426 Part III • Acquiring Information Systems
leadership of their change-readiness unit, individual
workers were assigned to instructor-led, train-the-
trainer-led, or computer-based training depending on the
anticipated impacts of the new system on the individual’s
job role (Roberts et al., 2003).
Project Closing
A project close-out process begins when the IT project
deliverables have been completed and a formal user
acceptance or a user sign-off has occurred. Project man-
agers should be required to document the extent to which
the project met its budget, schedule, scope, and other
project success criteria.
A project closing should also include a formal post-
project review step in which project team members share
their opinions about what went right, what went wrong,
and what project leaders could do differently (Wheatley
and Kellner-Rogers, 1996; Schwalbe, 2004). Yet if there is
no formal post-project review step, project team leaders
typically do not take the time to document what actions
helped the project succeed. This step might occur a few
months later than the user acceptance sign-off. Some
common questions for an IT project review are provided in
Figure 11.12. The team member responses can be aggre-
gated and summarized in a lessons-learned section of the
report.
Mappings of key project events and their perceived
impacts on the momentum of a project (Nelson and Jansen,
2009) can also be captured as part of a project closing to
better understand the impacts of actions that were, and
were not, under the control of project leaders. Once col-
lected, these lessons then need to be made accessible to
other project team leaders. In organizations that have a
PMO, the dissemination of these types of project lessons is
a responsibility of this unit.How close to the scheduled completion date was the project actually finished?
What was learned about scheduling that will help us with future projects?How close to budget were the final project costs?
What was learned about budgeting that will help us with future projects?At completion, did the project meet client specifications without additional work?
If additional work was required, what was it?What was learned that will help us with future projects about:- communications during the project?
- writing specifications?
- staffing?
- managing conflict through negotiation?
- monitoring performance?
- taking corrective action?
What technological advances were made on this project?What tools and techniques were developed that will be useful on future projects?What was learned from our dealings with service organizations and outside
vendors?If we had the opportunity to redo the project, what would be done differently?FIGURE 11.12 Common Questions for an IT Project Review [Based on Schwalbe, 2004;
Russell, 2007]