MGT 3302, Introduction to Project Management 1 Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 1. Describe the components of a basic project schedule. 2. Discuss project management as a series of activities and tasks. 3. Explain how the project triple constraint is used to manage a project. 4. Develop a project plan. 4.1 Prepare a polished version of a simple project plan. 5. Analyze factors impacting control of project costs. 6. Summarize project management techniques. 6.1 Describe project closing techniques. 7. Examine project teams. Course/Unit Learning Outcomes Learning Activity 1 Unit VIII Course Project 2 Unit VIII Course Project 3 Unit VIII Course Project 4.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 9, pp. 304–317 Unit VIII Course Project 5 Unit VIII Course Project 6.1 Unit Lesson Chapter 9, pp. 304–317 Unit VIII Course Project 7 Unit VIII Course Project Required Unit Resources Chapter 9: Closing the Project, pp. 304–317 Unit Lesson In this unit, we discuss the activities needed to occur once we terminate a project. The termination could be because we successfully completed all of the work and handed the deliverables to the customer, or there could be reasons why we need to terminate the project early. Project Closing All planned projects should have an endpoint. Having an absolute end is a part of the definition of what a project is. Once all of the work activities have been completed and the deliverables have been accepted, then it is time to close out the project. Many times, the project manager (PM) will not do the closing activities. The UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE Project Closeout MGT 3302, Introduction to Project Management 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title organization may not require closing activities, or closing activities may not be considered a necessity. In some cases, the PM is ready to move on to the next project. However, the importance of closing project activities cannot be understated. What are some of the activities needed when closing a project? While the project deliverables should have been delivered and accepted, in some cases, final project reports have not been created. These final reports may or may not be considered as being a part of the final deliverables. For example, deliverable reports might include results of testing or quality reports. Reports that are a part of project closing might include a report of project changes, a communication log, a risk assessment matrix, or lessons learned. These types of reports would need to be organized and archived with all of the project information for future reference. A part of closing activities would include making final payments to vendors and suppliers. Also, any monies owed to the organization would need to be collected. This is referred to as an accounting closeout. Team members would need to be recognized and .

1. MGT 3302, Introduction to Project Management 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Describe the components of a basic project schedule.
2. Discuss project management as a series of activities and
tasks.
3. Explain how the project triple constraint is used to manage a
project.
4. Develop a project plan.
4.1 Prepare a polished version of a simple project plan.
5. Analyze factors impacting control of project costs.
6. Summarize project management techniques.
6.1 Describe project closing techniques.

2. 7. Examine project teams.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
1 Unit VIII Course Project
2 Unit VIII Course Project
3 Unit VIII Course Project
4.1
Unit Lesson
Chapter 9, pp. 304–317
Unit VIII Course Project
5 Unit VIII Course Project
6.1
Unit Lesson
Chapter 9, pp. 304–317
Unit VIII Course Project
7 Unit VIII Course Project
Required Unit Resources
Chapter 9: Closing the Project, pp. 304–317

3. Unit Lesson
In this unit, we discuss the activities needed to occur once we
terminate a project. The termination could be
because we successfully completed all of the work and handed
the deliverables to the customer, or there
could be reasons why we need to terminate the project early.
Project Closing
All planned projects should have an endpoint. Having an
absolute end is a part of the definition of what a
project is. Once all of the work activities have been completed
and the deliverables have been accepted, then
it is time to close out the project. Many times, the project
manager (PM) will not do the closing activities. The
UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE
Project Closeout
MGT 3302, Introduction to Project Management 2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
organization may not require closing activities, or closing
activities may not be considered a necessity. In
some cases, the PM is ready to move on to the next project.

4. However, the importance of closing project
activities cannot be understated.
What are some of the activities needed when closing a project?
While the project deliverables should have been delivered and
accepted, in some cases, final project reports
have not been created. These final reports may or may not be
considered as being a part of the final
deliverables. For example, deliverable reports might include
results of testing or quality reports.
Reports that are a part of project closing might include a report
of project changes, a communication log, a
risk assessment matrix, or lessons learned. These types of
reports would need to be organized and archived
with all of the project information for future reference.
A part of closing activities would include making final
payments to vendors and suppliers. Also, any monies
owed to the organization would need to be collected. This is
referred to as an accounting closeout. Team
members would need to be recognized and thanked for their
hard work. The organization may require a post-
project evaluation. And again, much of this information will
need to be documented and added to the archived
project information.
Accounting Closeout
Based on the contracts we have with the customer, final
payments would need to be collected. Also, the PM
would need to verify that invoices for materials, subcontractors,
and contractors have all been paid. Once all
of the monies have been paid or collected, then the accounting
closeout can happen. Most likely, the

5. organization will want an analysis of the actual cost versus
budgeted cost.
Team Recognition
For many organizations, there will be some sort of a closeout
party. This is to celebrate project success and
to reward team members for their hard work. It may be
something informal like a bowling party or more formal
with speakers. Also, in many cases, the PM will be required to
do a performance evaluation of all of the team
members.
Post-Project Evaluation
There is valuable knowledge to learn based on project
performance. Most of the time, organizations do not
want to repeat the same mistakes over and over. The goal is to
get better and better so projects will be
successful. The PM would have a meeting with the team and
then with individual team members to get
impressions of project performance. In a team meeting, the
following items might be discussed.
1. Technical performance: This item is not about how any
specific technology worked; rather, it refers to
the technical aspects of the project. In other words, how
accurate was the scope of the project? Were
there any changes to the scope? If so, what was the impact on
the project?
2. Budget performance: In sum, how did the estimated budget
compare to the actual budget? Were
there any cost overruns? If so, what was the cause? How can we
prevent this in the future?

6. 3. Schedule performance: How accurate was the original
schedule? Did changes have to be made?
Were estimated activity durations correct?
4. Project control: Was there enough detail in the project plan?
Was there too much detail?
5. Project risk: Were all of the project risks identified? Were
there any unanticipated risks? Were the
responses adequate? Was the risk assessment matrix a helpful
tool?
6. Customer satisfaction: Was the customer involved in the
processes of the project? Were any
customer concerns anticipated? Were there any events that
affected customer satisfaction?
7. Supplier and vendor relationships: Did the suppliers or
vendors deliver as promised?
8. Team and stakeholder relationships: Were there any sources
of conflict on the team? Were the
stakeholders involved in the processes of the project?
9. Communication: Were the team, stakeholders, and leadership
kept apprised of any issues that
occurred? Did the team members feel comfortable approaching
the PM with any concerns?
MGT 3302, Introduction to Project Management 3

7. UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
10. Problem management: Were the team members encouraged
to anticipate any problems? If there
were any problems, were they dealt with quickly and
efficiently?
11. Lessons learned: What could have been done differently?
12. Recommendations: Based on all of this information, do we
have some new best practices for future
projects?
The discussion of these items should be put into a project
performance report. Depending on the
organization, this information may be dispersed to leadership
and/or added to the archives for future
reference.
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned are an important part of the knowledge that a
PM gathers during project closure. This
knowledge is valuable for future projects and whether they are
successful. This information will likely go into
the archive along with the project information; however, it
should not be placed there and just forgotten.
Lessons learned need to be shared for other PMs to benefit.
Archival of Project Documents
It is very frustrating when a PM tries to find information about
a previous project, and they cannot find it. It just

8. makes sense that if an organization plans to have other, similar
projects that the organization should hold on
to that information in a repository. Yes, the PM could contact
the PM for that previous project, but what if the
PM does not work for the company anymore? It just makes
sense to retain all of the information for future
use.
Customer Feedback
One may think that just delivering what the customer asked for
is enough to determine customer satisfaction.
We may even think that, if we deliver on time and within
budget, the customer will be happy. But, that is not
always the case. Not only do we want to deliver on expected
benefits, but we need to get feedback from the
customer. For example, what if the customer's impression was
that we were very unorganized in our project
planning? What if there were a lot of delays in delivery of
materials or machinery that led the customer to
believe that we do not have good relationships with our
suppliers or vendors? These types of impressions
might lead to a customer choosing a different organization next
time. Therefore, the PM needs to know this
information to correct for future projects.
But, what if we terminated our project before it was completed?
Yes, this does happen. In some cases, something will happen
and will cause us to either fully stop the project
or put the project on hold. What if it was determined that some
idea for a new technology was not
economically feasible? We might have to put the project on hold
pending future research or changes in
economic condition. What if there were some issue that caused
an organization to be low on capital? Larger

9. projects might have to be put on hold until a future date. What
if there was a potential merger? The
organization might put a freeze on all hiring and capital
expenditure until decisions were made regarding the
merger.
What if a customer decides that we will not deliver what they
are asking for? They might terminate the project.
Even though a project is moved to a future date or is terminated,
we still have to take measures to close out
the project. It does not make sense to do a lot of project
planning and then just throw that information away
only to have to redo it again next year. That planning could
serve as an initial project template for the new
project plan.
What if the project no longer supports our organization's
strategic plan? A good example of this is having
planned projects for our remote facilities and then discovering
that we need to close one of those facilities.
Any projects based on that facility will need to be closed.
Also, what if we have a 3-year technology project but we know
the technology will advance in 2 years?
MGT 3302, Introduction to Project Management 4
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title

10. Summary
This unit wraps up our unit lessons. After completing this
course, you should have a much clearer
understanding of how to plan and manage a project. Hopefully,
you realize it is not a simple endeavor. It can
be quite complex with a lot of moving parts. Being able to
successfully manage a project involves both
academic knowledge and experience. This course serves as the
foundation for being able to manage a
project throughout its life cycle. But, the more experience you
get, the better you will be at project
management.
Reference
Gido, J., Clements, J. P., & Baker, R. (2018). Successful project
management (7th ed.). Boston, MA:
Cengage Learning.
Suggested Unit Resources
In order to access the following resources, click the links
below.
The video below discusses how to determine lessons learned at
the closing of a project.
Project Management Videos. (2013, September 30). How to

11. capture lessons learned at the end of a project
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/DBUqW_ek4hI
Transcript for How to Capture Lessons Learned at the End of a
Project video
The following video walks you through the process and reasons
for closing a project.
Project Management Videos. (2015, June 21). How and why to
close a project - Project management training
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/aakuB-BtdlQ
Transcript for How and Why to Close a Project - Project
Management Training video
Learning Activities (Nongraded)
Nongraded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in
their course of study. You do not have to submit
them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further
guidance and information.
In each chapter, there are questions to “Reinforce Your
Learning” found in the left margin on some of the
pages. For example, in Chapter 9, questions are found on pp.
306, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, and 314. Answer
the questions to check your knowledge. The answers may be
found starting on page 487.
https://youtu.be/DBUqW_ek4hI

12. https://youtu.be/DBUqW_ek4hI
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-
117737989_1
https://youtu.be/aakuB-BtdlQ
https://youtu.be/aakuB-BtdlQ
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-
117787249_1
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-
117787249_1