Directing Projects with PRINCE2

• Introduction
• Overview of PRINCE2
  • Key definitions
  • Structure of PRINCE2
  • The role of senior management in PRINCE2
  • Overview of PRINCE2
• Project Board duties and behaviours
  • Overview
  • Be accountable for the project
  • Provide unified direction
  • Delegate effectively
  • Facilitate cross functional integration
  • Commit resources
  • Ensure effective decision making
  • Support the Project Manager
  • Ensure effective communication
• Starting up a Project
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Confirm the understanding of the project mandate
  • Appoint the Executive and Project Manager
  • Capture previous lessons
  • Design and appoint the project management team
  • Prepare the outline Business Case
  • Prepare the Project Brief
  • Prepare the Initiation Stage Plan
  • Summary
• Authorize initiation
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Approve the Project Brief
  • Approve the Initiation Stage Plan
  • Communication
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Authorize the project
  • Purpose
  • Context part 1
  • Context part 2
  • Context part 3
  • Communication
  • Review the End Stage Report for initiation
  • Approve the Project Initiation Documentation
  • Approve the next Stage Plan
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan
  • Purpose
  • Context part 1
  • Context part 2
  • Review End Stage Reports
  • Approve Stage or Exception Plans
  • Assess project viability
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Give ad hoc direction
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Respond to requests
  • Respond to reports
  • Respond to external influences
  • Focus of individual board members
  • Communication
  • Summary
• Authorize project closure
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Confirm handover and acceptance
  • Approve the End Project Report
  • Approve the Benefits Review Plan
  • Communication
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Reviewing benefits
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Hold benefits reviews
  • Close the Business Case
  • Communication
  • Suggested agenda for benefit reviews
  • Summary
• Tailoring PRINCE2
  • Purpose
  • Introduction
  • Environmental factors
  • Project related factors
  • What does tailoring involve?Adapting the themes

Key sections

• Introduction
• Business case
• Organization
• Quality
• Plans
• Risk
• Change
• Progress
• Introduction to processes
• Starting up a projectDirecting a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing Product Delivery
• Managing a Stage Boundary
• Closing a Project
• Tailoring PRINCE2 to the project environment
• Directing Projects with PRINCE2

Authorize project closure

Approve the Benefits Review Plan

The Benefits Review Plan agreed at project initiation outlines the overall approach to benefits management.
Since it is often the case that most benefits will not be realized until after the project has closed, it needs to be updated and handed over to corporate or programme management to own.

The Project Board needs to check that the Benefits Review Plan includes activities to validate benefits and any customer quality expectations that cannot be measured until after the project’s products have been in operational use for some time (for example reliability requirements).

The UK Department of Health requires that benefits reviews for capital projects are held between 12 and 18 months after project closure.

Benefits Review Plans for projects that have been terminated prematurely should focus on safeguarding the latent benefits, e.g. intellectual property rights (IPR) and patents, from the project work already completed.

In the 1990s an international pharmaceutical company abandoned clinical trials for a product intended as a treatment for angina.
The company discovered that patients using the drug had experienced some unforeseen clinical side effects, which provided a treatment for another unconnected medical condition.
The company subsequently developed the drug to treat the other condition and it has since become a well-known market leader.

The suggested format for the Benefits Review Plan, with generic quality criteria, is provided in the Product Description in the folder ‘Product Description outlines’ as part of the product package.

All references above are in Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® unless stated otherwise.

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.