Closing a project
Embedding and sustaining change
In the embed and sustain steps, the changes will become part of “business as usual.” At this point, you should formally close the change project.
A project can close at any point in the change cycle. This may happen if a change is reviewed for implementation and data shows it is not meeting goals. In this case a change may be abandoned.
To ensure you close a project effectively, you should:
- review and update the business case in the project initiation document
- review the measurement approach and plan, and overall project plan to ensure the project’s aims and objectives are met
- confirm all project outputs are complete
- write a summary of the project’s successes against its objectives
- review outstanding actions at the end of the project, including those from risk and issue registers
- record learning and lessons learned from the project, which will help to identify actions for improvement. This will guide future changes in the organisation
- write a formal statement that the project is ending
Review for spread
Once you embed and sustain the change and agree to spread it to other locations or services, start a new project.