Project manager authority levels
PRINCE2 uses three helpful mechanisms when setting up and agreeing the project manager authority levels.
Exception management
The project board can set up by and lower limits for the project manager’s authority. If the project manager forecasts for the stage will exceed “tolerance”, then they must report that to the project board immediately.
The two most common tolerances are on time and cost but the project board can also decide to set additional limits on any or all of the risk, business benefits, scope, and quality project constraints.
Change budget
The budget for each of the project stages covers what you plan to do within each stage. But you must also consider what should happen if someone wants to change.
Unless the project board wants the project manager to come back to them at frequent intervals to get authority to do minor changes, allocating a change budget makes good sense.
The change budget can have two dimensions:
A total change budget, but then with no one change be more than a set amount
Aim each point is to set up a change authority between the project board and the project manager with an intermediate level of authority.
Risk budget
This is an authorized budget set against each risk where a valid action requires funding. If the risk occurs, the project board has already authorize the project manager to spend this associated contingency money without the need for the project manager coming back to them for further approval.
PRINCE2 uses an exception management approach during each stage, this is a technique adapted from the world of finance.
In financial control a budget profile is set at the beginning of a financial year. Has the year progresses as long as the spending on learning follows the profile, no one is particularly interested in its right up to the end of the financial year.
However, if the budget bucks the trend in either direction, financial staff are meet at the start investigating to see why it isn’t behaving as originally predicted.
In the same way, if a stage is going to plan you will have little to discuss. The project manager calls in the project board only if a forecast that the stage will go off the plan by more than the amount the board specified within the tolerances.
You may need to explore other authority limits in addition. For example, as the project board member you may be entirely happy for your project manager to go ahead with any change up to the change budget limits in each stage.
But you may not want to give the project manager authority to commit your multinational company to a procedural change done effects operations worldwide no matter how cheap it is.
The project manager attend the meetings of the project board but is not a member. The project manager cannot have a role on the project board, because if they do, they become accountable to themselves, which rather defeats the object.
Often, the project manager can advisers suggest action however, such as on a sensible number of stages when planning the project, or the action to take to overcome a particular problem.
Project board members need to listen carefully to the project manager’s views, although they are not bound to follow them.
The degree of control is a very personal decision. Just like in general management, has a project board member you decide how much you want to supervise those working for you and what degree of autonomy you give them.
Obviously the more you supervise, the finer the degree of control you have, but also the greater the cost in everyone’s time. Also, if you supervise experienced staff too closely and too frequently, you are likely to be motivate them, in the same way you get fed up if your boss checks up on you excessively and without reason.
This course is DEPRECATED
The old PRINCE2 6th Edition Foundation and Practitioner syllabus was upgraded in 2024. Check out the brand NEW PRINCE2 7th Edition Masterclass, covering all the current syllabus, training material and online exam benefits HERE
Your Route To PRINCE2 6th Edition Practitioner
Study PRINCE2 6 Foundation and Practitioner Exams with our famous on-line course with streaming HD Video Lessons, study guides and mock exams. In the last fifteen years we have had 6,000+ Academy students successfully transform their careers as PRINCE2 Practitioners.
