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Managing A Stage Boundary 

 February 27, 2023

By  Dave Litten

Managing A Stage Boundary

Managing a Stage Boundary – PRINCE2 at the stage end.

Managing a Stage Boundary is only ever used for one of two purposes, one is to prepare for an End Stage Assessment, and the second is to prepare for an Exception Assessment.  Whichever purpose is required, Managing a Stage Boundary is there to produce sufficient evidence to enable the project board to make an informed choice about whether to proceed with the project or not.

One of the seven principles of PRINCE2 is continued business justification, as the main objective of any project is to ensure that the products it creates will deliver the expected benefits.  This continuing focus should be confirmed at the end of each stage using the managing a stage boundary activity to make sure that the project is still providing value for money.

Projects can go wrong either due to internal factors or external factors, and it is important to ensure that sufficient information is made available in a timely manner so that can be made.  It is important to remember that a positive decision not to proceed with a project should be seen as a positive outcome rather than continuing on throwing good money after bad. Managing a stage boundary prepares the evidence for such a decision.

The activities in managing a stage boundary are the main responsibilities of the project manager, who will work and consult very carefully with other roles such as the project board, team managers and team members, and project assurance.

If you want to find out more, here is an article on PRINCE2 Stages explained

When I explain this to a class, I tell them “managing a stage boundary ONLY gets used for one of two reasons:

  1. The natural end of a stage has occurred, all the products were completed and authorized within tolerance bounds, and it is the ‘triger’ for the project manager to prepare for an End Stage Assessment.OR
  2.  Something has occurred during the stage, and as a result, the project manager must now forecast that the stage (or the project), will deviate beyond tolerance bounds. As PRINCE2 dictates, the project manager has raised an Exception Report to bring the matter to the attention of the project board. As a result of doing so, the project board have requested that the project manager  create an Exception plan. This triggers the use of the managing a stage boundary process to prepare for an Exception Assessment (EXA).OR
  3. Just kidding, and making sure you are paying attention – there is NO third option  (sounds like a line from the Dwayne Johnson ‘The Rock’ movie – remember 2004 ‘Rumble In The Jungle’?)

PRINCE2 Managing A Stage Boundary activities.

The five activities within Managing a Stage Boundary, are there either to create the next Stage Plan and update other documents, OR to create an Exception Plan and update other documents. As I said above – it is such an important point, and will simplify PRINCE2 for you…

This process will normally be used as a natural PRINCE2 stage end approaches, or it will be used at some point during a stage after a request by the project board for the project manager to create an Exception Plan.

When preparing for a natural end to the current PRINCE2 stage, then the objective is to assure the project board that all products contained within the current stage plan have been completed and approved, and to prepare the Stage Plan for the next stage.

As part of preparing for an End Stage Assessment, and after the next Stage Plan has been created, key documents within the Project Initiation Documentation should be reviewed and if required, updated as important inputs to the managing a stage boundary process.

Such documentation  must include the Project Plan, Business Case, project approach, the four management approach documents, and the project management team structure along with their associated role descriptions.

The objective of managing a stage boundary is to provide the relevant information for the project board to assess the continued viability of the project and ensure that the risk situation remains acceptable.  Also, any lessons that have been learned during the current stage should be added to the Lessons Log, and optionally a Lessons Report can be created and used at the end stage assessment.

The project board may wish to implement such lessons in the next stage or as part of this project.  The main objective of course, is to request authorisation to begin work on the next stage.

If the Managing a Stage Boundary process is being used to prepare for an Exception Assessment, then the objectives are to prepare an Exception Plan as requested by the project board, update as appropriate, the documents already mentioned, and seek approval from the project board to either replace the Project Plan or the Stage Plan of the current stage with the Exception Plan.

Throughout this process project assurance and configuration management will be used extensively to review draft copies of documents and to provide new or modified Configurations Item Records or, if requested, to prepare a Product Status Account.

When approaching the end of the final stage in a PRINCE2 project, the Managing a Stage Boundary process will not be used.  When the final specialist product has been approved, the project manager will use the Closing a Project process to shut the project down in a controlled manner.  And hence the Managing a Stage Boundary process will not be needed.

Key questions to ask when gathering data at the end of stage for the managing a stage boundary process are:

  • How did the stage just completed go? (provide actual data here including variations from plan and problems/issues)
  • Is the project still viable (Does the Business Case still show value for money?)
  • Are the risks still acceptable (are they under control and the potential impacts still balance the Business Case benefits?)
  • Is the next Stage Plan affordable (back to the Business Case again), achievable, and realistic?

Managing The stage Boundary – Summary.

In a nutshell, the managing a stage boundary process provides the project board with evidence to:

  • Look Back
  • Look Up
  • Look Forward

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Dave Litten


Dave has spent 25 years as a senior project manager for USA multinationals and has deep experience in project management. He now develops a wide range of Project Management Masterclasses, under the Projex Academy brand name. In addition, David runs project management training seminars across the world, and is a prolific writer on the many topics of project management.

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