PROJECT MANAGEMENT AT A GLANCE practicing project managers, however, will tell you there’s a more direct and easier test to ensure project completeness: The schedule has every item checked off. This comes with a caveat, of course. In the planning phase, did you ensure your task list, which was used to create the schedule, included everything needed to fulfill the scope? If you did, you’re golden. This is where we go back to meticulously planning the project. That Scope Statement should have been treated like a sacred document. It wasn’t cobbled together just to check it off the list of required documentation; it was written as if the project manager’s professional life depended on it. That’s because it does. The Scope Statement is the contract between the project and the customer. If you’ve been reading this series of articles, this may sound like a broken record, but a project manager risks professional suicide if planning isn’t given the utmost importance. Yes, this article is about closing the project, but closing can be a bear if the project wasn’t planned and executed properly. original scope, but at this point in the project, we should be able to proudly present the final scope document, including all updates, and be able to check off each item in it as having been complete to the project customer’s satisfaction. In parallel with the Project Execution phase, we monitored and audited the project to ensure that all outputs met the requirements objectives. By diligently ensuring the customer was satisfied with the output as the project progressed, we should get to the completion having no questions about what was actually produced. That’s one way of verifying that the project is complete and all requirements have been met. Most
Let’s assume that the project manager did plan and execute carefully. With the Statement of Scope generating the list of activities that had to be accomplished to produce all deliverables within that scope, and with the activity list generating the schedule, we get to the end of the schedule and find, magically, that every item in it has been checked off. Because we have received customer acceptance as we completed each and every deliverable during project execution, the final acceptance should be no more than a matter of paperwork. Yes, you want to verify that all deliverables within the Scope Statement are complete to the customer’s satisfaction. But, the practical reality is that the schedule, properly done,
provides the project manager with a checklist that does exactly that.
Close Procurements If our project included purchasing hardware or services, we probably have some purchase agreements to check up on. Of course, all organizations always pay their invoices as soon as humanly possible (we pause briefly for a smile), but just in case one might drop through the cracks, it’s the project manager’s responsibility to ensure that each and every purchase agreement is either paid or is in the process of being paid. It’s rare that a PM has any direct authority for making payment, but at a minimum, he or she has the obligation to ensure that all contracts are being managed according to the organization’s policy. In short, the PM ensures that nothing has fallen through the cracks. In some cases, it may be necessary to close out general ledger accounts that were opened specifically for the project or manage other financial or cost accounting processes. As with so many other tasks in the project, the project manager probably will not do this, but will ensure that it is complete before calling the project closed. If there were problems with a purchase it may be the case that final resolution won’t be complete for months or even years, but this doesn’t hold up the closing of the project. Rather, the situation is turned over to another process within the organization and is documented within the project records. Clearly, every contract dispute is not the project manager’s responsibility, but documenting the source and current status of the dispute must be part of the project closing documentation. During the Project Monitor and Control phase, the project manager made sure that all contractual obligations between the enterprise and vendors were well
Issue 5 - MAY 2015
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