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Prince 2 Foundations—Ultimate revision edition > 10 : Progress > Flashcards

10 : Progress Flashcards

1
Q

What is the purpose of the Progress theme? (3 things)

A

To establish mechanisms to monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned in order to provide a forecast for the project objectives, including its continued viability, and control any unacceptable deviations.

Or split into 3 parts it is:

  1. To establish how to monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned
  2. To provide a forecast for the project objectives and the project’s continued viability
  3. To be able to control any unacceptable deviations
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2
Q

What happens in the progress theme? (7 things)

A
  1. Progress is monitored
  2. Compare achievement with plan
  3. Review plans and options against future situations
  4. Detect problems
  5. Identify risks
  6. Initiate corrective action
  7. Authorise further work
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3
Q

What Prince2 Princples are represented in the Progress Theme?

A

Three of the seven principles are represented in the Progress Theme.

These are:

  1. Manage by stages: The Project Board use stages as control points
  2. Continued business justification: The business case is continually checked that the project is still worth doing.
  3. Managed by Exception: If tolerances are exceeded, then the issue is referred up to the next management level for approval.
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4
Q

What is progress and/or control about?

A

Control or progress is all about decision-making and is central to project management, ensuring that the project remains viable against its approved Business Case.

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5
Q

What is an exception?

A

An exception is a situation where it can be forecast that there will be a deviation beyond the agreed tolerance levels. The keyword here is forecast.

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6
Q

What can tolerances be set against what?

A

Tolerances can be set against the project aspects of:

  1. Time,
  2. Cost,
  3. Quality,
  4. Scope,
  5. Benefits, and
  6. Risk.
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7
Q

Why use Tolerances?

A

If tolerances didn’t exist, for every small issue that occurs, the Project Manager would escalate to the Project Board and they would end up working on the project 8 hours a day and therefore would be doing a lot of the work for the Project Manager.

The Project Board are (usually) busy people and we don’t want to take up much of their time.

Setting tolerances allows the Project Manager to handle smaller issues and only bother the Project Board for bigger issues that are outside this tolerance.

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8
Q

What are the 4 ways to control a project?

A

PRINCE2 provides control through four main ways:

  1. Delegating Authority from one level to the next
  2. Dividing the project into management stages (and authorizing one stage at a time)
  3. Time driven and event-driven progress reports
  4. Raising Exceptions, so use exceptions to alert above layer
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9
Q

Who can each management layer delegate to?

A
  • Corporate or Programme Management can delegate to the Project Board
  • Project Board can delegate to the Project Manager
  • Project Manager can delegate to the Team Manager
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10
Q

Who sets the Project Tolerance?

A

Project Tolerances are set by Corporate or Programme Management. These are set at the beginning of the project and can be updated for each stage.

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11
Q

What happens if a stage Tolerance is forecast to be exceeded?

A

Stage Tolerances are set by the Project Board and managed by the PM.

Should they be forecast to be exceeded then an exception report should be created and the project board notified immediately.

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12
Q

Who sets the Stage Tolerance?

A

Stage Tolerances are set by the Project Board. These are set at the beginning of the project and can be updated for each stage.

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13
Q

What happens if a Work Package Tolerance is forecast to be exceeded?

A

The Work Package tolerances are set by the Project Manager.

If the event a work package tolerance is set to be exceeded, the deviation should be referred to the project manager for a decision on corrective action.

This is considered an issue.

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14
Q

Who sets the Work Package Tolerances?

A

The Work Package tolerances are set by the Project Manager when assigning a work package to a Team Manager.

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15
Q

What happens when one of the project tolerances is forecast to be exceeded?

A

They must alert the Project Board immediately. The Project Board may decide to wait a week or a few days to see if the situation changes, or request an Exception Report or even request an Exception Plan.

They should seek advice from Programme / corporate management.

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16
Q

What are the 3 controls that a project board use to control a project?

A

These controls are Authorizations, Progress Updates and Exceptions & Changes.

  1. The Project Board first authorizes the Initiation Stage, secondly they authorize the Project and then authorize each stage and lastly they authorize Project Closure.
  2. Progress Updates. They receive Highlight Reports and End Stage Report from the Project Manager.
  3. Exceptions and Changes: The Project Manager advises the Project Board about any exceptions during a stage. All change requests will go through the Change Management Procedure as described in the Configuration Management document.
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17
Q

How does a project board use Exceptions and changes to control a project?

A

Exceptions and Changes: The Project Manager advises the Project Board about any exceptions during a stage and the project board undertakes exception assessments.

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18
Q

How does a project board use Authorisations as control?

A

The project board use authorisations to control the project by:

  • Authorising the Initiation stage
  • Authorising the project
  • Authorising each stage
  • Authorising project closure
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19
Q

How does a project board use progress updates to control a project?

A

Oversight. They recieve Highlight Reports and End Stage Reports from the Project Manager

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20
Q

What control tasks can the Project Board can do at the end of each stage?

A

The Project Board can do the following at the end of each stage:

  1. They review the End Stage report and Review plan for next stage
  2. They can continually check the check the viability of the project
  3. They can authorize the next stage to start
  4. Then can check project progress against the baselined project plan
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21
Q

What are the 3 controls a Project Manager uses to control the project?

A

These controls are Authorizations, Progress Updates and Exceptions & Changes. These are same names as the 3 Project Controls as the Project Board.

  1. Authorizations: The Project Manager authorizes work packages to the Team Manager during the CS process.
  2. Progress Updates: This includes Check Point reports that are provided by the Team Manager or Team Members.
  3. Exceptions and changes: They use the project registers and logs to review progress and identify issues that may need to be resolved.
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22
Q

How does a Project Manager use Authorizations to control the project?

A

The Project Manager authorizes work packages to the Team Manager during the CS process

23
Q

How does a Project Manager use Progress updates to control the project?

A

Progress Updates: This includes Check Point reports that are provided by the Team Manager or Team Members.

They also check on progress of work packages.

24
Q

How does a Project Manager use Exceptions and changes to control the project?

A

Exceptions and changes: They use the project registers and logs to review progress and identify issues that may need to be resolved.

The PM manages exceptions and changes through:

  1. Daily log
  2. Issue register
  3. Product status account
  4. Quality register
  5. Risk register
25
Q

What is the minimum number of stages in a project?

A

The minimum number of stages in a project is two. You have the initiation stage to define and agree what needs to be done and at least one other stage to produce the products. So if your project will last two days, you still have to decide what needs to be done and how best to go about this. Perhaps this can take just an hour over a coffee.

26
Q

What should be considered when determining the number of stages? (5 things)

A

These are:

  1. Time: How far ahead is it possible to plan? E.g.: With a new type of IT solution you might say 4 weeks and building a regular factory building could be 3 months.
  2. Decision points: Do decision points have to be made and if so when? E.g.: You might build a prototype and need market or user feedback before you can decide to continue.
  3. Risk: The amount of Risk in the project.
  4. Control: The control the Project Board requires: Lots of short stages, which will mean more work for them and more control. Or longer stages, which means less work but less control.
  5. Confidence: How much confidence the Project Board has in the Project Manager? If this is a similar project to other projects that have been successful by the same project manager, then they will be more confident and will choose longer stages.
27
Q

What are the differences between Technical and Management Stages?

A

The differences are:

  • Technical stages can overlap but management stages do not
  • A technical stage can span a management stage boundary
  • Technical stage are more focus on specific skills like, Requirements Analysis, Design, Training
28
Q

Should technical and management stages be aligned?

A

PRINCE2 advises to align Technical Stages with Management Stages.

For example, if you have a Technical Stage called Training that spans two Management Stages, you can divide this up into the products that are produced in each Management Stage. The 1st product can be to create the Training material and this will be an output for one Management Stage and the 2nd product is to have trained users and this will be in another Management Stage. Product based planning will help you in this process.

The Project Manager can manage the Technical Products by just checking if the products are created correctly.

29
Q

What are Event Driven Controls?

A

Event driven controls take place when something happens, i.e., an event happens in the project. E.g.: At the end of stage, complementation of the PID, stage goes out of tolerance, end of project, and change request. All of these events produce documents like, End Stage Report, Exception Report, Issue Report and others.

30
Q

What are Time Driven controls?

A

Time driven controls take place at pre-defined periodic intervals. E.g.: The project board will have agreed with the Project Manager’s to send a highlight report every 2 weeks to the project board and the Project Manager can agree with the Team Manager to send a Checkpoint Report each week. So time driven controls don’t have to wait for an event to happen.

31
Q

In which process does most of the work to control a project?

A

In the Controlling a Stage process. Here the Project Manager reviews progress and spends a lot of time in the activity Review Stage Status.

32
Q

Which Management Products does the Project Manager use to keep track of how the project is doing?

A

The Project Manager uses the Daily Log, Issue Register, Product Status Account, Quality Register and Risk Register.

33
Q

What does the Project Manager use the Daily Log for?

A

This is place to record any informal information about the project: eg: news, telephone calls, meetings, small issues, reminders, observations, tolerance levels, etc…
See the Daily Log as a type of a Daily Journal for the Project Manager

34
Q

What does the Project Manager use the Issues Register for?

A

The Issues Register contains all formal issues raised during the project, which can be:

  1. Request for Change – this happens when the clients notices something that was not in original requirement but now want this included (so it becomes a Request for Change)
  2. Off-Specification – this happens when a Supplier may not be able to complete something exactly as described in the requirements document and they need an agreement from the client to accept this
  3. Problems and Concerns – This is where to note down any other comments, problems, concerns. For example, there is train strike on the same day as the prototype demo for the share holders so there will be a delay in getting feedback for another week. These can usually be handle by the Project Manager
35
Q

What does the Project Manager use the Product Status Account for?

A

At certain times during the project the Project Manager will want to check that all products created so far in the project are in the right place, are the correct version, have the correct identification, are distributed correctly and have the correct status. This helps to ensure that people are working on the correct versions and the products are in accordance with the Project Plan.

36
Q

What does the Project Manager use the Quality Register for from a Control point of view?

A

The Quality Register is a record of all planned and executed quality activities. Therefore the Project Manager can see that all planned quality activities in line with the plan and if the results are as expected or if a number of products are failing quality tests.

37
Q

What does the Project Manager use the Risk Register for from a control point of view?

A

The Risk Register is a record of all identified risks and the Project Manager should review the Risk Register as part of the reviewing a stage status in Controlling a Stage. Risk levels can change during the project, so the Project Manger needs to be vigilant during the project as far as Risk is concerned.

38
Q

What in Prince2 has to be sought by all project stakeholders, recorded and actioned in a project?

A

Lessons have to be sought by all project stakeholders. They are recorded by the Project Manager and actioned in a project.

39
Q

What report is used by the Team Manager to report on a regular basis to the Project Manager?

A

The Team Manager uses the Checkpoint Report to report to the Project Manager and on the progress of the work done compared to the agreed team plan.

The Project Manager will agree the frequency for these reports with the Team Manager when they are accepting the Work Package.

40
Q

What are the 3 reports used by the Project Manager to report to the Project Board?

A

The three reports are the

  1. Highlight Report
  2. End Stage Report
  3. End Project Report.
41
Q

When is the frequency of the Highlight Report determined?

A

The frequency of the Highlight Report is decided in the IP stage and is noted in the Communication Management Strategy document.

It can be updated during the Managing a Stage Board Process.

42
Q

How big should the highlight report be?

A

The Highlight Report is used by the Project Manager to report on the status of the current stage compared to the stage plan: 1 to 2-page report should be sufficient.

43
Q

What kind of information should be included in the highlight report?

A

The Highlight Report should report on the status of the current stage compared to the stage plan and the current status of tolerances of Time, Cost, Quality, Scope, Benefits and Risk.

44
Q

What is corporate or project management responsible for with regards to progress reporting?

A

They are responsible for:

  1. Provides the project tolerances in the project mandate
  2. making decisions on Exceptions Plan when Project Tolerances are forecasted to be exceeded (as the Project Board cannot do this)
45
Q

What is the Team Manager responsible for with regards to progress?

A

They are responsible for:

  1. Agrees Work Packages with Project Manager
  2. Produces Checkpoint Reports,
  3. Notifies the Project Manager of any forecast deviation from Work Package tolerances
46
Q

What is Project Support responsible for with regards to progress?

A

They are responsible for:

  1. Assisting with the compilation of reports
  2. Assisting the Project Manager in maintaining the Issue Register & Risk Register
  3. Maintaining the Quality Register on behalf of the Project Manager (check that all is going according to plan)
47
Q

What is the Project Manager responsible for with regards to progress?

A

They are responsible for:

  1. Authorizing work packages
  2. Monitoring progress of stage plans
  3. Producing Highlight Reports, End Stage Reports, Lessons Reports & End Project Report
  4. Producing Exception Report for the Project Board when the stage level tolerances are forecasted to be exceeded
  5. Maintaining the project registers and logs
48
Q

What is the mininum Prince2 Progress theme requirements? (5 things)

A
  1. Define its approach to controlling progress iin the PID
  2. Be managed in stages
  3. Set tolerances and be managed by exception against these tolerances
  4. Review the business justification when exceptions are raised
  5. Learn lessons to improve performance
49
Q

How are lessons learnt related to the progress theme?

A

Lessons learnt related to progress and controls should be documented in the lessons log and a lessons report created.

50
Q

Where are the tolerancess for Time, Cost, and Scope documented?

A
  • Project plan
  • Stage plan
  • Work package
51
Q

Where is the project risk tolerance documented?

A
  • Risk management approach
  • Stage plan
  • Work package
52
Q

Where is the Quality tolerance documented?

A
  • Project product description
  • Product descriptions
53
Q

Where is the Benefit tolerance documented?

A

In the Business Case.

54
Q

How is a project controlled?

A
  • Delegate authority downwards
  • Divide the project into management stages
  • Raising exceptions
  • Time-driven and event-driven progress reporting

Prince 2 Foundations—Ultimate revision edition (24 decks)

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