The overall purpose of the PRINCE2 End Stage Assessment Meeting is to ensure that the customer is happy with the products produced so far and get agreement to proceed to the next stage.
The following steps will help you achieve this:
- Create an agenda that can be reviewed and agreed with the Executive
- Send out information in advance of the meeting
- Provide members of the Project Board with an opportunity to review the agenda and read the project managers end stage report
- Provide members of the Project Board with a copy of the Next Stage Plan to review. It can be helpful to highlight any areas of work that require staff and resources from departments under the responsibility of the Senior User or Senior Supplier
- Identify the meeting attendees, referring to the communications management strategy document to ensure that no one is omitted.
It is a known fact that people only remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they read, and about 50% of what they hear and read.
I am assuming here that the PRINCE2 End Stage Assessment (ESA) will be a meeting – as this is normally the case.
The project manager’s presentation will be based on the contents of the End Stage Report; therefore, the structure would include milestone reporting.
It will be helpful to create a high-level Gantt chart that shows only the milestones, along with their planned and actual delivery dates.
The best way to do this is to include a copy of the PRINCE2 Product Checklist along with a commentary to explain any early or late deliveries.
Statistics and graphical representation of data are useful and easier to understand. Key information such as cost or dates about planned, actual, forecast, and deviation can be presented within a table for easy reference.
Information should include:
- Financial reporting
- Key items from the Risk Register
- All high impact and high probability risks
- All risks relevant to the next stage
- Significant risks that are no longer a risk. This should include an explanation of any changes in the situation that have led them to being no longer a risk
- Quality statistics. Be prepared to explain any products that have needed two or more quality checks before authorization
- Investment Appraisal. This can be a one page investment appraisal taken from the Business Case.
Clarify any figures that have changed since the last End Stage Assessment, giving explanations.
The progress part of your presentation should be structured so that it leads onto the presentation of what is to be achieved in the next stage.
So, in planning the contents, think about the key issues for the stage and work backwards
Remember that the Project Board will have been receiving regular progress reports, but that this is their first opportunity to review the Next Stage Plan and work through the implications of committing further resources to the project.
This in and of itself is a good reason to circulate a copy of the Next Stage Plan so that the meeting itself need only be used for questions and clarification.
For each End Stage Assessment, the resource is being committed can come from a wide variety of areas, so sometimes they may be under the control of the Senior User or the Senior Supplier.
Also, if significant resources are coming from a specific department, it might be a good idea to have a line manager invited to the meeting to be on hand to answer any questions regarding staff involvement.
PRINCE2 ESA – Management and presentation tips
Your attitude can set the tone about the meeting and so acting positively will help to ease the senior managers mood. Information should be presented in a clear and logical manner, so you should prepare carefully for the meeting.
It goes without saying that you need to be truthful and ensure that everyone understands the current project situation.
Be honest about any difficulties or problems that lie ahead. This will encourage the Project Board to become involved and give assistance when you walk them through the complex it is of the next stage
When presenting technical information do not forget that you may need to translate it into non-technical language that everyone can understand.
The Senior Supplier may be able to assist during this part of the presentation. Alternatively, there may be relevant members of the project team available at the meeting to take part in the presentation or simply to answer specialist questions at the end.
The Senior User will be most interested when you report on the products created in the stage by use a priority, rather than in the sequence in which they were created.
Start with the highest priority as this has the advantage of not only making your presentation relevant to the Senior User, but also gives an impression of focus on the product delivery, rather than the more standard should rule and budget based approach.
When answering questions ensure that you do not give excuses, but rather use explanations and reasons.
Do not be evasive. If you do not have the information or can’t answer that question, agreed to follow up later, setting a date for that, but do remember that you want to prevent such an issue from becoming a sticking point that holds up, or worse, prevents, agreement in the meeting itself
Follow-up actions from the PRINCE2 End Stage Assessment
Take 5 minutes to review the meeting by asking questions such as:
- What were the key areas of concern from individual members of the Project Board?
- Was the length of the meeting appropriate for all the areas to be covered?
- Were topics covered that would have been handled better off line with an individual Project Board member – Perhaps in advance of the meeting next time?
- Were topics covered that would have been better addressed by a written report, or graphical representation? Could such information be sent out with the information pack prior to the next meeting?
- Were there any questions that you or your team felt I’m able to answer, or answered badly?
- What information should you have brought with you to overcome this?
Senior managers do not enjoy each having their time wasted, so do not forget to review the administration of the event and identify any improvements.
This may include ideas such as:
- Was everyone clear on the time and location of the meeting, or did some people have to be chased to attend?
- Was the meeting room suitable?
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