Browse [LATEST] Prince2 Interview Questions and Answers

Last updated on 09th Nov 2021, Blog, Interview Questions

In today’s market, landing onto a quality job is quite a challenging task, especially if you are at the intermediate level of your career. In such times having professional certification such as PRINCE2® definitely comes in handy and will give you an edge over the non-certification holders. PRINCE2® Certification acts as proof of your skills, knowledge, and confidence to manage any complex projects successfully. But having the certification alone is not sufficient. You need to stay prepared for the interview and clear it as well.

1. What do you understand by ‘Project’?

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A project is a temporary endeavor which is undertaken to produce a unique product or solution. In other words, a project has a definite beginning and ending along with the final product must be specific to the project. A project that doesn’t have these properties can be harmful to our organization as it will be eating up our time, space and other resources.

2.What are the 7 themes of PRINCE2?

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• Business Case
• Organization
• Quality
• Risk
• Planning
• Change
• Progress

3. What is Prince2?

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PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured project management method and practitioner certification program. PRINCE2 emphasizes dividing projects into manageable and controllable stages.

4. What are the 7 processes of PRINCE2?

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5. List down the key features of PRINCE2 Certification.

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• The main focus is on business justification
• Neatly defined organization structure for the project management team
• Planning approach is majorly based on the product
• It emphases more on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages
• Helps in maintaining the consistency of the project work
• Enhances the reusability of project modules
• Flexibility can be applied at any level which is appropriate to the project
• Widely organized and understood by the project management professionals
• Considered to be an invaluable diagnostic tool for project management

6. What are the various steps involved in directing a project?

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The Directing Project involves various activities such as:

• Supporting a project
• Accepting the results or final outcomes
• Providing approval from the management

7.Define ‘Plan’ in PRINCE2 methodology.

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A plan provides a timeline stating how and when objectives are to be achieved, by highlighting the major products, activities, and resources which are required for the scope of the plan. In simple terms, a plan of any project defines the following:

• Risks, Resources, Communication
• Scope, Budget, Schedule, Quality

8. Which document contains the planned and actual dates for product approval and hand-over?

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Product Checklist document contains the planned and actual dates for product approval and hand-over.

9. Explain quality planning and quality control.

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Quality planning in PRINCE2® methodology the process of identifying the quality requirements of a project such as deciding on what attributes are required to make a product fit for the purpose and plan on how to achieve that product. On the other hand, quality control is the process of executing the plan and conduct the quality tests to ensure that the product meets the expected requirements.

10. Define Project Product Description.

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Project Product Description document defines the acceptance criteria and roles for the project. This is created in the Starting up a Project process and used during the Closing a Project process to help verify that the project has delivered to expectations.

11. What are the 7 principles of PRINCE2?

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12. What do you understand by Directing a Project (DP)?

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Directing a Project is one of the 7 processes in PRINCE2® methodology which helps the Project Board to be accountable for the project’s success. It helps the Project Manager in making key decisions and exercising overall control all while delegating the day-to-day management of the project.

13. What is the objective of the Directing a Project process?

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The objectives are –

• To ensure there is authority to initiate, deliver and close the project
• To ensure management direction and control are provided throughout the project and that the project remains viable
• Plans for realizing post-project benefits are managed and reviewed

14. What is the purpose of the Managing Product Delivery process?

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The purpose of the Managing Product Delivery process is to control the link between the Project Manager and the Team Manager(s).

15. What is the primary objective of the Quality Review Technique?

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The primary objective of the Quality Review Technique is to involve key interested parties in promoting wider acceptance of the product.

16. Why the 7 principles are important in PRINCE2® project management methodology?

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In the PRINCE2® methodology, a principle refers to the notions that project management practitioners must follow all the time. These principles are developed based on the experience of the Project Managers on what they have found to be successful. All those ideas and concepts have been filtered and compressed into a set of everyday activities and behavior. Thus, following these principles will help in easy management and execution of the project and will also ensure its success.

17. Which role is responsible for producing a Product Status Account?

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Project Support responsible for producing a Product Status Account

18. In PRINCE2® methodology, what are the various levels of a plan?

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Below are the 4 levels of a plan:

Project Plan: A Project Plan provides the Business Case with planned costs, and is also used to identify the management stages along with other major control points in the project. The Project Board uses this plan as a baseline for monitoring the project progress.

Stage Plan: Stage Plans cover the various products, resources, activities, and controls which are specific to a particular stage and are used as a baseline to monitor the stage progress.

Team Plan: Team Plans are optional and you don’t have to follow the same composition as a Project Plan or Stage Plan. Thus, in case you make use of the Team Plans would comprise of a simple schedule appended to the Work Packages which are assigned to the Team Manager.

Exception Plan: Exception Plans are usually created to show how the project stage will be recovered in case there is a breach in project or stage tolerances.

19. Which process allows non-PRINCE2 practices to be integrated into a PRINCE2 project environment when creating products?

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Managing Product Delivery allows non-PRINCE2 practices to be integrated into a PRINCE2 project environment when creating products.

20. State the scope involved in planning?

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• Directing a project(DP)
• Starting the project(SU)
• Initiating the project(IP)
• Controlling stages(CS)
• Managing project delivery(MP)
• Managing stage boundary(SB)
• Closing the project(CP)

21. What is the use of a quality register?

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Quality register is used to contain the details of all planned quality activities, personnel involved and dates.

22. What are the risk strategies?

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The risk strategies are –

• Risk tolerance
• Risk Appetite
• Ongoing Activity
• Avoid, Seek, Neutral

23. What are the 7 themes of PRINCE2?

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24. What are the activities in SU process?

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The activities are –

• Appoint the executive and project manager
• Prepare business case outline
• Select project approach
• Plan Initiation stage

25. Name the Prince2 deliverables?

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The Prince2 deliverables are,

• Project plan
• Work package
• Business case
• Issue log
• Risk management plan
• End of stage report

26. Differentiate between avoiding a threat and reducing a threat?

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Avoiding a Threat	Reducing a Threat
This is basically a simple process where the project is altered in order to prevent the risk from occurring.	This is basically the attempt to reduce the risk probability and its impact. Avoiding risk can be expensive, thus, most of the project managers seek for ways to reduce them.

27. State the approaches made in planning?

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The approaches made in planning are,

• Product or deliverable planning
• Work-based planning

28. What are the strategies involved in risk?

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The strategies involved in risk are,

• Risk appetite
• Avoid, seek, neutral
• Risk tolerance
• Ongoing activities

29. Why a project is split into a number of stages?

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By splitting up a project into multiple stages helps the Project Managers to breakdown the entire project activities into manageable chunks. This provides better control and execution over the project. Also, with splitting the project into stages, similar kind of work can be grouped together and the funds and resources can be allocated better to each stage. It will, in turn, increase the efficiency and reduce the unnecessary wastage of money as well as resources. Also, with this approach responding to the customer need becomes easier and enhances the agility of the projects.

30. Which document is used to define the acceptance criteria and roles for the projects in PRINCE2® methodology?

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Project Product Description is used to define the acceptance criteria and roles for the project. This is document is created during the Starting up a Project process and used in the Closing a Project process. This document helps in verifying the project meets customer expectations.

31. During which process of a PRINCE2® based project, a Checkpoint Report is produced?

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During the Managing Product Delivery process, a Checkpoint Report is generally produced. This process is responsible for managing and controlling the work among the Project Manager and the Team Manager by setting a few formal agreements on acceptance, execution, and delivery of the project products.

32. What are the three steps of quality review technique?

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Below are the three steps involved in quality review technique:

Preparation: This is done prior to the review meeting to discuss the things which are probably wrong and are required to be updated in the project.

Review Meeting: In this meeting, various questions are raised and discussed to pinpoint the fault or the problem areas. Then an action plan is curated in order to fix those errors.

Follow Up: This is done to ensure that all the errors or the problem areas have been taken care of and the final product is ready to be handed over to the customer.

33. What do you understand by configuration management PRINCE2® methodology?

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Configuration management in PRINCE2® is the technical and administrative activity that mainly focuses on creating, maintaining and controlling the change of configuration throughout the complete lifecycle of the final product. A configuration item is nothing but the main entity which is subjected to the configuration management. This entity can be a simple component of a product or a set of products which are to be released to the customer.

34. Which PRINCE2® theme addresses the ongoing viability of the different project plans?

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The last theme of the PRINCE2® methodology i.e Progress is responsible for addressing the ongoing viability of the different project plans.

35. Differentiate between the Starting up a Project process and the Initiating a Project process?

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Starting up a Project	Initiating a Project
Starting up a Project Initiating a Project This is the initial process in which information is gathered in order to make a quick decision to start a project or not	This is the second process which is performed after the Starting up a Project process. In this process, documentation is curated on the project initiation and further, the governance of the project is defined.

36. What is the use of PRINCE2® method?

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PRINCE2® integrates different methodologies which help in adding flexibility to the projects and thus making it more responsive. It also aids in deciding on the project team and assign responsibilities to them. PRINCE2® methodology gets a set of processes, themes, and principles which helps you through your work. Using this method information gathering also becomes easy and effective.

37. Who are considered as the primary stakeholders in a PRINCE2® project?

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Below are the primary stakeholders of a PRINCE2® project:

• Users
• Suppliers
• Business Sponsors

38. How many products have been defined in PRINCE2® and what are they?

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There are 26 products which have been defined in PRINCE2® which I have listed below:

• Benefits Review Plan
• Business Case
• Checkpoint Report
• Communication Management Strategy
• Configuration Item Record
• Configuration Management Strategy
• Daily Log
• End Project Report
• End-Stage Report
• Exception Report
• Highlight Report
• Issue Register
• Issue Report
• Lessons Log
• Lessons Report
• Plan – Project, Stage, and Team
• Product Description
• Product Status Account
• Project Brief
• Project Initiation Document
• Project Product Description
• Quality Management Strategy
• Quality Register
• Risk Management Strategy
• Risk Register
• Work Package

39. What are the objectives of Closing a Project(CP) process in PRINCE2® methodology?

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Below are the various objectives of the Closing a Project process:

• Verifying the user’s approval of the project deliverables
• Ensuring the products support after the product delivery and project closure
• Reviewing the project performance of the project by comparing the actual project with the baselined documents
• Assessing the benefits already acquired and then planning the review of benefits which will be acquired once the project is finished
• Addressing the open issues and risks in the project and then performing a follow-up action based on the recommendations.

40. Differentiate between a request for change, an off-specification and a problem or concern in PRINCE2.

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Request for Change	Off-Specification	Problem/ Concern
Request for change is something that a customer makes for adding into or changing either scope of a project or the quality of a product. A customer has to pay for making this request.	This is the process in which a supplier makes a mistake, either by not delivering the product on the due date or by not meeting the specified quality criteria.	A problem or a concern in project management is something which can throw the project off the track.

41. What are the 4 integrated elements of PRINCE2?

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42. List down the various activities involved in Managing A Stage Boundary.

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Below are the activities involved in this process:

• Planning for the next stage
• Updating the project plan and the business case
• Reporting stage end
• Producing an exception plan

43. What do you understand by tailoring in PRINCE2?

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Tailoring implies the appropriate use of PRINCE2® methodology in any project at hand by ensuring that there is an appropriate amount of planning, control, governance and use of the processes and themes.

44. Name the activities involved in the CP process?

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The activities that are involved in the CP process are,

• Evaluating projects
• Preparing planned closures
• Preparing premature closures
• Suggested project closures
• Hand over projects

45. Define business case?

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A business case is referred to as revalidation of the project and kick-starting the project that is owned by organizations.

46. What is the difference between Controlling a stage, Managing product delivery and Managing a stage boundary?

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Controlling a stage	Managing product delivery	Managing a stage boundary
Controlling a stage Managing product delivery Managing a stage boundary Controlling a stage is the process of managing the project on a day-to-day basis by performing three primary functions:To allocate work to the team manager, Monitor and report on delivery, Take corrective action and control the plan.	Managing product delivery is the process which interfaces with controlling a stage process. Here, the team manager takes care of the product delivery, reports on progress and returns finished work to the Project Manager.	Managing a stage boundary is the process which is performed every time a stage is nearing its ending. At this point of the project, a project manager needs to review completed work in the current stage, assess the incompleted tasks, create a plan for the next stage and identify products, costs and time for the next stage in more detail.

47. State the purpose of configuration management?

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Configuration management helps to track the products.

48. In which process is the justification of the project examined and the Project Plan created?

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In initiating a Project the justification of the project is examined and the project plan is created.

49. What projects use PRINCE2?

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PRINCE2® encourages communication between all entities of all levels involved in a project.

50. What are the various aspects of Project Performance?

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According to the Prince2 framework, the Project Manager needs to have control over these six aspects of the project performance, and they are as follows:

• Quality
• Benefits
• Scope
• Cost
• Risk
• Timescales

51. What is the role of the Project Manager?

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The Project Manager plays a key role in executing the Prince2 projects. He is responsible for planning all the sequence of activities and other works. The Project Manager needs to monitor the work progress and check whether it is matching with the original plan or not. The role of the Manager is to provide the right information at the right time for the right person to make opt decisions about the project.

52. What are the progress controls provided by Prince2?

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Progress Controls in Prince2 plays a vital role in managing projects in an effective manner consistent with risks and complexities.

Prince2 provides two different types of Progress Controls, and they are listed below:

• Time-Driven Controls
• Event-Driven Controls

53. Name the project that can be carried out without using the Prince2 framework?

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Managing of Product Delivery Process can be carried out without using the Prince2 framework.

54. At which stage the request to approve the next stage plan is made?

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At Managing a Stage Boundary process the request to make the next stage plan is made.

55.what is the Business justification for projects?

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A fundamental principle at the heart of PRINCE2 is that each project must have a clearly defined objective, a goal, a customer, tangible benefits or profits, and a comprehensive cost assessment of the project. This helps the team to stay focused on a clear goal and allows them to work towards a clear benefit and incentive.

56. what are the roles and responsibilities of Project Manager?

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At each stage of the project, the project manager should clearly define the roles and responsibilities for individuals and teams. This cuts the clutter and everyone is clear about what they’re responsible for and what is expected of them. This also gives a clear performance metric for all team members.

57. What are the pros and cons of the PRINCE2 methodology?

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Advantages	Disadvantages
1.The entire framework is so flexible that it can be incorporated in just any type of project.	1. If you don’t like excessive documentation, then PRINCE2 isn’t for you.
2.For better communication and accountability in your projects, then PRINCE2 project management is among the best for you.	2. At every stage, there’s loads of documentation to maintain and update.
3.It focuses more on outputs and provides for continuous improvement so progress and results are guaranteed.	3. Due to the lack of involvement and time the senior management usually has, this inevitably slows down the project.

58. What are the documentation types in PRINCE2?

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Documentation is a key part of the different stages of any project. This helps in keeping the project on track and submitting information to the board for review and quality checks.

Some of the types of documents in PRINCE2 project management methodology include:

• Business case: Business case explains the need for the project and what benefits it can bring to the company and the user.
• Risk register: The chances of risks and opportunities and their effect on the project are maintained here.
• Quality register: This log is to make sure that there are no gaps between expectations and deliverables.
• Issues register: Used to list all the issues highlighted by team members.
• Lessons log: It contains a record of the lessons learned from previous stages.
• Daily log: Written by the manager himself, it contains the daily report on performance and outcomes.

59. What is Product delivery management?

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The project manager makes sure that there is no gap between deliverables and quality expectations. The project board makes a final evaluation and either approve the product or request revisions.

60. What are the 5 stages of project management?

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61. What does PMI stand for in project management?

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Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s leading professional association for a growing community of millions of project professionals and changemakers worldwide. As the world’s leading authority on project management, PMI empowers people to make ideas a reality.

62. What comes first in PRINCE2?

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Starting up a Project

This is the first process in PRINCE2. It is a pre-project process, designed to ensure that the pre-requisites for initiating the project are in place. The process expects the existence of a Project Mandate which defines in high level terms the reason for the project and what outcome is sought.

63.How is the tailor to suit the project principle applied in an agile context?

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Ensure that the project’s controls and the way Progress is measured are based on the project’s scale, complexity, importance, capability and risk.

64. Which is a PRINCE2 time driven control?

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A management control that is periodic in nature, to enable the next higher authority to monitor progress – e.g. a control that takes place every two weeks. PRINCE2 offers two key time-driven progress reports: Checkpoint Report and Highlight Report.

65. What is a highlight report in PRINCE2?

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A highlight report is used to provide the project board (and possibly other stakeholders) with a summary of the stage status at intervals defined by them. … The project manager also uses it to advise the project board of any potential problems or areas where the project board could help.

66.What are the six types of tolerances in the PRINCE2 methodology?

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67. What is Prince tool?

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PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a structured project management method and practitioner certification programme. PRINCE2 emphasises dividing projects into manageable and controllable stages. It is adopted in many countries worldwide, including the UK, Western European countries, and Australia. .

68. Is PRINCE2 a framework or methodology?

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• Closures are nothing but a statefull functions.
• A closure is an inner function that has access to outer function’s variables in addition to it’s own variable and global variables.In simple term a closure is a function inside a function.Closures using Lexical scoping in which function have access to global and outer variables.Below is a sample example of Javascript closure.

69. How many project managers should a PRINCE2 project have?

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PRINCE2 says there is one Project Manager so that the Project Manager who works for the supplier can still have the job title of Project Manager on their business card, but as far as this project is concerned, they are a Team Manager.

70. What roles can be combined in PRINCE2?

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Standard examples of combined roles in a project include:

• Executive and Senior Users on a Project Board.
• Project Managers and Team Managers.

71. What is a supplier in PRINCE2?

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In PRINCE2 terms, a Supplier is someone whose skills or resources required to produce the project’s specialist products. … It may also include someone who maintains the project’s products after they are delivered if this is a supplier responsibility.

72. What are the 4 steps in the control process?

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73. What is an exception in PRINCE2?

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The PRINCE2 name for a big issue is Exception, which means the issue is outside the agreed tolerance. Now, imagine you are sitting on the Project Board.

74.Why do you need a business case in a PRINCE2 project?

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During the project, a PRINCE2 business case is a major control document that is referenced on a regular basis to ensure and confirm that the project remains viable. PRINCE2 business cases will contain justifications for a project, such as value for money for what is to be done and why it should be done now.

75. What is an output in PRINCE2?

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• According to PRINCE2 term, the output can be understood as a product delivered by the project. For example, a new IT system is a project’s product called output.
• The output can be a tangible product or intangible service and are created by the process and the output of the project is in fact deliverable.

76. What three ranges of scale can projects have in PRINCE2?

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PRINCE2 recommends three levels of plan – project plan, stage plans and optional team plans; each is appropriate for the level of management which uses it.

77. What is a baseline in PRINCE2?

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A baselined product is a reminder of the original state and as a comparison against the current position. … The Project Board can compare the baselined Project Plan with the current project plan to see how well the project is going compare to the original expectations

78. How does PRINCE2 agile describe Scrum?

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The most fundamental difference between PRINCE2 and Scrum is that the former is a project management methodology whereas Scrum is an agile development approach used by teams. Scrum enables teams of people to work together collaboratively with the customer.

79. Can PRINCE2 be used in construction?

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What’s unique about PRINCE2 is the way in which its 100% industry independent, which means it can be applied in pretty much any area of business and to any project therein.

80. What is a checkpoint report in prince2?

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A Checkpoint Report is used by the team manager to report to the project manager. Information on the progress of the work done compared to the agreed team plan is also included in it. The project manager will agree on the frequency for these reports with the team manager when they are accepting the work package.

81. In which context would PRINCE2 agile be used?

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PRINCE2 Agile is for any project and not just for IT projects. Most of the heritage and thinking behind agile has come from IT and software development, but PRINCE2 Agile does not assume an IT context – although it can be used in an IT context, it is not an IT framework or an IT method.

82. What is identification in project cycle?

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The identification phase analyzes the relevance of the project ideas. This includes the stakeholders and target group of the project. It analyzes potential problems these parties might have and what options there are to address and resolve them.

83. What are the limitations of PRINCE2?

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• Only has 2 tools and techniques (over 100 in PMBOK® Guide)
• Doesn’t cover soft skills.
• Easy to run PINO projects (PRINCE2 IN name Only)
• Requires senior management buy-in to be successful.
• Requires experience to apply it well.
• Has (unfair) reputation that it’s documentation-heavy.

84. What does the 2 stand for in PRINCE2?

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PRINCE2 stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments 2nd version. PRINCE2 is the world’s most popular project management methodology.

85. Who invented PRINCE2?

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PRINCE2 was developed as a UK government standard for information systems projects. In July 2013, ownership of the rights to PRINCE2 were transferred from HM Cabinet Office to AXELOS Ltd, a joint venture by the Cabinet Office and Capita, with 49% and 51% stakes respectively.

86. What are the minimum number of stages required in a PRINCE2 project?

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There are a minimum of two management stages in a project: the Initiation Stage and one further Management Stage. The Closing a Project process is then the last part of the 2nd Stage in a two-stage project. A PRINCE2 project is planned, monitored and controlled on a stage-by-stage basis.

87. How many types of project metrics are there?

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Project metrics can be categorized into three main categories: Pure project management measurements (Example: Estimation accuracy) Indicators of project success (Example: Stakeholder satisfaction) Indicators of business success (Example: ROI).

88. What are the constituents of a project?

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• Outline of business justification and stakeholder needs.
• List of requirements and project objectives.
• Project scope statement.
• List of deliverables and estimated due dates.
• Detailed project schedule.
• Risk assessment and management plan.
• Defined roles and responsibilities.

89. Name the process that sends a request to deliver a project?

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The request to deliver a project is triggered by Initiating a Project.

90. What are the most important part of the project planning?

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One of the most obvious–and most important– steps of a project plan is defining your project goals. When you set your goals before work begins, you, your client, and your team are all on the same page and future misunderstandings can be avoided. Good goals are realistic, clear, and measurable.

91. What are the top 3 considerations you must make for a project?

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Typically, people will answer in terms of the triple constraint of:

Time – they will have preferred deadlines. They may have required deadlines.

Cost – they may want you to keep within a certain budget.

Quality – they may set you specific quality standards to meet.

92. What are the types of project?

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The types are –

• Compulsory
• Not for profit
• External Project
• Evolving Requirements
• Multi organization project