Project Management Methodology Overview

Submitted by: mirage12

In 1996 PRINCE2 underwent a major revision, with input from both government and private industry, which resulted in a methodology that was more generic and business focussed. It was re-designed to incorporate the requirements of existing users and to enhance the methodology towards a generic, best practice approach for the management of all types of projects.

This version was named PRINCE2.

PRINCE2 has become widely used in both the public and private sectors and is now the UK's de facto standard for project management. It is also used in the government sector in Australia by a wide range of agencies, including the WA Department of Education, South Australian Education Department and the Federal Department of Defence. Collectively PRINCE2 is managing billions of dollars of IT and construction related projects in Australia at the current time.

PRINCE2 also provides structured guidelines on the management of strategic programs of work rather than simply project management related activities.
Benefits

PRINCE2 provides benefits to the organisation, as well as the managers and directors of the project, through the controllable use of resources and the ability to manage business and project risk more effectively. PRINCE2 enables projects to have:

* a controlled and organised start, middle and end;

* regular reviews of progress against plan and against the Business Case;

* flexible decision points;

* automatic management control of any deviations from the plan;

* the involvement of management and stakeholders at the right time and place during the project;

* good communication channels between the project, project management, and the rest of the organisation.

Key Elements:

PRINCE2 is a process-based approach for project management providing an easily tailored and scaleable methodology for the management of all types of projects. Each process is defined with its key inputs and outputs together with the specific objectives to be achieved and activities to be carried out.

The methodology recommends that a project be divided into manageable stages, enabling efficient control of resources and regular progress monitoring throughout the project. Stage boundaries represent points at which the project owners can make critical decisions regarding the future conduct of the project (e.g. to approve the commencement of the next stage or to alter the remaining scope of the project).

The various roles and responsibilities for managing a project are fully described and are adaptable to suit the size and complexity of the project and the skills of the organisation. Project planning using PRINCE2 is product-based which means the project plans are focused on delivering results and are not simply about planning when the various activities on the project will be done.

There are often different groups of people involved in projects: the customer, one or more suppliers, and, of course, the user. PRINCE2 is designed to provide a common language across all the interested parties involved in a project. Bringing customers and suppliers together typically involves contracts and contract management, although these aspects are outside the scope of PRINCE2, the methodology provides the necessary controls and breakpoints to work successfully within a contractual framework.