Closure activities involve confirming the application or service is ready for normal operations. Preparing for the transition to service operations begins during the latter phases of project execution. Once the project is closed and the service is operational, the PM should should submit a final report to sponsors and stakeholders. The final report provides a retrospective on the project, including successes, challenges, and lessons learned or recommendations. The PM can hold a final project closure meeting to gather input for the final report from the project team and other stakeholders, or simply solicit feedback via email. Lessons learned should be used to prevent issues on future projects of a similar nature.
Depending on the service involved, the service’s functional and/or technical owners may develop a Service Level Agreement. This document describes the support relationship between the service provider and its customers and/or third-party providers.
At OIT, the Service Management and Operational Integration group, together with service owners and project managers, develops service books to document the processes associated with service maintenance. The OIT Service Operations Center (SOC) maintains these books online.
Key activities:
- Facilitate project closure meeting; gather successes, challenges, and lessons learned
- Obtain sign-off from sponsors on project deliverables
- OIT: Check-in with the Service Review Board
- Distribute final report
