Go for a strong, memorable project finish!

At a glance

Finishing a project on a triumphant note motivates everyone and earns customer’s trust. You don’t leave anything unbilled, extract learning points, and tie up loose ends. The benefits go further. You build a robust learning culture. Find out how PSA software helps you finish projects well.

“Well begun is half done, “ they say. But a strong finish makes a race memorable. You have mixed feelings if you have to walk near the finish line. Your triumph is laced with regret - could you have done better?

You need to start your race well and track your progress, but you also need to finish it well. It motivates you to do better and better.?

In the previous edition of this newsletter, I described why setting up your projects to establish technical, quality, and financial targets is crucial for their successful execution. I also explained how PSA software’s end-to-end integration of your enterprise helps you track, investigate deviations from targets, and act before it is too late. Let us turn our attention to closing your projects.

What happens when you don’t close a project properly?

When you deliver almost all the project functionalities, your customer’s attention shifts to addressing internal issues like training and deriving the intended benefits, in your organization, everyone’s attention turns to the next project.?

You leave several loose ends as a result.

The loose ends can be - unbilled work, resources still booking project hours in their timesheets and many more.? You can lose revenues, cause avoidable extra work in future, and miss learning opportunities.

The PSA solution for closing projects properly

An integrated PSA platform provides workflows for closing a project. The workflows incorporate best practices in the industry.? You can augment the workflows to satisfy your specific needs.

#1 Start > Setup > Delivery approval > Close

You can designate someone to check the completion of all the deliverables.

#2 Start > Setup > Change requests > Approval > Close

The workflow ensures that the project manager bills all work related to scope changes. If billing is not possible in some cases, the project manager must obtain approval from a designated authority.

#3 Start > Setup > Project closure checklists > Approval > Finish

?There are three types of project closure checklists.?

Operational

1. Project billing is completed.
2. Resources are Released
3. Compliances:? Confidentiality, returning documents, and Data security.
4. Open Issues closed
5. Cancel tasks that are not required anymore.
6. Hygiene - Clean Closure
7. Risks that emerged

Updating Repositories

1. Skills and Experience that people gained in the project - their skillset tags are updated.
2. People's resumes are updated.
3. The project summary is updated.
4. Team members are appraised.
5. Task hours estimation updated. (PSA updates the average hours needed for every task after completing the project. You have a more realistic estimate of each task for building new proposals).

Learning & Knowledge

1. Learning points are obtained based on the team’s feedback.
2. Analysis of all deviations from respective targets is done.
3. Analysis of as-sold project costs vs. actual costs is done.
4. Issues arising from customer behaviour are analyzed, and lessons are summarized.
5. Improvements in the project-related templates are done.

When you close every project using the above workflows, you can see that your organization’s capabilities improve with every project.?You can make more realistic cost estimates, assess risks more thoroughly, match resources with tasks better, detect deviations from targets, and act before it is too late.

You can add more checklists.? One-click automation of tasks in standard usecases is possible. Customization of PSA software is necessary for automating tasks in other usecases.

Go back to your customer with a fresh proposal for add-ons.

Your project team can quickly notice areas where your customer’s operations can improve further. You can propose your solution. Your customer will certainly appreciate your commitment! That’s a great way to earn your customer’s trust.

Build a robust learning culture using PSA’s project setup and closure workflows.

Closing a project requires some effort, but it pays off well.

Project setup, tracking, and closure processes create a new work environment. People know there is more to their work than finishing tasks and projects. They know that their managers will hear and support them. With every project, they know how much they have learned.??

If you have any questions, I shall be happy to answer them.

Contact us for more information or a demo at [email protected]