PRINCE2 7th Edition – What’s different?Finance FAQs

Background®

In September 2023, PeopleCert, the PRINCE2 accreditation body released the latest update to is a registered mark of the DevOps Institute. “PMI”, “PMBOKPRINCE2®, the best practice project management methodology, popular in the UK, Europe, and Australia. PRINCE2 7 – standing for 7 Guide”, “PMP” and “CAPM” are registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc. Knowledge Train Scrum Essentials™, Business Learning Library (BLL)™, Business Analysis Learning Library (BALL)™, Agile Learning Library (ALL)™, IT Learning Library (ITLL)™, and Compliance Learning Library (CLL)™ are trademarks of Knowledge Train Limited. All rights reserved.^{thKnowledge Train Ltd is an Introducer Appointed Representative of NewDay Cards Ltd for the Newpay finance product provided by NewDay Ltd. NewDay Cards Ltd acts as a credit broker, not a lender. We will introduce you exclusively to Newpay finance products provided by NewDay Limited under this Introducer Appointed Representative arrangement. Finance available from other lenders is not covered by this arrangement. NewDay Ltd and Newday Cards Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (ref nos 690292 and 682417 respectively).} edition – comes 6 years after the 6 ^th edition release in 2017.

PRINCE2® 7 Managing Successful Projects (ISBN 978-9925-34-450-5), is the title of the latest edition which comes bundled with the PRINCE2 Foundation exam in digital form, and forms part of our latest instructor-led SearchPRINCE2 7 courses .

This article explores what’s changed in PRINCE2 7 ^th edition and offers some thoughts on why this latest release is so important in the project management arena.

1. 1. MarketingAnother new area in PRINCE2 7^th edition is its discussion of leadership. This is an area where the influence of agile principles becomes apparent. This is especially true when PRINCE2 7 discusses collaboration and co-creation, a specific form of collaboration where users and key influencers work together in the design of products. This requires ways of working to be agreed between both the organizational and project ecosystems.

      
      

   3. Previous editions always described PRINCE2 as operating with a customer/supplier context, with the supplier either part of the customer organization commissioning the project, or an external organization operating under a contractual arrangement. However, previous versions never described any part of the commercial aspects to project management .

      Whilst the 7Preferences^th edition does not provide detailed guidance for how to manage contracts or procurement, it does offer high level pointers to the important things that must be considered.

      Sustainability management approach

      PRINCE2 7

      ^th edition, is the addition of a 7Statistics^th project performance of sustainability, to go with the previous six (time, cost, scope, quality, risk, benefits), each having their own tolerance ranges to form the projects targets.

   4. Simplification of the management products

      PRINCE2 6Statistics^th edition described 26 management products, and these were listed in detail in Appendix A of the PRINCE2 manual . In PRINCE2 6 ^th edition, Appendix A now only contains 15 entries. Some (such as the product status account, and configuration item records) have been removed, and one has added (project log).

      Many of the previous entries which previously had their own entry on Appendix A are now described as part of a larger management product. For example, the new project log contains the previously separate entries for the daily log, lessons log, issue register, quality register, and risk register.

      The management products are also described in a more simplified way with the removal of the previous quality criteria applicable to each The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.management product .The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.

Examinations

To become qualified with PRINCE2 7Marketing^th edition some minor changes to the two PRINCE2 exams have been made.Marketing

PRINCE2 Foundation exam

The duration of 60 minutes has not changed, but the pass mark has increased from 55% to 60%, so candidates require a score of 36 marks out of 60 to pass.

PRINCE2 Practitioner exam

The duration of 150 minutes has not changed, but the pass mark has increased from 55% to 60%, and the number of marks available has also increased from 68 to 70. This means that candidates how require a score of 42 marks out of 70 to pass.

What’s not changed?

So, although we have just seen quite a lot being changed in the new 7^th edition of PRINCE2, one could say that apart from some name changes, not a lot of PRINCE2 hasn’t changed in the 7^th edition. The essential core of PRINCE2 remains the same.

The core of PRINCE2 is the same

PRINCE2 still remains a project management methodology, and it still has 7 principles, 7 processes, and 7 practices (formerly themes), and it still requires the method to be tailored to suit the project environment. The project management roles and responsibilities has remained fundamentally unaltered too.

The two main areas of PRINCE2 that have only seen minor changes in the 7^th edition are:

1. Principles
2. Processes.

Principles

The only thing within the principles that has changed is 2 minor name changes. The new names being ‘ensure continued business justification’ and ‘define roles, responsibilities, and relationships’ to reinforce the new People element. Other than name changes though, the principles remain the same as the previous edition.

Processes

Within the 7 processes, there are no substantive changes, only minor ones. The names of the processes remain the same, but some of the activities within each process have had names changes, and in some cases have additional activities.

One welcome minor change is the simplification of the responsibilities for each process. This is in the form of a RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) matrix and there is only one per process rather than one per activity as previously was the case.

Summary

I’ve been teaching PRINCE2 to students since 2006, and in that time, I have seen 4 revisions to PRINCE2. The previous one in 2017 was a hugely important revision because it focused on providing much more guidance on how to tailor PRINCE2 to suit different project contexts.

PRINCE2 7^th edition continues with even more welcome improvements. It’s new focus on people fills in the biggest omission from previous editions. The addition of the new management approaches for data and digital management, commercial management, and sustainability management are also long overdue.

Its incorporation of change management concepts is perhaps the most interesting new addition. Whether this is a sign that the project and change management professions will at some point become one remains to be seen, but bringing change management concepts into the project management world can only be a good thing and one that contributes to more successful project outcomes.

One final point is that PRINCE2 7^th edition is a very welcome contribution to project management and the project managers’ toolkit today. Its incorporation of modern best practices in project management has meant that PRINCE2 remains at the forefront of what modern project management should be about. As such, applied wisely in organizations, PRINCE2 can only help to bring about better outcomes and realize better returns on investments from projects.