their respective organizations.

2. Transitioning to Project Maintenance
   In some cases, such as a project that results in a new product or service, a project may require additional actions and continued maintenance by the operations staff. In this case, the project manager will need to ensure the project’s completion and support the project’s transfer. The project manager may need to provide a list of action items or training materials, ensure the successful transfer of knowledge by the project team, and verify the transfer of project ownership.

3. Announce a Project’s Closure
   Announce a project’s closure to your internal team, stakeholders, or relevant clients so that management knows the company has an increase in bandwidth to take on other projects, and that they can reassign people released from the project team. You can also use the announcement as an opportunity to recognize the project team for their success publicly, share lessons learned with those who weren’t involved in the project, and communicate how the project’s completion contributes to the company’s broader goals and vision.

A Final Checklist

Project closure is an essential step in the project management process. You don’t want to get stuck in a project that never ends—or find yourself responsible for a project that didn’t fulfill its goals, deliverables, or acceptance criteria. So, before you put a project behind you, review the following project closure list and make sure that your work is truly finished.