Summary Project Criteria: Key Elements for Project Closure

PMBOK v8 Definition

The Summary Project Criteria refer to the documented standards and metrics used to evaluate project or phase completion, including scope objectives, quality objectives, cost objectives, and schedule objectives. These criteria are formally documented in the final report, which is a summary of project performance that provides evidence that completion criteria were met, including verification of deliverables, actual milestone delivery dates, and reasons for variances.

Why It Matters for the Exam

Summary Project Criteria appear frequently in PMI exam questions about the Close Project or Phase process, particularly in questions testing what must be verified before formal closure. Exam questions often require you to identify which specific criteria must be evaluated and documented, and to distinguish between scope, quality, cost, and schedule completion evidence.

Key Points to Remember (for the exam)

• Main Output Document: Final report, which contains the summary of project performance
• Scope Criteria: Scope objectives, evaluation criteria used, and evidence that completion criteria were met
• Quality Criteria: Quality objectives, evaluation criteria for project and product quality, verification and actual milestone delivery dates, and reasons for variances
• Cost Criteria: Cost objectives including acceptable cost range, actual costs, and reasons for any variances
• Schedule Criteria: Schedule objectives with actual milestone delivery dates and variance explanations
• Validation Summary: Summary of validation information for the final product, service, or result
• Common Confusion: Summary Project Criteria are NOT the same as project success criteria—they focus specifically on completion verification evidence

Typical PMI Exam Example

A project manager is closing a software development project. The final report must include evidence that all scope requirements were delivered, quality metrics were met, actual costs remained within the acceptable range of ±10%, and all milestones were completed. Which document contains this information? → The final report, which includes summary-level project performance information.

PMI Exam Traps

• Trap: Confusing "completion criteria" with "acceptance criteria"

• Reality: Completion criteria are used to evaluate whether the project or phase is finished; acceptance criteria are used to evaluate whether individual deliverables meet requirements

• Trap: Thinking the final report only contains financial information

• Reality: The final report includes scope, quality, cost, schedule objectives, validation summaries, and variance explanations

• Trap: Assuming Summary Project Criteria are only applied at project closure

• Reality: These criteria are also applied at phase closure, including intermediate product, service, or result transfers

• Trap: Believing variance explanations are optional in the final report

• Reality: Reasons for variances in scope, quality, cost, and schedule are mandatory components of the final report

Important PMI Connections

Quick Review Questions

1. What four types of objectives must be included in the Summary Project Criteria section of the final report?

2. A project manager is closing a phase and transferring intermediate results to another team. What type of criteria should be used to evaluate the phase completion?

3. During the Close Project or Phase process, which document contains the summary-level description, scope objectives, quality objectives, cost objectives, and schedule objectives?

4. If actual costs exceeded the acceptable cost range, what must be included in the final report regarding this variance?

5. What evidence must be provided in the final report to demonstrate that scope completion criteria were met?

PMBOK v8 Reference

Section 2.1.6.5 - Close Project or Phase (Process Group: Closing Process Group, Knowledge Area: Project Integration Management)