Directing Projects with PRINCE2

• Introduction
• Overview of PRINCE2
  • Key definitions
  • Structure of PRINCE2
  • The role of senior management in PRINCE2
  • Overview of PRINCE2
• Project Board duties and behaviours
  • Overview
  • Be accountable for the project
  • Provide unified direction
  • Delegate effectively
  • Facilitate cross functional integration
  • Commit resources
  • Ensure effective decision making
  • Support the Project Manager
  • Ensure effective communication
• Starting up a Project
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Confirm the understanding of the project mandate
  • Appoint the Executive and Project Manager
  • Capture previous lessons
  • Design and appoint the project management team
  • Prepare the outline Business Case
  • Prepare the Project Brief
  • Prepare the Initiation Stage Plan
  • Summary
• Authorize initiation
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Approve the Project Brief
  • Approve the Initiation Stage Plan
  • Communication
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Authorize the project
  • Purpose
  • Context part 1
  • Context part 2
  • Context part 3
  • Communication
  • Review the End Stage Report for initiation
  • Approve the Project Initiation Documentation
  • Approve the next Stage Plan
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan
  • Purpose
  • Context part 1
  • Context part 2
  • Review End Stage Reports
  • Approve Stage or Exception Plans
  • Assess project viability
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Give ad hoc direction
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Respond to requests
  • Respond to reports
  • Respond to external influences
  • Focus of individual board members
  • Communication
  • Summary
• Authorize project closure
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Confirm handover and acceptance
  • Approve the End Project Report
  • Approve the Benefits Review Plan
  • Communication
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Reviewing benefits
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Hold benefits reviews
  • Close the Business Case
  • Communication
  • Suggested agenda for benefit reviews
  • Summary
• Tailoring PRINCE2
  • Purpose
  • Introduction
  • Environmental factors
  • Project related factors
  • What does tailoring involve?Adapting the themes

Key sections

• Introduction
• Business case
• Organization
• Quality
• Plans
• Risk
• Change
• Progress
• Introduction to processes
• Starting up a projectDirecting a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing Product Delivery
• Managing a Stage Boundary
• Closing a Project
• Tailoring PRINCE2 to the project environment
• Directing Projects with PRINCE2

Authorize the project

Approve the Project Initiation Documentation

If communication has been effective, there should be no surprises when the Project Initiation Documentation is finally submitted by the Project Manager in requesting authorization for the project.

By agreeing to authorize the project, the Project Board members are accepting the Project Initiation Documentation as an accurate account of their collective requirements, i.e. a unified direction for the project.
This represents a formal and agreed position between the Project Board members and may also serve as a comprehensive briefing document for corporate management.

There is often a large amount of detail to consider and the assistance of Project Assurance personnel can be invaluable at this point.

Although each Project Board member will have a specific area of focus in approving the contents of the Project Initiation Documentation, there are also some areas where it is essential that there is a shared understanding:

• Do the Quality Management Strategy, Product Descriptions and plans accurately reflect the agreed project scope? And the agreed project approach?
• Can the Project Board deliver all the necessary resources?
• Is there confidence that lessons learned previously on similar projects have been incorporated in the plans?
• Is the Project Manager sufficiently experienced?
• Are the Project Assurance arrangements and responsibilities appropriate?
• Are all the project management roles and responsibilities fully understood and agreed? Are they appropriate?
• Will the Project Manager have sufficient administrative support?
• Is the structure of the management stages appropriate for the level of control the Project Board wishes to exert?
• Will the Communication Management Strategy be effective? Are all key stakeholders covered?
• Are the components of the Project Initiation Documentation all mutually consistent?
• Is the level of risk acceptable:
• For the project?
• For the organization?

• Is the Business Case really viable?
• Are the important business risks identified accurately? Will the risk management responses be effective?
• Is the overall Risk Management [see ‘The Complete Risk Management package’] Strategy appropriate?
• Will the Benefits Review Plan work?
• Is the project management team pitched at the right level? Will the Project Board work together effectively as a team?
• Is the framework of controls appropriate? Is PRINCE2® being scaled and tailored sensibly?

• Will the products of the project really enable the benefits claimed to be achieved?
• Are the arrangements for realizing the benefits during and after the project realistic? Are the related responsibilities agreed?
• Are the important risks for operational users identified accurately? Are they manageable?
• Will the Project Assurance arrangements adequately safeguard the interests of user stakeholders?
• Will users be adequately represented in quality control activities, e.g. as quality reviewers?
• Can the user personnel (and other resources, such as accommodation) be committed to the project work as indicated in the plans?
• Are the arrangements satisfactory for maintaining the project’s products after the project has closed? If the project outcome will be a service, are service managers adequately represented in the project management team and plans?

• Are the specialist technical aspects of the plans (including related costs and timescales) realistic and achievable?
• Are appropriate technical methods, techniques, tools and standards to be applied in the Quality Management Strategy?
• Have the specialist technical lessons learned from previous projects been properly taken into account?
• Are the important technical risks identified accurately? Are they manageable?
• Will the Project Assurance arrangements adequately safeguard the quality of the specialist technical effort?
• Will specialists be adequately represented in quality control activities, e.g. as quality reviewers?
• Is the Project Manager sufficiently experienced? Will the Project Manager have sufficient technical support, e.g. for advice and guidance on specialist issues?
• Are the arrangements satisfactory for maintaining the project’s products after the project has closed? If the project outcome will be a service, are service managers adequately represented in the project management team and plans?
• Are people with the required specialist skills and experience available?
• Can they be committed to the project work as indicated in the plans? Can all other specialist technical resources, such as equipment, be delivered? Is there confidence in the assumptions about lead-times?
• Is the project’s Configuration Management Strategy adequate in relation to the complexity of the products involved?

Although each of the components of the Project Initiation Documentation answers an important question about the project, they can seem burdensome.
Projects come in all shapes and sizes and it is crucial to observe the PRINCE2 principle that the method must be scaled and tailored to suit the project context.

This means that the form and the content of the Project Initiation Documentation should reflect the scale, complexity and business risks involved.
Formal documentation may be necessary for a large project - but then it may also be the case that the Business Case, Benefits Review Strategy and Configuration Management Strategy are substantially completed at programme level before the project is commissioned.

For a simple project, the Project Initiation Documentation may be in the form of a relatively simple slide presentation, with information arranged mostly as bullet points.

It is important that the Project Board members and the Project Manager discuss and agree what level of formality is appropriate for the project as initiation begins.

All references above are in Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 unless stated otherwise.

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.