The PRINCE2™ Project Management Method
Glossary

Business Case
Information that describes the justification for setting up and continuing a PRINCE2™ project. It provides the reasons (and answers the question: ‘Why?’) for the project. An outline Business Case should be in the Project Mandate. Its existence is checked as part of the Project Brief, and a revised, fuller version appears in the Project Initiation Document. It is updated at key points, such as End Stage Assessments, throughout the project. 

Change Control
The procedure to ensure that the processing of all Project Issues is controlled, including submission, analysis and decision-making. 

Checkpoint Report
A progress report of the information gathered at a checkpoint meeting which is given by a team to the Project Manager, and provides reporting data as defined in the Work Package. 

Configuration Management
A discipline, normally supported by software tools, which give management precise control over its assets (e.g. the products of a project), covering planning, identification, control, status accounting and verification of the products. 

Contingency Plan
A plan that provides details of the measures to be taken if a defined risk should occur. The plan is only implemented if the risk occurs. A contingency plan is prepared where other actions (risk prevention, reduction or transfer) are not possible, too expensive or the current view is that the cost of the risk occurring does not sufficiently outweigh the cost of taking avoiding action – but the risk cannot be simply accepted. The Project Board can see that, should the risk occur, there is a plan of action to counter it. If the Project Board agrees that this is the best form of action, it would put aside a contingency budget, the cost of the contingency plan, only to be used if the risk occurs. 

Customer
The person or group who commissioned the work and will benefit from the end results. 

End Stage Assessment
The review by the Project Board and Project Manager of the End Stage Report to decide whether to approve the next Stage Plan (unless the last stage has now been completed). According to the size and complexity of the project, the review may be formal or informal. The approval to proceed should be documented as an important management product. 

End Stage Report
A report given by the Project Manager to the Project Board at the end of each management stage of the project. This provides information about the project performance during the stage and the project status at stage end. 

Exception Plan
This is a plan that often follows an Exception Report. For a Team Plan exception, it covers the period from the present to the end of the Work Package; for a Stage Plan exception, it covers the period from the present to the end of the current stage. If the exception were at a project level, the Project Plan would be replaced. 

Exception Report
Description of the exception situation, its impact, options, recommendation and impact of the recommendation to the Project Board.. This report is prepared by the relevant manager to inform the next higher level of management of the situation. 

Executive
The single individual with overall responsibility for ensuring that a project meets its objectives and delivers the projected benefits. This individual should ensure that the project or programme maintains its business focus, that it has clear authority and that the work, including risks, is actively managed. The Executive is the chairperson of the Project Board, representing the Customer, and is the owner of the Business Case. 

Highlight Report
Time-driven report from the Project Manager to the Project Board on stage progress. 

Issue Log
Contains all Project Issues including Requests for Change raised during the project. Project Issues are allocated a unique number and are filed in the Issue Log under the appropriate status. See also Project Issue. (hyperlink to it) 

Lessons Learned Report
A report that describes the lessons learned in undertaking the project and includes statistics from the quality control of the project’s management products. It is approved by the Project Board and then held centrally for the benefit of future projects. 

Outcome
The term used to describe the totality of what the project is set up to deliver, consisting of all the specialist products. 

Post-Project Review
One or more reviews held after project closure to determine if the expected benefits have been obtained. Also known as post-implementation review. Where a project is part of a programme, one review may be to assess the whole programme benefits. 

PRINCE2™
A method which supports some selected aspects of project management. The acronym stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments. 

Process
That which must be done to bring about a particular result in terms of information to be gathered, decisions to be made and results to be achieved. 

Product
Any input to or output from a project. PRINCE2™ distinguishes between management products (which are produced as part of the management or quality processes of the project) and specialist products (which are those products that make up the final deliverable). A product may itself be a collection of other products. 

Product Breakdown Structure (PBS)
A hierarchy of all the products to be produced during a plan. 

Product Checklist
A list of the major products of a plan, plus key dates in their delivery. 

Product Description
A description of a product’s purpose, composition, derivation and quality criteria. It is produced at planning time, as soon as possible after the need for the product is identified. 

Product Flow Diagram
A diagram showing the sequence of production and interdependencies of the products listed in a Product Breakdown Structure. 

Programme
A portfolio of projects selected, planned and managed in a co-ordinated way. 

Project
A temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to a specified Business Case. 

Project Assurance
The Project Board’s responsibilities to assure itself that the project is being conducted correctly. 

Project Board
The management group responsible to corporate or programme management for the control of the project. The Board reflects 3 interests: business, user and supplier. See also Executive, Senior Supplier and Senior User. (hyperlink to them) 

Project Brief
A description of what the project is to do; a refined and extended version of the Project Mandate, which the Project Board approves and which is input to project initiation. 

Project Initiation Document (PID)
A logical document that brings together the key information needed to start the project on a sound basis and to convey that information to all concerned with the project. 

Project Issue
A term used to cover any concern, query, Request for Change, suggestion or Off-Specification raised during the project. They can be about anything to do with the project.

Project Management
The planning, monitoring and control of all aspects of the project and the motivation of all those involved in it to achieve the project objectives on time and to the specified cost, quality and performance. 

Project Management Team
Covers the entire management structure of Project Board, Project Manager, plus any Team Manager, Project Assurance and Project Support roles. 

Project Manager
The person given the authority and responsibility to manage the project on a day-to-day basis to deliver the required products within the constraints agreed with the Project Board. 

Project Mandate
Information created externally to the project that forms the terms of reference and is used to start up the PRINCE2™ project.

Project Plan
A high-level plan showing the major products of the project, when they will be delivered and at what cost. An initial Project Plan is presented as part of the Project Initiation Document. This is revised as information on actual progress appears. It is a major control document for the Project Board to measure actual progress against expectations. 

Project Quality Plan
A plan defining the key quality criteria, quality control and audit processes to be applied to project management and specialist work in the PRINCE2™ project. It will be part of the text in the Project Initiation Document.

Quality
The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service which bear on its ability to satisfy stated needs. Also defined as ‘fitness for purpose’ or ‘conforms to requirements’.

Quality Management System
The complete set of quality standards, procedures and responsibilities for a site or organisation. 

Quality Review
A Quality Review is a quality checking technique with a specific structure, defined roles and procedure designed to ensure a document’s completeness and adherence to standards. The participants are drawn from those with an interest in the product and those with the necessary skills to review its correctness. An example of the checks made by a Quality Review is: ‘Does the document match the quality criteria in the Product Description?’

Risk Log
Contains all information about the risks, their analysis, countermeasures and status. Also known as Risk Register. 

Senior Supplier
The Project Board role that provides knowledge and experience of the main discipline(s) involved in the production of the project’s deliverable(s). Represents the supplier interests within the project and provides supplier resources.

Senior User
The Project Board role accountable for ensuring that user needs are specified correctly and that the solution meets those needs. 

Stage
A stage is the section of the project that the Project Manager is managing on behalf of the Project Board at any one time, at the end of which the wishes to review progress to date, the state of the Project Plan, Business Case and risks, and the next Stage Plan in order to decide whether to continue with the project. 

Supplier
The group or groups responsible for the supply of the project’s specialist products. 

Tolerance
The permissible deviation above and below a plan’s estimate of time and cost without escalating the deviation to the next level of management. Separate tolerance figures should be given for time and cost. There may also be tolerance levels for quality, scope, benefit and risk. Tolerance is applied at project, stage and team levels. 

Work Package
The set of information relevant to the creation of one or more products. It will contain a description of the work, the Product Description(s), details of any constraints on production such as time and cost, interfaces, and confirmation of the agreement between the Project Manager and the person of Team Manager who is to implement the Work Package that the work can be done within the constraints.

(PRINCE2™ text - ©Crown Copyright 2005 Reproduced under licence from OGC)