Prince 2 and Project Management
By
Sayed Ahmed
Just E.T.C.Technologies Inc.
Just E.T.C Education Inc.
www.justETC.net

Aspects of Prince2
 Steps
◦ Starting up a Project
◦ Initiating a Project
◦ Directing a Project
◦ Controlling a Stage
◦ Managing Product Delivery
◦ Managing a Stage Boundary
◦ Closing a Project
 Related Concepts
◦ Business Case Analysis
◦ Organization of Teams
◦ Progress
◦ Quality
◦ Risk
◦ Change

Overview of Prince2
 Changes and upgrades of business processes are
done by projects
 PRINCE2 is a scalable and flexible project
management method
◦ Suitable for any type of project [ref: the book]
 PRINCE 2 Offers
◦ Controlled management of change
◦ Active involvement of the users in the product development

PRINCE 2 Offers
◦ Efficient control of development resources
 PRINCE 2 distinguishes the
management of the development
process from the techniques for
development

PRINCE2’s View of Project
Management
 Five characteristics of Project work
(than regular business operations)
◦ Change: Projects are used to introduce
changes to businesses
◦ Uncertainty: Projects will almost always
introduce something new and unknown
◦ Temporary: Many times, a project team
comes, finishes the project and goes
away
◦ Unique: In some major or minor ways,
projects are always unique
◦ Cross-functional: A project needs people
with different skills

Project Performance
Variables
 Cost
 Time
 Quality
 Scope
 Benefits
 Risk

Seven PRINCE2 Principles
 Continued business justification
 Learn from experience
 Defined roles and responsibilities
 Manage by stages
 Manage by exception
 Focus on products
 Tailor to suit the project environment

Roles
 Project Sponsor
 Program Management Body (Project Board)
◦ Key decision maker
◦ May be absent in small projects
 An Executive
◦ Holds the purse string of the projects
◦ Ensures that projects meet company strategies
◦ Ensures that there is always a business case
◦ Strongly tied with the program management
◦ For small projects, sponsors become the executives
 A Project Manager
◦ Sets up a daily log for the projects
◦ Ensures that the project gets done within defined time limit
 Customer, User and Supplier

Capture Previous Lessons
 PRINCE2 encourages to create
lessons logs to ensure that the same
mistakes are not done in the future
projects
 How to capture?
◦ Use similar previous projects’ reports
◦ Corporate programmer or external
lessons
◦ Previous experience of similar projects
from Individuals or teams.

Project Manager and Lessons Capturing
 Responsibilities
◦ Create a lessons log
◦ Review lessons from previous projects
esp. similar projects to find out lessons
that may benefit current projects
◦ Talk to people with previous project
experience or people currently working
with similar projects
◦ Document any useful lessons
◦ For small projects
 Ask people around

Stages
 Stages in Picture (Reference:
Prince2.com)

Starting Up a Project
 A pre-project process
 Ensures that the pre-requisites for initiating
the project are in place.
 Ensures that there is a project mandate
describing
◦ The reasons for the project
◦ Expected Outcomes
 Activities
◦ Ensures that the information required by the
project team is available
◦ Planning and appointing the project management
team
◦ Create the initiation stage plan

Initiating a Project
 Justify the reasons to proceed with the
project
 Establish a stable management basis
 Confirm that a reasonable business case
exists for the project. Document it.
 Agree to the commitment of resources
 Enable and encourage the Project Board to
take ownership of the project
 Outline the baseline for the decision-making
processes as will be required during the
project’s life cycle
 Ensure that time and effort investment is
decided wisely considering the risks to the
project

Managing Stage Boundaries
(MSB)
 Provides the Project Board with key
decision points on whether to continue
with the project or not
 Objectives
◦ Assure that all deliverables from the previous
stage (Current Stage) are complete
◦ Provide the information to assess the
continuing viability of the project
◦ Provide the information needed to approve
the current stage's completion
◦ Record any lessons that may help later

Controlling a Stage (CS)
 Handles day-to-day management of the
project
◦ Hence, this process forms the core of the Project
Manager's effort on the project
 This process is a cycle of the following
activities
◦ Authorize work to be done
◦ Gather progress information about that work
◦ Watch for changes
◦ Review the situation
◦ Report
◦ Take any necessary corrective action
◦ Ongoing risk management and change control

Managing Product Delivery
(MP)
◦ Ensure that planned products are created
and delivered
◦ Ensure that the work is done
◦ Ensure that the work conforms to the
requirements
◦ Ensure that the completed work meet
quality requirements
◦ Obtain approval for the completed
products

Closing a Project
 Execute a controlled close to the project
 Wrap up the project either at its end or at
premature close
 Check that the objectives as mentioned in the
Project Initiation Document (PID) have been
met
 Check the Customer's satisfaction with the
deliverables
 Get formal acceptance of the deliverables
 Confirm that maintenance and operation
arrangements are in place
 Prepare an End Project Report

Planning
 Planning is an ongoing activity carried
out at different stages
◦ Plan an initiation stage
◦ Plan a project
◦ Plan a stage
◦ Create an Exception plan

Planning Framework
 Establish the products that are needed
 Determine the sequence in which the
products will be produced
 Define the form and content for each
product
 List activities involved for their creation
and delivery

Reference
 Prince 2: A Practical Handbook by
Colin Bentley