Prince2 Interview: Top 20 Most Asked Questions & Expert Answers 2023

Making your way towards the Project Management field is not easy. You need to have specific skills, you need to have knowledge about essential tools, you need to acquire specific soft skills to carry out the entire process. And we don’t need to mention it, having a skill like Prince2 in your resume is always a cherry on the top!

But, as the project management field is ever-evolving, the gateway to enter this field too is being more and more guarded by passing days. This means you are more likely to face new challenges at the interview table once you appear for one.

As you know, with the proper tactics and particular practices it is easy to cross any hurdle, and so is the project management interviews. Since interviewers nowadays take a keen interest in Prince2 methodologies in order to craft the interview questions, we fetched out the top 20 Prince2 interview questions just for you. Have a look!

Top 20 Questions & Answers to crack the PRINCE2 Interview

 

1. What is Prince2?

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

2. Give a proper definition of a project.

Ans. Any undertaking carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned (usually by a project team) to achieve a particular aim is called a project.

3. What are the key features of prince 2?

Ans. The key features of Prince2 are:

• It is well organized
•  You can apply it to any project
•  It is based on management by exception
•  It has some extraordinary diagnostic tools to offer
•  It is consistent and reusable.

4. What are the 7 processes of Prince2?

Ans. The 7 processes of Prince2 are as follows:

• Starting Up A Project, in which the project team is appointed including an executive and a project manager, and a project brief is produced
•  Initiating A Project, in which the business case refined and Project Initiation Documentation assembled
• Directing A Project, which dictates the ways in which the Project Board oversees the project
• Controlling A Stage, which dictates how each individual stage should be controlled, including the way in which work packages are authorized and distributed
• Managing Product Delivery, which has the purpose of controlling the link between the Project Manager and the Team Manager(s) by placing formal requirements on accepting, executing and delivering project work.
• Managing Stage Boundaries, which dictates how to transition from one stage to the next
• Closing A Project, which covers the formal decommissioning of the project, follow-on actions, and evaluation of the benefits.

5. What are the 7 themes of Prince2?

Ans. The 7 themes of Prince2 are:

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

6. What will be the essential steps if you want to direct a project?

Ans: Directing a project involves the following steps:

• Supporting a project
• Accepting the results 
• Providing approval from the management

7. Define ‘Plan’ in PRINCE2® methodology.

Ans. A plan is basically a timeline that provides us with a vision of how the objectives can be achieved and point out the main products, activities, and resources that are required for the scope of the plan.

8. What are the 7 principles of Prince2?

Ans. The 7 principles of Prince2 are:

• Continued Business Justification: The business case is the most important document, and is updated at every stage of the project to ensure that the project is still viable. Early termination can occur if this ceases to be the case.
• Learn From Experience: Each project maintains a lesson log and projects should continually refer to their own and to previous and concurrent projects' lesson logs to avoid reinventing wheels. Unless lessons provoke change, they are only lessons identified (not learned).
• Defined Roles and Responsibilities: Roles are separated from individuals, who may take on multiple roles or share a role. Roles in PRINCE2 are structured in four levels (corporate or program management, project board, project manager level, and team level). Project Management Team contains the last three, where all primary stakeholders (business, user, supplier) need to be presented.
• Manage by Stages: the project is planned and controlled on a stage by stage basis. Moving between stages includes updating the business case, risks, overall plan, and detailed next-stage plan in the light of new evidence.
• Manage by Exception: A PRINCE2 project has defined tolerances (6 aspects above) for each project objective, to establish limits of delegated authority. If a management level forecasts that these tolerances are exceeded (e.g. time of a management stage will be longer than the estimated time in the current management stage). it is escalated to the next management level for a decision about how to proceed.
• Focus on Products: A PRINCE2 project focuses on the definition and delivery of the products, in particular their quality requirements.
• Tailor to Suit Project Environment: PRINCE2 is tailored to suit the project environment, size, complexity, importance, time capability, and risk. Tailoring is the first activity in the process of Initiating A Project and reviewed for each stage.

9. What are the steps that are involved in planning?

Ans. Steps involved in the planning are:

• Directing a project(DP)
• Starting up a project(SU)
• Initiating a Project(IP)
• Controlling a Stage(CS)
• Managing a project delivery(MP)
• Managing a Stage Boundary(SB)
• Closing a Project(CP)

10. What is the risk register?

Ans. A risk register is a table that contains the list of risks that can threaten the goals of the project.

11. Who are the primary stakeholders of a Prince2 project?

Ans. There are 3 primary stakeholders of a Prince2 project:

• Users 
• Suppliers
• Business sponsors

12. What are the different levels of plans?

Ans. The different levels of plans are as follows:

• Project Plan
• Stage Plan
• Team Plan
• Exception Plan

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

Ans. Project Support responsible for producing a Product Status Account

14. Which role is responsible for drafting the outline Business Case?

Ans. The executive is responsible for drafting the outline Business Case.

15. Which role assures the stage and project progress against agreed tolerances?

Ans. Project Assurance confirms stage and project progress against agreed tolerances.

16. What are the two types of progress controls provided by PRINCE2?

Ans. Prince2 provides time-driven and event-driven progress control.

17. Which process can be carried out without following the Closing a Project(CP)?

Ans. Managing the Product Delivery process can be carried out easily without following the PRINCE2® methodology.

18. State the objectives of closing a project process by following Prince2 methodology.

Ans. Objectives of closing a project process with the help of Prince2 methodology are:

• 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.

19. Name a process that triggers the request to deliver a project.

Ans. Initiating a Project process triggers the request to deliver a project.

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

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

Conclusion:

Guess we pretty much covered the entire Prince2 interview questionnaires for you! But if you still have some queries, feel free to drop them in the comment section below! In fact, you know what’s better? Apply for a Prince2 Certification, and get all your doubts clear in one go!

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