Close-out Report but on-going effort

[chelenegro]

Two yrs ago my team and I were appointed to come with a plan to migrate certain service from one platform to another in around 400 locations globally and within 2 yrs. We worked on schedules, costs and support plans. The technology was properly tested and it has show to be mature, stable and quite welcome in those locations were migration has taken place. However towards mid-project term (i.e. last June 2003), the company business driver behind our plan was re-prioritized as a direct consequence of an outsourcing agreement and other portfolio and services work that came into our plate. Today the original migration planned has reached 50% but I am sure sooner or later this migration will be revamped and re-energized again. My problem is that I'm supposed to issue a close-out report in the next month or so, which I feel comfortable with. I consider that my team and I have done our homework to certain extent. I feel possitive that issuing my close-out report and getting sign-off from my sponsors and project board is doable and they'll agree. My intention is to call the future/remaining deployment and migration work an "on-going" effort and to include/document it whiting the "TO DO" list or lessons learned. But I wanted to hear the audience's opinion on similar situations that you might have encounterd in the past. Thanks for your help.

Jose Luis Martin Cenjor, CCNA, CCNP
HP Managed Services - WAN

http://www.hp.com

 

[johnherman]

I would issue a change document for the scope change which reprioritized your work. Indicate in the change document what has been accomplished and what is being deferred to a later date, and perhaps, another team, and perhaps, with more scope changes to account for technological advances between the suspend date and the restart date. Then, ask for signoff on the change document, which, essentially, pushes all remaining work into a second phase of the project separate from the first.

Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because there is more manure there - original.

 

[PDQBach]

johnherman is _absolutely_ right: you *must* have a change document to show that the scope of the project was changed.

It should be quite easy to get this -- in this case it's simply a formal acknowledgement of the reality of the situation.

Once you've got that, then you do your closeout report. Remember to include the lessons learned, staff reports and final budget numbers. The fact that you are even expected to do a closeout report suggests that you probably have a good change management process but since you didn't mention it, johnherman was right to draw it to your attention.