The course focuses on the components of the method and how they help to structure project delivery. Delegates should note that evening work will be assigned which is not expected to exceed two hours per night.
Specific course content will include:
PRINCE2 Overview
- The structure of the method and the guide will be introduced before we discuss the context within which a PRINCE2 project operates.
- Principles
- The seven PRINCE2 principles provide the framework for managing the project and are built on good practice developed from successful and failed projects.
- Themes and Processes
Themes
The seven PRINCE2 themes are aspects of the project that must be continually addressed and integrated as the project journeys through its life cycle.
- Business Case
- Organization
- Quality
- Plans
- Risk
- Change
- Progress
Processes
The seven PRINCE2 processes encompass the chronological activities that are required to direct, manage and deliver the project successfully. The activities include pre-project, initiation and delivery, and end with project closure.
- Starting up a Project
- Directing a Project
- Initiating a Project
- Controlling a Stage
- Managing Product Delivery
- Managing a Stage Boundary
- Closing a Project
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- Welcome to module seven, part one. This module is going to cover the organisation theme, and we're going to be looking at the different project interests, first up. Then we'll be looking at the different management levels in PRINCE2, the PRINCE2 requirements, things you've got to do to for it still to be a PRINCE2 project. Then we're going to look at the roles and responsibilities within the project management team, that will be in part two, as well as the rules for combining roles. So let's take a look at the purpose of our organisation theme, and that is to define the structure of accountabilities and responsibilities within our project. So we're really answering the question who. Who is going to help us? Who's going to be working with our project management team? Who's going to be affected by our project? So those will be our stakeholders. Who do we need to communicate with? So it's who, is our major question here, yeah. There are three principle project interests that we need to take into account in our PRINCE2 project. We have the business representative to become involved. They will tell us how much money we've got and how long we've got to finish the project. They will be very concerned about whether we're going to get value for money. So the business representative ensures that the business need is met and that the project provides value for money. We also need to bring in and involve the user. Whoever they might be, and there might be more than one, but we certainly need to have a user representative of some kind. They will specify the project output, so that in other words, they will tell us what we need to make. So what is the final project product going to be? A new car, a restructured office, who knows. They will tell us, and then they are going to stick around. They're not going to wander off. They're going to stick around to ensure that the product that they have specified is delivered by the supplier and the supplier is that third principle project interest. Then they will provide the necessary skills to make the products and the suppliers may be internal to the organisation, but they might be external and they may change over the life of the project, but certainly we need some supplier interest to be represented within the project management team. So those are the three principal project interests within our projects, the business who wants value for money. The user representative who is thinking about quality and what would be fit for purpose, that's their focus, and the supplier that's got to make sure that we're using the right skills and resources. Now there are four different management levels that we need to be aware of in the PRINCE2 project and you'll notice right at the top of this diagram here, we have corporate programme management or the customer. So basically we might use different names for this in your organisation, but they're the level above us that outside the projects, we in the project management team have three different levels and our top low level within our project management team will refer to and escalate to the level above us, outside it, which we might call corporate programme management if you're in a programme or we might just call them the customer. Within the project management team, we have three levels. We have the directing level, and that is the project board They are going to direct the projects. They are ultimately accountable for the success of the project and they are going to be there to make all the major decisions and they will not want to do all the work themselves. So they will delegate this to the project manager who is going to manage the projects, and that's that managing level. Now the project manager then will be writing the plans, making sure everything's on track once we start using those plans and they're going to be escalating anything that they don't want to deal with or can't deal with, or want to get advice on up to the project board, and they can't escalate everything they don't want to deal with. They're gonna have to sort it out themselves, but clearly then, our project manager is going to be doing the day to day work of managing the project. But they're not gonna make products. That is going to be for the team manager. The team manager's down there in the delivering level, they will be making our specialist products, testing them, making sure they're fit for purpose and approved and then they will give them back to the project manager and then say, "Give us another work package." So the team manager's down there delivering products, they are reporting progress to the project manager who is managing the stage and giving them work packages and negotiating with them on various things that happen during the work package. And then we have the project manager, then escalating anything that they need to escalate to the project board who actually have overall control. They are directing the project. So that's three levels within our project management team, delivering, managing, and directing, and then above that, the corporate programme management or customer. So those are the four different levels in our PRINCE2 project. Now PRINCE2 has a number of requirements. So to be following PRINCE2 the project, must as a minimum, have a defined structure and roles in a smaller project that's less complex, some of this might be agreed verbally, but certainly in our larger, more complex projects, you're going to need to write these things down. So there will be actually a written organisational structure and written role descriptions for every role. So everybody knows what everyone else is responsible for. So we shouldn't really have meetings where people look around and go, "Oh, I thought that was your job" because they should know, but if that does happen, then we might need to amend the role description so that now that little loophole has been closed and so therefore there's less misunderstanding and hopefully less issues that arise from that. We also must have a delegated change authority documented and agreed, the project board will have big input to this. They will decide whether or not they want to deal with all the change requests, and if they do, then that's what we do, we document that. But they might agree that the project manager can authorise small changes. So if the change is maybe less than a thousand pounds, it takes less than a day to fix that or do once we've agreed to that change, then they might say, "Yep, okay, you do that, that's what you're allowed to do." So we'll document that, so they will have delegated the change authority down to the project manager for small changes, but we might actually even have a separate change authority. So if it's above a thousand pounds, takes more than a day, but it's less than £50,000 and a month to implement, then we'll give it to the change authorities. So that's really the project board's decision is whatever they want and we document that. There are two management products that you need to know about regarding the organisation theme and the first is the PID, the Project Initiation Documentation and you can find out more about that in appendix A at the back of the book entry 20. There is quite a lot of documentation that's included in the PID, including the project management team structure, so we assume this would usually be in some kind of organisational chart, so not quite in a PowerPoint, if you want to have a fight with the animation there, or you know, write it on a wall board, whatever works for you. I mean, and we can be flexible on this. Notice there that we can also include in the PID, how we're tailoring PRINCE2, to suit our project, but there's got to be some indication of the project management team structure. So everyone understands who reports to who in our project. The PID also contains a heading where we consider the role description. So they don't really tell us much about how we should be recording these role descriptions. So it's really up to you, whatever's appropriate. So possibly in a Word document, possibly in some other formats, but it's really got to be clear to everybody, particularly in a very large complex project who is responsible for what, and everybody then understands who is responsible for everything, and if we find at some point that there's a task with no clear responsibility attached, we can edit these documents as we go through the project. So the PID then contains a clear understanding of the structure and the responsibilities of everybody working within our project. The other management product is the communication management approach and that contains a description of the means and frequency of communication with the parties, both inside and outside the projects. In other words, it's there to facilitate engagement with our stakeholders. And stakeholder, if you want a reminder of the definition, is any individual, group, or organisation that can affect, be affected by, or simply perceive themselves to be affected by your projects and that's a very broad definition, and if you're in a complex project, you will need to spend some time brainstorming, looking at previous lessons to work out exactly who your key stakeholders are, so that you can create a communication management approach for dealing with them and their interests. In fact, it might involve you creating an interest influence grid so we can categorise the various stakeholders and see who we can communicate with or together or who we should communicate with separately. So it's really worth spending time thinking about how you're going to deal with your stakeholders. They can cause an awful lot of problems if they're not communicated with properly, particularly your external stakeholders, such as unions, employees, residents. If they find out later that you're going through this project and they haven't been consulted, this can really be a big distraction for the project management team as they try and keep everybody happy. Of course, some people really don't like change. So we need to record our current relationship and the desired relationships with these stakeholders and think about how best we can communicate with them to ease them through a potentially quite stressful change process, of course, as a result of our project. And so that's the management product that we need to be aware of and the organisation theme and that completes part one, thank you for your time.
A hard working, self-motivated and dedicated IT Consultant with extensive experience and a proven track record in the areas of Management, Networking, Communications and Security. A capable organiser, quick to grasp and make good use of new ideas and concepts. Reliable and conscientious in all work aspects. Possesses exceptional interpersonal skills and utilises communicative abilities to build, develop and maintain effective relationships. A motivational and inspirational manager, who enjoys being part of a successful and productive team, and thrives in highly pressurised and challenging working environments.