Project Management is one of the most sought-after careers mainly because it is knowledge

based and also because of the satisfaction it provides for project managers who direct the

course of the project, assess and take risks and achieve the objective with the support of the

team. The various qualities required of project managers are crucial to the results.

The demands of the industry have intensified and scientific methods of project execution

have made certification by an independent body a necessity for aspiring project managers.

Among all the certification courses for project management the Project Management

Professional (PMP) programme developed by the Project Management Institute is

considered one of the best. It is said that in the United States, where a PMP certification is

considered necessary, though not compulsory, the median advantage in salary and benefits

for a PMP is about 25% more than for a person without a certification. In India this increase

is in the region of 36% (Source: https://www.pmi.org/official-pmp-guide/why-the-pmp/higher-

earning)

What is PMP all about

The course covers new trends, core competencies and emerging practices in project management,

considered necessary for efficient management of projects. The key features include:

 35 contact hours. These are considered as Professional Development Units or PDUs

 8 industry-based case studies

 Simulation tests

For the individual a PMP certification is useful to get lucrative jobs in many industry sectors. For the

company, a PMP certified manager can show results that can be tangible and provide a good ROI.

We will go into this in a bit of detail later

Though PMI offers other related certifications like Programme Management Professional (PgMP)

and Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP), PMP is the most popular. All these programmes are

stand-alone and independent of each other.

The ROI Angle

For the organization it is important to assess the value of the training in tangible terms. And that

means assessing the returns in comparison to the efforts made in terms of costs expended for the

programme, or Return on Investment (ROI). One of the most popular methods of assessing the value

of project management training in terms of ROI is the Phillips ROI methodology

Among the salient features of this methodology are:

 Evaluation

 Data Collection

 Analysis of Data

 Reporting

This is best done by selecting a group to impart training and assessing their performance post

training and then taking a decision to extend this to other project managers.

Evaluation Phase

The following are to be established

 Purpose of the training, namely delivering projects on time, within budget and developing

efficient processes

 Determine data collection plan: Which data at what stage and also specify the projects

 ROI plan: Set a target. For example, whether it should be 20% or 15% or some other number

 Project plan: Treat this exercise as a project and define execution plans

Data Collection Phase

The data should be collected at two stages. The first should be on completion of the training and the

other at a defined period after the project managers apply what they have learnt

Data Analysis Phase

In this phase the data from the previous phase is analyzed with corrections for other factors and the

ROI calculation is done based on a formula. This formula expresses the savings as a percentage of

the cost expended on the project and arrives at an ROI figure.

For example, if the benefits of the programme are calculated as 150 units and the cost incurred is

400 units, the ROI will be 150/400 = 0.375 or 37.5%

Reporting Phase

As the title implies the data collected is to be presented to the company management with

inferences and suggestions as to what is to be done to derive the most from the learnings and how

to extend this learning to larger groups.

 

 

The information above has been written after reference to the following online publication:

https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/return-investment-evaluate-project-management-training-7002

The effect of regular and sustained training can be ascertained by using the same methodology on

the same group after a specified period to gauge the effects of how the group has imbibed the

training and whether the results they deliver are better.