http://www.healthcheck-online.com contains various Prince2 health checks. The biggest of them all is the complete Prince2 health check with 202 questions. In this article you can find the description of this health check and the way I use them to check current (or closed) projects.
First of all a small description of Prince2.
PRINCE2 is applicable to all types of projects, and has a great flexibility. Aspects of the method that do not apply to (or are not useful for) a particular project can be skipped.
PRINCE2 has the following fundamental principles of good project management: A project is a finite process with a clear beginning and end. Projects must always be controlled in order to be successful.
The main features of PRINCE2 are:
Business Case: Business justification of the project (which benefits contributes the project for the organization, how does the project contribute to the corporate goal).
Product Based Planning: A planning based on the products that should delivered.
Organisation: Defined organizational structure for the project (project manager, business executive, project board, etc.).
Stages: controlable and checkable project stages.
Management by Exception: The project board comes together only when strictly necessary.
The Prince2 method consists of 8 processes, 8 components and 3 techniques. The premise of this method is that the decision takers (project board) only meet if the project is beyond the preset limits.
This complete online Prince2 Health Check contains all checks as described in Appendix D of the Prince2 manual.
The complete health check is used by me if a project is reaching the end or is closed already. Issues from the health check are used as a check list for the project end report or the lessons learned report. They help my organisation to improve the project management proces.
I try to prevent using this complete health check bacause it is a lengthy check lists and the lessons are learned at the end of the project. Ofcourse we try to improve during the project at f.e. the startup or intiation stage.
Allthough I created the website http://www.healthcheck-online.com I use (or used) an excel spreadsheet for each project. I use the comply or explain principle which means that is an question was answered with yes no further explanition from the project manager was needed. If the answer was no the project manager had to explain why not.
Answerring the question was done in an interview perform by the project secretary. If a project manager answered that the project had a risk log the project secretary then could ask the project manager where he could find this risk log.
In this way the project administration was also checked and the filing of the project documents could also be checked. It also caused or created a better co-operation and communication between the project management office and the project manager.
If you want to use the complete prince2 health check, click here. (If you want the excel spreadsheet then send me a message).
Een goede voorbereiding op het prince2 foundation examen vergroot de kan op succes. Via mijn website healthcheck-online.com krijg ik regelmatig vragen over voorbeeldexamens. Helaas moet ik die vragen dan negatief beantwoorden. Tot voor kort….
Op de website van projectacademie.nl ben ik een Prince2 voorbeeld examen tegengekomen. Op een frisse en educatieve manier krijg je 10 Prince2 vragen voorgeschoteld. Indien je een fout antwoord geeft krijg je extra uitleg waarom het fout is. De link naar het voorbeeldexamen is: http://www.projectmanagementacademie.nl/voorbeeldprince2.html
As a regular visitor of facebook, and member of project management groups I see a lot of reviews of the Prince2 exams:
Zoe reports:
“ive just completed mine, the foundation isnt that hard, i bought the CD which was no help whatsoever so dont bother with that! theres some practice material on prince weasel website which genuinely helped. for the practioner?? Good luck- lots of the questions that came up werent in the book or the course so….. the exam in know way tests your ability to actually project manage!!!”
Anne-Marie reports:
“for passing the exams i would recommend sticking exatly to the method. i have known PMs of many years who have failed as they answered the questions as per their experience and not the method. For the foundation do as many practice papers as you can, you will be surprised at how many times questions come up. As for the practioners good luck! i was one of the last to do the written exam but have done the MSP Practioner which is the same not nice!”
“Passed both foundation and practitioner exams - just need to find a new job now……..lol”
Asim reports:
“Hi Guys. Just gave me foundation exam and passed it a couple of weeks ago. I’m surprised there are not more members in a group like this.
Just a quick tip from my end on preparing for the foundation exam. Though it may help a bit if you have the manual, you really don’t need it to prepare for the foundation exam. I used an APM Group CD, and it was much easier to use and had loads of practice questions on it with answers, all of which had been taken from past exams. Using the CD I think you will be confident for the exam by studying only a week, and that too is self study whilst not taking time off from work.”
Pierre reports:
“I passed the new practitioner exam back Feb this year and got my results two weeks later, not bad:-) The certificate came ~another two weeks later.
I self studied and sat the Prac exam at the Open Centre, Milton Keynes.
I dropped a copy of the suggested Prince2 Manual tabbing format here for anyone who’s interested: http://www.brisbane.fm/Prince2_Manual_Tabbing_Model.xls
You can also check all candidates who have succeeded in passing the PRINCE2 Foundation or Practitioner Examination (or both): http://www.prince2.org.uk/examquery.asp
Cheers Pierre”
Thanks all for the tips and tricks. Keep me informed if you have any exam experience. Good or bad….
(Will be doing practicioner exam in July myself, wish me luck!)
On the Prince2.com forum there was a question from Matt who was preparing himself for the Prince2 foundation exam with sample questions:
Author: Matt - 29/04/2008
Hi
I am currently revising for the Foundation paper (self-study) and require clarification regarding a sample question in the ‘Passing the PRINCE2 Examinations’ manual - Question 57 ,The process Directing a Project’ begins when? According to the manual the correct answer is B, ‘After the start-up of the project’ and refers to page 69 of the main text book however this page states that DP runs from Starting up a Project (SU) which is answer A.
Am I missing something obvious?
Thanks
——-
My response to this question was:
Author: Rene - 05/05/2008
Hi Matt,
Directing a project obviously begins right at the start of a project. So at the SU processes. Check the text in the manual at page 72 where the description for initiation is given.
On Youtube.com I ran into this video from Maven Training. It explains in a good video what has changed in the Practicioner exam. As Prince2 becomes more international the three hour paper exam was not anymore acceptable. So a new exam needed to be invented.
The new exam is more structured and is based upon a series of case based questions. The new format is based upon the knowledge and less on remembering the practice exams.
Op het moment dat je een klus aanneemt krijg je al snel de vraag of je een project of een programma opstart. Mischien ben je wel bezig met de “Corporate Portfolio”.
In een korte serie artikeltjes hoop ik te kunnen bijdragen aan deze discussie en hoop ik dat men beter in staat is om de verschillende aanpakken te onderscheiden.
Wat zijn slechte ‘drivers’ of redenen om de typering van je project te bepalen?
Beschikbare budget
Beschikbare tijd tot oplevering
Het belang van de sponsor/geldschieter
De complexiteit van de taak
Wat zijn goede ‘drivers’ of redenen om de typering van je project te bepalen?
De risico’s waarmee men wordt geconfronteerd
Impact en invloed op de organisatie
De complexiteit van de veranderingen die op de organisatie afkomen
De complexiteit van de belanghebbenden
Niveau van de risico’s waarmee men wordt geconfronteerd
Op basis van bovenstaande redenen kun je je op je achterhoofd krabben en bepalen of je nu het middel project, programma of Corporate Portfolio moet inzetten.
Translated from: www.computable.nl
Results of a Computable survey shows that Dutch ICT personel believe that when ICT projects fail often the sponsor and the performer are the mayor cause.
Computable says:”Many factors play a role in the failure of ICT projects. This is evident from the company’s annual research into the image of ICT service providers that has been carried out by TNS NIPO among more than two thousand ict’ers. The complete study (in dutch) can be found in the ICT Services Guide.”
Computable respondents gave the following reasons for project failure:
- 19% of the respondents say: because the customer does not state clearly enough what he wants.
- 15% of the respondents blame the service provider: because the provider communicates too little communicates with the client.
- 12% of the repondents state: the projects fail because the focus is not (or not enough) on the users.
Other reasons for project failure:
- Service providers lay the blame at the client side: “The sponsor is trying to outsource his own problem, but must first solve his problems himself before outsourcing.”
- and: “The client often is sabotaging his own project by giving too little space to the service provider for its work.”
- “the contract does not reflect the real business need”
- “careless analysis at the beginning of the journey”
- “Trojan horses in contract”
- and “projectscope is not sufficiently secured and guarded.”
On these reasons a strong reaction follows:
- “service providers focus too much on their own products and see other solutions as a threat to the projects. Even if it is a better solution for the customer.”
- “clients, define their projects too large, so the provider does not have sufficient knowledge / skills in a person or team available.”
A lot of sadness speaks from this remark:
- “service providers often have no business knowledge. Our experience shows it is of vital importance, and that is the main reason why projects fail.”
Another customer with little positive experiences with service providers:
- “The client is often not sufficiently aware of the contract and the service provider cannot place himself in the position of the users, thats why the gol of the project slips out of sight, the service provider does not respect mutual made agreements and doesnot deliver what is asked. ”
Ofcourse, states computable, the truth lies in the middle.
“A lot of respondents state that there is usually more than one reason in the game:
- It often involves a combination of reasons, but mainly because the service providers appears unable to act as system integrator, such as when it is contracted.”
Similarly, many respondents indicated that the fault lies mostly with both parties and the truth in the middle. This respondent expresses the beautiful:
- “at the start of projects the supplier and customer should commit to make the project a success.This is evident but in the daily practice it is easier said than done ….”
For many years I’ve been using appendix D in the Prince2 bible. In this appendix D of the OGC’s Prince2 (Managing Sucessful Projects) there is a wonderful health check which I have used for years to check the state of my projects. As programme manager I have used it to check my project managers and help them perform better.
Every time I switched jobs I was surprised that I was the only one who had an automated Prince2 checklist. With this website I found an easy way to share my automated checklist with the world.
To use the Online Prince2 health check select the desired check from the submenu. Fill in your name and email. Select the ’send me a copy’ box, to receive the results by mail.
I must warn you if you want to perform the whole Prince2 HealthCheck. It has 202 questions. I can advise you to start with a partial check. Like the ’start up’ health check.
Today I opend this Prince2 project management weblog. The weblog comes together with the free online Prince2 Healthcheck at http://www.healthcheck-online.com.
In this weblog you will find articles that are interesting for project managers or other Prince2 addicts.
What is HealthCheck-Online about?
HealthCheck-Online offers the possibility to review your Prince2 projects and ITIL processes using an automated checklist.
HealthCheck-Online currently offers checklists in the following categories for you:
Prince2
ITIL (under construction)
The basics of the checklist are the same:
Fill in your name and email address;
Answer the multiple choice questions
Result of the check is presented,
and if you indicated that you want the results received by mail: results are send by email.
Perform a Prince2 or ITIL health check now (clik on the healthcheck-onlinelogo) and leave a message.
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