PRINCE2 Issues Management Masterclass – Part 4
The contents of an Issue Register are fairly logical. You would need to record who sent the issue, when it was cent, a brief description of what the issue is about, the current status for example under review, and finally when it is closed. This last point is important as it advises you which issues have been resolved and which ones are still being worked on.
The Issue Register is set up in the initiation stage, ready for use in the delivery stages. Indeed, there really is no problem in setting the Issue Register up at the very start of the initiation stage as there may be several issues raised during that time which require formal resolution.
As you can see, when handling issues, it is not always just about problems, but also good ideas as well. The exact procedure that you use for formal issue management should be laid out clearly within the change control approach created during the initiation stage.
Dealing with issues
As the project manager you can expect to receive project issues – often many of them. Although within PRINCE2, Issues are covered under change control, it is important that you understand and issue needn’t be anything to do with a change. For example, perhaps a member of the team is passing on a good idea.
Remember that an issue can come from anyone within the project or anyone with an interest in it. It can be sent in are any time and can be about anything that is relevant to the project.
As a project manager, when you first received an issue, you need to make a decision about whether to deal with it formally or informally. If the latter, then you can simply note it within the Daily Log.
It may be that It is an issue that needs to be dealt with formerly and therefore needs formal tracking. In this case the Issue Register is used. Your first action having entered it into the Issue Register is to then transfer the details of the issue into an Issue Report.
The Issue Report
This is a formal record of an issue that is normally created by the project manager upon receipt of an issue. But be aware That it may have come from someone within the project and that they have already written an Issue Report and use that form to submit the issue in the first place.
Once you have recorded the issue, your next task is to see what action if any you need to take. This is sometimes called impact analysis.
In my past, I have often ran software development projects, and writing software is something that I have not really done . If it is the case that you are not a subject expert of an issue that has been raised, then go ahead and get advice and guidance from the people who do know – Possibly those who make up the specialist team within the project.
Indeed, I would often run a risk analysis workshop or meeting with one or more individuals who can help determine the exact nature of the issue.
While carrying out issue analysis, there are a number of aspects that need to be answered and the following Are examples of who you may wish to help with this:
- Specialists within the team
- Team managers
- The organisations that are supplying products or services to the project
- Members of the Project Board – This is particularly useful when dealing with resource requirements and here the senior supplier role would be your best source.
- Don’t forget Project Assurance who can be very helpful in Giving support and guidance to issue impact analysis.
- Also project managers of other projects or even Programme managers if your project is part of a programme
Okay, so what some questions would you need answering at an issue analysis workshop or meeting?
- First, check whether it is an issue rather than a risk. The difference is fairly straightforward. Put simply, an issue is an unexpected event that has just occurred, whereas a risk is something which may or may not happen at some point in the future.
- Determine whether the issue affects costs, timescales, the Business Case, or the timings or level of expected benefits
- Does the issue affect the nature of a product or several of the products?
- Another useful question to ask is whether the impact of the issue that has arisen within the present stage, does it affect this stage only or other stages during the project? Going further, does this issue Have the potential to affect other projects, programmes, or on-going operational management ?
- You will want to determine what action you need to take to address the issue, and then to determine whether that action can be undertaken within your level of authority, or whether you have to escalate it to the Project Board
- To help determine whether it needs to be escalated depends on the tolerance that you have been given for the stage (Or if the impact is outside of that or the project )
There are two useful activities within the Controlling a Stage process. The first covers the steps you would take If the project manager can resolve the issue within their own authority and it is called “Take corrective action “.
If the project manager determines that the issue needs to be escalated, then the activity called “Escalate issues and risks “would be used to escalate it to the Project Board.
Don’t forget, that even though the project manager feels confident that they can deal with the issue within their own authority, it may be good common sense to talk it through with the Project Board member informally.
At the very least it will set the project manager’s mind at rest , with an added potential benefits of gaining a new insight or another idea about how to manage the issue.
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