PRINCE2 PROCESSES – Initiating a Project (IP)

See our training for PRINCE2.

The purpose of the Initiating a Project process is to establish solid foundations for the project, enabling the organisation to understand the work that needs to be done to deliver the project’s products before committing to a significant spend.

The objective of the Initiating a Project process is to ensure that there is a common understanding of:

• The reasons for doing the project, the benefits expected and the associated risks
• The scope of what is to be done and the products to be delivered
• How and when the project’s products will be delivered and at what cost
• Who is to be involved in the project decision making
• How the quality required will be achieved
• How baselines will be established and controlled
• How risks, issues and changes will be identified, assessed and controlled
• How progress will be monitored and controlled
• Who needs information, in what format, and at what time

Other products created and ready for use when the project commences are:

• Risk Management Strategy and Risk Register
• Configuration Management Strategy, Initial Configuration Item Records and Issue Register
• Quality Management Strategy and Quality Register
• Communication Management Strategy
• Project Controls
• Role Descriptions
• Project Management Team Structure
• Project Plan
• Product Descriptions
• Benefits Review Plan
• Detailed Business Case
• Project Initiation Documentation

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PRINCE2 PROCESSES – Managing a Stage Boundary

The purpose of the Managing a Stage Boundary process is to enable the Project Board to be provided with sufficient information by the Project Manager so that it can review the success of the current stage, approve the next Stage Plan, review the updated Project Plan, and confirm continued business justification and acceptability of the risks. Therefore, the process should be executed at, or close to the end of, each management stage. The PRINCE2 Processes are covered in detail on our PRINCE2 Foundation training and PRINCE2 Practitioner training courses in Brighton, Sussex.

The objective of the Managing a Stage Boundary process is to:

• Assure the Project Board that all products in the Stage Plan for the current stage have been completed and approved
• Prepare the Stage Plan for the next stage
• Review and, if necessary, update the Project Initiation Documentation (in particular the Business Case, Project Plan, project approach, strategies, project management team structure and role descriptions)
• Provide the information needed for the Project Board to assess the continuing viability of the project – including the aggregated risk exposure
• Record any information or lessons that can help later stages of this project and/or other projects
• Request authorization to start the next stage.

The main products of this process are as follows:

• An End Stage Report produced by the Project Manager and given to the Project Board, outlining information on the current stage achievements.
• Current Stage Plan actuals showing the performance against the original Stage Plan.
• The Next Stage or Exception Plan for approval.
• Project Initiation Documentation may require updating.
• A revised Project Plan incorporating all the actual metrics.
• An updated Risk register, together with the Updated Business Case and Project Plan, which is used by the Project Board to review that the Project has continuing ongoing viability.
• Configuration item records created/updated for new stage products.
• An updated Business Case.
• The Lessons Log.
• Any changes to the Project Management Team with updated Job Descriptions.

Team plans may also be produced when planning the next stage, defining the work packages that will be produced in the next stage.

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PRINCE2 PROCESSES – Controlling a Stage (CS)

The purpose of the Controlling a Stage process is to assign work to be done, monitor such work, deal with issues, report progress to the Project Board, and take corrective actions to ensure that the stage remains within tolerance.

For each stage, the following cycle of activities will be covered:

• Authorise a Work Package
• Review Work Package Status
• Receive Completed Work Packages
• Review the stage status
• Report highlights
• Capture and examine issues and risks
• Escalate issues and risks
• Take correction action

The continued assessment of risk and issues during this process is important.

Products used or produced during this process:

• Work packages, detailing the products to be produced must be agreed between Project and Team Manager.
• Quality register – checked for approved products produced
• Configuration item records – updated with latest status of products
• Checkpoint reports – reviewed in preparation for Highlight reports
• Highlight Reports (time driven control) produced by the Project Manager, sent to the Project Board advising on progress information.
• Issue reports and Issues register in which all issues are captured and examined.
• Daily log – used to informally manage any risks and issues
• Lessons log – updated with any lessons learned during the stage
• Updated Risk register.
• The Stage Plan which is regularly updated with actual achievements.
• An Exception Report may also need to be created if an issue is forecast to exceed stage tolerances.

Learn more about the Controlling a Stage Process on our PRINCE2 Courses in Brighton, Sussex.

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PRINCE2 PROCESSES – Managing Product Delivery (MP)

The purpose of the Managing Product Delivery process is to control the link between the Project Manager and the Team Manager(s), by placing formal requirements on accepting, executing and delivering project work.

The role of the Team Manager(s) is to coordinate an area of work that will deliver one or more of the project’s products. They can be internal or external to the customer’s organization.

The objective of the Managing Product Delivery process is to ensure that:

• Work on products allocated to the team is authorized and agreed
• Team Managers, team members and suppliers are clear as to what is to be produced and what is the expected effort, cost or timescales
• The planned products are delivered to expectations and within tolerance
• Accurate progress information is provided to the Project Manager at an agreed frequency to ensure that expectations are managed.

Products that are created or updated during this process are:

• Team plans with actual dates.
• Risk register with any identified work package level risks.
• Quality register with all quality work that is being undertaken.
• Configuration Item Records with the latest status of products produced.
• Project Issues with status information and impact analysis for current or new issues identified.
• Checkpoint Reports providing regular progress information to the Project Manager.

Silicon Beach Training are an accredited training organisation for PRINCE2 Training in Brighton, Sussex.

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PRINCE2 PROCESSES – Closing a Project (CP)

See our courses for PRINCE2 in Brighton, Sussex.

The purpose of the Closing a Project process is to provide a fixed point at which acceptance for the project product is confirmed, and to recognize that objectives set out in the original Project Initiation

Documentation have been achieved (or approved changes to the objectives have been achieved), or that the project has nothing more to contribute.

The objective of the Closing a Project process is to:

• Verify user acceptance of the project’s products
• Ensure that the host site is able to support the products when the project is disbanded
• Review the performance of the project against its baselines
• Assess any benefits that have already been realized, update the forecast of the remaining benefits, and plan for a review of those unrealized benefits
• Ensure that provision has been made to address all open issues and risks, with follow-on action recommendations.

The main products of this process are as follows:

• Project Plan updated with final actual
• Product Status Account covering the status of all products for the project
• Issue register to identify any outstanding issues
• Follow-on action recommendations created with any outstanding issues to be addressed
• Configuration item records updated with current status of products
• Benefits review plan updated with dates for benefits realization
• Acceptance records for products completed
• End project report created
• Lessons Report created
• Close Issue, Risk, Quality registers, Daily and Lessons Log

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In PRINCE2 2009 “Components” have been replaced by “Themes”. All of our PRINCE2 Foundation courses and PRINCE2 Practitioner courses are now delivered using the PRINCE2 2009 manual. To learn more about the changes in PRINCE2 2009, visit our PRINCE2 2009 Update and PRINCE2 2009 FAQ pages.

PRINCE2 Themes – Business Case

The purpose of the Business Case theme is to establish mechanisms to judge whether the project is (and remains) desirable, viable and achievable as a means to support decision making in its (continued) investment.

It is a PRINCE2 principle that a project must have continued business justification. The business justification is the reason for the project. Without it no project should start. If business justification is valid at the start of a project, but disappears once it is under way, the project should be stopped or changed.

In PRINCE2, the business justification is documented in a Business Case describing the reasons for the project based on estimated costs, risks and the expected benefits.

The reasons for undertaking the project must drive decision making. When projects face changes or risks, the impact analysis should focus on the Business Case, remembering that the project is only a means to an end and not the end itself.

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PRINCE2 Themes – Organisation

The purpose of the Organisation theme is to define and establish the project’s structure of accountability and responsibilities (the who?). 

There are four layers of management in a project:

• Corporate or Programme Management
• Project Board
• Project Manager
• Team Managers

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• Executive – a key decision maker who owns the business case
• Senior User – Provides user resources. Defines and verifies user requirements and expectations.
• Senior Supplier – Provides supplier resources.
• Project Assurance – Advises on selection of team members. Advises on stakeholder engagement.
• Project Manager – Prepares strategies. Reviews and updates project management team structure. Prepares role descriptions.
• Team Managers – Manage team members. Advises on team members and stakeholder engagement.
• Project Support – Provide administrative support to the project management team.

Some of the PRINCE2 roles cannot be shared or delegated. The Project Manager role cannot be shared or the decision making roles and responsibilities of the Project Board or Project Manager.

The Project Board is responsible for any publicity and dissemination of information about the project to the outside world.

Learn more about the Organisation Theme on our PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner Training Courses in Brighton, Sussex.

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PRINCE2 Theme – Plans

The purpose of the Plans theme is to facilitate communication and control by defining the means of  delivering the products (the where and how, by whom, and estimating the when and how much).

Effective project management relies on effective planning as without a plan there is no control. Planning provides all personnel involved in the project with information on:

• What is required
• How it will be achieved and by whom, using what specialist equipment and resources
• When events will happen
• Whether the targets (for time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits) are achievable.

The development and maintenance of credible plans provides a baseline against which progress

can be measured. They enable planning information to be disseminated to stakeholders in order to secure any commitments which support the plan.

PRINCE2 approach to plans

The development following activities will be used to create all levels of plan:

• Design the plan
• Define and analyse the products
• Identify activities and dependencies
• Prepare estimates
• Prepare the schedule
• Document the Plan
• Analyse the risks

Plans are produced at three levels in a PRINCE2 project.

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• Initiation Stage Plan – this plan covers the activities of the initiation stage for the project.
• Project plan – this is the high level overall plan that covers the full duration of the project.
• Stage plan– this is an extract of the project plan covering a specific stage with more detail.
• Team plan – this is an optional plan which would contain a more detailed breakdown of a section of the stage plan for use by a team when developing certain products.
• Exception plan – when a plan is predicted to no longer finish within the agreed tolerances, an exception plan is produced to replace that plan.
• Benefits review plan – covers activities during and after the project to determine achievement of benefits.

The Plans Theme is covered in more detail on our PRINCE2 Foundation course and PRINCE2 Practitioner courses in Brighton, Sussex.

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