The PRINCE2 Processes

 

There are many drivers in an organization that may cause the need for change, and hence the instigation of PRINCE2.  These drivers may include a new idea, a customer request, new business objectives, or the need to respond to competitive pressures, changes in legislation, the final report of a feasibility study, or even a recommendation or audit output.

 

Therefore, the trigger for PRINCE2 could be just about anything and in any form.  This trigger is called the Project Mandate, and may take the form of a verbal instruction, the minutes from a meeting, or a direct request from senior management.  The information in the project mandate will almost certainly need to be further refined and PRINCE2 uses the process Starting Up a Project to carry this out along with other activities.

 

The project mandate will be further refined into the Project Brief and to the creation of a Stage Plan for the initiation stage.  The project board will now review these two key documents and make a decision on whether or not to formally start the project.  Their thinking will be "do we have a viable and worthwhile project?"

 

If a decision by the project board has been made to proceed further, then this is the trigger to start the initiation stage, where the project brief will be further refined and expanded to become the Project Initiation Documentation (PID).  

 

The project will now be planned in detail after various strategies have been determined.  Appropriate project board and project management level controls are defined, including how funding for the project is to be obtained.  The outline business case contained within the project brief is now further refined to become the detailed business case as part of the PID.

 

The initiation stage is completed once all of the information is assembled within the Project Initiation Documentation which will now need to be reviewed by the project board to decide whether or not to authorise the project.  Also during the initiation stage, the managing a stage boundary process is used to prepare for the End Stage Assessment, including the creation of the second stage plan.  The activity authorising a stage or exception plan within the Directing a Project process is used to approve or otherwise the second stage plan.

 

Once the PID is signed off, then all remaining stages (there may only be one), need to be authorized, and the project board will have delegated day-to-day control to the project manager for each remaining stage, one at a time.  The project manager will assign work via Work Packages and will want to ensure that progress is in line with the approved stage plan, and that the stage forecast remains within the projects performance targets and agreed tolerances.

 

To assist in progress control, the project manager will use a set of project records (the Daily Log, Lessons Log, Issue, Risk, and Quality Registers, and Configuration Item Records).  The project manager will keep the project board informed of progress via regular Highlight Reports.

 

The Managing Product Delivery process is used by the Team Managers and specialists team members to execute their assigned Work Packages, keeping the project manager informed of progress with regular Checkpoint Reports.

 

At the end of each management stage the project manager will use the Managing a Stage Boundary process to create the next Stage Plan, update the Project Plan and Business Case, and assess the aggregated set of risks including any current issues.  This information will be presented to the project board in the form of an End Stage Report, where they will need to decide what to do next.

 

The final delivery stage is different in that although specialist products will have been created, as the final products are approved, the project manager will use the Closing a Project process to prepare for controlled shutdown.  The evidence from this process is used by the project board to authorize project closure.

 

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