Project Termination

Project closure process includes wining stakeholders and client’s acceptance of the final project deliverables, and transports the project into and well-ordered end. Output of this process could be operational documents to help in running this project after the project is completed; as well lessons learned based on what went right and what went wrong to act as a reference for future projects. In addition to that, all contract are closed with external suppliers.

Project closure is different that project termination process, the former process is held in case of a successful project and normal project end of life. On the other hand, project termination process takes place when the project is successful or when there is a need to terminate a project’s life, this could be caused by various reasons such as unrealistic requirements, technology used became obsolete, and human resources couldn’t be replaced and many other reasons. Project termination doesn’t mean project failure, and terminating a project doesn’t mean that the project manager, and stakeholders failed because it could be resulted by factors beyond their control. However, it is very important to know when to terminate a project, and how to terminate it to minimize the losses and help in turning a certain project’s termination into another’s project success.

There are four project termination modes and those are, extinction, addition, integration and starvation. Project extinction mean end of project life, and this could be reached when the project is successful, executive management no longer support this project, external factors like financial crisis occurred and forced the organization to terminate the project due to insufficient funds, or the project did not achieve its goals and objectives. Termination by addition is when the project turns out into a major achievement for an organization, and transformed into an organizational unit for an organization (Baikunth, n.d.). Termination by integration is cited as the most common mode, and it takes place when the project is successful and operations are handed over to the organization (Baikunth, n.d.). Termination by starvation mode is decreasing project budget until it dies.

Regardless of the main reason behind project termination, it is really important to document termination process, and that by preparing all necessary documents, lessons learned, and follow project closure process to ensure proper documentation to avoid mistakes if any in future projects. “The success of future projects may depend on not only the success of past ones, but also on how unsuccessful projects were treated by the organization and its stakeholders” (Hormozi, McMinn, & Nzeogwu, 2000).

Reference:

Boehm, B.; , "Project termination doesn't equal project failure," Computer , vol.33, no.9, pp.94-96, Sep 2000
doi: 10.1109/2.868706
URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=868706&isnumber=18807

Jiancheng, G, Quan, L, & Hui, P 2002, 'MAKING BETTER PROJECT TERMINATION DECISIONS', Research Technology Management, 45, 1, p. 13, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 January 2012

Hormozi, A, McMinn, R, & Nzeogwu, O 2000, 'The Project Life Cycle: The Termination Phase', SAM Advanced Management Journal (07497075), 65, 1, p. 45, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 January 2012

Baikunth, N., (n.d.), ‘Project Closure/Termination’, IT Project Management, [Online], Available from: http://www.webster.edu/ftleonardwood/COMP5940/Student_Files/Project_Termination/Project_Termination_Lec.pdf

viewed 13 January 2012