PRINCE2 Controlling a Stage Process
dave litten PRINCE2 coach

Dave Litten

[ CEO & PRINCE2 Trainer ]

PRINCE2 - Managing PRINCE2 Issues and Risks

There are various strands of the PRINCE2 Method that can cause overwhelm for those preparing for their PRINCE2 Practitioner Exam.

One of these areas is the treatment of issues and risks. There are two chapters dealing with these within the official PRINCE2 Manual - the Risk Theme and the Change Theme.

The latter, because PRINCE2 treats problems, concerns, requests for change, and off-specification as all types of issue.

Each of the above chapters lays out the steps and sequence for dealing with issues (in addition to changes) and risks

The problem occurs when thinking about where exactly are these dealt with. The answer is in the Controlling a Stage process.

In this article, I will deal with the main THREE activities within Controlling a Stage:

  • Capture and examine issues and risks
  • Escalate issues and risks
  • Take corrective action

These three activities should be seen as a logical sequence.

Capture and examine issues and risks

In the course of managing the project, various issues will occur and risks may be identified.

They will arrive in an ad hoc manner and will need to be captured in a consistent and reliable way.

Any member of corporate, programme management or the customer, the project or other stakeholders may raise an issue or risk.

Before making a decision on a course of action , each issue or risk should be registered and then assessed for its impact.

capture and examine issues and risks_activity

Here are the actions that you will want to take:

  • If an issue can be dealt with by the project manager informally, then this should be done, and a note made
    in the daily log
  • For issues that need to be managed formally:
  • check the requirements of the issue management and change control procedure in the change
    control approach
  • manage the issue in accordance with the change control approach
  • report the status of the issue in accordance with the change control approach and check the communication management approach to see whether there are any external parties that need to be informed of the issue
  • For risks:
  • check the requirements of the risk management procedure in the risk management approach
  • manage the risk in accordance with the risk management approach
  • report the status of the risk in accordance with the risk management approach and check the communication management approach to see whether there are any external parties that need to be informed of the risk
  • If it is necessary to take corrective action, seek advice from the project board or escalate an issue or risk, then review the management stage status first so that a full picture can be considered

Responsibilities

capture and examine issues and risks responsibilities

Escalate issues and risks

A management stage should not exceed the tolerances agreed with the project board.

The project manager can only take corrective action or maintain the status quo as long as the management stage (or project) is forecast to be completed within the tolerances set by the project board

This activity applies where any corrective action within the project manager's control would not save the management stage (or project) from going beyond the
tolerances agreed.

This applies to all types of issue and risk (or aggregations of them) that cannot be resolved within the tolerances set by the project board

As it may take some time to gather the information to create an exception report, it is recommended that the project board be alerted as early as possible.

Therefore, the project manager may wish to execute this activity in two steps:

1. an early notification to the project board of the forecast exception situation so that the board is prepared

2. followed by supporting information in the form of an exception report

escalate issues and risks activity

The project manager should execute any decision by the project board in response to the escalation.

Escalating issues and risks is good practice and should not be seen as failure. The earlier that issues are escalated, the more time is available to implement any corrective actions

Responsibilities

escalate issues and risks

You will want to carry out the following actions:

  • Examine the stage plan to define the extent of the deviation and the unfinished products, and to extrapolate what would happen if the deviation were allowed to continue
  • Examine the project plan for the project status and overall effect of any deviation (using the current baseline of the PID)
  • Determine the options for recovery and assess them against the business case
  • Assess the impact of the options for recovery against the stage plan for the current management stage.
    Consideration should be given to the availability of individuals or groups with the skills or experience to assess the impact
  • Put the situation, options and the recommendation for a course of action to the project board in an exception report. The project board will then decide on an appropriate course of action (which may support or otherwise the project manager's recommendation). 
  • This may include:
  • requesting more information or more time to consider its response
  • approving, deferring or rejecting a request for change, granting a concession for an off-specification, or deferring or rejecting it
  • increasing the tolerances that are forecast to be breached
  • instructing the project manager to produce an exception plan, stating what will be acceptable
  • instructing the project manager to close the project prematurely

Take corrective action

Changes and adjustments to the project need to be made in a considered and rational way, even when they appear to be easily manageable and within tolerances.

In taking corrective action, the objective is to select and, within the limits of the management stage and project tolerances, implement actions that will resolve deviations from the plan.

Corrective action is triggered during the review of the management stage status and typically involves dealing with advice and guidance received from the project board, and with issues raised by team managers

take corrective action activity

You will want to take the following actions:

  • Collect any relevant information about the deviation
  • Identify the potential ways of dealing with the deviation and select the most appropriate option
  • Trigger corrective action via authorizing a work package
  • If used, update the configuration item records of the affected products
  • Update the issue report (if necessary) to show the status of the corrective action
  • Update the issue register with any changes resulting from the corrective action (or if being handled informally, update the daily log with the details and status of the corrective action)
  • Update the risk register with any changes resulting from the corrective action
  • Update the stage plan for the current management stage

Responsibilities

take corrective action responsibilities

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