PRINCE2 in context

I am often challenged by new or prospective clients by statements along the lines of "I've spent a fortune putting my PMs through PRINCE2 training, and we're still encountering regular project failure. Why?". Of course there could be a number of reasons, but generally I find that it's because there is a misunderstanding of what PRINCE2 is. In short, PRINCE2 is only part of what project management is about.

PRojects IN Controlled Environments is a project management methodology published by the OGC, a UK government agency responsible for promoting best practice in many areas of management, including Project Management.

PRINCE2 is not, and was not designed to, cover all of the detailed tools and techniques used in managing projects. It was designed to provide a consistent, well structured framework for the processes involved in managing projects, and can provide a link between business processes and project tools and techniques.

Derived from PROMPT, the 1st version of PRINCE was significantly updated in the mid 1990's creating PRINCE2. It has 2 main elements - processes and components. The OGC link is provided for further details.

On behalf of the OGC, APM Group Ltd manage two levels of PRINCE2 related qualification - 'foundation' and 'practitioner', around which quite an enterprise has grown.