What Makes IPMA’s Certifications Stand Out?

What Makes IPMA’s Certifications Stand Out? To help you decide which project and program management certifications are best for you, and to show why ours stand out, we researched and published an article on the subject. This post is an introduction to the article; see the full article download link below.

This fresh new analysis helps to balance misinformed impressions seen elsewhere on the web. As credited in the article, we based the analysis on three independent studies and reports.

The full article, in Adobe Acrobat pdf format, is available here on our website: Comparing PM Certifications. Below are a few of the highlights from the article.

Everywhere you look, on the web, in magazine ads and articles, and in some training companies’ marketing materials, you see them. The wide range of assertions about the value of a variety of project and program management certifications. What is a decision-maker to think? Are there rational ways to evaluate and compare the myriad offerings?

Three factors show why IPMA's Certifications Stand Out

To explore the differences between the many PM certifications, we evaluated the factors that make a difference in their effectiveness. The result: our Certification Effectiveness Cube, a representation of three factors that are important in evaluating any certification:

A. Prerequisites
B. Breadth of Coverage
C. Rigor of Assessment

The full article (link below) explores those three factors, or criteria. It also acknowledges that popularity is also an important consideration. And, the article also reveals an interesting relationship between popularity and effectiveness.

A. Prerequisites

Prerequisites are important. They help assure that a certification is targeted at the right qualified persons. See below a comparison of a selection of PM-related certification program prerequisites, based on a study by Dr. Paul Giammalvo. See the full paper for the explanation of the abbreviations.

Certification Level of Effort shows how IPMA's Certifications Stand Out

B. Breadth

The second factor that makes IPMA’s Certifications Stand Out is the Breadth of Coverage. The diagram below compares the coverage of a variety of project management standards. It’s basis an analysis done by the Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS). Other organizations have finally realized that the “triple constraint” has been long-dead. Instead, business savvy and leadership, and interpersonal skills have the greatest impact on project success. The chart shows Who Is Ready Now!

Content Mapping Breadth shows how IPMA's Certifications Stand Out

C. Rigor

The Rigor of Assessment is the third factor we consider in the article. This factor is also based on a GAPPS analysis and includes degree programs and other comparisons. Why is Rigor important? Because knowledge alone is merely a starting point. And if it is only acquired for the purposes of passing a multiple-choice exam, it soon decays. The half-life of knowledge acquired-but-not-applied is said to be two weeks.

Knowledge must be applied and adapted in multiple settings (practical experience) to get needed business results. Certifications with higher Rigor scores assess the full life-cycle of that knowledge, from short-term acquisition to business results.

Assessment Rigor also shows how IPMA's Certifications Stand Out

Which Certifications Win?

There are several ways of answering this question, depending on your requirements. What is most interesting about these three independent studies is what happens when we cross-multiply their results. Chart 4 below shows the results of cross-multiplying the three factors of our Certification Effectiveness Cube. But your requirements may show a different result. We leave the decision up to you.

Certification Effectiveness Summary chart

Regardless of your outcome, you are the winner when PPM certification candidates—and their managers and executives—can see the relative strengths of today’s leading PPM certifications. And, when you win, the practice of effective project and program management wins.

After all, that is the purpose of our Certification Effectiveness Cube: We are not looking for a single point of evaluation such as prerequisites. Instead, we study all the factors (prerequisites, breadth, and rigor) needed to assess the volume of certification effectiveness.

See our full article, Comparing PM Certifications for descriptions of the PM certification effectiveness factors of today’s global offerings. The article also has more details and links for each of the studies, so you can draw your own conclusions.

Your Comments?