Lesson 12: Managing a Stage Boundary Process
This process is run in two situations to manage two types of ‘boundaries’. Can you explain these two? What do we do each time, and what are the outputs?
Based on AXELOS PRINCE2® material. Reproduced under licence from AXELOS. All rights reserved.
Note: PRINCE2 2017 edition is now called PRINCE2 6th edition.
- 00:10 – The Stage Boundary Process or the SP process
- 00:14 – Let’s start with the purpose
- 00:16 – The purpose of the Stage Boundary Process is to enable the Project Manager to provide the Project Board with information so they can review the performance of the current stage, approve the next stage plan,
- 00:31 – Review the updated Project Plan and confirm continued business justification from the Business Case
- 00:39 – It’s a good idea to see the Stage Boundary Process as a time-out process between the stages
- 00:45 – So here, the Project Manager looks back at the performance of the last stage and plans the next stage
- 00:52 – Like other processes, there are a number of objectives
- 00:56 – The first objective is to ensure the Project Board that the stage products have been completed, accepted and approved
- 01:05 – Next, write a report on the performance of the stage and this report is called the End Stage Report
- 01:13 – The third objective, to prepare a Stage Plan for the next stage
- 01:19 – Sometimes the Project Manager may have to prepare an Exception Plan
- 01:23 – So, if the stage went out of tolerance during the current stage
- 01:28 – Next, review and update the Business Case and the Project Plan as these are what I call living documents
- 01:35 – So these two documents must always be kept up-to-date during the project to show the current status
- 01:44 – Next, show the continued viability of the project
- 01:47 – So again, this is done using the Business Case as I’ve just mentioned
- 01:53 – Record useful lessons for future stages, and lastly the Project Manager will request authorization for the next stage
- 02:04 – The SP process happens at the end of each stage, except for the last stage as the last stage ends with the Closing a Project process
- 02:15 – The SP process has a number of activities and I will now introduce these
- 02:21 – First, the trigger for the Stage Boundary Process
- 02:24 – Well, the trigger is that the Project Manager is approaching the end of the current stage
- 02:29 – So almost all of the work in the current stage is done
- 02:33 – So the first activity is to plan the next stage
- 02:38 – The Project Manager can work with the team manager to do this and this will be a detailed day-to-day plan for the stage
- 02:46 – Next, update the Project Plan with actuals, so mark off the products that have been done
- 02:53 – Sometimes the Project Manager may also update the forecast end date for the project
- 03:00 – Next, as the Project Manager has the cost of the stage from the Stage Plan
- 03:04 – Then they can update the Business Case and check if the project is still viable
- 03:11 – And the last activity is to report on the performance of the stage
- 03:15 – So how the stage performed versus the Stage Plan
- 03:19 – And this is the End Stage Report
- 03:23 – Sometimes the Stage Boundary Process may start as the Project Board requested an Exception Plan to deal with a big issue that took the stage out of tolerance
- 03:33 – In this case, the Project Manager will create an Exception Plan and not a Stage Plan
- 03:39 – However, all other activities will still be done
- 03:43 – So that’s an overview of the Stage Boundary activities
- 03:48 – Next, the Stage Boundary inputs and outputs
- 03:52 – The main inputs are the Stage Plan, of course, and the PID
- 03:56 – We’re mainly interested in the Project Plan and the Business Case
- 04:00 – The main outputs are the next Stage Plan for the next stage, the End Stage Report and an updated Business Case and updated Project Plan
- 04:12 – A reminder again of the purpose of the Stage Boundary Process
- 04:16 – It’s to enable to Project Manager to provide the Project Board with information
- 04:21 – So the Project Board can review the performance of the current stage, approve the next stage plan, review the updated Project Plan and confirm continued business justification
- 04:35 – That’s it for the Stage Boundary Process
What should the Project Manager do when they realize that the stage will be finished one week later? Assume that stage tolerance is ten days.
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