Topic outline
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Associations for Project Management
1. The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM )
The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) has according to its web site over 10,000 members, and is well recognised by Australian business, industry and government as the key promoter, developer and leader in project management professionalism.
AIPM is the second-largest member of the International Project Management Association (IPMA), as well as the secretariat of the Asia Pacific Federation of Project Management (apfpm), an organisation initiated by the AIPM in early 2010. This associations tends to follow the PMI (PMBOK Guide 2013) methodology.AIPM has five mission statements:
- Proactively engage, support and grow membership.
- Ensure AIPM has the best national and international competency based standards and assessment program.
- Improve and support good professional practice.
- Promote and communicate the value of project management.
- Be financially viable and sustainable.
This program Masters of Project Management is endorsed by the AIPM (Australian Institute of Project Management).
AIPM endorses courses delivered by training providers who demonstrate through their material that the outcomes of the course(s) are aligned to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) and the IBSA BSB07 competency standards. We do not endorse training providers, only the courses they deliver.
https://www.aipm.com.au/courses/for-providers downloaded 31/03/2016
2. Project Management Institute (PMI)
The Project Management Institute (PMI) is a US nonprofit professional organization for project management started in the 1969 as project management practices were beginning to used in the aerospace, construction and defense industries. It is considered to be the largest of the Project Management Associations with an estimated 45,000 members (according to their web site https://www.pmi.org/ 25/08/2016)
It has the PMBOK Guides and Standards that provide the foundation for much of the Project Management profession.
The PMI Endorces courses through the Global Accreditation Center for Project Management Education Programs, this works the same the AIPM endorsement process and has the same implications, the only difference is that this is an international organisation. See http://www.pmi.org/learning/professional-development/global-accreditation-center.aspx
3. Association for Project Management
APM's mission statement is “To provide leadership to the movement of committed organisations and individuals who share our passion for improving project outcomes”. (https://www.apm.org.uk/AboutUs accessed 26/08/2016). It is based in the UK and does not appear to be recognised extensively in other countries. This associations tends to follow the Prince2 methodology and qualification framework.
4. International Project Management Association (IPMA)
Historically this has been a European Project Management organisations which started out of an earlier association INTERNET (1965) but later formed into the IPMA in 1996. Their vision is to 'Promoting competence throughout society to enable a world in which all projects succeed.'
The IPMA follows the IPMA Competency Baseline (ICB) (ICB3 edition is current as of 2016), methodology and not the PMBOK.
Discounted student membership is usually available from these institutes.
Industry Competency Standards and Training for Project Management
Certification can be provided to individuals and to organisations information below summarises individual training, standards and certification that relate to Project Management. There are various studies comparing the different certifications and standards however none of the research undertaken appeared to be un-bias or academically valid..
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National Competency Standards : Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Project Management
You will find that most of these endorsed courses are provided by 'Recognised Training Organisations' (this including TAFE and other private Vocational Education Providers) and are the Vocational sector BSB41515 Certificate IV in Project Management Practice and the BSB51415 Diploma of Project Management. For example see http://training.gov.au/training/details/BSB51413.
The quality of the training depends on what organisations is delivering the training. Though these courses are meant to be to the same competency standards nationally there have been many cases where substandard training has been provided.
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International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)
ISO 21500:2012 provides guidance for project management and is intended to be used byany type of organization, (public, private or community) and for any project type, irrespective of complexity, size or duration.
ISO 21500:2012 provides high-level description of concepts and processes that are considered to form good practice in project management. Projects are placed in the context of programmes and project portfolios. The ISO 21500:2012 does not provide detailed guidance on the management of programmes and project portfolios.
As stated on the introduction information the intention of these standards enable: : “people in any organization to understand how the discipline fits into a business environment. It is also intended to be used as a basic guide, aimed at the informed reader without an in-depth knowledge of project management.”
Additional benefits of ISO 21500 stated include:
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- Encourage transfer of knowledge between projects and organizations for improved project delivery
- Facilitate efficient tendering processes through the use of consistent project management terminology
- Enable the flexibility of project management employees and their ability to work on international projects
- Provide universal project management principles and processes
(Source: http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/news_archive/news.htm?refid=Ref1662 accessed 25/08/2016)
Increasingly their are training organisations who are developing workshops and internal certification for the standard.
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Project Management Institute (PMI)
PMI professional certification comes in a variety of levels
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- Project Management Professional (PMP);
- Program Management Professional (PgMP);
- Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP);
- Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM);
- PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA);
- PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP);
- PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP); and
- PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP)
These require evidence of competency, tests and a fee. See http://www.pmi.org/certifications/types .
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Prince 2
PRINCE2 (an acronym for PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a 'de facto process-based method for effective project management. Used extensively by the UK Government, PRINCE2 is also widely recognised and used in the private sector, both in the UK and internationally' (https://www.prince2.com/aus/what-is-prince2#prince2-definition). PRINCE was established in 1989 by CCTA (the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency), since renamed the OGC (the Office of Government Commerce). The OGC licences the training to other providers.
The qualifications/training this organisation licences are:
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- PRINCE2 Foundation
- Project Management Professional (PMP)®
- Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®
- IPMA Level A (Certified Projects Director)
- IPMA Level B® (Certified Senior Project Manager)
- IPMA Level C® (Certified Project Manager)
- IPMA Level D® (Certified Project Management Associate)
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The Australian Institute of Project Management’s competency standards
In the early 1990s the AIPM started the process to developed project management competency standards with the Australian National Competency Standards to develop compentance standards for Project Management (See https://www.aipm.com.au/resources/history-of-pm-in-australia/1990s there are some excellent videos that explan the development of the standards).
AIPM offers different certification avenues (National Certification - RegPM ) :
The current AIPM Professional Competency Standards were released in 2008. They are structured around the 9 knowledge areas from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
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International Project Management Association (IPMA)
These courses have international recognition
The IPMA have the 4-L-C system (4 levels of certification):
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IPMA Level A: Certified Projects Director manages complex project portfolios and programmes.
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IPMA Level B: Certified Senior Project Manager manages complex projects. Minimum five years of experience.
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IPMA Level C: Certified Project Manager manages projects of moderate complexity. Minimum three years of experience.
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IPMA Level D: Certified Project Management Associate applies project management knowledge when working on projects.
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Source: http://ipma.ch/certification/competence/4-l-c-features/, accessed 26th Aug 2016
Additional Project Management Training
There are numerous courses that are available based on specific methodologies and approached to Project Management. These include:
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- Agile
- Waterfall
- Scrum
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Many of these have been developed to meet the needs of the IT industry and the unique aspects of that industry projects.
Level of these Courses
Most of these courses provided by these associations are equivalent to Certificate IV, V and VI from the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). For example:
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- Certified Practising Project Practitioner (CPPP) – AQF level 4
- Certified Practising Project Manager (CPPM) – AQF level 5
- Certified Practising Project Director (CPPD) – AQF level 6
They are not the same level as an undergraduate course (AQF 6/7) or a Masters course in Project Management (AQF 8/9). These are associations of professionals.
These standard and training:
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- Tend to focus on being able to demonstrate that you understand the organisations methodology/body of knowledge or standard.
- Prescribe a certain methodology
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