PRINCE2 2017 - Everything you need to know!

The world’s most practised project management methodology, PRINCE2 is changing from this July. It’s been a long time coming - with the last update being implemented eight years ago in 2009. AXELOS announced the changes at the beginning of January and they appear to have been met with a good reception! The methodology has been substantially modernised to meet the latest project management ideologies which have permeated businesses in recent years.

But why is a PRINCE2 2017 update happening?

AXELOS, the accrediting body, has been monitoring feedback from all over the world and keeping up with any changes that happen over time. They are keen to acknowledge and respond accordingly. As such, they came to the conclusion that the syllabus and exams should be updated to make the courses more practical, authoritative and relevant.

The PRINCE2 2017 Syllabus: What is going to change?

Within the PRINCE2® framework, the relationship between the corporate/programme management and the project management is important to define, especially with regard to progress. In this post, we'll explain the roles that corporate/programme management (hitherto c/p management) must fulfill and clearly set out the responsibilities of the project management in terms of notifying and updating c/p management on the progress of the project.

You can learn how to apply PRINCE2 to your projects on our PRINCE2 Practitioner Course.

Philosophy

For c/p management, it's about spending as little time as possible involved in the project whilst still maintaining overall control. This is termed 'management by exception'. Effectively this means that the c/p management approve the initial project plan and it's constraints, and then receive weekly or monthly updates (or whatever interval is appropriate for the time-frame) from the project management. So long as everything is running within the approved constraints, there should be no need for regular face-to-face meetings.

If the project does go outside of these pre-approved parameters then it is the c/p management's prerogative as to whether a review meeting is necessary.

Aside from overall approval of the direction and parameters of the project, the c/p management has other responsibilities to ensure the project runs effectively:

The word “theme” is used in PRINCE2® to refer to the various crucial aspects of a project, why they should be a priority, and how they should be controlled. They are known as themes because they are referred back to throughout the whole PRINCE2 process.

The PRINCE2 themes are Business Case, Organisation, Plans, Progress, Risk, Quality and Change. A few weeks ago, I talked about the Plans theme of PRINCE2, and now it’s time to outline the Quality theme. Of course, we go through all the PRINCE2 themes and processes in our PRINCE2 training courses, to equip you to pass the exams and to give you real-world knowledge that you can apply as soon as you return to work.

Quality of the output is a priority within PRINCE2 projects - and of course for all business owners, CEOs and project managers. Once the customer’s expectations of quality have been identified, standards will be documented and processes put in place to check throughout the project lifecycle that these quality standards are going to be met. Part of the quality theme is ensuring that these processes are being used correctly.

Applying PRINCE2® to smaller projects can be difficult because it was originally designed to cope with the larger, more encompassing side of Project Management.

As such, when undertaking smaller projects, some Project Managers have a tendency to disregard PRINCE2 principles and take a more holistic approach. More often than not, this will be of detriment to the overall success of the project, as regardless of size it is still important to adhere to accepted processes within Project Management.

On our PRINCE2 training courses, our trainers go out of their way to make sure that everyone learns how to tailor PRINCE2 to their own project environment.

The 2009 'refresh' of PRINCE2 sought to give scope for the tailoring of PRINCE2 processes to projects of various sizes. As such, in this post we will discuss how to adapt key aspects of PRINCE2 to apply to small-scale projects and why this is so important. But first we'll discuss the way in which you shouldn't be managing small-projects.

Once that is agreed and decided there are several options that may be available to us...

• We could “do nothing”
• We could move to a larger house
• We could build an extension on side of the existing house
• We could grow into the loft
• We could adapt the existing room layout

Each of these OPTIONS would, of course, have different costs and timescales attached to them... but we would consider them all, and decide which of them could be discounted and capture why that decision was made. We may be left with a couple of alternatives which need further investigation, but eventually, we come to a decision on the way forward... and that is our chosen OPTION.

Learn more about the Business Case in PRINCE2 on our PRINCE2 Foundation and PRINCE2 Practitioner Training Courses. One of our most popular training methods is applying PRINCE2 to everyday examples to help you understand them and pass your exam!

In a project such as the above, the costing and timescale would almost certainly have been supplied by a builder and their associated trades, and all of these costs added together will form the basis of the COST heading in our Business Case. Equally the overall timescale from their various trades will equate to the TIMESCALE  heading in our Business case. It should be noted here that the builder (and other trades) are all in business to make a profit, and therefore they will all have their own Business Case... our focus is on OUR Business Case.

APMG, the accrediting board for PRINCE2® have announced a format change to both the PRINCE2 Practitioner and Practitioner Re-Registration exams.

These changes have come about as result of a candidate survey which highlighted some issues with the timings of each exam. If you would like to learn all you need to pass your PRINCE2 exams, try our PRINCE2 Training Courses.

The fully changed formats for each are as follows:

Practitioner Exam

• 8 questions
• 10 question items per question, each worth one mark, total 80 marks
• 2.5 hours (150 minutes) duration, no additional reading time
• 44+ marks to pass (55%)
• Open book exam (official PRINCE2 manual only)
• Trainer pass mark - 53 out of 80 (66%)

Practitioner Re-Registration Exam

• 3 questions
• 10 question items per question, each worth one mark, total 30 marks
• 1 hour (60 minute) duration, no additional reading time
• 17+ marks to pass (55%)
• Open book exam (official PRINCE2 manual only)
• Trainer pass mark - 20 out of 30 (66%)

These changes will take immediate effect from January 1st 2013 and will entirely replace the 'old' format of the exams.

Welcome to our PRINCE2® Training Resources page, here you can find all our online resources including our PRINCE2 Quiz, PRINCE2 eBook and PRINCE2 Templates. You can use these resources to revise for your PRINCE2 exam or to start learning about PRINCE2 and all its features.

If you would like to learn more about PRINCE2 Training or take a PRINCE2 exam then come along to our PRINCE2 Foundation Training, PRINCE2 Practitioner Training and PRINCE2 Practitioner Conversion Training in Brighton, Sussex.

Is there something we've missed? Let us know in the comments and we'll do our best to add it as soon as possible.

Welcome to our PRINCE2® Training Resources page, here you can find all our online resources including our PRINCE2 Quiz, PRINCE2 eBook and PRINCE2 Templates. You can use these resources to revise for your PRINCE2 exam or to start learning about PRINCE2 and all its features.

If you would like to learn more about PRINCE2 Training or take a PRINCE2 exam then come along to our PRINCE2 Foundation Training, PRINCE2 Practitioner Training and PRINCE2 Practitioner Conversion Training in Brighton, Sussex.

Is there something we've missed? Let us know in the comments and we'll do our best to add it as soon as possible.