Types of Closure

Project closure is the activities required to formally end the project work. This stage often includes formal acceptance of the project; however, a project doesn't always have its success and completion criteria met in order to be concluded. A project might end for other reasons.

Canceled or postponed A project may be canceled or postponed indefinitely, whether or not the products and results have been completed. A project that's going nowhere may be hard to cancel for those involved, but management will eventually make the call. Projects that should rightfully be postponed if the technology just isn't there yet or the funding isn't available also fall into this category.

Plan not approved The project plan is not approved, and instead of sending you back to the project management drawing board, the project is simply canceled. Projects that are proof of concept could easily fall into this genre ; management simply feels that the project has untenable deliverables. A proof of concept undertakes to prove that a specific activity can be done or an idea can be accomplished. If the concept is not feasible , the project is not approved to move forward.

Resources not available There are not enough resources available to complete the project. You have run out of money, hardware, people, or some other resource, and you have no choice but to conclude the project. This situation may arise due to poor estimating, or you may find that your resources are being diverted to another project with a higher priority. Either way, if you are not getting the resources you need, the project will end.

Note  

If a project is canceled or the project plan is rejected, you may be within the planning process, well ahead of project implementation. Even then, you would still run through the closing elements of the project, because the metrics you developed might prove useful in another project.

There are two major processes in project closure: contract closeout and administrative closure. Let's start with the process for closing out vendor contracts.