<p><em>Project Knowledge Management</em> and more specifically how organisations capture experiences gained in projects, is a critical topic in order to compete in the knowledge economy. Little attention has been given the catchphrase <em>lessons learned practices</em> as a research area. The purpose of the thesis is therefore to analyse the framework for the <em>project closure phase</em> through a <em>Knowledge Management</em> perspective. The purpose is also to evaluate how new knowledge, captured by <em>project closure documents</em>, can be identified and measured.</p><p>To fulfil the purpose, the <em>project closure phase</em> and <em>project closure documents</em> within the project model <em>Practical Project Steering</em> are studied. Through a document study, the framework that the project model gives, and the <em>project closure documents</em> is analysed. The <em>project closure documents</em> are also examined regarding the experiences they capture. This is done by developing an instrument for identifying and measuring new knowledge.</p><p>Through the study, it can be established that the <em>project closure phase</em> provides for a link between <em>Knowledge Management</em> and <em>Project Management</em>. It has an important contribution to <em>Knowledge Management</em> since it mitigates the risk of not transferring knowledge to the organisational memory. The use of predefined knowledge domains supports structure, and systemisation in the production of the documents, as well as in the compilation and dissemination of useful knowledge.</p><p>New knowledge within the <em>project closure phase</em> can be identified and measured by dividing the documents into isolated pieces of information and using developed criteria to identify, and thereby quantify new knowledge. The instrument is highly reliable since it is ensured that the division of information does not result in any decontextualisation, and since the criteria used are very stable, and still acknowledge the dynamics of knowledge as well as the knowledge context.</p><p>By using the measurements on empirical data, problems that are important to acknowledge are identified. There is an uneven distribution of knowledge types acquired by the <em>project closure documents</em>, regardless of their importance; resulting in loss of important knowledge. The difficulty to formalise important knowledge, results in failing to transfer knowledge to an external organisational memory. The difficulty to distribute knowledge sufficiently, results in re-invention of the wheel, and the same mistakes being made twice or more.</p>

Project Knowledge Management and more specifically how organisations capture experiences gained in projects, is a critical topic in order to compete in the knowledge economy. Little attention has been given the catchphrase lessons learned practices as a research area. The purpose of the thesis is therefore to analyse the framework for the project closure phase through a Knowledge Management perspective. The purpose is also to evaluate how new knowledge, captured by project closure documents, can be identified and measured. To fulfil the purpose, the project closure phase and project closure documents within the project model Practical Project Steering are studied. Through a document study, the framework that the project model gives, and the project closure documents is analysed. The project closure documents are also examined regarding the experiences they capture. This is done by developing an instrument for identifying and measuring new knowledge. Through the study, it can be established that the project closure phase provides for a link between Knowledge Management and Project Management. It has an important contribution to Knowledge Management since it mitigates the risk of not transferring knowledge to the organisational memory. The use of predefined knowledge domains supports structure, and systemisation in the production of the documents, as well as in the compilation and dissemination of useful knowledge. New knowledge within the project closure phase can be identified and measured by dividing the documents into isolated pieces of information and using developed criteria to identify, and thereby quantify new knowledge. The instrument is highly reliable since it is ensured that the division of information does not result in any decontextualisation, and since the criteria used are very stable, and still acknowledge the dynamics of knowledge as well as the knowledge context. By using the measurements on empirical data, problems that are important to acknowledge are identified. There is an uneven distribution of knowledge types acquired by the project closure documents, regardless of their importance; resulting in loss of important knowledge. The difficulty to formalise important knowledge, results in failing to transfer knowledge to an external organisational memory. The difficulty to distribute knowledge sufficiently, results in re-invention of the wheel, and the same mistakes being made twice or more.

IT projects serve as the foundation through which a number of organizationalInformation Technology benefits can be created. However, it appears to be acomplicated task with great economic consequences at stake to finish a project beforepositive results can be reached. Project closure, the very last phase of the project lifecycle, seems to be underrepresented in current research compared to the other phasesof the project life cycle. The research regarding postponed closure, meaning thatprojects, which technically are finished, are still allowed to continue, or projects thatare directly unfeasible and therefore should be prematurely terminated, is even moreabsent. This indicates that problems arise somewhere, which is what will beinvestigated in this study.The aim of this study is to gain an understanding to the underlying reasons whycertain projects face a delayed closure, when they in reality should be finalizedearlier. In order to do so, a semi-structured interview study was carried out andpresented in a qualitative data analysis. The results of this study, based on empiricalfindings and support from theoretical frameworks, and presented in an analysis anddiscussion, indicates that there are a number of reasons that are causing postponedclosure. Among others, it has been noted that the planning for project closure maybegin too late in the process, that poor governance from the project manager and thesteering committee could be the result of hesitation to strict decision-making, and anunprepared receiving organization as a result of unsuccessful communication anddocumentation between internal and external stakeholders.

The objective of this study was to investigate IT projects within the Swedish public sector. Furthermore we have looked at the project closure in IT projects. The problem that occurs in this topic is that the projects can run overtime or over budget. In this research we used interviews to conduct the data collection. We have collected data from two public sector organizations – Jönköpings kommun and Domstolsverket, both of these orginzations have a dedicated IT department. Through the methods, theoretical framework and analysis we found many different activities and theories on how to handle project closure in IT. The main subjects that keep coming up when addressing the problems of project closure are communication and planning. The responsibilities of the project manager are investigated and the focus is on closing an IT project. A descriptive diagram has been created to show what is important during and before project closure

This thesis seeks to better understand how a combination of different project management approaches could lead organisations to cope with project closure in more effective ways. More specifically, a coexistence of Waterfall and Agile project management is examined and presented as positive contribution to insurance and investment organisations for more effective transitions from project management to business-as-usual. A comprehensive framework combines within the theoretical chapters the hybrid approach between Agile and traditional project management for successfully closing projects. It represents the lens through which the empirical material can be analysed.The empirical work is based on a single-holistic case study of Intesa Sanpaolo Life dac, incorporating seven semi-structured interviews with the most authoritative individuals of this company in relation to the topic of this paper. This case study provides a deep insight on project closure management which is addressed by investigating challenges and highlighting effective practices of the company in question. Throughout the analysis of the data gathered, the authors managed to highlight findings which provide managerial and theoretical contributions.The originality and the value of this research is given by the fact that this work expects to enrich project-based organisations which use a combination between Agile and traditional project management and struggle to get a proper project closure and transit to the operation phase. Consequently, this represents a completely new point of view in the literature related to project management, which sees project closure as the most understudied phase of the project life-cycle.