C. Burcham - Project Closure Report

Confidential
C. Burcham - Project Closure Report
Last printed on 5/15/2015 10:32:00 AM
Project Closure Report Template
Project Closure Report
Project Name: Developing Effective Action Plans
Department: Human Resources
Focus Area: To improve Company XYZ’s management team’s action planning process.
Product or Process: Train managers to create measureable “Action Plans” that
address concerns based on annual employee survey results.
Prepared By:
Document Owner(s) Project or Organization Role
Cheryl B. Lead Instructional Designer / Project Manager
Frank D. Corporate Attorney
Matt M. Project Manager
1 PROJECT CLOSURE REPORT PURPOSE
Project Closure Report Purpose
The purpose for this Project Closure Report is to communicate to the project
stakeholders the work achieved by the project team coupled with addressing any final
issues while bringing the project to an end. This report also captures best practices
and lessons learned to serve as a Jump Off Point (JOP) for crafting the next project.

Confidential Page 2 5/15/2015
2 PROJECT CLOSURE REPORT GOALS:
Project Closure Report Goals
The Project Closure Report provides an overview of the project timeline to include
milestones, successes and issues experienced throughout the development of the
project. This allows for stakeholders and members to quickly acquaint themselves with
the following:
 Review milestones in accordance with the charter.
 Realize and identify areas that went particularly well and not so well.
 Outline the necessary items that were needed to close the project.
 Capture best practices for use as a JOP for future projects.
3 PROJECT CLOSURE REPORT SUMMARY:
3.1 Project Background Overview
Project Background Overview
Background: Company XYZ’s annual employee survey is conducted in order for
managers to learn about issues and/or areas for improvement through the feedback
from their team members.
Currently, to address issues outlined by the survey, managers are writing Action Plans.
It has been discovered that these plans are inconsistent from manager to manager and
also lack purpose (plans are being written in order to get them completed versus
written in a meaningful fashion in order to drive change). This is making it a challenge
for upper management to measure progress and identify what is working and what is
not working; thus, limiting their team’s ability to move the needle toward positive
change for the organization.
Objective: The objective is to craft an eLearning course to teach managers how to
create a measureable Action Plans that address the top three concerns, as reported by
their departments, from the recent annual employee survey.

3.2 Project Highlights and Best Practices: Identifies and describes project highlights and
best practices utilized for an e-learning development project. Describes and documents the extent to
which an e-learning project was completed on time, on target, and within budget constraints
Project Highlights and Best Practices
Project Highlights:
 Completion of a thorough needs assessment led to the discovery that 78% of the
management team did not understand how to interpret survey results coupled with
90% of them reporting not having an understanding of how to use the survey
software to assist in writing their plans. This data helped the project team identify
the true training needs and resulted in writing measurable objectives that will
improve performance.
 Even with the obstacles faced by the team, the project was completed on time and
in within budget.
Best Practices:
 Spending a lot of time preparing for the Kick-off meeting to ensure that team
members understood the scope of the project, the expectations of the product
managers and stakeholders, designing a solid plan for communication, and
planning for the standard work to share and backing-up work. Gaining commitment
in the form of having team members sign an acknowledgement document was
also a good plan for starting the project off in the right direction as it instilled
ownership and commitment.
 Developing an effective and well thought-out Risk Management plan; this captured
the input and ideas from the team as getting them to pitch-in if when things went
wrong was a lot easier since they already understood the plan coupled with having
already committed to going the extra mile on their own ideas / terms (this is a great
strategy - within reason).

4 PROJECT METRICS PERFORMANCE
4.1 Goals and Objectives Performance: An explanation of the purpose and goals of an e-
learning development project, using relevant examples that support the need to be met. Evaluation of
the importance of specific project activities in enhancing collaboration among team members, and
provides evidence to support the evaluation.
Goals and Objectives Performance
 Create an eLearning course to train managers to interpret survey results with
90% accuracy. Actual result: To date, we have been able to increase from
78% of the management team reporting not being able to understand how to
interpret the survey results to 98% of the team completing the course and
scoring a 90% or greater score on the accompanying “Survey Interpretation
Final Exam”.
 Create an eLearning course to train managers to be able to use the E-Survey
software to write action plans (use of the system’s writing wizard to link results
to suggested actionable items). Actual Result: To date, 97% of the
management team has completed the course and scored a 90% or great on
the “E-Survey Software Final Exam.
Note: Further analysis of performance improvement post course completion will be
conducted by Project Manager, Matt M., who will review and sign-off on all Action
Plans written for the 2014 employee survey results (in progress).
4.2 Success Criteria Performance
Success Criteria Performance
During Beta Testing, a focus group of random managers completed the course on
December 1, 2014 and wrote Action Plans based on old survey results (formulated in a
case study format) in order to gage the effectiveness of the training coupled with
providing the project team and stakeholders with a benchmark and an idea for live
course result predictions.
 The criterion was met as the focus group wrote effective plans that were in
accordance with Company XYZ’s policies and procedures and expectations.
 Quantitative data resulted in a an overall 97% Action Plan effectiveness score as
compared to the 54% score that was applied (by rubric style criteria) to plans
created by the focus group members prior to completing the Beta Test course
completion. Criteria scoring categories: grammar, clarity, alignment of actions with
survey results, focus on results that are important and achievable versus
interesting and not possible to achieve.
 Qualitative data resulted in positive feedback from the focus group in a post Beta
Testing online survey as compared to the negative feedback on the pre-survey
that was conducted. The Beta Test Manager pool reported a much stronger
understanding for how to interpret results and write action plans.
Matt M., Project Manager, will continue to analyze the data and provide post training
results.

4.3 Milestone and Deliverables Performance
Milestones and Deliverables Performance
 All deliverables achieved
with high quality and
customer acceptance.
 With the exception of the
*hard drive crash and
**loss of personnel
(Graphic Designer), all
deliverables were on time.
The ones impacted by the
items mentioned above
were quickly remedied by
the team (a Change Request for a small amount of extra time needed was
submitted and used) as a result of a well written Risk Management plan that was
crafted based on the team’s input and ideas (formulated during the Kick-off
meeting).
Deliverable 1: Proof of Concept
Deliverable 2: Training Needs Analysis
Deliverable 3: *Storyboard & Transcript
Deliverable 4: **Content Review
Deliverable 5: Alpha Evaluation Report
Deliverable 6: Course to Go Live
Deliverable 7: Completed Assessments
Deliverable 8: Learner Evaluation (Survey)
Deliverable 9: Updates and Changes
4.4 Schedule Performance
Schedule Performance
Project Schedule Overview:
The initial schedule was met by the December 15 2014 deadline. The project went live
on the agreed upon date of December 16, 2014.
Project Schedule Control Process:
All deliverables were reviewed and signed-off by the review team. Any items that
required adjustment were quickly remedied as a result of the team’s rapport with the
review team, stakeholders and each other.
Project Schedule Corrective Actions:
No corrective actions were required as a thorough planned process was executed
coupled with strong communication involving everyone involved.
Project Schedule Integration with Managing Project:
The project schedule integration with managing the project was executed without
issues as a result of the pre-project preparation coupled with the communication of
roles and expectations with the team (during the Kick-off meeting).

4.5 Risk Management
Risk Management
Project Risks Mitigated:
The Risk Management plan effectively and quickly mitigated the impact of personnel
loss when the Graphic Designer left the team as work was saved on a shared drive
and communication regarding progress was well executed coupled with the team going
above and beyond to get a replacement Designer in place and up to speed.
Outstanding Project Risks:
The hard drive crash was a setback, but also quickly remedied as the team had saved
work at the completion of each day to a shared drive. It was easy to quickly access
work and get the time back on target; loss of work was mitigated and resulted on only
an extra day needed (nothing went “outstanding”).
4.6 Budget Performance
Budget Performance
Project Budget Overview:
The budget stayed within the agreed upon constraints. The replacement Graphic
Designer joined the team at a lower salary, which off-set the cost of replacing the hard
drive after it crashed.
Project Budget Corrective Actions:
Not required to date. Evaluation of costs for continued data analysis and course
maintenance will be conducted in 30 days.
4.7 Metrics Performance Recommendations
Metrics Performance Recommendations
A recommendation for future projects would be to have a contingency plan (more
frequent back-ups) for catastrophic technology failures (hard drive crashes, etc…). We
were fortunate as the work had been saved by each team member daily; if this would
not have been done the project would have suffered the loss of three day’s work
resulting in cost and time increases.

5 PROJECT CLOSURE TASKS: Evaluation of the importance of specific
project management skills and tools involved in an e-learning development project, coupled with
evidence to support the evaluation. Describes and provides examples of the role of an instructional
designer regarding aspects of an e-learning development project that tend to raise ethical issues.
5.1 Resource Management
Resource Management
 What resource needs changed during the project?
o The project required a personnel replacement and the replacement of a
hard drive.
 Outline the steps to be taken in shifting project resources to other projects.
o The new hard drive will support future projects. The Graphic Designer has
also agreed to serve as a back-up designer if and when needed.
 Project knowledge from project team members will be captured and retained for
future projects in the “Project Completion” file of Company XYZ’s shared drive.
The project and corresponding documentation will also be presented during the
next Key Manager’s meeting.
5.2 Issue Management
Issue Management
 Will each issue be resolved?
o Moving forward, Matt M. will be responsible for the course (performance
data analysis and issues directly involving the actual course).
 Who will continue to report on each issue's progress?
o Matt M., Project Manager

5.3 Quality Management
Quality Management
 How were quality checks done?
o Quality checks were conducted by Gabby K., Systems Administrator.
 When were they done?
o During the deliverable / phase review and sign-off process.
 Who (what people) were responsible?
o Gabby K., Matt M., Cheryl C. and Frank D.
 How were requests for improvement in the project handled?
o A template for each deliverable was designed by the stakeholders and
agreed upon by the project team. A deliverables were competed, the
template was filled-out by the members listed above and submitted to the
stakeholders (before Frank would give his final signature). Any
suggestions or changes were reviewed and implemented (renegotiated)
prior to final sign-off and moving on to the next deliverable / phase.
5.4 Communication Management
Communication Management
 How effective was the process?
o The communication plan was very effective as expectations were clear
and easy to follow coupled with team member buy-in at the beginning of
the project.
 What changes were made during the project?
o Several meetings were rescheduled and a Holiday break was not
accounted for with the original communication schedule. These items were
quickly fixed and did not impact progress or team member engagement.
5.5 Customer Expectation Management
Customer Expectation Management
 Did these expectations vary during the course of the project? If so, how?]
o The customer (stakeholder) expectations did not vary as the plan needs
and training needs were well developed and agreed upon.
o Minor changes to wording and color selection were implemented without a
great deal of deviation from the original plan.

5.6 Asset Management
Asset Management
 How will those assets be dispositioned?
o Disposition of assets will be handled in accordance with Company XYZ’s
“Disposition of Assets Plan”.
 Who will manage the disposition process?
o Matt M.
5.7 Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
 Which activities and processes worked well?
o The Communication Plan was very effective as it was well planned (clear
schedule and expectations) and executed at the beginning (during the
Kick-off meeting) with no deviations.
o The Risk Management plan was effective in mitigating several issues that
could have been catastrophic. The plan was crafted by the team, which
made it easy for everyone to follow and execute during the time of need.
 Which could have been improved, and how?
o There were times when the team lost scope as a result of natural evolution
of design and development. When the creativity of the individual or group
became engrossed with the design of a deliverable, the focus on what was
needed and what was “cool” at times became a little cloudy. This was
remedied during regular meetings and evaluation reviews. This did not
create any real issues; however it did require a little reworking from time to
time.
5.8 Post project Tasks
Post project Tasks
 What actions are not yet completed? Who is responsible for them?
o At this time, nothing is outstanding. Matt M. is responsible for managing
anything that should be reported.
 Which success criteria are not yet met? Which deliverables are not yet
achieved?
o At this time, performance data post course completion is needed. Matt M.
will compile and deliver.
 Which training requirements are still outstanding?
o 3 managers need to complete the course; 1 recently returned from medical
leave and the other 2 were out of town attending a lengthy Kaizen event.

5.9 Project Closure Recommendations
Project Closure Recommendations
I am requesting, at this time, for Project Closure approval. By signing below and
upon my receipt of the signatures, this project will be “closed” and will then fall
under the management of Matt M., Project Manager. Matt will then become the
appointed contact for any questions, requests or concerns regarding the actual
course. He will also continue to compile, measure, and drive the performance
results of the course outcome and participant feedback.
6 PROJECT CLOSURE REPORT APPROVALS
Prepared By: Cheryl Burcham
Lead Instructional Designer / Project Manager
Approved By: __________________________________
([Job Title])
__________________________________
([Job Title])
__________________________________
([Job Title])
Approval Date:__________________________________

C. Burcham - Project Closure Report

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