14.2 Management Products & the v7 Project Log
Key Takeaways
- PRINCE2 7 consolidated management products from 26 in v6 to 15, and the new Project Log holds six records: daily log, issue register, lessons log, product register, quality register, and risk register.
- Management products fall into three families: baselines (Project Plan, Stage Plan, PID) that set approved targets; reports (Highlight, Checkpoint, End Stage, End Project, Exception) that communicate status; and the Project Log with its six records, which captures ongoing events and product status.
- The Project Mandate is created by corporate or programme management pre-project; the Project Brief is created in Starting Up a Project; the PID is created in Initiating a Project and includes the Project Plan, Business Case, management approaches, and controls.
- The nine v7 management approaches — Benefits, Change, Commercial, Communication, Digital and Data, Issue, Quality, Risk, and Sustainability — are created during Initiating a Project and define how each practice is applied throughout the project.
- A Work Package is created by the Project Manager to authorise a Team Manager to deliver work; the Team Manager returns Checkpoint Reports, and the PM sends Highlight Reports to the Project Board.
The v7 Consolidation: 26 to 15
A headline change in PRINCE2 7 is the consolidation of management products from 26 to 15. The intent is the same as tailoring: reduce bureaucracy while preserving the control's purpose. The most visible consolidation is the Project Log, which replaces the separate v6 registers and logs with one living document holding six records.
What the Project Log Consolidates
| Record in the Project Log | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Daily Log | Day-to-day events and informal notes |
| Issue Register | Issues raised, assessed, and resolved |
| Lessons Log | Lessons captured throughout |
| Product Register | Every product in a plan and its status — new in v7 |
| Quality Register | Quality activities and their status |
| Risk Register | Risks identified, assessed, and managed |
A mnemonic for the six: DILPQR.
The Project Log is owned by the Project Manager and is maintained throughout the project. It is the single place to look for what has been happening — issues, risks, lessons, quality checks, and day-to-day notes. Sections or tags within the log keep the different entry types distinguishable, so the PM can still report on open risks separately from open issues when needed.
This is a favourite exam comparison: which records does the Project Log hold? The answer is the six listed above. Note especially the Product Register: it is new in v7 and it absorbs the job previously done by the Configuration Item Record and the Product Status Account, both of which v7 withdrew. An answer option naming either of those is quoting PRINCE2 6.
Three Families of Management Products
A useful exam framing is to sort management products into three families by purpose:
| Family | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Baselines | Set an approved target against which performance is measured | Project Plan, Stage Plan, PID (incl. Business Case and management approaches) |
| Reports | Communicate status, forecasts, or exceptions between roles | Highlight Report, Checkpoint Report, End Stage Report, End Project Report, Exception Report |
| Logs / Records | Capture ongoing events and product states | The Project Log and its six records (daily log, issue register, lessons log, product register, quality register, risk register) |
Recognising the family helps with who owns this? and when is it created? questions. A baseline is approved by the Project Board (or the PM for a Stage Plan within delegated tolerances) and updated through change control. A report is produced by a defined role at a defined point and sent to a defined audience. A log is maintained continuously by the PM.
Key Management Products — Created When, Owned by Whom
| Management product | Created in | Owned by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Mandate | Pre-project (corporate / programme) | Corporate or programme management | The trigger that starts Starting Up a Project |
| Project Brief | Starting Up a Project | Project Manager (assembled) / Project Executive (accountable) | The summary that lets the board decide whether to initiate |
| PID | Initiating a Project | Project Manager (assembled) / Project Board (approved) | Contains Project Plan, Business Case, management approaches, controls, tailoring |
| Business Case | Initiating (developed); updated at Stage Boundary | Project Executive (accountable); PM (maintains) | The project's justification; re-checked at every stage end |
| Benefits Management Approach | Initiating | Project Executive / Senior User | Defines how benefits will be realised and measured |
| Management approaches (nine in v7: Benefits, Change, Commercial, Communication, Digital and Data, Issue, Quality, Risk, Sustainability) | Initiating | Project Manager (maintains); board approves as part of PID | Define how each practice is applied. Change means organisational change management; baseline change control lives in the Issue approach |
| Project Plan | Initiating; updated at Stage Boundary | Project Manager (maintains); Project Board (approves) | The overall plan against which project-level tolerances are set |
| Stage Plan | At each stage boundary (for the next stage) | Project Manager (creates); Project Board (approves) | The plan against which stage tolerances are set |
| Work Package | During a stage, by the PM | Project Manager (creates); Team Manager (accepts) | Authorises a team to deliver work; may be informal in agile contexts |
| Checkpoint Report | During a stage, by the Team Manager | Team Manager (produces); PM (receives) | Team-level progress against the Work Package |
| Highlight Report | During a stage, by the PM | Project Manager (produces); Project Board (receives) | Board-level progress summary at regular intervals |
| End Stage Report | At stage boundary, by the PM | Project Manager (produces); Project Board (receives) | Packs up the stage's results for the authorisation decision |
| End Project Report | At closure, by the PM | Project Manager (produces); Project Board (receives) | Confirms delivery against the Project Plan and PID |
| Exception Report | When a tolerance is forecast to be breached | Project Manager (produces); Project Board (receives) | Notifies the board that exception direction is needed |
| Project Log | At project start; maintained throughout | Project Manager | Holds six records: daily log, issue register, lessons log, product register, quality register, risk register |
| Product Description | During planning, for each product | Project Manager / Team Manager | Defines a product's purpose, composition, quality criteria |
| Project Product Description | Starting Up / Initiating | Project Executive (accountable) | The top-level description of the project's final product |
| Product Register | Opened during planning; maintained throughout | Project Manager | Record inside the Project Log; tracks every product's status. Replaces v6's Configuration Item Record |
A common exam shortcut: anything with Report in the name is a report (Highlight, Checkpoint, End Stage, End Project, Exception); anything called a Plan or Approach or PID is a baseline; the Project Log is the living log. In v7, follow-on action recommendations are recorded inside the End Project Report rather than existing as a management product in their own right.
Distinguishing Baseline, Report, and Log in a Scenario
Suppose the PM is halfway through a stage and a key supplier reports a two-week delay. The PM assesses whether stage tolerance will be breached. If it will, the PM raises an Exception Report (a report) to the board, records the newly identified risk in the Project Log (a log), and — if the board directs a revised plan — updates the Stage Plan (a baseline) under change control. Three families, three products, one event.
This distinction is tested repeatedly because it cuts across practices (risk, progress, change) and processes (Controlling a Stage, Managing Product Delivery, Directing a Project). Memorising the product→created in→owned by map is one of the highest-yield investments for the exam.
Which records does the PRINCE2 7 Project Log hold, and who owns it?
During which process is the Project Initiation Documentation (PID) created, and which of the following is NOT a component of the PID?