Bowhead Graduates First Class from the PMP Preparation Certification Course

Bowhead’s Course helps team members prepare for the PMP certification exam

ALEXANDRIA, VA (March 23, 2017) — In February 2017, the Bowhead Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification preparation course successfully graduated the first class. This first class consisted of a diverse group of project leads, program managers, directors, business developers, and vice presidents spanning multiple Bowhead business lines. The PMP® certification preparation course is designed to help students understand the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®); to assist with preparation for the PMP® certification exam conducted by PMI®; and to provide focused tools and materials necessary to succeed and collaborate as PMP® certified project managers.

PMI’s® PMBOK® describes a management process of a set of interrelated areas that together form the actions and efforts necessary to conduct a project from initiation through closure. PMI® measures the knowledge, experience, and understanding of prospective project managers through the PMP® certification. The PMP® certification is an internationally-recognized professional designation which provides an indication of whether an individual’s experience, understanding, and professionalism is sufficient to serve as a successful project manager. As such, our customers are increasingly requiring PMP® certification to ensure projects are executed in a similar, consistent, and professional manner. Bowhead recognizes that having a PMP® certified team both satisfies current and future customer requirements; and more importantly, forms a group of people educated on common project execution steps through a common project language. This directly benefits the business lines by facilitating collaboration, information sharing, and execution of more complex projects (through leveraging of capabilities that span business lines).

To obtain and maintain a PMP® certification the process includes: Prerequisite education and experience, passing of the PMP® certification exam, performing continuing education, and agreeing to and adhering to a formal code of professional conduct. Currently, the prerequisites to qualify for the PMP® certification include a secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent), 7,500 hours leading and directing projects, and 35 hours of project management education or alternatively they must have received a four-year degree, 4,500 hours leading and directing projects, and 35 hours of project management education. The PMP® certification exam conducted by PMI® consists of a 200-question, 4 hour, multiple choice, pass/fail exam. After receiving certification, the certified manager must complete 60 hours of continuing education over a three-year period and must adhere to the professional conduct codes established by PMI®.

To assist students through the review, preparation, and examination process, Rob Bierman (UIC Government Services, Director of Business Development) worked with the business line vice presidents to develop the Bowhead PMP® certification preparation course. This course consists of a series of twelve, one-hour, lunchtime meetings to provide instruction, guidance, and information to help users review the PMBOK® material, practice PMP®-like exam questions, and to facilitate collaboration amongst the students. Rob selected the RMC Learning Solutions® PMP® preparation material as the foundational resource for the students. To augment the RMC® material, each week Rob prepared and distributed presentation materials to the group. His materials included a course roadmap, a matrix-view of the PMBOK® knowledge and process areas; as well as, how these areas integrate together. Rob also streamlined and organized the various inputs, tools, and outputs of each knowledge and process area to help aide the students with understanding how the areas are interconnected. Rob’s materials were particularly helpful as a set of study materials since a portion of the exam tests specific for PMBOK® understanding and area interrelations. Rob executed the weekly meetings in a collegiate-setting enabling round-tabling discussions and team consensus to answering practice questions; which built a team environment between people operating within separate business lines; as well as, different job functions.

The result of this course has been the team progressing towards PMP® certification, with one team member successfully sitting for the exam. Given that the Bowhead PMP® certification preparation course assists students with the necessary understanding the PMBOK®; assists with preparation for the PMP® certification exam; and provides focused tools and materials necessary to succeed and collaborate as PMP® certified project managers; combined, these objects set students on a path towards successfully achieving certification. This in-turn directly benefits Bowhead since leveraging a team of PMP® individuals within the organization to uniformly execute projects to increase the opportunity to collaborate between business lines and facilitate growth.