PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 1

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Dave Litten - CasaBlanca Publishing Corp

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 2

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Congratulations!

YOU Have taken the first step toward a PRINCE2 EXAM PASS!

My Roadmap Walkthrough is a key diagram that I normally develop for the delegates on the first morning of my
PRINCE2 training seminars. As you will see from the attached diagram, it is just a picture taken from one such
training session.

As you can see, I draw it on 4 pieces of flipchart paper, and develop the diagram over a one hour period. I make no
pretence that it is a work of art as my handwriting and drawing skills would not win any prizes!

But that is not the point. This important diagram, show the interaction between the seven PRINCE2 Processes in a
typical project, and as such teaches you how the PRINCE2 Method is applied.

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PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 3

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PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 4

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I suggest you print out this document and keep the roadmap diagram separate so that you can refer to it constantly
as I guide you through it. If you print it in colour, you will note that I have reserved the red colour for when I describe
the PRINCE2 management by exception approach. As is usual, I will start at the top left-hand corner of the diagram
with the trigger for any PRINCE2 project the Project Mandateread on
A project can be standalone or part of a programme, in which case a project may be triggered from either those
within a programme, here called programme management, or by appropriate senior management within an
organization, here called corporate management.
A PRINCE2 project is therefore triggered by either of the above by issuing a Project
Mandate. This document should contain as a minimum, the name of the prospective
project board executive and the reasons for the need of the project. As such it may
only be and verbal instruction or possibly an e-mail. At the other extreme it could
be the final report from a feasibility study. Whichever, it must contain sufficient
information provided by an appropriate authority level, in order to trigger the first
PRINCE2 process.
The first process is called Starting Up a Project and uses the initials SU. This occurs
pre-project, and is used as a solid foundation prior to the first stage in a PRINCE2
project. Developing detailed plans can consume a lot of resource, and since many
projects should not even be started in the first place, it makes sense for SU to be used as a filter both to prevent
poorly conceived projects from starting in the first place, and to establish an understanding of the
goals and objectives of the project. In particular, to ensure that there are good business reasons to
proceed with the project.
One of the first activities is to appoint the Executive of the Project Board and the Project Manager; the
Executive will now design and appoint the remaining roles within the Project Board including who will
fill the Senior User and Senior Supplier roles, and how Project Assurance is to be handled. The project
manager will design and appoint any other supporting roles that will be needed such as project
support, configuration management and the optional Team Manager role.
There are two main management products that are an output from this process, the Project Brief and
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 5

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a plan for the Initiation Stage.
The Project Brief contains the outline Business Case with sufficient information to justify carrying out the initiation
stage, creating the Project Product Description which includes aspects such as the customers quality expectations and
acceptance criteria for the end product of the project.
The Project Brief also contains the Project Approach management document. This lays out the
approach used by the project to deliver the end product, for example, basing the design on an
existing product or developing an entirely new design, or whether or not resources used for the
project will be provided internally or by the use of third parties.
The Project Brief can be seen as a refinement of the Project Mandate, and in a similar way the
Project Brief will be refined further within the initiation stage to become the Project Initiation
Documentation (PID).
One important principle of PRINCE2 is that of manage by exception. The purpose of this is to set
tolerance levels at the directing, managing, and delivering management levels within a project.
Tolerance is defined as limit within which a particular level may manage without the need to escalate
to the next level above.
There are six objectives against which tolerances may be set: time, cost, quality, scope, risk, and benefits. If any of
these tolerances are forecast to be exceeded, then an Exception Plan must be raised which if approved would replace
the existing plan that would have no longer completed within tolerance.
Corporate or Programme management have the authority to set project level tolerances, the Project Board have
authority to set stage level tolerances, and optionally, the Project Manager may set tolerances around a particular
Work Package.
One of the PRINCE2 principles is learning from experience. For this reason the Lessons Log is created and filled with
any lessons that can be learned from appropriate individuals and previous similar projects. The project manager
would be expected to proactively collect such data. The Lessons Log will be updated and used throughout the project,
in particular as a source of information to create the optional Lessons Report at the end of each stage, and the
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 6

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Lessons Report that is created as part of the Closing a Project process. In this way, lessons can be passed on to
future similar projects.
The Daily Log is also created by the project manager, and is used as a diary by the project manager for the
remainder of the project. But here in SU, it is also used to capture any risks and issues that need to be managed
prior to the formal start of the project.
To proceed any further, the newly formed project board will need to make a decision
whether or not it is worth investing in the creation of the PID. In particular how much work
effort and resources are needed in the initiation stage. In this way, poorly conceived
projects can be nipped in the bud before any further effort is wasted upon them. By the
same token, the information contained within the Project Brief and the initiation Stage Plan
will give the project board sufficient information to make an informed choice.
The Starting Up a Project process culminates with the project manager requesting that the
project board consider authorizing the initiation stage. This uses the first activity
authorizing initiation within the directing a project (DP) process. The project board may decide not to proceed any
further. However lets assume that in this instance they agree based on the evidence above to invest in the initiation
stage, then this will become the formal start of the project, and corporate/programme management will be informed
that the project is initiated.
The initiating a project process is used within the initiation management stage and the main deliverable here is the
PID itself. The activities within this process echo the contents of the project initiation
documentation. It makes sense to first determine the various strategies needed
within the project be for detailed planning takes place.
The Risk Management Strategy document is created and the Risk Register is set up to
capture and manage any risks throughout the project. Any risks which exist already
on the Daily Log would now be transferred to the Risk Register. The Risk
Management Strategy defines HOW resource will be managed throughout the project.

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 7

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The Quality Management Strategy document is created and the Quality Register is set up. This register will typically
be empty at this point, as this will contain the planned dates of all quality management activities for the creation of
the specialist products, and such dates will not be known until the second Stage Plan is created.
This second stage is always the first delivery stage, so-called because this is the first
stage (and possibly also the final stage for small simple projects) where specialist
products are to be created. The word specialist products refers to the type of project,
for example if the project end product is a new office building, then the specialist
products would be for example, the building frame itself, roof and walls, water and
electricity services to be implemented, heating and lighting products, office equipment
and so on. These should not be confused with the PRINCE2 management products such
as the Project Brief, Project Initiation Documentation, reports, and so on.
So you can see that the Quality Register will have the actual dates of the quality checking activities entered during a
typical delivery stage.
It is worth mentioning that PRINCE2 does not consider a specialist product as complete, until it has had an
independent quality check and an appropriate authorization. As part of the PRINCE2 product based planning
technique, a product description for each specialist product is written as part of planning for a particular delivery
stage. This Product Description will contain the method and the appropriate measurements required for the product
to have ensure the pass its quality check.
The Configuration Management Strategy document is created and the Issue Register is set
up. In PRINCE2, an issue can be advice of a new risk, a problem or concern, or a change.
There are two types of changes: a request for change which typically comes from the
customer and it is a request for a change to what was originally agreed. The second type
of change is called an off-specification; typically this would come from the supply side and
covers some aspect of the project that although agreed, cannot now be met.
Configuration management may be thought of as version control and as such is closely
aligned with how change control (mentioned above) is to be implemented. Typically
configuration management will be supplied by the project support role.
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 8

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The final strategy is the Communication Management Strategy, and is created last because the first three strategies
will have communication needs and these can be included at this point. As you can see, all four of the strategies are
HOW-TO documents.
The Project Plan can now be created in parallel with setting up the various controls there will be needed throughout
the project. Typically these controls focus on those needed at project board level for example end stage assessment
timing, and the frequency of their regular Highlight Reports, while at project manager level for example, the formality
or otherwise of issuing Work Packages and the frequency of the regular Checkpoint Reports.
Highlight Reports cover progress within the management stage, and Checkpoint Reports
cover the progress of specialist product creation within a Work Package.
As with all plans, the Project Plan is a document, and will use the PRINCE2 product-based
planning technique.
Traditional project planning would start with the brainstorming of the various activities.
But one of the principles of PRINCE2 is product focus. What this means is that the
product based planning technique starts with the identification of products, initially at the
highest level within a project, by creating the Project Product Description, but then going
on to create a Product Breakdown Structure which is a hierarchical diagram of the
products within a given project.
The next step would be to create Product Descriptions for all appropriate lower level products, including their quality
criteria. The final product based planning step is to create a Product flow Diagram, which shows the sequence of
creation of the products.
In case you are confused, an activity would normally be described with a noun and verb such as create report,
whereas a product would be described with a noun or outcome for example specification document.
Within PRINCE2, the next steps cover traditional planning techniques, first identifying the activities needed to create
each product, then estimating such activities, creating the schedule or sequence of such activities (usually shown as a
network diagram or Gantt Chart view). Then going on to identify risks, their associated response activities, and finally
adding the narrative of the plan document.
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 9

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Because of this, new Product Descriptions along with their quality criteria will be created along
with a Configuration Item Record (CIR) for each product. This record forms part of the data
and the status for each product held within configuration management.
Also at this point the Project Product Description may now needs to be further refined, for
example, as better data is understood for the acceptance criteria of the project end product.
The detailed Business Case can now be developed as it will use timescale and cost information
derived from the Project Plan. This detailed Business Case will be used throughout the project
in particular at the end of each management stage where it is updated and used as a basis to
proceed or otherwise by the project board.
A new management product is now created based upon some information contained within the business case, and it is
called the Benefits Review Plan. As the name suggests, this contains a description of each future benefit, its timing,
measurement, and the resources required to carry this out. The Benefits Review Plan is kept separate from the
Project Initiation Documentation as it will be used after the project has finished to continue and track the remaining
benefits until their eventual realization.
All of the above can now be assembled and forms the Project Initiation
Documentation. The project manager will now request that the project board
authorize the project. They will use this named activity within the Directing a
Project process (DP), and this will always be the first end stage assessment within
any PRINCE2 project (as the initiation stage is always the first management stage
in a PRINCE2 project).
However, there is a parallel activity that also needs to take place if this project is
to proceed any further, and that is to prepare a Stage Plan for the next stage.
The Managing a Stage Boundary (SB) process is used for this purpose, and will
use the product based planning technique. As this is the end of the initiation
stage then the End Stage Report will also need to be created along with an
optional Lessons Report.
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 10

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Authorizing the PID will occur within the Authorize the Project activity and authorizing the next Stage Plan will occur
at the Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan activity. Both of these are activities within the Directing a Project process,
and will normally take place at the same meeting which is the end stage assessment.
At this end stage assessment, as is typical, the project board has the option to approve the next Stage Plan,
prematurely close the project, or request that the project manager reworks some aspect of the documentation.
Assuming all is well, the Project Board will set stage tolerance for the next stage, advise the project manager of the
frequency and detail to be included in the regular Highlight Reports and approve the next Stage Plan. This will now
trigger the project manager to give out the first Work Package within this newly approved stage.
It is highly likely that the number and detail of Work Packages within a stage and any associated Team Plans have
already been thought through during the planning of the relevant stage. But whether they have or not, the PRINCE2
method defines that the specialist team should not start work on any product creation until a Work Package containing
such work has been authorized by the project manager and accepted by either the team manager or the team
members themselves.
The Team Manager role may optionally be given to an appropriate individual within the
specialist team (if the specialist team is a third party, then it may well be that their project
manager takes on the role of Team Manager but remember, there can only be one Project
Manager). The team manager may optionally produce a Team Plan which would show that
one or many Work Packages can be delivered within the constraints laid down.
Every Work Package must contain at least one Product Description. The project manager
may optionally set tolerances at the work package level.
Once the Work Package has been agreed and accepted then work can start on the creation of
the specialist products contained within the Work Package. At any given point during a stage
there may be one or several Work Packages, possibly given to different teams, being worked on at the same time.
Alternatively Work Packages may be given out one after another. This is clearly a very flexible system and the
manner and formality will depend on the nature of the specialist work within the stage.
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 11

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Probably 90% of the project budget is spent within the Managing Product Delivery (MP) process, since this is where
the specialist products are created. The execute a work package activity is where the specialist products are created
and their quality checks carried out, followed by their approval by the appropriate authority or individual.
The team manager or the team themselves will produce regular Checkpoint Reports providing information on the
status and future forecast of the creation of specialist products. These are sent to the project manager, and may be
in the form of a report or a meeting. The project manager will use the activity of Review Work Package Status to
determine the progress or otherwise of the creation and the approval of these specialist products.
Since the Stage Plan has been approved by the Project Board, then the project manager must look at progress within
the stage itself. If the project manager determines that the stage is forecast to remain within tolerance bounds, then
he or she may take some form of corrective action to minimize any such deviations within tolerance. This may entail
giving out new or modified Work Packages to the specialist team.
In addition to this the project manager will need to review the stage status and use the activity of report highlights,
which will generate a Highlight Report to be given to the project board so that they understand the current status and
forecast future of progress within the stage. The project manager will update the Stage Plan with actual progress,
and modifying future actions to ensure that the stage plan is forecast to complete within tolerance.
As each Work Package is completed, then the team manager or the specialist team
themselves needs to inform the project manager that the Work Package is indeed
complete. The project manager, as part of the activity review work package status will
need to agree that all the products have been completed, met their quality criteria, and
have been approved by the appropriate authority.
This may trigger the authorization of a new/revised Work Package, or that the stage end
is approaching, in which case the project manager would use the Managing a Stage
Boundary (SB) process to prepare for an end stage assessment.
If at any time during the stage, either issues or risks should arise, then the project manager should use the activity of
capture and examine issues and risks to carry out an impact analysis of these on both the stage and project. The
appropriate Issue or Risk Register should be updated with such information.
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 12

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If the project manager determines that some corrective action can be taken via the issue of new or modified Work
Packages to resolve the situation then such actions would need to be taken. If after impact analysis and the review of
this within the status of the stage or the project would show that forecast of tolerances would be exceeded, then the
project manager must create an Exception Report and bring this to the attention of the project board. If a Work
Package is forecast to exceed tolerance levels, the Team Manager would raise this as an issue to bring it to the
attention of the project manager.
Using the activity escalate issues and risks, the project manager would bring this Exception
Report to the attention of the project board. Put simply this Exception Report should contain
information on the reasons for this forecast of exceeding tolerances, the impact in terms of the
appropriate tolerance, and a set of options, which if implemented would return the stage of
project within tolerance bounds, and a recommendation of which option should be chosen, and
why it is the best option.
This is sent to the project board who now need to make a decision on what to do next. One
option they have is to prematurely close the project, in which case the project manager would
use the Closing a Project (CP) process to carry this out. For the moment we shall assume that
they prefer another option, either recommended by the project manager, or one which they
have determined. This would trigger the project manager to use the Managing a Stage
Boundary (SB) process.
The project board would request the preparation of an Exception Plan using the Managing a Stage Boundary process.
At this point it would be helpful to state that the Managing a Stage Boundary process has only TWO uses.
The first is to prepare for an end stage assessment (ESA) by creating the next Stage Plan.
The second is to prepare for an exception assessment (EXA). In the former the objective is to approve or otherwise,
the next Stage Plan, and in the latter it is to approve or otherwise the Exception Plan.

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 13

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Whichever of the above, this process would follow the following steps and activities:
1. Create either a next Stage Plan or an Exception Plan
2. Update the Project Plan to show actual progress and if necessary, a modified future forecast
3. As part of updating the Project Plan and the next Stage Plan/Exception Plan, it may be necessary to update
some aspects of the PID (possibly in terms of the strategies, the plan, and the controls, or the Business Case
and related Benefits Review Plan.
4. As a result of the above, new or modified Product Descriptions will need to be created, new or modified risks
and issues entered on to the appropriate registers including any lessons that have been learned during the
stage.
5. The Benefits Review Plan needs to be updated to reflect any products that may have already being released into
the operational (business as usual BAU) areas.
6. The project manager will produce an End Stage Report and if appropriate create a Lessons Report.
All of the above will be brought before the project board at either an end stage assessment or an exception
assessment.
The project board will need to make a decision to either approve the next Stage Plan, or approve the Exception Plan,
or request more information, or to order a premature close of the project.
For each delivery stage these four processes will continue in the same manner as described above. The Managing a
Stage Boundary process will be used either to prepare a next Stage Plan or an Exception Plan and is brought before
the project board using the Directing a Project process to either approve or otherwise the next Stage Plan or an
Exception Plan.
Once this has been authorized, the project manager will give out the work contained within
that Stage Plan and the specialist team will create the specialist products via each Work
Package. When the last Work Package has been completed (each specialist product has been
approved), then this will trigger the project manager to acknowledge that the project end is
approaching.
A very important point needs to be made here. If the project, within any management stage,
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 14

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needs to be brought to a premature close, then the closing a project process (CP) is used. Let us suppose that a
given project has three delivery stages after the initiation stage. In the final delivery stage, work packages containing
information on the specialist products to be created will be issued and managed as described above.
However, once the final specialist product within the final work package has been approved, then the project manager
will trigger the closing a project (CP) processes to shut the project down in a controlled manner. A final management
stage is not used to merely to use the Closing a Project process. In summary, the final stage of a project will use the
Controlling a Stage, Managing Product Delivery, and Closing a Project processes.
Assuming a natural close to the project, then the prepare planned closure activity will be used. The project manager
would request a product status account to ensure that all products within the project would have been approved and
that the project acceptance criteria have been met. The Project Plan should be updated with the actuals of this final
stage.
The projects products must now be handed over to the operational and maintenance
environment, where they will be used to ultimately realise the benefits contained as stated
within the Business Case. The project manager would updates relevant configuration item
records to show that such products have the status of operational, any acceptance records
should be created or obtained, and the Benefits Review Plan updated to reflect any products
that have already realized benefits and to include any post project activities for such benefits
that have yet to be realized.
The re-evaluate the project activity will create the end of project report to capture actual progress and aspects such
as project performance metrics, and will include the Lessons Report based upon the information contained within the
Lessons Log.
In the case of premature close, then the reasons for this should be entered and updated on the Issue Register, and if
necessary any additional work may be needed to buy the complete unfinished products or to make them safe. Once
the project manager has determined that the project should and can be closed, then a recommendation of such
should be raised to the project board in the form of a closure recommendation.

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 15

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The final activity in any project, is the authorized project closure within the Directing a
Project process. The project board would need to review original and updated versions of
the PID, review and approve the End Project Report, confirm any follow-on actions or
loose ends, verify that the projects products have been handed over in an appropriate
manner, ensure that the Business Case remains viable, advise that the project can now be
closed, and advise those supplier resources that these can now be withdrawn.
-------------------//-------------------

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 16

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Okay, so now you can see how the processes work with each other
You can see that the Starting Up a Project, Initiating a Project, and Closing a Project are usually used once per
project.
You will have noted that at the completion of the Starting Up a Project process, the Directing a Project Process is
continually used until the final close of the project.
It will not have escaped your attention that the Managing a Stage Boundary process is EITHER used at the end of a
management stage to prepare for an End Stage Assessment (ESA), OR it is used if needed when Tolerance is forecast
to be exceeded AND Corporate/Programme Management or the Project Board request an Exception Plan in which
case the SB process is used to create an Exception Report and prepare for an Exception Assessment (EXA).
The controlling a Stage and Managing Product Delivery processes are used continually during an individual
management stage.
Okay.
So what about the 7 PRINCE2 Themes? Good question. You see, Themes are used continually throughout a PRINCE2
project. Whereas the PRINCE2 processes describe a structured sequence, the Themes represent project management
best practice in seven key areas. And put simply, they are applied as How-To approaches in each of the processes.
I do not intent to go through each of them here as they are described in my free downloadable PRINCE2 Step-By-Step
Guide, but an example of how some of them might be used in the first, Starting Up a Project process:
The outline Business Case is created and used to justify investment in the initiation stage
The PRINCE2 Organization is designed and implemented
The Customers Quality Expectations and Acceptance Criteria are initially created as part of the Project Product
Description
A Plan for the Initiation Stage is created
PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 17

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Any known risks are
captured and managed
within the Daily Log they
are also used to make a
decision as to whether to
proceed to the Initiation
Stage or not.
The Daily Log is used to
capture and manage any
issues which include
changes
The Project Manager and the
Executive/Project Board
work informally to ensure
pre-project progress is
under control.
As you can see from the
above, I have included all 7
of the PRINCE2 Themes
and I could give a similar
example in each of the
remaining PRINCE2
processesso lets try and
summarize this in a few diagrams:- This shows how the 7 PRINCE2 Principles are the bedrock, upon which the 7
processes are used as described and the 7 themes are applied as appropriate for each process.

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 18

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And here we can see a summary of the 7 processes and themes

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 19

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Followed by the 7 processes overlaid by an example 3-stage PRINCE2 Project (remember, the minimum is the
Initiation stage plus one delivery stage but depending upon the sixe, important, complexity and risk, a project may
have one initiation stage and many delivery stages

PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 20

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And to remind you, the 7 PRINCE2 Themes are applied as needed to the 7 PRINCE2 Processes:


PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap 21

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Now youve sampled my PRINCE2 Walkthrough and Roadmap, perhaps you would like to download my FREE PRINCE2
Step-By-Step Guide a 50 page overview of the full PRINCE2 Method, You are now one of the few folks out there who
are taking their path to PRINCE2 Practitioner seriously
It is important that you create a study plan to absorb the high-level information in this PRINCE2 Step-By-Step Guide.
It has been designed by me to be easy to read and absorb by you:

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My PRINCE Primer is now an Approved and Licensed Product
supported by the APM Group as recommended pre-course
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PRINCE2 is a registered trade mark of the Cabinet Office
The Swirl Logo is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce.