• 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.

In this article we’ll look a little bit further on the Product Based Planning aspects of a project. Not only because I have created two home made templates ( Product Breakdown Structure and Product Flow Diagram in Visio format) but also because I think that Product Based Planning helps you to keep your focus right while delivering the required results.

Surfing over the internet I found the following descriptions about Product Based Planning:

Product Based Planning is a key feature of Prince2, providing a focus on the products to be delivered and their quality. It forms an integral part of the Planning process and leads into the use of other generic planning techniques such as network planning and Gantt charts. Plans are produced in the planning process using this technique.

There are three elements to the Product Based Planning approach.

1. The first is the Product Breakdown Structure (PBS). This is a deliverable oriented, hierarchical structure (which is often termed a Work Breakdown Structure in non-Prince2 projects) which seeks to define the entire scope of the project as a set of products.
2. The second element is the Product Description, which specifies a product in the PBS. This Product Description describes not just the deliverable, but also the quality criteria and method by which it will be accepted. The Product Description is a key feature of the quality approach in a Prince2 project.
3. The third element, the Product Flow Diagram shows the sequence of development of the Products in the PBS, helping to ensure that all items are identified in the scope and assisting in the development of project, stage and activity plans. (For those not familiar with Prince2, it is an intermediate step between Work Breakdown Structure and Activity Networking in an overall planning process).

Source: http://www.projectperformance.co.uk/tour/prince2_component_13.php

The sentence I like most in this description of Projectperformance.co.uk is that Product Based Planning is integral part of the planning process and that it leads to the use of other generic planning techniques. This is so true but what I miss is that Product Based Planning really differs from activity based planning. Most of the project managers I meet know what they must DO to do their job. The biggest problem they have is clearly define what products they must DELIVER in order to meet the customers expectations. If you don’t understand the difference between the two sentences then your focus is on activity based planning…..

On crazycolour.com I found the following article:

Product Based Planning means thinking of what will be produced rather than how it will be produced. When creating a Product Breakdown Structure, for example, one would not include ‘writing a PID’ in the Product Breakdown Structure but rather ‘PID’ , neither would it be correct to say ‘getting approval of the PID’ but ‘approved PID’ is correct. The differences are slight but significant when doing a PRINCE2 exam!

• Also known as “Product Led Planning”
• Works closely with PL2 Defining and Analysing Products

The sequence is:

1. Creating a Product Breakdown Structure
2. Defining Product Description
3. Creating a Product Flow Diagram.

Source: http://www.crazycolour.com/prince2/?title=Product_Based_Planning

As you can imagine I think that this second article describes a little bit better the difference between the traditional way of planning and the Product Based way of Planning. Start getting used to Product Based Planning and you’ll notice that it will make your project life much more fun and better to manage. Also take a look at my Visio templates, they might help you.

• Prince2 foundation assessment from Focusprojects.co.uk.
• Prince2 practitioner readiness assessment from Focusprojects.co.uk.

Check the article for an complete overview of the Prince2 foundation sample exams found on the internet.

• 75 sample questions from http://www.apmg-exams.com, contributed by Niek.
  Also available in dutch. (Added 30/9.)
• 25 sample questions and their answers from afaprojects.com. (Added 30/9.)

Check the article for an complete overview of the Prince2 foundation sample exams found on the internet.

• The Prince2 foundation and practitioner database on the Lagant website if your ATO has a contract with Lagant;
• 30 sample questions from Ringbourne Management;
• 75 foundation questions and their answers from http://pm4success.com;
• Another 75 sample questions and their answers from http://pm4success.com;
• 9 Quizes on the website of http://Crazycolour.com;
• 75 sample questions from http://www.apmg-exams.com, contributed by Niek. (Added 30/9)
• 25 sample questions and their answers from afaprojects.com. (Added 30/9)
• Prince2 foundation assessment from Focusprojects.co.uk. (Added 13/10)
• Prince2 practitioner readiness assessment from Focusprojects.co.uk. (Added 13/10)
   

If you have any additions to this list then please leave a comment. I hope this article helps with your preparations of your Prince2 exam.

Uiteraard kun je je voorbeeldexamens kopen bij Exin.

Maar je kunt natuurlijk ook op zoek gaan naar voorbeeldexamens op het internet. Bijvoorbeeld door deze links te volgen:

• 75 voorbeeldvragen Prince2 foundation (PDF);
• 56 voorbeeldvragen bij PUGNL.nl (online);
• 10 voorbeeldvragen van projectmanagementacademie.nl (online);
• 75 vragen in PDF bestand op examen-forum.nl met vragen en antwoorden (english);
• 75 vragen in het Modelexamen 1 van het boek Prince2 Compact en de bijbehorende antwoorden(PDF)
• 75 vragen in het Modelexamen 2 van het boek Prince2 Compact en de bijbehorende antwoorden(PDF)
• 75 vragen in het Prince2 proefexamen van http://www.apmg-exams.com (Toegevoegd 30/9, Niek)
• 75 vragen in het proefexamen van http://www.markmaathuis.nl (toegevoegd 15/10).

Ik hoop dat ik je op weg geholpen heb met je voorbereiding op je examen. Mocht je nog een site met voorbeeldvragen weten laat dan een reactie achter.

First of all I must explain that I’m dutch and living in the Netherlands. This makes me a little biased. Since I prefer Dutch books over English books my advice also tends to go into that direction. Knowing that I hope my tips will help you in pointing a direction, reed the reviews in your country to check if the readers share my opinion.

The books I suggest for Prince2 are:

• Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, Author: Office of Government Commerce, Publisher: The Stationery Office, ISBN: 9780113309467;
• Projectmanagement on basis of Prince2, Author: B. Hedeman, G. Vis van Heemst & Freddriksz, H., Publisher: Van Haren Publishing, ISBN: 9789077212837

The MSP bible comes in various languages. Although my training company provided me the dutch version, I prefer the english version.

During my holidays I received an email with the good news: PASSED!

After this result I can write down shortly what I did in order to pass the exam:

1. I did my foundation exam in 2002. After passing the exam I gained a lot of project management experience AND Prince2 experience between 2002 and 2008.
2. I implemented project management according to Prince2 in 2 departments and supported many project managers doing their projects.
3. I selected a well known (for its quality) Prince2 trainer: ‘t Ruysdael. And fortunately I had a good trainer: Ruud Wouters.
4. During the course I rehearsed the foundation exam online, with the website provided by ‘t Ruysdael. Doing the foundation exam I got a clue about my weak spots in theory.
5. I started studying on my weak spots.
6. I practised the practicioner exam online with the website provided by ‘t Ruysdael. I also took the exam preparation course in order to get used to the type of questions and the way to analyse/answer them.
7. A good night of sleep before the exam.
8. Do the exam with good time management.

Well that’s all folks. I must say that I was very critical selecting the right training company. Some offer a Prince2 course in 3 days and I selected one with a little bit more of time. I didn’t want to get rushed and feel obligated to study too much besides my current job. That’s why the combined foundation/practicioner fast track from ‘t Ruysdael seemed ideal for me. After all it worked out fine.

I wish everybody good luck with their Prince2 exam, I’m very interested in your experience so why not leave a comment with your approach/result of the Prince2 training/exam. My next stop will be the MSP intermediate exam.

In three articles I will try to explain:

1. What is an approach for studying for the foundation exam using the OGC bible: Managing Successful Projects with Prince2?
2. What other books are recommended besides the Prince2 manual?
3. How can I prepare myself on the exam itself, what kind of questions can I expect?

This article is about studying the Prince2 manual. The other two articles will follow soon.

Foundation exam approach using the Prince2 manual

First of all. The Prince2 manual is originally written in English. It was no really suited for Dutch students with poor understanding of the English language. This has changed since the manual has been translated in Dutch in the beginning of 2008. So if you’re dutch and still have the English manual: go to the book store and buy the Dutch version (recommended!).

So now about the approach. You have to read the following chapters to begin with:

• Chapter 1: introduction.
  It gives you information why you should use a project management method and what benefits can bring Prince2. It also describes the structure of the manual and how you should use it.
  In chapter 1.5 you’ll find the guidelines what to read based upon the experience you have.
• Chapter 2: introduction to Prince2.
  Read this whole chapter and memorize the 8 Prince2 processes, the 8 Prince2 components and the 3 Prince2 techniques.If you can draw the Prince2 process model (figure 2.5), and tell where the prince2 products are created/updated you are already halfway. Another important figure is figure 2.6 where you can see the relation between the processes, components and techniques.Also understand the project life cycle in figure 2.1.
• Chapter 3: Introduction to processes.
  Understand figure 3.1 that there are 4 management levels to take into account. Also understand the way how they interact.The following chapters (chapter 4 - chapter 11) will have the same structure so study for each process and sub process at least:
  - the fundamental principles;
  - the context;
  - the process description (not necessarily the summations);
  - scalability can be interesting;
  - hints and tricks are important for the practitioner exam;
  - highlight who is responsible for each process/sub process.
• Chapter 12: Introduction to the Prince2 components.
  Introduction for the 8 Prince2 components. Read the next components chapters and try to understand the basics of each component. What does it contribute to project management based on Prince2?
• Chapter 13: Business Case. Understand 13.1: What is a Business case? Understand the headlights of 13.2: What should a Business case contain (see also Appendix A.2 for the product description). Read chapter 13.3 and see how a Business case is developed and who is responsible. In chapter 13.4 you can see the relations between the Business Case and the Prince2 processes, a quick read will do.
• Chapter 14: Organisation.  Another important Prince2 component.  Read 14.1 since it gives you an overview of the components with the important aspects. 14.2 and 14.3 is very interesting but reading it quickly will do. You should be able to recognize the Prince2 organisation roles and tell what responsibilities each role has.
• Chapter 15 Plans.  Prince2 has 3 levels of planning. Project plan, stage plan and team plan are the levels. For all 3 levels there can also be an exception plan depending on the exception that occurs. 15.1 till 15.3 are worth a good reading since it contains the basics of the component plans. 15.4 and 15.5 are interesting but a quick read would do (in my opinion).
• Chapter 16: Controls. A difficult to read chapter. I would prefer another structure to the chapter. Understand that every chapter and red paragraph is a control starting at chapter 16.3. So first read 16.1 and 16.2 to get an overview of the controls and understand how they help the project management team. Then understand that there are controls for: 1. a controlled start, 2. a controlled progress and 3. a controlled close.  Also understand why Prince2 uses stages, what they are and how to use them, chapter 16.6.
• Chapter 17: Management of Risk. 17.1 deserves a quick read the same as 17.2 for the risk principles. Chapter 17.3 tells us that the risk management cycle is based on: 1. risk analysis and 2. risk management. read 17.3.1 and memorize table 17.1: suitable responses to risk. 17.4 until 17.8 are interesting but more for the practitioner exam. Try to explain figure 17.5.
• Chapter 18: Quality in a project environment. The first 3 paragraphs are necessary to read. From the other paragraphs you need to understand the headlines.
• Chapter 19: Configuration management. Chapter 19.1 and 19.2 must be read. 19.3 is nice to know. 19.4 is a must while 19.4.1 - 19.4.5 must be scanned on headlines. 19.5 must be read and most of exams contain a question about 19.5.1. 19.5.2 again can be read on headlines. This is also the case for the further writing in 19.5.3, 19.6 and 19.7.
• Chapter 20: Change control. Read 20.1, 20.2 and 20.3. other parts (20.3.1 and further) are nice to know.
• Chapter 21: Introduction to techniques.
  The manual describes 3 techniques. After reading chapter 22, 23 and 24 you should be able to understand the technique of product base planning (chapter 22), the steps in change control (chapter 23) and the responsibilities in the quality review technique (24.4.2).
• Reading the manual you will find a lot of Prince2 words. If in doubt you can use the glossary for the definitions.
• Appendix A. Will give you a detailed product description of each Prince2 product. Impossible and not necessary to learn. From some products like project brief and business case it is very handy that you understand what it is about and what the product contains. this information can be read in the chapters.
• Appendix B: describes the project management team roles. Worth a quick read in order to get the responsibilities in the project management team right.
• Appendix C: Risk categories. Nice to know.
• Appendix D: HEY! that is my checklist. Check the automated version on http://www.healthcheck-online.com
• Appendix E: Project document management. Understand that there are 3 kinds of files: Project files, Stage files and Quality files. Try to understand the difference.

With this article I tried to explain my vision on what is handy in the preparation process for the Prince2 foundation exam. Of course APMG has its own information at http://www.prince2.org.uk/Qualifications/FoundationExamination.asp 

Feel free to comment on this article. Help me to improve it in order to help other people passing their exam.

Within the product-based planning technique four products are created:

1. Product description of the final product
2. Product breakdown structure
3. Product descriptions of each product
4. Product flow diagram

I created Microsoft Visio templates for the Product breakdown structure and the Product flow diagram. Feel free to use them, and leave a comment as appreciation.Click here to download Prince2 Product flow diagram in vsd format.

If you think things can be improved or if you have templates you would like to add then send me a message. All templates can be found here: http://prince2.healthcheck-online.com/my-prince2-tools-and-downloads/

Within the product-based planning technique four products are created:
1. Product description of the final product
2. Product breakdown structure
3. Product descriptions of each product
4. Product flow diagram

I created Microsoft Visio templates for the Product breakdown structure and the Product flow diagram. Feel free to use them, and leave a comment as appreciation.

Click here to download Prince2 Product breakdown structure in vsd format.

If you think things can be improved or if you have templates you would like to add then send me a message. All templates can be found here: http://prince2.healthcheck-online.com/my-prince2-tools-and-downloads/