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Prince 2 Foundations—Ultimate revision edition > 7 : Plans > Flashcards

7 : Plans Flashcards

There is a good deal of information in this theme and the questions are a good way to help you remember this. Like other themes, don’t worry about getting the answers exactly correct.

1
Q

What is the purpose of the plans theme?

A

Effective project management relys on plans. Without a plan, there can be no control.

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2
Q

What is included in a Prince2 plan? (6 things)

A

A Prince2 Plan includes:

  1. What has to be produced (the scope)
  2. What has to be done to produce the products
  3. What has to be done to ensure the products are of suffcient quality
  4. When the products will be prodced
  5. How progress will be monitored
  6. What has to be done to control risks
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3
Q

Is a gantt chart a plan?

A

No.

A plan is a document that describes how, when and by whom a specific target or set of targets is to be achieved. You many think the target is just to create the project product but there will also be targets for time, cost, quality and benefits. So a plan is more than a Gantt chart.

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4
Q

What is Planning?

A

Planning is the act or the process of making and maintaining the plan.

You can also say creating and maintaining the plan. The Project Plan is created at the start of the project and is regularly updated during the project to show what has been done to date. The Stage Plans are created before the stage and updated to show what has been done during the stage.

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5
Q

What are the 3 levels of plan?

A

The three levels of plans are

  1. the Project Plan,
  2. Stage Plan and
  3. Team Plans.

There can also be an exception plan and a Benefits Review Plan.

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6
Q

Should all plans be created at the start of a project?

A

No.

It is impossible to plan an entire project from the start unless it’s a very small project and it has a lot in common with a very small project that has been done before. It is only possible to accurately plan a short time in advance, e.g.: 0 to 8 weeks. This is known as the planning horizon. So PRINCE2 recommends having different levels of plan, which are linked, to the management levels in a project organization.

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7
Q

What is developed and maintained in the Plans theme?

A

The Plans theme provides a framework to design, develop and maintain the project plans such as the Project, Stage & Team plans.

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8
Q

What is the backbone of the project?

A

The project plan is the backbone of the project.

It is created at the start of the project and continually updated during the project to show what has been done and what still needs to be done. It can be compared with the original document to see how well the project is progressing.

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9
Q

What are the six project variables?

A

Planning helps to manage the six project variables, which are Time, Cost, Quality, Scope, Benefits and Risk.

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10
Q

What are the 3 levels of management in a project team.

A

The three management levels are:

  1. Directing (Project plan)
  2. Managing (Stage plan)
  3. Delivering (Team plan)
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11
Q

What are all the plans in a Prince2 project?

A

Name the type of plan in each of the management levels of Directing, Managing and Delivering and mention when this plan is created.

  1. Project plan (Directing level)
  2. Stage plan (Managing level)
  3. Team plan (Delivery level)
  4. Benefits Review Plan (covers activities during and after the project)
  5. Exception plan
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12
Q

What is a project plan?

A

A high level plan showing the major products of the project, when they will be delivered and at what cost, and what resources are involved.

It provides the project costs for the business case and identifies the major control points.

An initial project plan is presented as part of the projec tinitiation document or PID. This is revised as information on actual progress appears. It is a major control document for the project board to measure actual progress against expectations.

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13
Q

Which plan is mainly used by the Project Board?

A

The Project Plan is a high level plan and mainly used by the Project Board to measure progress.

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14
Q

Are delivery stage and management stage the same?

A

No. They can align but they aren’t the same.

Management stages don’t overlap and are sequential.

Delivery stages can overlap and are related to the types of activities being undertaken at that point.

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15
Q

What do the Project Board use to check how the project is progressing?

A

The Project Plan is always baselined at the start of the project, so the Project Board can compare this baselined plan to the current Project Plan at the end of each stage to see how the project is going compared to the original plan.

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16
Q

When is the Project plan created?

A

During the Initiating a project process.

An initial project plan is presented as part of the project initiation doc or PID (which is revised as information becomes available).

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17
Q

How does the Stage Plan differ from the Project Plan?

A

The Stage Plan is just for one Stage and it’s a lot more detailed that the Project Plan. The Stage Plan is used by the Project Manager on a day-to-day basis.

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18
Q

What is a stage plan?

A

A detailed plan used as a basis for project management control throughout a management stage. It enables day-to-day management of the project.

It doesn’t include plans for anything outside of the management stage.

Each management stage has a stage plan.

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19
Q

When is a stage plan finalised?

A

Towards the end of the previous stage so it includes the latest information.

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20
Q

What is a Team Plan?

A

A team plan covers the work of the team for a stage or work package.

Team Plans and Team Managers are optional depending on the project’s size, complexity and the number of resources involved in creating the products. The Team Managers may create their Team Plans in parallel with the Project Manager when they create the Stage Plan.

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21
Q

When are team plans created?

A

During the Managing product delivery process.

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22
Q

Who creates the Team Plans?

A

The team plans are created by the Team Manager to plan the execution of one or more Work Packages.

Team Plans and Team Managers are optional depending on the project’s size, complexity and the number of resources involved in creating the products. The Team Managers may create their Team Plans in parallel with the Project Manager when they create the Stage Plan.

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23
Q

What should be considered when defining stages?

A
  1. How far ahead it is sensible to plan
  2. Where the key decision points are needed
  3. The amount of risk in the project
  4. How confident the project board and the PM are in proceeding
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24
Q

How can a Project Manager be involved in the development of a Team Plan?

A

A project manager can ask to review the Team Plan and it is up to the Team Manager to decide to allow this.

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25
Q

What is an exception plan?

A

The Exception Plan is used to recover from the effect of tolerance deviation and if approved replaces the current plan? In other words it picks up from where the current plan had stopped.

It covers the period from the identification of exception, to the end of the stage or project (depending on which plan it is replacing).

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26
Q

How do exception plans relate to work packages?

A

They don’t. Exception plans operate at the stage plan level / management level. If a Team Manager forecasts that the work package will exceed tolerances they will raise an issue to the Project Manager. The Project Manager can take corrective action by updating the Work Package or creating a new Work Package to complete the work.

There is no Exception Plan at the delivery management level.

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27
Q

What technique does Prince2 use to identify and analyze the plan’s products?

A

Prince2 uses Project Based Planning.

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28
Q

What are the four steps in product based planning?

A

The four steps in Project Based Planning are:

  1. Write the Project Product Description: The description of the main product
  2. Create the product breakdown structure: List all products than need to be created
  3. Write the Product Descriptions: Can be done for each product
  4. Create the product flow diagram: Show product flow and inter-dependencies
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29
Q

What are the benefits of a Product Based Planning approach? (7 things)

A

Here are some of the benefits of Product Based Planning:

  1. Clearly identifies and documents the plan’s products and interdependencies between them.
  2. Clearly shows what the project involves and avoids setting the wrong expectations.
  3. Involves users in supplying product requirements, thus increasing their support.
  4. Improves communication as both diagrams, the product breakdown structure and product flow diagram provide a simple overview of showing what needs to be done and make it much easier to get feedback.
  5. Makes it easier to clarify what is in and out of scope and therefore later to avoid scope creep.
  6. Easier to gain a clear agreement on what needs to be produced.
  7. Helps manage risk.
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30
Q

Who writes the Project Product Description?

A

The Senior User is responsible for specifying the project product, but in practice the Project Manager may do most of the work as they will be used to do this and consult with the Senior User and Executive. The Project Product Description should be as detailed and complete as possible.

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31
Q

What is a Project Product Description?

A

The Project Product Description is the high level definition for the project outcomes.

32
Q

What should be included in a Project Product Description? (11 things)

A

The Project Product Description contains the following information:

  1. Identifier: A unique key
  2. Title: This is the Project Name
  3. Purpose: What is the purpose of the product – reason for the product.
  4. Composition: A description of the major products to be delivered by the project
  5. Source Products: List of products that make up the main product (eg components)
  6. Skills Required: Skills required to create the products
  7. Customer Quality Expectations:
    1. A description of the expected quality and the standards that will be used
    2. This will cover all specifications and functionally of the products
  8. Acceptance Criteria:
    1. This is a prioritized list of criteria that the product must provide before the customer can accept it.
    2. See this as a spread sheet list of all the quality expectations with an extra column to mark accepted.
  9. Tolerances: Specify tolerances that may apply to the Project Product
  10. Acceptance method: Describe how the project product may be accepted
  11. Acceptance Responsibility: Who will be responsible for confirming acceptance
33
Q

What should be included in a Product Description? (12 things)

A

The Project Product Description contains the following information:

  1. Identifier: A unique key
  2. Title: The name of the product
  3. Purpose: Why is the product needed?
  4. Composition: what will make up the product?
  5. Derivation: where will the product come from?
  6. Format & presentation: What form will it take?
  7. Development skills required: what Skills will be required?
  8. Quality criteria: what are the key quality factors
  9. Quality tolerance: Is the quality of the product acceptable?
  10. Quality method: How will quality be judged?
  11. Quality skills required: Who is qualified to check the product?
  12. Quality responsibilities: who are the producers, reviewers and approvers?
34
Q

What information should be included in the Customer Quality Expectation? (3 things)

A

The Customers Quality Expectations should include:

  1. A description of the expected quality of the product.
  2. The standards and processes that will be applied to achieve quality.
  3. This will cover all specifications and functionally of the product.

The quality expectations as a prioritized list of required functionality.

35
Q

What is Acceptance Criteria? Give an example of the format of the Acceptance Criteria that is included in the Project Product Description. (Tip Acceptance uses information from Quality Expectations.)

A

Acceptance Criteria is a prioritized list of criteria that the project’s product must provide before the customer can accept it. See this as a spreadsheet list of all the quality expectations with an extra column to mark accepted.

36
Q

Which activity involves breaking down the project product?

A

This is creating the product breakdown structure. This is the 2nd step in the Product Based Planning Technique.

37
Q

Who should be involved in a product breakdown structure?

A

The Project Manager should involve a group of people who represent the different interests of the product such as the user, supplier and people with specific knowledge known as subject matter experts and do this like a workshop. The Project Manager should prepare and facilitate the workshop.

38
Q

Should you use different breakdown structure diagrams at the start of a project than what you would use for each stage, or would you keep using the same breakdown structure diagram and just keep adding information to the original one?

A

PRINCE2 advises to use different diagrams. Now let me explain. The first breakdown structure will focus on the Project Product and lower level products will be identified and documented. To create the stage plans this product breakdown structure will be done again to a lower level of detail and focus only on the products that will be created in that stage. So it is best to create a new diagram and starting by using some of the information from the Product Project product breakdown structure and break this down further to show what products will be created in the stage.

39
Q

What format does a product breakdown structure come in?

A

There is no rule.

However it should be hierarchical.

You can use a top down diagram where more and more branches are added at the first, second and third layers. You can also use a Mind Map diagram. The basic rule to follow is that other people should be able to read it.

40
Q

What must be written for each of the products identified in the product breakdown structure?

A

A product description has to be written for each of the identified products in the product breakdown structure.

The PRINCE2 manual provides a description of this document.

41
Q

When should Product descriptions be created / started?

A

Product descriptions should start to be written as soon as possible after they have been identified (e.g.: once they have been listed in the product breakdown structure) and this will most likely be a gradual process as more information can be added bit by bit. Note: Some products identified may be external so this information can be copied or product description can already exist from other projects.

42
Q

Who creates the product descriptions?

A

The Project Manager and Team Manager may have responsibility for the Product Descriptions but they should make sure to involve people with the required expertise to write these (known as subject matter experts) and those who will use the products.

43
Q

What kind of quality information is added to the product descriptions?

A

The quality criteria information will detail what the product must have to be accepted, the accepted quality tolerances, and the method used to check quality and responsibilities. People who represent the users should be involved in the defining the quality criteria for the products and other quality information.

44
Q

Is it always necessary to write product descriptions?

A

No it is not always necessary. In some small projects, it may be enough write the Project Product Description, which is the main product to be produced and this will provide all the necessary information.

45
Q

What is a product breakdown structure?

A

A product breakdown structure is a top down view of all the products the project is going to generate with the finished deliverable (i.e. project outcome) at the top.

Under the finished deliverable, all the products are broken out in an hierarchal structure.

46
Q

Is there a recommended way to breakdown products for a project?

A

No. It is highly dependent on the project itself and the organisational culture.

47
Q

What does the product flow diagram define?

A

The product flow diagram is a dependency map.

It defines the sequence in which the products of the plan will be developed and shows the dependencies between them. This diagram also shows the products, which are outside the scope of the plan.

48
Q

Who creates the Product Flow diagram?

A

The Project Manager with support from the people who are delivering the products.

The Product Manager should use people with knowledge of the products and especially those who will help deliver the products to get their buy in.

49
Q

Can or should the product flow diagram be created at the same time as the product breakdown structure? E.g.: during the same workshop.

A

Yes and this is a good idea to create the product flow diagram at the same time as the product breakdown structure as you have the people you need in the room and one diagram may help to add further information to the other as it allows you to look at the information from another point of view and therefore benefit both diagrams.

50
Q

How are products represented on a Product flow diagram?

A
  • Rectangle: Normal project products
  • Ellipse: External products
  • Arrows: Dependencies / sequence

Where there isn’t a starting product, it might be helpful to annotate tthe product flow diagram with a “start” shape.

Note: Time should only flow in one direction, either top to bottom or left to right.

51
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Set project tolerances and document them in the project mandate
• Approve Exceptions Plans when the project-level tolerances are forecast to be exceeded

A

This is Corporate & Programme Management.

52
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Designs the plans
• Prepare the Project Plan and Stage Plans
• Organize corrective action to be taken when Work Package-level tolerances are forecast to be exceeded
• Prepare Exceptions plans when requested by Project Board

A

This is the Project Manager.

53
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Ensure that Project Plans and Stage Plans remain consistent from the supplier perspective
• Commit supplier resources to Stage Plans

A

Senior Supplier.

54
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Prepare Team Plans
• Prepare schedules for each Work Package

A

This is the Team Manager.

55
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Assist with the compilation of Project Plans, Stage Plans and Team Plans
• Assist with planning tools and other tools
• Take care of the Configuration Management activities

A

This is Project Support.

56
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Approve the project plan
• Defines tolerances for each stage and approve Stage Plans
• Approve Exceptions Plans when the stage-level tolerances are forecast to be exceed

A

This is the Executive.

57
Q

Who is responsible for the following in the Plans theme?
• Ensure that Project Plans and Stage Plans remain consistent from the user perspective
• Commit user resources to the Stage Plans (tip User Resources)

A

This is the Senior User.

58
Q

What are the 7 planning steps?

A
  1. Designing a plan
  2. Defining and analysing the products (using the product based planning)
  3. Identifying activities and dependencies
  4. Preparing estimates
  5. Preparing the schedule
  6. Analysing risks to a plan
  7. Documenting a plan
59
Q

What happens in the Designing a plan planning step?

A
  • Decide on the number of stages
  • The format of the plan
  • Links to the programme or portfolio
60
Q

What happens in the Defining and Analysing the product Planning step?

A

Product based planning is used to identify and analyse the project’s products.

61
Q

At what planning steps should risks be considered?

A

At all steps after the designing a plan step and prior to the documenting a plan step.

62
Q

What happens in the Documenting a plan planning step?

A

Prepare a short narrative to describe what the plan contains, it’s constraints, and how the plan will be monitored and controlled.

63
Q

Which plans use the 7 planning steps?

A

All the plans. The 7 planning steps are applicable to all types of plans within Prince2.

64
Q

What are the Prince2 mininum requirements related to the plans theme? (6 things)

A
  1. Have at least two management stages
  2. Produce a project plan for the whole project and a stage plan for each management stage
  3. Use the product based planning technique for project, stage, team and exception plans
  4. Produce specific plans for managing exception (when needed)
  5. Defne the roles and responsibilities for planning
  6. Use lessons to inform planning
65
Q

What 4 planning products are required for a Prince2 project for the plans theme?

A

Four products must be produced in the planning theme, which are:

  1. Product product description
  2. Product descriptions
  3. Product breakdown structure
  4. Plans

And there’s one optional product: The product flow diagram.

66
Q

When is the Initiation stage plan created?

A

During the Starting up a project process.

67
Q

When are stage plans created?

A

In the Managing a stage boundry process.

68
Q

What plans can an exception plan replace?

A

An exception plan is created at the same level as the plan it creates. This could be either:

  1. Project plan
  2. Stage plan
69
Q

What happens with an exception plan?

A

It must be accepted, but once accepted it becomes the new baseline plan.

70
Q

Can exception plans be created at a team level?

A

No.

Should a work package be forecast to exceed it’s tolerance, the provided it can be resolved within the stage tolerances, the PM will amend or replace the work package.

71
Q

Who approves an exception plan?

A

Depends on what the plan is replacing…

If project plan then it is approved by Corporate / Programme governance

If a Stage plan then it is approved by the Project board

72
Q

What does Prince2 planning focus on?

A

On all the deliverables or products required to deliver the project.

Then Prince2 makes plans that will deliver the products / deliverables

73
Q

What is a Product?

A

A product is anything that is produced by, or on the way through, a project.

So not just all the things that make up the product at the end of the project, but all the things that are created on the way such as plans, designs, etc.

There are different kinds of products including:

  1. Baseline products
  2. Records
  3. Reports
74
Q

What are the different kinds of products?

A

Baseline products include the business case and plans.

Records include the Risk Register and issue register

Reports include the Checkpoint report and the End project report.

75
Q

What is an external product?

A

An external product is one that is created outside of the project and is not controlled by the Project manager.

76
Q

What levels are product breakdown structures used?

A

At the project and stage level.

And are optional at the team plan level.

Prince 2 Foundations—Ultimate revision edition (24 decks)

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