Top 50 PRINCE2® Interview Questions You Need to Know

In today’s market, landing onto a quality job is quite a challenging task, especially if you are at the intermediate level of your career. In such times having professional certification such as PRINCE2^® definitely comes in handy and will give you an edge over the non-certification holders. PRINCE2^® Certification acts as proof of your skills, knowledge, and confidence to manage any complex projects successfully. But having the certification alone is not sufficient. You need to stay prepared for the interview and clear it as well. To help you out, I have listed the Top 50 PRINCE2^® Interview Questions which help you in getting an idea of the type of questions asked in interviews and will definitely help you clearing it with flying colors.

So let’s get started with this PRINCE2^® Interview Questions article.

PRINCE2^® Interview Questions

1. What is PRINCE2^® Certification?

PRINCE2^® Certification is one of the most preferred certifications by project management professionals. Here, PRINCE2^® stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments. PRINCE2® is considered to be the best practice framework for project management. It helps managers in delivering projects on time and within the assigned budget. The projects developed using PRINCE2® methodology, often begin with a detailed and thorough plan. It provides a proper structure for the project where each stage is clearly defined with a start, middle and end. It focuses more on the delivery of products rather than carrying out activities. Once the project finishes, everything is neatly wrapped up and all the loose ends are tied up.

2. What do you understand by ‘Project’?

A project is a temporary endeavor which is undertaken to produce a unique product or solution. In other words, a project has a definite beginning and ending along with the final product must be specific to the project. A project that doesn’t have these properties can be harmful to our organization as it will be eating up our time, space and other resources.

3. What are the 7 themes of PRINCE2?

Below are the 7 themes:

1. Business Case
2. Organization
3. Quality
4. Risk
5. Planning
6. Change
7. Progress

4. What are the 7 processes of PRINCE2?

Below are the 7 processes:

1. Starting Up A Project (SU)
2. Initiating A Project (IP)
3. Directing A Project (DP)
4. Managing Product Delivery (MP)
5. Controlling A Stage (CS)
6. Managing A Stage Boundary (SB)
7. Closing  A  Project (CP)

5. What are the 7 principles of PRINCE2?

Below are the 7 principles:

1. Business Justification
2. Learn From Experience
3. Defined Roles & Responsibilities
4. Manage By Stages
5. Manage By Exception
6. Focus On Products
7. Tailor To Suit The Project

6. List down the key features of PRINCE2^® Certification.

Below I have listed down the major features of PRINCE2^® Certification:

• The main focus is on business justification
• Neatly defined organization structure for the project management team
• Planning approach is majorly based on the product
• It emphases more on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages
• Helps in maintaining the consistency of the project work
• Enhances the reusability of project modules
• Flexibility can be applied at any level which is appropriate to the project
• Widely organized and understood by the project management professionals
• Considered to be an invaluable diagnostic tool for project management

7. What are the various steps involved in directing a project?

The Directing Project involves various activities such as:

• Supporting a project
• Accepting the results or final outcomes
• Providing approval from the management

8. What are the various types of documentation used in PRINCE2^® methodology for storing and reporting project-related data?

Below I have listed various types of documentation that are used in PRINCE2^® methodology:

• Business Case: It contains a detailed description of why the project is needed and its expected benefits to the users and business.
• Risk Register: It contains the lists of the probability and potential impacts of the risks and opportunities.
• Quality Register: It contains a running log of various quality checks which ensure deliverables are meeting the customer expectations.
• Issues Register: It holds the list of problems and concerns of the project team members.
• Lessons Log: It contains the notes of the lessons learned which can be applied to the next work stage or future projects.
• Daily Log: It is a kind of daily diary which is written by the project manager to report various activities and progress.

9. Define ‘Plan’ in PRINCE2^® methodology.

A plan provides a timeline stating how and when objectives are to be achieved, by highlighting the major products, activities, and resources which are required for the scope of the plan. In simple terms, a plan of any project defines the following:

In today’s market, landing onto a quality job is quite a challenging task, especially if you are at the intermediate level of your career. In such times having professional certification such as PRINCE2^® definitely comes in handy and will give you an edge over the non-certification holders. PRINCE2^® Certification acts as proof of your skills, knowledge, and confidence to manage any complex projects successfully. But having the certification alone is not sufficient. You need to stay prepared for the interview and clear it as well. To help you out, I have listed the Top 50 PRINCE2^® Interview Questions which help you in getting an idea of the type of questions asked in interviews and will definitely help you clearing it with flying colors.

So let’s get started with this PRINCE2^® Interview Questions article.

PRINCE2^® Interview Questions

1. What is PRINCE2^® Certification?

PRINCE2^® Certification is one of the most preferred certifications by project management professionals. Here, PRINCE2^® stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments. PRINCE2® is considered to be the best practice framework for project management. It helps managers in delivering projects on time and within the assigned budget. The projects developed using PRINCE2® methodology, often begin with a detailed and thorough plan. It provides a proper structure for the project where each stage is clearly defined with a start, middle and end. It focuses more on the delivery of products rather than carrying out activities. Once the project finishes, everything is neatly wrapped up and all the loose ends are tied up.

2. What do you understand by ‘Project’?

A project is a temporary endeavor which is undertaken to produce a unique product or solution. In other words, a project has a definite beginning and ending along with the final product must be specific to the project. A project that doesn’t have these properties can be harmful to our organization as it will be eating up our time, space and other resources.

3. What are the 7 themes of PRINCE2?

Below are the 7 themes:

1. Business Case
2. Organization
3. Quality
4. Risk
5. Planning
6. Change
7. Progress

4. What are the 7 processes of PRINCE2?

Below are the 7 processes:

1. Starting Up A Project (SU)
2. Initiating A Project (IP)
3. Directing A Project (DP)
4. Managing Product Delivery (MP)
5. Controlling A Stage (CS)
6. Managing A Stage Boundary (SB)
7. Closing  A  Project (CP)

5. What are the 7 principles of PRINCE2?

Below are the 7 principles:

1. Business Justification
2. Learn From Experience
3. Defined Roles & Responsibilities
4. Manage By Stages
5. Manage By Exception
6. Focus On Products
7. Tailor To Suit The Project

6. List down the key features of PRINCE2^® Certification.

Below I have listed down the major features of PRINCE2^® Certification:

• The main focus is on business justification
• Neatly defined organization structure for the project management team
• Planning approach is majorly based on the product
• It emphases more on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages
• Helps in maintaining the consistency of the project work
• Enhances the reusability of project modules
• Flexibility can be applied at any level which is appropriate to the project
• Widely organized and understood by the project management professionals
• Considered to be an invaluable diagnostic tool for project management

7. What are the various steps involved in directing a project?

The Directing Project involves various activities such as:

• Supporting a project
• Accepting the results or final outcomes
• Providing approval from the management

8. What are the various types of documentation used in PRINCE2^® methodology for storing and reporting project-related data?

Below I have listed various types of documentation that are used in PRINCE2^® methodology:

• Business Case: It contains a detailed description of why the project is needed and its expected benefits to the users and business.
• Risk Register: It contains the lists of the probability and potential impacts of the risks and opportunities.
• Quality Register: It contains a running log of various quality checks which ensure deliverables are meeting the customer expectations.
• Issues Register: It holds the list of problems and concerns of the project team members.
• Lessons Log: It contains the notes of the lessons learned which can be applied to the next work stage or future projects.
• Daily Log: It is a kind of daily diary which is written by the project manager to report various activities and progress.

9. Define ‘Plan’ in PRINCE2^® methodology.

A plan provides a timeline stating how and when objectives are to be achieved, by highlighting the major products, activities, and resources which are required for the scope of the plan. In simple terms, a plan of any project defines the following:

• Risks, Resources, Communication
• Scope, Budget, Schedule, Quality

10. In PRINCE2^® methodology, what are the various levels of a plan?

Below are the 4 levels of a plan:

1. Project Plan: A Project Plan provides the Business Case with planned costs, and also used to identify the management stages along with other major control points in the project. The Project Board uses this plan as a baseline for monitoring the project Progress.
2. Stage Plan: Stage Plans cover the various products, resources, activities, and controls which are specific to a particular stage and are used as a baseline to monitor the stage progress.
3. Team Plan: Team Plans are optional and you don’t have to follow the same composition as a Project Plan or Stage Plan. Thus, in case you make use of the Team Plans would comprise of a simple schedule appended to the Work Packages which are assigned to the Team Manager. 
4. Exception Plan: Exception Plans are usually created in order to show how the project stage will be recovered in case there is a breach in project or stage tolerances.

PRINCE2^® Interview Questions

11. List down the various steps involved in planning.

Steps involved in the planning are:

• Designing the plan
• Define the products
• Identify Activities & Dependencies
• Prepare Estimates
• Prepare Schedule
• Document plan
• Identify Risks

12. Can you name the progress controls provided by PRINCE2^® methodology?

Below are the progress controls in PRINCE2® methodology:

• Event-driven
• Time-driven

13. What do you understand by Directing a Project (DP)?

Directing a Project is one of the 7 processes in PRINCE2® methodology which helps the Project Board to be accountable for the project’s success. It helps the Project Manager in making key decisions and exercising overall control all while delegating the day-to-day management of the project.

14. What are the various objectives of Directing a  Project?

Below are the objectives of the Directing a Project process is to ensure that:

• It holds the authority for initiating a project
• It also has the authority to deliver the project’s deliverables
• It provides a better direction and control to the project management throughout the project’s lifecycle
• A properly structured interface for the corporate or program management is available in the project
• Holds the authority to close/shut down the project
• The plans for post-project benefits are also managed and reviewed in this process

15. During which process of the PRINCE2^® methodology is the request to approve the next Stage Plan made?

In the Managing a Stage Boundary process the request to approve the next Stage Plan is prepared.

16. Explain quality planning and quality control.

Quality planning in PRINCE2® methodology the process of identifying the quality requirements of a project such as deciding on what attributes are required to make a product fit for the purpose and plan on how to achieve that product. On the other hand, quality control is the process of executing the plan and conduct the quality tests to ensure that the product meets the expected requirements.

17. In PRINCE2® methodology, which document is used for recording the planned and actual dates of product approval and hand-over?

The planned and actual dates of product approval and hand-over are contained in the Product Checklist document.

18. Why the 7 principles are important in PRINCE2^® project management methodology?

In the PRINCE2® methodology, a principle refers to the notions that project management practitioners must follow all the time. These principles are developed on the basis of the past experience of the Project Managers on what they have found to be successful. All those ideas and concepts have been filtered and compressed into a set of everyday activities and behavior. Thus, following these principles will help in easy management and execution of the project and will also ensure its success.

19. Which department(s) is responsible for establishing project tolerance in PRINCE2^® methodology?

Below are the various departments which are responsible for PRINCE2^® methodology:

Project Management and Methodologies Training

• Project Support
• Project Board
• Project Management
• Customer Support

20.  Using which process, you can easily integrate the Non-PRINCE2^® Practices into a PRINCE2^® Project Environment while developing products?

One of the 7 processes of PRINCE2® methodology known as Managing Product Delivery is responsible for the integration of Non-PRINCE2^® Practices into a PRINCE2® project environment while developing products.

PRINCE2^® Interview Questions

21. Differentiate between avoiding a threat and reducing a threat?

Avoiding a Threat	Reducing a Threat
This is basically a simple process where the project is altered in order to prevent the risk from occurring.	This is basically the attempt to reduce the risk probability and its impact. Avoiding risk can be expensive, thus, most of the project managers seek for ways to reduce them.

22. List down the various types of projects?

Below are the types of projects:

• Compulsory
•  Not for profit
•  External Project
•  Evolving Requirements
•  Multi organization project

23. What are the various deliverables offered by PRINCE2^®?

Below are the PRINCE2® deliverables:

• Business case
• End of stage report
• Project plan
• Issue Log
• Work package
• Risk management plan

24. Who is responsible for the authorization of the project initiation?

Project Board within the organization authorizes the project initiation.

25. Why a project is split into a number of stages?

By splitting up a project into multiple stages helps the Project Managers to breakdown the entire project activities into manageable chunks. This provides better control and execution over the project. Also, with splitting the project into stages, similar kind of work can be grouped together and the funds and resources can be allocated better to each stage. It will, in turn, increase the efficiency and reduce the unnecessary wastage of money as well as resources. Also, with this approach responding to the customer need becomes easier and enhances the agility of the projects.

26. Which document is used to define the acceptance criteria and roles for the projects in PRINCE2^® methodology?

Project Product Description is used to define the acceptance criteria and roles for the project. This is document is created during the Starting up a Project process and used in the Closing a Project process. This document helps in verifying the project meets customer expectations.

27. During which process of a PRINCE2^® based project, a Checkpoint Report is produced?

During the Managing Product Delivery process, a Checkpoint Report is generally produced. This process is responsible for managing and controlling the work among the Project Manager and the Team Manager by setting a few formal agreements on acceptance, execution, and delivery of the project products.

28. What are the three steps of quality review technique?

Below are the three steps involved in quality review technique:

• Preparation: This is done prior to the review meeting to discuss the things which are probably wrong and are required to be updated in the project.
• Review Meeting: In this meeting, various questions are raised and discussed to pinpoint the fault or the problem areas. Then an action plan is curated in order to fix those errors.
• Follow Up: This is done to ensure that all the errors or the problem areas have been taken care of and the final product is ready to be handed over to the customer.

29. What do you understand by configuration management PRINCE2^® methodology?

Configuration management in PRINCE2® is the technical and administrative activity that mainly focuses on creating, maintaining and controlling the change of configuration throughout the complete lifecycle of the final product. A configuration item is nothing but the main entity which is subjected to the configuration management. This entity can be a simple component of a product or a set of products which are to be released to the customer.

30. List down a few risk strategies implemented in PRINCE2^® projects.

Below I have listed the risk strategies used in PRINCE2®:

• Risk Tolerance
• Risk Appetite
• Ongoing Activity
• Avoid, Seek, Neutral

PRINCE2^® Interview Questions

31. Which PRINCE2^® theme addresses the ongoing viability of the different project plans?

The last theme of the PRINCE2® methodology i.e Progress is responsible for addressing the ongoing viability of the different project plans.

32. Differentiate between the Starting up a Project process and the Initiating a Project process?

Starting up a Project	Initiating a Project
This is the initial process in which information is gathered in order to make a quick decision to start a project or not	This is the second process which is performed after the Starting up a Project process. In this process, documentation is curated on the project initiation and further, the governance of the project is defined

33. What is the use of PRINCE2^® method?

PRINCE2^® integrates different methodologies which help in adding flexibility to the projects and thus making it more responsive. It also aids in deciding on the project team and assign responsibilities to them. PRINCE2® methodology gets a set of processes, themes, and principles which helps you through your work. Using this method information gathering also becomes easy and effective.

34. Who are considered as the primary stakeholders in a PRINCE2^® project?

Below are the primary stakeholders of a PRINCE2® project:

• Users
• Suppliers
• Business Sponsors

35. Differentiate between risk, quality and issue register.

Risk Register	Quality Register	Issue Register
This is particularly used for holding the risks that can have a negative impact on the project objective.	This contains the details of all the planned quality activities and personnel involved along with their dates	This contains a set of notes regarding the change requests, complaints, concerns and problems raised by the project members

36. In which process Risk Management strategy created in PRINCE2^® methodology?

During the Initiating a Projectprocess of the PRINCE2® methodology, the risk management strategyis created.

37. Who determines the Change Authority and Change Budget in PRINCE2^®?

In Prince2^®, an Executive is specifically responsible for determining the Change Authority and Change Budget activities.

38. In which Process is the status of Work Package is reviewed?

During the Controlling a Stage process the status of the Work Package is reviewed.

39. Who is responsible for maintaining the Quality Register?

In a PRINCE2^® based project, generally, Project Support is responsible for maintaining the Quality Register.

PRINCE2^® Interview Questions

40. Differentiate between a request for change, an off-specification and a problem or concern in PRINCE2^®.

Request for Change	Off-Specification	Problem/ Concern
Request for change is something that a customer makes for adding into or changing either scope of a project or the quality of a product. A customer has to pay for making this request.	This is the process in which a supplier makes a mistake, either by not delivering the product on the due date or by not meeting the specified quality criteria.	A problem or a concern in project management is something which can throw the project off the track.

41. How many products have been defined in PRINCE2^®  and what are they?

There are 26 products which have been defined in PRINCE2^® which I have listed below:

1. Benefits Review Plan
2. Business Case
3. Checkpoint Report
4. Communication Management Strategy
5. Configuration Item Record
6. Configuration Management Strategy
7. Daily Log
8. End Project Report
9. End-Stage Report
10. Exception Report
11. Highlight Report
12. Issue Register
13. Issue Report
14. Lessons Log
15. Lessons Report
16. Plan – Project, Stage, and Team
17. Product Description
18. Product Status Account
19. Project Brief
20. Project Initiation Document
21. Project Product Description
22. Quality Management Strategy
23. Quality Register
24. Risk Management Strategy
25. Risk Register
26. Work Package

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

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

42. Which role is responsible for confirming the stage and project progress against the agreed tolerances?

Project Assurance is usually responsible for confirming the stage and project progress against the agreed tolerances.

43. What are the objectives of Closing a Project(CP) process in PRINCE2^® methodology?

Below are the various objectives of the Closing a Project process:

• 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.

44. Who is responsible for creating a Product Status Account?

Project Support is responsible for creating a Product Status Account PRINCE2^® methodology.

45. List down the various activities involved in Managing A Stage Boundary.

Below are the activities involved in this process:

• Planning for the next stage
• Updating the project plan and the business case
• Reporting stage end
• Producing an exception plan

46. What are the 4 integrated elements of PRINCE2^®?

PRINCE2^® is composed of the following four integrated elements:

1. Principles
2. Themes
3. Processes
4. Tailoring of the method to suit the needs of the project environment

47. What do you understand by tailoring in PRINCE2^®?

Tailoring implies the appropriate use of PRINCE2^® methodology in any project at hand by ensuring that there is an appropriate amount of planning, control, governance and use of the processes and themes.

48. Which process is responsible for triggering the request to deliver a project?

Initiating a Project process is responsible for triggering the request to deliver a project in PRINCE2® methodology.

49. What is the difference between Controlling a stage, Managing product delivery and Managing a stage boundary?

Controlling a stage	Managing product delivery	Managing a stage boundary
Controlling a stage is the process of managing the project on a day-to-day basis by performing three primary functions:To allocate work to the team managerMonitor and report on deliveryTake corrective action and control the plan	Managing product delivery is the process which interfaces with controlling a stage process. Here, the team manager takes care of the product delivery, reports on progress and returns finished work to the Project Manager.	Managing a stage boundary is the process which is performed every time a stage is nearing its ending. At this point of the project, a project manager needs to review completed work in the current stage, assess the incompleted tasks, create a plan for the next stage and identify products, costs and time for the next stage in more detail.

50. What is a business case in PRINCE2^® methodology?

A Business case in PRINCE2^® methodology is something which can:

• Revalidates the project
• Kick start the project
• Owned by the business

This brings us to the end of this PRINCE2^® Interview Questions article. To learn more about PRINCE2^® Certification, you can refer my article on How to get PRINCE2 Certified.

If you found this “PRINCE2^® Interview Questions” article relevant, check out the PRINCE^® Foundation & Practitioner Trainingby Edureka, a trusted online learning company with a network of more than 250,000 satisfied learners spread across the globe. 

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