PRINCE2: Close a project
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Contents |
[edit] 1. Description of Prince2
Prince2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a Project Management Method. It is established in 1989 by CCTA (the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency), and it focuses on the Business case that describes the Rational and business justification for the Project. The business case drives all the Project Management processes from the starting up a project to finishing a project. PRINCE 2 is the standard for project management in UK. It was developed by the Office for Government Commerce in 1996. (Managing Successful Projects with Prince2 CCTA) PRINCE2 outline 8 components (see figure1), 8 components that can be used to successfully carry out a project. The 8 components are:
- Starting up a Project(SU)
- Directing a Project(DP)
- Initiating a Project(IP)
- Controlling a Stage(CS)
- Managing Stage Boundaries(SB)
- Managing Product Delivery(MP)
- Planning(PL)
- Close a Project(CP)
This model displays the Relationship between 8 main components, each component is not individual.
[edit] 2. Description of Close a Project
In PRINCE2 Method, Close a Project contains the following Concepts:
- Project Closure is the formal name of “Close a Project”. It is the ending or Termination of a project. It will happen once complete all the work of a project for an accomplished and successful project.
- It is important to make sure that a project was closed for three reasons. Firstly, every project should have a beginning and an end. The project should achieve a controlled completion. Secondly, the Unfinished project will Drift on and become, or develop into, other projects. Thirdly, it is important to ensure that the work of the project team is acknowledged and that the Lessons to be learned from the project are formally recorded for use on the next project.
- Who is the responsible role in “Close a Project” process? The answer is the Project manager. The Project Manager will prepare the Project Closure Notification. The Project Manager will document the End Report etc.
- The advantages of a clear close to a project. Firstly, it helps achieve Business objectives avoiding waste and providing a good chance to take Stock achievements and experience. Secondly, it provides an Opportunity to ensure that all unfinished Actions and all unachieved goals, objectives are identified, so that they can addressed in the future.
- There are three main elements to accomplish the project closure:
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- Decommissioning a Project (CP1)
- Identifying Follow-on Actions (CP2)
- Project Evaluation Review (CP3).
Every element has its own Functions, inputs and outputs. It will be explained in the following paragraphs. (See figure 2)
The dashed block is Project Files. Issue report will saved in the Project Files. It is not belong to the scope of “Close a Project”
[edit] 2.1 Details of outputs
Prince 2 method is a process of how to Management a project, there are 8 main components, each component relates to other components, therefore, Inputs and Outputs are the communicate Channel between components.
Inputs:
| Name of Inputs | Explanation |
| Project initiation document | A logical document the purpose is to bring together the key Information needed to start the project on a sound basis; and to convey that information to all concerned with the project.（Prince2. CCTA） |
| Issue Log | A log of all issues and change request raised during the project, showing details of each issue, its Evaluation, what decisions about it have been made and its current status. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Product Status Account | Confirmation of all Products is approved. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Premature Close Direction | Instructionto closing the project before its expected ending. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Notification of Project End | The trigger from stage monitoring that the end of the project is close. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Communication Plan | A plan which provides an outline of Decisions and Measures to be taken if defined Circumstances, outside the control of a PRINCE project, should occur. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Business Case | Information which describes the justification for setting up and continuing a PRINCE project. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Risk Log | A document which provides Identification, Estimation, impact evaluation and Countermeasures for all risks to the project. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Quality Log | Indication of whether the quality policy and procedures were adequate. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
Outputs:
| Name of Outputs | Explanation |
| Customer Acceptance | Confirmation of the acceptance of the products. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Operational and Maintenance acceptance | Confirmation of operating and supporting services. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Project Closure Notification | Advice from the Project Board to inform the host location that the project Resources can be disbanded and support services, such as space, equipment and access, demobilized. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Post Project Review Plan | One or more reviews held after project closure to determine if the expected Benefits have been obtained. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| End Project Report | A report given by the Project Manager to the Project Board, which confirms the hand-over of all Deliverables, provides an updated Business Case and an Assessment of how well the project has done against its Project Initiation Document. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
| Lessons Learned Report | A report which describes the lessons learned in undertaking the project and which includes statistics from the quality control of the project's management products. It is approved by the Project Board, and then held centrally for the benefit of future projects. (Prince 2.CCTA) |
[edit] 2.2 Main processes
[edit] 2.21 Decommissioning a Project (CP1)
The First process of close a project is Decommissioning a Project (CP1).
Responsibility: the Project Manager and any Project Support Staff are assigned to the project.
In this process all the project issues will be checked. If project issue is closed, Confirm Support Service will ensure that, where applicable, those who will be responsible for Maintenance and support of the products are ready to accept the product. At the same time, Confirm Customer Acceptance will get the customer’s agreement that the acceptance Criteria have been met. All the records will be saved as a project file. A Communicate Plan will be created by Project Manager. This plan identifies the party who need to be told about the project closure. And then, Project Manager will prepare the Closure Notification. If project issue is not closed, it will transfer to the second process Identifying Follow-on Actions (CP2) Directly.
Activities of Decommissioning a Project (CP1):
| Activity | Sub-Activity | Description |
| CP1 Decommissioning the Project | Check Project Issues | It is the first Step of Close a Project, it is used for checking that all PROJECT ISSUES are closed or transferred to FOLLOW-ON ACTIONS. |
| Confirm Support Service | It ensures that the delivered products meet any needs defined in the Customer’s Specification for Operation and support. | |
| Confirm Customer Acceptance | It confirms all project products have been approved and handed over to the Customer or User. | |
| Create Project Files | Preserve the project records for use by
auditors or other enquiries. |
|
| Create Communication Plan | To create identification of the other interested Parties who need to know the project closure. | |
| Prepare Closure Notification | To prepare the NOTIFICATION to all involved organizations and interested parties that the project is to be closed and resources disbanded. |
[edit] 2.22 Identifying Follow-on Actions (CP2)
The second process of close a project is Identifying Follow-on Actions (CP2).
Responsibility: the Project Manager is responsible. Input should be sought from any Project Assurance Roles used.
In this process, a Number of actions may be required after the project. The input will come mainly from those Project Issues which were put into ‘pending’ status by the Project Board during the project. The Risk Log may also contain risks which may affect the product in its useful life. All unfinished work is documented in Follow-on Action recommendations, and the recommend plan will be recommended for any Post Project Review(s). The Arrangements for any Post-Project Review should be discussed with the Project Board. The Issue Log will be checked for any Project Issues that were not completed or rejected. The Risk Log will be checked for any risks that may affect the product in its operational life. Follow-on Action recommendations and cross-refer the entry will be draw in the Issue or Risk Log.
Activities of Identifying Follow-on Actions (CP2):
| Activity | Sub-Activity | Description |
| CP2 Identifying Follow -on Actions | Establish Actions | A number of ACTIONS may be required following the project. |
| Document Follow-on Action | All unfinished work is documented in Follow-on ACTION RECOMMENDATIONS. | |
| Recommend Plan | Suggest plan for a Post Project Review for Ratification by PROJECT BOARD. |
[edit] 2.23 Project Evaluation Review (CP3)
The third process of “Close a Project” is Project Evaluation Review (CP3).
Responsibility: The Project Manager, Project Support and any Project Assurance roles used.
The purpose of this process is evaluating the Project. Firstly, to assess the results of the project against what it was intended to achieve. Project manager will examine the records of the Project Management, especially Quality and Risk Management. At last, to identify the lessons to be learned from the project and applied on future projects. The Risk Log, Issue Log and Quality Log will be examined, record any useful comments. A Lessons Learned Report will be completed, and an End Project Report will be done. The End Project Report is concerned with how well the management of the project was done. This includes the performance of all the Project Management team, the success of any scaling, use of the processes and any tailoring of them, change control and quality results.
Activities of Project Evaluation Review (CP3):
| Activity | Sub-Activity | Description |
| CP3 Project Evaluation Review | Evaluate Opposition results | To assess the Results of the project against what it was intended to achieve. |
| Evaluate Quality and Risk Management | To examine the Records of the completed project to assess the quality of its management, especially quality and risk management. | |
| Identify Lessions | Identify lessons to be learned from the project and applied on Future projects. It is important to identify who should receive the Lessons Learned Report and make sure that the PROJECT BOARD knows where it should go. |
[edit] 2.3 Process-data model
Process-data model is the integration of meta-data model and meta-process model. In this Diagram PROJECT ISSUE CLOSURE ASSURANCE and PROJECT REVIEW are the closed concepts, so they have not been expanded. PROJECT CLOSURE NOTIFICATION, ACTION RECOMMENDATION and LESSONS LEARNED REPORT are the open concepts. They are the main outputs of “Close a project (CP)”. In the whole process, the Project Manager is the responsible for formally Close a Project. Hereby, no roles are depicted in the diagram.
Concept definition list of Close a Project:
| Concept | Definition (source) |
| PROJECT DOCUMENTATION | It is an aggregation of all the project documents, it includes reports and plans etc.（Prince2. CCTA）. |
| PROJECT ISSUE CLOSURE ASSURANCE | It checks that all Project Issues are closed or transferred to Follow-on Actions.（Prince2. CCTA）. |
| PROJECT BOARD | The Project Board is the Forum where senior management representatives of the Customer and Supplier come together to make decisions and commitments to the project. Prince2. CCTA）. |
| CONFIRMATION REPORT OF SUPPORT SERVICE | Confirmation report of support service is a confirmation in the report by the people who will use and support the product that they have received the product in a state which allows them to carry out their Duties.
(Bentley, C. 2003. Prince 2) |
| CONFIRMATION OF CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE | It is the expected results from customer that have used the delivered product.（Prince2. CCTA） |
| COMMUNICATION PLAN | Identification of another interested party who needs to know the project closure. (Bentley, C. 2003. Prince 2) |
| PROJECT CLOSE NOTIFICATION | Notice to the host location that the project is about to close, so that plans can be made to disband and re-deploy any provided project support services. (Bentley, C. 2003. Prince 2) |
| PROJECT FILE | Preserve the project records for use by auditors or other enquiries. (Bentley, C. 2003. Prince 2) |
| ACTION | Operation or activity of a project.（Prince2. CCTA） |
| ACTION RECOMMENDATION | Recommendations for further Work which the Project Board must direct to the appropriate Audience for attention. (Bentley, C. 2003. Prince 2) |
| PROJECT REVIEW | Suggested plan for a Post Project Review for Ratification by the Project Board. (Bentley, C. 2003. Prince 2) |
| AGAINST RESULT RECORD | It is an evaluation report of the results of the project against what it was intended to achieve.（Prince2. CCTA） |
| EVALUATION OF QUALITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT | It is the evolution of quality and risk management, actually it measure the Performance Level of the project. （Prince2. CCTA） |
| LESSON LEARNED REPORT | This is an on-going document from the start of the project, completed with relevant Notes. Project lessons that have been learned which might be useful to pass on to other projects. All the notes should be correlated and turned into the report, including any views with hindsight on the project’s management.
（Prince2. CCTA） |
[edit] 3. Techniques
[edit] 3.1 Configuration Management
This Technique is product Control: to identify, track and protect a project's products, tells the Project Manager where a product is, what its status is and who is working on it. It consists of 5 basic functions:
- Planning
- Identification
- Control with the ability to freeze (Baseline) products, i.e. "Nothing moves, nothing changes without Authorization.”
- Status accounting
- Verification - (for Uniformity) this is the name given to a Series of reviews and audits which to ensure Conformity between the project's products
[edit] 3.2 Quality Review
This technique is the Objective measurement for management Progress control, Objectives include:
- Produce a product that meets business, user and Specialist requirements
- The review process is a Platform for improvement but problems are not solved here
- This is a forum for review not solution finding
All those with a vested interest in the product should be involved and spread Ownership of the product - enabling group input to the product's improvement, encourages Commitment from all interested parties. It used in the end report.
[edit] 3.3 Project filing
This technique is used in the Decommissioning a Project (CP1), after these process all the records will be saved as a project file. It should 3 types of files:
- Management file
- Specialist file
- Quality file
[edit] 4. Other techniques
There a lot of techniques in PRINCE2 like:
- Change Control Approach
- Gantt chart
- Product Flow Diagram
- Product Based Planning
[edit] 5. Example
After Close a Project process, there are several deliverables, which are described in section 2.1. For customer to customize for your own use, the OGC (Office of Government Commerce) provide several templates. These templates can be found on its website. The deliverable templates anent Close a Project:
- Acceptance Criteria
- Lessons Learned Report
- Post Project Review Plan
- End Project Report
The OGC also provide cases studies on the website which illustrate use of the PRINCE methodology: Cheshire Police Constabulary Reading Borough Council Irish Electricity
[edit] 6. See also
- PRINCE2
- PRINCE2: Starting Up a Project(SU)
- Prince2: Directing A Project(DP)
- PRINCE2: Initiating a project(IP)
- PRINCE2: Controlling a Stage(CS)
- Prince2: Managing Stage Boundaries(SB)
- PRINCE2: Managing product delivery(MP)
- Planning(PL)
- Project Management
- Risk Management
- Data Model
- Project Team
- Project management process
[edit] 7. References
- Colin Bentley (2001) Prince 2: A Practical Handbook ISBN 0-7506-5330-2
- Colin Bentley (2005) Prince 2 Revealed ISBN：0750666722
- Bert Hedeman (2005), Project Management: Based on PRINCE2 ISBN 90-77212-31-0
[edit] 8. External links
- http://www.projectmagazine.com/
- http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/staff/dwfarthi/projman.htm
- http://ebit.pl/default-en.htm
- http://www.ri-management.nl/fprince.html
- http://www.princetwo.com/
- http://www.e-programme.com/
- http://www.prince2.org.uk/web/site/home/home.asp
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince2
- http://www.ogc.gov.uk/prince2/
- http://www.crazycolour.com/p2/
