Guest Post by Simon Buehring
PRINCE2 continues to prove it’s the number one project management method in the world, after the latest figures show more than one million PRINCE2 examinations have now been sat. This major milestone was reached during September according to the APMG-International, the accreditation body for PRINCE2.
Increased demand from employers for qualified professionals with skills in project management is continuing to drive the growth. The figures show demand for PRINCE2 is growing strongly in Europe and also in Asia.
Figures for the first half of 2012 suggest that record numbers of exams will be sat during this year. This is in line with all previous years since PRINCE2 was launched in 1996. Figures since then show year on year growth in the numbers of exams being sat. The only year where this did not happen was in the global economic slowdown in 2009.
One of the advantages of gaining accreditation in PRINCE2 compared with the popular US-based Project Management Professional (PMP) qualification developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI) is that certification in PRINCE2 can be gained purely by passing examinations. The PMP qualification on the other hand requires considerable experience of managing projects before accreditation can be gained.
Despite the poor economic performance in the UK in recent years, demand in the UK from people wanting to gain their accreditation also grew last year by 2.6%. This reflects the fact that many more jobs require project management skills today, even though these jobs may not entail a full time project management role. This is because more and more companies need to change their business operations and/or bring new products to market in an increasingly competitive globalized world. The best way of doing this is to manage these changes or new developments as projects and to apply modern project management best practices, which is what PRINCE2 offers. This is seen by more and more organizations as the best chance of achieving the delivery of these projects on time and within budget.
The advocates of PRINCE2 need look no further than the successful delivery of the London 2012 Olympic projects as a reminder of some of the advantages of applying the PRINCE2 framework to projects.
Simon Buehring is a project manager, consultant and trainer. He is the MD for KnowledgeTrain which offers PRINCE2 online courses and project management training. Simon has extensive experience within the IT industry in the UK and Asia and can be contacted via the KnowledgeTrain website.
Website: www.prince2-online.co.uk
PRINCE2® is a registered trademark of the Cabinet Office. PMI is a registered trade and service mark of The Project Management Institute, Inc.
Mushcado 
Eric
good question. From what I understand PRINCE2 was used on all the 2012 Olympic projects which is as good an advertisement as any for choosing PRINCE2 as a project management method.
Simon
How was PRINCE2 uses in relation to the 2012 Olympic Games?
My understanding is that many of the projects that made up the 2012 Olympics used PRINCE2 as their underlying methodology. I’ve asked our guest author, Simon Buehring to reply too, he ought to be able to provide you with some more details.