Insurance Project Closure Checklist

Pull actuals from the GL against the approved capital request. For PolicyCenter or ClaimCenter implementations, separate SI labor, license, and infrastructure buckets — finance typically capitalizes them differently. Watch for parked invoices that haven't yet posted.

Verify final invoices from the SI partner, hosting vendor, and any third-party data providers (ISO, LexisNexis, MVR, NCCI). Close any open POs. Holdback retainers tied to acceptance milestones should be released only after deliverables sign-off in section 2.

Compare final actuals to the baseline and the most recently approved revised budget. Categorize the variance for finance committee reporting; significant overruns may require a written sponsor exception per the PMO charter.

For variance over 15%, prepare a written explanation with the root cause, mitigations attempted, and the recommended booking treatment. Most carrier PMOs require CFO and project sponsor sign-off before closure can post.

Project financials typically follow the 7-year carrier retention standard, but coordinate with records management — anything tied to a workers comp or long-tail occurrence policy may have a longer hold. Premature destruction creates discoverable spoliation risk.

Get formal acceptance from the underwriting, claims, and product owners on each in-scope use case. Verbal sign-off in a meeting is not enough — collect signed acceptance in the ALM tool against the original UAT script. Auto-populated fields drifting from prior renewals is a common UAT miss for rating-engine projects.

For projects that touched rates, rules, or forms, confirm SERFF filings show 'Filed' or 'Approved' status in every in-scope state. Match each state's filing posture (prior approval, file-and-use, use-and-file) against the planned effective date — a PA state with a pending filing means the project cannot go to production in that state.

Record the formal closure decision from the steering committee. 'Conditional acceptance' means production go-live with a documented punch list; 'Rejected' means the project does not close and reverts to remediation status.

List every approved change order, descoped feature, and SI workaround. This becomes the input for the lessons-learned document and the basis of any vendor performance dispute. Include impact on rate filings, downstream integrations, and reporting.

Final design docs, test scripts, training materials, and signed acceptance forms go into ImageRight or your document management system, indexed against the project ID. Source code and config branches should be tagged with the closure release in version control.

For each conditional-acceptance item, open a ticket in the operations backlog with a named owner, target date, and acceptance criteria. The project sponsor stays accountable until each item is closed; the project itself can close if the punch list is documented and committed.

Send a closure memo summarizing scope delivered, financial outcome, acceptance status, and any open punch-list items. Reference the steering committee charter — many require a final vote to formally close governance.

If the project affects how distribution partners quote, bind, or service business — new portal, new product, changed commission codes — communicate the cutover and any training materials. Wholesale brokers on E&S programs often need separate notice from retail agents.

One-page summary: original objectives, what was delivered, measurable outcomes (loss ratio impact, quote-to-bind lift, cycle-time reduction), and what's next. Tailor distribution to the audience — IT gets the architecture summary; the carrier exec gets the financial and KPI view.

Communications with regulators, distribution partners, and reinsurers may be discoverable in a future market conduct exam or coverage dispute. Keep them indexed against the project record, not buried in personal mailboxes.

The run-book covers production support: known issues, restart procedures, batch dependencies, on-call escalation, and the rate-effective-date calendar for the first renewal cycle. Lessons learned cover what to do differently — vendor selection, scope sequencing, UAT cadence.

Walk the operations, claims, and underwriting leads through the run-book live. For policy admin or claims system rollouts, include the renewal-cycle handling for the first batch of in-force policies that will renew on the new platform.

Move privileged accounts from project-team members to the operations rotation. Under NYDFS Part 500 §500.7, access reviews must reflect actual job function — leaving project-team admin access in place after closure is a common audit finding.

Any vendor that handles NPI on the project — SI partner, hosting provider, document destruction firm, even printers handling claim packets — falls under Part 500 §500.11 third-party scope. Confirm the current SOC 2 Type II is on file and the vendor is in the operational vendor risk inventory.

Ninety minutes, structured around start/stop/continue or the carrier PMO's standard format. Capture verbatim observations on vendor performance, scope discipline, and cross-functional partner responsiveness — these feed the next program's selection and staffing.

Coordinate with HR and IT to deprovision SI-partner consultants on their last day. Carrier audit findings frequently flag terminated contractor accounts left active in PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, or ImageRight — the same Part 500 §500.7 access discipline that applies to employees applies here.

Free up the team in the resource planning tool so they appear as available for the next project intake. For matrixed staff, coordinate with their functional managers on the actual return-to-line date.

The final report formally closes the project record in the PMO portfolio. Include sponsor and PMO sign-off — without these, finance may not release the project code and the team can't fully roll off.