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

24 sample cards from the The Practice Themes (Part 2): Plans, Risk, Change and Progress deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. 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.

2. 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.

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

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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).

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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).

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

What this deck covers

The Practice Themes (Part 2): Plans, Risk, Change and Progress flashcards FAQ