PRINCE 2

PRINCE is the acronym for Projects IN Controlled Environments.

PRINCE2 2017® is a well-established project management methodology used in business and

government. It provides a proven best practice model that helps ensure project delivery is
on time, on budget, of high quality and meets customer requirements. [ CITATION Ins20 \l
1033 ]

It focuses on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages, with flexibility. It is the
official project methodology in UK and involves 7 principles, 7 themes and 7 processes.

The 7 principles are the “why” of the project:

1. Continued justification of your business

2. Learning from experience
3. Defined roles and responsibilities
4. Focus on products (quality and delivery requirements)
5. Manage by stages (is the project broken down into manageable stages to enable continuous
monitoring and review?)
6. Manage by exception (are team members given enough scope to work effectively within the
project?)
7. Approach is adjusted for each project

It has 7 basic themes that focus on the “what” of the project – what must we do to run a
successful project:

1. Business case
2. Organisation defines roles and responsibilities within the project team
3. Quality – determine the quality requirements of the project and set the path to achieving
them
4. Plan – what steps you need to take and what techniques you need to use to develop the
project
5. Risk – clearly identify any potential risks and implement a contingency plan for avoiding or
managing these risks.
6. Change – how you as a project manager will evaluate and tackle the changes on the project
7. Progress

The 7 Processes are the “how” of any PRINCE project. They outline what should be done, and
when:

1. Starting up the project – assembling the project team, creating the project brief etc.
2. Initiating the project – documenting the project plan, risks, project controls and plans for the
next stage
3. Directing the project – controlling, giving ad-hoc directing, and confirming the end of the
project
4. Controlling a stage – each stage separately
5. Managing stage boundaries, updating plans
6. Managing product delivery
7. Closing the project – wrap up, including documentation and outcomes