Formal acceptance is one of the most important steps in any project. The goal in formal acceptance is to reach agreement with the key stakeholders that what was required has been delivered. I recommend documenting this agreement in writing.

Rubber Duckies are those wonderful little bath tub toys created for youngsters. Do you know what I mean? You see them in the grocery store and lots of other places. They are yellow because ducklings are yellow. They are soft because they are meant for youngsters. They are squeezable because that is part of what makes them appealing to toddlers. All of these characteristics are a description of the configuration of the product: feel like they are made out of rubber, shaped like a young duck, small, yellow, soft and squeezable. Our project is to make rubber duckies.

If we change the order from 25,000 rubber duckies to 30,000 rubber duckies we are changing the project. If we change the color from yellow to green, then we are changing the configuration. Changes to the characteristic of the product are changes to the configuration. Either type of change needs to be authorized. When you are manufacturing a short run of rubber duckies you might be able to merge the change management process with the configuration management process. If, however, you were manufacturing airliners, you would be best advised to treat changes to the project differently than you treat changes to the product.

PMI has processes that describe how to control project and product changes. Two of the key processes are scope verification and quality control. Now when I tell this story in class I bring my rubber duckies with me. You will need to use your imagination.

“The product from your project is little rubber duckies. Duckies are yellow. (Hold up the yellow duckie for everyone to see.) Now if you get a batch of pink duckies, then you can quickly detect that you have a problem with quality control. (Hold up the pink duckie and pause.) The configuration of your product does not match the specified configuration. However, scope verification is focused not on the absolutes but upon customer satisfaction. So, if your customer decides that they can sell each yellow rubber duckie for $0.25, but they can put one yellow and one pink duckie into a box and sell the set for $5.00, then you just might get approval on scope verification. (Put the duckies back into their box and display the boxed set.)”

You inadvertently introduced a change in the product. That change means you are now going to change your project. On a small project you can take one change to one meeting and get approval authorizing the change to the product and to the project. On larger projects you need to take both changes to the appropriate authorities for authorization. For example, if you decide to change the roofing material on you wooden shed then you will need to have the building plans updated, you will need to have the updates reviewed by the governmental agency, then you will need to change the agreement you have with your contractor. The change to the product -- using a different roofing material -- will change the project -- your signed contract.

On complex projects I use the test plan as the basis for the acceptance signoff.

On other projects I have used a prepared form, similar to the one shown below.

Formal Acceptance and Closure
Project Name:
Prepared by:
Date:
Name of Client or Sponsor:
Statement of Formal Acceptance: The undersigned formally accept as complete the above-identified project, and do hereby state that this project, project phase, or major deliverable meets or exceeds agreed-upon performance standards for scope, quality, schedule, and cost, and state that we have seen documentation that all relevant legal and regulatory requirements have been met or exceeded.
Additional Remarks:
Accepted by (client, sponsor, or other official)
Name:		Date
Name:		Date
Name:		Date
Name:		Date
Once signed, send copies of the form to the following:
Name:
Name:
Name: