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project managers informed as you get closer to project completion so that they have

time to adequately plan for the return of their employees. This gives the other
managers the ability to start planning activities and scheduling activity dates.

Team members may also become anxious about their status, especially if people are
rolling off the project at different times. You should explain to team members that as
various deliverables are completed, team members who have completed their
assignments are released. Provide your team members with as much information as
you can on anticipated release dates.

You should perform a final performance appraisal when releasing team members from
the project. If you work in a functional organization, you should coordinate this with
the employee’s functional manager and make certain your review is included as part of
their final, annual review.

Closing Out the Contract

Closing out the contract is the process of completing and settling the terms of the
contract and documenting acceptance. This process determines whether the work
described in the procurement documentation or contract was completed accurately
and satisfactorily.

Procurement documents might have specific terms or conditions for completion and
closeout. You should be aware of these terms or conditions so that project closure isn’t
held up because you missed an important detail. If you are not administering the

procurement yourself, be certain to ask your procurement department whether there
are any special conditions that you should know about so that your project team
doesn’t inadvertently delay contract or project closure.

The procurement department needs to provide the vendor formal written notice that
the deliverables have been accepted and the contract has been completed. This letter
will be based on your approval of the work.

You should retain a copy of the completed contracts to include in the project archives,
which I’ll discuss next.

Administrative Closure

Administrative closure involves gathering and centralizing project documents,
performing a lessons learned review, and writing the final project close report. This is
where project records and files are collected and archived, including the project-
planning documents, change records and logs, issue logs, lessons learned, and more.
You’ll also collect and archive documentation showing that the project is completed

and that the transfer of the product of the project to the organization (or department
responsible for ongoing maintenance and support) has occurred.

Archiving Project Documents

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