Close Consulting Project
Category: Training
Documentation
Good documentation is usually associated with successful projects. This is true regardless of project size. It is not acceptable to ignore documentation just because «the project is too small» to bother it.
Further, good documentation coupled with a disciplined changed control process will go a long way toward reducing unauthorized changes in the scope of the project. We state that all documents that describe the project’s product must be available for review during administrative closure.
There are two types of project documentation that we consider especially important in fostering good project communication:
Progress reports. One of the most important ongoing components of effective project communication
Project plan. The carefully analysis required to document the project plan tends to reduce uncertainty in the project, and the distribution of the plan does a lot to keep appropriate people informed.
Administrative closure.
Administrative closure consists of verifying and documenting projects results to formalize acceptance of the product by customer or sponsor. It includes collecting project records, ensuring records reflects final specifications, analyzing project success and effectiveness, and archiving information for later use.
Each stage of the project should be carefully closed so important and useful information is not lost. In addition, employee skills in the staff pool database should be updated to reflect new skills and proficiency increases.
Outputs from the administrative closure include:
— Project archives. A complete set of indexed project records; any project specific or program wide historical databases also should be updated. We stress on the importance of paying special attention to archiving financial records when a project is completed under contract or involves significant procurement.
— Project closure. All customer requirements for the product of the project have been met and the customer has formally accepted the project results and deliverables. One other important element of project closure is that the requirements of delivering organization, such as staff evaluations, budget reports, and lessons learned have been completed.
— Lessons learned. At the end of each project, the causes of each variances, the reasons certain actions were selected, and the reasons why? Problems arose should be documented so they are part of the historical database for this project and other projects in the organization. This database then supports knowledge management initiatives in the organization.