Project Management Institute (PMI®) recognizes that the certifications are a great testimony for understanding the project management knowledge and also that the knowledge is a reflection of changing times and therefore, changing practices. This knowledge needs to refurbished to be relevant and therefore, active certified holders should keep on gaining this knowledge and contributing this knowledge.

PMI® has enabled this gaining and contributing of knowledge and keep your certification active by a concept called Professional Development Units (PDU). Professional Development Units (PDUs) are one-hour points or blocks of time that you invest in learning, teaching others, or volunteering. By accumulating and tracking these over your certification cycle you can maintain your certification status with PMI.

PMI® has stated that as a certification holder, you can earn PDUs or points to keep your certification relevant. These PDUs can be earned by various means and are the most easiest to do after you have hard earned your certification. You would agree that earning the certification is one of the difficult tasks to achieve.

PDUs (Professional Development Units) are your weapon to maintain your hard earned PMP certification.

PDUs  have 2 distinct  categories — Education and Giving Back to the Profession.

• Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars,  or workshops
• Giving Back PDUs are for time spent volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more.

Each of the PMI Certifications have different need of PDUs. The below table gives a good idea of how many PDUs do you need for which certification and what is the duration to earn the PDUs and renew it.

Education PDUs can exceed this amount and there is no limit on the number of PDUs that can be earned in education.

Giving Back to Profession:

The Giving Back PDUs can be maximum depending on the certification you have. You can also have zero Giving Back PDUs and the maximum you can earn Is given in the table below.

PMI recognizes that sharing your knowledge and actively applying your skills is a valuable means to contribute to the profession. Additionally, many find that giving back is an enriching learning experience that enhances your professional development in different ways. That is why giving back activities are PDU eligible and incorporated into the CCR program

It is important to note that giving back is an optional manner in which to earn PDUs. The giving back requirements listed above are the maximum number of PDUs allowed for each certification in this category. If giving back PDUs are earned, the total cannot exceed the limits listed above.

For PMP, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-PBA , the “Giving Back PDUs” is 25 PDUs max

For PMI-ACP, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP , the “Giving Back PDUs” is 12 PDUs max

Also, one of the frequent questions is can one training or event give you PDUs across Multiple certifications. The answer is Yes – and you can read our other blog -  “How to Maintain Multiple PMI Certifications”

There are various ways to earn PDUs

Education – You can attend PMI accredited courses and earn PDUs. Prothoughts offer a variety of courses and learning material, some are paid and some free.

One of the popular courses of Prothoughts is the PMP Success Certification Workshop, which is offered on Classroom and Online. The other prominent ones are 1…. Which can offer the requisite PDUs.

ProThoughts offers varities of elearning course and Online Training course where you can claim the PDUs,

• PMP Certification Training – Project Management Training professional course with the PMIs ATP material and Rita Mulcahy material offerings
• Disciplined Agile Certification – We offer courses like DASM, DASSM, DAC, DAVC and more.
• PgMP Certification – Program Management for professional based course with the worlds premium material Michel Thiry.
• PM I- ACP Certification – Agile professional based certification and course.
• CAPM Certification – Project Management certification course for the associate level with Rita Mulcahy Material.

And more….

E-Learning Course – You can earn 60 PDUs by registering for our online course of MS Project and learn the various project management techniques, and renew your certification at one go. You can refer more details.

We offer courses like,

• MS Project Elearning 
• PgMP Certification Elearning 
• DASM (Disciplined Agile Elearning) Certification 

Giving Back category offers more creative avenues to get the PDUs:

• Create Content - You can create content, give webinars or write articles, and we will grant you the PDUs. You need to put a form requesting your ability to do so at 
• Attending Webinars - Attend Webinars and earn 1 PDUs per webinar. ProThoughts hosts a set of 8-10 webinars per month and you can attend the webinars to claim the PDUs.

You are now familiar on how to earn the PDUs. That was easy, isn’t it?

Now the next step – How to Report on the PDUs?

You are responsible for recording your PDU activities as they occur. The most efficient way to record PDUs is by using CCRS. You must record your PDUs and complete the renewal process before your CCR cycle ends to maintain an active certification status. If you do not earn and record the required PDUs within your CCR cycle, your certification will be suspended.

The day you pass a PMI certification, e.g., PMP® your CCR cycle begins and is valid for 3 years time

To understand the steps involved in reporting the PDUs, please click here

PMI Talent Triangle

PMI® understands that there is no single skill that helps you to achieve your desired goals. In fact, it is multiple combination of skills which helps you to do that in the field of project management.

PMI® has come with the Talent Triangle which has these combination of skills which are desirable from the employer’s perspective. These are Technical, Leadership and Strategic and Business Management. This framework is a valuable asset to your ongoing professional development.

The Triangle Defined

You need to earn your PDUs for these Talent Triangle skills framework.

ProThoughts provides you with MS Project 2016 Advanced course wherein you can claim 60 PDUs after opting the course.

Two simple process to

• Complete the elearning course via ProThoughts Elearning.
• Complete the given assignment based on the learning.

Our experts would verify the assignment and our support team would guide you with PDUs Code that can be acclaimed.