TOPIC: ITIL certification as a PDU

Hello,

Can you advise me on is it possible to claim time I spent being trained for ITIL Foundation certification, which i successfully achieved. It was about 15 training hours.
I did a little research on my own and had found info saying that I can, but it wasn't trustworthy resources like PMI official FAQ or something. So, I asked my training provider and they said that I can't. And now I'm little confused.

I have 24 contact hours provided by training in R.E.P. training center in my local area and now I'm in need of 11 more to apply for PMP certification. And, yes, I'm in little hurry.

Sergei,

This is something that you can easily determine yourself, even if your training provider says "you cannot claim PDUs for the ITIL course". Here is how it works:

First of all, I assume that your ITIL training provider is not a PMI R.E.P. (Registered Education Provider). This means that any PDUs you claim for the course fall into PDU Category B "Continuing Education".

And to calculate the number of PDUs you earned you have to analyze the course curriculum. You said that the training was about 15 hours in duration. Based on my understanding, ITIL is strongly focused on delivering IT services to the needs of the business. In comparison, PDUs for your PMP recertification must be focused on project management. So your task is to review the course curriculum and decide how much of the training you received directly relates to Project Management.

PMI describes this as follows: "When only a portion of a course relates to project management, calculate PDUs by the percentage of the overall curriculum focused on the topic."

One way of doing this is to compare the ITIL course curriculum to the PMBOK Guide. Did they talk about scope management, cost management, quality management or any of the other Knowledge Areas? If yes, then you have a clear match and you can claim that time.

In the end, it is better to claim too little than to claim too much. This is because PMI occasionally audits your PDU submission, so you want to make sure that you report truthfully.

But here is the good news... even if you decide that you can not claim any PDUs from this ITIL course, then I can help you earn them. For free! Just go to www.pm-podcast.com/pdu where you can earn a maximum of 30 free PDUs from The Project Management Podcast. All you have to do is to listen to about 15 hours of free podcast interviews in the coming 2 weeks and you will have earned 15 PDUs right there.

Sergei --

Are you asking about 35 contact hours that you need in order to apply, or are you asking about PDUs (which you need to earn in order to keep a PMP certification active)?

I believe that Cornelius' guidance on how to determine whether it counts or not is still applicable in either case. I just want you to be aware that PDUs and contact hours are not the same thing.

If you want to see what PMI says about contact hours, I encourage you to refer to the PMP Handbook which they make available on their site. It has a section discussing the criteria for contact hours.

Cornelius,

I would like to thank you first of all. You suggestion has worked out very well. I was allowed to schedule my exam.

ITIL is pretty much about project management actually, there is a lot of info on how a IT-project should be conducted and supported afterwards. Though, it’s main focus is on service supporting indeed.

So, I did as you advised me - claimed as little time as I could and wrote in some time I spent listening to pm-podcast (which I like so much and highly recommend).

Here is my time distribution which I stated in the application (just in case someone will encounter the same circumstances as I did):
1. R.E.P. course time - 24 of 24 contact hours;
2. Not a R.E.P. course - 7 of 15 contact hours;
3. PM-Podcast time - 4 contact hours.
I’ve attached a screenshot also.

I think it’s important to mention that while PM-Podcast is not a training course or something, I added it into application as an education course and it worked out for me.

Steve,
I meant contact hours, indeed, according to your words, but term ‘PDU’ is everywhere and by everybody regarding PMP exam or a status prolongation. So, to me a difference is not that big.

Hello Sergei,

I'm very glad that it worked out for you this way. And based on the screenshot you attached I can see that you wouldn't actually have needed to add the 4 hours from The PM Podcast.

And just for everyone else: The PM Podcast ( www.pm-podcast.com ) is NOT a PMP exam preparation course, and therefore it should NEVER be added to your PMP exam application. This is because The PM Podcast is not designed following PMI's best practices for PMP training and it also doesn't have an "end of course assessment" (required for online PMP prep courses).

So DO NOT include The PM Podcast to your PMP application. Ever. I can almost guarantee that if you put it on the application and then get audited you will fail the audit.

If you want to take online/mobile training for your PMP exam, then please use The PM PrepCast, which is pre-approved by PMI and follows all the required rules.

ITIL Planning, Protection and Optimization (PPO) is one of the 4 courses that are part of ITIL intermediate capability modules.
This course is associated with Planning, Protection and Optimization of services of the service management life cycle and service delivery. The main agenda of the PPO module is to learn methods and approaches to execute in a practical, hands-on learning environment.
Visit the KnowledgeCert website for details
Our instructors, imparting the PPO module are well experienced and use live industry case scenarios to deliver the course. The course uses an interactive and engaging, live approach to learning the core principles of the ITIL best practices.