Prince2

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PRINCE2, or PRojects IN Controlled Environments, is a methodology covering the management, control and organisation of a project.

Contents

History

It is derived from the earlier PRINCE technique, which was initially developed in 1989 by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) as a UK Government standard for information technology (IT) project management following growing concern re high profile software project failures; however, it soon became regularly applied outside the purely IT environment.

In the US similar drivers lead to the development of CMM & later CMMI.

PRINCE2 was released in 1996 as a generic project management method and has become increasingly popular becoming the de facto standard for project management in the UK. Its use has spread beyond the UK to more than 50 [citation needed] other countries.

It is now the lowest tier of three levels of the P3M3 framework (the other two tiers being Program and Portfolio Management).

The most current revision was released in 2005 by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The name "PRINCE2" is a Registered Trade Mark of the OGC.

Exams, Accreditation & Training

Accreditation is governed by the passing of two exams – the Foundation and the Practitioner. The foundation is a one-hour, multiple choice exam whereas the Practitioner is a three hour, open-book, essay type exam. In the UK exams are administered by the Association for Project Management. It is possible to check whether an individual has passed the Foundation and Practitioner exams.

It is possible for individuals with project management experience to self-study for the exams but a number of training organisations offer courses, many of which also include exam entry in the fee. In the UK training providers must be accredited by the APM Group.

Scalability

Project management is a complex discipline and it would be wrong to assume that blind application of PRINCE2 will result in a successful project. By the same token, it would be wrong to assume that every aspect of PRINCE2 will be applicable to every project. For this reason every process (see below) has a note on scalability. This provides guidance to the project manager (and others involved in the project) as to “how much” of the process to apply. The positive aspect of this is that PRINCE2 can be tailored to the needs of projects. The negative aspect is that many of the essential elements of PRINCE2 can be omitted sometimes resulting in a PINO project - Prince in Name Only. In order to counter this, APM have defined the concept of a PRINCE2 Maturity Model.

An Overview of the Prince2 Methodology

Diagram showing PRINCE2 processes. The arrows represent flows of information.

PRINCE2 is a process-driven project management method which contrasts with reactive/adaptive methods such as Scrum. PRINCE2 defines 45 separate sub-processes and organizes these into eight processes as follows:

Prince2-training.jpg

Full process diagram: File:P2processmodel.pdf

Starting Up a Project (SU)

In this process the project team is appointed and a project brief (describing, in outline, what the project is attempting to achieve and the business justification for doing so) is prepared. In addition the overall approach to be taken is decided and the next stage of the project is planned. Once this work is done, the project board is asked to authorize the next stage, that of initiating the project.

Planning (PL)

PRINCE2 advocates product based planning (see below) which means that the first task when planning is to identify and analyse products. Once the activities required to create these products is identified then it is possible to estimate the effort required for each and then schedule activities into a plan. There is always risk associated with any work and this must be analysed. Finally, this process suggests how the format of plans can be agreed and ensures that plans are completed to such a format.

Initiating a Project (IP)

This process builds on the work of the Start Up (SU) activity and the project brief is augmented to form a Business Case. The approach taken to ensure quality on the project is agreed together with the overall approach to controlling the project itself (project controls). Project files are also created as is an overall plan for the project. A plan for the next stage of the project is also created. The resultant information can be put before the project board for them to authorize the project itself.

Directing a Project (DP)

These sub-processes dictate how the Project Board should control the overall project. As mentioned above, the project board can authorize and initiation stage and can also authorize a project. Directing a Project also dictates how the project board should authorize a stage plan, including any stage plan that replaces an existing stage plan due to slippage or other unforeseen circumstances. Also covered is the way in which the board can give ad hoc direction to a project and the way in which a project should be closed down.

Controlling a Stage (CS)

PRINCE2 suggests that projects should be broken down into stages and these sub-processes dictate how each individual stage should be controlled. Most fundamentally this includes the way in which work packages are authorized and received. It also specifies the way in which progress should be monitored and how the highlights of the progress should be reported to the project board. A means for capturing and assessing project issues is suggested together with the way in which corrective action should be taken. It also lays down the method by which certain project issues should be escalated to the project board.

Managing Product Delivery (MP)

This process consists of three sub-processes and these cover the way in which a work package should be accepted, executed and delivered.

Managing Stage Boundaries (SB)

The Controlling a Stage process dictates what should be done within a stage, Managing Stage Boundaries dictates what should be done towards the end of a stage. Most obviously, the next stage should be planned and the overall project plan, risk log and business case amended as necessary. The process also covers what should be done for a stage that has gone outside its tolerance levels. Finally, the process dictates how the end of the stage should be reported.

Closing a Project (CP)

This covers the things that should be done at the end of a project. The project should be formally de-commissioned (and resources freed up for allocation to other activities), follow on actions should be identified and the project itself be formally evaluated.

Components

PRINCE2 has a number of components as follows:

Techniques

PRINCE2 will work with most project management techniques but specifically describes the following:

Products


Criticism

PRINCE2 & The 5th Discipline

The Fifth Discipline can be used to augment the running of projects by emphasising four higher level areas of concern;

  1. Learning (team & individual)
  2. Guiding Philosophy
  3. Methods & Tools
  4. Infrastructure

PRINCE2 is

  1. relatively silent on the first two issues (Learning & Guiding Philosophy)
  2. explicitly avoids discussion of Project Tools / Toolsets
  3. to some extent recognises Project Infrastructural (under the banner Project Support Office) but treats this as optional

Agile Approach

Prince2 has been carefull not mandate a specific project approach and has in recent times increased the emphasis it places on adopting only those elements of the overall methodology that are appropriate to the scale of the project being undertaken. However many argue that at the Guiding Philosophy is inherently process heavy and that this focus makes it fundamentally opposed to the principles that form the foundation of the Agile movement (see Agile Manifesto).

PRINCE2 Software

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