By now you should have come across PRINCE2, either by reading about it, or you have been fortunate enough to have used it in some way in your workplace.
Over the past five years, a growing number of people in the project management community have become actively involved with it.
However, for those few who do not yet know about PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environments), this is what it is. It is a processed-based approach to better project management. Originally developed by the UK's Office of Government Commerce, it is a rapidly expanding project management methodology used across the globe.
A key criterion for a good project management methodology is that it should align project managers with the decision-makers in the organisation. PRINCE2 does this without being bureaucratic and project managers love it!
"We recognised the need in the South African market and saw the opportunity for a better way to manage projects," says Guy Eastoe, Snap-Tech's Managing Director and Lead Consultant.
Since 2002 Snap-Tech (Pty) Ltd has pioneered the introduction of PRINCE2 into the South African market. Eastoe explains that in this time a growing variety of businesses have experienced and benefited from the easy way PRINCE2 can be tailored and scaled for the management of all types of projects.
The introduction and growth of PRINCE2 in the local market has caused excitement among individuals as well as organisations of all sizes. "South Africa is on par with the growing worldwide trend to bolster project competencies through PRINCE2," says Eastoe. He has seen all types of businesses improve their project success rate because of it.
It helps individuals to do better project management and gives organisations a standard, quality-focused and reusable way of doing projects right. "PRINCE2 enables project managers to easily manage the process of project management, so that they can use their experience and intellect to deal with the challenges, technical complexities and people issues raised within projects," adds Eastoe.
Kabelo Reid, Director: New Business Development, says: "PRINCE2 is helping to address the huge demand for project delivery in South Africa."
He continues: "It has become a recognised name and a much sought-after standard in the project management community."
Kabelo explains further that companies are driven by the strategic imperative to grow and expand. Currently many projects fail while implementing the change needed to bring about that growth. However, PRINCE2 offers a common language for project managers to work with and enables them to better govern the delivery of the change required. Not only is there great interest shown and up-take of PRINCE2 in the private sector, but government in all three spheres (local, provincial and national) has looked to PRINCE2 for assistance in managing projects better.
PRINCE2 has grown immensely, not only locally but also internationally. The amount of 'practitioner' exams written has grown from just under 10 000 per year in 2002 to over 25 000 per year in 2006, with the number of accredited training organisations growing from 75 in 2003 to 111 in 2006. PRINCE2 examinations are written in 57 countries, and the manual translated into 17 languages. It is coupled with a programme framework called Managing Successful Programmes, for managing massive change beyond the scope of normal project management practices.
With the growth and expansion of PRINCE2, organisations are starting to focus not only on proper governance for project management, but also to looking to benchmark their project management competencies. To facilitate this process, the OGC and APM Group have developed the Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3) and an associated assessment process. This model helps organisations to raise their project management maturity to the required level.
To address and help satisfy the demand for better project management through PRINCE2, Snap-Tech has developed an appropriately South African business model for potential PRINCE2 training companies.
For more information, contact Wendy at Snap-Tech on 0860 10 55 24.
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