Methodologies 

Programme Management

Project  Management

Effective Programme and Project Management brings together people, activities and information to achieve a significant business change.

There is a close link between programme and project management. Programmes are made up of projects and can only be successful if the constituent projects succeed.

The concept of a programme is that it should deliver more than the 'sum of its parts'. Consequently, without Programme Management, the projects may still be able to deliver their particular outcomes but these would not be co-ordinated or integrated into the achievement of an overall business goal.

Programme management is a framework for setting up and running a programme or portfolio of projects. A programme comprises a specific set of related projects identified by an organisation that together will deliver some defined ojective, or set of objectives, for the organisation.

The objectives of a programme are typically at a strategic level so that the organisation can achieve benefits and improvements in its business operation. The OGC has developed a best practice guide on Programme Managment called Managing Succesful Programmes.

The Principles in Managing Successful Programmes advise how to:

• Organise people to ensure responsibilities and lines of communication are clear.

• Plan the work to achieve results

• Ensure that the organisation bneefits from undertaking the programme

• Ensure that all interested parties (the stakeholders) are involved

• Resolve issues that arise Identify and mange risks

• Ensure Quality

• Keep up to date information which tracks the continually changing environment  

• Audit a programme to ensure standards are being followed

PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a process-based method for effective project management.

PRINCE2 is a de facto standard used extensively by the UK Government and is widely recognised and used in the private sector, both in the UK and internationally.

The method PRINCE2 is in the public domain, offering non-proprietorial best practice guidance on project management. PRINCE2 is a registered trademark of OGC.

The key features of PRINCE2 are:

• Its focus on business justification

• A defined organisation structure for the project management team

• Its product based planning approach

• Its emphasis on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages

• Its flexibility to be applied at a level appropriate to the project.

Ensuring the Appropriate Application of Methodologies