What is 35 PDU for PMP ?

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Renewal Process of PMP

Project Management is a dynamic field where there are innovations in increasing performance on a regular basis. As a consequence, there is a real need for the professionals to be updated on the latest advances in the field of project management as well as keeping their skills in top shape. PMP recognizes this ground reality and mandates periodic renewal of the certification. Hence unlike a lot of other certifications where once a person is certified, their certification is valid for perpetuity, one has to renew their PMP certification after a fixed period of time. This time period is currently considered for a period of three years.

During this three-year time period they need to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Continuing Certification Requirements or CCR Program to maintain their certification. As a part of these they have to earn a certain number of PDUs or Professional Development Units to be considered to have fulfilled the requirements of the CCR program. These PDUs are further differentiated into two broad divisions that are education and giving back to the profession. The certified professional needs to earn 60 PDUs in every three years and record them to maintain their PMP certification as per the norms prescribed by PMI.

What are PDUs?

PDUs consist of one-hour blocks of time that a certified professional spends learning more about project management, teaching other individuals or volunteering. For the two categories of PDUs that can be earned by the individual, there also exists a specification of the quantity of PDUs that one must earn for each of them. For the category of PDUs known as giving back to the profession this is earmarked at a maximum of 25 PDUs in a three-year period. But this is an optional method to earn PDUs thus doesn’t have any minimum amount of PDUs for this activity.

Giving back to the profession PDUs

This portion of giving back to the profession mainly consists of sharing the knowledge and experience gained by the certified professional to others as well as applying the skills of PMP in the real world. This can also be done by increasing the knowledge base of PMP by contributing articles and creating new knowledge resources relevant to PMP in their medium of choice. They can also earn a maximum of 8 PDUs per renewal period for application of their skills in their profession. Another way to earn PDUs is by giving presentations on topics relevant to PMP at various events. Finally, they can volunteer in non-employer organizations to earn PDUs.

what is 35 pdu for pmp

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Education PDUs

The 35 PDUs that are usually referred to stands for the minimum number of PDUs in education that a certified professional must earn out of the 60 prescribed PDUs every three years. This is to ensure that they are sufficiently aware of and competent in the latest developments occurring in the world of project management. Hence the limit set here is the minimum, as they can even earn more PDUs here. These PDUs can be accumulated in three major ways they are doing online courses, reading recommended reading material to stay abreast of latest advances and by informal learning in a casual setting.

The 35 PDUs are further classified into a talent triangle. The components further described below:

  • Technical Project Management- This portion deals with the various knowledge frameworks, technical skills and behavioral competencies related to the respective domains of project management, program management and portfolio management.
  • Leadership- This segment deals especially with the competencies which are related to leadership skills and are cross-functional in scope of application. That is, they are applicable to a wider context of their use.
  • Strategic & Business Management- This portion concerns itself with the knowledge that can be applicable in the context of business that has the ability to improve performance and deliver desired results.

Minimum Requirements

There are certain minimum requirements for each of these three divisions for accumulating the requisite amount of PDUs. For the technical portions it is kept at a minimum of eight PDUs. Similarly, the leadership portion also has a minimum of eight PDUs and this is applicable for strategic & business management portion as well since it is also fixed at a minimum eight PDUs. Once these minimum portions of PDUs are earned then the certificate holders are free to choose the way in which they can distribute the rest of the eleven PDUs as per their convenience or professional requirements.

Conclusion to the Topic: What is 35 PDU for PMP ?

Since the education segment of PMI’s CCR program is inherently fixed with the talent triangle, the proficiency of the certified professional is automatically adapted to the ever-changing business environment. This is done to maintain the relevance of the professional to the new business scenarios that are emerging in order to effectively deliver value to the various stakeholders. The process of earning PDUs also has a major requirement of the individual to faithfully record all the activities that they have done to gain PDUs. This must be done with due diligence and careful consideration, so that they can pass the audit check later when needed.

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