Project Support

Project Support provides an administrative role in a PRINCE2 project environment. In case of

small-scale projects, this role is assumed by the Project Manager, but large-scale projects tend to
require a complete Project Support Team. Project Support can be anything from advice and
assistance to administrative services such as collecting and compiling data.
The duties associated with the PRINCE2 Project Support role are normally carried out by the
Project Manager. However, where suitable, the Project Manager can assign some of this
responsibility to another entity. Project support should advise the project manager of any
proposed or actual changes to products that affect the business case. It could also provide
specialist functions to a project such as planning or risk management. Project support is typically
responsible for administering change control unless a corporate, program management or
customer function is performing it. The role of project support is not optional, but the allocation
of a separate individual or group to carry out the required tasks is.

Project Support responsibilities that may be delegated include:

 Administrative services
 Advice and guidance on project management tools or configuration management
 Specialist functions like planning or risk management.
 Administering configuration management procedures the Configuration Management
Strategy (unless this is performed by program management).

Project Assurance

It is a PRINCE2 role responsible for monitoring every aspect of the project performance and
product performance independently from the Project Manager. Responsibility of Project
Assurance belongs to the members of the Project Board, who each take responsibility for the
distinct aspects of Project Assurance that falls within their respective area of interest
(Users, Suppliers or Business). Members of the Project Board may delegate the tasks belonging
to this role to individuals outside the Project Board. If they have sufficient time available, and the
appropriate level of skills and knowledge, they may conduct their own project assurance tasks;
otherwise they may appoint separate individuals to perform these.

Individuals involved in Project Assurance support the Project Manager rather than their activities
being independent of the Project Manager's activities. The individuals involved in Project
Assurance report to the appropriate Project Board member. The project board may also make use
of other members of the corporate, program management or customer organization to take on
specific project assurance roles, such as appointing the corporate quality manager to monitor the
quality aspects of the project. Project board members are accountable for the project assurance
actions aligned with their area of interest, even if they assign these to separate individuals.
Project assurance is not just an independent check, however. Personnel involved in project
assurance are also responsible for supporting the project manager, by giving advice and guidance
on issues such as the use of corporate standards or the correct personnel to be involved in
different aspects of the project (e.g. quality inspections or reviews).
When project assurance tasks are shared between project board members and other individuals, it
is important to clarify each person’s responsibilities. Anyone appointed to a project assurance
role reports to the project board member overseeing the relevant area of interest, and must be
independent of the project manager. The project board should not assign any project assurance
roles to the project manager or project support. As part of its function to monitor all aspects of
the project’s performance and products independently of the project manager, project assurance
should be involved in all the PRINCE2 processes.

The Purpose of PRINCE2 Project Assurance

 Verify and monitor the business case against external events and project progress.
 Ensure the project fits with the overall corporate, program management or customer
strategies.
 Monitor project finance on behalf of corporate, program management or the customer.
 Ensure the value-for-money solution is constantly reassessed.
 Monitor changes to the project plan to identify any impact on the needs of the business or the
business case.
 Review the impact assessment of potential changes on the business case and project plan.
 Verify and monitor the benefits management approach for alignment with corporate, program
management or the customer.
 Checking the performance and products independent of the Project Manager
 Ensuring that organizational standards and policies are followed in the project
Centre of excellence

The concept of a centre of excellence is that of a central standards unit, which defines standards
(such as processes, templates and tools), and provides skills, training and possibly independent
assurance functions to a number of projects. It is a corporate coordinating function for portfolios,
programs and projects providing standards, consistency of methods and processes, knowledge
management, assurance and training. A Centre of Excellence is a corporate standards unit that
supplies skills, tools and training to projects. For example, a Centre of Excellence may provide:

 Centralized configuration management system

 A central filing system
 Project Support skills
 Overview of all current projects and their status

Example of a centre of excellence

An organization has established a centre of excellence that provides:

 A central filing system for all projects.
 A configuration management system.
 Expertise for estimating techniques.
 Advice on the preparation of plans.
 A historical database of how long specific activities take (metrics) and an analysis of
productivity.
 PRINCE2® expertise and advice.
 Consolidated reports summarizing the status of all the projects in the portfolio.

A centre of excellence can be useful where:

 Resource shortages, either in numbers or skills, make it difficult to supply people to perform
project administration for each current project.
 There are a number of small projects of a diverse nature that individually require only limited
support from Project Support.
 There is a large program, requiring coordination of individual projects.
 A large project requires several resources to handle Project Support roles.
Differences in a nutshell:
Project Support
Project Support provides an administrative role
in a PRINCE2 project environment.
Project Support can be anything from advice
and assistance to administrative services such
as collecting and compiling data.
The duties associated with the PRINCE2
Project Support role are normally carried out
by the Project Manager. However, where
suitable, the Project Manager can assign some
of this responsibility to another entity.
Project support is typically responsible for
administering change control unless a
corporate, program management or customer
function is performing it.
The role of project support is not optional, but
the allocation of a separate individual or group
to carry out the required tasks is.
Project Support responsibilities that may be
delegated include:
 Administrative services
 Advice and guidance on project
management tools or configuration
management
 Specialist functions like planning or risk
management.
 Administering configuration management
procedures the Configuration Management
Strategy (unless this is performed by
program management).
Project Assurance
It is a PRINCE2 role responsible for monitoring
every aspect of the project performance and
product performance independently from
the Project Manager.
Responsibility of Project Assurance belongs to
the members of the Project Board.
Members of the Project Board may delegate the
tasks belonging to this role to individuals
outside the Project Board.
Individuals involved in Project Assurance
support the Project Manager rather than their
activities being independent of the Project
Manager's activities. The individuals involved
in Project Assurance report to the appropriate
Project Board member.
Project board members are accountable for the
project assurance actions aligned with their area
of interest, even if they assign these to separate
individuals.
As part of its function to monitor all aspects of
the project’s performance and products
independently of the project manager, project
assurance should be involved in all the
PRINCE2 processes.
Centre of Excellence
It which defines standards (such as processes,
templates and tools), and provides skills, training
and possibly independent assurance functions to a
number of projects.
It is a corporate coordinating function for
portfolios, programs and projects providing
standards, consistency of methods and processes,
knowledge management, assurance and training.
A Centre of Excellence may provide:
 Centralized configuration management
system
 A central filing system
 Project Support skills
 Overview of all current projects and their
status
A centre of excellence can be useful where:
 Resource shortages, either in numbers or
skills, make it difficult to supply people to
perform project administration for each
current project.
 There are a number of small projects of a
diverse nature that individually require only
limited support from Project Support.
Purpose of PRINCE2 Project Assurance:  There is a large program, requiring
coordination of individual projects.
 To verify and monitor the business case  A large project requires several resources to
against external events and project progress.
handle Project Support roles.
 To ensure the project fits with the overall
corporate, program management or
customer strategies.
 To monitor project finance on behalf of
corporate, program management or the
customer.
 To ensure the value-for-money solution is
constantly reassessed.
 To monitor changes to the project plan to
identify any impact on the needs of the
business or the business case.
 To review the impact assessment of
potential changes on the business case and
project plan.
 To verify and monitor the benefits
management approach for alignment with
corporate, program management or the
customer.
 To check the performance and products
independent of the Project Manager
 To ensure that organizational standards and
policies are followed in the project