​The Ultimate Guide to perform a 100% PMBoK Guide aligned Closing Process​ ​and create the Final Report

Closing out the Project

The project management plan defines what the project or phase is about, how the project or phase is performed, and finally - how the project or phase is completed.

The completed project processes are activities that the project manager, the project management team, the suppliers, and the management of the organization commit to complete the project work. If a project has several phases, as most projects do, the completion processes implemented at the end of each stage.

The main activity of the "Complete project or phase" concerns the completion of all activities associated with the end of the project management processes to officially close the project or phase and release the team members. The work of the project has been accepted and validated back in the scope validation process. In this process, you (as the project manager) will review the scope baseline and other project documents to ensure that the work reflected in the documents has been completed and the project's objectives have been met. 
Remember that the project scope is measured against the project management plan, so at this point in the project, the project management plan and related project documents need to be complete and up-to-date.

For example, some scope change requests may have been implemented that changed some of the features of the final product. The project information you collect during this process should reflect the characteristics and specifications of the final product. Remember to update your resource assignments as well. Some team members will have come and gone during the project; you will need to re-check that all resources and their roles and responsibilities are recorded.
Once the project results are documented, you will ask for formal acceptance from stakeholders or the client. They will also be interested to know if the project's product or service meets the goals that the project is intended to achieve. If your documentation is up to date, you need to have the project results available to share with them.

The "Complete Project or Phase" process is also responsible for analyzing the project management processes to determine their effectiveness and document the lessons learned. One of the other critical functions of the "Project or Phase Close" process is to archive all project documents for historical reference and to perform administrative closing procedures for the project. This may involve documenting the closure criteria for the project or phase, transferring the results of the phase or project to the operational area of the organization and/or collecting Project records and the implementation of audits and lessons learned.

Every project must be completed. According to the PMBOK guidelines, the completion of each project phase also requires the project to be closed. Before we delve into the Inputs of this process, let's examine some of the administrative closure procedures that you will perform as part of the project or phase closure.

Here is the overview to our "Close Project or Phase and create a final Report" Template" Outline: 

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