PRINCE2 - Keeping Your Project On track - Part 2

PRINCE2 – Keeping Your Project On Track – PART 2

To remind you what I said in part 1 of this article, in the real world projects don’t always go to plan and this can happen for a variety of reasons, some of them internal and some of them external to the project.  In this section I want to cover reviewing the stage status, reporting on issues, re-planning, taking corrective action, escalating problems, and premature closure.

The project manager will us the PRINCE2 process Controlling a Stage.

Starting at the beginning, the project manager has the stage plan authorised by the project board. For the project manager to remain in control is important that the progress of the stage should be checked on a regular and timely basis.  The focus here is to compare what has actually happened against what was originally planned, and hence what is the forecast for the remainder of the stage end of the project.  A balance needs to be kept between planning ahead and reacting to events.

The secret here is to have in place and effective monitoring system via setting up the project controls to supply a steady flow of information that will provide an overall view of progress made thus far.  When considering the impact of issues or risks, the impact on the stage plan should be understood, but equally the impact on current work packages and any knock on effects for the other work packages.

Keeping your project on track can therefore be split down into three simple steps:

·         Gathering progress and status information

·         Decide what actions are now required

·         Implement those actions and ensure they are having the desired effect

Let us now look at some of the data gathering actions:

A major control for the project manager is that work does not commence until a work package is authorized.

Review recent checkpoint reports in particular, noting work package progress information and the status of any issues and risks.  The project manager will be looking here to feel confident that progress is going to plan, hence to note any problems or concerns.

The stage plan is the central overall control for the project manager and as actual activities occur, then this data should be added to the plan so that remaining work and product creation for the stage can be forecast accurately.

The project support role is normally responsible for providing configuration management services, and the project manager may wish to request a product status account from them to help identify any variation between planned progress, reported progress and actual progress.

The risk register should be checked (and updated if necessary), for any new risks or any existing risks which have been revised.  The business case, stage plan or the project plan should now be checked to establish what if any, impact has occurred due to the risk situation.

In a similar way, the issue register should also be checked, and both are done in the capture and examine issues and risks activity.

As products are being created within each work package, then these products will have their quality criteria checked, and ultimately approved.  The planned dates for all three of these steps should be compared against actual dates.  In particular the quality register must be checked to establish if there are any quality issues, for example excessive rework required after such a quality check.

Within tolerance, the project manager has the discretion to carry out any corrective actions, and these in particular should be reviewed regularly to ensure that such corrective actions are having the desired effect.

The stage plan will not only contain activity and milestone scheduling information, but also the resources required (human or otherwise), to carry out such activities.  As part of authorizing and agreeing a work package, then such resource requirements needs to be available.  As the stage progresses, the project manager will want to assess the utilisation of such resources not only for the period under review, but also their availability for the remainder of the stage all project.  The focus here is any variations from plan for the expected future resource availability.

Having gathered the data in the above analysis, the project manager now needs to decide exactly what actions are required.  Such actions may include the following:

Re-estimate the remainder of the stage and project.

Authorize a new or modified work package either because the plan states that a new work package is now required, or a modified work package containing any corrective actions. Once authorized, the work package can be executed.

The project manager will want to assess the estimated time and effort to complete all unfinished work within each work package and this should include work that has yet to start.  In addition, to confirm that the configuration item record for each product within each work package, matches its status in the real world, and if necessary to update the record.

Issues and risks will be regularly captured and examined, resulting in either corrective action being taken or escalation if tolerance is forecast to be exceeded.  If needed, the project manager may at any time seek project board advice before taking any action.

It may be that some of the products during a stage are to be handed over to the customer as part of a phased handover.  If this is the case, the project manager would want to request a product status account to ensure that such products have met their quality criteria and have been approved, and that the operational and maintenance staff are prepared to take responsibility for the products.

As part of managing issues and risks within the stage, the project manager is responsible for reporting their progress up to the project board via the regular highlight report.  This will allow the project board to confirm that the stage is under control or to clarify any points or issues with the project manager.  Remember, they are using the PRINCE2 principle of management by exception.

The project manager will want to examine the amount of tolerance that has been set, and how much of such tolerance has already been used.  This also should be included within the highlight reports.

If at any point during the stage, the project manager can see, that for any reason, stage or project tolerance is now forecast to be exceeded, then an exception report must be created and sent to each member of the project board.  As a result of their response, the project manager will want to plan such response back into a stage plan.  However, the project board may requested that the project manager creates an exception plan, and this will trigger the managing a stage boundary process resulting in reviewing the exception plan at an exception assessment.

Finally, as a result of keeping track of the progress of the project within a stage, it may be necessary to use the process closing the project.  This may be needed for a variety of reasons including:

·         An issue has been raised causing the business case to be no longer viable

·         The impact of a new or modified risk causes the project to be no longer achievable

·         The business environment changes negating the need for the project

·         The customer no longer needs the project

If at any point, for whatever reason, the project board decide to prematurity close the project, then the project manager will use the closing a project process to do this.

For more information on how to pass both the PRINCE2 Foundation Practitioner exams CLICK HERE