PROJECT Management explored

I'm still amazed to see people selling PRINCE2 templates when they are available for free.  I'm the author of the OGC official PRINCE2 template pack for the 2005 version of the method and PRINCE2 2009 and this template pack can be downloaded for free in a zip from the OGC web site.

PROJECT in a box Community Edition also provides all the official PRINCE2 templates (under licence) packaged for ease of use along with some additional ones for health check and role appointments which are not in the core pack.  Of course Community Edition also provides full configuration management on these templates and lets you add your own files as you progress through your project, making it the perfect little project support office tool.  Rather surprising then that Community Edition is also free PRINCE2 software...not a trial but truly free and you can use the PRINCE2 templates it provides on as many project as you want for as long as you want.  Community Edition also provides a full free set of DSDM Atern templates.

The PRINCE2 templates pack provided in Community Edition are fixed in the method template  at launch so each new project gets the same set of PRINCE2 templates and guidance information.  Of course you can edit them as you progress through the project and these changes are configuration managed and displayed in the audit trail.  In the Commercial PROJECT in a box products the approach is more sophisticated and although the core official PRINCE2 templates pack is provided there are more enhanced templates including the Registers which become more sophisticated tools.  Most importantly though the default template packs can be duplicated and varied to match the requirements of different projects.  Each of these Method Templates is able to be tailored for process, scale, language, branding, culture, commercial arrangements and other environmental factors to ensure a good match for the teams delivering the project.  This capability is a major plus for customers when implementing.