Reporting PRINCE2 Stage End

 

A new management stage commences once the project board have given approval for the next stage plan, set tolerances of the stage, and advised the project manager how often they wish to receive their regular Highlight Report.  

 

The project board will now manage by exception, and unless the project manager forecasts that tolerance is to be exceeded by giving the project board an Exception Report, then the Highlight Report is normally the only means by which the project will is kept informed.

 

As the current stage comes to a close, it is important to report back to the project board the results of the stage just finished so that the progress achieved can be clearly understood by the project board.  As part of this, the project manager will need to present the continuing ability of the project to meet the Project Plan and Business Case including an assessment of the overall risk situation.

 

This information should be presented as close as is possible to the end of the current stage to ensure the information is the most current.  The mechanism for doing this is the End Stage Report which will be created as a result of creating the next Stage Plan, or an Exception Plan, and updating the Project Plan and Business Case.

 

Here are the steps that the project manager should take in creating the End Stage Report:

 

Review the Business Case and capture any benefits already achieved and in doing so, update the Benefits Review Plan.  Review the Stage Plan for the stage just finished to ensure that the objectives have been met, and similarly update the Project Plan to ensure that the project level objectives can still be achieved.

 

This is also a good opportunity to review the team performance for the stage just finished and in particular mention any good performance within the team that deserves recognition.

 

One of the seven principles that guide PRINCE2 is the product focus.  Therefore the project manager will want to review the product status of all products within this stage, and will request a Product Status Account from project support.  This will then drive the project manager to review all quality management activities and ensure that all products are complete and approved.

 

It may be that the stage expected a phased handover of some or all of the products created during this stage.  If so the project manager will want to confirm that the users and operational and maintenance staff have accepted the products and they have been transferred to customer ownership.  

 

This may also include identifying any follow-on action recommendations for those products.

 

The Issue and Risk Registers should be reviewed and the End Stage Report must include a summary of such issues and risks.  Optionally the project manager may prepare a Lessons Report to accompany the End Stage Report. 

 

The End Stage Report will be presented to the project board either accompanying the next Stage Plan or an Exception Plan (depending upon whether it is being used to feed an End Stage Assessment or an Exception Assessment), and other revised documentation to seek their approval to proceed by the Project Boards or otherwise.  

 

The project manager will review the Communication Management Strategy to know whether there is a need to send copies of the end stage report to other stakeholders at this point in time. 

 

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