Description
The well known English phrase "last but not least" could not better present how prominent the project closeout phase is. Being the very last part of the project life-cycle it is often ignored even by large organizations, especially when they operate in multi-project environments. They tend to jump from one project to other and rush into finishing each project because time is pressing and resources are costly. Then projects keep failing and organizations take no medicinal actions, simply because they do not have the time to think about what went wrong and what should be fixed next time. Lessons learned can be discussed at project reviews as part of the closeout phase. Closure also deals with the final details of the project and provides a general ending for all procedures, along with the delivery of the final product. This paper identifies the reasons that closeout is neglected, analyzes the best practices that could enhance its position within the business environment and propose additional steps for a unblemished project closeout through continuous improvement.
Newell
Project managers often know when to halt a projects but they forget how to do it. They are so eager to unblemished a project that they hardly miss the completion indicators. "Ideally, the project ends when the project goal has been achieved and is ready to hand over to customer" (Wellace et. Al, 2004, p156). In times of big booms and bubbles, senior supervision could order the immediate termination of precious projects. A characteristic example of that is Bangkok's over venture in construction of sky-scrapers, where most of them left abandoned without finishing the last floors due to tremendous costs (Tvede, 2001, p267). Projects heavily attached to time can be done before general finishing point if they miss a important deadline, such as an invitation to tender. Kerzner (2001, p594) adds some behavioural reasons for early termination such as "poor morale, human relations or labour productivity". The violent nature of early termination is also known as 'killing a project' because it "involves serious vocation and economic consequences" (Futrel, Shafer D & Shafer L, 2002, 1078). Killing a project can be a difficult decision since emotional issues create pride within an organization and a fear of being viewed as quitters blurs managerial decisions (Heerkens, 2002, p229).
Recognition
The most direct guess that project Closeout phase is neglected is lack of resources, time and budget. Even though most of project-based organizations have a present process formally planned, most of the times "given the pressure of work, project team member found themselves being assigned to new projects as soon as a current project is completed" (Newell, 2004). Moreover, the senior supervision often considers the cost of project closeout unnecessary. Sowards (2005) implies this added cost as an attempt "in planning, retention and documenting sufficient post project reviews". He draws a parallel between reviews and investments because both wish a start-up expenditure but they can also pay dividends in the future.
Human nature avoids accountability for serious defects. Therefore, members of project teams and especially the project owner who has the overall responsibility, will unsurprisingly avoid such a critique of their work if they can. As Kerzner (2001, p110) observe, "documenting successes is easy. Documenting mistakes is more troublesome because habitancy do not want their names attached to mistakes for fear of retribution". Thomset (2002, p260) compares project reviews with the 'witch hunts' saying that they can be "one of the most political and cynical of all organizational practices where the victims (the project owner and the team) are blamed by senior management". While he identifies top supervision as the main responsible party for a failure, Murray (2001) propose that the project owner "must accept ultimate responsibility, regardless of the factors involved". A fair-minded stance on these distinct viewpoints would evoke that the purpose of the project present is not to find a scapegoat but to learn from the mistakes. After all, "the only true project failures are those from which nothing is learned" (Kerzner, 2004, p303).
Analysis
When the project is finished, the closeout phase must be implemented as planned. "A general rule is that project closing should take no more than 2% of the total attempt required for the project" (Crawford, 2002, p163). The project supervision literature has many distinct sets of actions for the last phase of the project life cycle. Maylor (2005, p345) groups the important activities into a six step procedure, which can differ depending on the size and the scope of the project:
1. Completion
First of all, the project owner must ensure the project is 100% complete. Young (2003, p256) noticed that in the closeout phase "it is quite base to find a amount of excellent minor tasks from early key stages still unfinished. They are not important and have not impeded progress, yet they must be completed". Furthermore, some projects need continuing service and sustain even after they are finished, such as It projects. While it is helpful when this request is part of the former statement of requirements, it is often part of the contract closeout. Rosenau and Githens (2005, p300) propose that "the contractor should view continuing service and sustain as an chance and not merely as an obligation" since they can both learn from each other by exchanging ideas.
2. Documentation
Mooz et. Al (2003, p160) defines documentation as "any text or pictorial facts that present project deliverables". The point of documentation is emphasized by Pinkerton (2003, p329) who notes that "it is imperative that all learned during the project, from view through introductory operations, should be captured and come to be an asset". A detailed documentation will allow hereafter changes to be made without fabulous attempt since all the aspects of the project are written down. Documentation is the key for well-organized change of the project owner, i.e. For a new investor that takes over the project after it is finished. Lecky-Thompson (2005, p26) makes a dissimilarity between the documentation requirements of the internal and the external clients since the external party usually needs the documents for audit purposes only. Despite the uninteresting nature of documenting historical data, the someone responsible for this task must engage actively with his assignment.
3. Project Systems Closure
All project systems must close down at the closeout phase. This includes the financial systems, i.e. All payments must be completed to external suppliers or providers and all work orders must halt (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2004, p13). "In closing project files, the project owner should bring records up to date and make sure all former documents are in the project files and at one location" (Arora, 1995). Maylor (2005, 347) propose that "a formal observation of closure should be issued to edify other staff and sustain systems that there are no additional activities to be carried out or charges to be made". As a result, unnecessary charges can be avoided by unauthorized expenditure and clients will understand that they can not receive additional services at no cost.
4. Project Reviews
The project present comes usually comes after all the project systems are closed. It is a bridge that connects two projects that come one after another. project reviews replacement not only tangible knowledge such as numerical data of cost and time but also the tacit knowledge which is hard to document. 'Know-how' and more prominent 'know-why' are passed on to hereafter projects in order to eliminate the need for project managers to 'invent the wheel' from scratch every time they start a new project. The reuse of existing tools and touch can be wide to distinct project teams of the same organization in order to enhance project results (Bucero, 2005). Reviews have a holistic nature which study the impact of the project on the environment as a whole. Audits can also be helpful but they are focused on the internal of the organization. Planning the reviews should comprise the appropriate time and place for the workshops and most prominent the habitancy that will be invited. Choosing the right habitancy for the present will enhance the value of the meeting and help the studying process while having an objective critique not only by the team members but also from a neutral external auditor. The outcome of this present should be a final narrative which will be presented to the senior supervision and the project sponsor. Whitten (2003) also notices that "often just establishment a present presentation troops a project team to think through and solve many of the problems publicly exposing the state of their work".
5. Disband the project team
Before reallocating the staff among other resources, closeout phase provides an perfect chance to compare the effort, the commitment and the results of each team member individually. Extra-ordinary operation should be complemented in collective and symbolic rewards could be granted for innovation and creativity (Gannon, 1994). This process can be vital for team pleasure and can enhance commitment for hereafter projects (Reed, 2001). Reviewing a project can be in the form of a reflective process, as illustrated in the next figure, where project managers "record and critically reflect upon their own work with the aim of enhancing their supervision skills and performance" (Loo, 2002). It can also be applied in problematic project teams in order to identify the roots of potential conflicts and bring them into an open discussion.
Ignoring the established point of view of disbanding the project team as soon as potential to avoid unnecessary overheads, Meredith and Mandel (2003, p660) imply that it's best to wait as much as you can for two main reasons. First it helps to minimize the discontentment that might create a team member's reassignment with unfavourable prospects. Second it keeps the interest and the professionalism of the team members high as it is base ground that during the closing stages, some slacking is likely to appear.
6. Stakeholder pleasure
Pmi's PmboK (2004, p102) defines that "actions and activities are important to confirm that the project has met all the sponsor, customer and other stakeholders' requirements". Such actions can be a final presentation of the project present which includes all the prominent facts that should be published to the stakeholders. This facts can comprise a timeline showing the progress of the project from the starting until the end, the milestones that were met or missed, the problems encountered and a brief financial presentation. A well ready presentation which is focused on the strong aspects of the projects can cover some flaws from the stakeholders and make a failure look like an unexpected success.
Next Steps
Even when the client accepts the delivery of the final goods or service with a formal sign-off (Dvir, 2005), the closeout phase should not be seen as an attempt to get rid of a project. Instead, the key issue in this phase is "finding follow-up business amelioration potential from the project deliverable" (Barkley & Saylor, 2001, p214). Thus, the project can furnish important customer partnerships that will progress the business opportunities of the organization. Being the last phase, the project closeout plays a crucial role in sponsor pleasure since it is a base ground that the last impression is the one that at last stays in people's mind.
Continuous revision is a view that we often hear the last decade and present workshops should be involved in it. The idea behind this system is that companies have to find new ways to sustain their contentious benefit in order to be among the market leaders. To do so, they must have a well-structured coming to organizational studying which in project-based corporations is materialized in the project review. Garratt (1987 in Kempster, 2005) highlighted the point of organizational studying saying that "it is not a luxury, it is how organizations study their future". Linking organizational studying with Kerzner's (2001, p111) five factors for continuous revision we can a define a structured coming for comprehension projects.
This coming can be implemented in the closeout phase, with systematic reviews for each of the above factors. Doing so, project closure could receive the attention it deserves and be a truly remarkable formula for continuous revision within an organization. Finally, project closeout phase should be linked with Pmi's Organizational project supervision Maturity (Opm3) model where the lessons learned from one project are very important to other projects of the same agenda in order to perform the top project supervision maturity height.
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The significance of scheme Closeout and quote in scheme Management.