A Quick Guide to CAPM Renewal Process

CAPM Renewal allows you to keep your hard-earned CAPM certification active by following certain steps. This process can be complicated for newcomers who have just been certified by PMI. However, renewing your certification can be very easy with the proper guidance.   

According to the official PMI website, over 1.6M people hold PMI certifications worldwide, including PMP, ACP and CAPM. All these professionals are bound to go through the same renewal process as you. If you wish to keep your PMI certification valid, read this blog to understand the renewal process. Keep reading this blog to learn the details of the CAPM Renewal process and details of PDU requirements. 

Table of Contents

1) What is CAPM Renewal? 

2) PDU requirements in CAPM 

3) Applying for CAPM Renewal  

4) Things to know about CAPM Renewal 

5) Conclusion 

What is CAPM Renewal? 

Those certified by PMI as CAPM certificate holders would be familiar with the exam and PMI, which authorises the certification. However, PMI requires you to renew the certification to maintain its authenticity as time passes. This renewal takes place every three years, and you are expected to earn Professional Development Units (PDU) to keep the certification.
 

PDU requirements in CAPM 

PDU in CAPM refers to a unit to gauge your time spent volunteering, learning or teaching others. Each PDU is approximately an hour long, with PMI expecting about 15 PDUs every three years to maintain your CAPM certificate's viability. There are two ways to meet this PDU requirement, which are as follows:

Education PDU 

These PDUs are earned through continuing education, enabling you to accumulate a minimum of 9 Education PDU points for your certification. Education PDUs for CAPM are divided into three categories aligned with the education you receive, corresponding to the skill areas of the PMI Talent Triangle. These skill areas include Technical Project Management, Leadership, and Strategic and Business Management.

PMI requires you to gain 2 PDU points in each of these categories of the PMI triangle. This would leave you with 6 PDUs, allowing you to choose how you gather the remaining PDU points. Education PDU is considered mandatory for CAPM certification, which means, unlike its alternative, “Giving Back PDU”, you cannot opt out of them. 

Giving back to the profession PDU 

Giving back - PDU in CAPM is gained by using your knowledge in realistic environments or contributing to the industry. These PDUs are optional; hence you can skip them entirely, gaining all 15 PDUs from the Education if you choose. Additionally, you can only gain a maximum of 6 PDUs; while these are not mandatory for your certification, they can greatly contribute to personal growth.    

Giving back PDU has added benefit of allowing you to expand your practical knowledge and circle in the industry. It acts as a testing ground for the skills you have gained during the CAPM certification preparation. There are different categories within the Giving back to the profession - Professional Development Units, which are as follows: 

1) Working as a practitioner: Once you are certified by CAPM, it is expected that you will be working in a management-based role. This allows you to gain PDU while working in a relevant industry and domain while gaining 2 PDUs per continuation cycle. This allows you to work on your job while still gaining PDU points. 

2) Creating content: Another excellent way of gaining PDU while giving back to the industry is creating content. This content can be seminars, webinars or blogs, which another practitioner can use to gain knowledge. An hour spent on this content can be used to claim 1 PDU point as long you have documented evidence of working on these pieces.

You are strongly recommended to keep a document proof of any content piece you create or work on. For example, for any publications you make, such as a blog or an article, you can keep copies as proof of your work. 

3) Giving presentation: If you get an opportunity to give a presentation on certain topics relevant to PMI chapters, you can use it to claim 1 PDU point. Being a public speaker for your organisation or other events, an hour of this activity can be used to claim PDU. PMI also considers any presentation given in the PMI Chapter community qualified to avail 1 PDU point for your certification. 

4) Sharing Knowledge: Sharing knowledge is an excellent way of gaining PDU points while also getting to help other people within the industry learn from you. The most common way to share your knowledge of CAPM is by taking a role of a Teacher, an Expert or a Mentor. This will allow you to gain 1 PDU point for an hour spent in this role.

It is suggested you have evidence of this activity in the form of notes that aid you in the mentoring process. It can also be a recorded video, organised with the respective dates the lectures or the classes took place.   

5) Volunteering: If you wish to work for non-client or non-employer organisations, you can volunteer to earn your PDU. If you wish, you can join PMI as a volunteer alongside thousands of others to volunteer and gain PDU. This will give you 1 PDU for an hour spent volunteering for the organisation. 

While PMI is a valid option for the volunteering process, making the PDU Documentation much simpler, it's not mandatory. Alternatively, you can volunteer for any third-party organisation feasible to PMI principles. You should document the proof of having worked for a third-party organisation, as unlike volunteering with PMI, you'll need this proof to get audited. 

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Applying for CAPM Renewal 

Once you have gathered all necessary PDU points for your certification, you must submit them for auditing. You can do so by going to the official PMI website and heading to logging in to your PMI account. Once you are on the PMI website, head to the My PMI section, which is available at the top of the website.    

In the MY PMI section of the PMI website, click the Continuing Certification Requirement (CCR) tab. Clicking on the CCR option will give you an option and link to report or claim PDUs. This would allow you to fill necessary details within different PDU Education and Giving Back categories.   

You can select the activity type on the PMI website and proceed to fill in details like the date of activity, name of the provider, title and description of activity etc. Keep the information you enter accurately, as these activities will be verified for PDU points of certification. Your previously documented proof of these activities can help fill in these details.     

Review all the details you have entered carefully, and once you are done, submit it. Submitting your PDU claim will show a message that your PDU has been successfully submitted. The PMI will review these PDU claims, which will be applied to your certification, verifying and renewing it. The table below shows a general guideline for CAPM renewal

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Things to know about CAPM Renewal 

CAPM-based PDU points have certain information that can help you in the certification renewal process. These small pieces of information can help you while collecting PDU, making the process much simpler. Some such factors that you should remember during CAPM renewal are as follows: 

Addition of PDU 

If you surpass the maximum PDU needed for the 3-year CAPM cycle, they can be added for your next renewal cycle. This makes gathering PDU points much simpler, as you can utilise the extra PDU points the next time you renew your certification. Also, remember that these PDUs are not redundant if they are not counted in a particular renewal process.   

Additionally, any PDU which exceeds the maximum limit will be considered irrelevant. Thus, PMI will not accept them. If they determine two of your PDU points come from the same topic, only one would be considered by the PMI for your certification. 

 PDU in fraction 

CAPM certification PDU works on an hour-based system; as a result, if you can achieve 1 point by doing an activity for an hour, you can achieve two points if that activity allows it by doing the same activity for 2 hours. An hour can be divided into 60 minutes. If you were to do the said activity for 90 minutes straight, you could claim 1.5 PDU points, even if you did not finish the second hour.

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Conclusion 

The CAPM Renewal process can be a challenge to people who have just gotten their CAPM certification. However, with this blog, you are much more informed and ready to face the challenges of PDU gathering and certification renewal. All the best to you, and thank you for reading the blog. 

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