02 Feb 2009

Audit of PMP Exam applications

by Raja

Photo by joebeone

Photo by joebeone

Have you ever felt scared of your PMP exam application getting selected for an audit?

If yes, this article is for you. Here, I will explain to you what the PMP certification audit is all about, and what you should do in order to clear it successfully.

In order to start, you should first know as to when you may expect your application to get selected for an audit. Remember that it is a completely random process, and that only a small percentage of submitted applications are selected for an audit.

You first submit your PMP examination application, which is reviewed for accuracy and completeness by PMI. Once that is done, you receive an e-mail from them stating that your application has been reviewed and that you may go ahead and pay the PMP examination fees. You should do as advised.

Now, here comes the deciding part. Within a couple of minutes of your having paid the fees, you should receive an e-mail from PMI which lets you know your candidate ID for the PMP exam. You may use this ID in order to schedule the PMP exam on a chosen date and time at a Prometric center located close to you. Once you do this, you will receive an e-mail from Prometric confirming your selected PMP examination schedule.

However, if your application gets selected for an audit, you will not receive a mail containing your candidate ID for the PMP exam (after you have paid the fees). Instead, you will receive another e-mail from PMI, which tells you that your application has been selected for an audit, and advises you about the steps to be taken next.

If this happens, the first thing that you should do is that you should not panic. It is just an audit, and not a bomb shell. The worst thing that can happen is that you will not be able to get past the audit process, and will have to apply for the PMP exam again. In the latter case, PMI will refund your PMP examination fees less a $100 processing fees. So, the sky is not going to fall.

You will be required to send to PMI hard copies of your educational, training, and experience certificates through snail mail (regular mail or express courier service). You can select the PMI center nearest to your place of residence for dispatching your documents. (The details of documents requested, along with postal addresses of all available PMI centers, where you can send in your documents, will be sent to you in the audit notification mail). Just send PMI the requested documents and wait for their feedback.

Upon receipt of your documents, PMI will verify them and let you know if they are satisfied with them. If your documents seem fine to them, you will receive another e-mail informing you of successful audit completion, along with your candidate ID for the PMP exam. You may then proceed and schedule your PMP exam. However, if PMI is not satisfied with the documents sent by you, you may receive another mail with request for more information (or supporting documents). You should send them the requested documents. Finally, PMI will either issue you a candidate ID or else, inform you of your failure in having completed the audit successfully. If the latter happens, you should consider applying for the PMP exam afresh.

One of my close friends got selected for an audit recently, and was through with it in less than 10 working days. If you possess documented evidence of your experience in directing and managing project activities as well as your educational and training qualifications, you have nothing to fear.

So, go ahead in your pursuit of your PMP certification, and do not let the fear of audit hold you back!

pmStudent e-Learning
  • Ronnie
    I am also 'fortunate' enough to have been selected for the audit process. I got the notification to pay for the exam, as soon as I hit submit, the wonderful audit notification popped up. Looking through the instructions, I see the requirement to have the experience validated by the contacts I provided. I was wondering if anyone had to provide anything else besides experience validation form and education verification?

    Also, someone in one of the posts mentioned getting professional help for application. I took a PMP prep course and as a part of it I was assigned someone to work with on the application. As you can see, having professional help didn't reduce my chances of being audited. I obsessed over the application to make sure everything is correct, nonetheless it didn't make any difference. Even though I know everything on my application is true, being selected for auditing is not a fun feeling. I have been worried sick since morning thinking about all possible scenarios where the audit will fail. I wonder how the employers/colleagues view you if you are being audited, especially if your colleagues have a PMP. Anyone has anything to share?
  • Audits are selected at random as far as I know Ronnie...they don't flag "suspicious" applications for audit. So in terms of perception, when you tell anyone you were "randomly selected" for an audit just make sure that part is clear. You "Won the lottery!" :-)

    Here is another post by Derek Huether with some good information on PMP Audits.
  • Sanju
    thanks Josh. I have details of my manager but the manager has left that organization. In that case can i put him as a contact person.
  • Yes, Sanju. You can still go ahead and provide your erstwhile manager's contact details in the examination application form. PMI primarily requires details of someone who may be approached for validation of your stated experience, if required.

    Best Regards,
    Raja
  • Sanju
    thanks Raja.
  • Sanju
    Hi,

    If the manager has left the organization, can I put his name as contact person or i have to find out someone in the company.

    Thanks
  • Sanju, you need to be sure someone can vouch for your experience. If you don't have your previous manager's contact information, find someone else in the company who is knowledgeable about the work you've done to vouch for you.
  • Let me assure all future PMPs that the audit process is fair and easy. When I was audited, I mailed the supplied PMI forms and papers off to my past employers. A month later, I mailed the signed papers to PMI. Yes, it took time but was painless.
  • Srinath
    Hello All,

    My Application is selected for an audit and I have specified multiple projects under the same company.
    Th audit documents say
    “If one person is verifying multiple projects for the same company, they can fill out one form and initial or highlight on the Experience Record the projects that they are verifying"

    If you see the experience verification PDF, for each project 1 PDF has generated. My manager asks, where to mention the other project names if I sign on one single document.

    Please help.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Srinath
  • Great question, and my advice is to contact PMI customer care via phone or email to ask this question. Let us know what they say!

    Here is their contact information:

    PMI Customer Care
  • John
    Thanks everyone for the good comments. Could anyone clarify where I can find information about the auditing process technical details? i.e. what should my audits include? I would like to start studying for the PMP and would like to document my work from past experience as well as coming ones so that I have everything ready by the time I start applying.
  • Great question John.

    Check out the PMP Handbook and be sure to read it through so you understand the process entirely:

    http://www.pmi.org/pdf/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf

    Also you can use my PMP Experience Log and check out the video I recorded on how to use it:

    http://pmstudent.com/pmp-experience-log/

    I hope that helps!
  • John
    Alright Josh! That's pretty helpful. I have already checked the PMP handbook before posting and it really didn't help much in terms of technicalities but I can see a lot from your log file. So, really that's about what you need to do in terms of auditing in addition to filling their auditing forms. Is there anything else? like do you have to submit specific project details...etc.
  • All you really need is to have contacts that can vouch for your experience. The application will ask for contact details of someone who can vouch for your experience.

    My recommendation is to contact them and let them know you are applying, and that there's a small chance they might be contact if you are audited.

    Also, I recommend putting additional experience beyond the required amount if you have it. This way if you are audited and PMI has a hard time getting in touch with one person, you may have enough experience documented from others to pass the audit anyway.
  • Vengat
    Thanks Raja and Josh for answering my question by taking some time before new years eve :).. Wish you both happy new year 2010 and all readers .
  • Vengat
    Hi Josh,

    Thanks for sharing the knowledge . I have one question.Is the role should be always project managers or even lead dba ,senior dba will suffice while applying which has PM role in it ?

    Regards,
    Vengat
  • Thanks, Josh!

    Vengat, I fully agree with what Josh has said. PMI never states that your designation should be 'Project Manager' or something similar. In fact, they have nowhere even said that you need to have the word 'Manager' in your designation.

    What they need for a candidate holding bachelor's degree is that he/she should have at least 4500 hours of experience in 'leading and directing' project activities, apart from other training requirements. So, if you have enough experience of performing PM activities, you should be good (irrespective of your designation).

    Best Regards,
    Raja
  • First, I just want to point out that Raja wrote the post, not me!

    If I understand your question correctly, the answer is that many times the PM role is combined with a technical role. I have been in this situation myself as a lead developer and PM at the same time on the same project.

    It really depends on the size of project, working environment, and project philosophy of the organization you are working in.
  • Azim Shaikh
    Hi All,

    I am scheduled for my PMP exam next month (December 2009). I am still completing my read thru from PMBOK & PMP EXAM PREP (by Rita Mulcahy).
    Please suggest any last minute prep that i need to do to ensure i clear it in first go.

    Thanks,
    Azim
  • Win Wright
    What is the maximum time (2 months?) to send response package to PMI (if one gets picked in PMP Audit)?
  • I haven't been able to find any specific time requirement Win. But remember you will have already paid the exam fee.

    Since the PMP Handbook doesn't say anything about a time requirement to get back to them on an audit, it's probably just a "soon as possible" thing. Personally, I wouldn't want to go more than a few weeks at the most before sending my response information back to them. Then, they need at least 5 days to review it.

    Does anyone else have some insight on this for Win?
  • Kal
    It will be 90 days from the day you were first notified about the audit.
  • Kal
    I am sorry, it will be 60 days.

    I counted wrong earlier, PMI has given me 60 days to submit required documents for the audit.
  • Your points acknowledged, thanks a lot Raja.
  • Josh,
    If i a guy (having bachelors in engg) has more than 4500 hrs experience of projects, what he should do, should he include all experience, say 10000 hrs or he should adapt his experience to 4500 hrs.
    Regards,
    Imran
  • Dear Imran,

    I would not advise you to 'adapt' your experience to 4500 hours. There is no harm in showing more experience than the minimum required. However, you should consider the number of hours you have worked per day. It is advisable to count your experience using the standard figure of 8 hours / day with a total of 22 working days in a month (on an average). Using these figures, if you want to document more than the minimum required experience of 4500 hours, go ahead.

    Wish you all the best for your PMP certification exam!

    Best Regards,
    Raja
  • Well, I've been "lucky" too. Being chosen for an audit is mainly a schedule issue. I wanted to pass my exam in August, and the audit delayed the whole process by roughly four weeks. Obviously I did not do my homework in risk management for the application - proper risk management (that is - get in touch with line managers before, put together certificates and the like to prove your PM education etc.) could have saved me one or two weeks. So, just do it right: Be honest and truthful in your application, get in touch with former managers and colleagues as soon as possible, let them know that you might need their assistance, put together documents to prove your schooling and PM education. That's it, then you're prepared for the not-so-unlikely event of an audit and will loose only a couple of days.

    Good luck!
    Marc
  • Lalitha
    Hi,

    I am planning to apply for PMP exam. I have been a consultant through out my career. Do we have to give the name of the manager in the organization I worked or the employer to whom I worked.


    Thanks
    Lalitha
  • You really worked for both of them so either should be fine, as long as you have their contact information and they can validate your experience.
  • Abhi
    Am in the process of filling up the application.
    I am not in touch(...and looks unlikely that I will be able to contact them) with some of the managers/supervisors from 4-5 years back. However, I am in touch with colleagues who worked closely with me in those projects and can vouch for the information I plan to provide in the application.
    If my app. gets selected for an audit, will PMI accept verification provided by those colleagues?

    I would really appreciate any help/information on my query.
  • Thanks for the question Abhi! My recommendations:

    1. Try to establish contact with someone at the company who can vouch for your experience in the case your previous managers are unavailable.

    2. Email customercare@pmi.org and pose the specifics of your question to them. They will work with you to figure out the right approach. Be sure to keep the response in case you need it later!

    3. If you have more than the minimum requirements of PM experience, document more than the minimum requirements. I did this on my application, so in case I was audited and someone didn't respond I had plenty of experience that could be validated by others and still meet the minimum requirements.

    I hope those help!
  • Abhi
    Thanks for the pointers Josh. I have sent a query mail to PMI on the ID provided by you. Will post their response on the forum.

    I have more than the minimum requirements of PM experience, but most of my experience is from my old organisation.

    Will find out some way though.

    Thanks.
  • Been
    Just completed my audit. It took 2 days for PMI to review my audit material and give feedback on the audit. Like the author said - do not panic and it really helps to notify your references before hand should you get selected. Most of my references were halfway across the world but with careful planning, I was able to complete the verification in 2.5weeks.
  • Lalitha
    I would like to know if you gave your employer name or the name of the manager who was involved in the project with you for all the projects?

    Thanks
  • I gave both on mine...specifically I had the name of the person who I reported to and knew they would be able to validate my experience because I worked for them on it.
  • Been
    I gave both the employer name and manager for each project I worked on as is required when filling out the application. It will help incase of an audit if you list someone who was familiar with the projects even if it is a colleague.
  • Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
  • Auditing is frustrating in the following sense: If you're not sure what this freakin audit means to you and how this audit could change the way you view the world; fear of an audit and the time loss; you worked in some place but got fired (you fear that your former boss wouldn't appreciate to give such an endorsement stating that what you did was an incredible thing in his company and he wants to see you getting a PMP designation before he/she kick their bucket);

    You don't get professional help while filling out an application. Literally anything you do, in work or otherwise, you could technically assign a PM category to it. If you don't know, ask some PMPs. They will understand your aspirations, so to speak and try to help you out.

    Yes, wittingly or unwittingly candidates could potentially lie in their applications. At the same time, pay 1500 dollars to train yourself and tell the individual the instructors that you don't have proper PM training, guess what. They could, 'fix' the problem similar to your accountant. They know what will satisfy PMI requirements.

    Other scenarios include;

    You think a particular job that you did had some PM component in it but your former employer doesn't know what PM is, hence he goes against your view.

    You worked with a PM and he moved to different country and you don't have good contact with the HR department or do not know who to ask for. Your actual job description and title, for example says, 'research assistant'. But your if you contact your HR, they will not know what aspects of your work actually involved PM practices. Many doesn't have a clue.

    Your former employer could dispute the hours of training along the PM line within his company. You say 100, and they could say, it is just 10.

    How many of you have a LinkedIn profile? How many of your former bosses have written online endorsement for you? Although we still have favorite bosses...but not all. If you have to use one such boss for your experience, you would feel bit uncomfortable asking him to do it. Invariably, he would think that you're asking for a 'favor' and not actually tell what you did in a PM language.

    You had XX numbers of hours in the class. But your out of the class assignment took another XXX hours. Your course teacher doen't want to consider it or simply forgot.

    These are some of the likely scenarios.

    One day (beginning of June), I woke up at the wrong side of the bed. Guess what, I was audited (it went well, but it took 3 weeks to get everything gathered, mailed, and approved). It was frustrating as I wanted to schedule the exam before the end of this month. I was racing against the time. I wasn't afraid, but it was just an inconvenience to me. I felt as if I have to leave to the airport..my grandma still continued to talk to me!
  • Vijaykumar
    Hi Josh,

    My Application is put for audit!
    Th audit documents say
    "A manager, supervisor, or colleague who is intimately familiar with the experience on your application is required to review your Experience Record and then complete the Experience Verification Form. After they verify, they will put the completed Experience Verification Form and Experience Record in an envelope,"
    Here my manager called and asked me what kind of "experience record" format is required to be filled, he has already sign the verification form provided by PMI.
    Even i am not aware of this, Or is it he just need to sign the experience verification form and send.
    Please guide.

    Thanks and Regards,
    Vijaykumar
  • I've never been through an audit personally. I'm pretty sure they would be certifying that the experience you provided when you applied for the PMP was correct. I'm pretty sure you can log into PMI.org and get a print out of what you submitted, but that is what they would be validating.

    See page 24 "PMI Audit Process" of the PMP handbook:

    http://www.pmi.org/PDF/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf
  • Ravi
    Hi,

    I am planning to apply for my PMP exams.

    I have a couple of questions on the audit process.

    1) My experience as a Project Manager has been primarily in the US working for a US employer and a US client. After my visa expiry, I had to return to India.
    In case my application is selected for audit, is it ok to get a signature of my present manager certifying my past work experience?

    2) I have education certificates and PMP training ( 35 points) certificate ready.

    Given that my previous employer is located elsewhere geographically, are there any other work -arounds to submit my work experience verification from the managers?

    Please let me know.

    Thanks much,
  • 1) Ravi, you will need to have someone who worked with you while you gained that experience vouch for you.

    -It is fine if your references are located elsewhere, but you need to list them as people who can vouch for your experience and have their contact information so you can let them know you are applying for a certification and they might be contacted to verify your experience.

    -Josh
  • Nannette Nemenzo
    I am currently studying for the PMP and am taking the exam next month. I submitted my application late December 2008 before vacation only to come back and find an audit notice via email by PMI. Two of my classmates were audited, but quickly passed the audit. I think when you plan and submit your application, plan with the possibility that you may be audited. I contacted everyone that I named in my application and documented history, and explained what I was doing and what may happen if audited. The actual process of filling out the application and documenting all your hours, contacting all my past managers, etc. took longer than filling out and submitting the requested audit documents. The turn around was within 10 days I mailed it to PMI. They give you a few months - if you run into problems they are easy to contact. It was more of an 'irritation' that I had to take another step, but it quickly passed once I got the email to proceed and make an appointment for my exam.

    So it is like filling out an application for a job and making sure that what you put in that application is truthful and verifiable.

    I work for an academic medicine instition where credentialing is a requirement and rigorously scrutinized. My boss who is a professor commented that all applications should be audited. But it would be too expensive to do so. So they do it randomly.
  • Mihai
    "The worst thing that can happen is that you will not be able to get past the audit process, and will have to apply for the exam again. In the latter case, PMI will refund your examination fees less a $100 processing fees."

    What happens if somebody fails the audit and applies for the exam again ?
    Will that person be audited again, or the random selection is performed .

    If random selection is performed, it means that for 100$ anybody can reduce the audit probability from 10% to 1%. For 200$ the chances of beeing audited for the third time would become 1 in 1000, which almost guarantees no audit.

    For that reason PMI should maintain an application history and failed audits should considered automatically selected when the person applies again.
  • Hello -
    I got audited as well back in 2007 when I submitted my application to pass the exam.
    The process was very swift, they were quick to contact me about it and swift to approve once I submitted my papers.
    There is nothing to be scared of UNLESS you lied on your application.
    As I am a freelance project manager working with various telecommunications clients the key thing is to make sure you have contact still in place so that they can certified that you did what you said you did.
  • Thanks Vincent! This is exactly the kind of experience people need to hear about if they are worried for some reason.
  • Hi Raja,
    Help me out here....... If you have not lied on your application, why should you have anything to fear anyway?

    Also, FWIW, since PMI implemented the audit system almost 10 years ago, I can attest that 10% of people DO get audited, (I think there is a macro running that randomly selects 10% of the applicants after they have paid) and that at least from my observations, no one has ever been rejected because of the audit.

    Just for the record, we do NOT believe in teaching to the exam and our programs of study are not advertised as PMP Prep courses. We teach "best" or "recommended" practices in project management, which, OBTW, more than adequately prepares you to sit for the PMP (or AACE's much more techically demanding credentials)

    BR,
    Dr. PDG, Johor Baru, Malaysia
  • Fear of being scrutinized through an audit, etc. does not necessarily imply you have something to hide or have not been honest.

    People get nervous for interviews, reviews, etc. It's not because they have lied on their resume or that they fear they will be reprimanded (necessarily). There are lot of factors involved.
  • Hi Josh,
    I've been in the business of providing project management certification training now since 1989, and having processes thousands of applicants for both PMI and AACE certifications, I can assure you that a certain percentage of candidates can and do lie on their applications.

    So I hate to be a skeptic, but when people say they are afraid of being audited, it usually implies they have something to hide. (Assuming you are American, have you ever been audited by the IRS???)

    If the author said "inconvenienced" or "hassled" or some similar adjective, I could sympathise, but to use the term fear indicates something more to me.

    BR,
    Dr. PDG, back in Jakarta
  • kelvinzhao
    Obviously, you had taken your personal emotion into this reply, why were you so absorb in the word that the author used in the article, I think the reader would pay attention to read the thought of the article, that's what the author want to tell us. it's not anything that would mislead anyone. As far as I know, there ARE some candidates really feel fear to go through the audit, but that feeling doesn't mean any lies or other fake things, but because they don't understand the whole process (even PMI) as well as you. they fear what they had done everything for the application and the time they spent for the exam would be totally wasted because of the failure of the audit. maybe they worry to much about the audit, but it's the fact. there is the fact that they need some one like this author to tell them what the audit is for and how to pass through smoothly. especially in other country (I'm Chinese).
  • Hi Kelvin,
    I guess the best way to "fix" what has turned into a much more heated debate than I anticipated, let me emphasize the important points I made in subsequent postings.

    1) The audit is or should be nothing to fear, provided the applicant has not lied or falsified their information;

    2) PMI is very clear in explaining what has to be documented, what documents are required and how to submit them;

    3) The process PMI requires, while an inconvenience and irritating, is a good and necessary one;

    4) In the 10 or so years PMI has been doing these audits, I am not aware of one single person who has "failed" the audit process.

    I trust this clarifies the issues??

    BR,
    Dr. PDG, Jakarta
  • Interesting take on this. I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree. There's no doubt some people act in a fraudulent manner. I tend to give the benefit of the doubt and assume the majority of people are honest, and that if they feel fear in this type of situation it's due to something other than fraud.

    I certainly felt a little nervous about the possibility of an audit. Some of it was uncertainty about the process. I think you are experiencing the curse of knowledge in that you unconsciously assume everyone else has the same level of knowledge about the process as you do. This article assumes the reader is lacking knowledge and has some uncertainty about the process. The author seeks to give them knowledge and decrease their level of uncertainty.

    Some of it was "what if they can't get a hold of my contacts"? I've worked for 6 different companies over the last 6-7 years. I've been laid off 5 times. One of those companies was a start-up, and went out of business. Another was Gateway in Rio Rancho, NM and that site was shut down in 2002.

    Research by reading articles like this, checking up with my contacts, documenting all of my experience instead of stopping at the minimum required amount, etc. are things that reduced the uncertainty and fear.
  • Thanks Raja! I'd also like to point people to the free PMP Experience Log I put together, which helps document your project management experience BEFORE you apply and will be a helpful reference should you be audited.
  • Josh
    Hi,

    What exactly does 'documented evidence of experience in directing and managing project tasks' mean? Could you please clarify if I have to send PMI the project documents/deliverables that I specify in the application as that's the only documented evidence I will have of my project management experience.

    Josh
  • You don't need to send documentation into PMI proactively, but if you are audited you will need to be able to produce them and/or ensure the people who you have listed are able to vouch for your documented experience.
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