Controls - Stages Stages are a key control of a Prince2 project. Every project has at least two - initiation and the rest of the work. (Interestingly, closedown is not regarded as a stage). Stages are partitions of a project with decision points, often called 'firebreaks', and relate to management rather than technical stages. These firebreaks create an opportunity for the project management team to plan the next stage in detail, re-assess the business case and the risks, and make a conscious decision to carry on pumping money and resources into the project. The first of these decision points will be at the end of initiation, when the Project Initiation Document is reviewed, and the decision is made to proceed with the work.At this point, the planned stages of the project can be agreed. Subsequent decision points occur at the end of each stage of the project, based on input of the end stage report and next stage plan produced by the project manager in Managing Stage Boundaries. Transition from stage to stage is therefore a key control of the project board. There are no specific rules for how to define stages in a project. They should be set according to the size, risk and complexity of the project and an assessment of how far ahead it is sensible to plan in detail. <<< Back