PRINCE2 defines a set of baseline management products, records and reports that can be tailored and used in managing projects. These artifacts are not necessarily documents – they are information sets that are used by the PRINCE2 processes to enable to project management team to take action and make the right decisions at the right time. These artifacts evolve over the project life cycle, and are often reviewed and updated as the project progresses.
There are 26 defined management products for a PRINCE2 project. The baseline management products define aspects of the project and are created, approved and put under change control. Records are dynamic management products maintaining information regarding project progress. Reports provide snapshots of certain aspects of the project at certain points in time. Records and reports are under configuration management but are not subject to change control. The following table summarizes these:
26 Management Products Found in a PRINCE2 Project:
| Benefits Review Plan | Defines how and when measurement of project benefits achievement can be made |
| Business Case | Provides justification for the project in terms of benefits, costs, risks, and timescales and is used to assess viability |
| Checkpoint Report | Reports Work Package progress and information from the Team Manager or team to the Project Manager |
| Communication Management Strategy | Describes the means and frequency of communication between the project and its stakeholders |
| Configuration Item Record | Describes the status, version, variants and relationships for a configuration item (product, product component or release) |
| Configuration Management Strategy | Defining how and by whom the project’s products (each a configuration item) will be controlled and protected |
| Daily Log | Records problems and concerns to be handled informally by the Project Manager |
| End Project Report | Confirms handover of the project’s products to the Project Board and assesses project performance against the PID |
| End Stage Report | Provides information about project performance and status for the stage to the Project Board |
| Exception Report | Describes an exception situation, its impact, options, and Project Manager recommendations to the Project Board |
| Highlight Report | Reports stage progress and status to the Project Board on a regularly scheduled basis |
| Issue Register | Captures and maintains information on all project issues that are being managed formally |
| Issue Report | Describes, assesses the impact and makes recommendations for issues that are being formally handled |
| Lessons Log | Provides an informal repository for lessons learned that apply to the current project and lessons from previous projects |
| Lessons Report | Documents lessons learned from the current project that can be applied to future projects |
| Plan – Project, Stage and Team | Specifies the ‘what, when, how and by whom’ required to achieve an objective at a project, stage, or team level |
| Product Description | Describes the purpose, composition, derivation and quality criteria for a product |
| Product Status Account | Reports product status by identifier or the part of the project where they were developed |
| Project Brief | States the purpose, cost, time and performance requirements and constraints for a project |
| Project Initiation Document | Logical set of documents bringing together key information to start and to manage and control a project |
| Project Product Description | Defines project scope and requirements, customer quality expectation and acceptance criteria |
| Quality Management Strategy | Defines quality techniques, standards and responsibilities to be applied during a project |
| Quality Register | Contains summary details of all planned and completed quality activities for the project |
| Risk Management Strategy | Describes goals, procedures, roles and responsibilities, tolerance, tools and techniques for applying risk management |
| Risk Register | Records identified project risks, their status and history |
| Work Package | Contains information for creating one or more products, describing the products, the work and any constraints |
There are additional non- management products, meetings and decision points used in a PRINCE2 project that provide important context for the project management activities and associated decision-making and control. The information from many of these products may either be incorporated into the formal PRINCE2 management products or used as stand-alone documents.
A core set of PRINCE2 project management documentation is required for all projects regardless of project category. In PRINCE2, this is essentially the contents of the 26 management products which are considered mandatory on a PRINCE2 project. Since PRINCE2 is information-driven versus deliverable-driven, these management products may be combined and simplified to meet this requirement for PRINCE2 compliance based upon their project type and size.
