My Journey towards achieving PgMP Credential

In this post I am sharing my journey towards achieving Project Management Institute (PMI)'s PgMP® Credential. Certification process for this credential had been an exhaustive process. Following is the complete process from inception to completion of getting PgMP® certified

1. Documentation of 6,000+ hours of Program Management experience

2. Documentation of 6,000+ hours of Project Management experience

3. Submission of my application online

4. Application reopened requesting to resubmit with some minor recommended changes

5. Re-Submission of the application

6. Acceptance of my background information & eligibility criteria

7. Application randomly selected for audit. Audit process then required getting all information in application signed by my supervisor (COO), sealed in an envelope with a signature on the seal (To avoid tampering)

8. Acceptance of audit forms

9. Application returned requesting more strategic answers on Program Management

10. Re-Submission of my application with more strategic and empirical data

11. Acceptance of application and qualifications (through a PMI panel review comprising of 3 PgMPs)

12. I scheduled and passed the 4 hour exam (covering all program phases, processes, and knowledge areas) and

13. Final phase was Multi-Rating Assessment (MRA) in which 12 people including 1 Supervisor, 4 Peers and 7 Direct Reports have to give a feedback 360 on your performance as Program Manager. Each of them is sent a web based questionnaire, which comprises of 71 multiple and 3 subjective (optional) questions. Multiple choice questions would have options including

1. Outstanding Strength

2. Strength

3. Competent

4. Needs work

5. Not competent

6. No basis to rate

This phase is open for 3 weeks. I had given 31 names including 5 Supervisors, 7 Peers and 19 Direct Reports.

One cannot take this phase lightly since there are folks who have failed in this phase too. People can fail when either the assessors do not fill MRA or they give a rating below 'Competent'. Note that the Supervisor names given in your Project Management Experience are automatically included in the Supervisor list. There are instances when the Supervisors being very old colleagues, could not be reached or out of touch. So in order to clear MRA, its important to keep following up with them.

And FINALLY on Oct 12th 2010 @ 7:45 AM PDT, i got the mail

From: PMI Customer Care

Subject: You have obtained the PgMP credential

Dear Sridhar Peddisetty,

Congratulations on obtaining the Program Management Professional (PgMP)® credential.

The certificate will be delivered to your preferred mailing address in our records within six to eight weeks. You may confirm or correct your address online at https://certification.pmi.org/.

Please visit our website at https://certification.pmi.org/ to download a document which you may use to verify that you have passed the three evaluations and to view the policies and procedures needed to maintain your credential.

Please contact us at PgMPSupport@pmi.org if you have questions or concerns.

Thank you,

PMI Customer Care