Project Closure

This blog examines Project Closure. A project can be said to be terminated when work has ceased or slowed to the point that further progress is no longer possible.

There are four fundamentally different ways to close a project.

Figure 1: Betamax Lost the Video war to VHS and the product was terminated

1. Extinction

This is when the project no longer exists. This could be because it was successful and achieved its goals or it could be because it was unsuccessful, or a different project has taken its place.

2. Addition

The project still exists but it has been become a day-to-day part of the parent company, as a stand-alone division. This usually means the project was deemed a success as the parent company wished to continue the work.

3. Integration

This is similar to addition because the project ceases to exist and instead becomes integrated into the organisation. The difference is that instead of creating a new division, the work is distributed among existing elements of the company i.e., across different departments or other projects. Problems can arise with this method depending on the level of experience the existing staff have with the new methods being integrated into their job.

Figure 2: The Saturdays song 'Ego': Many senior managers have an ego

4. Starvation

This is when a project slowly dies, due to a lack of budget. This is common in large organisations and the public sector. Senior management may be hesitant to terminate unsuccessful or obsolete projects because their ego makes it difficult to admit that they have championed an unsuccessful project.

Project Termination

When considering project termination, the following questions can help to discern whether or not to terminate:

• Has the project been superseded by technical advances?

• Is the output of the project still cost-effective?

• Is it time to integrate or add the project as a part of regular operations?

• Are there better alternatives uses for the resources currently devoted to the project?

Figure 3: Arnold Schwarzenegger's character was an effective terminator

Termination Process

In an ideal world, a project will have a termination manager who has the resources to terminate a project methodically. The duties of the Termination Manager are:

• Ensure the completion of the work, including tasks performed by sub-contractors.

• Notify the client of project completion and ensure that delivery is accomplished (refer back to the Project Charter and track what has completed)

• Ensure the documentation is complete including an evaluation of the project deliverables and the project’s final report

• Ensure final billings and final invoices are sent to the client.

• Redistribute personnel, materials, equipment, and any other resources to the appropriate places.

• Clear project with legal counsel or consultant

• Determine what records to keep

• Ascertain any product support requirements, decide how each support will be delivered and assign responsibility

• Ascertain any product support requirements, decide how each support will be delivered and assign responsibility.

Figure 4: Final report

The Final Report

The final report chronicles the project and serves as a record of what went right and what went wrong.

Several subjects should be addressed in the final report:

• Project performance

• Administrative performance

• Organisational structure

• Project and administrative teams

• Techniques of project management

The value in completing this report is to learn from experience and make recommendations for changing current practice in future projects.

This blog is the last in the series of blogs on project management.