Page 22 - DCAP304_DCAP515_SOFTWARE_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Software Project Management

Notes

Task Analyze the application area of SSADM.

PRINCE2

Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE) are a project management technique covering
the organization, management and control of projects. A project has a apparent beginning,
middle and end, a understandable organizational structure and defined objectives. You can use
a managing methodology like PRINCE to ensure that a project is successful, which means that it
finishes on time, within budget and offers the customer with what they have asked for. PRINCE
was first urbanized by the CCTA, which is now part of the Office of Government Commerce
(OGC), in 1989 as a UK Government standard for IT project management. Because its introduction,
PRINCE has become widely used in both the public and private sectors and is now the de facto
standard for project management in the UK. Although PRINCE was originally developed for
the needs of IT projects, the methodology has also been used on many non-IT projects. The latest
version of the methodology, PRINCE2, is designed to include the requirements of existing users
and to enhance the methodology towards a generic, best practice approach for the management
of all types of projects.

PRINCE2 is a process-based approach for project management providing a simply tailored and
scalable methodology for the management of all types of projects. Each process is described
with its key inputs and outputs together with the specific objectives to be achieved and activities
to be carried out. The methodology describes how a project is divided into manageable stages
enabling efficient control of resources and usual progress monitoring throughout the project.
The various roles and responsibilities for managing a project are completely described and are
adaptable to suit the size and complexity of the project, and the skills of the organization.

PRINCE2 summarize eight processes that are required to effectively carry out a project. These
are:
1. Starting up a Project: To be confident about the project has a very clear beginning, this
process occurs even before the project has really started. All decision making persons
have to come together and will appoint a Project Manager. Together they will discuss the
project and outline reasons for it and how decide how the project is to be carried out. All
this information will be put together in a ‘Project Brief’.

2. Initiating a Project: Before a project can be permitted during the ‘Directing a Project’
process it must be carefully planned to ensure that it meets its objectives. Detailed
estimations of costs, needed time and other resources have to be made and these are put
together by the Project Manager into a so called Project Initiation Document (PID) for
approval by the Project Board (PB).
3. Directing a Project: After the Project Brief and the PID have been put together, the project
has to be permitted by a group of senior managers, called the Project Board (PB). During
the rest of the project this PB has the in general responsibility for the success of the project
whereas the Project Manager has the day to day accountability. He will inform the PB
about the project’s progress with the help of regular reports.
4. Controlling a Stage: One of the advantages of PRINCE2 is that projects are separated into
manageable stages to make sure the project remains manageable and controlled. How
many stages are used, will depend on the size of the project and the level of risk. In
PRINCE2 each project stage must be completed before the next stage can be started and
each new stage is planned in the stage preceding it. Also the Stage Plans will be approved
by the PB to help ensure that the project remains within budget and delivers its objectives.

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