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74-686: Darling & Whitty (2016) note that the definition of the PMO's function has evolved over time: Often, PMOs base project management principles on industry-standard methodologies such as PRINCE2 or guidelines such as PMBOK . There are many reasons for project failures. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1,524 organizations, inadequate project estimating and planning constitutes 30% of project failures, lack of executive sponsorship constitutes 16%, and poorly defined goals and objectives constitutes 12%. It also found that using established project management approaches increased success as measured by

148-484: A mindset that keeps the project aligned with the PRINCE2 methodology. If a project does not adhere to these principles, it is not being managed using PRINCE2. Not every aspect of PRINCE2 will be applicable to every project, thus every process has a note on scalability . This provides guidance to the project manager (and others involved in the project) as to how much of the process to apply. The positive aspect of this

222-450: A "standard" – which can be used alongside each other. In practice, companies and practitioners choose one system or both depending on the project environment, their geographical location and costs involved. Project management Project management is the process of supervising the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation , created at

296-444: A broader remit including getting and sustaining the benefits from projects/programs. Portfolio management offices have the added responsibility of supporting organizations in achieving strategic goals PRINCE2 PRINCE2 ( PRojects IN Controlled Environments ) is a structured project management method and practitioner certification programme. PRINCE2 emphasises dividing projects into manageable and controllable stages. It

370-421: A few. Beyond executing the change in the field, the change normally needs to be documented to show what was actually constructed. This is referred to as change management. Hence, the owner usually requires a final record to show all changes or, more specifically, any change that modifies the tangible portions of the finished work. The record is made on the contract documents – usually, but not necessarily limited to,

444-452: A product, service or result with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, often constrained by funding or staffing) undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual (or operations) , which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services. In practice,

518-530: A project can be blamed on inappropriate application of PRINCE2 rather than on PRINCE2 itself. The experiences of the Blair administration in the UK between 1997 and 2007 (and of subsequent UK governments) arguably undermine PRINCE2's claim to be "best practice", given the string of high-profile failed IT projects charged to the taxpayer during that time, and the controversy surrounding the financial relationship between

592-426: A project to requirements might be agreeing to deliver a computer system that will process staff data and manage payroll, holiday, and staff personnel records in shorter times with reduced errors. Under BRM, the agreement might be to achieve a specified reduction in staff hours and errors required to process and maintain staff data after the system installation when compared without the system. Critical path method (CPM)

666-445: A project's key performance indicators of quality, scope , schedule , budgets and benefits. The survey indicates that operating an established PMO is one of the top three factors that drive successful project delivery. Darling & Whitty (2016) found that there is a complexity of interconnections in PMO intellectual capital, and though often the rationale for PMO establishment is to enhance stakeholder satisfaction with projects, often

740-423: A project's products are of the required standard (i.e. meet defined quality criteria). This takes place in a quality review meeting, which identifies errors in the product. The quality review meeting will not attempt to solve the problems it identifies. The meeting brings together people who have an interest in the project's outputs (or products) and people on the project team able to address issues identified. Below

814-417: A project. With the correct documentation, a project's success can be tracked and observed as the project goes on. If performed correctly documentation can be the backbone of a project's success Monitoring and controlling consist of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control

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888-459: A significant exploratory element (e.g., research and development ), these stages may be supplemented with decision points (go/no go decisions) at which the project's continuation is debated and decided. An example is the Phase–gate model . Project management relies on a wide variety of meetings to coordinate actions. For instance, there is the kick-off meeting, which broadly involves stakeholders at

962-430: A very different discipline. For example, project managers have a key role in improving the translation even when they do not speak the language of the translation, because they know the study objectives well to make informed decisions. Similarly, research study management can also apply a project manage approach. There is public project management that covers all public works by the government, which can be carried out by

1036-422: Is PRINCE2 . Traditionally (depending on what project management methodology is being used), project management includes a number of elements: four to five project management process groups, and a control system. Regardless of the methodology or terminology used, the same basic project management processes or stages of development will be used. Major process groups generally include: In project environments with

1110-456: Is a list of all the editions of PRINCE2. As of 1 January 2020, "PRINCE2 2017" was renamed "PRINCE2 6th Edition". Also, the previous edition, "PRINCE2 2009" was renamed "PRINCE2 5th Edition". There were no other changes except the name of the brand. The reason for the name change was to "ensure the format of the name is aligned with that used by other frameworks within the project management industry". As list of all versions of PRINCE2 are printed in

1184-417: Is a need for evidence-based management practice, that consultants and practitioners are providing unproven solutions in which organizations both public and private are investing enormous quantities of finance without assured outcome. The publication of opinions without scientific basis in the field of science, medicine or law would not be tolerated, and it is equally important for justification to be presented in

1258-525: Is adopted in many countries worldwide, including the UK, Western European countries, and Australia. PRINCE2 training is available in many languages. PRINCE2 was developed as a UK government standard for information systems projects. In July 2013, ownership of the rights to PRINCE2 were transferred from HM Cabinet Office to AXELOS Ltd , a joint venture by the Cabinet Office and Capita , with 49% and 51% stakes respectively. In 2021, PRINCE2

1332-402: Is an algorithm for determining the schedule for project activities. It is the traditional process used for predictive-based project planning. The CPM method evaluates the sequence of activities, the work effort required, the inter-dependencies, and the resulting float time per line sequence to determine the required project duration. Thus, by definition, the critical path is the pathway of tasks on

1406-401: Is an extension to the theory and practice of EVM. In critical studies of project management, it has been noted that phased approaches are not well suited for projects which are large-scale and multi-company, with undefined, ambiguous, or fast-changing requirements, or those with high degrees of risk, dependency, and fast-changing technologies. The cone of uncertainty explains some of this as

1480-532: Is argued that the core function of the PMO is to act as a catalyst for change and delivery within organizations. There are a range of PMO types, including: The Project Management Institute (PMI) Program Management Office Community of Practice (CoP) describes the PMO as a strategic driver for organizational excellence, which seeks to enhance the practices of execution management, organizational governance, and strategic change leadership. Darling & Whitty (2016) highlight that many PMO typologies have existed, from

1554-523: Is based on a project as a production system view, in which a project transforms inputs (raw materials, information, labor, plant & machinery) into outputs (goods and services). Product-based planning is a structured approach to project management, based on identifying all of the products (project deliverables ) that contribute to achieving the project objectives. As such, it defines a successful project as output-oriented rather than activity- or task-oriented. The most common implementation of this approach

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1628-414: Is easy to see whether or not a project's requirement has been met. To go along with that, documentation provides information regarding what has already been completed for that project. Documentation throughout a project provides a paper trail for anyone who needs to go back and reference the work in the past. In most cases, documentation is the most successful way to monitor and control the specific phases of

1702-470: Is famous for his use of the Gantt chart as a project management tool (alternatively Harmonogram first proposed by Karol Adamiecki ); and Henri Fayol for his creation of the five management functions that form the foundation of the body of knowledge associated with project and program management. Both Gantt and Fayol were students of Frederick Winslow Taylor 's theories of scientific management . His work

1776-426: Is happening to keep a project on track. This can help to reduce the risk of a completed project being a failure by delivering agreed upon requirements (outputs) i.e. project success but failing to deliver the benefits (outcomes) of those requirements i.e. product success. Note that good requirements management will ensure these benefits are captured as requirements of the project and their achievement monitored throughout

1850-464: Is now a de facto standard for project management in many UK government departments and across the United Nations system . There have been three major revisions of PRINCE2 since its launch in 1996: "PRINCE2:2009 Refresh" in 2009, and "PRINCE2 2017 Update" in 2017. The justification for the 2017 update was the evolution in practical business practices and feedback from PRINCE2 practitioners in

1924-521: Is referred to as IT project management and which specializes in the delivery of technical assets and services that are required to pass through various lifecycle phases such as planning, design, development, testing, and deployment. Biotechnology project management focuses on the intricacies of biotechnology research and development. Localization project management includes application of many standard project management practices to translation works even though many consider this type of management to be

1998-505: Is that PRINCE2 can be tailored to the needs of a particular project. The negative aspect is that many of the essential elements of PRINCE2 can be omitted sometimes resulting in a PINO project – PRINCE in Name Only The 7th edition of PRINCE2 introduced a major new aspect to the method - the role of people. The purpose of a project is to deliver change, which will affect the people who perform business as usual (BAU) activities. How well

2072-479: Is the forerunner to modern project management tools including work breakdown structure (WBS) and resource allocation . The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management era, where core engineering fields came together to work as one. Project management became recognized as a distinct discipline arising from the management discipline with the engineering model. In the United States, prior to

2146-525: Is to increase the flow of projects in an organization ( throughput ). Applying the first three of the five focusing steps of TOC, the system constraint for all projects, as well as the resources, are identified. To exploit the constraint, tasks on the critical chain are given priority over all other activities. Earned value management (EVM) extends project management with techniques to improve project monitoring. It illustrates project progress towards completion in terms of work and value (cost). Earned Schedule

2220-545: The C CTA E nvironment". PRINCE was renamed in a civil service competition as an acronym for " PR ojects IN C ontrolled E nvironments". PRINCE2 is the second edition of the earlier PRINCE method which was initially announced and developed in 1989 by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA), a UK government support agency. PRINCE2 was released in 1996 as a generic project management method. Since then, PRINCE2 became increasingly popular and

2294-426: The management of such distinct production approaches requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies. Until 1900, civil engineering projects were generally managed by creative architects, engineers, and master builders themselves, for example, Vitruvius (first century BC), Christopher Wren (1632–1723), Thomas Telford (1757–1834), and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859). In

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2368-415: The methodology employed, careful consideration must be given to the overall project objectives, timeline, and cost, as well as the roles and responsibilities of all participants and stakeholders . Benefits realization management (BRM) enhances normal project management techniques through a focus on outcomes (benefits) of a project rather than products or outputs and then measuring the degree to which that

2442-408: The 1950s, organizations started to apply project-management tools and techniques more systematically to complex engineering projects. As a discipline, project management developed from several fields of application including civil construction, engineering, and heavy defense activity. Two forefathers of project management are Henry Gantt , called the father of planning and control techniques, who

2516-413: The 1950s, projects were managed on an ad-hoc basis, using mostly Gantt charts and informal techniques and tools. At that time, two mathematical project-scheduling models were developed. The critical path method (CPM) was developed as a joint venture between DuPont Corporation and Remington Rand Corporation for managing plant maintenance projects. The program evaluation and review technique (PERT),

2590-467: The Blair government and PRINCE2's co-owners Capita . PRINCE2's training material addresses these failures, blaming them on inappropriate tailoring of PRINCE2 to the project environment, and advocating for more PRINCE2 training for government project managers to solve the problem. Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute may be seen as a competitor of PRINCE2. In general,

2664-531: The Iron Triangle or Triple Constraint in order for projects to be considered a success or failure. For each type of project management, project managers develop and utilize repeatable templates that are specific to the industry they're dealing with. This allows project plans to become very thorough and highly repeatable, with the specific intent to increase quality, lower delivery costs, and lower time to deliver project results. A 2017 study suggested that

2738-521: The UK, Australia prefer PRINCE2, and the US and American countries prefer PMP. Asia, Africa and the Middle East area have no strong preference for PMP or PRINCE2. The important thing is that PMP (PMBOK) can be used with PRINCE2. PRINCE2 and PMP acknowledge each other's existence in their advertising material and attempt to position themselves as complementary products – PRINCE2 as a "methodology" and PMP as

2812-516: The actual project environment. More recently, in 2023 AXELOS launched PRINCE2 7 - the 7th edition - which is described below. These aspects are also called tolerances or performance goals . Tolerances define the delegated levels of authority which are set by a higher level of management to a lower level. The management level responsible must manage within the tolerances provided only as long as they are not forecast to be exceeded. Otherwise they are deemed to be an exception which requires escalating to

2886-551: The advertised benefits of PRINCE2 are: increased quality of the finished products, efficient control of resources, avoidance of either "heroic" (under-regulated) or "mechanistic" (over-regulated) working, and increased confidence among the project team. PRINCE2 is sometimes considered inappropriate for small projects or where requirements are expected to change, due to the work required in creating and maintaining documents, logs and lists. The deliverable structure may also lead to focus on producing deliverables for their own sake, to "tick

2960-416: The beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope , time and budget . The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet predefined objectives. The objective of project management is to produce a complete project which complies with the client's objectives. In many cases, the objective of project management is also to shape or reform

3034-479: The boxes" rather than do more useful work. The general response of PRINCE2's authors to criticism has been to point out that the methodology is scalable and can be tailored to suit the specific requirements and constraints of the project and the environment. This strong emphasis on tailoring has led some users to complain that PRINCE2 is unfalsifiable , i.e. it is impossible to tell whether PRINCE2 "works" or constitutes "best practice" if any problems encountered with

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3108-449: The client's brief to feasibly address the client's objectives. Once the client's objectives are established, they should influence all decisions made by other people involved in the project– for example, project managers, designers, contractors and subcontractors. Ill-defined or too tightly prescribed project management objectives are detrimental to the decisionmaking process. A project is a temporary and unique endeavor designed to produce

3182-430: The cover of the PRINCE2 manual: (*nth names added for other editions in order for context, but they were not referred to these names originally. However, they are referenced as such in the PRINCE2 manual cover page.) PRINCE2 provides a method for managing projects within a clearly defined framework, but project management is a complex discipline and using such a framework is no guarantee of a successful project. Some of

3256-405: The design drawings. The end product of this effort is what the industry terms as-built drawings, or more simply, "as built." The requirement for providing them is a norm in construction contracts. Construction document management is a highly important task undertaken with the aid of an online or desktop software system or maintained through physical documentation. The increasing legality pertaining to

3330-496: The early 1800s as a collective for running government strategy in the agricultural sector, to the civil infrastructure projects of the early 20th century, to the early 2000s when the PMO became a commodity to be traded upon. It would be impossible to group PMOs into specific types (Darling & Whitty, 2016). Whilst the 'P' in PMO usually stands for "project," it can also refer to "program" or "portfolio." Where project management offices support projects, program management offices have

3404-649: The establishment of the PMO leads to significant dissatisfaction in senior management. A PMO may have other functions beyond standards and methodology, and may participate in strategic project management either as a facilitator or owner of the Portfolio Management process. Tasks may include monitoring and reporting on active projects and portfolios (following up project until completion) and reporting progress to top management for strategic decisions on what projects to continue or cancel. The degree of control and influence that PMOs have on projects depends on

3478-471: The execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan. Monitoring and controlling include: Two main mechanisms support monitoring and controlling in projects. On the one hand, contracts offer a set of rules and incentives often supported by potential penalties and sanctions. On the other hand, scholars in business and management have paid attention to

3552-642: The first integrated process for portfolio, program, and project management ( total cost management framework). In 1969, the Project Management Institute (PMI) was formed in the USA. PMI publishes the original version of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) in 1996 with William Duncan as its primary author, which describes project management practices that are common to "most projects, most of

3626-409: The government agencies or contracted out to contractors. Another classification of project management is based on the hard (physical) or soft (non-physical) type. Common among all the project management types is that they focus on three important goals: time, quality, and cost. Successful projects are completed on schedule, within budget, and according to previously agreed quality standards i.e. meeting

3700-672: The initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail (see an example of a flowchart ). The main purpose is to plan time, cost, and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. As with the Initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly reduces the project's chances of successfully accomplishing its goals. Project planning generally consists of Additional processes, such as planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for

3774-591: The management field. Some PMOs operate in specialist contexts. In the Scaled Agile Framework the term APMO is used to define a PMO with a focus on supporting business agility. PMO departments change frequently and for a variety of reasons. Research indicates that changes to portfolio management and methods, collaboration and accountability; project management maturity and performance; and work climate are all factors that drive PMO change. Whilst PMO functions change through frequent transformations, it

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3848-461: The management level which delegated them. This way of managing is known as 'management by exception' and is one of the principles of PRINCE2. By managing in this way, it saves the time of senior management. In some organisations tolerances can be key performance indicators (KPIs). In the following table project level tolerances are summarised: PRINCE2 is based on seven principles and these cannot be tailored. The PRINCE2 principles can be described as

3922-475: The network diagram that has no extra time available (or very little extra time)." Critical chain project management (CCPM) is an application of the theory of constraints (TOC) to planning and managing projects and is designed to deal with the uncertainties inherent in managing projects, while taking into consideration the limited availability of resources (physical, human skills, as well as management & support capacity) needed to execute projects. The goal

3996-405: The objective, participant list, and facilitation methods. The initiating processes determine the nature and scope of the project. If this stage is not performed well, it is unlikely that the project will be successful in meeting the business' needs. The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into

4070-512: The organization. For example, when working on a brick-and-mortar design and construction, projects will typically progress through stages like pre-planning, conceptual design, schematic design, design development, construction drawings (or contract documents), and construction administration. While the phased approach works well for small, well-defined projects, it often results in challenge or failure on larger projects, or those that are more complex or have more ambiguities, issues, and risks - see

4144-442: The other hand, allows for stochastic activity times; the times at which each activity will be carried out are uncertain or varied. Because of this core difference, CPM and PERT are used in different contexts. These mathematical techniques quickly spread into many private enterprises. At the same time, as project-scheduling models were being developed, technology for project cost estimating , cost management and engineering economics

4218-511: The parodying 'six phases of a big project'. The incorporation of process-based management has been driven by the use of maturity models such as the OPM3 and the CMMI (capability maturity model integration; see Image:Capability Maturity Model.jpg Project production management is the application of operations management to the delivery of capital projects. The Project production management framework

4292-549: The planning made on the initial phase of the project suffers from a high degree of uncertainty. This becomes especially true as software development is often the realization of a new or novel product. These complexities are better handled with a more exploratory or iterative and incremental approach. Several models of iterative and incremental project management have evolved, including agile project management , dynamic systems development method , extreme project management , and Innovation Engineering®. Lean project management uses

4366-523: The principles from lean manufacturing to focus on delivering value with less waste and reduced time. There are five phases to a project lifecycle; known as process groups. Each process group represents a series of inter-related processes to manage the work through a series of distinct steps to be completed. This type of project approach is often referred to as "traditional" or " waterfall ". The five process groups are: Some industries may use variations of these project stages and rename them to better suit

4440-424: The project delivers the change, depends on the capabilities of the project team, the strength of the relationships between them, and the people impacted by the change. For these reasons, PRINCE2 recommends that projects must incorporate change management to be able to successfully implement the change into the organization. The management products described by PRINCE2 are only used for the "high-level" management of

4514-572: The project into compliance with the project management plan. Project maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: In this stage, auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems are resolved. Over the course of any construction project, the work scope may change. Change is a normal and expected part of the construction process. Changes can be the result of necessary design modifications, differing site conditions, material availability, contractor-requested changes, value engineering, and impacts from third parties, to name

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4588-488: The project management plan's deliverables are executed accordingly. This phase involves proper allocation, coordination, and management of human resources and any other resources such as materials and budgets. The output of this phase is the project deliverables. Documenting everything within a project is key to being successful. To maintain budget, scope, effectiveness and pace a project must have physical documents pertaining to each specific task. With correct documentation, it

4662-446: The project's initiation. Project meetings or project committees enable the project team to define and monitor action plans. Steering committees are used to transition between phases and resolve issues. Project portfolio and program reviews are conducted in organizations running parallel projects. Lessons learned meetings are held to consolidate learnings. All these meetings employ techniques found in meeting science , particularly to define

4736-466: The project, and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable. For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities and may help to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities. While executing we must know what are the planned terms that need to be executed . The execution/implementation phase ensures that

4810-404: The project. In addition, BRM practices aim to ensure the strategic alignment between project outcomes and business strategies. The effectiveness of these practices is supported by recent research evidencing BRM practices influencing project success from a strategic perspective across different countries and industries. These wider effects are called the strategic impact. An example of delivering

4884-423: The project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made to fix them. The initiating stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas. These areas can be recorded in a series of documents called Project Initiation documents. Project Initiation documents are a series of planned documents used to create an order for the duration of the project. These tend to include: After

4958-436: The project. Within its tasks , task managers must still decide on their own project management framework. Some suggestions given in the PRINCE2 manual are product based planning , change control , quality review technique, Kanban boards , Gantt charts , PERT charts and critical path analysis. PRINCE2 can also be used to manage projects that use agile software development methods. The quality review technique ensures

5032-532: The role of integrators (also called project barons) to achieve a project's objectives. In turn, recent research in project management has questioned the type of interplay between contracts and integrators. Some have argued that these two monitoring mechanisms operate as substitutes as one type of organization would decrease the advantages of using the other one. In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and control process also provides feedback between project phases, to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring

5106-454: The success of any project depends on how well four key aspects are aligned with the contextual dynamics affecting the project, these are referred to as the four P's : There are a number of approaches to organizing and completing project activities, including phased, lean, iterative, and incremental. There are also several extensions to project planning, for example, based on outcomes (product-based) or activities (process-based). Regardless of

5180-574: The time." Project management methods can be applied to any project. It is often tailored to a specific type of project based on project size, nature, industry or sector. For example, the construction industry, which focuses on the delivery of things like buildings, roads, and bridges, has developed its own specialized form of project management that it refers to as construction project management and in which project managers can become trained and certified. The information technology industry has also evolved to develop its own form of project management that

5254-414: The type of PMO. The three general types are: There are many opinions about what practices PMOs must fulfill. The PMBoK 5th edition dedicates a page and a half to such discussion, identifying 6 PMO functions. Hobbs & Aubry (2010) identify 27 distinct functions of PMOs, highlighting a number of these that were found to not correlate with enhanced project performance. Darling & Whitty (2016) state there

5328-535: Was developed by the U.S. Navy Special Projects Office in conjunction with the Lockheed Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton as part of the Polaris missile submarine program. PERT and CPM are very similar in their approach but still present some differences. CPM is used for projects that assume deterministic activity times; the times at which each activity will be carried out are known. PERT, on

5402-601: Was evolving, with pioneering work by Hans Lang and others. In 1956, the American Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE International ; the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering ) was formed by early practitioners of project management and the associated specialties of planning and scheduling , cost estimating, and project control. AACE continued its pioneering work and in 2006, released

5476-443: Was transferred to PeopleCert during their acquisition of AXELOS. PRINCE was derived from an earlier method called PROMPT II (Project Resource Organisation Management Planning Techniques). In 1989 the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) adopted a version of PROMPT II as a UK Government standard for information systems (IT) project management. They gave it the name 'PRINCE', which originally stood for " PR OMPT II IN

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