Project Management Institute

File:PMI-logo.jpg

PMI logo.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) is a global member association and advocacy organization for the project management profession. PMI is the leading membership association for the project management profession.

Certification

PMI offers five professional certifications:

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM^®)
PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)^SM
PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)^SM
Program Management Professional (PgMP^®)
Project Management Professional (PMP^®)

Nearly 260,000 people hold the PMP certification. In 2007, it earned the ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Credential holders do not have to be members of PMI.

To maintain most PMI credentials, holders must earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) which can be earned a variety of ways such as taking classes, attending PMI global congresses, contributing to professional research or writing and publishing papers on the subject.

Standards

PMI has been recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a accredited standards developer.

Currently, they have more than 10 standards including The Standard for Program Management, The Standard for Portfolio Management, the Practice Standard for Earned Value Management and the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3^®). The standards are targeted at projects, programs, people, organizations and the profession.

According to PMI, standards are developed with the help of volunteers in a three step process including an exposure draft process that allows the public to view the standard draft and include change suggestions.

Overview & Membership

PMI was founded by a group of five volunteers in 1969. Currently, the organization has 260,000 members in more than 171 countries. As of January 2008, 70 percent of the membership lived in North America.

To serve its members and the profession, PMI has created industry standards, such as A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), which has been recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). PMI also issues several professional certifications, produces industry and research publications, offers involvement in local chapters and holds four conferences, called “global congresses” around the world each year.

PMI also has representative offices in Washington, D.C., and Beijing, China, as well as Regional Service Centres in Singapore, Brussels, Belgium and New Delhi, India.

Researching the Value of Project Management

In July 2008, PMI released preliminary results from its Researching the Value of Project Management study. Conducted with Athabasca University, the study was led by principal investigators Janice Thomas, Ph.D., and Mark Mullaly, PMP. The multi-million dollar study, which involves more than 60 case studies from organizations around the world and more than 440 interviews with project managers, suppliers and contractors, set out to prove that project management does equal organizational success. In Solid Proof, a supplement on the study, Mark Mullaly said of the studies results:

"We have clear, compelling evidence of value, and at the same time we have demonstration that value is being leveraged in different ways in different organizations both in terms of the tangible things they think they're looking for [and the intangible], but the intangible seems to deliver the greatest value to the greatest number of organizations."

See also

• Master of Project Management
  
• Project Management Professional
  
• Program Management Professional
  
• Certified Associate in Project Management
  
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge

External links

• PMI official website
• ESI International - Endorsed Educational Partner