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Background to PRINCE2™

PRINCE2™ stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments and is a structured method for effective project management. The PRINCE2™ method is owned by the UK Government, but is provided license free to anyone who wishes to adopt it. PRINCE2™ is now accepted throughout the UK as “best practice” project management.

The key elements of the PRINCE2™ method are:

• Each project which is undertaken must have a stated business case indicating the benefits and risks of the venture and a properly defined and unique set of outcomes or products.
• For each of the products there is a corresponding set of activities to construct them and the appropriate resources to undertake the activities.
• Projects must have an organisational structure with defined responsibilities; and a set of processes with associated techniques which will help plan and control the project and bring it to a successful conclusion.

The key benefits of using PRINCE2™ are:

• Identifies the outcomes or products that must result from the project and helps ensure that they are produced on time and to budget; as well as focusing attention on their quality.
• Makes the project's progress more visible to management and gives senior management responsibility for approving progress and authorising each stage of the project
• Ensures that work progresses in the correct sequence and separates the management and specialist aspects of Organisation, Planning and Control
• Has a well established User Group dedicated to the support, promotion and strengthening of the method.

A PRINCE2™ project is divided into a number of stages, each forming a distinct unit for management purposes. The delivery of products to the agreed quality standards marks the completion of the stage.

A PRINCE2™ project is divided into stages based upon:

• The sequence of production of Products/Deliverables;
• The grouping of Products into self contained sets or associated Processes;
• Natural decision points for review;

PRINCE2™ provides a structure of management controls to be applied throughout the project. They are defined at Project Initiation to ensure:

• The project is set up with clear Terms of Reference
• There are agreed and measurable Objectives
• There is an adequate management structure.

These controls cover all aspects of project activity and, at the highest level, allow senior management to assess project achievement and status prior to committing further expenditure. Controls are applied through meetings of project management and project staff, with each meeting producing a set of predefined outputs.

There are 2 levels of qualification. The PRINCE2™ Foundation Level demonstrates a detailed knowledge and understanding of the method and terminology, the PRINCE2™ Practitioner Level demonstrates ability to practically apply this knowledge to project situations.

PRINCE2™ is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce

The PRINCE2 Cityscape logo™ is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries