Written by: Cari Bohley, PMP and Robbins-Gioia, LLC

You finally made it through the PMP © exam: four hours and 200 mind-boggling questions. Now for the next challenge – how do you maintain the certification you worked so hard to achieve?

The Project Management Institute (PMI)© requires all PMP-certified professionals to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDU’s) every three years once they have achieved their PMP certification. Many PMP’s believe that the only way to get these development units is to take expensive, multi-day training classes. But that really isn’t the only way, and for many PMP’s, it’s not even possible—we can’t be away from work for two, three, or four days at a time.

Here are some creative ways to maintain your PMP certification without having to quit your day job; they also allow you to grow professionally at the same time.

The easy part

First, every PMP who continues to practice project management can log five PDU’s per year, just for doing their job (you must work a minimum of 1,500 hours per calendar year). That means that within the three-year continuing certification requirements (CCR) cycle, you can earn 15 of the required 60 PDU’s for showing up for work.

Next, within the CCR cycle, you can earn 15 PDU’s through Self-Directed Learning (SDL). SDL is described as participating in activities that expand your PM knowledge, or working with others informally to increase their PM knowledge. Examples could be reading a PM book, participating in PM discussions and coaching sessions, and individual research. One hour of activity is equal to one PDU, with a maximum of 15 PDU’s for one CCR cycle.

Therefore, if you are a PM practitioner and are keeping your PM skills up, you should easily earn 30 PDU’s each CCR cycle. You are half way there! Now let’s identify some scenarios that will get you the rest of the way…

Getting creative

Following are three scenarios for obtaining the remaining 30 PDU’s. Notice the common theme among all three scenarios--putting your self-directed learning to use.

Scenario A

Use the information and knowledge you gained through your self-directed learning to author and publish an article in a non-refereed journal. A non-refereed journal is a journal that is not required to have a peer review. Contact PMI © to confirm the journal you are targeting fits this criteria. Getting published will earn you 15 PDU’s and looks great on a resume!

Finally, you can earn five PDU’s per calendar year (15 total per CCR) by providing PM services to a non-profit community or charity group. The group must be legally recognized as a not-profit organization, such as a church, Habitat for Humanity, a local shelter, etc. Just remember that your volunteer service must be a “project” by definition.

Scenario B

This scenario also leverages your SDL activities. In this scenario, take what you learned in self-directed study and create a training class from it. This does not have to be a multi-day training class. In fact, PMI does not specify the length, only that it needs to be part of a structured learning program. So get with your organization’s training department or corporate university and offer up your subject matter expertise; they will likely take you up on it!

Scenario B also employs volunteer services, adding in one year of service to a PM organization. PM volunteer service must be for one year in this scenario or fewer PDU’s will be awarded. In total, you can only claim 20 PDU’s per CCR cycle for volunteer service. See the CCR Handbook ( http://www.pmi.org/prod/groups/public/documents/info/PDC_CCRHandbook.pdf ) for details on smaller time increments.

Scenario C

Scenario C takes the SDL activity and uses it to provide a more integrated solution for your organization. First, write and publish an article based on your research. Then, work with your training department to develop a learning program based on the concept of the article. And finally, teach others what you learned. Again, most corporate training organizations are very lean and would welcome the additional training to their curriculum. If it does not fit into your corporate training curriculum, you can look into presenting at a local PMI Chapter meeting or other PM organization as well.

Conclusion

All of these scenarios require some level of effort, but each may be integrated into your daily work or as a special project for your company. Work with your direct supervisor to see if these types of activities can be added to your learning or performance plan as performance objectives. Here are a few more tips:

• Keep a record of all of your PDU-earning activities. For example, PMI has a worksheet to record SDL activity. If you are ever audited, you must be able to produce documentation of your PDU activity. For charitable activities, keep all of your project artifacts, e.g., charter, WBS, schedule, etc.
• PDU’s should be submitted as they are earned. Don’t wait to log your PDU’s—you may forget! The online PDU claim site makes this very easy to do.
• PMI © has the final authority over what does and does not qualify for PDU credit. Please refer to the CCR Handbook on the PMI web site: http://www.pmi.org/info/PDC_CCRHandbook.pdf or contact PMI Customer Care at 610.356.4647

Good luck!

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