Project Board and Project Manager PRINCE2 Controls
February 27, 2023
By Dave Litten
Project Board and Project Manager PRINCE2 Controls
Project Board and Project Manager PRINCE2 Controls – Project Management Team
There are two aspects to be considered here, first the PRINCE2 controls needed by the project board, and second, the PRINCE2 control used by the project manager related to the work to be undertaken by the specialist team or team managers. The level of control needed will depend upon the project’s scale, the amount of risk, how complex, and how important the project is.
Many PRINCE2 controls will have already been defined in the creation of the project’s four approach documents, but they may not have necessarily been set up yet.
The main project PRINCE2 controls may include the frequency and format of communication, the number of stages – in particular the end stage assessments, the system and mechanisms to capture and analyse issues and project changes, the application of management by exception including tolerances for the different management levels, and how would be delegated authority from one level of management to another will be monitored.
The Project Brief should be reviewed to clarify whether any corporate or programme management strategies, standards or practices that relates to controls need to be applied to this particular project. The four management approaches within the Project Initiation Documentation should be reviewed to identify which PRINCE2 controls need to be established.
Lessons from similar previous projects relating to PRINCE2 controls should be sought and applied as appropriate, these may have already been captured in the Lessons Log.
The Risk and Issue Registers should be reviewed, as the aggregated value of issues and risks will determine the detail and complexity of the PRINCE2 controls activities.
The project board should be consulted and agreement reached as to where and when the management stage boundaries needs to occur so that adequate control can be applied.
The project management team structure role descriptions should be checked and enhanced with any agreed decision making authority where appropriate. This may even mean enhancing all be allocating roles as required.
As part of management by exception, corporate or programme management will have set project level tolerances. The project board need to agree stage level tolerances and optionally the project manager may set tolerances at work package level (although this may not need to be done at this point in time).
Where appropriate these need to be confirmed including any escalation procedures. All of these contribute to the PRINCE2 controls.
All PRINCE2 controls should be summarized in the Project Initiation Documentation and project assurance should be consulted to check that the proposed PRINCE2 controls are appropriate for the nature of the project.
Project board approval should now be sought for the PRINCE2 controls, all the project board may prefer to review them later as part of the Project Initiation Documentation.
There are FOUR levels of management within PRINCE2, and the principle of management by exception is used as PRINCE2 controls and uses six types of tolerance against which a project can be controlled. The allocation of these tolerances is applied as needed to these four management levels as follows:
Corporate or programme management sits outside the project but sets the overall requirements and tolerance levels for the project. The three levels of management within the project will manage and implement within these tolerances and escalate any forecast breaches of project tolerance
The Project Board have PRINCE2 controls at a project level, as long as forecasts remain within project tolerance, and will allocate tolerances for each management stage to the Project Manager. The Project Board has the ability to review progress and decide whether to continue, change or stop the project.
During execution of the project, if any forecasts indicate that the project is likely to exceed the agreed project tolerances, then the deviation should be referred upwards to corporate or programme management by the Project Board in the form of an Exception Report to get a decision on corrective action as a form of PRINCE2 controls.
Project Manager PRINCE2 Controls.
The Project Manager has day-to-day control for a management stage within the tolerance limits laid down by the Project Board. During execution of a Stage Plan, if any forecasts indicate that the stage is likely to exceed the agreed stage tolerances, then the deviation should be referred to the Project Board by the Project Manager in order to get a decision on what to do next.
The Team Manager has control for a Work Package, but only within the Work Package tolerances agreed with the Project Manager. During execution of the Work Package, if any forecasts indicate that it is likely that the agreed tolerances will be exceeded, then the deviation should be referred to the Project Manager by the Team Manager in order to get a decision on corrective action.
Project Board level PRINCE2 controls
These include:
Authorizations. The Project Board uses the Directing a Project process to authorize initiation, authorize the project, authorize each stage and, finally, authorize project closure:
After the pre-project process Starting up a Project, the Project Board authorizes progress to the initiation stage, this is the official ’start’ of the project
After the Initiating a Project process, the Project Board reviews the information from the Project Initiation Documentation and, if satisfied that there is sufficient reason to go ahead with the project, can approve the Project Initiation Documentation and authorize the project itself.
After the Managing a Stage Boundary process, the Project Board reviews either a Stage Plan or Exception Plan, and can either approve the plan, with its relevant tolerances for the next management stage, or, if there is insufficient justification to continue with the project, trigger premature closure of the project
After the Closing a Project process, the Project Board reviews the End Project Report and, if satisfied that the project is complete or has nothing more to offer, can authorize its closure and inform corporate or programme management.
Progress updates throughout the project include Highlight Reports and End Stage Reports
Exception Reports and Issue Reports. When the Project Board has agreed stage tolerances with the Project Manager, it is kept informed of progress by means of Highlight Reports.
There is no need for regular progress meetings during this stage, although personnel with Project Assurance responsibilities will require regular contact with the Project Manager and team members.
The Project Manager PRINCE2 controls
The main controls available to the Project Manager include:
Authorizations. Project Manager authorizations occur during the process Controlling a Stage. The Project Manager will be responsible for agreeing and authorizing Work Packages and Work Package tolerances
Progress. Updates for the project manager include Checkpoint Reports produced by Team Managers or team members
Exceptions and changes. Use of project registers and logs to review progress and identify issues and risks that may need to be resolved.
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