Describe 5 Things That Take Place During Handover/Closeout

Hi Paul, Would welcome your feedback.

At the handover and closeout phase of the project, there are some distinct activities that must take place. Specifically at handover these include:

 

 

 

Acceptance: This is the formal procedure that says to the sponsor and the users that the project has discharged its obligations and delivered everything required of it. This is normally managed within an acceptance procedure that documents the criteria for products in the contract from the outset. If there are no criteria defined within the contract, acceptance criteria are usually defined within the Project Management Plan. It is normal for the sponsor and / or users to sign an acceptance certificate, confirming that the products delivered meet the criteria.

 

 

 

Commissioning: This is where users take on the products and become familiar with how to operate them. The products are transformed from a “raw” product into an operational asset. Commissioning can vary hugely in time. For a large war ship, for example, commissioning can last several months, for a software programme, commissioning may require less time. For example, once the IT Technicians are trained in the programme’s use, the software can be used within the organisation.

 

 

 

Transfer of responsibility: Is where users take over formal ownership of the products. For this to happen, users must ensure they have everything in place to not continually refer back to the project team.

 

 

 

Once handover is complete, the project team move to the closeout phase. Here a number of activities must take place. These include:

 

 

 

Team dissolution: Where the project team will need to be disbanded and redeployed in a co-ordinated and controlled manner. Most projects seek to disband the team in a gradual way, rather than all members leave the project at once.

 

 

 

Disposal of project facilities and assets: This requires all office facilities, computers, coffee machines etc to be returned to their owners, sold or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. All documents must be carefully indexed and archived for future use.

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Paul Naybour

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Paul Naybour is a seasoned project management consultant with over 15 years of experience in the industry. As the co-founder and managing director of Parallel, Paul has been instrumental in shaping the company's vision and delivering exceptional project management training and consultancy services. With a robust background in power generation and extensive senior-level experience, Paul specializes in the development and implementation of change programs, risk management, earned value management, and bespoke project management training.

12 thoughts on “Describe 5 Things That Take Place During Handover/Closeout”

  1. Very good first attempt (sorry to hear you had problems accessing the study group). A very good first go but the only thing I would improve is the second part. The guidance notes say state must be a complete sentence. So it needs to say
    In addition to choosing the response strategy state four actions that a project manager should take when preparing responses to top priority risks.
    1. Include the risks into the project plan this ensure that they get assigned a budget and are track like any other risk
    2. Create Contingency plan for the major risks that could occur. Idealy this should be considered before the risk occur.
    3. Continually review risks, to identify new risk that may emerge or to evaluate the impact of the risk reduction measures of the risk exposure.
    4. Keep the team continuously aware of the risks, by scheduling regular reviews of the key project risks.
    I hope you are looking forward to next week’s course; the weather in London is a bit mixed at the moment so pack a coat.

  2. Hi Paul, thank you for your reply.
    I am looking very much forward to the course, and thank you for the coat advice. I hope it will be a bit more warmer than Denmark.

  3. Hi

    the total float is not normally shown on a Gantt chart, if can be done in MS project by drawing a bar from early finish to late finish. Adrian (you trainer) will show you next week if you ask him. I will try to remind him to explain it.

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