Task: Prepare for Project Close-Out |
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This task describes how to complete the formalities associated with project acceptance and close-out, reassign project staff, and transfer other project resources. |
Disciplines: Project Management |
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Relationships
Roles | Primary Performer:
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Inputs | Mandatory:
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Outputs |
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Main Description
Prepare for Project Close-Out occurs after the final delivery of software in the Transition Phase. The
expectation is that there remain no problems that will preclude formal acceptance, and that any issues that do remain
are documented and handed over for resolution to the customer or other maintenance organization. A final Status Assessment will be prepared for the Project Acceptance Review , if you have one: The customer should acknowledge that all deliverables - product,
documentation, supporting environment, etc. - and tasks, such as installation and training, have been completed
according to the contract and its supporting plans. If the customer does not give this acceptance, then there may have
to be another iteration to resolve the issues that block acceptance.
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Steps
Update Project Close-Out Plan and Schedule Activities
The outline of the required tasks already exists in the Project Close-Out Plan section of the Software Development
Plan. This was prepared early in the project and will probably need to be updated at this time. The Project Manager
should ensure that a formal schedule for project termination tasks is constructed and agreed with the customer and the
project's own organization. This schedule should be captured in the Software Development Plan.
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Schedule Final Configuration Audits
The Project Manager arranges for the final functional and physical configuration audits to be conducted. To do this
formally, use: Perform Configuration Audit .
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Conduct a Project Post-Mortem Review
A post-mortem review is held to determine whether the project is ready for final, formal acceptance by the customer,
and subsequent close-out. The Iteration Assessment for the previous iteration and the Issues List are reviewed to make sure any residual issues are
understood and have an owner in the support and maintenance organization. If there was a formal acceptance test, the
status of results and corrective actions should be reviewed, to ensure there are no showstoppers going into the formal
Project Acceptance Review. The state of the Deployment discipline should be examined to ensure that installation, training
and transition have completed, or that remaining tasks can complete without prejudice to acceptance. The Project
Manager produces a Status Assessment that captures the results of the post-mortem review
and the configuration audit, in preparation for the Project Acceptance Review.
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Complete Acceptance Action Items
There may be some remaining actions following the Project Acceptance Review and acceptance may be conditional upon
completion of these. The Project Manager initiates work to resolve these items.
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Close Out the Project
The project manager handles the remaining administrative tasks of project termination. These will include:
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Ensuring that the project is formally accepted: the contract and the Product Acceptance Plan will describe the
requirements. In the end, what is needed, in effect, is signed agreement from the customer that all contracted
deliveries have been made, meet the contracted requirements and are accepted into ownership by the customer;
all contracted tasks (including acceptance test, if any) have been successfully completed; and that the
customer takes all further responsibility (warranty and latent defect claims aside), for the products and any
residual issues and actions associated with them.
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Settling the project's finances - making sure all payments have been received and all suppliers and
subcontractors paid. Organizational policy or other regulatory requirement may also require a more formal audit
process at project termination, covering the project's finances, budgeting process, and assets.
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Archiving all project documentation and records.
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Transferring any remaining (non-deliverable) hardware and environment assets to the owning organization's pool
of assets.
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Transfer the project measurements to the corporate historical database.
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Reassign remaining project staff: if possible, this should not be done abruptly. Most projects can accommodate
a gradual ramp-down of staff levels, and allow a smoother transition of staff to other projects. The project
manager should ensure that the project knowledge and responsibilities of departing staff have been transferred
to those remaining. Staff performance reviews should also be conducted as staff are transferred.
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