Governance & closing
Good projects start with a clear reason, move forward through deliberate decisions, and end with a proper close. These modules record that story, so the people in charge can steer with confidence.
Charter
The Charter is the project's starting record. It answers why are we doing this? It includes the purpose, objectives, high-level scope, key milestones, sponsor, success criteria, assumptions, constraints, and the first known risks.
The high-level scope here is a short description in words. The detailed scope lives in Scope, and the detailed work lives in Work.
Business case
The Business case explains why the project is worth doing. It covers the reasons, the options considered, the expected benefits, the costs, and the major risks. It is a living document: it is reviewed at every stage gate, and each earlier review is kept.
The project board is recorded here too: the executive, the senior user, and the senior supplier. These names show who is accountable. They do not give anyone extra access in the app.
Record measurable benefits in Goals. The business case reads the same benefits, so there is only ever one set of numbers.
Stages and gates
Split the project into management stages with planned start and end points. For each stage, set tolerances: how far things can drift before senior people must decide. There are six areas:
Within tolerance
Progress is reported as a highlight. The project manager keeps steering.
Forecast breach
An exception is opened for a decision. If the plan itself must change, a change request is raised.
At the end of a stage, an authorized person records go or no-go with a reason. The decision also records which version of the business case was accepted.
A gate can't be recorded as go while a required tolerance breach has no exception decision, or while the business case is missing. If the gate names a quality checklist, that checklist must be complete as well.
Lessons
Use Lessons to record what the team learned while it is still fresh: the context, what happened, and a recommendation. Lessons stay in the company library after the project closes, so future projects can learn from them. People only see lessons from projects they can access.
Closeout
Closeout is a formal checklist. For each line, either confirm it with a short statement or waive it with a reason.
| Checklist line | What you confirm |
|---|---|
| Accepted deliverables | What the sponsor accepted. |
| Financial reconciliation | That the figures in Financials are settled. The numbers themselves stay in Financials. |
| Open risks and issues | How each remaining item is closed, handed over, or accepted. |
| Contract closure | That contracts are closed, or why this line is waived. |
| Lessons to capture | That lessons have been recorded in Lessons. |
Then read the End Project Report. It is built from the charter, the baseline results, the open items, and the lessons. You can add narrative, but the narrative never changes the financial figures or the risk register.
- Complete closeoutThe checklist locks. It can be reopened if needed.
- Mark the project CompletedSet the status from the project center. Closing the checklist alone doesn't change the status, and nothing is deleted.
Activity
Activity is the project's read-only history: who did what, and when. Use it to answer questions such as "who changed this date?" or "when was this approved?". Nobody can edit it.