Closing

A project life cycle incorporates everything from the Planning Phase to the Closing Phase needed to complete the project. The purpose of the Closing Phase is to confirm completion of project deliverables to the satisfaction of the project sponsor, and to communicate final project disposition and status to all participants and stakeholders. The project closure period also reviews the successes and challenges of the project for future reference.

Activity	Description	Inputs	Outputs	Owner	Notes and Resources
Gather lessons learned	Meet with project team to discuss and identify problems and successes during the phases of the project	Notes, project documents	Lessons Learned	Project Manager
Handoff product to support, to service manager / owner, or to the client	Identify products or services to be transitioned and agree upon a handoff process and acceptance criteria.	Project deliverables such as source code, training documents, access to the system, etc	Acceptance of work and transfer of responsibility	Project Manager	A transition plan document is available.
Address and transfer ownership of open items	The project manager will identify all open items and develop the acceptance criteria for all deliverables	List of items to be transitioned after close	Transfer of ownership	Project Manager	A transition plan document is available.
Conduct Closing Meetings	Conducting the project closing meeting will allow the project team and the customer project participants and leadership to gather one last time to ensure that there are no outstanding issues or work. This will also provide a forum to review lessons learned throughout the project. The closing meeting also serves as the formal release of the project team.	Lessons learned Closing meeting agenda Project charter Requirements Project schedule		Project Manager	The closing meeting agenda should include: 1) outstanding items 2) project performance against budget, schedule, and scope 3)lessons learned 4) other topics as needed.
Organize and store final documentation	Once the project is closed, organize and store the project artifacts and deliverables in your organization’s project archive.	Project artifacts, Product and service deliverables	Project archive	Project Manager	Check with your PM Lead or PMO on the correct process for archiving your project