Prince2 Course Online – Comparison of Prince2 Courses

So, have you heard that Prince2 certification can help your career growth? Are you looking to understand how a high quality online Prince2 course will help you obtain a better job and/or a better salary? Then, you are in the correct place. We will walk you through what it is and how to earn the Prince2 credential. Let us step through what is required to obtain Prince2 certification.

Learn more in our Free Prince2 Training.

What is Prince2?

Prince2 is one of the most popular and sought-after project management credentials in many countries. A high quality course will help you get an edge over other project management professionals across the world since it will facilitate your certification process. By examining the Prince2 Certification Requirements, you will know the pre-requisites to become a Prince2 credential holder.

But what exactly is this Prince2? How is it related to project management? Why is it called “Prince” instead of  “King” certification if it is highly valued certificate? Prince is an acronym for: PRojects IN Controlled Environments. Is this certification for an environment? Why is it a controlled environment? If these are your thoughts, read on to get a clear picture of the need and effectiveness of Prince2 certification.

What are Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner certifications?

Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner certifications are for those who want to pursue a career in project management or who want to leverage project management strategies and tactics in their industry. As you may have guessed, Prince2 Foundation is for beginners in project management. Prince2 Practitioner is an advanced credential and your online course will prepare you for both Prince2 certification levels.

Check our Prince2 Foundation Training Video

If you are a Project manager or working as a project coordinator, expeditor, or a member of a project team, you probably are familiar with the formal methodology and principles for better success in project management. Therefore, when you take an online course, you will deepen your understanding and will be ready for the Prince2 certification exam.

Conversely, if you are participating in any of the various stages of the project lifecycle as a designer, consultant, product manager, business analyst, customer support, or quality assurance you can benefit from the course and Prince2 certification as well.

Check our Prince2 Practitioner Training Video

Why should you go for Prince2 Certification?

What do you gain when you attend the course and arm yourself with a Prince2 Foundation or Practitioner level certification? What benefits can you expect after a certification? Here are a few:

• When you take the course, you gain requisite knowledge to deliver projects using the prince2 methodology.
• In addition, you will understand Prince 2 key terms and phrases which are used across many industries.
• When you go for the higher level Practitioner certification,
  • You will learn to customize the principles to suit your project requirements
  • As a Practitioner, you are better fit to manage a team using the Prince2 Method
  • Your managers and supervisors will be see your practical knowledge of implementing projects using the Prince 2 Method
  • As a Prince2 Practitioner certified project manager, you will be able to control your project resources with effective risk management 
  • You will have better career growth and the ensuing perks and pay
  • You will be armed to manage the fast pace of fluid business environments. Project management is not just managing scope, time, and cost; it also is identifying and achieving business benefits for the near term as well as the long term.

What is the value-add for your organization if you are Prince2 certified?

• • Leaders in your organization will have clear line of sight of the project which allows you to get credit for your efforts.
  • The projects will follow a measured, consistent and defined approach from start to end
  • Everyone in your organization will become familiar with the objective measurements used across every project which will enable a transparent, unbiased view of how any given project is performing.
• The essential gain of Prince2 Foundation & Practitioner Certification for the organization is that it assures business needs are met by the project. Respectively, the business case will enable clear mapping of business needs to project objectives.

What are the Prince2 Certification Requirements?

So what are the Prince2 certification requirements to have before you can apply for Prince2?

Prince2 Foundation Requirements

There are no specific prerequisites for the Prince2 Foundation level certification. It is suggested to have a basic knowledge of managing projects but this is not mandatory.

However, we strongly recommend you enroll in a Prince2 Foundation training since it might be challenging to pass the exam.

However, there are Prince2 Practitioner certification requirements.

Prince2 Practitioner Requirements

An online Prince2 course will help you fulfill the Prince2 Practitioner Requirements:

The Prince2 certification requirements for a Prince2 Practitioner Level Certification exam are:

You need to submit proof of passing one of these:

• Prince2 Foundation– the basic level credential from Axelos
• PMP or CAPM
  • If you already possess Project Management Professional (PMP) or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certificate offered by Project Management Institute, Axelos considers it as a satisfying qualification for Prince2 Practitioner certification. If you have a CAPM credential and want to obtain the Axelos- Prince2, you are considered eligible to appear for the Practitioner level exam. A good Prince2 online course will help you gear up for the exam.
• IPMA
  • Do you hold any certificate from the International Project Management Association (IPMA)? If yes, you will satisfy the Prince2 certification requirements for appearing for the Practitioner level. Hence, if you have Level A/B/C/D corresponding to Certified Projects Director, Certified Senior Project Manager, Certified Project Manager, and/or Certified Project Management Associate, your eligibility requirements are met for the Practitioner level exam.

Why should you go for a Prince2 course?

We have discussed Prince2 certification requirements in-depth as well as the benefits of the certification. Why not study by yourself?

Benefits of a Prince2 course online

A comprehensive Prince2 course should at a minimum have the following:

• Complete course coverage for Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner level. When we say course coverage, Prince2 training should cover the syllabus that is currently prescribed by Axelos. We will cover the Prince2 syllabus shortly.
• Real-world examples of Prince2 application to projects
• Prince2 Study Guide
• Resources such as flashcards, case studies, cheat sheets
• Prince2 sample questions or Prince2 Practice tests. These are very critical for you to boost your confidence
• Flexibility allows you to balance your work and career growth

Flexible: An online course should be flexible by allowing you to pick and choose which topics to start with.

Anytime, anywhere: As a career-oriented professional, time is your most valuable resource. Therefore, as you are juggling project priorities, home needs, and personal interests, you want Prince2 training that allows you to manage all three areas. Therefore, the online course you will attend should reduce your travel to zero, minimize any logistics that come with in-person training and maximize your time for studying.

In addition to saving costs and time, the online course also allows you to access it anytime you want. You will not be bound by time zones, project calls, classroom visits, etc.

Cost-effective: If you look at the Prince2 certification costs, you find that the major chunk of the cost goes to the Prince2 course. Hence, it is wise for you to choose an online course that costs much less than a classroom session. Here are the components of a Prince2 Certification cost.

Prince2 Syllabus components

Core elements that a Prince2 course should cover:

The Themes, Processes, and Principles in Prince2

In total there are 7 principles, processes, and themes that are central to the Prince2 framework that you need to understand for the Prince2 certification exam. Therefore, your course must cover these core topics. Any Prince2 training should discuss these concepts in depth along with their application to projects.

Processes

A process is a step-by-step definition of what needs to be done with a set of defined inputs and desired outputs. Therefore, the 7 processes in Prince2 will tell you what to do, when to do it and who will do it.

Let us dig into these 7 processes to help you to understand what comprises the framework of Prince2. Hence, if you are taking an online Prince2 course, you need to ensure you are good with these 7 processes. The course should discuss the 7 processes which are about how you define a project, start a project, manage a project, and closing a project:

1. Starting up a project– How do you start a project? How are the people assigned and how is the team formed? What is the purpose for which the project was started? Brief describe the key details of a project
2. Initialization of a project– What is the work that needs to be done? What is the deadline to complete the target? How much budget are you allowed to spend? What is the level of risk tolerance? In addition to these, you define scope, quality and benefits realized during initialization. So, check if your course will have these in the curriculum.
3. The direction of a Project– This process provides you the guidance to help you manage the project throughout the lifecycle of the project.
4. Controlling a stage– The project manager will have to break the total work into manageable chunks of work and assign it to the teams. This division gives better control over the project. The project manager will have to perform problem-solving and oversee the progress. In tandem, a team manager does coordination and collaboration to make sure work gets completed
5. Management of product delivery– This deals with Core product development activities. This involves the work performed to complete a work package and deliver it.
6. Management of stage boundaries– How to assess if the planned work is complete? Is it worthwhile to move to the next stage or should we terminate the project here?  What corrections are needed?  All this is done stage by stage or at phase end reviews to assess the progress, and decide to move to the next stage.
7. Closures of a Project-After the client accepts the project, you have to formally capture the benefits the project achieved. Along with this, evaluate the overall project and release resources while the transitioning of the product happens.

Hence, your course should cover these 7 processes and their application to projects in real-world examples.

What are the seven principles and themes underlying the Prince2 framework?

Your course should provide an in-depth understanding of the principles and themes which are:

1. Business justification
2. Roles and responsibilities
3. Learn from experience
4. Manage by exceptions
5. Manage by stages
6. Tailor to suit the environment
7. Focus on product

The 7 principles are what bind the project and will be helping you to understand where to tweak and how to learn and apply the learning to the project. Breaking the project into stages and customizing it for the specific project environment is the strong basis for the Prince2 foundation. These tell you who needs to do what and that one size doesn’t fit all while emphasizing the need to funnel the learning back into projects for continuous improvement.

In addition to the 7 principles, Prince2 contains these 7 themes:

The online course that you choose should also deal with these 7 themes that help to define the themes that are underlying the framework.

1. Business case: Before you initiate a project, you need to know the financial feasibility and business need of the project proposed. This assessment is part of the Business Need theme
2. Organization: You need to be aware from the organizational perspective, of the roles, responsibilities, and accountability. This helps in reducing confusion and conflicts creating clarity and transparency
3. Quality: To ensure that quality is built-in and meets the requirements. For any project, the core value is quality and a specific theme on quality ensures the right emphasis when planning and managing a project.
4. Risks: To know the risks that could occur, their probability, and their impact. Based on this, how to address them is defined for the project.
5. Plan: The crux of Prince2 is to have a detailed blueprint for the project.
6. Change: Though it sounds clichéd, change is inevitable in a project. Therefore, your job is to know how to manage changes in the project effectively.
7. Progress: To track if the project is progressing as per the plan

Now, that you are aware of the components that need to go into the online course, let us explore the pros and cons of an online course against a classroom session:

Online course compared to classroom

What could be the advantages and disadvantages of an online course as compared to the classroom session?

Prince2 Certification Exam

Here is a short summary of the Foundation and Practitioner exam:

In this post, we have gone over the Prince2 certification at the foundation and practitioner level and why an online course is advantageous for becoming a Prince2 credential holder.

You can enroll in our FREE Prince2 Courses to learn more about Prince2 Certification.

Sunanda Gundavajhala, B.Tech, M.B.A, PMP has over 25 years of project management. She is a consultant, and trainer on project management for different sectors and is the recipient of the “Recognition of Excellence” award from PMI, USA, and the Woman Volunteer award from Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI. Sunanda has contributed to the “Practice Standard on Scheduling, PMI”. She has worked as the Liaison officer for PMIEF (Education Foundation) for the Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI.