Coming in as the second iteration of Projects in Controlled Environments, PRINCE2 foundation course is something every professional in the project management space should be savvy with. Not just the US, but PRINCE2 is highly prevalent in Europe, UK, and Australia as well. Ask anyone, and they will give you a list of reasons why you should undergo a PRINCE2 foundation certification training with ideas and goals spanning across personal and professional growth.
However, there are a few things that not many know about. They aren’t to blame as these advantages are clear only once you start the course. We outline eight of these facts that nobody told you about a PRINCE2 certification before and will provide you with much-needed motivation:
- It’s not just popular in the UK
Originally created by the government of the UK to manage large-scale public sector projects, today it’s used by firms all over the world to deliver complex projects. Not just the private sector, but even the public sector has seen massive inroads of PRINCE2 guidelines across its workings. There’s another advantage to this. If you don’t get a position in your home country that appreciates your PRINCE2 foundation certification training, then you can easily apply for positions in other countries where PRINCE2 guidelines are followed.
- You can do a certification at any level
Unbeknownst to most, there are three primary levels of a PRINCE2 foundation course. Unlike other courses where you need prerequisite knowledge to understand the principles of the next level, PRINCE2 can be undertaken by anyone at any time in their career. The primary levels of PRINCE2 certification are –
- Foundation: Entry-level and doesn’t need any extensive knowledge through prior courses
- Practitioner: This is the level that you need to go for if you want to begin handling projects at an organization level
- Professional: This is the most advanced level in a PRINCE2 certification course. The examination is conducted at a residential assessment center where you will be assigned a case study to solve over several days
- The exam is open-book
This is by far a unique property of a PRINCE2 foundation course. The PRINCE2 manual can be carried into the final examination, but using it properly is another story altogether. If you are aiming to answer all the questions during the stipulated time, then using the manual would be a bad idea as you won’t be able to complete the paper in time. An expert tip here would be to mark the critical sections of the manual so you can quickly navigate to the required section.
- All answers will be in the manual
Unlike other project management exams like the Project Management Professional (PMP), all the answers to your question booklet will be somewhere in the manual.
- The test will be on the application
Objective testing is employed during the practitioner exam. The format is multiple-choice, but it won’t be presented in a way familiar to you. Every question will have several parts, and the answers subsequently will have several sections as well. Always remember that the test is designed in a way to see how well you apply PRINCE2 guidelines in a real project with actual consequences. The exam isn’t easy, but if you are well versed with the manual and practiced the objective testing format, you have a very high rate of success.
- PRINCE2 can make your practices more agile
Believe it or not, there is a PRINCE2 qualification course aimed mainly at people who operate in an Agile work environment. It’s perfect for a team operating in an agile manner but still looking to have some more structure around their work. The guidelines around PRINCE2 does precisely that.
- You will need to re-register
If you thought that the PRINCE2 course is a ‘take-once-and-forget’ one, you have another thought coming. Just like other certifications and credentials, if you want to continue your claim of being a PRINCE2 practitioner, then you have to re-register yourself for the exam every three to five years. The new exam will obviously be shorter than the original one, but it’s essential to take it to retain the PRINCE2 tag.
- There are no requirements related to CPD
Unlike most other professional qualifications, there is no requirement of you to keep a log of your continuous professional development (CPD). This is because unlike what most people think, PRINCE2 isn’t a membership-based organization. This does away with the need to prove yourself after you have received your certification as your skills will be tested in a live project anyway. What’s important here is that you apply the guidelines and techniques of a PRINCE2 foundation course wherever necessary.
