Project Management Professional / PRINCE2 The Practice Themes (Part 2): Plans, Risk, Change and Progress Syllabus

What two sub-activities make up the 'Assess' step of the risk management procedure?

Estimate (assess probability, impact and proximity of each risk) and Evaluate (assess the net effect of all risks together on the project — the overall risk exposure).

What is a risk owner versus a risk actionee?

A risk owner is the person responsible for the management, monitoring and control of a particular risk (including the chosen responses). A risk actionee is the person assigned to carry out a specific risk response action and supports/reports to the risk owner.

List the five threat responses in PRINCE2.

Avoid, Reduce (mitigate likelihood/impact), Transfer, Accept, and Share.

List the PRINCE2 responses to an opportunity.

Exploit, Enhance, Reject, Share, and (sometimes listed) Accept. Exploit makes the opportunity certain; enhance increases probability/impact; reject takes no action; share splits gain with another party.

What does the 'Transfer' threat response mean, and is the risk fully removed?

Transfer passes the financial impact of a threat to a third party (e.g., insurance or a contract clause). It usually addresses only the financial impact; some residual risk typically remains with the project.

What is the 'Share' risk response?

A response, applicable to both threats and opportunities, where parties share the gain (if the risk stays within agreed limits) or the pain (if it exceeds them), typically via a pain/gain formula in a contract.

What is 'risk appetite' versus 'risk tolerance'?

Risk appetite is the organisation's unique attitude towards risk-taking — how much risk it is willing to accept. Risk tolerance is the threshold level of risk exposure which, when exceeded, triggers escalation (an exception).

What is 'inherent risk' compared with 'residual risk' and 'secondary risk'?

Inherent risk is the exposure before any response is applied; residual risk is the exposure remaining after responses are applied; secondary risk is a new risk that arises as a direct consequence of implementing a response.

How is a risk's expected monetary value calculated?

Expected value $= P \times I$, where $P$ is the probability of the risk occurring and $I$ is its monetary impact. For example, $0.2 \times \pounds50{,}000 = \pounds10{,}000$.

What is a 'risk budget'?

A sum of money set aside in the project budget specifically to fund the management responses to the project's threats and opportunities (including contingency for accepted risks).

Define an 'issue' in PRINCE2.

A relevant event that has happened, was not planned, and requires management action. Unlike a risk (which is uncertain), an issue has actually occurred.

What are the three types of issue in PRINCE2?

Request for change, Off-specification, and Problem/concern.

What is an 'off-specification'?

An issue where a product does not (or is forecast not to) meet its specification or agreed quality criteria — i.e., something that should be provided but currently is not, or will not be.

What is a 'request for change'?

An issue proposing a modification to a baselined product or to the project's agreed scope/specification — a proposal to change something that was previously agreed.

What does the Change Control Approach document define?

How issues and changes will be identified, assessed and controlled throughout the project — including the procedure, the change authority, the change budget, the scales for rating severity/priority, the registers used, and the tools/roles involved.

Distinguish the Issue Register from the Daily Log for capturing issues.

Formally managed issues are recorded in the Issue Register and handled via the issue and change control procedure; minor informal issues the Project Manager handles day-to-day may simply be recorded in the Daily Log.

What is captured in the Issue Register?

Details of all formally raised issues: issue identifier, type, date raised, raised by, description, priority, severity, status, and closure details — used to monitor and control issues throughout the project.

What is the purpose of a configuration item record (product status/asset control)?

To record information needed to manage a product, including its status, version, variant, and relationships to other products, supporting control of the project's baselined products.

Name the five steps of the issue and change control procedure.

Capture, Assess, Propose (recommend), Decide, and Implement.

In the issue and change control procedure, what happens in the 'Decide' step?

The recommended response is escalated to the appropriate authority (Project Manager within tolerance, change authority, or Project Board) who approves, rejects, or defers the proposed change or response.

What is a 'change authority' and why delegate to one?

A person or group to whom the Project Board may delegate authority to approve or reject requests for change or off-specifications, within defined limits (often funded by a change budget), to avoid overloading the Board with minor change decisions.

What is a 'change budget'?

A sum of money set aside to fund the cost of authorised requests for change (and sometimes off-specifications) during the project, allowing changes to be approved without repeatedly returning to corporate funding.

Two commonly used techniques for prioritising and grouping changes are MoSCoW and what severity concept?

MoSCoW (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have for now) is used for prioritisation; severity rating is used to determine the level of decision-making authority needed (e.g., Project Manager, change authority, or Project Board).

Define 'progress' in PRINCE2.

The measure of the achievement of objectives of a plan — comparing actual achievements against the planned baseline of products, time, cost, quality, scope, benefit and risk.

What are the six (sometimes seven) tolerance areas (performance targets) in PRINCE2?

Cost, Time, Quality, Scope, Benefits and Risk (sustainability is added as a target in PRINCE2 7). Tolerance is the permissible deviation around a target before escalation is required.

What are the two main purposes of the Progress practice's controls?

To establish mechanisms to monitor and compare actual achievements against planned, and to control any unacceptable deviations — providing the decision-making framework (delegation of tolerances, reporting, exceptions) for the project.

How does PRINCE2 use management stages to control progress?

By dividing the project into management stages separated by decision points (stage boundaries) where the Project Board reviews progress, confirms continued viability, and authorises the next stage — implementing management by stages.

What is the difference between event-driven and time-driven controls?

Event-driven controls take place when a specific event occurs (e.g., end of a stage, completion of a product, creation of an Exception Report). Time-driven controls take place at predefined regular intervals (e.g., a Highlight Report every two weeks).

What is the purpose of a Highlight Report and who sends/receives it?

It provides the Project Board (and possibly stakeholders) with a summary of stage progress at a frequency they define. It is a time-driven report produced by the Project Manager during a stage.

What is a Checkpoint Report and how does it relate to the Highlight Report?

A Checkpoint Report is produced by a Team Manager to report team-level progress to the Project Manager at a frequency agreed in the Work Package. The Project Manager uses Checkpoint Reports as input to the Highlight Report sent to the Project Board.

What is an Exception Report and when is it produced?

It is produced by the Project Manager for the Project Board when a stage or project is forecast to exceed its agreed tolerances. It describes the exception, options, the recommendation, and the impact, allowing the Board to decide on a course of action.

What is the difference between an Exception Report and an Exception Plan?

An Exception Report alerts the Project Board to a forecast tolerance breach and recommends a way forward; an Exception Plan is the detailed replacement plan prepared (if requested by the Board) to recover from that breach.

What is the End Stage Report used for?

Produced by the Project Manager at the end of each stage, it gives the Project Board a summary of the stage's actual performance against its plan, the status of the Project Plan, Business Case and risks, and supports the decision to authorise the next stage.

What is the difference between the End Stage Report and the End Project Report?

The End Stage Report reviews one management stage and supports authorisation of the next stage; the End Project Report reviews the whole project against the original Project Initiation Documentation and supports the decision to close the project.

How do tolerances relate to escalation and 'management by exception'?

The Project Board delegates authority to the Project Manager to manage a stage within agreed tolerances. As long as work stays within tolerance, the Project Manager proceeds without referring up; if a tolerance is forecast to be exceeded, the situation must be escalated as an exception.

At which two boundaries of delegated tolerance does the Project Board itself report upward, and to whom?

If project-level tolerances are forecast to be exceeded, the Project Board escalates to corporate, programme management or the customer, since the Board manages the project within tolerances set by that higher level.

What is 'forecasting' in the context of progress control?

Using current performance data and trends to predict whether the project/stage will complete within its tolerances — enabling deviations to be identified and escalated before they actually occur, rather than only reporting on the past.

What is the relationship between Work Packages and progress control?

A Work Package is the agreement between Project Manager and Team Manager defining the products, constraints and tolerances for a piece of work. It is a key control: progress against it is reported via Checkpoint Reports, and breaches of its tolerances are escalated to the Project Manager.

What baselines are used as the reference points for measuring progress?

The approved Project Plan, Stage Plan(s) and Work Packages serve as the baselines against which actual progress (products completed, time, cost, quality, scope, benefits, risk) is measured and forecast.

How does tailoring apply to the Progress practice for a simple project?

Controls can be made less formal — for example fewer stages, verbal or lightweight Highlight/Checkpoint reporting, or combining reports — provided the essential decision points, tolerances and escalation mechanisms are preserved.