PRINCE2 Walkthrough Initiation Stage
Initiation Stage – PRINCE2 management product creation
The initiating a project process is used within the initiation stage and the main deliverable here is the PID itself.
The activities within this process echo the contents of the project initiation documentation, since you are creating the content for this document (and also the activities for the end stage assessment). It makes sense to first determine the various strategies needed within the project be for detailed planning takes place.
This second stage is always the first delivery stage and immediately follows the initiation stage, so-called because this is the first stage (and possibly also the final stage for small simple projects) where specialist products are to be created.
The word specialist products refers to the type of project, for example if the project end product is a new office building, then the specialist products would be for example, the building frame itself, roof and walls, water and electricity services to be implemented, heating and lighting products, office equipment and so on.
These should not be confused with the PRINCE2 management products such as the Project Brief, Project Initiation Documentation, reports, etc. The initiation stage is their to create management products.
PRINCE2 Initiation Stage Approaches
The PRINCE2 Risk Management Approach document is created and the Risk Register is set up within the initiation stage to capture and manage any risks throughout the project.
Any risks which exist already on the Daily Log would now be transferred to the Risk Register. The Risk Management Strategy defines HOW resource will be managed throughout the project.
The PRINCE2 Quality Management Approach document is created and the Quality Register is set up within the initiation stage. This register will typically be empty at this point, as this will contain the planned dates of all quality management activities for the creation of the specialist products, and such dates will not be known until the second Stage Plan is created.
So you can see that the Quality Register (which is created here in the initiation stage), will have the actual dates of the quality checking activities entered during a typical delivery stage.
It is worth mentioning that PRINCE2 does not consider a specialist product as complete, until it has had an independent quality check and an appropriate authorization.
As part of the PRINCE2 product based planning technique, a product description for each specialist product is written as part of planning for a particular delivery stage.
This Product Description will contain the method and the appropriate measurements required for the product to have ensure the pass its quality check. However, within the initiation stage, it is normally management products that are created
The PRINCE2 Change Control Approach document is created and the Issue Register is set up within the initiation stage. In PRINCE2, an issue can be advice of a new risk, a problem or concern, or a change.
There are two types of changes: a request for change which typically comes from the customer and it is a request for a change to what was originally agreed. The second type of change is called an off-specification; typically this would come from the supply side and covers some aspect of the project that although agreed, cannot now be met.
Configuration management may be thought of as version control and as such is closely aligned with how change control (mentioned above) is to be implemented. It too, is designed in terms of how it will be applied to this project within the initiation stage. Typically configuration management will be supplied by the project support role.
The final strategy to be created in the initiation stage, is the Communication Management Approach, and is created last because the first three strategies will have communication needs and these can be included at this point. As you can see, all four of the strategies are HOW-TO documents.
The Project Plan – created in the initiation stage.
As with all plans, the Project Plan is a document, and will use the PRINCE2 product-based planning technique.
Traditional project planning would start with the brainstorming of the various activities. But one of the principles of PRINCE2 is product focus.
What this means is that the product based planning technique starts with the identification of products, initially at the highest level within a project, by creating the Project Product Description, but then going on to create a Product Breakdown Structure which is a hierarchical diagram of the products within a given project.
The next step would be to create Product Descriptions for all appropriate lower level products, including their quality criteria. The final product based planning step is to create a Product flow Diagram, which shows the sequence of creation of the products.
In case you are confused, an activity would normally be described with a noun and verb such as ‘create report’, whereas a product would be described with a noun or outcome for example ‘specification document’.
The Project Plan can now be created in parallel with setting up the various controls there will be needed throughout the project. This needs to be created in the initiation stage as it is the project plan and associated controls that will be used in all the delivery stages.
Typically these controls focus on those needed at project board level for example end stage assessment timing, and the frequency of their regular Highlight Reports, while at project manager level for example, the formality or otherwise of issuing Work Packages and the frequency of the regular Checkpoint Reports.
Highlight Reports cover progress within the management delivery stages that occur after the initiation stage , and Checkpoint Reports cover the progress of specialist product creation within a Work Package. It is within the initiation stage , that the structure, frequency and recipients of the Highlight reports are defined.
…look out for my PRINCE2 RoadMap – part 3…
