Resources

The 2009 PRINCE2 progress theme is the 2005 Controls component 'lite'. Two major systems of project control are described: Stages and Tolerance.

The sub-division of a project into Management Stages is a principle of a PRINCE2 project, and the theme expands the principle by explaining what stages are, how they might be defined and how they might relate to the technical work of the project.

Tolerances are described in detail to support the Manage by Exception principle.

Two separate but closely linked disciplines are covered in the PRINCE2 Change theme - Configuration Management and Issue & Change Control. Any project manager will soon learn that keeping track of the status of products and the relationships between them is a crucial element of the project team's work, and that keeping change under control is similarly vital. This theme provides some basic advice on how to implement a system with which the baseline can be maintained and protected against the effects of uncontrolled change. 'Scope creep' doesn't happen on a PRINCE2 project!

Configuration Management follows the same pattern as the 2005 version, with advice on planning, identification, control, status accounting, verification and audit. Records about project products are kept using Configuration Item Records, and the whole system is defined in a Configuration Management Strategy specific to the project.

Once the products are under control, the Issue and Change Control procedure can be deployed to make sure that they aren't changed recklessly or without regard to the effects on the business case, the plan, risks and the other products. The change control procedure of capture-examine-propose-decide-implement is used to manage the three types of issue familiar to PRINCE2 practitioners - the Request for Change, the Off-Specification and the Problem/Concern.

The PRINCE2 approach to the management of risk is firmly based upon the OGC guidance on this subject. Risks must be identified, assessed and controlled to support effective decision during the project, and to protect the viability of the business case.  A Risk Management Strategy is required, which will set out the procedures to be followed during the project and set the context for risk tolerances.

PRINCE2 recommends a risk management procedure comprising a number of steps to identify the context and risks of the project, assess the individual and aggregate effects of risk, plan risk responses and then implement them. It explains also the importance of communications in effective risk management. The risk register, of course, also makes an appearance, and there is a good deal of detail about the potential responses to risk, both threats and opportunities.

 

 

Three levels of plan are used in PRINCE2.

The project plan is a high level 'helicopter' view of the whole project, used by the Project Board to keep on eye on the total project and to provide the figures (costs and timescales) on which the business case is based. This plan is created at the beginning of the project and then maintained and adjusted as the stages are completed.

The stage plan is the day-to-day management plan used by the project manager. The stage plan for the next stage is planned in detail as the current stage nears its end, thus ensuring that a stage plan is as accurate as it can be and the effects of the planning horizon are minimised.

The team plan is a subdivision of the stage plan and relates to the work package - the unit of work a project manager allocates to a team manager (who might be a subcontractor). Team plans contain the most detail. Team plans can be integrated into stage plans, so they are in effect optional.

Exception plans replace plans which have gone pear-shaped, normally after an exception has been raised and the exception plan option has been taken.

The Plans theme includes much detailed advice about a plannning process which in the 2005 version of PRINCE2 was a process in its own right. It's not clear what the logic is in integrating this detail into the plans theme, since, like it or not, planning is a process which all projects should go through.