Passing the PRINCE2 Exams For Dummies

Clarifying Some Key Points

Here are a few notes on some of the items in the checklist to help you revise. As in all the chapters in this book on processes and themes, this section focuses on a few of the areas which can be the source of misunderstanding or concern.

Being clear about the Change Authority

It’s easy to get confused with the Change Authority within the PRINCE2 organisation structure. Not for the first time, the PRINCE2 language is somewhat at odds with normal use of terms in business and common practice in projects.

According to the PRINCE2 manual, the Project Board should deal with all Requests for Change and all Off-specifications. However, if the board members don’t want to do that, they can delegate authority to make changes to a lower level.

The Project Board will have authorised the Stage Plan for a stage, but if someone then wants a change, by definition it isn’t going to be on the plan and therefore won’t have been approved by the board. Unless the Project Manager is to go back to the Project Board for every change, no matter how trivial, it makes sense to delegate some authority to the Project Manager to make decisions. Only if the change is more substantial or an accumulation of smaller changes hits the change budget limit will the Project Manager then need to go back to the Project Board for approval.

If the Project Board members anticipate a considerable number of changes above the level that they are willing to delegate to the Project Manager, then a ...