OGC's PRINCE2 was popularized in 1996. It is not only the standard procedure for almost all types of projects in Britain, but also has rapidly developed into an international standard. Many enterprises in the world regard it as the first choice for project management. There are many reasons for the failure of many projects, including insufficient attention to the effectiveness of "business argument" (why the project should be carried out), insufficient attention to quality, insufficient planning, lack of communication with stakeholders, incorrect calculation of time and cost, lack of supervision and control, unclear responsibilities and so on.
Without a project management method, everyone who entrusts the project, manages the project and participates in the project work has different views on how the project should be organized and when it should be completed. They don't know their responsibilities, rights and obligations, so there is confusion during the project.
In addition, if there is no project management method, it is difficult to complete the project on time within the budgeted cost-especially for large projects. An excellent project management method, such as Prince 2, will guide the project to achieve the project objectives through a series of strictly controlled, well-managed and visible activities. One of the reasons for the rapid development of PRINCE2 is that many enterprises realize that it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive work to establish project management standards suitable for their own enterprises. It takes them at least 6- 12 months and thousands of working hours to establish a set of methods, and this is only the initial cost. Then, they must implement the method internally and train everyone involved in the project-which will cost the same. Trained people keep moving forward and new employees join, so it is necessary to start training new employees again.
It is very attractive to adopt the existing best practice standards and adjust the cost savings to meet the needs of this enterprise. PRINCE2 provides a set of standards that can be easily adjusted for customers to use, but more importantly, it establishes a mature examination mechanism according to PRINCE2 standards, so that individuals can obtain the qualification certificate of PRINCE2.
At present, tens of thousands of people around the world have obtained the practitioner certificate of PRINCE2, thus forming a virtuous circle-the more people take the PRINCE2 exam, the greater the benefit for organizations adopting PRINCE2; The more institutions adopt PRINCE2 and hope to obtain qualification certificates, the more people will use PRINCE2. There are many advantages to using PRINCE2. Besides being reusable, extensible and very flexible, it was established with the help of hundreds of experienced project managers, summing up their accumulated practical experience and professional technology for many years. PRINCE2 was developed by 1989 and has been continuously improved since then. It contains proven best practices in the field of project management, has been widely recognized and understood, and provides all project participants with the same language.
PRINCE2 encourages a clear division of roles and responsibilities in projects, focusing on delivered projects, and defining the reasons, time and users of projects. By using PRINCE2, the project manager can establish an appropriate scope of authorization investigation, and divide the project into manageable stages by using the detailed definitions of authorization, authority and communication channels, so as to make an accurate plan. In the process of project approval, the project manager can also get the resource support of senior management, provide brief management reports on a regular basis, and minimize meetings with senior management and stakeholders-only hold meetings at key points of the project. PRINCE2 uses a series of processes to describe when and what happened to the project. These processes cover all activities from the beginning of the project to the end of the project, which can be reduced and adjusted according to individual needs.
These processes are based on a series of components of the project. These components explain all aspects of the project, such as business demonstration, quality management, risk management and change control, to ensure that the final product "meets the requirements".
Crown copyright 2005 PRINCE2 is widely used and applied. In the past 65,438+02 months, more than 60,000 people have taken the PRINCE2 Basic or Practitioner Examination. Now there are more than 2000 people taking the exam every week.
At present, there are 142 certification training institutions (ATOs) in 15 countries, and there are 480 certified trainers training all over the world. People from Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, China, China, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan Province Province of China, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United Kingdom have already taken the PRINCE2 exam.
The exam can be conducted in nine languages other than English, including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian/Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, Polish and Gaelic.
The Prince 2 Handbook is currently available in English, Chinese, Danish and Japanese, and is being translated into Dutch, French, German and Polish. The vocabulary of PRINCE2 has been translated into 15 languages. International project management institute (IPMA) has established an internationally recognized standard based on the international competence baseline, which has been translated into various languages by its national association. This is the basis of IPMA level 4 certificate, which has been popularized all over the world. Fortunately, PRINCE2 is highly consistent with this standard.
The PMBOK Guide of American Project Management Institute (PMI) is the sum of the knowledge of the project management industry, which is used by many institutions as the basis for learning the project management specialty. PRINCE2 is a leading project management method, which mainly provides mechanisms for establishing project flow, running projects and terminating project handover.
Although the terminology used is somewhat different, PRINCE2 and PMBOK are highly compatible and complement each other. The adoption of PRINCE2 can strengthen the effective implementation of PMBOK standards, establish a strong project atmosphere, and provide more effective methods for project proposal, operation and termination.
PRINCE2 is a registered trademark of the Ministry of Commerce of the British government.
PMBOK is an introduction to the registered trademark of Project Management Institute (PMI).
PRINCE2 is a long-recognized project management method, which has been widely used in the British public sector and developed into a de facto application method in private enterprises. PRINCE2, developed in 1989, is a structured project management method, and its owner OGC (British Ministry of Commerce) keeps improving according to users' feedback and investigation. PRINCE2 was originally developed for the IT industry, and now it has developed into a general management method for projects of all sizes and fields. PRINCE2 enjoys a worldwide reputation and is widely used. The Princess 2 Handbook has been translated into many languages.
The use of PRINCE2 is free; Although the name and content are protected by copyright, users can refer to this method in their projects, not limited to specific consultants and related services.
The basic principles of PRINCE2
Many projects face the risk that once they enter their own life cycle, they cannot adapt to the changes in the environment, so they cannot deliver the required results. When the original reason for establishing the project no longer exists, they usually go on with the project and waste resources. PRINCE2 always keeps a clear direction on the basis of a series of principles, thus ensuring that the final delivery results truly meet the needs of customers.
Prince 2 uses a series of processes to describe the time and events of a project. These processes cover all activities from the beginning of the project to the end of the project, which can be reduced and adjusted according to individual needs.
These processes are based on a series of components of the project. These components explain all aspects of the project, such as business demonstration, quality management, risk management and change control, to ensure that the final product "meets the requirements".
In the customer/supplier environment, stakeholders and senior management participate in major decisions, thus ensuring that the project can continuously achieve the expected goals.
"Exception management" is an important principle of PRINCE2. It is a problem that project managers have been faced with in the past to ensure that executives can really participate in the project no matter how busy they are. The detailed process of PRINCE2 provides an organizational structure, in which the project manager is responsible for daily management, and relevant stakeholders effectively participate in the decision-making process and provide corresponding suggestions.
Prince 2 provides an interface to large-scale project management, and its design enables the project to meet the requirements of currently recognized quality management standards.
Other common planning methods can complement PRINCE2, help the project manager organize his/her management work, provide added value to the project environment, and avoid the project running in a vacuum during the delivery of expected business benefits.
PRINCE2 process
PRINCE2 provides a keen and adjustable process model. The eight management processes and their respective sub-processes provide a stable working framework and communication channels for all parties involved in the project. These processes can be appropriately increased or decreased according to the needs of the project, and the formality of the output results can also be different.
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The important functions of the main process of PRINCE2 can be summarized as follows:
Project guidance (DP) is a very important process, which defines the responsibilities of the project management committee. It ensures that the project management committee is ultimately responsible for the business justification and makes recommendations to the project manager and senior management when necessary.
The process of project preparation (SU) can be determined according to the needs of the project. This process clarified a basic question: "Is our project feasible and valuable?"
Project startup is the first real project process. It laid a solid foundation for the project, and together with the project management committee, it gained * * * knowledge about objectives, risks and expected quality of products.
The phase control (CS) phase includes the daily management activities of the project manager.
The product delivery management (MP) process includes the work of manufacturing and preparing actual products according to the quality standards in the product description.
Stage boundary management (SB) plays an important role in evaluating the present value of the project, which helps to determine whether the business argument is still feasible.
Project closure (CP) ensures that the project closure, necessary follow-up action plan and post-project review can be effectively controlled.
A project plan (PL) describes the repetitive steps of planning and rearranging a project. By using product-based planning technology, it is ensured that the plan can be made according to the required results. Project planning, project guidance, project preparation, project start-up stage, control stage, border management, project end and product delivery management.
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PRINCE2 runs through many important aspects of project management.
PRINCE2 believes that business argument is the result of project delivery and the economic reason for project implementation. Business arguments are related to the company's strategy and are constantly updated throughout the project cycle. PRINCE2 divides the project into different phases so as to regularly review the business justification and any changes. The responsibility of business argument lies on the organizational structure, which reflects its importance in PRINCE2.
PRINCE2 provides a flexible organizational structure, consisting of various clear roles, which can be assigned to one person, many people or shared by all. By ensuring the representatives of business interests, suppliers and users in the project management Committee, PRINCE2 provides an important link between the project manager and the main stakeholders. The project director, who represents business interests and customers, is the head of the project management committee and is designated as the final person in charge of the business presentation in PRINCE2. Thus, the project manager can get the support of relevant management to overcome difficulties, and at the same time, the senior management can always pay attention to the feasibility and correct direction of the ongoing project. The task of project assurance is to check the project process according to the interests of the three parties in the project management Committee-commerce, users and suppliers, and make necessary changes in time to ensure that the quality of the final product meets the expectations of customers.
Promote "exception management" by using various control methods in PRINCE2. By defining the allowable deviation, PRINCE2 enables the project manager to handle the problem flexibly by himself/herself, and provides him/her with an escalation channel. When the problem exceeds the specified allowable deviation, he/she can seek the help of the project management committee. PRINCE2 also gives the project management committee control to ensure that the project follows the agreed process and takes necessary corrective measures in time. By using the plan at all levels, the baseline is determined through consultation and important events can be reviewed accordingly.
Quality is the core concept of PRINCE2. PRINCE2 quality path runs through all processes, ensuring that the final result meets the specified quality standards, and inspecting the finished products through inspection or review. Configuration management is considered as the main aspect of quality control, which is helpful to the management of product version. Because all projects will face changes that affect their development trend, such as changes in corporate strategy or other events outside the project, PRINCE2 attaches great importance to risk management and creates an important link of change control. PRINCE2 provides the technology to control this change. Through the close cooperation of risk management, quality management and change control, it is ensured that those external or internal factors that have an impact on the quality of the project or product can be identified and analyzed, so as to take appropriate preventive measures, thus ensuring that these preventive measures are determined according to the impact of risks on the quality of the final product. .
In addition to processes and components, PRINCE2 also provides other technologies, such as product-based planning and quality audit. However, it does not explain which technology to choose for specific projects, leaving it to users to deal with themselves.