Chapter 9
Finishing the Project
In This Chapter
Making sure that you’re finished
Closing the project early, if you need to
Measuring any benefits and checking plans for further benefits reviews
Recommending any actions needed after the project
Preparing the report on how the project went
A lot of projects sort of fizzle out. People go off to do other things and organisational managers ask, ‘Is that project finished or is someone still doing something on it?’ Not so in PRINCE2. Closure starts with the work of the Project Manager, who checks that everything is really done, sees what needs to be passed back into the organisation and then reports how the project went. Closure ends when the Project Board agrees that everything is okay and that the project can be shut down.
This chapter looks at the first part of the closure: it covers what the Project Manager does to get ready for the Project Board’s confirmation of closure. As always with PRINCE2, the work isn’t difficult, but it’s important, so don’t be tempted to leave it out.
So where does this closure work fit into the project? ‘Er, silly question,’ you say, ‘at the end, of course.’ Yes, that’s true, but I mean in terms of the project stages. In PRINCE2, the project closure work is something that you do towards the end of the last stage. Unlike some other approaches to project management, project closure isn’t a stage in its own right. Having a closure stage does actually have some value, but that’s not relevant in this introduction ...
