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
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
Here is a practical analysis checklist for the project manager:
PRINCE2 project management actions
Based on the above analysis, decide whether any actions are required.
For example, whether to:
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:
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 Roadmap Video
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PRINCE2 Training
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