PRINCE2® Foundation

**A Project**

A Project: a temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed business case

5 characteristics of a project

1. Change
2. Temporary
3. Cross-functional
4. Unique
5. Uncertainty

Project environment

Project environment: consistent and tailored approach, embedded into the organisation

6 aspects to be controlled

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1. Costs
2. Timescales
3. Quality
4. Scope
5. Benefits
6. Risk

Customer/Stakeholder

Customer/Stakeholder: will specify the desired result

Supplier

Supplier: will provide the resources and skills to deliver that result

Principles

Principles: guiding obligations and good practices

Characteristics of principles

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1. Universal
2. Self-validating
3. Empowering

The 7 principles

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1. Continued business justification
2. Learn from experience
3. Defined roles and responsibilities 
4. Manage by stages
5. Manage by exception
6. Focus on products
7. Tailor to suit the project

The purpose of Continued business justification

Drives decision-making to ensure the project remains aligned with the benefits

The purpose of Learn from experience

Seek opportunities to implement improvements during the life of the project

The purpose of Defined roles and responsibilities 

Answers the question - what is expected of me?

The purpose of Manage by stages

Provides review and decision points

The purpose of Manage by exception

Provides for efficient use of senior management time

The purpose of Focus on products

Common understanding of quality expectations

The purpose of Tailor to suit the project

Ensures that the project controls are appropriate - documented in project initiation documentation

Types of product: Management

Required as part of managing the project, and establishing and maintaining quality

Baselines, records, reports

Types of product: Specialist

A product whose development is subject to a plan (output or deliverable)

Specific to an individual project

Themes

Themes: aspects of project management that must be continually addressed

Processes

Processes: progression through the project lifecycle, from getting started to project closure

How can Processes be tailored?

Processes: May be combined or adapted

How can Themes be tailored?

Themes: Could use any appropriate technique

How can Roles be tailored?

Roles: May be combined or split, but maintain accountability

How can Management products be tailored?

Management products : May be combined or split, formal or informal

How can Terminology be tailored?

Terminology: May be changed, but be consistent

Tailoring affects how a project is managed and so is documented as a part of the Project Initiation Documentation (PID)

Project Manager - Responsible for identifying and documenting the level of tailoring for the project

Team Managers - May suggest tailoring that would help them manage their work packages

Project Assurance / Project Support / Centre of Excellence - Advise the project manager and project board

The 7 processes

1. Starting up a project
2. Directing a project
3. Initiating a project
4. Controlling a stage
5. Managing product delivery
6. Managing a stage boundary
7. Closing a project

The purpose of Starting up a project

Do we have a viable and worthwhile project?

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• Ensure there is Business justification

• Authority exists for initiating the project

• Scope has been defined

• Project approach selected

• Project management roles appointed

• Initiation planned

• Time is not wasted on unsound projects

The purpose of Directing a project

Enable project board to be accountable by making key decisions and exercising overall control

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• Authority to initiate project

• Authority to deliver the project’s product

• Management direction and control

• Project remains viable

• Interface to corporate, programme, customer

• Authority to close

• Plans for benefit realization are managed and reviewed

The purpose of Initiating a project

Establish solid foundations for the project

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Ensure there is a common understanding of:

• Reasons / benefits / risks to the project

• Scope and products to be delivered

• Product delivery – how, when, how much

• Who makes decisions

• How the quality required will be achieved

• How baselines will be established and controlled

• How risks, issues, changes will be controlled

• Progress monitoring and control

• Information needs (who, format, when)

• Tailoring of method

The purpose of Controlling a stage

Assign and monitor work, deal with issues and report progress and take corrective actions to ensure the management stage remains within tolerance

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• Maintain focus on product delivery

• Keep risks and issues under control

• Keep business case under review

• Deliver products to meet stated quality, time and cost

• Team is focused on delivering within tolerances

The purpose of Managing product delivery

Agree requirements for acceptance, execution and delivery with Team Manager(s)

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• Work is authorized and agreed

• Clarify what is to be produced (effort, costs and time)

• Deliver products to expectations and within tolerance

• Report progress regularly to the project manager

The purpose of Managing a stage boundary

Provide Project Board with information required to approve further work

The purpose of Closing a project

Fixed point at which project acceptance is confirmed

Project Brief

Project Brief: provides a full and firm foundation for the initiation of a project

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Document what is known at this time, but do not spend time trying to get details not required yet. Details and precision can be added in the PID.

The 7 themes

1. Business Case
2. Organisation
3. Quality
4. Plans
5. Risk
6. Change
7. Progress

Business Case

Business case: the business justification for undertaking a project, based on the estimated costs of development ... against the anticipated benefits to be gained

Benefits management approach

Benefits management approach: defines the benefits management actions and benefits reviews that will be put in place

The purpose of Business Case

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

Output

A specialist product or deliverable

Outcome

The result of change

Benefit

Measurable improvement resulting from an outcome perceived as positive

Dis-benefit

Measurable decline resulting from an outcome perceived as negative

Business case minimum requirements

 Create and maintain a business justification (Business Case)

 Review and update the business justification (Events / Decisions)

 Define management actions to ensure outcomes are achieved (Benefits Management Approach)

 Define and document roles and responsibilities for the business case and benefits management

The purpose of Organisation

To define and establish the project’s structure of accountability and responsibilities (the who?)

Business project interest

Ensures that the business need is met and that the project provides value for money

User project interest

Specify the project outputs and ensure that they are delivered through the supplier

Supplier project interest

Provides the necessary (internal / external) skills required to produce the products

Who carries out the management levels: Directing/Managing/Delivering

Directing - Project Board

Managing - Project Manager

Delivering - Team Manager

Organisation minimum requirements

 Define its organization structure and roles

 Document the rules for delegating Change Authority responsibilities (if applicable)

 Define the approach to communicating and engaging stakeholders

Communication management approach

Communication management approach: contains a description of the means and frequency of communication with parties both internal and external to the project. It facilitates engagement with stakeholders

Project Initiation Documentation (PID)

The purpose of the PID is to define the project, in order to form the basis of its management and an assessment of its overall success

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Project Initiation Documentation (PID)

• Project management team structure

• Role descriptions

• Tailoring of PRINCE2

Stakeholder

Stakeholder: any individual, group or organization that can affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected by an initiative (i.e. programme, project, activity or risk)

Combining roles Issues and Constraints

Issues:

• Conflicts of interest

• Bottlenecks

• Individual’s Capacity

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Constraints :

• Executive and Project Manager cannot be combined

• Only one Executive or Project Manager

• Executive’s accountability for project success cannot be delegated

• Assurance roles should not be assigned to Project Manager, Team Manager or Project support

The purpose of Plans

Facilitate communication and control by defining the means of delivering the products

The 4 types of plans

1. Project plan
2. Stage plan
3. Exception plan (as necessary)
4. Team plan (optional)

Plans minimum requirements

 Ensure that plans enable the business case to be realized

 Have at least two management stages

 Produce a project plan, and a stage plan for each stage

 Use product-based planning

 Produce specific plans for managing exceptions  Define roles and responsibilities for planning

 Use lessons to inform planning

Project Product Description (PPD)

Project Product Description (PPD): a special kind of product description that defines what the project must deliver in order to gain acceptance

• There is only one PPD

Product Description (PD)

Product Description (PD): used to understand a product, the level of quality required, and the skills & activities required to produce, review and approve it

• There will be many PDs

Product breakdown structure

Product breakdown structure: a hierarchy of all the products to be produced during the plan

Plan

Plan: provides a statement of how and when objectives are to be achieved, by showing the major products, activities and resources required for the scope of the plan

Management Stages

Management Stages

• The section of the project that the PM is managing on behalf of the Project Board at any one time

• Only one at a time

• Minimum of 2 in a project (length and number of stages influenced by planning horizon, delivery steps, programme alignment and risk)

Delivery Steps

Delivery Steps

• A step within the delivery approach

• Included in a management stage as work packages or activities

• Often overlap

• Can span more than one management stage

The purpose of Risk

To identify, assess and control uncertainty and as a result improve the ability of the project to succeed

Risk minimum requirements

 Define the risk management approach. Must cover: o How Risks are identified, assessed, planned & implemented

o How management of risk is communicated

o Assessing whether risks might have a material impact on Business Justification

o Roles and responsibilities for risk management.

 Maintain some form of risk register

 Ensure that risks are identified, assessed, managed and reviewed continually

 Use lessons to inform risk identification and management

Risk

An uncertain event or set of events that, should it occur, will have an effect on the achievement of objectives

Can be opportunity or threat

Risk management approach

Risk management approach: Describes how risk will be managed

Risk register

Risk register: Provides a record of identified risks, Could be whiteboard, spreadsheet or dedicated IT system

Risk management procedure

Identify - Assess - Plan - Implement - Comunicate

Identify Risk

1\. Identify Context

• Understand objectives that are at risk

• Decide risk management approach

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2\. Identify Risks

• Captured in risk register

• Risk cause • Risk event • Risk effect

Assess Risk

Estimate

• Probability

• Impact

• Proximity

• Change over time

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Evaluate

• Overall ‘risk exposure’

• Consider ‘risk appetite’ and tolerance

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Probability-impact grid (summary risk profile)

Plan Risk

Identifying & evaluating risk responses

• Is there residual risk?

• Are there secondary risks?

• Are there any lessons to incorporate?

• Does response give value for money?

• Is response proportional to the risk?

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Plan for threat or opportunity

Implement Risk

Responsible = Risk Owner

Carries out action = Risk Actionee

Risk budget

This is a sum of money to fund specific management responses to the project’s threats and opportunities. For example: to cover the costs of any contingent plans should a risk materialize.

Risk cause

Risk cause

• Source of the risk

• Potential trigger points

• Internal or external

Risk event

Risk event

• Describes the uncertainty

• Threat or opportunity?

Risk effect

Risk effect

• Describes the impact on project objectives

The purpose of Quality

Define and implement the means by which the project will verify products that are fit for purpose

Quality minimum requirements

 Define its quality management approach. Must cover:

o Approach to Quality Control

o Approach to Project Assurance

o How management of quality is communicated

o Roles and Responsibilities for quality management

 Specify explicit criteria for products in their product descriptions

 Maintain quality records and a quality register

 Specify Customer Quality Expectations and prioritised Acceptance Criteria

 Use lessons to inform quality planning, expectations and criteria

Defining quality

Customer’s quality expectations

• A statement about the quality expected from the project product

• Captured in the project product description

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Acceptance criteria

• A prioritized list of measurable criteria that the project product must meet before the customer will accept it

• Captured in the project product description

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Quality criteria

• A description of the quality specification that an individual product must meet before it can be approved

• Captured in a product description

Quality activities

Quality planning, Quality Control, Quality assurance

Quality Planning

Create the project product description, Agree the quality management approach, Create product descriptions as required, Add planned quality activities to the quality register as required

Quality Control

Check the quality criteria have been met for each product, Update the quality register with the results of each quality activity, Identify ways to improve procedures & processes

Quality Assurance

Provide confidence that outputs will meet quality criteria when tested under quality control, This is independent of the project (unlike project assurance)

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance: provides a check that the project’s direction and management are adequate for the nature of the project and that it complies with relevant corporate, programme management or customer standards and policies.

Quality assurance is therefore independent of the project.

Project Assurance

Project assurance is the project board’s responsibility to assure itself that the project is being conducted correctly. The project board members each have a specific area of focus for project assurance, namely business assurance for the executive, user assurance for the senior user(s) and supplier assurance for the senior supplier(s).

Project assurance is therefore independent of the project manager BUT NOT independent of the project

Quality management approach

Quality management approach: describes how quality will be managed. This includes specific processes, procedures, techniques, standards and responsibilities to be applied.”

Quality Register

Quality Register: used to summarize all the quality management activities that are planned or have taken place

The purpose of Change

Identify, assess and control any potential and approved changes to the project baselines

Issue

Any relevant event that has happened, was not planned and requires management action

3 Types of Issues

1. Request for change - proposal for change to a baseline
2. Off-specification - something that *should* be provided but is not
3. Problem/concern - any other issues the PM needs to resolve or escalate

Change minimum requirements

 Define its change control approach. Must cover:

o How issues are identified and managed

o Assessing whether issues have a material impact on business justification

o The roles and responsibilities for change control including a Change Authority

 Define how baselines are created, maintained and controlled

 Maintain some form of issue register

 Ensure that issues are captured, examined, managed and reviewed

 Use lessons to inform issue identification and management

Change control approach

Change control approach: how, and by whom, the project’s products will be controlled and protected

Issue register

Issue register: captures and maintains information on issues that are being formally managed

Issue report

Issue report: Contains the description, impact assessment and recommendations for a change, off-specification or a problem / concern

Only created for issues that need to be handled formally

Configuration item record

Configuration item record: a record that describes the status, version and variant of a configuration item, and relationships between them

• Make one for each item that needs to be controlled and baselined

Product status account

Product status account: Used to provide information about the state of products within defined limits

• May be derived from configuration item records or a stage plan

Change budget

Funds the cost of requests for change and possibly their analysis costs

• Reduces number of exceptions

• More realistic expectation of overall cost and schedule

• Delegated Change Authority limits:

• Cost of a single change

• Amount spent in any one stage

Change control procedure

Capture - Assess - Propose - Decide - Implement

Options analysis

Advantage gained and impact of implementing