Study guide
13.3 Tailoring the Processes
PRINCE2 Practitioner Version 7
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1 Introduction & Exam Overview
1.1 Current Exam Facts 1.2 Exam Strategy & Open-Book Technique
2 PRINCE2 7 Method Overview
2.1 The PRINCE2 7 Method 2.2 What Changed in PRINCE2 7 2.3 Performance Targets, Tolerances & Project Context
3 PRINCE2 Principles (1–4)
3.1 Continued Business Justification 3.2 Learn from Experience 3.3 Defined Roles, Responsibilities & Relationships 3.4 Manage by Stages
4 PRINCE2 Principles (5–7) & Applying Principles
4.1 Manage by Exception 4.2 Focus on Products 4.3 Tailor to Suit the Project 4.4 Applying Principles in Context
5 People Management in Projects
5.1 Organisational & Project Ecosystems 5.2 Leadership in Projects 5.3 Team Culture & Diversity 5.4 Communication, Stakeholder Engagement & Change Management
6 Practices Overview & Business Case
6.1 The Seven Practices & Tailoring 6.2 Business Case: Desirability, Viability & Achievability 6.3 Business Case Lifecycle & Management Products 6.4 Business Case Application & Tailoring Scenarios
7 Practices: Organising & Plans
7.1 Organising: Roles & Accountability 7.2 Organising: 5-Step Ecosystem Technique 7.3 Plans: Three Levels & Product-Based Planning 7.4 Plans: Techniques, Tolerances & Tailoring
8 Practices: Quality & Risk
8.1 Quality: Planning, Control & Assurance 8.2 Quality Techniques & Management Products 8.3 Risk: Threats & Opportunities 8.4 Risk 5-Step Technique & Application
9 Practices: Issues
9.1 Issues Practice: Issue vs Change & Categories 9.2 Issues 5-Step Technique & Supporting Techniques 9.3 Change Control, Configuration & Priority/Effort Assessment
10 Practices: Progress, Sustainability & Application
10.1 Progress: Controls, Tolerances & Reports 10.2 Sustainability as the 7th Performance Target 10.3 Tailoring the Practices 10.4 Practices Application Scenarios (BL4)
11 Processes: Model, Starting, Directing & Initiating
11.1 The Seven Processes & Process Model 11.2 Starting Up a Project 11.3 Directing a Project 11.4 Initiating a Project
12 Processes: Controlling a Stage & Product Delivery
12.1 Controlling a Stage 12.2 Managing Product Delivery 12.3 Stage Control & Exception Scenarios (BL4) 12.4 Work Packages & Reporting Cycle
13 Processes: Stage Boundary, Closing & Tailoring
13.1 Managing a Stage Boundary 13.2 Closing a Project 13.3 Tailoring the Processes 13.4 Process Application Scenarios (BL4)
14 Tailoring, Management Products & Exam Technique
14.1 Tailoring to Project Environment, Scale & Agile 14.2 Management Products & the v7 Project Log 14.3 Final Exam Technique, Full Scenarios & Common Traps
13.3 Tailoring the Processes
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
PRINCE2 processes are tailored to the project's scale, complexity, risk, and organisation, but each process's control purpose must be retained.
Tailoring is achieved by scaling the formality and depth of activities — combining or simplifying them — not by removing a process's reason to exist.
The tailoring approach for the project is documented in the PID, so the board and team understand how the processes have been adapted.
Even a small project must still authorise stages, control work delegated to the PM, and close in a controlled way; v7 dropped the idea of formal 'minimum requirements' in favour of activity-level tailoring.
Last updated: August 2026
Why Processes Are Tailored
PRINCE2's tailor to suit the project context principle applies just as much to processes as it does to practices and themes. A two-week internal project and a two-year commercial programme both use the same seven processes, but the depth and formality of each process's activities must fit the project's scale, complexity, risk, and organisation . Applying every activity at full ceremony to a small project would be wasteful; applying a lightweight version to a high-risk commercial project would be dangerous.
The crucial rule is that tailoring scales formality, it does not remove control purpose . Every project — however small — must still authorise its start, authorise each stage, control work delegated to the PM, manage stage boundaries, and close in a controlled way. What changes is how much ceremony surrounds each of those activities.
How v7 Handles Process Tailoring
A notable change in PRINCE2 7 is that the method dropped the formal "minimum requirements" that appeared in earlier versions. Instead of prescribing a fixed set of mandatory records, v7 expects each process to be tailored through its activities . The PM chooses which activities need to be performed with full formality and which can be simplified, combined, or made informal, while preserving the outcome each process is meant to achieve.
This shift means the exam is less likely to ask "what is the minimum PRINCE2 requires?" and more likely to ask whether a given tailoring choice is valid — that is, whether it still delivers the process's purpose.
Examples of Valid Process Tailoring
Process Full-form application Tailored for a small/low-risk project
Starting Up a Project Detailed Project Brief, formal mandate, appointed board Brief Project Brief, mandate confirmed by email, board roles held by one senior person
Initiating a Project Comprehensive PID with all approaches fully documented Slim PID referencing corporate standards for quality and risk
Controlling a Stage Formal Work Packages, structured Checkpoint Reports Informal daily stand-ups, brief Work Package descriptions
Managing a Stage Boundary Full End Stage Report, detailed next Stage Plan Brief stage-end summary combined with the next stage's plan
Closing a Project Full End Project Report, Benefits Management Approach, formal hand-over Concise End Project Report, benefits reviewed in a short closure meeting
Where the Tailoring Approach Is Recorded
The project's tailoring approach is documented in the PID . The PID's tailoring section explains:
Which processes and practices have been simplified or combined.
Which management products will be used and in what form (e.g., a single combined report instead of separate Highlight and Checkpoint Reports).
Which corporate or programme management standards are being adopted unchanged.
How roles have been combined (a common tailoring choice on small projects).
Recording this in the PID means the Project Board and team share the same understanding of how the method is being applied, and the board can challenge any tailoring that it considers too light for the risk profile.
Tailoring Choices That Are Never Valid
Some tailoring choices remove a process's control purpose and are therefore invalid, regardless of project size:
Skipping stage authorisation. The board must still authorise each stage; the decision gate cannot be dropped.
Removing the Business Case update at a stage boundary. The continued-business-justification principle demands it.
Closing without acceptance. Even a small project must have its products accepted by the user before closure.
No End Project Report at all. A concise one is still required; the project must be evaluated against its Business Case.
No benefits review. The Benefits Management Approach may be slim, but the question of how benefits will be measured must be answered.
The exam often presents a tailoring scenario and asks whether it is acceptable. The test is always the same: does the tailoring still deliver the process's purpose? If yes, it is valid; if it removes a control, it is not.
Processes That May Be Combined on Small Projects
On small projects it is common to combine adjacent processes to reduce administrative overhead, provided the combined activity still produces the required outputs:
Starting Up a Project and the early part of Initiating a Project may be merged into a single start-up workshop.
Managing a Stage Boundary may be combined with the reporting activity within Controlling a Stage — a single stage-end report can serve both purposes.
Directing a Project activities (authorising initiation, authorising the project, authorising a stage) may be performed in one senior meeting rather than separate decision points.
What may not be combined away is the decision itself — the board still has to make each authorisation decision, even if it makes several in the same meeting.