Prince2 Foundations – CBT Nugget, Steve Caseley

This Nugget provides an overview of the PRINCE2™ Foundation exam preparation series. This Nugget is based on the 2009 release of PRINCE2™, which remains the current version. PRINCE2™ stands for “PRojects IN a Controlled Environment.” The Nugget reviews the processes, principles, themes and deliverables defined in PRINCE2™, including the 7 processes, or PRINCE2™ project management life cycle. Next the Nugget introduces the 7 PRINCE2™ principles, the 8 underlying themes, and the 6 key deliverables (there’s a total of 15) required by PRINCE2™.

This Nugget covers the format and approach of the PRINCE2™ exams. While we specifically focus on the Foundation exam, we also look at an outline of the Practitioner exam. The PRINCE2™ Exams are designed to validate your understanding of the entire process, specifically focused on the roles/responsibilities, processes, principles, themes and deliverables. We review the format of the exam; types of questions; finding an examination center in your area; scheduling the time for your exam; and finally, the preparation necessary for day of the exam. The Nugget closes with some tips and hints for taking the exam, such as reading each question and all answers thoroughly before answering, marking questions for review and eliminating the obvious wrong answers.

This Nugget provides an overview of the PRINCE2™ process model, often described as the PRINCE2™ project management life cycle. This Nugget provides an overview of each of the 7 components of the process model: Directing a Project (DP); Starting up a Project (SP); Initiating a Project (IP);Controlling a Stage (CS); Managing Project Delivery (MP); Managing a Stage Boundary (SB)’ and Closing a Project (CP). The Nugget provides an overview of the key activities within each process, including why each activity and process is important.

This Nugget reviews the repeating themes in PRINCE2™. Themes are re-occurring project components which start in planning and then are monitored, reviewed, updated, etc. throughout the project life cycle. The 7 themes are: Business Case, Organization, Plans, Progress, Risk, Quality and Change.

This Nugget reviews the 7 Principles defined in PRINCE2™. Principles are the third foundational component of PRINCE2™ (the first two are Processes and Themes). The 7 Principles are: Continued Business Justification, Learn from Experience, Defined Roles and Responsibilities, Manage by Stages, Manage by Exception, Focus on Products and Tailored to Suit Project Environment.

This Nugget is the first of seven which reviews the individual processes defined in the PRINCE2™ Process Model. This Nugget is focused on the Starting up a Project (SU). Starting up a Project is a brief initial stage which validates the project mandate, identifies the project team, sizes the effort to plan the project and obtains approval to proceed with the project. This Nugget covers: how to identify the responsible business executive and project manager for the project; capturing the previous lessons learned; the project lessons learned log; designing and appointing the project management team; prepare business case outline activity; project description; project approach; project brief; best delivery method; and plan initiation stage.

This Nugget continues to review the individual processes defined in the PRINCE2™ Process Model. This Nugget is focused on Initiating a Project (IP), the process where the project plan is developed and formal approval to begin work on completing the project’s deliverables is given. This process focuses on defining the schedule, budget and quality expectations for the project and updating the business case and cost/benefit statement. We’ll cover preparation of the Project Initiating Document (PID), as well as the 8 activities associated with Initiating a Project: Prepare Quality Management Strategy; Prepare Risk Management Strategy; Prepare Configuration Management Strategy; Prepare Communication Management Strategy; Create Project Plan; Refine Business Case; Set up Project Controls; and Assemble the Project Initiation Document.

In the third of seven Nuggets on individual processes in PRINCE2™, we focus on Directing a Project (DP). Directing a Project is an ongoing continuous process which covers the complete project lifecycle. DP is the oversight and support of a project provided by the organization’s senior management to ensure that a project escalation point/strategy exists and that management is prepared to provide acceptance of the project deliverables. We’ll cover the 5 DP activities: Authorize Initiation; Authorize a Project; Give Adhoc Support; Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan; and Authorize Project Closure.

This Nugget is the fourth of seven on the individual processes in PRINCE2™. This Nugget is focused on Controlling a Stage (CS), the overall Project Management activities to keep a stage on track and completed successfully. CS has 8 activities: Authorize a Work Package; Review Work Package Status; Capture and Examine Issues and Risks; Escalate Issues and Risks; Review Stage Status; Take Corrective Action; Report Highlights and Receive Completed Work Packages.

This Nugget is the fifth of seven on individual processes. This Nugget is focused on Managing Product Delivery (MP), where the work to complete the product/project’s deliverables is done. While the process is focused on product delivery, there are a few project management activities, specifically the weekly status reporting, which will be reviewed in this Nugget. Managing Product Delivery has three activities: Accept a Work Package, Execute a Work Package and Deliver a Work Package. We’ll look at all three activities in this Nugget.

This Nugget is the sixth of seven on the individual processes. This Nugget is focused on Managing a Stage Boundary (SB). Managing a Stage Boundary occurs at the end of each project stage and is focused on obtaining acceptance of the current stage and developing and obtain acceptance of the plan for the next stage. Managing Stage Boundaries has five activities: Plan the Next Stage, Produce an Exception Report, Update the Project Plan, Update the Business Case and Report Stage End. We’ll cover all five activities in detail.

The final Nugget on individual processes focuses on Closing a Project (SP), a brief but critical stage completed at the end of each project to formally accept and close a project. Closing a Project has five activities: Prepared Planned Closure, Prepare Premature Closure, Hand Over Products, Evaluate the Project and Recommend Project Closure.

This Nugget is the first of eight on the reoccurring themes in PRINCE2™. This Nugget is focused on the Business Case theme. We begin with a review of the purpose of the Business Case. We then look at the contents of a Business Case, specifically that it defines the structure/direction for the project by defining the requirements for the project and validates that there is a sound business need for the project. We look at the PRINCE2™ approach for a Business Case, including expected output, outcomes and benefits. Next we look at the types of projects: Compulsory; Not-for-Profit; Exploratory; and External. A key consideration for developing a Business Case is critical thinking on the project delivery options where doing nothing, or doing the absolute minimal, may be the best solution – i.e. critical analysis and validation of the solution. The Nugget also introduces a PRINCE2™ term, “dis-benefits.” The Nugget concludes with a review of the importance of having a formal review of the business case and benefits statements to ensure that is sound and complete.

In the second of eight Nuggets on reoccurring themes, we focus on the Organization theme. PRINCE2™ has very specific and formal expectations on having a formal organization defined, with specific roles and responsibilities identified for each project participant. This Nugget begin with a discussion of the roles and responsibilities on the project based on three broad categories: Executive, Business Area and Project Team. We then look at the relationship between the Business, Customer and Supplier. Specifically, the Nugget reviews the Customer/Supplier relationship defined for all projects where the Customer represents the business members who are directly involved in the project and the Supplier is the project team delivering results to the business. PRINCE2™ defines this relationship exists in all projects even when the Customer and Supplier are members of the same organization. The Nugget concludes with a discussion on the Project Team Structure and the importance of having all roles fulfilled, while recognizing that smaller projects can have a single individual filling multiple roles. The Project Team Roles discussed in this Nugget are: Senior Management, Project Board consisting of Senior User, Executive and Senior Supplier, Project Manager, optional Team Leaders and Project Assurance.

In the third of eight Nuggets on reoccurring themes, we focus on the Quality theme. Quality is a reoccurring theme through a PRINCE2™ project. The PRINCE2™ Quality definition is based on the ISO definition of quality: “the totality of features … meets expectations and satisfies stated needs.” PRINCE2™ Quality ensures that the project is creating and verifying the project’s results through a Quality Plan which defines the Quality Assurance and Quality Steps to be followed on the project. The Nugget reviews the six steps to achieve quality on a project: Define Quality Expectations, Define Acceptance Criteria, Create Quality Management Plan, Define Project Product Descriptions, Create Quality Register and Validate Quality. A key concept reviewed in the Nugget is the importance of ensuring that Quality is built into the project and that the project’s workplan and schedule has specific time allocated to completing the quality tasks. This Nugget also covers the importance of having formal Quality Reviews with identified participants such as Presenter, Chair, Reviewers and Minute Takers to ensure that the quality processes are followed and, most importantly, that quality re-inspections take place to validate that all defects are resolved.

This Nugget, the fourth of eight on reoccurring themes, focuses on the Plans theme. PRINCE2™ identifies the multiple plans at increasing levels of details necessary to successfully deliver a project. The Nugget begins with a review of why Planning is so important. The Nugget then reviews that a Plan is much more than just a project schedule or Gantt chart. A PRINCE2™ Project Plan defines the scope, schedule, budget, quality, risks, resources and communications associated with providing the desired results to the business. The Nugget reviews the difference between the 2 planning approaches supported by Prince2: Product Planning and Work Based Planning. Independent of the planning approach taken, the Nugget reviews the steps required to complete a plan: Design the Plan, Define Products, Identify Activities and Dependencies, Prepare Estimates, Prepare Schedule, Document Plan and Identify Risks.

This Nugget, the fifth of eight on reoccurring themes, is focused on the Progress theme, which ensures that the status of the project is effectively communicated throughout the project organization and the company in general. We discuss the importance of communicating project process to all interested stakeholders at the appropriate frequency (weekly, monthly and quarterly). We then review two fundamental PRINCE2™ Progress approaches: Management by Stages and secondly Management by Exception. Next, the Nugget covers the importance of Continued Business Justification as defined by updating the Business Case and Cost/Benefit Justification at the conclusion of each stage. We close with a review of the main project controls in place within PRINCE2™: Project Baseline versus Actuals, Work Packages, Quality Register, Risk Register, and Stage Status Report.

In the sixth of 8 Nuggets on reoccurring themes, we look at the Risk theme. Risk Management is paramount to successful project delivery as it develops proactive plans to deal with unknown future events which could impact overall project success. While risks are typically associated with events that impact a project in a negative way, PRINCE2™ Risk Management also considers “positive” risks, or opportunities, which can improve the likelihood of project success. First we look at the identification of the Risk Strategy for the project, determining if the project is risk adverse, risk seeking or somewhere in the middle. We then explore the five steps of Risk Management: Identify, Assess, Plan, Implement and Communicate. Included in this discussion is a review of a Risk Ranking Grid to allow for the matching of the Risk Strategy against the probability/impact rankings, with the overall objective of determining which risks need to be managed and which can be “ignored.” Finally, the Nugget covers the four strategies for dealing with risks: Avoid, Reduce, Transfer and Accept.

Change is the topic of this seventh Nugget on reoccurring themes. Change (Change Management) is based on the recognition that Change is inevitable, and therefore needs to be closely managed to ensure limited impact to the project. We look at how project change can come from multiple sources: Business, Organization, Environment, Technology, etc. The PRINCE2™ Change theme, provides a structure to ensure that change is appropriately managed and approved. We look at the five steps of Change: Capture, Examine, Propose, Decide and Implement. The final aspect of Change reviewed in this Nugget is the Change Board concept. Organizations will often have a senior project Change Board focused on the review and approval of significant project change requests to ensure that organization resources are appropriately allocated across all active projects.

In the final Nugget on reoccurring themes, we look at Configuration Management. Configuration Management is focused on ensuring that the project manages and tracks all project work, specifically deliverables, code and project components, such as software installation settings. We examine the five steps identified byPRINCE2™ for Configuration Management: Plan, Identify, Control, Report and Audit. Plan documents the strategy to be followed for Configuration Management on the project – this is documented and presented as the CM Plan, which also contains details on the retention policies and tools required for effective Configuration Management. Identify focuses on recording all the Configuration Items (CI) that the project will produce and produces a CI List which tracks the current status for all deliverables, etc. Control focuses on ensuring that all project work products follow the CM Plan and that the CI List is maintained. The Report step ensures that CM Reports are produced on a regular basis. The other key report from this step is the Build Report, which documents the contents of the current software build and the reasons/justification for each change. Audit is focused on ensuring an independent review is performed in the record keeping, project repositories, change histories and document acceptance is adhering to the established procedures and processed defined in the CM Plan.

This Nugget is the first of four reviewing the main PRINCE2™ deliverables: Business Case, Checkpoint Report, Communications Management Plan, Configuration Item Log and Configuration Management Plan. The Business Case template reviewed in this Nugget provides a recommended Table of Contents containing the Executive Summary, Project Requirements, Recommended Solution, Benefits Statement, Dis-Benefits Statement, Project Timeline, Project Costs, Cost/Benefit Statement, Project Risks and Assumptions and Constraints. We look at a template for the Checkpoint Report (Status Report). Next, the Nugget provides a recommended Table of Contents for the Communications Management Plan. Specifically the Nugget reviews the Communications Requirements section, where the specific communications requirements for each stakeholder are defined. We’ll look at a spreadsheet recommended for tracking the Configuration Items. Finally, the Nugget covers a recommended Table of Contents for the Configuration Management Plan.

In the second of four Nuggets the main PRINCE2™ Deliverables, we look at the End of Project Report, End of Stage Report, Exception Report, Highlight Report, Issue Log and Issue Report. The End of Project Report template reviewed in this Nugget provides a recommended Table of Contents containing the Project Manager’s Report, Review of Business Case, Review of Project Objectives, Review of Team Performance, Lessons Learned and Review of Products. The End of Stage Report recommended Table of Contents contains Project Manager’s Report, Review of Business Case, Review of Stage Objectives, Review of Team Performance, Lessons Learned Issues and Risks, Updated Project Forecast and Review of Products. We also explore the recommended Table of Contents for the Exception Report. The next deliverable template reviewed in the Nugget is the Highlight Report, a repeating deliverable produced on a regular basis to summarize the project status to senior stakeholders. We conclude with a review of 2 deliverables that are used to track and manage Issues and Risks: Issue/Risk Log and Issue Report.

In Part 3 of PRINCE2™ deliverables, we look at the Lessons Learned Report, Project Plan, Product Description, Project Brief and Project Initiation Document. The Lessons Learned Report is produced at the end of every stage and at the end of the project. We’ll look at a template with a recommended Table of Contents. Next, the Nugget reviews the Project Plan and its Table of Contents. Then we move on to the Product Description, a “working deliverable” for each product deliverable documenting the Purpose, Composition, Derivation, Format and Presentation, Development Skills, Quality Criteria and Tolerances, Quality Method and Required Skills, and Quality Responsibilities. Next, the Nugget reviews the Project Brief, the first iteration of the Project Plan. The last deliverable reviewed is the Project Initiation Document, which builds from the Project Brief and is the second iteration of the Project Plan.

This is the fourth and final Nugget on PRINCE2™ deliverables. We’ll review the Quality Management Plan, Quality Register, Risk Management Plan, Risk Register and Work Package. The Quality Management Plan, produced during project planning, defines the processes to followed to ensure Quality is appropriately applied on the project. The Nugget reviews the Table of Contents for the plan. Next, the Nugget reviews the Quality Register, a working spreadsheet used to record the quality processes defined for the project. Then we move on to the Risk Management Plan, another document produced in planning, and its Table of Contents. The Risk Register, a working spreadsheet used to manage risk activities on the project is reviewed. Finally, we look at the Work Package, a working document used to ensure fully understanding of and acceptance of specific work packages assignments to team members.

This Nugget discusses how the PRINCE2™ processes can be adjusted to suite the size, complexity and/or culture of the project. Small projects will be tailored by combining roles and deliverables, while large projects will be tailored to deliver all deliverables plus the addition of extra components to deal with the overall size and complexity of the project. Tailoring is deliberate process done during project startup to ensure that PRINCE2™ is appropriately applied to the project, and not an ad hoc process applied mid-project to try to trim the WBS to deal with project overruns. The PRINCE2™ Principles and Processes must be adhered to, but some tailoring may be applied to the project. Next, we look at the specific PRINCE2™ themes most appropriate for tailoring.