Prince 2: a methodology of project management

1 Prince 2:a methodology of projectmanagementChristophePincemailleDe cember 3, 2008 University:Cork Institute of TechnologyDepartment:Computing departmentModule:Software engineeringLecturer:JohnO BrienContents1 Quick The origins .. 2architecture .. of the main elements .. process .. Advantages and drawbacks ..42 Planning, scheduling, Plans and planning .. of planning inPrince 2.. process inPrince 2.. actual subprocesses .. product-based planning technique .. Reporting progress .. Exercising control ..73 project Managing quality .. Managing risks ..9A Prince 2 processesIAbstractThis report have been written for the software engineering module, in goal of this report is to presentPrince 2, a methodology of projectmanagement.

2 It is organized in three chapters. The first chapter is here tointroduce the methodology by explaining the main principles. In the two fol-lowing chapters, are explored the main points of project management : planningand scheduling, reporting, control, quality management , and risk Institute of TechnologyIntroductionPRINCE meansPRojects IN Controlled Environments. It is a methodologyof project management , promoted by the UK government. From Prince ,another project management methodology , Prince 2(the second version) hasbeen will see in that report the different main aspects of this a quick overview in a first chapter, we will focus in a second chapteron all that concerns planning and reporting.

3 So we will see problematics asschedule, reporting process during the project , and control that is made, withdecisions taken. And in a second chapter, we will see all the other importantaspects of project management , like the management of quality and the riskmanagement. In the conclusion of the report, summarizing the main pointsof the report, we will see whyPrince 2is interesting for software-centricprojects, and which openings can be 2architecturePrince 2 Chapter 1 Quick The originsPRINCE comes from the proprietary management methodology PROMPT II,developped by Simpact Systems. It has been placed in the public domain in1989 [6]. Prince 2was introduced by the UK government Central Computer andTelecommunications Agency (CCTA) in October 1996.

4 It is a methodology ofproject management which is adapted for any project kind and size. It coversthe management , control and organization of projects. It isde factoa standard,very used by the UK government. It is also a recognized methodology , in theprivate , several governments recommend its use (the Netherlands, Germany,Denmark.. ), and some 250,000 project managers are certifiedPrince 2world-wide [8]. Prince 2 Overview of the main elementsPrince 2contains: 8 processes (described in the subsection ); 8 components (which are business case, organization, plans, controls, management of risks, quality in a project environment, configurationmanagement and change control); 3 techniques (which are product based planning, change control and qual-ity reviews); product outlines, roles descriptions (such as project manager, projectsupport officer, senior user, senior supplier.)

5 [10]) and - Software 2architecturePrince The processPrince 2is organized around fivekey features[4] [6], which are: focus on business justification; a structure for the project management team; a product-based approach; project division into controllable stages; a flexibility to the project 2is a process-driven method. It is organized into eightpro-cesses, which are divided into 45 subprocesses. The processes are the followingones [11] [3]:Starting Up a project (SU)First and pre- project process. To initialize,actions are realized, such as ensure information is available, design theproject team, or create the initialization (PL)Process to make planning to the project , and manage theexception plans.

6 Cf. section about planning (page 5).Initiating a project (IP)Phase with some objectives, like agree if projectproceeding is justified, establish a stable management , agree to resourcecommitment..Directing a project (DP)this runs during all the project . This is for theproject board. It contains four main areas, like initiation of the project ,or stage boundaries (commitment of more resources if needed).Controlling a Stage (CS)Describes the control and monitoring activitiesfor the project . Cf. section about the reporting (page 6).Managing Product Delivery (MP)This is to ensure that the deliveriesare actually produced, and on Stage Boundaries (MSB)This point aim is to provide the projectboard with information about continuing or not the project .

7 Cf. about control (page 7).Closing a project (CP)Process which aim is to ensure a good closure atthe end of the project , in particular checking that requirements of thePID1have been the figure on appendix A, page I, and [3], for more Initialization DocumentChristophePincemaille3 CIT - Software Advantages and drawbacksPrince Advantages and drawbacksAdvantagesThere are several advantages to usePrince 2method. Wecan distinguish the advantages claimed byPrince 2reference book, and ad-vantages from the point of view of other thePrince 2reference book point of view2, Prince 2is reallyinteresting, because it is repeatable, teachable, built on experience, ensuringthat everyone knows what to expect, able to warn early of problems, and to other sources, we can show other 2pro-vides a defined process, with a clear framework.

8 It is useful for any project ,whatever its size and its domain (computing, civil engineering, .. ). Moreover,there are activities clearly defined, with inputs, outputs and goals. Besides, Prince 2provides some process there are note elsewhere, typically like theactual pre-process to prepare the project (process SU3), which is not in thePMBook (reference book of the PMI4) [5]. Finally, it has been improved, as itis in the second version. And we can observe that there are a lot of foundations/ companies which provide training and certificates of this method (it can befound easily on the Internet).DrawbacksPrince 2can be difficult to adapt to very small projects [11].Moreover, there are a lot of projects which use PINO ( Prince In Name Only),not really applyingPrince 2concepts, resulting in bad project example: no product description, PID are only cut-and-paste from lastprojects.

9 [8]. Besides, Prince 2is highely document-centric, so it makesthat is certain enterprises, documents become ends in themselves. Finally, Prince 2doesn t provide explicit requirement analysis, as it is an implemen-tation methodology [1].2cf. [2], pages 2 and 3, section StartUp a project 4 project management InstituteChristophePincemaille4 CIT - Software Plans and planningPrince 2 Chapter 2 Planning, scheduling, Plans and Place of planning in Prince 2 ForPrince 2planning is very important [9]. Indeed, there is one process, PL(Planning) process, which is made for that. Moreover, it is one of the eightprocesses that runs all along the project . The planning process describes allwhat has to be done, including the format of the plans [11].

10 Planning process in Prince 2 The planning inPrince 2has multiple sides. First, it is required to definethe levels of plans needed for the projects (like to know how far the WorkBreakdown Structure will be built).Then, it is required to chose the planing tools and the estimated the planning tools, we can cite three examples: Microsoft project , OpenWorkbench, and Gantt Projects (to make Gantt diagrams for example). Forthe estimated methods, some exist, like to ask experts to make estimations,explain their estimations, and repeat the process until , it is necessary to clearly identify the deliverables of the projects, thedesign and implementation of which have to be planned.