PRINCE2 Project Management – Online Best Practices Tools & Templates from upBOARD

PRINCE2 stands for Projects in Controlled Environments. As the name would imply, PRINCE2 Project Management is a highly structured project method that involves breaking projects into small, easy to manage stages. The stages are determined based on how they fare in six different categories: scope, length of time, risk, quality, benefits, and cost. Specifically, the process of deciding how manageable each aspect of the project is requires that the project team consider the size of the smaller project goal, how long it will take to complete, how much risk is associated with it, etc.

PRINCE2 Project Management is based on seven principles that must be integrated into the project in order for it to be considered as managed with the PRINCE2 method. These principles cannot be adjusted in any way.

1. Continued Business Justification: This document should be continually updated as the project progresses, so that it remains feasible.
2. Learn from Experience: As the team progresses through each stage, a log or diary should be kept so that successful strategies can be recycled at different stages and unsuccessful occurrences do not get repeated.
3. Defined Roles and Responsibilities: An individual project team member might have many roles on different aspects of the project and could be responsible for many different tasks within a stage. In PRINCE2, a role will fall into either a project board, project manager or team level position and the responsibilities will differ depending on what role the individual is assigned.
4. Manage by Stages: By definition, PRINCE2 Project Management requires breaking the project into smaller stages. As the team moves from one stage to the next, the business case should be updated, the level of risk involved with the new stage should be assessed, a detailed plan should be executed, and the overall project plan should be adapted to reflect any changes that were made in the preceding stages or need to be made in the upcoming stages.
5. Manage by Exception: The six criteria for determining the stages are first determined by the individuals at the team level. In the event that the estimations of criteria for each step in the process are misjudged (e.g., a certain task is expected to cost more money that what was projected), the next highest-level individual must determine how to handle that issue.
6. Focus on Products: Every stage in the project process should aim to produce a high quality product at the end or complete the work that is necessary to ensure that a high quality product can be distributed.
7. Tailor to Suit the Project Environment: For each stage, in addition to considering the six criteria, the project team must also consider the environment the product is being created in. This review involves examining the amount of resources available, the importance of the project to the stakeholders, the complexity of the company, etc. The stages must be tailored to fit these limitations

PRINCE2 Project Management can be supported with a Business Case document and a project log that is kept daily. Both of these can be made electronically or hand-written.

Unlike most traditional PRINCE2 Project Management techniques, upBOARD’s online PRINCE2 Project Management tools allow any team or organization to instantly begin working with our web templates and input forms. Our digital platform goes far beyond other software tools by including progress dashboards, data integration from existing documents or other SaaS software, elegant intuitive designs, and full access on any desktop or mobile device.

Learn more about upBOARD’s full portfolio of online digital best practice tools and templates for specific topics, including business strategy, marketing, human resources, operations, innovation, project management, change management, and software development.

Learn more about upBOARD’s portfolio of other project management best practice tools and templates including:

Action Item List, Agile Project Management, Benefits Realization Methodology, Critical Chain Project Management, Critical Path Chart, Critical Path Method, Event Chain Methodology, Extreme Project Management, Gantt Chart, Integrated Project Management, Issue Tracker, IT Roadmap, Lean Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, Plan of Intent (PoI), Plan of Record (PoR), PMBOK Project Management, PRINCE2 Project Management, PRiSM Project Management, Process-Based Project Management, Program Management, Project Budgeting, Project Charter, Project Dashboard, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Project Portfolio Timeline, Project Risk Management, Project Rollup, Project Schedule, Project Scorecard, Project Timeline, Project Tracker, Requirements Breakdown Structure, SCRUM Project Management, Skills Requirement Checklist, Task List, Time Card, To Do List, Waterfall Project Management, and Work Breakdown Structure.