10 : Progress

Question 1

What do you think is the purpose of Progress (i.e., why do we have a progress theme)? Just name the reasons.

Answer 1

The purpose of the Progress Theme can be explained in three parts:
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
Progress is about checking progress compared to plan, checking project viability and controlling any deviations.

Question 2

Name one of the Seven Principles that are represented in the Progress Theme.

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Fill in the blanks. Each time I say blank it represents one word. Control or progress is all about ______ making and is central to project management, ensuring that the project remains viable against its approved ______ _______.

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

What is an exception? Answer in your own words.

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Tolerance levels can also be set for all the six tolerances areas. Name these six tolerances. (Tip: They are the same as the six project variables. Think TeCQuila SoBeR)

Answer 5

These are Time, Cost, Quality, Scope, Benefits, and Risk.

Question 6

What do you think would be the result if tolerances were not used in a project by the Project Board?

Answer 6

In this case, 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. Remember the Project Board are 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.

Question 7

The PRINCE2 method provides 4 ways to control a project; name two of these. (Tip: Think about how the Project Board controls the project and how they communicate with the Project Manager.)

Answer 7

PRINCE2 provides control through four main ways:
1) Delegating Authority from one level to the next: eg: The Project Board will delegate authority to the Project Manager & so on.
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

Question 8

PRINCE2 delegates authority from one management level to the next; name the 3 levels

Answer 8

The three levels are:
1) Corporate or Programme Management to Project Board
2) Project Board to the Project Manager
3) Project Manager to the Team Manager

Question 9

Who sets the Project Tolerance, the Stage Tolerance and Work Package Tolerances?

Answer 9

Project Tolerances are set by Corporate or Programme Management. Stage Tolerances are set by the Project Board. These are set at the beginning of the project and can be updated for each stage. The Work Package tolerances are set by the Project Manager when assigning a work package to a Team Manager.

Question 10

What happens if the Project Manager finds out that one of the tolerances may be exceeded? This is only a forecast. E.g.: The time to develop a product will take 40% longer and their tolerance level was 20%.

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

There are 3 Controls that the Project Board uses to control a project. Name two of them. (Tip: Think about how the Project Board control the project, what they do in directing a project and how do they get news)

Answer 11

These controls are Authorizations, Progress Updates and Exceptions & Changes.
• The Project Board first authorizes the Initiation Stage, secondly they authorize the Project and then authorize each stage and lastly they authorize Project Closure.
• Progress Updates. They receive Highlight Reports and End Stage Report from the Project Manager.
• 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.

Question 12

There are 3 Project Controls that the Project Manager uses to control the project. These have the same names as the 3 Project Control for the Project Board but differ in how they work. What are these three controls?

Answer 12

These controls are Authorizations, Progress Updates and Exceptions & Changes. These are same names as the 3 Project Controls as the Project Board.
• Authorizations: The Project Manager authorizes work packages to the Team Manager during the CS process.
• Progress Updates: This includes Check Point reports that are provided by the Team Manager or Team Members.
• Exceptions and changes: They use the project registers and logs to review progress and identify issues that may need to be resolved.

Question 13

List 2 of the control tasks that the Project Board can do at the end of each stage.

Answer 13

The Project Board can do the following at the end of each stage:
• They review the End Stage report and Review plan for next stage
• They can continually check the check the viability of the project
• They can authorize the next stage to start
• Then can check project progress against the baselined project plan

Question 14

What is the minimum number of stages in a project? E.g.: If you only have a project of two days.

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

PRINCE2 gives a number of suggestions to help decide on how to decide the number of stages in a project. Can you name two of these? (Tip: Just think about what could be important when you are trying to plan some weeks or months into the future.)

Answer 15

These are:
1. 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. 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. The amount of Risk in the project.
4. 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. 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.

Question 16

How do Technical Stages differ from Management Stages? Name one difference.

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What does PRINCE2 advise to do with Technical Stages so that they can be manage from the project and how best to do this?

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

What are Event Driven Controls? Just answer in your own words and give two examples.

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

What are Time Driven controls? Give an example to illustrate it.

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

In which process do you think the Project Manager does most of the work to control a project?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Which Management Products does the Project Manager use to keep track of how the project is doing? (e.g.: where do they keep informal notes, issues, check on product status, quality progress, risk)

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What does the Project Manager use the Daily Log for?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What does the Project Manager use the Issues Register for and what are the three types of issues?

Answer 23

The Issues Register contains all formal issues raised during the project, which can be: A Request for Change, an off Specification and the 3rd type is Problem or Concern
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

Question 24

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

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

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

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

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

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

What in PRINCE2 has to be sought by all project stakeholders, recorded and actioned in a project?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

What report is used by the Team Manager to report on a regular basis to the Project Manager and when is the frequency decided?

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

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

Answer 29

The three reports are the Highlight Report, the End Stage Report and the End Project Report.

Question 30

When is the frequency of the Highlight Report decided?

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

How big should the highlight report be and what kind of information should be in this report? (Tip: think TeCQuila SoBeR)

Answer 31

The Highlight Report is used by the Project Manager to report on the status of the current stage compared to the stage plan and the important word here is highlight in that a 1 to 2-page report should be sufficient. (imagine the tip of an iceberg). The Highlight Report should report the current status of tolerances of Time, Cost, Quality, Scope, Benefits and Risk.

Question 32

Progress Responsibilities: Who provides the project tolerances in the project mandate and who makes decisions on Exceptions Plan when Project Tolerances are forecasted to be exceeded as the Project Board cannot do this?

Answer 32

This is Corporate or Project Management.

Question 33

Progress Responsibilities: Who agrees Work Packages with Project Manager, produces Checkpoint Reports, and notifies the Project Manager of any forecast deviation from Work Package tolerances?

Answer 33

This is the Team Manager.

Question 34

Progress Responsibilities: Who has the following responsibilities?
• Assists with the compilation of reports
• Assists the Project Manager in maintaining the Issue Register & Risk Register
• Maintains the Quality Register on behalf of the Project Manager (check that all is going according to plan)

Answer 34

This is Project Support.

Question 35

Progress Responsibilities: Who has the following responsibilities?
• Authorizes work packages
• Monitor’s progress of stage plans
• Produce Highlight Reports, End Stage Reports, Lessons Reports & End Project Report
• Produce Exception Report for the Project Board when the stage level tolerances are forecasted to be exceeded
• Maintain the project registers and logs

Answer 35

This is the Project Manager.