Project Closure

Every project has its beginning and its end - a desired outcome. Project closure is a last phase in the system implementation project life cycle. It's when you handover the deliverables and documentation to the customer, identify outstanding tasks, review project performance and report the project success. At the end of each project is the realization of some specific goal or objective. It is not enough to assign a project to someone and say, "See what you can do with this." Nebulous objectives will more than likely lead to a nebulous outcome. A specific objective increases the chances of leading to a specific outcome. Time and money are inherent constraints in the pursuit of any project. If the timeline is not specific—the project can be completed any old time—then it is not a project. It might be a wish, it might be a desire, it might be an aim, it might be a long held notion, but it is not a project.

During the project closure phase, FinSysAdvisors can conduct post implementation review to determine what the projects success and identify the lessons learned. This review can serve as a useful source of information for the subsequent system and process enhancements.
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One of the crucial elements of the project closure is a clear explanation of the acceptance criteria. All of us probably have experienced projects that seem to have no end. Usually, this phenomenon occurs because there are no stated acceptance criteria that the customer can use to determine whether the product or system is completed. If there are no criteria, then the customer can always aver that the product does not meet the requirements.
The customer's sign-off literally means she agrees that you have indeed developed the system to specification, i.e., requirements, and that it is accepted. If the project resulted from an external contract, sign-off may be a part of the contract closeout procedure, but whether it is or not, the project can't be formally closed until the system is accepted.

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