As every project manager knows, a project will also include a “Closing Phase” that is necessary to ensure that the project is officially completed, the project’s resource might be reassigned or released if is not needed for another project(s). Closing a project will also signify that no more funding may be apportioned to the project.
If you are planning to sit for the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification exam, you will have to understand and master The Performance Domain 5 in the PMP Examination Content Outline.
In Project Management, the 5 process groups are:
- Initiating
- Planning
- Execution
- Monitoring & Control
- Closing
In the PMP Examination Content Outline, you will see the 7 tasks that you will need to master in order to prepare for the exam. These tasks consist of the procedures that are carried out in order to officially end and close all the tasks in a project. In the project closing phase, this will typically consist of the approval and transfer of project’s deliverables to client.
In project management, it is vital that every action included in the closing category is thoroughly carried out, because only then will the project be considered truly closed. In the PMP Certification test, the essence of the Closing the Project tasks, is that all the stakeholders have come to an agreement that the project has successfully met all its assigned goals/objectives, and additional funding will not be allocated to the project. In addition to this, the workforce and other resources can either be relieved or reassigned to another project(s).
Closing the Project – PMP Certification Exam Essentials
As mentioned earlier, you will need to be able to understand and master the 7 tasks in the Performance Domain 5 section. Listed below is essentially what you are expected to master as a project manager who wants to earn a PMP Certification:
1. Task One
Get the final approval of project’s deliverable by working with the project customer and or sponsor, to verify that the project scope and deliverables have been met. This is indeed the most vital action taken during the closing of a project. The client reviews and formally accepts the project deliverables in accordance with the established acceptance criteria. It is important to be able to know the technique of putting together contract closure requirements for each project to be undertaken.
2. Task Two
This involves transferring the ownership of project deliverables to the assigned stakeholders according to the project plan, to facilitate the project closure.
As soon as you have clearly identified the assigned receiver of the project deliverables, the project manager’s task should entail involving the receiver in the project. This is because a support team will be more willing to agree to accepting the project deliverable if they have been involved all through the project. In the PMP test this task will require you sharpen your skills in basic project accounting principles.
3. Task Three
You should be able to get legal, administrative and financial closure utilizing typically accepted practices to communicate official project closure and guarantee no additional liability. For the PMP certification exam, you should be able to successfully identify all the accepted practices in Project management to communicate a project’s official closure and to make sure that all legal, administrative and financial liabilities are closed.
4. Task Four
This entails distributing the last project report which will include every project closure-related details, project variances and possible problems, in order to present the concluding project status to every project stakeholder.
Naturally a large portion of the project paperwork will be presented to the project stakeholder; you will need to understand the Project Management techniques to keep all the project reports well documented, organized and up to date. Identify good configuration management systems in order to be able to have quick access to the newest documents.
What this means is that you should be able to easily identify ways to get the latest and most recent document copies at the point they are needed by the project stakeholders.
5. Task Five
Involves collating lessons that have been learned through a comprehensive review of project in order to create and or update the knowledge base of the company/organization.
It is vital that the lessons learned for the duration of the project are officially completed when closing the project; this is usually done before the project team is relieved or assigned to take-on other projects. In order to ensure that this task is properly documented, stakeholders may be given questionnaires to fill. The questions are basically aimed to get unbiased views, and to take account of the project’s critical success which was achieved in process of the project execution, and factors which also contributed to the accomplishment. Likewise, the troubles or difficulties encountered during the project implementation and the necessary actions that could have avoided the situation – all these need to be explained in lessons learned report. This information will act as a guide for similar or subsequent projects. The other aspects which may also be added to the lessons learned report are:
- Acceptance criteria of project deliverables
- The technology used
- Involvement of client
- Supervision of the project
- External and internal communications,
- The implementation of the project plan/schedule
You will need to master the project management project review technique when preparing for your PMP test.
6. Task Six
Archiving project materials and documents to preserve organizational knowledge, act in accordance with statutory requirements, and make sure that data is available for possible use for future projects and external/internal audits.
Archiving project documents is necessary for future projects and reference. The documents are very useful when initiating and executing similar projects – they make a useful template. You should be able to understand document archiving systems in project management. When preparing for the PMP certification test, you need to be able to clearly identify archiving techniques and statutes.
7. Task Seven
Measuring customer satisfaction at the closing of the project by gathering customer feedback to assist in enhancing customer relationship and evaluating the project. Be able to understand the process of a project’s compliance in accordance with the State/nation and organization’s laws.
There are so many materials available online to help you with your study and preparation for the PMP certification exam. Ensure that you start with easy test questions and graduate to tougher ones, this way you can be able to successfully increase your confidence and know that you are ready to sit for the exam and pass it at your first attempt – professional exams cost money, so ensure that you pass it the first time around.
