PRINCE2 Processes
The seven processes
PRINCE2 has seven processes: Starting up a Project (SU), Directing a Project (DP), Initiating a Project (IP), Controlling a Stage (CS), Managing Product Delivery (MP), Managing a Stage Boundary (SB), and Closing a Project (CP). DP runs in parallel with the others and is owned by the project board; the rest are the project manager's and team manager's domain.
What you must understand
Know the purpose of each process, its key activities, and the management products it creates. SU produces the project brief, the daily log and the outline Business Case, and appoints the project management team. IP produces the PID, project plans and strategies. CS covers authorising work packages, monitoring, handling issues and reporting. MP is where work packages are accepted, executed and delivered. SB prepares the next stage plan and updates the PID and Business Case. CP confirms acceptance, reviews benefits and produces the end project report.
Traps in questions
Frequent traps: placing the PID creation in SU (it is IP), or the project brief in IP (it is SU). Confusing DP with a project manager activity - DP is the board's process. Mixing SB (preparing the next stage) with CP (closing the project). Forgetting that MP has three activities: accepting a work package, executing it, delivering it. Also watch for the assumption that a project always has multiple stages.
Rule of thumb
Follow the timeline: SU → IP → CS/MP (repeated per stage, with SB between stages) → CP, with DP authorising at key decision points. Ask "who is doing this, and at what level?" to separate DP from CS and MP.
Worked example: A project manager prepares the next stage plan and an updated Business Case for board approval. This is Managing a Stage Boundary, not Initiating a Project - IP happens once, SB at each stage end.