Unlocking the Structures of PRINCE2®

Principles of PRINCE2® Methodology

PRINCE2® is a popular project management methodology that has been used in various countries. It underlies seven principles that shall be acknowledged while dealing with a project. The first principle is continued business justification. It means that projects must have business justification of a clear return on investment as well as the use of time and resources. Next principle is called learn from experience; means every step in the project process should be recorded aims for future improvement. After that, the third principle is to define roles and responsibilities. This should be delivered clearly for all team members involve in a project, so that they know what they and others are doing.

Moreover, the remaining four principles are: manage by stages, manage by exception, focus on products, and tailor to the environment. Manage by stages means difficult tasks are broken off by using management stages. It aims to make tasks easier to manage and track. Then, manage by exception is basically the opposite of micro-management. It means that project should not require a lot of intervention from managers or project board. Furthermore, focus on products means team members should know in advance what is expected from the product and use product requirements to determine the work activity. Lastly, tailor to the environment means PRINCE2® could be scaled and tailored according to the specific needs of each organization project.

Understand the Seven Themes of PRINCE2®

In managing project, themes provide insight known as knowledge area or principles to be implemented in practice. Themes are prepared when the project started and monitored throughout the project. There are seven themes that should be addressed constantly to keep projects on track. The first theme is business case. It provides insights on whether a project is valuable and achievable. Then, organization theme requires project managers to record each team member roles and responsibilities. After that, quality theme can be an abstract concept; thus, it should be defined at the beginning of a project to keep the work on track. Next theme is plan. It describes how targets will be achieved. It consists of products, timescale, cost, quality, and benefits.

In addition, there are three remaining themes of PRINCE2® methodology namely risk, change, and progress. Risk is a theme that has purpose to identify, assess and control uncertain events during a project and recorded in a risk log. Furthermore, change is a theme that revolves around change requests and issues handling that arise during the project. Change is conducted to gain agreement on before changes are executed in a project. Lastly, progress is about project tracking. It allows project managers to check and control the alignment of a project with its plan. The actual progress can be used to create decisions on whether the project is proceeded, changed, or cancelled.

Run a Project in Seven PRINCE2® Processes

PRINCE2® separates the running of a project into seven processes. Each process is overseen by the project manager and approved by the project board. First process is called Starting Up a Project (SU). This process explains the project purpose, people involved, and way of execution. Then, there is Initiating a Project (IP) process that contains of the list needs to be done for completing the project. This includes several performance targets such as time, cost, quality, scope, and risk. After that, Directing a Project (DP) process start from the beginning to the end of a project. The project board manages initiation, stage boundaries, ad hoc direction/guidance, and project closure activities.

One of the next remaining processes is Controlling a Stage (CS) in which project managers authorizes work packages and break the project down into manageable activities. Then, Managing Product Delivery (MP) shows how the communication between team manager and project manager is controlled. This process consists several activities of accepting, executing, and delivering work package. Moreover, there is Managing Stage Boundaries (SB) process where project managers along with the board review every stage to decide the continuity of the project. At-last, Closing a Project (CP) process tells what steps should be taken at the end of a project.

Gain the Benefits of PRINCE2®

PRINCE2® is commonly used in organization and has been proven to offer a clear yet highly flexible approach to project management; by creating the beginning of a project and its end depending on the continued existence of a business case. Some of PRINCE2® top benefits are applicable to all projects, cost-effective, enhance steadiness, recognized project accountability, and constant improvement. Those benefits could help organization in running its projects and therefore meet the business goals and objectives.

Conclusion

PRINCE2® is one of the most popular project management that widely used in several countries. This methodology consists of seven principles that shall be acknowledged while dealing with a project. It also provides insight known as knowledge area or principles to be implemented in practice, and it separates the running of a project into seven processes. Lastly, PRINCE2® is also provide benefits that could be utilized by organization in running projects.

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References

ILX Marketing Team. (2016). The 7 Principles, Themes and Processes of PRINCE2® . Retrieved From: https://www.PRINCE2® .com/uk/blog/the-7-principles-themes-and-processes-of-PRINCE2®

Srivastava, Bobby. (2019). Seven Processes of PRINCE2® ®. Retrieved From: https://www.simplilearn.com/PRINCE2® -processes-article

KnowledgeHut. (2019). Why Should I Study PRINCE2® . Retrieved From: https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/project-management/why-should-i-study-PRINCE2®