5 : Organization

Question 1

What is the purpose of the Organization Theme and what information does it provide? (Tip: Use Accountability and Responsibilities)

Answer 1

The purpose of the Organization Theme is to provide the how to information for the Project Manager, so that they can define and establish the project accountability and responsibilities or in other words the Who is responsible for what in the project.

Question 2

Fill in blank: A PRINCE2 project is based on a Customer / environment.

Answer 2

A PRINCE2 project is based on a Customer / Supplier environment.

Question 3

What is meant by the term Corporate or Programme Management? Why do we use this term?

Answer 3

This is a level above the project team and outside the project. A company will either have a Project Office (also known as a programme office) or if no programme, then the projects will be started by the upper layer of management in a company. We refer to this as Corporate Management. This is why PRINCE2 shows Corporate or Programme Management in the Organization diagram.

Question 4

How many levels of management are seen in a Project Management Structure and a Project Management Team?

Answer 4

There are 4 levels in a Project Management Structure and 3 levels in a Project Management team. They both have the levels: Directing, Managing and Delivering. However the Project Management Structure has one extra level, which is the level Corporate or Programme Management.

Question 5

Finish sentence: “PRINCE2 places projects responsibilities into _____.”

Answer 5

PRINCE2 places projects responsibilities into Roles. For example, some roles are Executive, Project Manager and Project Support.

Question 6

Name two Roles that can be shared with more than one person.

Answer 6

The following roles can be shared with more than one person: Senior User, Senior Supplier, Change Authority, Project Support, Project Assurance.

Question 7

Give an example of 2 Roles that can only be assigned to only one person.

Answer 7

Roles that can only be assigned to one person are: Executive, Project Manager and Team Manager.

Question 8

Name the 3 primary categories of stakeholder, which must be represented in a project if the project is to be successful.

Answer 8

The 3 primary categories of stakeholder are: Business, User & Supplier. These are also represented in the Project Board.

Question 9

Which level of the Organization is outside the Project Management Team?

Answer 9

The level Corporate or Programme Management level is outside the Project Management Team.

Question 10

What 2 things are the Corporate or Programme Management responsible for in relation to the project? (Tip: One of these things is done before the project starts and the other is the very first activity in the Starting up a Project Process.)

Answer 10

Corporate or Programme Management are responsible for:

1. Commissioning the Project (so they create the project mandate)
2. Identifying the Executive

Question 11

Name the 3 Levels of management in a Project Management Team and the Role that is responsible for that level.

Answer 11

• Level 1 is Directing, the Project Board is responsible
• Level 2 is Managing, Project Manager is responsible
• Level 3 is Delivering, the Team Manager is responsible

Question 12

Which role is responsible for the Project on a Day-to-Day basis?

Answer 12

The Project Manager is the responsible for the project on a day-to-day basis. Their prime responsibility is to ensure that the project produces the required products in accordance with the goals: time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits goals. These are the six project variables.

Question 13

Which roles are responsible for delivering the projects products to a certain quality, within a specific time scale and cost?

Answer 13

The Team Members are responsible for responsible for delivering the project products to a certain quality, within a specific time scale and cost. They are assigned work using Work Packages by the Project Manager.

Question 14

Name the 3 Roles in the Project Board. Which roles can be assigned to more than 1 person?

Answer 14

The Project Board consists of the Executive, Senior User, Senior Supplier. Only one person can be the Executive while the Senior User & Senior Suppliers may be assigned to one or more persons.

Question 15

Who or what has the following duties?
• Accountable for success of failure of the project
• Provide unified direction to the project and project manager
• Provides the resources and authorizing the funds for the project
• Provide visible and sustained support for the project manager

Answer 15

The Project Board has these duties.

Question 16

Which Role is to ensure that the project is focused on achieving its objectives and delivering a product that will achieve the forecasted benefits? This role also gives a single point of accountability for the project.

Answer 16

This is the Executive.

Question 17

Which Role is normally responsible for designing and appointing the Project Management Team including the Senior User and Senior Supplier Roles? (Tip: This is does not include the Team Leaders or the person who will create the products but the management roles in the project.)

Answer 17

Usually the Executive will be responsible for designing and appointing the Project Management Team including the rest of the Project Board and Project Manager.

Question 18

Which Role has the following responsibilities?
• They specify the needs of the users that will use the project products
• They liaise between the Project Manager and the Users
• They monitor that the solution will meet the needs of the users especially in terms of quality and ease of use and against requirements

Answer 18

This is the Senior User Role.

Question 19

What is the Senior User responsible for with regard to benefits?

Answer 19

The Senior User specifies the expected benefits at the start of the project and reports to the project board on the benefits that were realized during the project. After the project, they continue to report on the benefits after to the Corporate or Programme Management.

Question 20

Which role represents the interests of those designing, developing, facilitating and implementing the projects products and also responsible for the quality of the products?

Answer 20

This is the Senior Supplier Role.

Question 21

After a PRINCE2 project ends, can the Supplier be asked to provide support and maintenance for the products created during the project or can this only be done by the customer?

Answer 21

The Senior Supplier can be asked to provide support and maintenance for the products produced during the project. It is also possible for the customer to have an internal team to do this. So this depends on the customer.

Question 22

What is the name of the Role that considers requests for change during the project and who decides who this role should be assigned to?

Answer 22

This is the Change Authority role and its the Project Board that decide who this roles should be assigned to.

Question 23

When would a Project Board decide to take on the role of Change Authority or assign it to a group?

Answer 23

If there are few changes expected, the Project Board will usually take on the role. If there are many changes expected then the Project Board will assign this role to a group due to the amount of work involved and to provide a better response to requests.

Question 24

In which document is the change requests and change authority process documented? This also includes information who can act at the change authority, the change budget and severity level of change that they can decide on.

Answer 24

This information is defined in the Configuration Management Strategy document and this is done during the Initiation stage.

Question 25

Why should the Project Board be kept as small as possible? What is the advantage?

Answer 25

The Project Board should be kept as small as possible as it will make it easier to take decisions.

Question 26

Which role runs the Project on behalf of the Project Board? This role can never be shared.

Answer 26

The Project Manager runs the projects on behalf of the Project Board.

Question 27

Which two roles does the Project Manager manage? (Tip: One of these roles may not be required in small projects and the other role can be taken on by the Project Manager or assigned to another person or group.)

Answer 27

These roles are the Team Manager and Project Support. The Team Manager role is optional and the Project Support role can be taken on by the Project Manager or assigned to somebody else.

Question 28

List some reasons why the Project Manager may consider using Team Managers rather that managing the Team Members directly.

Answer 28

A Project Manager may choose to work to work with a Team Manager if the project is quite large, if there is a need for specialist skills or knowledge of the products to be produced and the Project Manager may not have this knowledge.

Question 29

Can a Team Manager be higher in the organization than a Project Manager?

Answer 29

Yes. A Team Manager can be higher in the Organization than a Project Manager but as far as the Project is concerned the Team Manager will report to the Project Manager on all project related work.

Question 30

Which role provides the following services to the project?
• Providing administrative services or advice or guidance of the use of Project Management tools.
• Be responsible for configuration management and therefore follows the guidelines in the Configuration Management Strategy document.
• Can also supply planning and or risk management services.

Answer 30

This is the Project Support Role.

Question 31

True or False: “Stakeholder Engagement is the process of identifying and communicating effectively with those people or groups who have an interest in the projects outcome.”

Answer 31

This is true. PRINCE2 also states that communication with stakeholders is the key to a project’s success.

Question 32

Which document contains a description of each stakeholder type and defines how best to communicate with them including frequency and the type of information they are most interested in?

Answer 32

This is the Communication Management Strategy document and is created by the Project Manager in the Initiation Stage of the project.

Question 33

Who is responsible for the following in the Organization theme?
• Prepare the Communication Management Strategy
• Review and update the project management structure
• Prepare Role Descriptions

Answer 33

This is the Project Manager.

Question 34

Who is responsible for the following in the Organization theme?
• Provide administrative support for the project management team

Answer 34

This is Project Support.

Question 35

Who is responsible for the following in the Organization theme?
• Provide User Resources
• Define & verify user requirements & expectations

Answer 35

This is the Senior User.

Question 36

Who is responsible for the following in the Organization theme?
• Appoint the Project Manager – if not done by Corporate or Programme Management
• Confirm the appointments to the Project Management Team
• Approve the Communication Management Strategy Doc

Answer 36

This is the Executive.

Question 37

Who is responsible for the following in the Organization theme?
• Manage Project Team Members
• They also advise on the selection of project team members

Answer 37

This is the Team Manager