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At Balance Global we get great exam results. 100% of the delegates who have taken a PRINCE2 2009 foundation exam with us have passed that exam, and our PRINCE2 practitioner passes are over 80% (which puts us in the top 20% of Accredited Training Organisations).
The PRINCE2 practitioner qualification is such a success story that it has become virtually an entry level requirement for project management jobs in the UK. Although the practitioner exam tests a candidate’s ability to apply the method to a scenario it is still a class room based exam, and there are limits to what such an exam can test. Furthermore, many PRINCE2 practitioners have been asking for a progression beyond PRINCE2 practitioner, an ‘advanced level PRINCE2’, perhaps to further differentiate themselves. The new ‘PRINCE2 Professional’ qualification, approved by the UK Cabinet Office and launched on 30th January 2012 by the APMG provides just that.
The PRINCE2 method offers only 2 techniques, one being the powerful ‘product based planning’ technique. It starts with the simple premise that you need to identify and think about the project deliverables (which, in PRINCE2 are called products) before you think about the tasks/activities required to build them. So, for example, before you cook a meal you would decide what’s on the menu before you do anything else because you wouldn’t need to turn the oven on to pre-heat. It’s the same with projects.
PRINCE2 was refreshed mid-2009 to give us the current version of the method. The changes made were partly to bring PRINCE2 terminology in-line with other APMG qualifications (such as MSP), but also to take account of feedback from the using community. However, because the method is intrinsically the same the upgrade was called PRINCE2 2009 instead of becoming PRINCE3.
So why does this matter? To people coming to the method afresh it doesn’t really, other than they can be assured that, as part of continuous improvement, the method embraces current thinking. However, because the practitioner qualification is valid for 5 years, after which time a re-registration exam is required, those who took their Practitioner pre 2009 version need to be aware of the changes for their re-registration exam.
The abbreviation ‘ATO’ stands for Accredited Training Organisation, which means that the training company has been accredited by the APM Group (APMG) to deliver particular training courses. Only ATO’s can deliver qualification based courses for subjects like PRINCE2 (for project management) and MSP (Managing Successful Programmes) amongst others.
By choosing to train with an ATO you are choosing a training provider which has to meet rigorous quality criterion that are annually assessed by the APM Group. The criterion ensures that:
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