How To Earn PDU's Using 8 Easy Ways.

Are you a PMP certified professional? Now the question which is very common in every certified candidate’s mind is- How to maintain their certification. Here I am explaining how you can maintain your certification.

By earning 60 PDU’s within 3 years you can maintain your certification validity. So in this article, I am helping you out by giving 8 easy ways to earn PDU’s.

Earning the 60 PDU’s is not a tough task all you have to do is proper planning. By doing proper planning you can earn your PDU’s on time and with less mess.

Table of Contents

What is PDU?

PDU is a Professional Development Unit. It is a way to measure ongoing professional development. For your certification maintenance, you have a attain a particular number of PDU’s that is 60 PDUs by attending events or through some courses online & offline and by many other ways.

Simply, PDU is a unit to keep track of your professional growth. It is mandatory to have 60 PDU’s within a course of time to keep your certificate active.

Requirements for PDU’s

Once you have obtained your PMP Certification. You have to fulfill your PMP certification PDU’s requirements to maintain the credibility of your certification. You have proved your dedication, experience, and knowledge by obtaining PMP certification.

For your professional development to be in the active state you need to enhance them. For that, you have to earn 60 PDUs within 3 years of time duration. Your certification cycle starts the day you pass the PMP exam and ends the day your three years from the starting date is completed.

Some points that will help you to obtain your PDU’s easily-:

Earning these 60 PDUs will be easy if you properly decide your schedule. Make sure to make a schedule at an early stage so that at the end you will not get panic to complete your 60 PDU’s. There are many ways to earn pdu’s from online courses, watching video online, involved in some community activities and reading. For every 60 minutes spent on a particular professional development, activity will make PDU count. There are some tips for earning pdu’s-

Start Early. Before your cycle begins to make a strategy for earning PDUs
Make documentation for all your PDUs earned to avoid the further mess.
After completion report your activities soon. You can report your activities on CCRS Continuing Certification Requirement System online.
You can transfer pdu’s from one cycle to the next cycle utilize this advantage. Means if you are a pmp certification holder then you can transfer your 20 pdu’s earned to the next cycle.
You must have the registered program number for R.E.P classes, which is required for the CCRS.

PMI PDU Triangle

There is an update on how pdu’s are classified by PMI. The three categories which are defined for pdu are called “Talent Triangle”. This talent triangle helping project managers to meet the evolving demands of the profession by developing their additional skills.

The three categories defined by PMI for talent triangle-

Technical Project Management.
Leadership
Strategic and Business Management.

What are the 8 ways to earn PDUs?

Professionals must earn at least 8 PDU’s from each category defined by the PMI.

To help professionals and organization practice of project management post your articles about project management. Your articles were reviewed by volunteers along with PMI staff. If you are the sole author of your paper that is being published. Then you can earn pdu for it.
From the comfort and convenience of your computer, you can earn PDU’s. You can purchase quiz bundles from PMI and receive white papers with quizzes that will test your knowledge. So, when you pass the quiz you will get pdu’s according to the content.
Outside of your employer, you can provide professional services to an organization. You can serve as a volunteer for the organization. Or you can provide services related to project development to some charitable group.
Opportunities are offered by PMI to network with colleagues and attend seminars that go toward receiving PDUs.
PMI members are welcome to join those communities that are pre-approved for providing PDU’s.
You can quickly earn pdu’s by writing some articles on project management and speaking about pm at an event. There is the number of activities defined by PMI which translator your work and knowledge to PDUs.
Activities that involve discussions or coaching sessions with colleagues that become some informational materials such as articles, videos or instructional manuals. PMI will recognize these activities and you will earn pdu’s from this.
The non-registered programs are also recognized by PMI. Use the formula for calculating your PDU’s earned.

There are many other ways to earn PDU’s. Some of them are described under:-

Course or Training (PMP PDU Courses Online goes into this category). If you want, you can claim 35 PDUs by attending a good 35 hours PMP training program again.
Organization Meetings
Online or Digital Media
Read
Informal Learning

How can you earn PDU by reading books?

Reading books is a very less expensive way to earn pdu. In spite of taking online PDU courses, you can use books to earn your pdu’s easily. You can even attend some evening meetings or lunch meetings with formal presentations which makes your each hour count in your PDU. There is the number of books written on project management, so finding one that is helpful for your project management career and interesting too is must.

There are some rules you must know before earning your PDU through reading.

Learning includes:-

Reading articles, books or instructional manuals.
Watching videos, listen to podcasts or other material.
Having a discussion with friends, coworker, colleagues.
Being coached by some friend, coworker, colleagues.

All these activities must have a purpose and use knowledgable resources relevant to project management.

PDU Rule

One PDU can be earned by spending one hour on this self-learning activity. But you can’t learn more than 30 PDU in any category.

Documentation needed at the time of audit which includes notes and discussion dates or meeting dates.

Conclusion

To maintain your PMP certification you have to earn 60 PDUs. These 60 PDUs is not difficult to earn if you have the correct knowledge of how many PDUs you can earn from each category defined for PDU’s. If you have the proper knowledge then you can obtain your PDUs with less hassle and with low cost. Before going further it is my advice to you, once review the PMP handbook to find out authenticated and updated information. Make sure your efforts worth the time so before earning PDUs be sure that you are going in the right direction.

PMP Certification

4.8/5 - (13 votes)