U3010


 * ICB IPMA Competence Baseline Ver. 3.0 **

toc

Introduction
IPMA is a non-profit project management organization. It represents 45 national project management associations on the international level.The organization actively promotes project management to businesses and organizations around the world. Over the years IPMA has developed the world’s leading certification program and played a major role in the promotion and progress of project management.It's roots date back to 1965.

The goal of IPMA is to provide a globally accepted four-level project management certification system that can also be used in a career development system for project management personnel. The ICB can be used either for the purpose of assessing the qualifications of those who aspire certification or for the focused training of such required skills. In this sense, The model promotes a generally acknowledged desirable skill set for persons seeking qualifications in the field of project management.

The IPMA certification system
(IPMA Level A) ||~ Certified Senior Project Manager (IPMA Level B) ||~ Certified Project Manager (IPMA Level C) ||~ Certified Project Management Associate (IPMA Level D) || [|Source: ICB IPMA Competence Baseline Ver. 3.0, pages 17-21]
 * ~ Title ||~ Certified Projects Director
 * < Core competency || Shall able to manage portfolios or programmes || Shall be able to manage complex projects || shall be able to manage projects with limited complexity || shall have project management knowledge in all competence elements ||
 * < Certification stage 1 || Application, CV, self assessment, references, project list || Application, CV, self assessment, references, project list || Application, CV, self assessment, references, project list || Application, CV, self assessment ||
 * < Certification stage 2 || Projects Directors Report || Project Report || Written exam, workshop || Written exam ||
 * < Certification stage 3 || Interview || Interview || Interview || - ||
 * < Validity || 5 years || 5 years || 5 years || unlimited ||

In turn, corresponding certification steps are to be taken into account when considering the achievement of a certain certification level: [|Source: ICB IPMA Competence Baseline Ver. 3.0, page 22]
 * ~ Certification process steps (c=compulsory, o=optional) ||~ Lvl. A ||~ Lvl. B ||~ Lvl. C ||~ Lvl. D ||
 * Application form, CV ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= c ||
 * List of projects, programmes, portfolios; references ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= - ||
 * Self-assessment ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= c ||
 * Admittance to attend the certification process ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= c ||
 * Written exam ||= o ||= o ||= c ||= c ||
 * Workshop ||= o ||= o ||= o ||= - ||
 * 360-degree assessment ||= o ||= o ||= o ||= - ||
 * Report ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= - ||
 * Interview ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= - ||
 * Certification decision:delivery, registration ||= c ||= c ||= c ||= c ||

There are several categories of parties that might hold an interest in achieving a certification:
 * Parties, || interested in: ||
 * Project Management Personnel || a universally accepted certification system ||
 * Management of Organizations || good PM services and personnel development ||
 * Certification Assessors || a clearly understandable certification process ||
 * Universities, schools, trainers || providing a sound basis for an accepted qualification ||

Competence spectrum
The concept of the eye of competence has been carefully chosen to integrate the various classes of competences presented in this model due to its symbolic representation of clarity and vision and it's familiarity as it relates to the human being and acts as an appropriate metaphor for the balanced view of an experienced project management professional while analyzing a specific situation.

"A competence is a collection of knowledge, personal attitudes, skills and relevant experience needed to be successful in a certain function." Competent project management is being described in three different ranges which contain elements that cover the essential competence aspects in that particular area of expertise.
 * The technical competence range - contains 20 elements that describe the fundamental PM competence and covers the PM content.
 * The behavioral competence range - contains 15 elements that describe the personal PM competence and covers the Project Managers attitudes and skills.
 * The contextual competence range - contains 11 elements that describe relational PM competence and covers the Project Managers competence to manage relationships within the Project Organization.

Each certification level assumes a different configuration of the competency profile, according to the specifications relative to that level. The underlying differentiation criterion for the different qualification levels arises from the differentiation of features and goals of projects, programmes and portfolios. The IPMA offers following interpretation of these concepts:

[|Source: ICB IPMA Competence Baseline Ver. 3.0, page 14]
 * ~  ||~ Project ||~ Programme ||~ Portfolio ||
 * Goal || produce deliverables || achieve strategic change || coordinate, optimize and align with strategy ||
 * Vision and strategy || related trough the business case of the project || realized by a programme || aligned to and monitored in the portfolio ||
 * Business benefits || largely excluded from project || largely included in programme || excluded from portfolio ||
 * Organizational change || often excluded || usually included || excluded ||
 * Time, costs || defined in the business case, managed in project || defined within the strategy, broken down to individual project in programme || based on priorities and strategic targets in the portfolio ||