How to Shutdown a Project Management Office (PMO)

Shutting Down a Project Management Office (PMO) is that a thing?

Hey there, before you dive into the article, I also wanted to let you know I created a YouTube video on the topic as well. You can check that out here:

Over the past few months I’ve been asked repeatedly to give my talk “How to Build a PMO,” drawn from my book The PMO Lifecycle: Building, Running, and Shutting Down. People find the guidance on setting up a project management office — the key milestones, stakeholder engagement, and day‑to‑day processes — very useful. But increasingly, attendees want to know the opposite: how to shut down a project management office (PMO). Closing a PMO isn’t just turning off the lights; it’s a structured final phase. You need to capture deliverables, clear invoices and payments, finalize contracts with suppliers and contractors, get sponsor sign‑off, and capture lessons learned so future project managers and the broader portfolio can benefit.

Think of project closure as the final part of the project life cycle. It’s the step that confirms the project met its objectives and creates a clear record that it’s finished. The project team and manager should follow a practical closure process: check completed work against the scope and baseline, resolve outstanding change requests, settle contracts and invoices, confirm milestone deliveries, obtain stakeholder and sponsor approvals, and archive the project records. A good shutdown plan reduces risk, assigns responsibility for any remaining requests, transfers knowledge to the next manager or supplier, and makes sure contractors are paid. When done properly, the PMO can formally close the project and free up resources for new work.

Here are the steps to building a PMO:

Before we do that, running a PMO takes you setting up a solid foundation and in my earlier article “The Tactical Guide for Building a PMO – How to Build a PMO”, I cover these 12 critical steps.

1. Start with a Plan
2. Obtain Executive Support
3. Create PMO Staples
4. Select 4 P’s of PMO (including Methodologies)
5. Select PMO Model
6. Create PMO Maturity Model (Categories and Measurement)
7. Obtain PMO Resources
8. Select PMO Training
9. Implement PMO Methodologies
10. Select PMO Reporting
11. Select PMO Tools and Processes
12. PMO Complete

After we built our PMO, we moved to running a PMO, and here are those steps:

1. Develop Executive Reports
2. Develop PMO Reports
3. PMO Day to Day Operations
4. PMO Resources (Mentor & Buddy System)

So, at this point, you have built and are running a PMO and now you have been asked to shutdown the PMO. You could have been the employee that has been running the PMO all along or you could have just been hired to shut down the PMO. Whatever the case maybe, you have a huge step in shutting down a PMO.

Again, the process of shutting down a PMO is essentially reversing the steps that you did in the building and running a PMO.

But, it would not be fair to say, just reverse everything you have done. That does not make sense, let’s spend time and look at the top 7 steps in shutting down a PMO.

Here are those 7 steps in shutting down a PMO:

1. Shutting down your PMO – Creating a Project Schedule
2. Review resources (FTE & Contactors) for different roles in organization
3. Shutdown and Mentoring/Buddy Systems in place in Org
4. Review all Financial/Billing and determine steps to close out
5. Review Software Contracts/Maintenance agreements in place that will need closing
6. Review PMO Materials/PMO Sites and archive/backup
7. PMO Shutdown 

Let’s spend some time and go into each step and I will provide a bit more details on them so you have context and understand exactly what you have to do.

PMO shutdown schedule and project closure plan –Shutting down the project management office (PMO) is a significant closure effort and should be treated like the last phase of a project. Create a project schedule in your preferred scheduling tool to outline milestones, baseline dates and deliverables so the management office can report progress, approvals and outstanding change requests. This action plan supports governance, provides a template for approval and sign-off, and helps verify what remains to close the project and the project portfolio.

Review project resources, HR and reassignment –Project managers and the PMO manager must review team members (FTEs and contractors), contractor agreements and supplier relationships to plan reassignment or release resources. Clarify which project team roles move to new projects or the business and which positions require HR support. The objective is to manage transitions so future projects can execute with minimal disruption and to ensure personnel and institutional knowledge are captured for the next project.

Mentoring, buddy systems and change management –When you close the project and shut down PMO mentoring programs, communicate with stakeholders and sponsors about how mentoring or buddy systems will be disbanded or continued informally. Document lessons learned, a thorough project review and any specific guidance so these practices can be repeated in the future or adopted by portfolio management. Ensure sign-off from stakeholders on the approach and include the results in administrative archives.

Financial closeout: invoices, payments and contractual obligations –Perform a full financial and billing review to close PO’s, reconcile invoices and stop recurring payments. Work with finance to confirm payments to suppliers and contractors, settle contractual obligations and return unused budget to company funds. Verify contracts and agreements are updated or terminated per contractual terms, and obtain sponsor approval and any necessary assurance or sign-off from legal and procurement.

Software, maintenance agreements and contracts –Identify all software licenses, maintenance agreements and vendor contracts tied to the PMO and determine steps to cancel, transfer or limit ongoing billing. Engage suppliers and contractors early to clarify termination dates, final invoices and any outstanding deliverables so contractual closure is complete and auditable.

Archive documents, baseline artifacts and project deliverables –Collect and archive documents, project baselines, change request logs, templates, templates for lessons learned, administrative records and all deliverables. Store hard and soft copies in a secure repository so the company can retrieve them if a new PMO or future projects require historical reference. Release resources, update the portfolio and include this archive as part of the project closing process and the end of a project checklist.

Governance, approvals and next steps –Establish a governance checklist that includes approval and sign-off, sponsor confirmation, project review and verification of scope completion. Define next steps for the project team, create an outline for any follow-on requests or future projects, and ensure all administrative and contractual items are closed. A clear closure process with milestones, verification points and sign-off from stakeholders ensures project success and makes the shutdown repeatable and auditable for every project in the portfolio.

PMO Shutdown – This is the final last check phase of the project where you have basically ticked and tied all the components of the PMO and shut everything down. This is not a period to celebrate, the PMO shut down for a reason that was most likely not positive, so make sure you handle this whole process professionally and with grace. It is how you handle situations like this management looks at to determine how you will fit in other roles. Which a new role will be exactly what you will be looking for at this moment.  

Bill’s Thoughts: Hey, I just wanted to spend a minute and talk about this whole process for a second and get real with you. I have done this 7 times in my career so far with 6 of them being at one company. As PMO Manager, you are going to have to get used to this process and don’t take it personally. This is just a step in our job that we will have to deal with and get used to. It is hard I know, it is not fun shutting down your baby, but don’t take it personally, it is just business.

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Like what you read? Want more information? Check out the full ebook here with much more information on this process! Download the ebook today!

Here are some articles that you may be interested in:

1. Check out this article I wrote on this subject for www.projectmanagement.com on PMO’s.
   Implementing a PMO: Does it Have to be So Hard?
2. Check out the How to Build a PMO article I wrote if you missed it above:
3. Check out the How to Run a Successful PMO article I wrote if you missed it above.

Good luck, it’s a tough job shutting down a PMO, it is emotional, it is scary, but hang in there you will get through it. I did 6 or 7 times. Depends on when you read this article! Ha ha

Thanks
Bill Dow, PMP