Module 17: Reflecting and Tailoring of the PRINCE2 Progress Practice

Lesson 1:  17.1 The Progress Practice

The Progress Practice. Here you will learn about the progress practice purpose which is to monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned: You will grasp how to establish mechanisms to monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned, provide a forecast for the project’s objectives and continued viability, and to control unacceptable deviations, going on to control any deviations beyond agreed tolerances, causing an exception. A key component of project management is controlling the project’s progress, ensuring that the project remains viable against its approved business case. Finally, you will have a brief review of the PRINCE2 exception process.

Members Only 17.2 Progress Practice Purpose, Control and Tolerance

Progress Practice Purpose, Control and Tolerance. Here you will learn how Progress control involves measuring actual progress against the performance targets of benefits, time, cost, quality, scope, sustainability, and risk, and how this information is used to make decisions, such as whether to approve a stage or work package, whether to escalate deviations, or whether to close the project prematurely and to take actions as required. You will understand how progress can be monitored at the work package, stage, and project levels, and how the project is managed by exception between four management levels against tolerances for seven performance targets.

Members Only 17.3 Progress Practice Layer by Layer

Progress Practice Layer by Layer. Here you will learn how Progress control involves measuring actual progress against the performance targets of benefits, time, cost, quality, scope, sustainability, and risk, and how this information is used to make decisions, such as whether to approve a stage or work package, whether to escalate deviations, or whether to close the project prematurely and to take actions as required. You will understand how progress can be monitored at the work package, stage, and project levels, and how the project is managed by exception between four management levels against tolerances for seven performance targets. You will also grasp the two types of progress control, event-driven and time-driven controls.

Members Only 17.4 Reviewing Progress and Lessons

Reviewing Progress and Lessons. Here you will learn how to review progress and apply lessons via the controlling a stage process, the project manager will regularly review progress through checkpoint reports and will maintain the project log, using this information to update the stage plan with the actual progress achieved. You will grasp how small actions may simply be recorded on the daily log and marked when completed, whereas a formal issue will be captured in the issue register. The product register also provides data on product status of the products that are complete, currently in progress, and awaiting development. You will learn that a principle of a PRINCE2 project is that the project management team learns from experience, and so they will actively seek, records, and incorporates relevant lessons throughout the project life, applying them to the remaining work and sharing for future projects.

Members Only 17.5 Reporting Progress and Lessons

Reporting Progress and Lessons. Here you will learn how to report progress and define lessons while understanding how they are to be used. The frequency of reporting should reflect the level of control required, and this is likely to vary during the project. For example, less frequent reporting for an experienced team and more frequent reporting for an inexperienced team. There are seven reports used for progress, checkpoint, highlight, lesson, issue, exception, end stage, and end project reports.

Members Only 17.6 Capturing Lessons and Forecasting

Capturing Lessons and Forecasting. Here you will learn six situations when lessons can be captured, and the five ordered questions to analyze each lesson. You will grasp how to use Management and collaboration systems as recorded in the digital and data management approach. A fundamental component of the manage by exception principle is forecasting, where an exception is defined as a situation where it can be forecasted that a deviation beyond the agreed tolerance levels will occur. You will understand why it is not necessary, nor helpful, to wait until that deviation has occurred, so forecasting within projects is essential because it helps to identify responses to project risks, predict project outcomes, and help ensure overall project success.

Members Only 17.7 Management By Exception

Management By Exception. Here you will learn and review management by exception, but this time the focus will be on exception escalation and exception levels. You will understand how the project level, stage level and work package level exception escalation levels work, and the roles/responsibilities involved, then examining the actions to manage these.

Members Only 17.8 Progress Data and Systems

Progress Data and Systems. Here you will learn how data and technology (project’s digital and data management appro) help manage and control projects by supporting progress tracking and decision-making, and how data analytics support effective decision-making or to efficiently automate tasks You will understand how the data will be used, and which systems will be used for data analytics across the project ecosystem and through the project lifecycle and afterwards. You will grasp how digital technology like sentiment analysis, the management products used for checking the baselines, reviewing progress, capturing, and reporting lessons, reporting progress, or forecasting are often different types or formats of data residing in separate systems, databases, or file formats, and the use of AI

Members Only 17.9 Supporting Techniques - Part ONE

Supporting Techniques - Part ONE. This is the first of three lessons covering supporting techniques within the PRINCE2 progress practice. In this lesson you will learn how to apply dashboards, daily standups and peer reviews. You will understand that measuring stage progress involves looking backwards at the progress made against plans and forward at what still needs to be completed with available time and resources. However, effective progress management requires an open and transparent culture with a no-blame attitude to progress reporting There are many supporting techniques, and the solution developers may use Kanban as a team board to demonstrate progress and hold daily stand-ups for reporting purposes.

Members Only 17.10 Supporting Techniques - Part TWO

Supporting Techniques - Part TWO. This is the second of three lessons covering supporting techniques within the PRINCE2 progress practice. In this lesson you will learn how to apply earned value management, agile earned value metrics and burn charts.

Members Only 17.11 Supporting Techniques - Part THREE

Supporting Techniques - Part THREE. This is the third of three lessons covering supporting techniques within the PRINCE2 progress practice. In this lesson you will learn how to apply agile retrospectives and the kanban board.

Members Only 17.12 Applying the Progress Practice - Part ONE

Applying the Progress Practice - Part ONE. This is the first of two lessons covering supporting techniques within the PRINCE2 progress practice. In this lesson you will learn how to apply progress practice from the perspective of organizational context and commercial context. You will grasp the use of delivery methods for an iterative-incremental approach, tolerances, how products will meet their acceptance and quality specifications, reporting, and linear-sequential delivery methods.

Members Only 17.13 Applying the Progress Practice - Part TWO

Applying the Progress Practice - Part TWO. This is the second of two lessons covering application within the PRINCE2 progress practice. In this lesson you will learn how to apply progress practice from the perspective of sustainability and scale, and will gather data on those sustainability aspects recorded in the project initiation documentation that are critical success factors for the project You will understand why progress management must be able to identify and report on the data required to support this evidence to check that the project remains within its sustainability tolerances and the parameters established by the business layer Progress management needs to be applied or tailored to reflect the needs of the project’s scale, risk, complexity, and prominence.

Members Only 17.14 Progress Management Products - Part ONE

Progress Management Products - Part ONE. This is the first of three lessons covering PRINCE2 progress management products. In this lesson you will learn how the data management approach describes how digital technology will be used to support project management, how data and information will be created, used, and managed across the project ecosystem, through the project lifecycle and afterwards You will understand the purpose of the daily log and how it is used and its structure to record informal issues, required actions, or significant events not captured by other PRINCE2 management products.

Members Only 17.15 Progress Management Products - Part TWO

Progress Management Products - Part TWO. This is the second of three lessons covering PRINCE2 progress management products. In this lesson you will learn how the lessons log provides a repository to record lessons that apply to this project or future projects. You will grasp the purpose, content and structure of a checkpoint report is to report to the project manager the status of the work package at a frequency defined in the work package You will also learn the purpose, content and structure of a highlight report is to provide the project board (and possibly other stakeholders) with a summary of the stage status at intervals defined by them.

Members Only 17.16 Progress Management Products - Part THREE

Progress Management Products - Part THREE. This is the third part of three lessons covering PRINCE2 progress management products. In this lesson you will learn how the lessons report purpose is to share lessons and trigger actions to ensure that lessons become embedded in the appropriate organization’s way of working. You will also understand the purpose content and structure of an exception report, an end stage report, and an end project report.

Members Only 17.17 Progress Practice Key Roles - Part ONE

Progress Practice Key Roles - Part ONE. You will learn how the progress practice uses the key roles and responsibilities. Here, you will learn how the business/commissioning layer, project executive, senior user and supplier roles, and project manager perform their roles and responsibilities.

Members Only 17.18 Progress Practice Key Roles - Part TWO

Progress Practice Key Roles - Part TWO. Progress Practice Key Roles. You will learn how the progress practice uses the key roles and responsibilities. Here, you will learn how the team manager, project assurance, and project support, perform their roles and responsibilities.

Members Only 17.19 Progress Practice Principles

Progress Practice Principles. Here you will learn how the progress practice contributes to the adherence to PRINCE2 principles across the project lifecycle. You will grasp how each of the seven principles are achieved from the progress practice perspective, and as a consequence, the resulting outcomes.