How PRINCE2 helped big businesses

Peter RichardsThis guest post is by Peter Richards.
It is important to evaluate the potential applications of a training course before you decide to invest in it for yourself, your staff, or your entire team. Although PRINCE2(r), a highly-accredited training course, has received positive reviews from all sectors of the project management and training industry, the Practitioner and Foundation levels have attracted favourable feedback. It is still advisable to look at how larger businesses have used the course. Even small business owners have aspirations to emulate larger businesses in this field.
These case studies will help you to decide if an agile, structurally-oriented project management training course such as PRINCE2(r), could be right for you or your staff. These case studies show how well-established businesses from both the public and private sector have used PRINCE2 (r) to implement effective and transparent change.
Conversion of currencies is a challenge
ESB, a prominent Irish energy provider, was required to make a major change when Ireland converted to Euro in 2002. A change in the local currency of a major business, regardless of its size, requires changes in pricing and supplementary pricing as well as changes in how currency is handled and payments are taken.
Eimear Barrett, their Chartered Secretary, spearheaded the change initiative at ESB. They needed to align their information technology systems with the Euro. It was also crucial that they avoid any operational shutdowns. The problem was compounded by the fact that Barrett was only an end-user of the IT systems at her company and was not an expert in editing or managing their performance.
PRINCE2r is a program that helps companies maintain high quality services while making significant structural or operational changes. This program was perfect for this situation. Her line manager recommended that Barrett receive PRINCE2 (r) training. This allowed Barrett to not just manage the switch from Irish pound into Euro without leaving customers unaffected, but also gave her and her team the ability to use the transition period as a catalyst to change. With the help of PRINCE2 (r), new health regulations and procedures, more practical efficient working relationships, and better information management were all part the package that was implemented in January 2002.
Barrett explains that she was a beneficiary of PRINCE2r’s pragmatic and engaged approach to delegation. She said:
“Originally, I did everything myself. I didn’t really understand the role of project managers so I took the job description from PRINCE2(r), tailored it to my situation, and found ways to get support from others.”
How Sony Ericsson managed their logistic nightmare
Another example of large organisations using PRINCE2(r), in the private sector, is its implementation in the working strategy for the Ericsson project management team. This team is faced with all the challenges that come with such a large company: it has many projects to manage, many different teams of project managers, as well as the linguistic, cultural, and geographic challenges inherent in its global nature.
PRINCE2 (r) was able to meet the challenge and was seamlessly integrated with the existing project management methods within Ericsson. These were suitable for large-scale projects that required changes to complex telecommunications infrastructure. However, consumer-based or operational changes required a more clearly-described project management system such as PRINCE2 (r).
Ericsson’s project management processes were rigid and had no flexibility. This led to outsiders being unable to collaborate with Ericsson.