Stage 5: Evaluating and Closing Out the Project

The implementation team officially closes the project when the scheduled tasks have been completed.

Usually evaluations are done to determine:

• Objectives met versus objectives planned.
• Actual tasks and events scheduled versus planned.
• Resources used versus planned resource usage.
• Costs versus budget.
• Organizational outcomes achieved versus planned outcomes; any unplanned outcomes.
• Effectiveness of project planning team (optional).
• Effectiveness of implementation team (optional).
• Team’s compilation of project documents, evaluations and lessons learned.

The project is then officially closed out. Team participants are recognized for their contributions, and the team is disbanded.

For some types of projects, many organizations find a post-implementation assessment of the outcomes achieved from implementing the project, several months after project completion, is valuable.

Outputs and Outcomes

Frequently the terms “outputs” and “outcomes” are used as if their meanings were interchangeable. But they aren’t.

• Outputs are what the project produces. Project outputs may be an improved process, installation of a new machine, a benchmarking study, etc. Outputs of the project team process itself may be project plans and supporting documents, status reports and the like.
• Outcomes are the effects that the implementation of the project has on the overall organization, and should support the strategic direction of the organization. Outcomes may consist of measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, profits or cost containment, improved market position and market penetration, etc. For ease of understanding, outcomes are usually expressed as dollar values.