Complete, cancel or reopen a project

Completion and cancellation are retained outcomes, not deletion. Complete is the normal path after selection, contract and go-live; Cancel records why the work stopped. Reopen returns a completed or cancelled project to active work when an authorised team genuinely needs to continue.

In the app: /projects/…

Before you start

• For normal completion, finish the required selection stages and save the contract and go-live date in Deliver.

• Cancellation and reopening require a workspace admin; completion remains available through the governed project flow.

Step by step

1. Complete the evidence path

Resolve the core stages through approval and Deliver. Open Deliver, record the contract and save a go-live date before treating the software as live.

2. Mark the project live

In Deliver, select Mark live & complete. The action is disabled until a go-live date exists. The project moves into its completed outcome and opens the Determine phase for post-launch work.

3. Cancel stopped work

Use the project outcome control and select Cancel project. Enter a short, factual reason such as budget withdrawal, changed requirements or deprioritisation.

4. Review the cancellation effect

Cancelling closes active project surveys listed in the confirmation and makes the project read-only while retaining its evidence, messages and recorded reason.

5. Reopen when authorised

On a completed or cancelled project, a workspace admin can select Reopen. Review dates, stages, access and any external invitations before resuming work.

6. Continue post-launch measurement

A completed project is still available in reports. Use Determine for value delivered, implementation milestones, post-launch survey results and the future renewal loop.

Do not cancel a project merely to hide it from the Active list. Cancellation records a real stopped outcome and closes active surveys.

What happens next

• For completed projects, open Reports and maintain Determine evidence.

• For reopened projects, document why work resumed and check every deadline and participant link.

Troubleshooting

Mark live & complete is disabled.

Open Deliver and save a contract go-live date. Also check that the project is writable and the completion action is not already running.

Cancel or Reopen is disabled.

These lifecycle actions are admin-only. Ask a workspace admin to review and perform the change.

The cancelled project cannot be edited.

That is the intended read-only state. Reopen it through an admin if the same project must resume; otherwise create a new project and retain the cancelled record as history.

An active survey disappeared after cancellation.

Cancellation closes active surveys as stated in the confirmation. Reopening the project does not silently republish external collection; review and explicitly reactivate the relevant survey if appropriate.