Overview of PMI-PgMP® Certification Course

Lesson 1: Overview of PMI-PgMP® Certification

Course

Based on PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition

and
The Standard for Program Management – Third Edition

PMI Program Management Professional (PMI-PgMP) and PMBOK are the registered marks of Project Management Institute, Inc.

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Agenda

 What are PMI-PgMP® and PMI?

 Pre-requisites and Guidance about the Application
 Evaluation Process for PgMP®
 Examination Syllabus
 About this Tutorial

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What is PMI-PgMP® and PMI

 PMI-PgMP®: PMI Program Management Professional

 PMI-PgMP® is a certification
 PMI: Project Management Institute
 PMI is a non-profit organization
 PMI conducts PMI-PgMP® Examinations
 PMI-PgMP certification is valid for 3 Years
 PDU: Professional Development Unit
 PMBOK: Project Management Body of Knowledge
 The Standard for Program Management

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Why PgMP

 Exclusivity and first-mover advantage:

 6 years after launch, there are < 1000 certified Program Managers
worldwide.
 Chance to move up the value chain:
 Take on more strategic roles.
 Do more challenging work.
 Learn about, and apply best practices and processes, that have
evolved after years of research.
 At present, the highest “level” of certification that PMI offers.
 For organizations:
 Enhanced ability to align work with the business.
 Clearer focus on strategic benefits.
 Define clear career path for senior project managers.

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Pre-requisite for the PMI-PgMP® Exam

Category College/University Education Project Management Program Management

Experience Experience
One Four-year degree (Bachelor’s, global Minimum four years Minimum four years
equivalent, or higher degree) (6,000 hours) of unique (6,000 hours) of unique
non-overlapping non-overlapping
professional project professional program
management management
experience. experience.
Two Secondary diploma (high school Minimum four years Minimum seven years
diploma, associate’s degree, or global (6,000 hours) of unique (10,500 hours) of unique
equivalent) non-overlapping non-overlapping
professional project professional program
management management
experience. experience.

 All this (project and program management) experience must have been accrued over the last
15 consecutive years.

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Important Information about Filling the Application

 Become a member of PMI before applying for the certification.

 Every project and program you describe must have a “primary contact.”
 The primary contact may be required to provide evidence during audit; make
sure that they will be willing to help with this.
 For each program you include in your application, at least two
corresponding projects must be described. The project managers for these
projects will automatically become references.
 You will be required to enter the number of hours spent on each of the five
program management domains, viz., strategic program management,
program life-cycle, benefits management, stakeholder management, and
program governance.
 You will be required to answer a question about each of the domains,
describing how you achieved specific results in each domain of a program.
 Be concise and specific in your responses.
 If possible, get your application reviewed by a PgMP before you submit it.

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PgMP Credentialing Process Overview

Evaluation 1 – Panel Review:

 A panel will assess your experience based on the submitted application.
 Your identity will not be known to the panel reviewers.
 This process takes approximately four weeks to complete.

Evaluation 2 – Audit:
 All PgMP applications will be subject to audit.
 After your application clears the review, you will receive instructions describing
what you need to do to fulfill the audit requirements.
 The instructions are very clear and specific. Go through them carefully and follow
them to the letter.
 You generally have 90 days to submit the evidence required. If you need more time,
please contact PMI before the expiry of this period.
 After you clear the audit, you will receive instructions for scheduling the exam. You
have one year from this date to appear for the PgMP examination.
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PgMP Credentialing Process Overview (Contd.)

Evaluation 3 – Examination Information:

 Total number of Questions: 170. Out of this 20 questions are test questions for
future tests.
 All questions are multiple choice with 4 choices out of which only one answer is
correct.
 You get 1 Point for every question that is answered correctly. There is no penalty
for wrong answers.
 PMI grades students on each of the five program management domains, and
based on this grading they declare a PMI-PgMP® pass or fail. How many grades
one has to score to pass the PMI-PgMP® exam is not made public by PMI. The
grading used is “Below Proficient”, “Proficient”, and “Moderately Proficient” in
each of the four project risk management domains.
 Total duration of the exam is 4 hours.

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PgMP Credentialing Process Overview (Contd.)

Program Management Domain/Sub-domain Percentage of Questions

Domain 1 – Strategic Program Management(11 tasks) 15
Domain 2 – Program Life Cycle (35 tasks) 44
Initiating (6 tasks) (6)
Planning (9 tasks) (11)
Executing (9 tasks) (14)
Controlling (6 tasks) (10)
Closing (5 tasks) (3)
Domain 3 – Benefits Management (8 tasks) 11
Domain 4 – Stakeholder Management (7 tasks) 16
Domain 5 – Governance (11 tasks) 14
Total 100

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Timeline of the PgMP Credential Process

Audit Process
Application Submission (if application is selected-you have 90 days
to send your audit material and PMI takes
(Windows open 90 days)
approximately 5 days)

Application Completeness Review

(10 days after submitted online)

Multiple-Choice Exam Eligibility

(1 year from the date of the application
approved)
Application Payment Process
(cannot schedule exam until you
submit payment of credential fees)

Certification Cycle
Panel Review (3 years from the date of certification to
(approximately 4 weeks) obtain and report PDU’s toward
credential maintenance)

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PMI-PgMP® Exam Syllabus

 There are 5 program management  There are 72 tasks, and 126 knowledge and
domains. They are: skills distributed across all those 5 domains.
 Strategic Program Management;  Program Life Cycle consists of 5
 Program Life Cycle; subdomains. They are:
 Benefits Management;
 Initiating;
 Stakeholder Management; and
 Planning;
 Governance.
 Executing;
 Controlling; and
 Closing.

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Strategic Program Management — Tasks

 Task 1: Perform an initial program assessment.

 Task 2: Establish a high level road map with milestones and
preliminary estimates.
 Task 3: Define high level road map/framework.
 Task 4: Define the program mission statement.
 Task 5: Evaluate the organization’s capability.
 Task 6: Identify organizational benefits.
 Task 7: Estimate the high level financial and non-financial benefits.
 Task 8: Evaluate program objectives.
 Task 9: Obtain organizational leadership approval.
 Task 10: Identify and evaluate integration opportunities and needs.
 Task 11: Exploit strategic opportunities.

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Strategic Program Management — Knowledge and Skills

 Business strategy;
 Business/organization objectives;
 Economic forecasting;
 Feasibility analysis;
 Financial measurement and management techniques;
 Funding models;
 Funding processes;
 Intellectual property laws and guidelines;
 Legal and regulatory requirements;
 Marketing;
 Portfolio management;
 Program and constituent project charter development;
 Program mission and vision;
 Public relations;
 Requirement analysis techniques;
 Scenario analysis;
 Strategic planning and analysis;
 System implementation models and methodologies; and
 Trend analysis.

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Program Life Cycle — Tasks

Initiating the program

 Task 1: Develop program charter.

 Task 2: Translate strategic objectives into high level program scope
statements.
 Task 3: Develop a high level milestone plan.
 Task 4: Develop an accountability matrix.
 Task 5: Define standard measurement criteria.
 Task 6: Conduct program initiation with stakeholders.

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Program Life Cycle — Tasks (Contd.)

Planning the program

 Task 7: Develop a detailed program scope statement.

 Task 8: Develop program WBS.
 Task 9: Establish the program management plan and schedule.
 Task 10: Optimize the program management plan.
 Task 11: Define project management information system.
 Task 12: Identify and manage unresolved project level issues.
 Task 13: Develop the transition/integration/closure plan.
 Task 14: Develop key performance indicators.
 Task 15: Monitor key human resources for program and project roles.

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Program Life Cycle — Tasks (Contd.)

Executing the program

 Task 16: Charter and initiate constituent projects.

 Task 17: Establish consistency.
 Task 18: Establish communication feedback process.
 Task 19: Lead human resource functions.
 Task 20: Review project managers’ performance.
 Task 21: Execute the appropriate program management plans.
 Task 22: Consolidate project and program data.
 Task 23: Evaluate the program’s status.
 Task 24: Approve closure of constituent projects.

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Program Life Cycle — Tasks (Contd.)

Controlling the program

 Task 25: Analyze variances and trends in costs, schedule, quality, and
risks.
 Task 26: Update program plans.
 Task 27: Manage program level issues.
 Task 28: Manage changes.
 Task 29: Conduct impact assessments.
 Task 30: Manage risk.

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Program Life Cycle — Tasks (Contd.)

Closing the program

 Task 31: Complete a program performance — performance analysis

report.
 Task 32: Obtain stakeholder approval.
 Task 33: Execute the transition and/or close-out of all program and
constituent project plans.
 Task 34: Conduct the post-review meeting.
 Task 35: Report lessons learned and best practices.

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Program Life Cycle — Knowledge and skills

 Quality control, and management
 Benchmarking;
tools and techniques;
 Closeout plan, procedures, techniques,
 Resource estimation;
and policies;
 Resource leveling techniques;
 Decomposition techniques;
 Root cause analysis;
 Financial closure processes;
 Schedule management, techniques,
 Logistics management;
and tools;
 Performance and quality metrics;
 Scope management;
 Phase gate reviews;
 Service level agreements;
 Procurement management;
 Statistical analysis;
 Product/service development phases;
 Strategic planning and analysis;
 Program and constituent project charter
 SWOT analysis;
development;
 Talent evaluation;
 Program and project change requests;
 Team competency assessment
 Program initiation plan;
techniques; and
 Program management plans;
 Training methodologies.

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Benefits Management — Tasks

 Task 1: Develop the benefits realization plan and its measurement criteria.
 Task 2:Identify and capture synergies and efficiencies identified throughout
the program life cycle.
 Task 3: Develop a sustainment plan.
 Task 4: Monitor the metrics.
 Task 5: Verify that the close, transition, and integration of constituent
projects and program meet or exceed the benefit realization.
 Task 6: Maintain a benefit register and record program progress.
 Task 7: Analyze and update the benefits realization and sustainment plans.
 Task 8: Develop a transition plan to operations.

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Benefits Management — Knowledge and Skills

 Benefits optimization,
 Business value measurement,
 Decision tree analysis,
 Maintenance and sustainment of program benefits post-delivery,
 Performance and quality metrics, and
 Program transition strategies.

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Stakeholder Management — Tasks

 Task 1: Identify stakeholders and create stakeholder matrix.

 Task 2: Perform stakeholder analysis.
 Task 3: Negotiate the support of stakeholders.
 Task 4: Generate and maintain visibility for the program, and confirm
stakeholder support.
 Task 5: Define and maintain communication adapted to different
stakeholders.
 Task 6: Evaluate risks identified by stakeholders.
 Task 7: Develop and foster relationships with stakeholders.

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Stakeholder Management — Knowledge and Skills

 Customer relationship management,

 Customer satisfaction measurement,
 Expectation management,
 Public relations, and
 Training methodologies.

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Governance — Tasks

 Task 1: Develop program and project management standards and

structure.
 Task 2: Select a governance model structure.
 Task 3: Obtain authorizations and approvals.
 Task 4: Evaluate key performance indicators.
 Task 5: Develop and/or utilize the program management information
system.
 Task 6: Regularly evaluate new and existing risks.
 Task 7: Establish escalation policies and procedures.
 Task 8: Develop and/or contribute to an information repository.
 Task 9: Identify and apply lessons learned.
 Task 10: Monitor the business environment, program functionality
requirement, and benefits realization.
 Task 11: Develop and support the program integration management
plan.

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Governance — Knowledge and skills

 Archiving tools and techniques;

 Business/organization objectives;
 Closeout plans, procedures, techniques, and policies;
 Composition and responsibilities of the program management office(PMO);
 Financial closure processes;
 Go/no-go decision criteria;
 Governance models;
 Governance processes and procedures;
 Metrics definition and measurement techniques;
 Performance analysis and reporting techniques;
 Phase gate reviews;
 Program and project change requests; and
 Statistical analysis.

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About this Tutorial

 There are a total of 11 lessons. This being the first one.

 The other lessons are:
 Lesson 2: Introduction
 Lesson 3: Program Management Performance Domains
 Lesson 4: Program Strategy Alignment
 Lesson 5: Program Benefits Management
 Lesson 6: Program Stakeholder Engagement
 Lesson 7: Program Governance
 Lesson 8: Program Life Cycle Management
 Lesson 9: Program Definition Supporting Processes
 Lesson 10: Program Benefits Delivery Supporting Processes
 Lesson 11: Program Closure Supporting Processes

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Thank You

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