Creating the Final Report
As with every other phase of the project, documentation is required. The good news is that the final documentation of the project does not have to be an in-depth novel of all of the work completed. If you have completed cumulative progress reports throughout the project, consider the final report one last cumulative record with a few extra ingredients. The collection of all of the cumulative reports may serve as a final record of each phase’s work with a few extra parts. You will need
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The project vision statement that introduced the project
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The project proposal that you may have used to sell management on the idea of the technical implementation—or the supporting information for the project that was assigned to you
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The scope statement
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The statement of work
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The project schedule
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The WBS and the PND
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The minutes from each team meeting
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Any Project Change Requests forms that were approved (Some project managers may choose to include the denied Project Change Request forms to verify why the request was not included in the deliverables.)
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Variance reports
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All communication relevant to the project deliverables. (Some project managers include all memos, letters, and e-mail in the report.)
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Total cost of the project and the calculated value of the implementation
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Scope verification agreement
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Post-project audit report
Evaluating Team Members’ Performance
In many organizations, a project manager is called upon to review the work of the team members who were involved with the project. This evaluation is a serious process that may impact their salary, their job, or opportunities to advance within the company. Your organization may have you complete a form on your own, conduct an interview with the team member and his immediate manager, or hold a private meeting with the team member’s immediate manager to discuss the work.
Whatever method is invoked, use caution to be accurate, fair, and professional. This is another reason why the project manager requires the amount of documentation he does throughout the project. The evaluation process, formal or informal, accomplishes three goals, as seen in Figure 12-6.
