API 653 Aboveground Storage Tank Inspector

Correct: The purpose of the Closing a Project (CP) process is to provide a fixed point at which acceptance for the project product is confirmed, and to recognize that objectives set out in the original Project Initiation Documentation have been achieved (or approved changes to the objectives have been achieved), or that the project has nothing more to contribute. This ensures that the project is not a ‘runaway’ project and that there is a formal handover of products and risks.

Incorrect: Updating the Business Case for viability is a core activity of the Managing a Stage Boundary process, not the Closing a Project process. Authorizing the final stage is a responsibility of the Project Board within the Directing a Project process. While administrative tasks like reassignment and financial reviews occur at the end of a project, they do not constitute the primary purpose of the CP process, which focuses on formal acceptance and objective verification.

Takeaway: The Closing a Project process provides a formal, fixed point to confirm product acceptance and verify that project objectives were met or that the project should be terminated early.

Correct: In the PRINCE2 Initiating a Project (IP) process, the activity Prepare the Quality Management Approach is responsible for defining the quality techniques, standards, and responsibilities required to ensure the project’s products are fit for purpose. In this scenario, the Project Manager is establishing how the new sanctions screening system will be validated against regulatory requirements, which is a core component of quality management.

Incorrect: The Risk Management Approach focuses on how the project will identify and manage uncertainties, not the specific quality standards of the product. The Change Control Approach defines how the project will manage issues and changes to baselined products. The Project Plan outlines the schedule, costs, and resources for the project but does not detail the specific quality verification techniques for individual products.

Correct: In the PRINCE2 ‘Controlling a Stage’ process, the Project Manager is responsible for taking corrective action to address issues or deviations that are within the stage tolerances. This involves evaluating the issue, selecting a course of action, and updating management products like the Issue Register and Stage Plan to reflect the changes. This demonstrates the ‘Manage by Exception’ principle where the Project Manager only escalates when tolerances are forecast to be exceeded.

Incorrect: Escalating via an Exception Report is incorrect because PRINCE2 specifies that escalation is only required when a tolerance is forecast to be exceeded; doing so for minor deviations undermines the Project Board’s efficiency. Delegating the action entirely to a Team Manager is incorrect because the Project Manager is responsible for stage-level control and must ensure any changes to Team Plans do not negatively impact the overall Stage Plan. Requesting a budget increase from the Change Authority is unnecessary if the issue can be resolved within existing tolerances and authority, and it misidentifies resource reallocation as a scope change.

Takeaway: Corrective action is a Project Manager’s tool for maintaining control within agreed stage tolerances without needing to escalate to the Project Board.

Correct: Tailoring PRINCE2 for small projects often involves merging management products, such as combining the Project Brief and the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), to reduce documentation effort. However, the core control of having a formal authorization point at the end of initiation must be maintained to ensure the project remains viable and aligned with the bank’s objectives.

Incorrect: Combining the Project Manager and Executive roles is incorrect because it violates the principle of defined roles and responsibilities, specifically the need for a separation between the person managing the work and the person accountable for the business investment. Treating the project as a single stage is incorrect because PRINCE2 requires at least two stages: an initiation stage and at least one delivery stage. Replacing the Business Case with a verbal agreement is incorrect because the principle of continued business justification requires a documented basis for the project, even if it is simplified for a smaller scope.

Takeaway: Tailoring PRINCE2 for small projects involves streamlining documentation and roles while strictly adhering to the methodology’s core principles and mandatory control points.

Correct: Tailoring the Organization theme allows for the merging of roles, such as Project Manager and Project Support, provided that the Project Manager has the capacity and there is no conflict of interest. Similarly, tailoring the Risk theme involves simplifying the Risk Management Approach and management products, such as using a single Risk Register, to ensure the administrative effort is proportionate to the project’s scale and risk level.

Incorrect: Discontinuing the Business Case theme is a violation of the PRINCE2 principle of Continued Business Justification, which is mandatory regardless of project size. Implementing unmodified, high-complexity risk controls for a small project ignores the Tailor to Suit the Project Environment principle, leading to unnecessary overhead. Assigning Project Assurance to the Project Manager is incorrect because Project Assurance must be independent of the Project Manager to provide objective oversight to the Project Board.

Takeaway: Effective tailoring involves scaling management products and roles to the project’s complexity while ensuring that the core principles and accountabilities of PRINCE2 are never abandoned.

Correct: Tailoring is a mandatory principle in PRINCE2. It requires that the project management team adapts the method to the project’s specific context, including its environment, size, complexity, importance, capability, and risk. The primary goal is to ensure the project management effort is proportional to the project’s needs. However, tailoring must not compromise the seven PRINCE2 principles; if any principle is ignored, the project is no longer being managed using PRINCE2.

Incorrect: Following all templates without adaptation is known as ‘robotic’ application, which often leads to unnecessary overhead and fails to address specific project needs. Reducing stages to only two regardless of project length or risk may violate the ‘Manage by Stages’ principle if the project is long or complex. Delegating tailoring to Team Managers is incorrect because the Project Manager is responsible for documenting the tailoring approach in the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), ensuring a consistent approach across the project.

Takeaway: Effective tailoring must adapt the PRINCE2 method to the project’s specific context while strictly maintaining the integrity of all seven core principles.

Correct: In a PRINCE2 Agile environment, the Hexagon model defines which performance targets are fixed and which are flexed. For most agile projects, Time and Cost are fixed, while Scope is the primary variable used to manage tolerances. By setting Work Package tolerances that allow for flexing the scope (often using MoSCoW prioritization), the Project Manager enables the team to deliver the most important features by the fixed regulatory deadline without constantly triggering exceptions for minor scope changes.

Incorrect: Replacing Work Packages entirely with a Product Backlog without formal tolerances undermines the PRINCE2 governance structure and the Manage by Exception principle. Increasing Stage Boundaries to match every sprint cycle creates an ‘over-managed’ environment that introduces significant administrative overhead and contradicts the Manage by Exception philosophy. Delegating project-level tolerances to a Scrum Master is a violation of the Defined Roles and Responsibilities principle, as project-level tolerances must remain the purview of the Project Board or corporate management.

Takeaway: PRINCE2 Agile maintains governance by fixing time and cost while flexing scope as the primary mechanism for managing tolerances at the delivery level.

Correct: In PRINCE2, the Lessons Report is specifically designed to pass on any lessons that can be usefully applied to other projects. The Project Manager identifies these by reviewing the Lessons Log, which has been maintained throughout the project. By including lessons with corporate value and distributing them according to the Communication Management Approach, the Project Manager ensures that the organization as a whole can benefit from the project’s successes and failures, directly fulfilling the ‘learn from experience’ principle.

Incorrect: Focusing only on technical failures is too narrow and misses broader project management lessons such as risk identification or stakeholder engagement. Simply archiving the Lessons Log is a passive action that does not ensure the knowledge is shared or applied elsewhere. Updating the Quality Register and End Project Report are necessary closing activities, but they serve different purposes; the Quality Register tracks quality activities, and the End Project Report focuses on project performance against the original plan rather than organizational learning.

Takeaway: The Lessons Report must synthesize valuable insights from the Lessons Log and be actively distributed to relevant stakeholders to ensure the organization avoids repeating mistakes and replicates successes.