Controls within a PRINCE2 project
For project progress controls to be measurable, we need to monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned and in this way provide a forecast for the project objectives and continued viability.
If this forecast is not favorable then some form of corrective action in the form of project controls is needed to bring the project back on track.
There are three PRINCE2 principles at work here within controls, managing by stages, continued business justification and management exception.
When using management by exception controls, tolerances are set to establish the limits of delegated authority so that each management level knows that while tolerance is forecast NOT to be exceeded, they can take any appropriate actions, but directly tolerance is forecast to be exceeded, then it must be escalated up to the next level for approval.
The Progress Theme provides controls via the mechanisms to monitor progress against the allowed tolerances, and the controls to escalate to the next level should any forecast suggests that tolerances will be exceeded.
There are two types of controls within a PRINCE2 project – time driven controls and event driven controls.
Time driven controls.
These are so-called because the controls occur at regular timed points. There are three time-driven controls, the regular Highlight Report to the project board and the regular Checkpoint Report to the project manager.
The third control is not documented within PRINCE2, but it is the option to have regular specialist team meetings.
Event driven controls.
These are triggered when an event occurs such as the end stage assessment at the end of each stage.
Different levels of controls
There are four management levels of controls:
Corporate or programme level controls
They trigger the project to start, are used as an escalation path for project-level tolerances, and are kept informed by the project board executive at key points during the project (they may even be given copies of the regular Highlight Reports).
Project Board level controls
These are the managers responsible for providing project direction.
Project Manager level controls
Controls to help the project manager in day-to-day management of the project during a stage.
Team Manager level controls
They must be in control of the management of the specialist team who create the product within a stage.
Progress controls
There is a very specific controls discipline for management to maintain full control of progress, and these controls are carried out in a series of simple steps:
- Create and get approved the relevant level of plan
- Give out work and monitor progress
- Compare actual progress against the plan
- Based on actual progress, forecast the future situation
- Review options against future situation
- Detect problems and identify risks
- Initiate corrective action is needed
- Authorize further work
PRINCE2 applies management by exception, and to do so therefore sets tolerances. An exception is a situation where it can be forecast that there will be a deviation beyond the agreed tolerance levels.
These levels are the permissible deviation is above and below a planned target. If they are forecast to be exceeded then this situation must be escalated to the next level of management.
Without tolerances there can be no understanding of when to escalate a situation. For example, if every small deviation from plan was escalated to the project board, then they are doing the project manager’s job who in turn, is only monitoring work and not taking any corrective action.
At the other extreme, if the project manager implements corrective actions well beyond their remit, then when the project board discover what has happened they may question why they were not involved earlier.
With agreed tolerance levels, this level of discretion is clearly understood by each level of management.
There are six areas of tolerance that can be applied either singly or in any combination and at four possible levels. The four levels are project level tolerances, stage level tolerances, work package level tolerances, and product level tolerances. Work package tolerances are optional.
The following tolerance areas can be set at project, stage and work package levels: Time, cost and scope. Risk tolerance can be set at project level within the Risk Management Strategy document, and within the stage plan or work packages.
Quality tolerance can only be set within the Project Product Description and Product Descriptions.
Benefit tolerance can only be set within the Business Case.
