Theme: Plans

Question 1

what are the 3 levels of planning

Answer 1

• Project plan: provides a high-level view of the full project, comprising key milestones, resource requirements, and overall cost and time estimate.
• Stage plan: a detailed plan used as a basis for project management control throughout a management stage. Each element will be broken down to the level of detail required to be an adequate basis for day-to-day control by the Project Manager.
• team plan: covers the work of the team during that stage or for a work package. In PRINCE2 team plans are optional

Question 2

which type of plan is optional in Prince2

Answer 2

Team plan

Question 3

how many management stages must a Prince2 project have?

• name the stages

Answer 3

2 stages:

• 1) the initiation stage (thinking) and
• 2) the rest of the project (doing)

Question 4

what are the 7 planning steps

Answer 4

1) designing a plan: where we decide the number of stages, the format of the plan and the links to the programme or portfolio where appropriate

2)defining and analysing products: using the product focused steps

3) Identifying activities + dependencies: defining the work required: to develop the products and the dependencies between them
4) Preparing estimates:
5) Preparing a schedule
6) Documenting a plan
7) Analysing risk to a plan (this happens at every stage of the plan)

Note: This approach can be applied to any level of plan (e.g project plan / stage plan/ team plan

Question 5

what are the Prince2 minimum requirements for planning

Answer 5

• Ensure that plans enable the business case to be realized
• Have at least two management stages (initiation and rest of the project)
• Produce a project plan for the whole project and a stage plan for each management stage * Use the product-based planning technique for project, stage and exception plans and optionally for team plans
• Produce specific plans for managing exception
• Define the roles and responsibilities for planning
• Use lessons to inform planning

Question 6

what are the 4 products that must be produced

Answer 6

• the project product description
• product descriptions
• a product breakdown structure
• a plan.
• Note: A fifth product is recommended which is the product flow diagram but this is optional*

Question 7

when is a stage plan used

Answer 7

A stage plan is required for each management stage. Each stage plan is finalised near to the end of the previous stage

Question 8

who produces team plans (if there is one)

Answer 8

Team plans are produced by the Team manager

Question 9

when is an exception plan made

Answer 9

this is produced when a plan will no longer finish within the agreed tolerances. The exception plan is produced to replace the original plan.

• It needs to be produced to the same level of detail as the plan it replaces (exception plans can either be at project or stage level).

Question 10

who needs to approve the exception plan if it replaces the original stage plan

Answer 10

the project board

Question 11

who needs to approve the exception plan if it replaces the original project plan

Answer 11

corporate or programme management

Question 12

what is product based planning

Answer 12

this is when you take time to understand the products that need to be produced in a project first. This allows you to better understand the stages involved to producing the product.

Question 13

what are the 4 main stages of product based planning

Answer 13

• Writing the project product description – the senior user is responsible for specifying this but in practice the PM + executive can work on this with the senior user
• create a product breakdown structure (PBS) – involves breaking down the components of the project in a hierarchical structure. Prince2 doesn’t define a format for this, It is down to your preference how you do it
• Writing product descriptions for all identified products
• create a product flow diagram – used to show the order in which products must be created.

Question 14

what is the Prince2 definition of a product

Answer 14

anything that is produced by, or on the way through a project.

Question 15

what are “baseline products”

Answer 15

All the items of paperwork, reports and control mechanisms that have to be produced during the course of a project’s lifetime to ensure that the project is managed correctly

E.g business case, registers, checkpoint, highlight reports, end project reports

Question 16

why are external products not included in the Product breakdown structure (PBS)

Answer 16

because we can’t control external products (so can’t plan them).

External products are included in the risk register

Question 17

what are the benefits of product based planning

Answer 17

• Removes ambiguity and involves users in specifying the product requirements which in turn can improve communication.
• Clarify the scope boundary
• Identify external products and therefore associate risks
• Create a basis for work packages for suppliers
• Gain agreement on production, review and approval responsibilities.