During the closing process, the project manager learns that one deliverable is not meeting customer expectations. How should the project manager proceed?

Issuing a change request assumes the deliverable is definitively out of scope or requires modification, which should only happen after validating against original requirements, as the issue might be a misunderstanding rather than a change.

The project manager's initial step should always be to consult the established project documentation, specifically the deliverable requirements and customer acceptance criteria. This allows for an objective assessment of whether the deliverable truly fails to meet the *agreed-upon* standards or if there's a misunderstanding or scope creep, providing a factual basis for any subsequent discussions or actions.

Meeting to reach agreement on scope should occur after verifying the current deliverable against the documented requirements; without this, the discussion could be based on subjective new expectations rather than agreed-upon criteria.

Escalating to the project sponsor for negotiation without first understanding the root cause by reviewing requirements is premature and bypasses the essential due diligence of the project manager.