Passing the PRINCE2 Exams For Dummies

Clarifying Some Key Points

Here are a few revision notes on some of the items in the checklist. As with the other chapters on processes and themes, this section focuses on a few of the areas which can be the source of misunderstanding or concern. For each subject area if, when you’ve read a few sentences, you’re sure you’re already clear on the point, just skip the rest and move on to the next heading.

Understanding exception management

The problem with exception management is that it’s easy! You may be looking for something really difficult that’s a unique PRINCE2 concept, but actually exception management is normal everyday management.

I’ve done a lot of work over the years with police forces, and I often like to use police examples to illustrate things. So, is the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police visiting every police station in London today to check everything is okay? No, of course not. The Commissioner is busy (we hope) doing important police management stuff, not trudging around the police stations. The Commissioner expects that everything is going okay and that he or she will be told quickly if something significant happens, such as a major crime. So, too, with the project. At stage level, the Project Board has approved the plan and appointed a Project ‘Manager’ to run things on a day-to-day basis. The Project Board members now assume everything is going okay – to plan – and have told the Project Manager to report back to them quickly (with an Exception Report) ...