Week 14 Lecture 14b Closing Projects PDF

Course Title PROJECT MANAGEMENT Course Code 0404438 Course Leader: Prof. Alex Opoku (PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons), PGCHE, FHEA, MCIOB, FRICS) Professor of Sustainable Built Environment Lecture overview Project Review and...

Course Title PROJECT MANAGEMENT Course Code 0404438 Course Leader: Prof. Alex Opoku (PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons), PGCHE, FHEA, MCIOB, FRICS) Professor of Sustainable Built Environment Lecture overview Project Review and Close-out Course Learning Outcomes covered: 1. Understand what a Project is, what Project Management is, and the role and responsibilities of the Project Manager within the construction team. 2. Understand how Project Managers manage projects by integrating scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk and procurement of a project. 3. Learned to apply methods for estimating time and cost and managing quality in a construction context. 4. Learned theories of leadership, communication, motivation, conflict management within teams. 5. Understand Procurement and Risk management and how they are related. Closing Projects  Project Closure The project closure phase is the last phase in the project lifecycle, and it officially puts an end to a project Project closure is the critical last phase in the project management lifecycle Project closure is the last stage of a project, when you tie up loose ends, communicate your results, and debrief with your team Types of Project Closure 1. Normal: The most common circumstance for project closure is simply a completed project 2. Premature: For a few projects, the project may be completed early with some parts of the project eliminated 3. Perpetual: Some projects never seem to end. The major characteristic of this kind of project is constant “add-ons,” suggesting a poorly conceived project scope 4. Failed Project: Failed projects are usually easy to identify and easy for a review group to close down 5. Changed Priority: Organizations’ priorities often change, and strategy shifts directions. Projects in process may need to be altered or canceled Benefits of formally closing a project Clear handover Formal closure will ensure that the products of the project are formally handed to the client and that the client accepts the outputs Provides an opportunity to take stock of achievement It is important that then members of the have some time to take stock of what has, and has not, been achieved Benefits of formally closing a project… Financial control  At the end of a project there will be a number of financial aspects to be completed  These include payment of final contactor invoices, payment of expenses, finalising the project accounts and closing the cost centres down Focus for benefits realisation  Finally a formal closure ensures that there is commitment from the business to the benefits realisation process Project Closure Activities 1. Documentation  Lessons learned during the project, from conception through initial operations, should be captured and become an asset” 2. Project Systems Closure  Close down all project systems at the closeout phase; example, the financial systems 3. Project Reviews  The project review usually comes after all the project systems are closed 4. Disband the project team  Provides an excellent opportunity to assess the effort, the commitment and the results of each team member individually  Disbanding the project team as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary overheads 5. Stakeholder satisfaction  Actions and activities necessary to confirm that the project has met all the sponsor, client and other stakeholders’ requirements Archiving Project Documents  Project Initiation Document  Technical documents (PID)  Post Implementation  Stakeholder Analysis and Review Communications Plan  Project Management  Change Requests (and Control Documents revisions to PID’s)  Correspondence  End of Project Report  Relevant meeting notes  Post Implementation  Status reports Review  Contract files  Project Plan  Technical Documents  Relevant meeting notes  Lessons Learned  Tender and contracting  Post-project documentation Review/evaluation  Handover and commissioning Handover and commissioning can occur as one final activity or it can occur as a series of activities as parts of the project are gradually transferred into occupation and use Engineering commissioning Approvals are required for insurance purposes Testing of appliances are needed, and appropriate certificates obtained Client commissioning Focuses on the facilities and their preparation for occupation and use May require the project manager to interact with facilities managers commissioned by the client  Project Reviews A project review needs to measure performance of all aspects of the project (including time, cost and quality) so as to ensure that all knowledge gained can be made available to facilitate organisational learning  Types of Project Reviews 1. Project Evaluation Review 2. Gate Reviews 3. Audits 4. Post Project Reviews 5. Benefits Review 1. Project Evaluation Review The additional to the normal monitoring and control points within a project to discover whether, or not, the project is being managed correctly 2. Gate Reviews A gate review is a point where the senior management in an organisation assure themselves that the project is worthwhile Typically undertaken at the end of a project phase 3. Audits Normally undertaken by an independent body, internal or external to the organisation; an audit is similar to a project evaluation review Its objective is to provide (senior) management with assurance that the project is being managed correctly 4. Post Project Reviews These are operation review of how well the project was managed It should be concluded prior to formal closure of the project Its report should be widely distributed; recipients may include, Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Project Team, Key Stakeholders 5. Benefits Review Between 3 to 6 months after the project has been closed, a formal review should be undertaken to determine whether the project has met its stated objectives or is on course to meet them  Lessons Learned Capturing lessons learned is the process of gathering, documenting and analysing feedback on events that happened during the project for the benefit of future teams on similar projects Lessons Learned Sessions brings the project to closure by providing team members with an opportunity to:  discuss successes  identify areas that could have been handled better  provide recommendations to future teams on similar projects Lessons Learned Lessons learned should draw on both positive experiences– good ideas that improve project efficiency or save money, and negative experiences– lessons learned only after an undesirable outcome has already occurred REFERENCES  Association for Project Management/APM Body of Knowledge, 6th edition (2012)  Crawford, J. K. (202), The Strategic Project Office: A Guide to Improving Organizational Performance, New York: Marcel Dekker Inc.  Lester, A. (2014), Project Management, Planning, and Control: Managing Engineering, Construction, and Manufacturing Projects to PMI, APM, and BSI Standards, 6th edition, London: Butterworth-Heinemann  Maylor, H. (2005), Project Management, third Edition with CD Microsoft Project, Prentice Hall, UK, p345  Mooz, H., Forsberg, K. and Cotterman, H. (2003), Communicating Project Management: The Integrated Vocabulary of Project Management and Systems Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, USA, p160