Chapter 12: Progress

Question 1

What is the purpose of the Progress theme?

Answer 1

The purpose of the progress theme is to:
* establish mechanisms to monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned
* provide a forecast for the project’s objectives and continued viability
* control any unacceptable deviations.

Question 2

What does Progress Control mean within Project Management?

Answer 2

Progress Control means measuring actual progress against the performance targets of time, cost, quality, scope, benefits and risk.

Question 3

What PRINCE2 Principle is connected to the Progress theme?

Answer 3

Manage by exception Principle.

Question 4

TRUE or FALSE:
Progress can be monitored at work package level, stage level and project level

Answer 4

TRUE

Question 5

What are the minimum requirements for the Progress theme?

Answer 5

A PRINCE2 project must:
* define its approach to controlling progress in the PID
* be managed by stages
* set tolerances and be managed by exception against them
* review the business justification when exceptions are raised
* learn lessons

Question 6

How does PRINCE2 ensure progress control?

Where should these means of progress control be documented?

Answer 6

• delegating authority from one level of management to the level below it
• dividing the project into management stage and authorizing the project one management stage at the time
• time-driven (i.e., at predefined periodic intervals) and event-driven (i.e., when a specific event occurs) progress reporting and reviews
• raising exceptions

The means of progress control should be documented in the PID

Question 7

What are the 6 types of tolerances against which a PRINCE2 project is managed by exception?

Answer 7

Time
Cost
Quality
Scope
Benefits
Risk

Question 8

The 6 types of tolerances against which a PRINCE2 project is managed by exceptions are time, cost, quality, scope, benefits, risk.

How can a Benefit tolerance be exceeded?

Answer 8

When there is failure to achieve an expected benefit, or when the resulting benefits of a project fall below the minimum threshold forecasted in the beginning of the project.

Question 9

Who sets tolerances for the Project?
Who gets informed if there is a forecast that the project will deviate from the agreed-upon Project tolerances?

Answer 9

The corporate, programme management or the customer.

Question 10

Who sets tolerances for the Stage?
Who gets informed if there is a forecast that the project will deviate from the agreed-upon Stage tolerances?

Answer 10

The Project Board.

Question 11

Who sets tolerances for the Work Package?
Who gets informed if there is a forecast that the project will deviate from the agreed-upon Work Package tolerances?

Answer 11

The Project Manager

Question 12

What are the two types of progress control?

Answer 12

1. Event-driven control = takes place when a specific event occurs (e.g., the completion of PID or the end of a management stage)
2. Time-driven control = takes place at predefined periodic intervals (e.g., producing highlight monthly reports for the project board)

Monitoring and reporting requires a time-driven approach, while control (decision-making) is an event-based activity.

Question 13

What are the management products (documents) that assist the project manager in establishing baselines for project control?

btw, “establishing baselines for project control” means defining and documenting the initial, planned state or expectations for key project parameters (e.g., scope, schedule, cost) at the beginning of the project

Answer 13

• Project plan - includes the project-level performance targets and tolerances
• Stage plan - forms the basis of the day-to-day control of the management stage and detail stage-level tolerances
• Exception plan - may be request by the project board after considering an exception report
• Work package - forms an agreement between the project manager and the team manager as to the work to be completed within defined tolerances.

Question 14

As part of controlling a stage, the project manager will regularly review the progress of work through checkpoint reports and maintain project registers and logs. What document will the project manager update using this information?

Answer 14

The PM will use the checkpoint reports, project registers and log to update the STAGE PLAN with actual progress achieved.

Question 15

What are the management products (documents) that assist the project team and the corporate/programme/customer in reviewing progress?

Answer 15

• Issue register = contains details of all formal issues raised during the project
• Product status account = provides a snapshot of the status of the products within the project, management stage or a particular area of the project
• Quality register = records all planned and implemented quality activities
• Risk register = records identified risks

Question 16

One Principle of Prince 2 is to “learn from experience”. Reviewing progress is a great moment for the project manager to capture and report lessons. What document is used for that?

Answer 16

A lesson log.

Question 17

What management products (documents) assist the project team and the corporate/programme/customer in reporting progress?

Answer 17

• Checkpoint reports = provides the project manager with details of progress against the work package; typically produced by the team manager
• Highlight reports = provides the project board with details of the progress for the whole project and/or management stage; produced by the project manager
• End stage reports = provides the project board with details of progress towards the end of each management stage (except the final stage); produced by the project manager
• End project report = provides the project board with information needed to evaluate the project and authorize closure; produced by the project manager towards the end of the project.

Question 18

What happens when there is a forecast that the project tolerances will be exceeded?

Answer 18

The project board no longer has the authority to direct the project and must refer the matter to corporate/programme/customer for a decision. The corporate/programme/customer may request the project manager to produce an exception plan for the project.

Question 19

What happens when there is a forecast that the stage tolerances will be exceeded?

Answer 19

The project manager should produce an issue report to capture and analyze the details of the deviation. Then the PM should provide an exception report to the Board.

Based on this report, the Board may request the PM to produce an exception plan (which should be assessed by the Board - called “exception assessment”) to replace the current plan that was forcast to exceed tolerance.

However, the Board may also remove the cause, accept and adjust tolerance.

Question 20

What are some examples of progress evaluation techniques?

Answer 20

Burn charts, Kanban boards, Milestone charts, S-curve, Earned value management (p. 155).