The PRINCE2 Power Project Checklist Guide
Despite our best practice methodologies and a slew of lessons learned, projects, just like dying dinosaurs, still continue to fail – a massive 66% of them in fact! Whether or not you or your organisation use the PRINCE2 Method, you will be using some form of structured approach to your projects, and this will probably contain the following:
- Pre-project start up
- Initiation or planning
- Delivery stages
- End stage review
- Project closure
If projects were easy and a formula for perfection had been discovered, then project managers and organisations would have applied it by now. The fact of the matter is however, that attaining or repeating project success remains the holy grail of project management.
It is generally accepted that project success can be split into two broad camps, project management maturity and how effectively the project is delivered. This Guide will focus on the latter.
I have used the PRINCE2 term Project Initiation Documentation, but if you are familiar with PMBOK then you may call this the Project Management Plan (containing the various plans and strategies).
Only the standard documents are referenced here, and it may be for example, if you are outsourcing some products or services within your project, that you will need to include extra documentation such as procurement-related documents.
Here then, are the Power Keys for a toned-to-perfection project:
PRINCE2 Pre-project
- The project board and appropriate other roles designed and appointed by individuals along with their role descriptions and with sufficient authority, availability and credibility
- Lessons from previous projects have been determined and applied if required plus the lessons logs have been set up.
- A full project brief has been produced containing the outline business case, project product description and project approach
- The initiation stage plan has been produced
Authorizing the PRINCE2 initiation stage
- The project brief and initiation stage plan are approved
- Resources are in place for the initiation stage and tolerances have been set
- The project manager is advised that work may start
- All key stakeholders advised that the project has now formally started
The PRINCE2 initiation stage
- The project initiation documentation have been defined, documented and assembled
- The risk, issue and quality registers have been set up and populated
- The project management team structure has been refined and where appropriate new appointments are in place along with appropriate role descriptions
- The benefits review plan has been created and initial configuration item records set up
- The project board have reviewed and approved the project initiation documentation in particular, confirming that the various strategies, plans, controls roles and tolerances are appropriate
Delivering the PRINCE2 project
- The stage plan has been reviewed and authorized and stage tolerances have been set
- Work packages have been authorized and approved with a team plan if required
- Specialist products have been produced in accordance with their product descriptions and have been approved
- Configuration item records are up to date and products handed over if appropriate according to the configuration management strategy
- The registers and logs have been maintained and regular checkpoint reports had been created with actual and forecast progress
- Issues, problems, concerns, risks and records and other online communication aspects are regularly occurring between the project manager and team manager.
- The stage plan is regularly updated with corrective actions if required, and remains within stage tolerances
- Regular highlight reports have been created and issued and the business case checked for viability
- Management by exception is being used and an exception report created when tolerance is forecast to be exceeded
- Good lines of communication exists between the project board and the project manager in terms of requests and reports
PRINCE2 Stage boundary activities
- All stage products have been approved and status verified via a product status account
- If appropriate, products were handed over along with documented issues and follow-on action
- All logs, registers, issues and reports have been created or updated, and reviewed along with follow-on recommendations
- The various plans and strategies have been reviewed and updated if appropriate
- The project initiation documentation has been reviewed and updated if appropriate
- The project board review the end stage report, and updated project plan, business case and the risks
- The project board review and approve the next stage plan, set tolerances for it, and ensure that resources are in place for the next stage, or have directed that the project be prematurely closed
PRINCE2 Project closure
The product status account has been created and all outstanding issues documented as follow-on recommendations
Exceptions records have been completed for Handover of the project product and operational and maintenance staff have accepted it
The project plan, business case and benefits review plan have been updated with actual data
All registers and logs have been closed and project documentation archived
The project board have confirmed Handover and acceptance and approved the end stage report
The project board can approve the end project report and confirmed the business case and approved the updated benefits review plan
The project board have ensured that follow-on action recommendations have been correctly recorded, reviewed, the lessons report and project closure notification issued, and advised that resources can now be released
In the case of premature closure, a plan is in place for recovering complete or incomplete products and if so requested, an exception plan has been created and approved
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