Passing the PRINCE2 Exams For Dummies

Clarifying Some Key Points

The process Managing a Stage Boundary isn’t actually very difficult to understand, but it can seem so at first until you get the idea of the overall structure. Your understanding hinges on appreciating the two triggers. The triggers are covered in the first clarification point below. Have a glance at each point in the section and, if you’re confident that you already understand it, skip it and move on to the next one.

Understanding the two triggers

The normal trigger of the process is when the Project Manager is checking out the status of the current stage and sees that the end of the stage is getting close. The Project Manager realises that it’s time to start preparing for the next stage and getting ready for the Project Board check of the project at the End Stage Assessment. Effectively, the Project Manager fires off the stage boundary process and starts work on the next Stage Plan.

The second trigger is when a stage has gone into exception part way through, and the Project Manager realises that the stage is going to breach one or more of the limits such as time and cost set by the Project Board (the tolerances). To get out of the problem, everyone realises that the rest of the stage – and perhaps the project – is now going to have to be done differently from how it was originally planned. Clearly, then, the existing Stage Plan will be of no use. The Project Board instructs the Project Manager to prepare an Exception Plan. That instruction forces a ...