PRINCE2 Initiation Stage – 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 the activities for the end-stage assessment). It makes sense to determine the various strategies needed within the project for detailed planning.
This second stage is always the first delivery stage and immediately follows the initiation stage. This is the first stage (and possibly the final stage for small, simple projects), where specialist products will be created.
The word specialist products refer 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 be distinct from the PRINCE2 management products such as the Project Brief, Project Initiation Documentation, reports, etc. The initiation stage is there 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 already on the Daily Log would now be transferred to the Risk Register. The Risk Management Approach defines how resources 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, containing the planned dates of all quality management activities for creating the specialist products. Such dates will be known once the second Stage Plan is developed.
So you can see that the Quality Register (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 only considers a specialist product complete once it has had an independent quality check and 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 ensure it passes its quality check. However, within the initiation stage, management products are usually created.
The PRINCE2 Change Management 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 a request for a shift in what was initially agreed upon. 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 considered 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 which 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 approaches 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 begins with identifying products, initially at the highest level within a project, by creating the Project Product Description, but then goes on to create a Product Breakdown Structure, 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.
If you are confused, an activity is generally described with a noun and verb, such as ‘create report’. In contrast, a product would be defined with a noun or outcome, for example, ‘specification document’.
The Project Plan can now be created parallel with setting up the various controls needed throughout the project. This must be made in the initiation stage, as the project plan and associated controls will be used in all the delivery stages.
Typically these controls focus on those needed at the project board level, for example, end, stage assessment timing and the frequency of their regular Highlight Reports, while at the project manager level, for example, the formality or otherwise of issuing Work Packages and the frequency of the periodic Checkpoint Reports.
Highlight Reports cover progress within the management delivery stages after initiation, and Checkpoint Reports cover the progress of specialist product creation within a Work Package. Within the initiation stage, the structure, frequency and recipients of the Highlight reports are defined.
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