The 7 Processes Processes and Activities

Key Themes Techniques

(The step-wise progression through project lifecycle) Used* Used
Starting Up a Project (SU)
Starting Up a Project (SU) Appoint the Executive & the Project Manager
There must be a basic business requirement that triggers a project. Capture previous lessons •Business Case
•Product-
•Organization
The question ‘Do we have a worthwhile and viable project’? needs to
be answered. This process seeks to clarify this question and sets up
Design and appoint the Project Mgt team
Prepare the outline Business Case •Quality
based
planning Quick Reference Guide

*All the Themes apply to each process to one degree or another. We are simply listing the Themes which have the ‘strongest’ link.
•Risk
an organization structure in readiness to manage the project throughout its life. Select the project approach and assemble •Plans
The main outputs are the Project Brief and a plan for the first stage (Initiation the Project Brief
stage). Plan the Initiation stage

Directing a Project (DP)

Directing a Project (DP) Authorize initiation •Business Case
This process is aimed at the ‘directing’ level of management, that is the Project Authorize the project •Progress N/A
Board. It enables them to be accountable for the project’s success Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan •Risk
by making key decisions and exercising overall control while delegating day-to- Give ad hoc direction •Change
day management of the project to the Project Manager. Authorize project closure

Initiating a Project (IP)

Initiating a Project (IP) Prepare the Risk Mgt Strategy •Business Case
A project needs planning and setting up properly. IP plans the project Prepare the Configuration Mgt Strategy •Organization •Product-
at high level and sets up all the strategies and controls. The main document
for the project is created - this is called the Project Initiation Documentation, or
Prepare the Quality Mgt Strategy
Prepare the Communication Mgt Strategy
•Risk
•Plans
based
planning The 7 Principles
‘PID’. The PID forms the basis of a ‘contract’ between the Project Board and Set up the project controls •Quality •Quality (the guiding obligations)
the Project Manager and acts as a base document against which they can •Progress review
Create the Project Plan
assess progress, issues and ongoing viability questions. •Change PRINCE2® is principles-based.
Refine the Business Case
The principles are the basis of what defines a PRINCE2® project.
Assemble the Project Initiation Documentation
Principles facilitate good use of PRINCE2® by ensuring
Controlling a Stage (CS) Controlling a Stage (CS)
the method is not applied in an over-prescriptive way
Once a decision has been made to proceed with work, and the or in name only, but applied in a way that is sufficient
Authorize a Work Package •Business Case
appropriate resources have been committed, the project management team to contribute to project success.
Review Work Package status •Progress •Quality
must be focussed on delivering within the tolerances laid down. Receive completed Work Packages •Risk review If a project does not adhere to these 7 principles,
This process describes the work of the Project Manager in handling the Review the stage status •Change
day-to-day management of the project. Stage progress is monitored and any •Quality it is NOT being managed using PRINCE2®:
Report highlights
issues and risks captured and acted upon. It has close ties with the MP Capture and examine issues and risks
process which covers the development of the project’s products. Escalate issues and risks *Continued business justification*
Take corrective action
*Learn from experience*
Managing Product Delivery (MP) Managing Product Delivery (MP) •Plans •Product- *Defined roles and responsibilities*
This process allows a ‘controlled break’ between the Project Manager, Team Accept a Work Package •Risk based
Manager and the creation/provision of the products. The creation and quality Execute a Work Package •Change
•Progress
planning
•Quality
*Manage by stages*
checking and subsequent progress reporting of the specialist products related Deliver a Work Package
to each Work Package takes place in this process.
•Quality review *Manage by exception*
*Focus on products*
Managing a Stage Boundary (SB) Managing a Stage Boundary (SB)
Plan the next stage
•Business Case
*Tailor to suit the project environment*
This process enables the Project Board to be provided with sufficient •Organization
Update the Project Plan •Product-
•Risk
information by the Project Manager so that it can review the success of the Update the Business Case based
•Plans
current stage, approve the next Stage Plan (or Exception Plan), review the planning
Report stage end •Progress
updated Project Plan and Business Case and confirm continued business Produce an Exception Plan •Quality
justification and acceptability of the risks.
Closing a Project (CP)
Closing a Project (CP) Prepare planned closure
•Business Case
•Risk
One of the defining features of a project is that it is finite – that is it has a start Prepare premature closure •Change Project Management Ltd
and an end. Just as SU and IP ensure a controlled start to the project, this Hand over products •Progress N/A
•Quality West Wing, Briggs House
process ensures a controlled end. The final product is accepted, handed over Evaluate the project
26 Commercial Road
to the customer and the project’s performance is evaluated. Recommend project closure
Poole, Dorset, BH14 OJR

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© SPOCE Project Management Ltd 2010-15
Created by Richard Lampitt of SPOCE Project Management Ltd
web: www.spoce.com
Elements, Organization, Risk and Business Case diagrams and some text portions are
© 2009 AXELOS Limited. Reproduced under license from AXELOS Limited. Feedback please to: richard@spoce.com
 The 7 Themes Change Theme
Every project should have a procedure to capture and manage issues and changes. The following
Plans Theme
PRINCE2® suggests 3 levels of plan: Project, Stage and Team levels. Progress controls allow the
(the project management aspects to apply) diagram shows a typical procedure covering the capturing, examining, deciding and implementing of project management team to monitor progress, compare achievement with the baselined
PRINCE2® contains 7 themes which are the aspects of project management which should issues. PRINCE2® has a procedure which follows this path. Without such a procedure, a project can (approved) plan, review plans and options against future situations, detect problems, initiate
be continuously applied in order to ensure a project is to be managed effectively and become unresponsive to its stakeholders and quickly drift out of control, where unconsidered corrective action, authorise further work and capture lessons based on actual performance.
professionally. The 7 themes are addressed in this section, as well as a little changes for example are implemented, causing the project’s scope to creep and subsequently Tolerance is a key control for the different management levels over what amount of deviation from
guidance on tailoring. increase the project timescale and cost. Change control should be backed up by a configuration the agreed plan is allowed before the plan is considered to be out of control. Most PRINCE2®
management procedure. An effective change control procedure will help to assess the impact of controls are ‘event-driven’, including the decision making ones. Highlight Reports and Checkpoint
Organization Theme issues on the project’s objectives and which issues should/should not be approved. Reports are ‘time-driven’ controls, so called because they are required at timely intervals, e.g. every
PRINCE2® offers an organization structure 2 weeks or every month. Stages are used for control purposes.
Decide and Implement
with defined roles and responsibilities which Identify and
Capture/ Examine Approve by
engages with the primary stakeholders of propose Technical Stages
assess impact (escalate if taking PID
business, user and supplier. This ensures options
priority & on project’s beyond necessary Specification
there is clear accountability for each level of to address
severity objectives delegated corrective
management (Directing, Managing and issue Design
authority) action
Delivering) within the project. Build
A Communication Management Strategy
Configuration management will ensure all the products being created/updated during the project Test
should be produced which defines the
bi-directional flow of information required to are uniquely identified, version controlled, tracked and protected, and any changes made to the Implement
be sent/received by the project and include products are carried out in a controlled manner, ensuring the change is tracked and old versions are End-Stage
Assessments
any ‘external’ stakeholders. Without an never discarded. Why a product had changed can be answered by an effective configuration (Project Board

effective project management team structure management system. Decision Points)

and a strategy for effective communication, Management Stages

a project is likely to fail. The project management team and communication strategy should be Risk Theme
reviewed and updated, typically at each stage end, to ensure it remains effective throughout the In PRINCE2® there are two types of stages – ‘management’ and ‘technical’. Management
Project management must control and contain any stages are partitions of the project with management decision points. Each stage is reviewed by the
project.
uncertain events (risks) if a project is to achieve its Project Board who approve them one at a time (at an end stage assessment). Stages are
objectives. This included both threats and summarised in the following diagram. Management stages equate to commitment of resources and
Business Case Theme opportunities. Details about risks have to be
Implement Identify authority to spend and only run in sequence. Technical stages are groups of specialist skills/activities
regularly revisited and reconsidered, -Context required to create the specialist products and can run in parallel. A Management stage can have one
The business justification is the reason for the project. Without it no project should start. If the -Risks
as a minimum at each stage end. The management or more technical stages within it and a technical stage can span one or more management stages.
business justification disappears once the project is underway, the project should be stopped
or changed. The business justification is documented in the Business Case and supports the ongoing of risk is a continuous To show the true workload and related costs, plans should include the effort of creating and
decision-making regarding (continued) justification. The Business Case contains: Reasons, Business procedure shown by the adjacent diagram. updating all the relevant products, not just the specialist products but management products as
A Risk Management Strategy should be Communicate well, e.g. Highlight Reports, End Stage Reports etc.
Options, Benefits/Dis-benefits, Key Risks, Costs, Timescales and Investment Appraisal.
produced based on the project’s context.
The Business Case should be at the centre of any impact assessment of issues and risks and if the Each identified risk should be assessed for
impact is too great, the Executive may choose to stop the project, or not authorize implementation probability/impact and its proximity, then Products (Management & Specialist)
of a request for change. The Business Case drives the decision-making processes throughout the appropriate risk mitigation responses should be Plan A product is an input or output of the project, whether tangible or intangible. In PRINCE2® there are
planned and implemented with suitable risk Assess
project. The benefits will be defined by the Senior User(s), who will be held to account by Corporate -Estimate two types of product – ‘management’ and ‘specialist’. Management products are the products that
or Programme Management for providing evidence that those benefits have been realized. The -Evaluate
owners assigned to manage each risk. The are produced/updated to assist with the ‘managing’ of the project. The following is a list of the main
Business Case should show the right balance of costs, benefits/dis-benefits and risks. The following communication of risks should be carried out in PRINCE2® management products which have outline descriptions in ‘Appendix A’ of the PRINCE2®
diagram shows where, in a PRINCE2® project, the Business Case is developed, maintained & verified parallel with all other steps. manual:
and when confirmation of the realization of benefits is likely to happen.
Quality Theme
Confirm Confirm Confirm PRINCE2® ensures the products A.1 Benefits Review Plan A.14 Lessons Log
benefit benefit benefit
will meet business expectations Project Product A.2 Business Case A.15 Lessons Report
and enable the desired benefits
Description A.3 Checkpoint Report A.16 Plan (Proj/Stage/Team/Exc’n)
Customer’s quality expectations/ A.4 Communication Mgmt Strategy A.17 Product Description
to be achieved. A set of activities acceptance criteria; quality tolerances
Pre-project Initiation Subsequent delivery stage(s) Final delivery stage Post-project are followed to ensure the final and acceptance methods
A.5 Configuration Item Records A.18 Product Status Account
stage product and its quality requirements/ A.6 Configuration Mgmt Strategy A.19 Project Brief
acceptance criteria, the scope of A.7 Daily Log A.20 Project Initiation Documentation
what the project will deliver and the Quality Management
A.8 End Project Report A.21 Project Product Description
Verify Verify Verify
outline detailed updated quality criteria for each product to be Strategy A.9 End Stage Report A.22 Quality Management Strategy
Business Case Business Case Business Case delivered within scope are clearly (Standards, responsibilities, A.10 Exception Report A.23 Quality Register
quality methods etc to be A.11 Highlight Report A.24 Risk Management Strategy
Develop Business Case Maintain Business Case understood. A Quality Management applied throughout project)
Strategy is developed to show how A.12 Issue Register A.25 Risk Register
The expected benefits are documented in the Business Case, but a Benefits Review Plan is A.13 Issue Report A.26 Work Package
created and used to show how, when and by whom a measurement of the project’s benefits the project will ensure the agreed
quality will be delivered. Sufficient Stage Plan Product Descriptions
can be made. Many benefits are not realized until after the project product has been in Quality method dates Part of Quality criteria Specialist products – these are unique to your project. They equate to the specialist work involved
operational use for some time, however some benefits may be realized during the project. quality controls are planned and
planned and Quality tolerances to create the physical end product (i.e. if a car was the end product of your project, the specialist
Benefit reviews both during and after the project are covered by the Benefits Review Plan. executed to make sure each product resources assigned to Quality methods
does indeed meet its specific quality each quality method Quality skills required products would be the designs, bonnet, boot, doors, wheels, engine etc which would have Product
The Benefits Review Plan will also contain details of how a measurement of the products Descriptions produced for them and of course the ‘final’ product itself – the car, which would be
performance will be made in operational life to see if there were any unexpected side-effects, requirements, as detailed in its
Product Description. A quality control described in the Project Product Description). They are the products (outputs) from the project
either positive or negative. For example, the product may have generated an unexpected which the business will use to generate the outcomes and consequential benefits. The benefits of
outcome and additional benefits, or may have underperformed against business expectations. technique covered by PRINCE2® is the Quality Register
‘quality review’, which is an effective the project should be mapped to the specialist products. If a product can not be mapped to a
Details of planned and
way of checking finished products, actuals of all quality benefit, then the question should be asked whether the product is required and is perhaps outside
Tailoring of PRINCE2® typically documents, where there is Cyclical methods/controls of the scope. The scope of a plan is shown by the products on the related product breakdown
Another element of PRINCE2® is ‘Tailoring to the project environment’. To get the most out of some subjectiveness and professional for each structure, backed up by the Product Descriptions. A principle of PRINCE2® is that a project should
PRINCE2®, you should tailor the method to suit the size, complexity and nature of your project. All mgt stage Update with results ‘focus on products’ and the quality of those products. The creation of Product Descriptions and
judgement is required. Once all products
the 7 process activities should be followed and the 7 principles applied, however Themes can be have been developed and all criteria Products created and quality checked as
inclusion of quality control activities within the relevant plan helps to achieve this. The end result is
adapted, for example roles can be combined, management products adapted to suit specific have been confirmed as being met, defined in each Work Package Project the delivery of products that are fit for purpose and capable of delivering the expected business
information requirements and reporting can be done verbally. Adapt the method to make the customer will give final acceptance closure benefits.
PRINCE2® work effectively for you and your projects. at project closure. Ultimate approval/acceptance at closure