1. Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme
Managing Complexity in the Face of Uncertainty
Ch07: How to Close a Project
Presented by
(facilitator name)

2. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Summary of Chapter 7
Steps in closing a project
Writing & maintaining client acceptance procedures
Installing project deliverables
Documenting the project
Conducting the post-implementation audit
Writing the final report
Celebrating success
Explain how each of these contributes to the growing importance of project management in the business world.

3. Tools, Templates & Processes Used to Close a Project
Ch07: How to Close a Project
Tools, Templates & Processes Used to Close a Project
Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP)
Implementation strategies
Documenting the project
Post-Implementation audit
Final project report
Explain how each of these contributes to the growing importance of project management in the business world.

4. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Why Do I Need Client Acceptance Procedures?
Acceptance criteria must be clearly defined
Criteria defined during project planning
Avoid 11th hour disputes (arguments)

5. Writing and Maintaining Client Acceptance Procedures
The process of writing and maintaining client acceptance test procedures:
begins during requirements gathering,
is documented during project planning,
is maintained during project execution, and
is applied as the only criteria for moving to the project Closing Phase.

6. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Steps to Closing a Project
Get client acceptance of deliverables.
Ensure that all deliverables are installed: occurs in computer systems work.
Ensure that all documentation is in place.
Get client sign-off on the final report.
Conduct a post-implementation audit.
Celebrate success.

7. Getting Client Acceptance
The client decides when the project is done.
It is your job as the project manager to demonstrate that the deliverables (whether products or services) meet client specifications.
For small projects, this acceptance can be very informal and ceremonial,
Or it can be very formal, involving extensive acceptance testing against the client’s performance specifications.

8. Getting Client Acceptance
Ceremonial acceptance is an informal acceptance by the client. It does not have an accompanying sign-off of completion or acceptance. It simply happens.
Formal acceptance occurs in projects for which you and the client have written an acceptance test procedure (ATP). A checklist is used and requires a feature-by-feature sign-off based on performance tests.

9. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Documenting the Project
There are at least five reasons why you need to write documentation:
Reference for future changes in deliverables: for the follow-up projects.
Historical record for estimating duration and cost on future projects, activities and tasks
Training resource for new project managers: Such items as how the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) was determined
Input for further training and development of the project team: such as How a similar problem or change request was handled in the past
Input for performance evaluation by the functional managers of the project team members

10. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Documenting the Project – The Project Notebook
POS
RBS and all revisions
Proposal and backup data
Original and revised project schedules
Minutes of all project team meetings
Copies of all status reports
Design documents
Copies of all change notices
Copies of all written communications
Outstanding issues reports
Final report
Sample deliverables (if appropriate)
Client acceptance documents
Post-implementation audit report
NOTE:
Start the project
notebook
on the first day

11. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Conducting the Post-Implementation Audit
The post-implementation audit is an evaluation of the project’s goals and activity achievement as measured against the project plan, budget, time deadlines, quality of deliverables, specifications, and client satisfaction.
The following six important questions should be answered:
Was the project goal achieved?
Does it do what project team said it would?
Does it do what client said it would?
Was the project work done on time, within budget, and according to specification?

12. Conducting the Post-Implementation Audit
Six important questions
Was the client satisfied with the project results?
It is possible that the answers to the first two questions are yes, but the answer to this question is no. How can that happen? Simple: the Conditions of Satisfaction (COS) changed, but no one was aware that they had.
Was business value realized?
Check success criteria: such as improvement in profit or market share
What lessons were learned about your project management methodology?
Different parts of the methodology may work well for certain types of projects or in certain situations
How well did the team follow the methodology?

13. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Reasons for not doing a post-implementation audit
Managers don’t want to know
Managers don’t want to pay the cost
It’s not a high priority
Other projects are waiting to have work done on them, and completed projects don’t rate very high on the priority list.
There’s too much other scheduled work to do

14. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Final Project Report
Executive Summary
Overall success and performance of project
Organization and administration of project
Techniques used to accomplish results
Strengths and weaknesses of the approach
What features, practices, and processes proved to be strengths or weaknesses?
Recommendations
Appendices
POS
WBS
Resource Schedule
Change Requests
Final Deliverables
Other

15. Ch07: How to Close a Project
Celebrating Success
There must be some recognition for the project team at the end of the project.
Don’t pass up an opportunity to show the team your appreciation. This simple act on the part of senior management promotes loyalty, motivation, and commitment in their professional staff.