Introduction to PMP and Certification

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. A project is defined as temporary because it has a defined beginning and end time, and it is unique because it has a particular set of operations designed to accomplish a goal.

The primary characteristics of a project are

◉ It has a definite start and end point
◉ Once the end point is reached, the project is over
◉ It is attempting to achieve something new
◉ Project must meet the customer or stakeholder requirements

While, the project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. The main challenge of project management is to achieve project goals and objectives while keeping in mind the project scope, time, quality and cost.

Project management actually began in the early 1950s. The need for project management arised observing the benefit of organizing work within the project and critical need to co-ordinate across different departments and professionals.

Project management mainly deals with these ten areas

◉ Integration
◉ Cost
◉ Human resources
◉ Stakeholder management
◉ Scope
◉ Quality
◉ Communications
◉ Time
◉ Procurement
◉ Risk Management

While preparing project, look project into these three perspectives, it helps to give much better understanding of the whole process

◉ How does project fit into the organization?
◉ How the project will evolve over time?
◉ What skills are required to manage the project successfully?

There are various methodologies that are available for project management like Prince2, Agile, Six Sigma, etc. which we will look into in a later part of the tutorial. Various tools are available to track project tasks and measure accomplishments during the project. These includes Gantt charts, PERT charts and Work down structures.

Certification for Project Management

The popular project management certifications are PMP and PRINCE2, which is acknowledged all over the world.

What is PMP Certification?

Project Management Professional (PMP) is a certification administered by Project Management Institute, U.S.A. It is a project management course recognized all over the world. PMBOK-fifth edition is the latest version for this exam. The certification is valid for 3 years.

Pre-requisite

Pre-requisite for PMI-PMP examination includes

1. Four-year bachelor degree
2. A minimum of 4500 hours of project management experience

OR

3. A secondary degree (high school diploma, associate degree, etc.)
4. A minimum of 7500 hours of project management in last five years

AND

5. 35 hours of project management education from a registered education provider (REP)

Fee Structures

◉ Fee Structure to earn 35 PDUs vary from country to country, it may vary from $300 to $5000
◉ Fee structure for computer-based Testing (CBT)
     ◉ For PMI members $405.00
     ◉ For non-PMI members $555.00
◉ Re-examination Fees
     ◉ For PMI members $275.00
     ◉ For non-PMI members $375.00

Exam Structure

◉ To clear the exam, you need to pass a multiple choice examination
◉ You need to answer 200 questions in 4 hours time for domain mentioned below
◉ The exam is available in 13 different languages globally.

It will assess the candidate management knowledge in the following five domains. The weightage of questions for each domain include

Project Management Area	Percentage of Questions
Initiating the project	13
Planning the project	24
Executing the project	30
Monitoring and Controlling the project	25
Closing the project	8

There are other various courses available related to project management on PMI like PgMP, PfMP, CAPM, etc.

The code of conducts and ethic defines:

◉ Responsibility to the profession

◉ Responsibility to customers and the public

Code of Ethics and professional conduct includes

PMP Professional Responsibility

◉ Maintain high standards of professional conduct and integrity

◉ Encourage others in the profession to act in a professional manner

◉ Continuously seek guidance to enhance the professional capabilities

◉ Upholding the code

◉ Compliance with all mandatory rules and regulations

◉ Be responsible for your actions

◉ Practice code of ethics with fairness and honesty

◉ Stick to ethical standards and legal requirements

◉ Protect stakeholder and balance stakeholders interest on the project

◉ Make sure that a conflict of interest doesn't compromise the customer's legitimate interest

◉ Maintain confidential information

◉ Act in an accurate, truthful manner

◉ Reporting illegal or unethical behavior

◉ While dealing with other cultures maintain professional sensitivity

◉ Be aware of cultural differences

Other professional responsibility

◉ Project manager needs to ensure that company policies are followed

◉ Copyright laws are not violated

◉ Budget tampering- do not present anything besides your original estimate

◉ Rights- do not do business with a country where there is a clear violation of the fundamental rights

Code of conducts and ethic sample questions for PMP professionals;

1. After a person is hired, he presents ideas which were developed by a competitor company already. 2. Are you going to use the same ideas?

As a manager what would you do resolve the conflict between team members?

3. You are a project manager, and a large and unexpected problem occurs that will cause a delay in the schedule. What should you do?

PRINCE 2

If you are in the Western Europe, Prince 2 is a good alternative to PMP. It is the de-facto standard for project management in the UK and is practiced worldwide. Prince2 have certification for various level prince2 foundation, prince2 foundation & practitioner, and prince2 practitioner. Courses and Exams for prince2 certification are available online.