NEW MEMBERS GUIDE

Table of Contents

 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN QUEBEC

1. PMI-Montreal Services

2. Project Management Training Courses and University Programs Offered in Quebec

3. How to Obtain PDUs in Quebec

4. Trends in the Industry

5. A Note on Ethics in Quebec

 

3. HOW TO OBTAIN PDUS IN QUEBEC

 

All project management professionals with one of the 5 following certifications: PMP®, PgPM®, PMI-ACP®, PMI-RMP® and PMI-SP® must report PDUs to PMI at each 3-year cycle.

PDUs are Professional Development Units that represent the effort that the professional must maintain to advance in his domain and to contribute to the profession.

In general, each hour invested into an eligible activity will give you 1 PDU. Obtaining all PDUsrequired by PMI can seem difficult or expensive to certain people. However, this guide will help you demystify this myth by making you realize the abundance of options available to obtain PDUs in Quebec.

« There are events promoted by PMI-Montréal but also other opportunities. For exemple, the Agile Symposium at UQÀM and the Leadership Conferences. We should always be open to new methods and philosophies in Project Management » (Agnès Bedard).

 

If you are a certified PMP, you must report 60 PDUs at each 3-year cycle. That represents 20 PDU’s per year at an average of 1.7 hours per month, this in order to develop your own career and to contribute to the project management community. This is, in fact, realistic. Take a closer look: 

If you already work in the domain of project management, you can accumulate up to 15 PDUs per each 3-year cycle.

You can also accumulate, per each 3-year cycle, up to 30 PDUs as equivalence for hours of individual study in project management. The acceptable activities to claim PDUs in this category are; reading books or articles, watching videos, participating as a sponsor in the PMI-Montreal’s mentoring program or even organizing and participating in formal discussions about project management with colleagues.

 

Now take a look at some even more interesting options:

If you participate in PMI-Montreal’s activities such as the corporative evenings, the communities of practice or the annual symposium, these activities, beyond offering great opportunities for networking and for keeping your knowledge in the field up to date, offer PDUs as well! Simply by participating in the annual Symposium you get 7 PDUs, in one single day!

You can enroll as a volunteer and work for non-profit organizations in project management. PMI is an organization that values the work of volunteers and offers numerous possibilities in this field. Consult the site http://www.pmi.org/Get-Involved/Volunteer-Opportunities.aspx or enroll at PMI’s “Volunteer Relationship Management System” at https://vrms.pmi.org/ if you are interested in participating. You will see that there are opportunities to work around the globe without requiring being physically present. 

Volunteering brings a lot to the project management professional. If you would like to contribute to activities more closely related to the needs of Quebec, PMI-Montreal also offers several exciting opportunities. Visit the site https://www.pmimontreal.org/benevoles-volunteersfor more information. 

If you publish articles, if you make presentations, or if you create courses in the area of project management, you also can accumulate PDUs. Additionally, you can obtain PDUs by taking courses at recognized academic institutions or courses offered by other organizations like REPs. Check the section about the Project Management courses in this guide for more information about the institutions that offer courses in project management in Quebec.

You can study themes related to Project Management on your own and can also record these hours to obtain PDUs. You can watch PMI-Montréal presentations hosted on SlideShare, for instance.

 

But attention, everything must be documented and eligible! PMI makes random audits to verify if the accumulated PDUs are real. It is important to keep every document and proof to demonstrates that you have effectively accomplished the reported activities. The price to pay for non-conformity is high: you can lose your certification.

The following pages contain a list of options to obtain PDUs. Far from being exhaustive, it gives a good idea of what you can do. For each activity we have gathered pertinent information such as the price, the amount of PDUs, the type of training (physical or virtual presence), etc. to help you to make your choice.

There are so many possibilities that you may even acquire an excess of PDUs in a cycle! The good news is that PMI allows you to transfer up to 20 extra PDUs to the next cycle. So, no more excuses for obtaining PDUs!

After having consulted the list of options to accumulate PDUs in the following table, we invite you to read the strategies used by some members of PMI-Montreal. This information can give you good ideas to determine your own professional path towards obtaining PDU’s in order to maintain your certification in good standing!

No	Category	Title	Institution	Virtual / In class	French / English	Cost for PMI members	PDU’s
1	A	Course offered by a PMI R. E. P.	18 organizations in Quebec	Virtual / In class	French / English	Varied	Up to 35 per course
2	A	PMI symposium	PMI-Montreal	In class	French / English	385 CAD	7
3	A	PMI mornings – 7h30 to 09h00	PMI-Montreal	In class	French	35 CAD	1
4	A	Corporate evenings – 17h30 to 20h00	PMI-Montreal	In class	French	50 CAD	2
5	A	Courses and conferences organised by Communities of Practice	PMI communities of Practice (33 communities)**	Virtual	English	0	Up to 11 per conference
6	A	Professional development (402 available courses)	PMI (www.learning.pmi.org)	Virtual	English / Spanish		1 to 25
7	B	Continued education offered by a University, a College or another organization	Varied	Virtual / In class	French / English	Varied	1 PDU per hour
8	C	Registered webinars	PMI communities of Practice (33 communities)**	Virtual	English	0	1 PDU per webinar
9	C	Participation in the discussion forums of the Communities of Practice	Communities of Practice 933 communities) http://www.pmi.org/Get-Involved/Communities-of-Practice.aspx	Virtual	English	0	1 PDU per hour
10	D	Creation of new knowledge (publications, blogs, webinars)	Varied	Virtual / In class	-	-	1 PDU per hour
11	E	Project management volunteering	Varied	Virtual / In class	-	-	1 PDU per hour
12	E	Participate as mentor	PMI’s mentoring program	Virtual / In class	French/ English	0	1 PDU per hour
13	F	Work as a project management professional (maximum of 15 PDU’s)	Varied	In class	-	-	5PDU’s per period of 6 months