Soft Skills

Levels of certifications

Ulhas Samant continues his article on the different types of project management certifications.

There are two levels of certifications—the Foundation and the Practitioner. The Foundation is the first of the two examinations you are required to pass to become a PRINCE2 Practitioner. This measures whether a candidate understands the principles and terminology of the method, and can work as a member of the project management team. The Practitioner is the second of the two examinations and measures whether a candidate would be able to apply PRINCE2 to execute a project (in a PRINCE2 environment). There are no prerequisites to appear for either of these exams, though previous project management experience is recommended.

The Foundation exam is an hour’s duration with 75 multiple choice questions. The Practitioner exam will consist of three scenario-based questions to be solved in 3 hours. The passing score is 50 percent for both the exams.

PRINCE2 also has good market value. The average salary of a PRINCE2 project manager is $75,000 per annum and there are 100,000 people who have taken the PRINCE2. 60 percent of project management jobs in UK, advertised online, seek PRINCE2 practitioners.

If you are going for PRINCE2, the key question that you have to ask yourself is whether your company or some of your clients are using this methodology. Otherwise, it may not make sense to go for it.

IPMA, Project+ and ScrumMaster

The International Project Management Association (IPMA) established certification processes in UK, in 1992. IPMA has developed a four-level certification programme:

A. Certified Project Director
B. Certified Project Manager
C. Registered Project Management Professional
D. Project Management Practitioner

Level D, i.e. the Practitioner, is the entry-level certification and given on the basis of an examination. The higher level exams include oral tests or interviews. Level A is for full-fledged managers of high-level ranking. IPMA certifications are said to be an evaluation of competence rather than knowledge.

Comptia Project+ is another globally recognised certification, covering the entire project life cycle from initiation and planning through execution, acceptance, support and closure. Unlike other certifications, there are no prerequisites, and candidates are not required to submit an application or complete additional hours of continuing education. Though 12 months of project management

experience is recommended, it is not a must. You can acquire Project+ in a quick and effective manner. There is only one exam consisting of 80 questions (conventional and linear format), to be answered in 90 minutes.

Agile methodologies

There are a number of agile methodologies, which have become popular in the field of software development. Agile methodologies attempt to develop the software in short time-frames (typically one to four weeks), called iteration. Each iteration is like a miniature software project of its own, and includes all of the tasks necessary for a release like planning, requirements analysis, design, coding, testing, and documentation. At the end of each iteration the team re-evaluates priorities. Scrum is one of agile methodologies which is used by many software and product development organisations.

Scrum views a development team as a sports team, every team member working independently but all working towards a common goal. Scrum suggests that a team has a maximum of six-seven members.

The team’s facilitator is called the ScrumMaster. His job is to implement and manage the Scrum process in the project. The ScrumMaster is not the leader of the team (as they are self-organising).

The ScrumMaster certification course helps individuals get started with Scrum and Agile. There are certified ScrumMaster courses, which are offered by some organisations towards that end.

Which certification to go for?

Many bigger organisations have in-house training programmes based on the methodology or project management model they have adopted. Some organisations reimburse the cost of the training or the exam, based on the relevance of the certification that you are going for.

However, if you are a project management professional and want to go for a certification on your own, then it is natural that you get confused as to which certification to go for. (In addition to these above mentioned certifications, there are other certifications like Registered Project Manager i.e. RPM, by the Australian Institute of Project Manage-ment and Master of Project Management i.e. MPM, offered by the American Academy of Project Managers).

You should take into account factors like technical and experience requirements, base knowledge, level of effort, cost, market worth and market acceptance. The region in which you work may be the most important factor.

For example, a good number of European public sector organisations prefer PRINCE2 over other project management certifications. The industry in which you work is also an important factor in deciding the certification you go for.

PMP has been accepted by many industries as it brings the expertise and knowledge of project management concepts to the table. Factors like how many hours you want to devote studying for the exam are also important in making a decision.

If you are not meeting (or not going to meet in the near future) the experience requirement, then perhaps you can go for a lower level of certification (like CAPM), which may help you to improve the knowledge in project management and also to reflect your interest to make a career progression in project management.

Many of these certifications require you to either appear for an exam or finish relevant education in order to remain certified. For example, to maintain your PMP, you may have to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) in a cycle of three years by education, professional-work, etc. Perhaps this can be one of the factors you would like to verify before taking up any certification.

More information

Following are a few sites which can give you more information:

www.pmi.org
www.prince2.com
www.ipma.ch/certification
www.pma-india.org
www.controlchaos.com
www.certmag.com
www.certification.comptia.org/ project

Ulhas Samant is a Project Management Trainer from Pune