Project Closure

One of the projects I am managing is near its end, and though we are facing some last minute scope creep because of a weak SOW and the lack of an SRS document, I have already started working on a template for the Project Closure document. During this process, I browsed through many websites on the Web and observed what others had to say on the subject of project closure. Some define it as "a process, with deliverables, to successfully conclude your project". Other consider it the last phase in the project life cycle, "in which you will formally close your project and then report its overall level of success to your sponsor"; this "involves handing over the deliverables to your customer, passing the documentation to the business, cancelling supplier contracts, releasing staff and equipment, and informing stakeholders of the closure of the project". Whether you see it as a project phase or just a process, the fact remains that closure is a very crucial part of the project life cycle, which should not be taken lightly. There are many ways in which a project can end, which can be positive (inclusion, addition, integration, etc.) or negative (extinction, collapse, starvation, etc.). The most important management documents related to project closure are the Project Closure report and the Post Implementation Review document. As the names suggest, the first document is created as part of the project closure process while the second is created some time after the formal closure of the project, as part of the project manager's analysis of the success or failure of the project