Introduction

It’s the moment that everybody’s been waiting for. The detailed Business Case has been written up, the planning groundwork laid and authorisation won to run the project. Delivery can now start.

It’s not a time to sit back and relax, though. However good the preparations have been, if the next phase of work isn’t tightly controlled the up-front investment will soon be lost. A concerted and determined effort is required since projects aren’t in the habit of delivering themselves. In fact, they show a definite preference for veering off course when left unsupervised.

With the authority delegated by the Project Board, the Project Manager is responsible for running the construction effort. Taking one management stage at a time, work is distributed to the team. An effective and efficient operation requires a controlled flow of work, a clear set of responsibilities, and timely intervention at the first sign of trouble.

PRINCE2’s approach to achieving this is based on Work Packages. As the name implies, these break outputs into self-contained parcels that can be tackled by smaller teams (or by individuals). Under the control of the Project Manager, each Work Package is allocated to a Team Manager for delivery – or to an individual where the Project Manager has direct responsibility.

Progress is tracked at both Work Package level and for the stage as a whole. Where needed, interventions are made to keep the assignment on course, with the Project Board being engaged when stage or project tolerances are threatened.

PRINCE2 provides two interlocking processes to control Work Package delivery:

• Controlling a Stage; and
• Managing Product Delivery.

In broad terms, the former is the Project Manager’s part in the process and the latter is designed for the Team Manager.

The Directing a Project continues to run, and this includes an activity to deal with the Project Board interventions that are required: give ad hoc direction. As each new delivery stage approaches the Managing a Stage Boundary process introduced at Initiation Stage is re-used.

This chapter describes the newcomers: the Controlling a Stage and Managing Product Delivery processes, and the Project Board’s give ad hoc direction activity.

Controlling a stage

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The Project Manager uses the Controlling a Stage process to oversee product delivery. The process covers the assignment of work, progress tracking and reporting, and tackling deviations from the plan. It’s run for each delivery stage. If the Initiation Stage is a significant piece of work in its own right, then Controlling a Stage is applied there too.

There are eight activities:

• Authorise a Work Package
• Review Work Package Status
• Receive Completed Work Packages
• Review the Stage Status
• Capture and Examine Issues and Risks
• Take Corrective Action
• Escalate Issues and Risks
• Report Highlights

The first three (authorise, review, receive) manage the delivery cycle for each Work Package. The review the stage status activity monitors progress across Work Packages. It’s also used ad hoc to provide a wider project perspective when advice is being sought from the Project Board, or a response is needed to a new issue or risk that’s been captured.

Figure 8.1 PRINCE2’s recommended path through Controlling a Stage activities

Progress reviews prompt the next set of activities. Further Work Packages are authorised, and action is taken to correct deviations from the plan. Where a threat can’t be resolved within the Project Manager’s limit of authority, it’s escalated to the Project Board. Finally, the report highlights activity publishes a regular synopsis of the project’s position.

Authorise a Work Package

The Project Manager designs a stage as a set of Work Packages that need to be delivered. A golden rule is that a product can’t be split across Work Packages. Therefore a larger product may have to be broken down into its component parts, so that a job can be neatly packaged up. In addition to the Work Packages that are planned at the outset, the Project Manager defines additional ones to deal with risks or issues that emerge as the stage unfolds.

The current Stage Plan or Exception Plan is the starting point for identifying the necessary Work Packages. This specifies the products to be delivered, and provides estimates of the resources required. Further useful information is available in the Project Initiation Documentation set; for example, this describes the mechanisms to be used for assuring quality and achieving product approval.

Work Package description

The contents of a Work Package description will vary with the nature of the task. However, it would typically include the following information:

Information	Typical contents
Identifier	A unique code to identify the Work Package, with supporting version control information (e.g. date and version number)
Team Manager or Individual	Name of the person taking responsibility for completing the Work Package
Work Description	A summary of the work to be completed, together with Product Descriptions for the products to be delivered. May include cross-references to relevant sections of the Stage Plan or Exception Plan
Timing and Resources	The timescales allocated for the work, including any important milestones. The resources that will be used
Tolerances	Agreed tolerances; including those for timing and resources
Approval	An account of how the Work Package’s products will be approved and who will be responsible for this
Dependencies and Interfaces	A list of the dependencies for this Work Package. A description of relationships with other products that will be important during construction or when the outputs are used
Constraints	A list of any constraints on how the work is carried out or the people involved
Approach	A description of the techniques and tools to be used, identifying any standards that need to be adhered to. An explanation of how configuration management will be undertaken
Reporting and Controls	An explanation of how progress will be reported, and the procedures for dealing with risks and issues

The Work Package description is prepared by the Project Manager.

Whilst it’s the Project Manager’s job to define a Work Package, it’s essential that this is done with the active engagement of the person executing it. This avoids misunderstandings and builds commitment to achieving a quality result within the parameters that have been set.

Having had the chance to digest a reasonable draft of a Work Package description, the Team Manager then prepares a Team Plan. This is reviewed with the Project Manager. Once it’s complete, and the time is right, the Project Manager gives the authorisation to commence delivery.

The current Stage Plan is refined to keep it aligned with what’s been agreed. The project’s supporting registers may also need updating; for example, the records used to track the status of individual work items.

Review Work Package status

Once a Work Package is underway, progress is tracked. Following the reporting procedure that was agreed for the Work Package, the Team Manager produces regular Checkpoint Reports. These provide the base information for a view on how well the plan is being adhered to. In particular, a judgement is made on whether or not the Work Package will be delivered within the agreed tolerances. This enables the Project Manager to keep the current Stage Plan up to date and to assist in tackling any risks or issues that might emerge.

To arrive at a reliable assessment of the prospects for hitting time and resource targets, evidence is needed that quality controls are achieving their objectives. If product quality isn’t being maintained apparent progress will be deceptive, since it won’t account for the re-work that will inevitably crop up. So looking for concrete evidence of appropriate review and approval steps is an essential insurance policy.

Five warning signs that targets are going to be missed

1. Slack in the plan evaporates as soon as work starts.
2. A claim that early poor performance is just a blip that will sort itself out.
3. Evidence of corner cutting – like avoiding being slowed down by customer input.
4. Repeated broken promises.
5. Holidays being booked to coincide with critical delivery milestones.

At each review point, the Project Manager refreshes the Stage Plan with actual progress and incorporates revised forecasts. It’s also treated as a useful prompt to ensure the project logs are up to date.

Receive completed Work Packages

A Work Package is complete when – and only when – all of its products have been delivered, quality assured and approved. So when a Team Manager says ‘I’m done’, it’s essential that the Project Manager is able to:

• establish that all of the products exist;
• locate an audit trail that demonstrates agreed quality assurance procedures have been followed – and with a favourable result; and
• find a record of the necessary approvals.

Once the Project Manager is satisfied that the Work Package really is finished, this is recorded within the Stage Plan and supporting logs.

One of the rules of the game is that once a Work Package is signed-off, its products are placed under formal change control. Any requests to re-open work have to be properly evaluated and formally agreed before incurring the extra effort. This helps the project management team to maintain control over project scope. It creates a barrier to sneaking in last minute changes and add-ons without proper consideration of the impact. It’s also an extra incentive for those approving products to ensure that they’re definitely happy before signing on the dotted line.

Advertise in bright lights the controls that swing into action once final review and approval is given. This focuses everyone’s mind on getting it right first time, and reduces the risk of expensive problems lurking undetected beneath the surface.

Capture and examine issues and risks

Taking some risks and having to resolve problems that crop up are part and parcel of project life. So an important ingredient of controlling a stage is having effective procedures in place to deal with the expected unexpected. This is where the techniques in PRINCE2’s Risk and Change themes are put to good use, and these are covered in depth in Chapters 7 and 9 respectively.

During a stage, issues and risks are identified by all sorts of people. They’ll come from the project management team and those involved hands-on in Work Packages. Concerns may also be collected from those sitting outside of the project, such as representatives of corporate management or the target end customers.

Once an issue or risk is logged, it’s assessed and reported according to the control procedures that have been agreed. This includes evaluating its severity, and the potential impact on the Stage Plan, Project Plan and Business Case. The Project Manager creates an Issue Report for an issue that’s put through the formal resolution process.

The response might be to seek advice from the Project Board, take a corrective action, or to go up the escalation path. Before the right response is settled on the overall status of the stage is revisited. This enables a decision to be made in the context of the wider project.

Review the stage status

Taking progress up a level from individual Work Packages, headway is also tracked at stage level. This maintains an accurate picture of the overall current and forecast position against the plan – important intelligence if the project management team is to make informed decisions.

The status of the stage is reviewed at regular intervals, at the frequency that was agreed within the Stage Plan. A check can also be commissioned on an ad hoc basis; for example, when advice is sought from the Project Board or when preparing a response to a new issue or risk.

A number of useful information sources are available. A Product Status Account provides a snapshot of progress made against each of a specified range of products. There are also Checkpoint Reports, the various control logs, and the latest version of the Stage Plan. The Benefits Review Plan is also referenced to see if any benefit evaluation activities are due.

Use status reviews as a cue to check that information sources are up-to-date. A regular prompt encourages housekeeping as you go, and avoids a ballooning administrative backlog.

The appraisal may identify a number of necessary follow-up actions. These might include initiating new Work Packages, prompting the Project Manager to take action to deal with a deviation from plan, or triggering escalation where tolerances are under threat.

As a stage approaches its end the review prompts the Managing a Stage Boundary process. Similarly, at project end the Closing a Project process is triggered.

Take corrective action

It’s rare to find a venture that simply runs from start to finish along the path set out in its initial plan. Like a guided missile homing in on its target, a project requires frequent course corrections if it’s going to arrive at its intended destination.

With the position of the current stage under close review, the Project Manager is soon alerted when it goes off track. The search is then on for the best tactics to bring work back into line, and within the limits of the authority delegated by the Project Board.

Once the most appropriate corrective action has been selected, the Project Manager arranges for this to be executed. This is typically achieved by agreeing a Work Package with the relevant Team Manager, and then authorising the work.

Escalate issues and risks

Not all issues and risks can be dealt with within the Project Manager’s limit of authority. Where the tolerances of the stage or project are threatened, the Project Board is formally involved in the process of arriving at a resolution. The Board is alerted to an escalated issue or risk via an Exception Report. There may be some effort required to prepare this, so it’s generally good practice for the Project Manager to warn the Project Board that an exception is heading its way.

Using the information presented in the Exception Report, the Project Board decides on the course of action to be taken. This might include:

• approving or rejecting a request to make a change to the project;
• increasing the tolerances that are under threat;
• requesting further information or analysis before a final decision is made;
• asking for an Exception Plan to be prepared to implement a selected option.

In a worst-case scenario, the Project Board may even request that the project is prematurely closed.

Exception report – table of contents

An Exception Report describes the situation that threatens stage or project tolerances, and offers options and recommendations for resolving this. It’s prepared by the Project Manager and would typically include the following sections:

Section	Typical contents
Background	A brief summary of the events leading up to the exception
Exception Description	A description of the deviation from the current plan, highlighting the tolerances that are threatened
Options Analysis	Identification of the options available. For each option: its resource, timing and benefits implications; with other key advantages and drawbacks. Includes the ‘do nothing’ option to illustrate the outcome if no action is taken
Recommendations	The recommended course of action with the rationale for its selection
Lessons	Lessons learned in connection with the exception and the evaluation of mitigating options

Report highlights

On a regular basis, and at a frequency agreed with the Project Board, the Project Manager issues a Highlight Report. This gives a picture of the position of the project and current stage, and also provides visibility of the actions that are being taken to keep within tolerances.

Much of the required data are generated by the stage status review and corrective action activities. This information is compiled into a form that’s suitable for circulation to the Project Board and other stakeholders specified within the Communication Management Strategy.

Managing product delivery

The Managing Product Delivery process enables a Team Manager to co-ordinate Work Package delivery. It also controls the interface between Project Manager and Team Manager, ensuring that hand-offs between the two are handled systematically. As with Controlling a Stage, the process is run for each delivery stage, with the option of applying it to the Initiation Stage if that’s a sizeable undertaking.

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The process comprises three activities:

• Accept a Work Package
• Execute a Work Package
• Deliver a Work Package.

These are complementary to Controlling a Stage’s three Work Package activities. Once authorisation to deliver is received from the Project Manager, the Team Manager negotiates final terms with the backing of a plan. Product development is then managed and progress reported on. Once the Team Manager is able to demonstrate that construction is complete, the Work Package is delivered back to the Project Manager.

Figure 8.2 Managing Product Delivery activities and their relationship to the Controlling a Stage process

Accept a Work Package

For a given Work Package, the nominated Team Manager takes responsibility for successfully delivering its products. Before work can start, an agreement needs to be reached between the Project Manager and Team Manager with respect to the tolerances for the work and the constraints within which the products are to be delivered. The outcome is recorded in the finalised Work Package description.

For the Team Manager’s protection, it’s critical that a delivery commitment is given only once there is a solid plan upon which to generate estimates for timescales and resources. This in turn requires a good understanding of the products to be delivered, and the constraints to be worked within.

The Project Initiation Documentation set (including the current Stage Plan) and Work Package description are a good starting point for establishing what needs to be achieved. This is reviewed with the Project Manager and key stakeholders to confirm a shared understanding of the required outputs. There’s also discussion of any particular requirements for how the work must be undertaken, or constraints that must be worked within.

The Team Manager is then responsible for developing a Team Plan that describes how the Work Package will be delivered. The format of the Team Plan can be replicated from that used in the Stage Plan. However, attaching a schedule to the Work Package description may well be sufficient. This might include timelines (e.g. in Gantt chart form), product breakdown structure and a table of resources.

The usual principles of good planning practice are followed, ensuring the involvement of team members. The assurance function may be engaged to validate the plan before it’s published. It’s also reviewed with the Project Manager to confirm its validity, and to consider if new risks have been identified or existing ones modified.

During preparation of the Team Plan, there’s usually a degree of negotiation over the budgets for the work. A balance needs to be struck between what suits the Project Manager in the context of the overall plan and giving the Team Manager some room for manoeuvre.

When a deal is being struck between Project Manager and Team Manager be on the lookout for excessive padding or the use of optimistic assumptions to force-fit an unrealistic top-down schedule. Both conspire against a productive but credible plan.

Execute a Work Package

Next, having received authorisation from the Project Manager, the Team Manager takes responsibility for executing the approved Work Package. Using the plan that was prepared earlier, this involves:

• overseeing the development of products using the agreed approach, tools and techniques;
• ensuring that products are put through quality management procedures and that they meet their specified quality criteria;
• maintaining supporting logs and registers;
• facilitating co-ordination with other related Work Packages;
• obtaining approvals for completed products.

The Team Manager monitors emerging risks and issues, and is free to take corrective actions; provided these don’t threaten the tolerances agreed for the Work Package. If it appears that the latter are in jeopardy, the Team Manager escalates the issue to the Project Manager for a decision on what measures should be taken.

The Team Manager is responsible for recording progress and feeding this back to the Project Manager. The formal channel for this is a Checkpoint Report. These are produced regularly at a frequency defined in the Work Package description.

Deliver a Work Package

Once all of the Work Package’s products are complete and approved, the Project Manager is notified. The Team Manager confirms that the audit trail exists to back up the claim, and so allows the Project Manager to receive the Work Package.

Directing a project – the show goes on

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Having authorised a project, a Project Board remains actively engaged in steering it through its delivery stages. For example, the Authorise a Stage or Exception Plan activity that’s employed in the Initiation Stage (see Chapter 6) continues to be used as each new delivery stage approaches, or in response to a revised plan that’s been commissioned.

In addition to acting at preset decision points such as stage boundaries, the Project Board gives leadership in response to important events as they happen. PRINCE2 addresses this via an activity within the Directing a Project process: give ad hoc direction. It’s called upon during delivery stages, but can be used as soon as the Project Board and Project Manager are in place. For example, there’s likely to be frequent consultation during initiation when the detailed Business Case and plans are being developed.

Give ad hoc direction

There is a range of circumstances in which the Project Board is called upon to provide ad hoc direction. Some are prompted by the Project Manager and others originate from the Board members themselves. Examples of triggers include those:

• in response to a request from the Project Manager for informal advice;
• on receipt of an escalated Issue Report or Exception Report;
• during review of progress information within a Highlight Report (e.g. when a threat to the Business Case is identified);
• on obtaining information or instruction from corporate or programme management.

Depending on the situation, guidance may be given by the Project Board collectively or by individual members. Where there’s benefit, additional assistance is also enlisted. For example, on receiving an Exception Report, Project Assurance might be commissioned to take a closer look at the problem and to provide an independent view on the underlying root causes. Effective decision making also requires consultation with key stakeholders, to ensure that the Project Board is in receipt of all of the relevant facts.

Some requests for advice can be dealt with on an informal basis – at least in the first instance. Practical guidance or assistance is given directly to the Project Manager. On occasions this necessitates a more detailed investigation, with the Project Manager then formalising the approach to the Project Board with an Issue or Exception Report. The Project Board has particular responsibility for monitoring events outside of the project, and for ensuring that the project management team is kept informed of relevant developments. This too may identify an issue or exception, or a need to seek further advice from up the management line.

PRINCE2 sets out in detail how issues and exceptions are handled in its Change and Progress themes, and these techniques are covered in the next chapter. Where a formal intervention is required, the Project Board uses these escalation and control mechanisms to steer the right course. In extreme circumstances, this might result in a decision to force a premature close to the project – either with a view to re-start or a complete stop.

Summary

PRINCE2’s deliverable-based delivery approach is realised through the definition, authorisation and control of Work Packages. These break a management stage into groups of products that are parcelled up and distributed across the team.

The Controlling a Stage process is used by the Project Manager to design Work Packages, and then to take charge of their initiation. It also provides the mechanisms to monitor progress and to deal with issues and risks as soon as they emerge. This includes maintaining two-way communication between Project Manager and Project Board, and providing the escalation steps when tolerances are under threat.