Way to Earn PDUs for PMIs Certification

Project Management is a constantly changing profession. As a PMI Certified Professional, PMI expects you to be up to date in the project management field. PMI measures your learning in the form of Professional Development Units or PDUs. Every professional needs to renew their PMI certificate and report these PDUs to PMI every three years. This blog is a comprehensive guide to earning PDUs for CCR (Continuing Certification Requirements) of your PMI certificate.The question is, How PDUs help in maintaining the PMIs certificate?

The question is, How PDUs help in maintaining the PMIs certificate?

After clearing your PMI Certificate, you can immediately start learning and keep your CCRS updated with new PDUs. Do note that you need to earn PDUs within the CCR cycle to continue your PMI certificate. Earning PDUs ensures that you are up-to-date, competent, and relevant within the domains of your certificate.

The goal of PMI is to make sure that you are always prepared to meet the demands of your profession.

For example, if you are PMP® certified, you must earn Sixty PDUs within three years. Here three years represent the CCR cycle of your PMP® certificate.

PMI CCR Handbook defines ways of Earning PDUs:

Let’s move to the details of various activities that help earn PDUs. As a professional, you may have different interests and desires in advancing your career. Thus PMI introduced many ways to earn Your PDUs. You may decide on activities and take part in them to earn PDUs.

PMI® has divided the acquiring PDU process under ten broad categories, which are further grouped under two sections –

• First Educational PDUs and
• Second, Giving Back to the Profession.

Under Educational PDUs we have five categories: 

PMI aligned these five categories with the PMI Talent Triangle. Education includes activities in the Ways of Working, Power Skills, and Business Acumen areas of the Talent Triangle.

Under Giving Back to the Professional group we also have five categories

Minimum and Maximum PDUs Requirements for your CCR:

Before moving into the details of these activities, let’s first explore the minimum and maximum PDUs requirements for each category.

This information will help you to decide activities in earning PDUs.

Here, one of the interesting points to note that PMI did not constrain the minimum PDUs requirements with ‘Giving Back to Profession’.

Thus, PDUs from ‘Giving Back’ to the profession is optional.

If you are PMP® and/or PMI-PBA® credential holder:

• There are no minimum PDU requirements for “Giving Back to Profession.
• You need to earn at least Thirty-Five PDUs from the Education Category. Thus the maximum allowed PDUs from ‘Giving Back to Profession’ are Twenty-Five (60-35 = 25).
• You have to earn at least Eight PDUs for the ‘Power Skills’, ‘Ways of Working’ and ‘Business Acumen’ categories of Talent Triangle.
• You can earn the remaining 11 (35 – (8 Leadership + 8 Technical + 8 Strategic)) across any area of the Talent Triangle.
• If you choose to earn PDUs from “Work as a Practitioner” from the ‘Giving Back to the Profession”, you can earn a maximum of eight in one CCR cycle.
• You can choose to earn all sixty PDUs from any category of Education.

If you are PMI-ACP® credential holder:

• There are no minimum PDU requirements for “Giving Back to Profession.
• You need to earn at least Eighteen PDUs from the Education Category. Thus the maximum number of allowed PDUs from ‘Giving Back to Profession’ is Twelve (30-18 = 12).
• You have to earn at least four PDUs for the “Power Skills”, “Ways of Working”, and “Business Acumen” categories of the Talent Triangle.
• You can earn the remaining six (18 – (4 Power Skills + 4 Ways of Working + 4 Business Acumen)) across any area of the Talent Triangle.
• If you choose to earn PDUs from “Work as a Practitioner” from the ‘Giving Back to Profession”, you can earn maximum of four in one CCR cycle.
• You can choose to earn all thirty PDUs from any category of Education.

Some other important points to note:

• All the Ways of Working PDUs earned for PMI-ACP® and PMI-PBA® certification are also counted in your PMP® certificate. But the reverse may not always be true. For more details, refer to my blog- “Earning Technical PDUs.”
• Once you earn Power Skills and Business Acumen PDUs, you can apply them to any PMIs certification. You can go through my Power Skills and Business Acumen blogs for more details.

Now come to the details of earning these PDU earnings:

Earn PDUs under Education Categories:

1. Course or Training: This is the most popular category for earning PDUs. Under this category, you earn PDUs:

• By doing programs either organized by PMI ATPs (Authorized Training Partners),
• Or by other third-party providers.

If PMI ATPs host the course, you can find their program details on the official website of PMI. For more information, you can refer to my blog on “Earning PDUs Against Activity Code”

2. Organization Meetings:   Many ATP(s), PMI chapters and third parties host educational activities. If PMI ATPS host the event, you can find their program details on the official website of PMI. Irrespective of who is hosting these events, these educational sessions give you opportunities:

• To earn PDUs, and
• Also give you chance of networking in your community.

Generally, these Organization meetings limited to 1-2 PDUs

3. Online or Digital Media: The most interesting category includes self-paced learning. You can do self-paced learning through pre-recorded webinars, podcasts, and digital media. For more details, kindly refer to my blog “How to report Online and Digital PDUs

4. Read: You can earn PDUs by reading materials including (but not limited to) informational, non-fiction books, articles, white papers, or blogs. If you like reading to enhance your knowledge and skills, this could be an interesting category for you. For more details, refer to my blog “How to report Read PDUs”.

5. Informal Learning: You can also earn PDUs by attending activities including (but are not limited to) mentoring sessions, panel discussions, lunch and learn sessions, or other structured discussions. PMI understands that attending mentoring sessions and panel discussions is an excellent way to take your skills to the next level. So attend them and also grab the opportunity to earn PDUs.

Earn PDUs under Giving Back to Profession:

1. Work as a Practitioner: This is a sure kind of category. If you are working in as per the profession of your certificate. Now the question is – how many PMI PDUs can I claim for working as a practitioner? The answer is, working as a Project Manager; you can report a maximum of 8 PDUs if you are PMP® certified.
2. Create Content:This category is about creating and spreading knowledge about Project Management and business analysis, depending on your certificate. It involves writing in the community about project management and business analysis. The activities listed below can help you get PDUs in this category
   • Authoring Whitepaper / book / blog on project management and business analysis
   • Creating a presentation / training on project management and business analysis
3. Give a Presentation: You can earn PDUs by presenting on topics relevant to project management and business analysis, depending on your certificate. You can speak at professional conferences, at a PMI chapter event, or within your organisation. If you give a presentation in project management or business analysis, the PDUs earned will equal the hours spent. If you also created the presentation’s content, then in the same claim, you can count any time spent preparing for the presentation in PDUs.
4. Share Knowledge: Mentoring, teaching, coaching or applying your knowledge and subject matter expertise also allow you to earn PDUs.
5. Volunteer: You can earn PDUs by providing volunteer, non-compensated project management service to non-employer or non-client customer groups. The activities listed below can help you get PDUs in this category.

           I. Serve as an elected volunteer officer for a project management organisation, including PMI®                    chapters and communities of practice.

           II. Serve as a volunteer/appointed committee member of a project management organisation.

           III. Providing project management related volunteer services to PMI® or other professional                            project management associations.

           IV. Provide volunteer project management-related services to a community or charitable group, or                  colleges.

Simple ways to earn PDUs:

Not every time you have to pay a hefty sum to earn PDUs; you can earn them for free. You read it right; Here are a few ways to earn PDUs for free without spending a nickel.

You can subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Watch videos to earn PDUs under Category Online and Digital Media.

You can also read a book on certificate topics and earn PDUs. Attend our Periodic Webinars and earn PDUs under ‘Online and Digital Media.

You can club Earning PDUs with some next-level certification you may like to think in the near future. In this case, courses from ARP are the best way to earn PDUs.

In other words, ‘Read’, ‘Online and Digital Media’ and Courses from ATPs are easy and popular ways to earn PDUs.

Report PDUs and Renew your PMIs certificate:

As soon as you earn PDU(s), you can report them. For more details on how to report PDUs, you may refer to my blog:

• How to report ‘Read’ PDUs.
• How to report ‘Online and Digital’ PDUs.

You should remember that renewal is collecting PDUs and paying the renewal fee to PMI. Upon earning all these PDUs, PMI will send an email to renew and make payments. A new CCR cycle starts after the renewal process.

The renewal fee is different for PMI members and nonmembers. I see many test takers still need to renew their membership after doing the certificate. So, if you are renewing your certificate, take one more advantage and save 90 USD. The renewal fee for the member is 60 USD, and for the nonmember, it is 150 USD. Also, many of you must know that they do not have to wait for the complete CCR cycle to renew the certificate. As you get the required PDUs, you can pay the fee and renew it for the next cycle. So, if you renew it in your exam year, you will get the renewal for six years.

In summary, the following are the basic steps in the CCR of your certificate:

• Earn PMI certificate
• Attend or take part in activities to earn PDU for your CCR
• Record and Report PDUs.
• Upon earning all these PDUs, PMI will send an email to renew and payments
• A new CCR cycle starts after the renewal process

I hope this blog has answered your all queries related to ‘How to earn PDUs and maintain your PMI Certification’ during your professional career without spending much.
If you have follow-up questions, kindly post them in the comment box provided.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I need to be a member of PMI to keep my PMP® certification?

Answer: No, it is not needed. It is not necessary to be a member to keep PMP® certification status. You can choose to be a PMI member to get discount in the renewal fee. The renewal fee for member is 60 USD and nonmember is 150 USD.

Can I claim PDUs for a single Education activity in more than one skill area of the PMI Talent Triangle

Answer: Yes. You can. You can divide your PDUs into the talent triangle’s Ways of Working, Power Skills, and Business Acumen categories. For example, if you attend a course that includes :

• Content on project management tools and
• How a leader can motivate the team,

You can claim this activity in “Ways of Working” project management and “Power Skills”.

How are the three areas of focus for the PMI Talent Triangle defined?

Answer: The PMI Talent Triangle includes three skill areas critical for project management:

Ways of Working: These skills represent topics of PMIs certificate within the project, program, and portfolio management. For more details, please refer: Earning Ways of Working PDUs For PMP®, PMI-ACP® And PMI-PBA® Certifications.

Power Skills: These skills are essential in a team working together to meet the upcoming project milestone. For more details, please refer: Earning Power Skills PDUs For PMI Certification.

Business Acumen: This category of the Talent Triangle represents the skills that help to deliver better business outcomes. These processes, tools & techniques contribute to the broader organizational strategy. For more details, please refer: Earning Business Acumen PDUs For PMIs Certification

Are the skill areas of the PMI Talent Triangle aligned with activities that Give Back to the Profession?

Answer: No. Only education categories belong to the skill areas of the talent triangle.

What are the minimum PDUs requirements for Giving Back to the Profession?

Answer: Earning PDUs from ‘Giving Back’ to the Profession is optional. There is no minimum PDU requirement for this category.

How can I maintain several credentials at once?

Answer: You can report the same PDUs across certifications if you have multiple PMI certificates. You can apply Power Skills and Business Acumen to any PMI certification. You can go through my Power Skills and Business Acumen blogs for more details. For Ways of Working PDUs, as I mentioned earlier:

All the Ways of Working PDUs earned for PMI-ACP® and PMI-PBA® certifications are also counted in your PMP® certificate. But the reverse may not always be true. For more details, kindly refer to my blog-“Earning Ways of Working PDUs”

Please watch the following for more details about how to maintain multiple PMI certificates: https://www.brainshark.com/pmiorg/ManagingMultipleCertifications?&fb=1&r3f1=&nodesktopflash=1