Purpose of Closure Report
The program closure report is the final program management deliverable for a program and is used for senior management to assess the success of the program. The closure report records the final program sign off from the Sponsor, assesses success, and initiates a number of activities: identify and share best practices for future projects and programs, identify and assign items to be addressed (issues, future initiatives, future projects), appropriately close current contracts, provide final program communication to stakeholders, release program resources, and ensure appropriate operational transition. The closure report is part of the Project Management Office’s program closure process and is required for all program sizes and complexities.
Closure Report Participants and Approvers
Input into the program closure report may come from many different sources including program documentation, and feedback from stakeholders and those who participated on the program according to the defined program roles in the program charter. Program documentation that should be referenced includes but is not limited to the program and component project charters (scope, objectives and success criteria), program management plan, risks, issues, approved changes to the program and component projects, stakeholder register, contracts and statements of work, and lessons learned. Feedback can be in the form of group meetings, interviews and surveys. An impartial third party resource may be used to assist with program performance evaluation. PMO resources are available to facilitate lessons learned and the closure process.
The author is the Program Manager. The approver of the program closure report is the Sponsor. An approved closure represents final sign off on the program, the final deliverables, and agreement on program successes and improvement opportunities. It also represents the sponsor’s agreement that the closure content is accurate and ready to be shared.
Instructions
- Review program and component project information by reading documentation (such as charters, risks, issues, lessons learned, contracts and statements of work, stakeholder register, deliverable documentation, approved changes).
- Contact PMO to conduct satisfaction survey. Collect and document lessons learned.
- Assess success of program based on the success criteria outlined in the charter and program management plan. Perform required measurements for success criteria.
- Create the program closure report based on information from steps 1-3. The green italic text contains instructions for filling out the template and can be removed for the final version of the document.
- Review closure report with applicable stakeholders and sponsor for accuracy and completeness, if required, and obtain appropriate sponsor approval.
- Scan the signed program closure report and upload to the Knowledge Base
- Share lessons learned with other Program and Project Managers.
Next Steps
Once the program closure has been approved, the program is closed. Lessons learned should be shared with others. Schedule a closure meeting with the Project Management Office.