After working as an Account Manager and Project Manager for 4 years in Italy I am currently studying for the PMP exam. I have already read a lot of websites and forums and went throught all the official documentation plus the PMBOK but I am still not 100% certain of the correct way to proceed. I am stuck at the stage of filling up my application form since I have read many comments of people who were denied the possibility of doing the exam based on the way they wrote their project descriptions.
As an example I have wrote the description below, could I have some feedback on this?
Objectives: Create a new global website
Deliverables: Master website and country localizations
I worked with the global brand manager to identify high-level requirements, managed the creative team in the design phase and the developers team in the production phase while monitoring project schedule, resources and budget. I obtained approval for the different deliverables by the local country sponsors & managed the requested and approved changes from each stakeholder, deliverying 13 localizations of the website on time and within budget.
547 characters, yay :)
Another question I have is regarding the audit process. This was one of my biggest projects, that I worked on for almost 2 years from 2014 to 2016. I am still working with both the client and my manager at the time so I can get their confirmation on my work, I am just not sure what kind of official documentation world be required by the PMI. I'd like to be prepared in advance :)
Thanks all in advance for your help!! Saving Changes...
Hi, the PMP application process has limited space to write a suitable project description. Many simply describe their projects and don't meet the requirements PMI expects. A strong hint when filling out this project description is to read the PMP Examination Content Outline (see link below). This document outlines "tasks" associated with each Process Group. When you describe your project, translate your real world experience using the words and phrases that appear in this task list.
I would recommend before you fill in PMP application for experience, prepare excel (search google and you will get format examples). Fill these in and get acquainted with it and then go ahead fill application.
As far as audit is concerned, it's all luck. Your application may be picked up (system picks up randomly) for review in that case they may ask you to provide supporting documents for the project mentioned or letter from organization or supervisor etc. As long as you are true to yourself, you will be fine. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
My best piece of adavice is: I fully recommend to contact PMI´s customer care people. Saving Changes...
Google for PMP Application Assistant and you'll find a good workbook to consolidate your application information prior to copying & pasting it into the application.
It also contains a list of common PM activities across the five process groups which you could use in your experience submission.
From an audit perspective, you'll want any non-confidential evidence to support the type of work you are submitting over the dates you've provided. Redacted status reports, a charter, project organization chart or similar documents would suffice.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
When I was audited, I had to show proof of my education and experience. For the education, I simply had a PDF version of my university course completion form.
For the experience, they will want you to print off a PDF for each project submitted. (The PDF basically regurgitates what you submitted.) You then have to get someone - a client, a manager - sign off on the accuracy of the project experience. I was lucky enough that my manager was aware of all my projects. She signed all of them. Saving Changes...
Thank you all for your replies!
Stéphane, great to hear I just need a client or manager to sign the PDF, since I am working with the same manager and she is aware of all my projects, it should not be a problem.
As for all the inputs on the descriptions, thanks for the advices, I will definitely check the PMP Apllication Assistant book.
From all your feedbacks I gather that the description I shared above is not correct and I should include more PMP specific terminology, correct?
I will rewrite it and it would be great appreciated if you could give me more directions on this.
thanks again!
Bene Saving Changes...
Ali ZaidanProjects Leader| Prime Source GroupDammam, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Ahhh , that one .... It is nothing to worry about , to make this process easy for you I suggest using the free PMP work experience calculator tools from PMstudy : http://www.pmstudy.com/PMI/PMI.asp , it will make your life easier and it is free! .
Regrading description In my application for example for one project I wrote this ( Modify it to suite your need ) :
Project Name : Building remote camp .
Description :
Outcome:Staff successfully moved to a new remote camp on time.
Created high level project charter to get the approval to start the project .Created WBS,schedule & cost estimation. Developed human resource plan defining roles & responsibilities of projects' team.
Assigned tasks to the team ,audited their work by performing quality assurance , plan & manage the communication & stakeholders engagement.
Reviewed & track project progress.Identified new risk and perform change management for approved change requests.
Hand over the site to the operations team.
Regarding the 35 Hours Training :
I suggest , you should go through the training 1st before filling the application. After you have completed your 35 hours training , get the certificate from the training Provider .
There is one training provider that I recommend for you , the training course price is reasonable and really helped me and deepen my understanding about project management. send me a private message if you want , I will tell you .
Notes :
-No need to write Objective and Deliverable these will just eat up your word characters limit.
-Also use the project management language when you describe your work experience .
-Do you have a PMI -Premium Membership ?? If not , get one now , before you send your application to benefit form the discounted exam rate .
Hope this help .. Saving Changes...
Markus KopkoAI Enabler for Project & Program Mgmt | Founder PMotion.ai / The PM
AI Coach| PMotion.aiHamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Hello Benedetta,
the audit is nothing to fear. Just be good prepared (as you mentioned) and everything will run smoothly even in case of being audited.
Here are some helpful links regarding this topic which might be useful for you:
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Definitely some good advice here so far. With all this in hand, you should be well on your way!
I had an excel template, provided through the bootcamp I attended. Then copied the details when officially submitting through PMI. Saving Changes...
Stephanie GrahamVP of Strategy| BankOnITOklahoma City, Ok, United States
My application was rejected the first time - and accepted the second time. I turned it in to bullet points for the second one (versus being more wordy the first go around).
An example of how I wrote one of the projects on my app:
"One-Two sentences describing the project overall need.
I...
IN: Identified stakeholders (SH) and general risks
PL: Planned risk management, performed risk analysis, and created risk responses
EX: Led team on work. Implement changes from risk response plan
MC: Controlled Risks and SH engagement
CL: Measured satisfaction and speeds. Transferred to support"
My first application was audited after payment for the certification. I printed ev.er.y.th.i.ng to have it signed and it was a lot to send back. My managers signed off on all of my work, I provided the certificates from training/education, etc.
The second application was audited immediately after submitting it and I think this was where I was caught in the % of randomly selected application audits. For this one, I spent more time reading directions and what others had done in the past. I printed out one project per manager and one project listing per manager. If you have the same sponsor/manager on multiple projects, they only need to sign ONE project overview and then initial or sign the project listing page - marking which they are signing off on. So in the end, instead of printing 100's of pages, I think I printed about 10-12.
My education certificates, I printed in 4 certs to one sheet of paper the second time around too - also saving trees. Saving Changes...
