Grow Halifax with Project Management Skills

We are very pleased to be partnering with the Halifax Chamber of Commerce to promote the value of project management in Nova Scotia through the Grow Halifax initiative.

To support you, we are offering these different project management programs in Halifax.
(dates updated June 26, 2017)

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification
This course is 10 half days and designed specifically for people who intend to obtain their PMP certification.

• September 21 - November 23 (8:30 AM to Noon each Thursday)

The Project Management Fundamentals
This course is for people interested in applying project management concepts immediately to their work. It is recommended that participants interested in taking the PMP Certification course take this course first.

• July 24-26, 2017
• September 25-27, 2017
• November 20-22, 2017

Navigating Project Success: Applying Project Management

This program is for business owners and those who work for them on projects. It is especially useful for those who have the responsibility to ensure their projects are completed on time and on budget.

• December 4-8, 2017

Please express your interest at brendaniel.com.

What is the PMBOK?

The articles I write have to do with project management. The document upon which I base much of my viewpoint is the Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, or PMBOK (pim-bok) for short. This article gives a short overview of the PMBOK. I hope you find it useful if you are preparing for your PMP exam, and maybe you will find it informative if you are not!

The PMBOK is a document that basically describes how to manage projects well. This book has an appendix (annex) that describes the order of managing a project. However, the main part of the PMBOK is organized by knowledge areas and their related processes.

You could think of a knowledge area as a topic. There are ten such topics that the PMBOK consists of: integration (putting it all together), scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, procurement and stakeholders. These are the areas we need to consider when managing a project.

There is a chapter for each knowledge area.

There are also forty-seven processes, with each process belonging to a process group. There are five process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. The process groups and processes represent what we, as project managers, do in a project. Each chapter lays out the processes that relate to the knowledge area, in order of process group. The processes discuss inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs.

Examples of processes are: Develop Project Charter, Manage Project Team, and Identify Risks.

I hope this description has been of use to you. For more information, you can purchase the PMBOK online (Amazon works well, or through pmi.org). You can also find the PMBOK in many bookstores.

How can you learn about Project Management?

There are many ways, including learning from role models at work, from internet articles or books and, of course, through training classes. That’s where BrenDaniel comes in. We offer several types of learning opportunities in project management, including online, classroom-based and individual coaching.

We specialize in project management and project leadership training. We have helped thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations develop and implement their project management skills and processes.

If you're considering taking the next step to get your Project Management Professional (PMP) or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification, we have several options to help you prepare.

The Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the Certification Most Likely to Get You a Job

Research was done by Toni Bowers, Managing Editor of TechRepublic, and award-winning blogger of the Career Management blog. She found that the PMP is the most frequently desired certification according to Dice.

So, if you are wondering if PMP is something worthwhile – many people think so!

Do I need to take a PMP preparation course to get my PMP certification?

One of the requirements for the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification is that you must accumulate 35 contact hours of education in project management. Some people read this to mean 35 hours taking a PMP preparation course. Now, I am totally in favour of people taking a preparation course to ensure they are ready to pass the exam. However, I would like to talk a bit about what the 35-hour requirement means.

Thirty-five hours of project management education is any training that relates to the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge). For example, if you have taken a leadership course on motivating your team, training in procuring resources, or a session on using Microsoft Project to create a project schedule, these all count.

Any training related to working with projects or project teams would count, as well as training related to the 10 knowledge areas of: project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, procurement and stakeholder management.

You can also put bits of training together. For example, if you've taken 4 one-day courses and 2 half-day courses, and they all add up to 35 hours, you can input them all to represent your 35 hours of PM education.

There is a time restriction on the work experience but not for past training. This can be sometimes be confusing. Any past training you've ever taken can qualify if it's related. For example, when I did my own application, I included courses from my Bachelor of Commerce degree taken many years ago. Don't stop at 35 hours - if you have more, include them in your application.

So, there are many ways to get your 35 hours. That is not to say that you shouldn't take a PMP prep course - you don’t have to. But these courses are certainly a great way to review the highlights of what you need to know and feel confident you have all the bases covered when you write your exam.

Good luck in all of your PMP and CAPM exam preparations!