Closing Process Group

The Closing process group brings closure to all activities across all processes. The Closing process represents the formal completion of the project.

Objectives

The objectives of the Closing process group are acceptance, transfer of ownership, and formal closure. This is the time when all documents are updated and archived, resources are released, and stakeholders are asked for feedback.

Key Outputs

Closing is part of organizational learning. To become better, an organization strives to continuously improve. An important way to improve is by documenting lessons learned and recording this information into the organization’s process assets repository.

The inputs to Closing are accepted deliverables, all the components of the project plan, and all project documents. The key outputs are:

• Lessons learned register
• Final report
• Final product, service, or result transition
• Organizational process assets updates

4 Project Integration Management

Processes of Project Integration Management

• 4.1 Develop Project Charter
• 4.2 Develop Project Mgt. Plan
• 4.3 Direct & Manage Project Work
• 4.4 Manage Project Knowledge
• 4.5 Monitor & Control Project Work
• 4.6 Perform Int. Change Control
• 4.7 Close Project or Phase

4.0 Project Integration Mgt.

Tailoring Considerations

On their own, all projects are different, but even more so when coupled with specific enterprise environmental factors and organizational influences. As a result, project managers may need to tailor how Project Integration Management processes are applied throughout the project. Considerations for such customizations may include the following:

Project managers should consider the most appropriate approach to project implementation regarding predictive or adaptive approaches. Additionally, different development approaches (incremental, iterative, hybrid) should be considered based on the specific needs of the project. The unique aspects of a project and the organization in which it is being delivered may call for adaptations of such things as change, governance, knowledge management, and overall management. Although Integration Management processes are very prescriptive, determining the extent to which they are used should be based on the needs of the project relative to the organization’s demands and expectations.

4.0 Project Integration Mgt.

Agile Considerations and Emerging Practices

Project management methodologies are evolving to incorporate new practices such as agile and other iterative techniques. Along with these emerging practices is the expansion of the role of the project manager. It is becoming more common for project managers to be called on to develop the business case, which historically has been the responsibility of management. The project manager is becoming more integrated into the key activities and conversations at senior levels. These trends suggest a project manager’s interpersonal and team skills must be acute, because in agile projects, these skills will be needed to engage the project team in a more collaborative and iterative fashion while consistently engaging sponsors and stakeholders for feedback and re-scoping. Using an agile approach means the project manager must continue to conduct the activities and responsibilities outlined in the Integration Management processes, but will also need to build and maintain a collaborative decision-making environment that will support the agile approach.Project Scope Management.

5.0 Project Scope Mgt.

Tailoring Considerations

Tailoring considerations for Scope Management activities should include thoughtful adaptations for how the project should manage knowledge depending on the organization’s formal or informal requirements management systems. Validation and control activities will also depend on the formality of an organization’s policies and procedures.

5.0 Project Scope Mgt.

Agile Considerations and Emerging Practices

Projects with agile life cycles are intended to respond to high levels of change, and they require consistent stakeholder engagement. The scope of an agile or adaptive project will be decomposed into a set of requirements, sometimes referred to as a product backlog. At the beginning of an iteration, the team works on the highest-priority items on the backlog list. The processes of Collect Requirements, Define Scope, and Create WBS are repeated for each iteration. Consistent customer and stakeholder engagement ensures that timely feedback on deliverables is received and that the product backlog reflects their current needs.

With requirements gaining more attention in the field of project management, organizations are recognizing how business analysis can be used as a competitive advantage. As a result, business analysis activities are becoming more common before a project is even initiated. These activities are focused on identifying business needs and recommending viable solutions for meeting those needs. With this in mind, project managers need to consider the business analyst as a key collaborator and seek to fully comprehend the business analyst’s role to increase the likelihood of project success.

6.0 Project Schedule Mgt.

Tailoring Considerations

How a project life cycle is intended to be executed will have a significant impact on the defined approach for schedule management. Other considerations for tailoring are resource availability, project dimensions, and technology support.

6.0 Project Schedule Mgt.

Agile Considerations and Emerging Practices

Adaptive planning defines a plan, but recognizes that priorities and requirements will change, and the plan must reflect the need to be adaptable and receive iterative changes. The following two key emerging practices facilitate adaptive scheduling methods:

• Iterative scheduling with a backlog is a form of rolling-wave planning based on adaptive life cycles. Requirements are defined and prioritized before execution and then developed using time-boxed periods of work. This approach is effective when multiple teams can work concurrently on a large number of features with interconnected dependencies. This not only enables but also encourages changes throughout the development life cycle.
• On-demand scheduling is used in a Kanban system and is based on the theory-of-constraints and pull production scheduling. It limits a team’s work in progress (WIP) by balancing demand with the team delivery throughput. On-demand scheduling does not rely on a schedule, but rather pulls work from a backlog as resources are available. It is often used in projects that have operational environments where tasks may be relatively similar in size and scope or can be bundled by size and scope.

Using agile approaches creates shorter development cycles with reviews and adaptations before initiating the next cycle. This allows for rapid feedback and the ability to incorporate changes for future development cycles. Despite the reality that the project manager’s role does not change given the project approach, the project manager should be familiar with such techniques in order to apply these adaptive principles effectively.