 In this, our first section, we're going to do a quick review of the basics of project management. We're also going to introduce to you the information you need to know to get ready for PMIs scheduling professional plus certification for those of you interested who already have your PMP designation. Let's go ahead and get into the material. When we talk about the PMI-SP certification process, like all PMI designations almost, there are two separate ways that you can qualify, either having a bachelor's degree or not. For those of you who have baccalaureate or bachelor's degrees, PMI requires 3,500 hours of experience in the last five years dealing with scheduling and cost. Thirty hours of education of which this course counts for 14, and then you need to pass a 170-question, three-and-a-half-hour exam. This exam is a multiple-choice exam and looks a great deal like your PMP exam that you already took. If you don't have a baccalaureate or bachelor's degree or equivalency and only have a high school diploma or equivalency, you need a lot more experience. It's 5,000 hours of experience in the field, and that experience needs to be within the last five years. You need 40 hours of education, so a higher education requirement, and then you are able to sit for the exact same 170-question exam that takes three-and-a-half hours. As you look at that exam, also realize that 20 of the questions on it will not be scored. It's a standard that PMI uses that allows them to test new questions constantly. What they're looking for is an even distribution amongst the four answers to validate the question. If they see everybody getting it right or everybody getting it wrong, they typically don't include those questions in the test bank, and so you won't be able to tell which questions are those questions not being scored as you go through your exam, but they are in there. If we look at the base process you have to use to get through the PMI SP process, it begins with the submission of what's called the experience verification form. Most of us would simply refer to it as the application, and like all PMI certifications, we strongly recommend that you complete the application process online. PMI is much, much more responsive in terms of online applications, even though you can do it in pen and paper. But when you do it online, you're also able to create a unique login on PMI.org's website under the certification area and then go back to that application time after time again so you don't have to do it all at once. You could do it over several weeks or even one week, spending a half hour at a time. The other advantage of using the online system is it will calculate your hours of experience as you provide information into the appropriate fields, and it prevents you from making any mistakes. So, you gain the advantage of being able to do it over multiple times. You save your data and it calculates all the experience hours that you might have. Finally, PMI responds much more quickly within five days generally in terms of the completeness review if you do it online. If you get audited, you're given a 30-day period to get all of your audited material into PMI to realize that PMI will audit somewhere between 12 and 16% of all applications. They first look, of course, for people doing stupid stuff on their application, making egregious errors, making claims that are clearly false, those kinds of things and when they make those mistakes, they're able to audit those people. However, typically they're not getting enough applications that way and so there's a random selection process for auditing as well. The key here is never over-claiming your experience if you don't want to have a problem. PMI is very good at sniffing that kind of thing out. Additionally, make sure that all of the hours in terms of experience that you claim can be verified that there's someone that PMI could call to say, yes, in fact, you have that requisite experience. You then can take, once you receive an approval and if you provide PMI with an email address, they will provide that information to you electronically in an email with an 800 number as well as a URL and your individual ID. You then call the 800 number. That 800 number is for the Prometrix Testing Center that administers the tests at least in the United States and you can schedule your test from there. Realize that as a general rule what you'll find with the test is you won't be able to schedule it for the next day. You're often having to go out by about two weeks to get into a Prometrix Testing Center because they're administering a large number of standardized tests. Everything from the GRE, MCAT, LSAT, all kinds of other standardized tests are being done there. And so it's a question of being able to have an available workstation to complete the three and a half hour exam. So once you get into the exam, you go through the process that's outlined on the computer. Typically the way it works is you go into the testing center, you'll provide an ID showing that you are who you say you are as well as your testing number and I recommend you print out your email with your acceptance on it, take that in. You will not be allowed to take in purses, backpacks, anything like that into the testing center. You're not allowed to take anything that looks like a scientific calculator. However, you are allowed to take a non-scientific calculator, one of those cheapy grocery store calculators that have multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, exponents and square roots, anything more than that you're not allowed to use. But a basic, you know, the cheap two or three dollar calculator is perfectly okay. They will provide you with pencil and scratch paper when you get in. They will sit you at a work station that's typically walled off the little cubicle things with the wooden walls around the side of your work station and there might be a bunch of other people in the room. Everybody in that room might be taking a different exam than you, although there might also be somebody taking the same test. Even if they're taking the same test, though you will not have the same questions. As when you enter in and begin your exam, the exam is generated from the computer network, from a test bank of several thousand potential questions. And so you could have a room full of people all taking these scheduling professional exam and none of you will have the same questions. You will go through your exam and as you go through that, you're given three and a half hours. The clock does not start initially because you're given approximately 15 minutes to kind of get comfortable with the testing system. I've never had anyone have problems with the testing system. It's really pretty straightforward. You're able to go forward and backwards to the test. You're also able to mark any question for a review. At the end of the test, you get to the last question. You get that one done. You're then able to go through and review any of your marked answers. So you might look only at the ones that you said mark for review or you can go back through and look at every question. Additionally, you can just submit the entire exam. As a general rule, what I found is most people are able to complete the exam right at or just under two hours. So plenty of time to get everything done. But it's very important as you do your training that you begin to notice and learn what your natural testing speed is. Each of us has a unique rate at which we answer these kinds of standardized questions. And what we tend to see is when you go into the testing center, you'll even speed up a little bit from that. What we want to make sure that happens is you are able to control yourself and not rush too much, fearing that you're going to run out of time. You're not. And so by focusing in on what your average pace should be, you're able to get a little bit better control of that and ensure you're spending the appropriate amount of time on the exam. Once you get done with the test, you hit the enter button. It also will ask you if you're willing to take a short survey about your experience, including your training process questions about did you take an exam prep course, et cetera. That kind of information about the testing center, all that kind of stuff in terms of your experience. Once you're done with that, you hit the submit button. Within a few seconds, your score will come up. It'll tell you you either passed or failed. Of course, all of you are going to pass this course. Otherwise, I will personally haunt you for failing the exam. We don't allow that here. It's very important that you spend the time and energy to pass first try because both of us have an investment in your success. Now, once you get done and you receive that passing score, you are immediately a certified SP professional and are able to go out and put that designation on your resume or anything else that you want. You've done it. Within 30 days, PMI will send you your certificate, and that's all there is to the process. From that moment on, your clock begins and you're on a three-year recertification cycle to capture required PDUs or professional development units necessary to maintain your designation. Now, realize though that you can't begin getting or collecting PDUs till after you are certified. So any courses you've taken prior to that testing process, completing it, do not count in terms of your recertification. Pretty easy process. Lots and lots of things count for those PDUs. Online classes, live classes, getting involved with your local PMI chapter, which we highly recommend that you do. A lot of very inexpensive, fantastic education can be found, as well as a number of kindred spirits who are also involved in the profession can be had at your local PMI chapter.