So, are you still in the euphoria of becoming a PMP? All that hard work and toil has paid off, you finished the PMP training and now you are part of the elite few, the Project Management Professionals. You may have been recognized by peers, in the workplace, and by clients. So what more can you ask for? Did you know you had to renew your PMP Certification? What is PMP Renewal and how to make a PMP Renewal? “Oh, No! Do I need to take the exam again?”, if that is your first reaction, I have good news for you; no you don’t need to write the exam again to make the PMP Renewal.
Important: Some people confuse the contact hours required to earn for sitting for PMP exam and PDU hours that you must earn to renew your PMP certification. If you also have questions about this, read our free PMP PDU post.
If you are not a Project Management Professional yet you can take the Project Management Bundle which includes PMP Certification Training, Agile Scrum Certification Training, Microsoft Project Training, and more.
Why should you make a PMP Renewal?
Remember, process improvement and continuous improvement in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK). Yes! the same concept is applied to the certification. Project Management Institute (PMI) believes that you need to keep yourself in touch with the profession. That’s the main reason why there’s a PMP renewal process. PMI also advocates that you need to keep yourself abreast of the changes and best practices being used by the Project Managers across the world. So every three years from the time you were certified, you need to renew your certification. This will be reflected in your status as ‘PMP with good standing’.
What are the steps of PMP Renewal Process?
The first step for the PMP Renewal is to login to PMI website. Through ‘my PMI’ you can login to the ‘Continuing Certification Requirement System’ (CCRS). From here you can report PDUs, look at the history of PDUs reported and have an overview of your certification status.
PMP Renewal Step 1: Earn 60 PDUs in the three-year certification cycle/Continuing Certification Requirement cycle
To get a PMP Renewal you have to earn PDUs. What is PMP PDU? How do you earn them? You may earn PDUs either under ‘Education’ or ‘Giving Back’ category. You need to earn a minimum of 35 PDUs under ‘Education’ category while you cannot report more than 25 PDUs under the ‘Giving Back’ category.
Watch our “How can I renew PMP® certification?” video
How to earn PDUs for PMP Renewal?
You may earn PDUs in the following ways and report through the CCRS for your PMP Renewal. For every one hour of learning or Giving Back, you get 1 PDU. The PDUs need to be aligned to the PMI Talent Triangle that includes “Ways of Working”, “Business Acumen”, and “Power Skills”
For the Education category, a minimum of 8 PDUs need to be earned for each component of the Talent Triangle of PMI. Rest 11 PDUs can be in any component of the triangle.
| Education Category | What can you do to earn PDUs |
| Course or Training | Attend online or physical classroom formal education, Online e-learning, training from Registered Education Provider (REP), Seminars/Education event by PMI Chapters |
| Organization Meetings | Networking events of PMI chapters, Professional meetings with learning sessions. (You cannot report more than 2 PDUs for each meeting) |
| Online or Digital Media | Recorded webinars, online training, videos, podcasts, recorded trainings that allow you to learn at your convenience – see PMP PDU Courses Online |
| Read | Reading books, articles, white papers, blogs to enhance your knowledge |
| Informal Learning | Discussions with experts, mentors within organization or other professional bodies |
You can earn FREE PDUs by enrolling in our free courses.
You can earn 35 PDUs by enrolling in PMP certification training, 14 PDUs by enrolling in ITSM training and 14 PDUs by enrolling in Agile certification training.
The other category is ‘Giving Back’ which means contributing to the profession. This also gets you PDUs since you are sharing your knowledge and applying it for the betterment of the profession. 1 PDU per hour of contribution is what you get.
| Giving Back Category | What can you do to earn PDUs |
| As a Practitioner | As a PMP, you apply your knowledge to projects |
| Create Content | you can write articles, white papers, blogs, content development for webinars on project management |
| Presentation | You can create and deliver presentation on talent triangle in seminars, conference, network events or in your organization |
| Share Knowledge | Enhancing others’ knowledge using your expertise to teach, coach, mentor |
| Volunteer | Offer your services free of cost to help the project management profession grow. Register on PMI’s Volunteer Relationship Management System (VRMS) to volunteer through PMI chapter activities, being a part of the various PMI committees, etc. |
How to Report PDUs for PMP Renewal?
To get a PMP renewal, you have to report your earned PDUS. In the CCRS, Report PDUs link helps you fill in the relevant information. You need to enter the Provider name/ID, Activity ID/name, Dates of the activity and the number of PDUs claimed under the three components of the talent triangle. When you submit this information, you will get the update on number of PDUs approved, rejected and claimed.
If you have earned more than 60 PDUs, would they be wasted? Learning is never in vain! Up to 20 PDUs earned in the last year of CCR cycle can be carried forward to the next CCR cycle.
If you’d like to learn how to report PDUs, you can check the step-by-step guide in PMI PDU Submission article.
Master of Project Academy offers Free PDU Course bundle and earns you 4 PDUs for FREE. Enroll now!
PMP Renewal Step 2: Fill in the application for certification renewal
The second step of PMP Renewal is the application. You may fill the online renewal application online and submit or, download the application, fill and post it. You need to mention your contact information, member ID along with the payment details before submission.
PMP Renewal Step 3: Re-confirm you abide by the PMI Code of ethics
For getting a PMP renewal you have to agree that you will abide by the code of ethics from PMI.
PMP Renewal Step 4: Pay your renewal fee
We have discussed the PMP Certification cost in our previous blog post. But how much does a PMP Renewal cost? As a PMI member, you pay a discounted fee of 60 USD. If you are not a member, to make a PMP Renewal you get to pay 150 USD. You may not wait for the three years to complete if you have already earned 60 PDUs. When you have the 60 PDUs in your account, you can complete the PMP renewal process anytime. But, don’t delay beyond 90 days from the end of your CCR for PMP renewal.
PMP Renewal Step 5: Receive confirmation from PMI on your certification status
The last step of PMP Renewal is the confirmation. After you complete the payment, you will receive information on your PMP renewal confirmation and a certificate indicating your new CCR cycle. If you have successfully done the PMP Renewal, you will be shown as having ‘Active’ status and a PMP in ‘Good Standing’. If you did not complete your PMP Renewal within the completion of CCR cycle, you will be under ‘Suspended’ state up to one year after the CCR cycle. Ensure you complete the PMP re-certification within that time to avoid hassles.
Author Biography:
Sunanda Gundavajhala, B.Tech, M.B.A, PMP has over 25 years of project management. She is a consultant, trainer on project management for different sectors and is the recipient of “Recognition of Excellence” award from PMI, USA and Woman Volunteer award from Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI. She has contributed to the “Practice Standard on Scheduling, PMI”. She has worked as the Liaison officer for PMIEF (Education Foundation) for the Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI.
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