PMI-SP vs APM vs Guild of Project Controls vs Bachelors Degree vs Masters Degree -Which do you rate?

Hi Gary

As you know there is no formal accreditation for planners / schedulers in the UK.

Bachelor / Masters courses barely touch on it and the PEO since its resurrection is not helpful.

At a seminar yesterday the speaker touched on the CIOB accreditation which is being rolled out next year which will award broad classification ending at "Specialist" which gives CIOB entry level at ICIOB.

This looks promising and - like you - I am frustrated by the real lack of progress from the Guild.

At present prospective employers have to rely on references and practical tests.

Best regards

Mike Testro

There are two international certifications for planners in existence:

AACEi PSP – a heavyweight certification primarily aimed at heavy construction/engineering planners with a bias towards claims and ‘expert witness’ work. Anyone who holds this certification knows their stuff!

PMI-SP – a planning manager certification, the scop covers the knowledge needed to manage a PMO or work as a senior planning manager. The technical scheduling requirements are fairly low. We offer this course see: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-Planning.html  PMI will be updating the certification requirements and changing the examination mid 2013, at this point I’m not sure of the new requirements (some Christmas reading…)

Both of the above are aimed at planners with 5 to 8 years experience.

The exciting news is the CIOB (UK) will be announcing today a practical entry level certification for planners. The PTMC – Project Time Management Certificate.  I will be updating out web site at: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-CIOB-TM_Credential.html within the next 24 hours to detail the exam, the requirements and the value!!!  

PTMC is focused on the job of planning and scheduling projects so it should be far more practical……  as they say in the movies ‘watch this space’.

• I always found AACEi references very poor, in particular their Recommended Practice No. 29R-03 Forensic Schedule Analysis where there is little or no attention to the resource issues as if projects do not require consideration of resources.
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• Apportionment of delay responsibility may be inaccurate unless resource allocation practice is considered in the analysis.
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• http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~ibbs/BRICS/Materials/Nguyen_Ibbs_DelayAnalys...
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• Anyway even if we disrregard resources their publications have been the subject of much controversy.
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• http://barbaconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/fall-2009-const-la...
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• I do not see much difference in their PSP Certification Study Guide.
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• http://www.aacei.org/toc/toc_1820-38.pdf
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• From the table of contents:
• 1.2 Considerations and Constraints ....................................... 31 
• 1.2.1 Identification of Resources  ....................................... 33 
• 1.2.2 Value Engineering .................................................. 37 
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• As usual AACEi in an effor to make is simpler avoids in depth discussion of how to account for resource constraints. a mere four pages.  Perhaps 10 times what they discuss about resources on their Recommended Practice No. 29R-03 Forensic Schedule Analysis, neither publications are good enough by abysmal margin. 
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• I would look elsewhere. 
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• Best Regards,
• Rafael Davila