The PRINCE2® project’s timeline is triggered by the arrival of a (A.29) Project Mandate which causes the pre-project process of Starting Up a Project (SU) to run.
SU’s[2] first five sub-processes define the overall task to be accomplished (in SU4 and SU5), plus define the team able to do it (in SU1 to SU3).
The next SU sub-process (SU6) uses Planning (PL) to produce a (A.35) Stage Plan for the Initiation Stage for the up coming task of project planning and (A.2) Business Case preparation. Then the (B.5) Project Manager asks permission from the (B.1) Project Board at Authorising Initiation (DP1) to continue. If granted the project starts its first management stage: the ‘Initiation Stage’. Note: SU is a PRINCE2® process, it is pre-project and not part of any stage. The first stage is the Initiation Stage.
The initiation stage uses four PRINCE2® processes: The overall structure of the stage is that of the 6 sub-processes of Initiating a Project (IP). Plans for the project are created using Planning (PL) and the stage’s transition via approval to the next stage is handled by Managing Stage Boundaries (SB) and Directing a Project (DP). As a minimum one more stage follows to create the products to be delivered into post project benefits realisation.
The stage(s) that follow the Initiation Stage produce the project’s specialist products (all results in PRINCE2® are called products whether physical or not) The stages producing specialist products are called technical stages. Every technical stage’s overall structure is largely that of the 12 sub-processes of Controlling a Stage(CS) and Managing Product Delivery(MP) interacting to maintain control over the production of products until the stage’s work is complete (PRINCE2(tm) calls this the ‘Controlled Middle’ and it sits between the Controlled Start comprised the SU process plus the Initiation Stage as just described and the Controlled Close or Controlled End).
Towards the end of the last stage the process Closing a Project (CP) is used to bring the final stage and the project to a ‘Controlled Close’ with Directing a Project (DP)’'s permission at Confirming Project Closure (DP5).
If the project is larger than the minimum two stages then after the combination of Starting Up a Project (SU) plus the Initiation Stage (jointly the ‘Controlled Start’) and before the last stage there will be any number of stages each of which will have a structure based on CS and MP and will always conclude with Managing Stage Boundaries (SB) preparing for and Directing a Project (DP) approving (or not!) progression to the next stage at Authorising a Stage or Exception Plan (DP3).
(If the recap is too terse for you to visualise the simple project's linear journey, or vsulaise the more complex project's SB based loop-back to the start of a technical stage then you should read the next section "Exam Level Process Overview" and then re-read this timeline description.)
A minimum project is (A.29) Project Mandate then SU (including PL) then DP1 followed by IP (including both PL and SB - which also uses PL) followed by DP2 then many uses of MP within the context of CS until finally CP and DP5.
A larger project is still A29, SU + PL, DP1, IP + PL & SB, DP2, but then CS + MP many times & drawn to a close by SB and DP3 to resume at CS & MP, which repeats until eventually CS + MP are followed by CP and DP5.
Simplest project: A29->SU->DP1->IP+PL & SB+PL->DP2->CS+MP+PL+CP->DP5
Complex: A29->SU->DP1->IP+PL & SB+PL->DP2-> repeatedly (CS+MP+PL & SB+PL->DP3->CS+MP+PL & SB+PL->DP3) until CS+MP+PL & CP->DP5
A project that needs a feasibility study may be: all of the
simple plus latter stages of the complex - viz:
A29->SU->DP1->IP+PL & SB+PL->DP2->CS+MP+PL+CP->Feasibilty Study Outputs->hybrid
DP5 & DP2-> repeatedly (CS+MP+PL & SB+PL->DP3->CS+MP+PL & SB+PL->DP3) until
CS+MP+PL & CP->DP5
Last part of concepts : Exam Level Process Overview
[1] With reference to the diagram supported readers have been recommended to draw.
[2] There are lots of initials in PRINCE2®, that is I've draw the crib-sheet above. Processes are described by a pair of letters and their internal sub-processes by the letter pair and a number. You will get the hang of it as we go.