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The Philosophy.
Historically most project management methodologies have concentrated on practical ways to
plan technical work and report its progress. PRINCE2 takes a much wider view and considers
the organisational environment within which the project exists.
Key to the PRINCE2 philosophy are concepts that are often missing from
other methodologies:
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The Business Case
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Project Initiation Document
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Acceptance criteria for everything the project produces
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The customer's quality expectations
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Checkpoint reports
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Exception Plans (where required)
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Business
Case.
The Business Case provides the reasons and justification for the project, based on estimated
costs, risks and expected benefits. The Business Case drives the project. If a satisfactory
Business Case does not exist then the project should not be started. If the Business Case
ceases to be valid then the project should be stopped.
Project Initiation
Document.
The Project Initiation Document (PID) contains key information needed to start the project
on a sound footing and forms the basis for the management of the project.
Acceptance Criteria.
Acceptance criteria are specified before any work is carried out. It defines in measurable
terms what must be done for the final product to be acceptable to the customer and others
who will be affected.
Customer's Quality
Expectations.
The customer's quality expectations document sets out the quality of the final product that
will be expected by the customer. It forms a part of the Project Brief and is a precursor to
identifying the standards that will be used to achieve those expectations.
Checkpoint Report.
A Checkpoint Report is produced on a regular basis by each team manager and covers the
status of the team's work.
Handling Exceptions.
Many project management methodologies give no guidance regarding what action to take if it
is identified that targets are not going to be achieved. PRINCE2 initiates an Exception
Plan when it becomes clear that the time and or cost budget will be exceeded (or the agreed
tolerance from those figures will be exceeded). It is a plan to get the project back on
track.
PRINCE2 Certification.
All of Parthenon's project managers are PRINCE2 certified and have extensive experience
implementing it.
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