PRINCE2 Controlling a Stage Process
dave litten PRINCE2 coach

Dave Litten

[ CEO & PRINCE2 Trainer ]

PRINCE2 - Review the management stage status

This core project management activity during a PRINCE2 management stage, does what it says on the tin - it checks your progress thus far, considers the current situation, and plans the road ahead 

Review the management stage status

review_the_management_stage_status

The Review the Management Stage Status activity is at the core of project management control within a PRINCE2 stage.

A simple analogy here, could be to take a three-hour car journey - let's say to a customer meeting. 

After your first hour's drive of that journey, you pull into a service station.

Here you would refer to your map, see how far you have come, and how much of your journey remains. You would check the time it has taken you thus far and forecast if you can reach your destination within the remaining time.

You would check your fuel and see if it is sufficient to reach your destination (this is your 'resources').

Based on your progress thus far, you may modify your remaining journey, perhaps to get on a motorway if you are behind schedule (your stage plan).

You may call your customer and advise you are on track, or that you will be delayed (your Highlight Report!)

Exercising rational control of your stage

Back to a real project:

If the project is not checked on a timely basis, there is a danger that it will get out of control. There needs to be a balance between planning ahead and reacting to events.

In order to make informed decisions and exercise rational control, it is necessary to compare what has actually happened with what was expected to happen and what might happen next (including any issues and risks).

It is therefore essential to have a steady flow of information that provides an overall view of progress and simple, robust monitoring systems to supply that information (your 'dashboard')

Reviewing your stage status

The objective of this activity, therefore, is to maintain an accurate and current picture of progress on the work being carried out and the status of resources.

This activity may occur at a frequency defined in the stage plan, it may be triggered by project board advice, or forms part of the analysis of new issues and risks.

The diagram above shows the inputs to, and outputs from, this Controlling a Stage activity.

Stage Status - Key Triggers

Note above, that this activity directly connects to the project board in Directing a Project process via their Give Ad-hoc Direction activity.

Also, if the end stage is approaching, this activity triggers the Managing a Stage Boundary process to prepare for the End Stage Assessment.

Should this be the final stage in the project, then this activity triggers the Closing a Project process.

It is this activity where the project manager may first see that the stage or project is to exceed its tolerance bounds and therefore trigger the creation of an Exception Report to the project board via their Give Ad-hoc Direction activity.

Within the Review the Management Stage Status activity, there are two other triggers within the Controlling a Stage process.

The first is, when needed, to trigger the authorization of a new or modified Work Package.

The second is to trigger some form of corrective action via the Take Corrective Action activity.

PRINCE2 project management analysis

project manager stage analysis

Here is a practical analysis checklist for the project manager:

  • Review current progress for this management stage
  • review checkpoint reports within this stage for the period
  • review the current stage plan forecast and actuals (cost, time, resources, etc.)
  • request a product status account from project support to identify any variation between planned progress, reported progress and actual progress
  • check for any quality issues shown in the quality register. This will give you progress on creation of the specialist products. Remember, a product is not deemed complete until it has been quality checked, reviewed, and approved. 
  • check the risk register for any new or revised risks and assess their impact on the business case, stage plan or project plan. After analysis, these will determine if you need to take any corrective action, or even escalate the situation
  • check the issue register to see whether anything has happened within the project or externally that will impact on the business case, stage plan or project plan. Again, escalation may be required.
  • check the status of any corrective actions. Have such actions had the desired effect? Are they on-track to do so, or do they need modifying?
  • assess the utilization of resources in the period under review and their availability for the remainder of the management stage (or project)
  • Check for any variation in the expected future resource availability
  • check the benefits management approach to see whether any benefits management actions are due, and execute them as necessary

PRINCE2 project management actions

Based on the above analysis, decide whether any actions are required.
For example, whether to:

  • authorize a work package
  • report highlights in accordance with the communication management approach
  • capture and examine issues and risks
  • escalate issues and risks if tolerances are threatened
  • take corrective action
  • seek project board advice, and if necessary, provide the project board with the issue report (via Give Ad-hoc Direction)
  • log any lessons that have been identified
  • continue as planned (take no corrective action)
  • Revise the risk register and issue register as necessary
  • Update the stage plan if the aggregated assessment changes any forecasts

Transferring products to the customer

If ownership of any of the products is to be transferred to the customer as part of a phased handover within this stage, request a product status account for what is being handed over, and ensure that:

  • products have been approved by those specified in its product description
  • products meet all the quality criteria, or are covered by approved concessions
  • operation and maintenance organizations are ready to take responsibility for the products
  • hand over the products. Note that there may be multiple handovers throughout the project lifecycle
  • consider whether to review lessons now or wait until either a later review of management stage status or when approaching a management stage end
  • If the end of the current management stage is approaching (as indicated by, for example, the stage plan, the contents of the quality register, a milestone etc.), prepare for the next management stage by triggering the Managing a Stage Boundary process.
  • If the end of the final management stage is approaching, prepare to close the project by triggering the Closing a Project process.

Project Manager responsibilities

As you might imagine, the project manager is responsible for all the above actions and updates, but that project assurance reviews the updated Stage Plan that the project manager has prepared - as shown below:

prince2_review the management stage status responsibilities

PRINCE2 Roadmap Video

As a PRINCE2 Coach, Trainer (and ex-examiner!), I have developed an amazing PRINCE2 Roadmap, 30-minute video that will jet-power your PRINCE2 process knowledge. 

It will open your eyes to exactly how PRINCE2 works.

The PRINCE2 official manual will now make much easier reading!

You are now on your way to become a PRINCE2 Practitioner!

Here at Projex Academy we have a rich set of professional project management-related training video courses.

PRINCE2 Training

PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner Masterclass

Here is our PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner Masterclass