PRINCE2 Qualifications Explained

PRINCE2 Foundation

The PRINCE2 Foundation qualification will teach you the PRINCE2 principles, terminology and when qualified you will be able to act as an informed member of a project management team using the PRINCE2 methodology within a project environment supporting PRINCE2. PRINCE2 Foundation can be studied on its own or as a prerequisite for the PRINCE2 Practitioner course.

PRINCE2 Practitioner

The PRINCE2 Practitioner qualification will teach you to apply PRINCE2 to the running and managing of a project within an environment supporting PRINCE2. Once qualified you will be able to apply and tune PRINCE2 to address the needs and problems of a specific project scenario. You will have a comprehensive knowledge of the relationships between the PRINCE2 principles, themes and processes and PRINCE2 products and will understand these elements. In order to sit the PRINCE2 Practitioner examination you must provide proof of having passed one of the following:

PRINCE2 Foundation
Project Management Professional (PMP)®
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®
IPMA Level A (Certified Projects Director)
IPMA Level B® (Certified Senior Project Manager)
IPMA Level C® (Certified Project Manager)
IPMA Level D® (Certified Project Management Associate)

Only current certifications will qualify as a pre-requisite.

Individual IPMA chapters have local interpretations of these certificates, for example:

In the United Kingdom the Association for Project Management (APM) is the IPMA chapter; visit www.apm.org.uk. The APM Level D certification is their APM (P) certificate
In the USA the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management is the IPMA chapter; visit www.ipma-usa.org. The ASAPM Level D certificate is their Certified Project Management Associate.

To read the full AXELOS pre-requisite terms and conditions click here.

PRINCE2 Agile™

The PRINCE2 Agile™ qualification is divided into Foundation and Practitioner levels. PRINCE2 Agile teaches the fundamentals and the purpose of combining PRINCE2 with agile methodology. This provides scalability along with the ability to work with corporate management processes.

Much like PRINCE2 Foundation, Agile Foundation is available to anyone without a prior qualification. This course introduces PRINCE2 governance and teaches a broad range of agile concepts and techniques. Once qualified, you should be able to act as an informed member of an agile project team and understand how PRINCE2 works with agile concepts.

PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner teaches certified project managers how to blend PRINCE2’s structure, governance and control with agile methods, techniques and approaches. Agile Practitioner has the same prerequisites as PRINCE2 Practitioner, so to sit the examination, you must provide proof of having passed one of the following:

PRINCE2 Foundation (or higher)
Project Management Professional (PMP)®
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®
IPMA Level A® (Certified Projects Director)
IPMA Level B® (Certified Senior Project Manager)
IPMA Level C® (Certified Project Manager)
IPMA Level D® (Certified Project Management Associate)

Only current certifications will qualify as a pre-requisite.