TOPIC: PMI No fault audit failure

Hi
Appreciate any help on this. My PMI application went into audit. I sent my experience verification forms in a sealed envelop filled and signed / sealed by my former managers under whom I executed the projects. My education and 35 contact hours have been verified but I have been assigned a non fault audit failure as per below. I have been truthful in my role description but u may not have used wording expected by PMI. Any suggestions on how to redraft my application so I don't have to deal with this again ?

Thanks
Rekha

Email from PMI
Thanks for your patience in the audit process. Upon a thorough review of your application it has come to our attention that the projects listed on your application do not meet the requirements of the Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential. As such, we will be unable to approve your application at this time. Note, your diploma and certificate of 35 contact hours were received. These met the education requirements.

The projects listed on your application do not meet the experience requirement because the deliverables you documented do not indicate how you lead and directed a cross functional team in all five process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing) across all your projects submitted on the application. Note, you do not need to have experience in all five groups on each project, but the entire application needs to have the groups.

Because your application does not meet the experience requirements, we are unable to proceed with the audit at this time. Your application has been failed for the reason of “no fault,” meaning that you were unable to comply with the candidate audit due to your application not meeting these requirements. There is no penalty period associated with this, and you may re-apply when you are able to meet the minimum eligibility requirements. Should you choose to re-apply, your new application will again be audited after payment is submitted. The education requirements do not have to be verified on the next application. We have also requested a refund of your examination fees in accordance with the refund policy outlined on page 13 in the PMP Credential Handbook. This will be returned using the same method by which you originally submitted payment. An associate from our finance team will reach out via email in 7-10 business days.

The PMP credential recognizes the competence of an individual to perform in the role of a project manager, specifically experiences in leading and directing projects. All candidates are asked to adhere to PMI's rigorous eligibility requirements; failure on our part to uphold these requirements jeopardizes the integrity of the PMP credential. PMI® requires that qualified PMP candidates:

• Perform their duties under general supervision and are responsible for all aspects of the project for the life of the project(s) across all five domain areas
• Lead and direct cross-functional teams to deliver projects within the constraints of schedule, budget and resources
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience to appropriately apply a methodology to projects that have reasonably well-defined project requirements and deliverables.

Please consider the following project criteria when submitting a new application:

• Project entries represent professional and compensated work; a project is defined as a temporary endeavor with a definite beginning and end undertaken to create a unique project, product or service.
• Tasks documented are project tasks, and not routine, operational or administrative in nature.
• Projects are documented individually, and multiple projects are not documented as one.
• Hours of experience are reasonable for the timeframe of the project.
• Project titles reflect the true project title, and not the candidate’s role or function
• Deliverables are documented clearly, and in each process area claimed for hours.

Additional information regarding the application requirements and role definitions can be found in the PMP Credential Handbook

Hi Rekha,

Sorry to hear about your application.

While you might have been truthful in your role description, I guess it got rejected because of the following:

The projects listed on your application do not meet the experience requirement because the deliverables you documented do not indicate how you lead and directed a cross functional team in all five process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing) across all your projects submitted on the application. Note, you do not need to have experience in all five groups on each project, but the entire application needs to have the groups.

We will need to see the actual application to be able to help further.

Meanwhile you can have a re-look at the application form from the point of view of what PMI has stated as well as page 6-8 of the PMP Handbook.

Rekha,

I reached out to another student who failed his audit last year. He told me the following:

On the first application, (the one that I failed the first audit), I made the following mistakes: I described a project which had unfamiliar project life cycle phases (non-IT and non-construction), emphasized specific WBS packages by title and highlighted specific activities where I contributed with what the PMBOK Guide calls "expert power". When I was told why it wasn't accepted, I was told that I should have described my contributions as a project manager, and not as one of the developers.

On the second application, the one that passed the second audit, I made every one of the 550-characters count and didn't repeat any of the same mistakes. Here is what I used as my description, modified for anonymity.

"The objective: create an E-commerce website where the public can buy the client's products. As PM, I identified the stakeholders, determined their expectations, created the project scope statement, produced the WBS with acquired team members, got sign off on the PM plan, managed and controlled the team, handling issues and changes as needed, along with gaining acceptance of the product and transitioning it to operations and updating lessons learned. The resulting product, the corporate website was created and launched on time and finished within scope and budget."

He also has the following advice for you:

What's most important now is for him to pick new and different projects (from the last 8 years) and use those as his projects - and not use the ones he used that failed. The PMI folks need to keep face. They won't pass the ones they previously failed. He should forget about re-wording the ones that that they rejected. If he uses something like the language that I had provided (that passed), he should do OK.

At the same time, since he failed his first audit, he should expect to be audited again. Stacked deck. But, if he picks different projects (from the last 8 years) that are IT or construction (two domains they accept and know more easily), and he uses words like those I provided (of course they should be true), then if he has someone to vouch for him on the audit paperwork, he should pass the second audit.

Tell him that it's a speedbump and not a roadblock. It will cost him the extra time, money and aggravation, but he should be able to move forward and then the only (and it is significant) thing left is to pass the PMP test.

One other thing that I remember from my conversation with him is that he telephoned PMI directly to discuss his failed audit. I'll find out how exactly he proceeded.

good day,

I also got the similar response as Rekha and would appreciate if you can help me to pass the audit. They requested that my manager send the objectives and project titles to them which she did. I would like to know how must we write them in order to pass the audit.

Hi,
As Mr Fichtner has suggested, i called the PMI to discuss in detail my projects and their reason for rejecting it. My initial application was delivery oriented and hence it was rejected for lack of PM experience. This time i focused on making it more process oriented and added a lot of keywords from the PMI lexicon that fit what i did in the actual projects. Note, i did work as a PM / Project coordinator on most of my projects but i made the mistake of writing what i was responsible to deliver instead of describing how i did it. PMI does go through a lot of details on the call so i wouldn't suggest writing anything that you have not done.

I resubmitted my application (with the fees) with the same projects reworded, called PMI again to review my project descriptions and they were ok with it, also my stakeholders did not have any issues with the new description so they had no issues validating it.

My application has now been validated and i am all set to take the exam.

Good luck and hope it helps.

Thanks
Rekha

Hello All - I have also been communicated of PMI PMP No fault Audit.

Can anyone provide me inputs -- i have modified the package and have 3 projects under the same manager.

Does he just need to sign off or also provide his feedback against each project.

PMI reject candidates to make money. Shame.

I am living in Singapore currently, but I had to get information from people from the US as well as local to complete this audit. To do this I set up mailboxes in specific in the US so that the supervisors could just send their information to the PO box and I could forward all of the information to Singapore. I found out that several people had left jobs and I couldn't find them. Finally after checking with enough people I did find them and after 2 months finally received the information. I compiled everything and sent it to PMI. Somehow this package got lost, so now I have wasted money on mailing everything around the world, sitting for prep classes, fees paid to PMI, etc. It is truly absurd that they cannot send a link to your supervisors to digitally sign doing this through an online process. They make the process extremely cumbersome for no value added. Sad thing is in 6 months I will have my masters in Project Management and was just looking for a cert to tide me over until my dissertation is complete.

Hello Madam,
Today i received email from PMI stating failed to meet PMI's requirements and i really upset on it. Your below information is really boosting.
Can you please share your contact details to get details to reapply

Anand Kumar E
8754442310
.

Anand Kumar wrote: Hello Madam,
Today i received email from PMI stating failed to meet PMI's requirements and i really upset on it. Your below information is really boosting.
Can you please share your contact details to get details to reapply

Anand Kumar E
8754442310
.

Hi Anand,

I did fail the audit process with the same issue where they are not happy with the roles and responsibilities. After completing all the re-work, now I'm under an dilemma to either make an bullet points description like resume OR opt for an story/scenario based writing as suggested by Cornelius. Now almost in the final stage with months of prep and finally going through all this just proving im the right person is so cumbersome.

If you all can help me with 2 lines on your next approach and result will be very helpful. Also feel free to communicate with me over my email.

Hi
I have received the below message from PMI
Was my role descriptions regarding project management was not aligned with the expectations of PMI?
I think I have played active project management role in all the projects handled as a project coordinator and I mentioned it in an honest way. What all should I consider now while describing my role and responsibilities handled.
I will be re-applying, please suggest
__________________________________________________________________
Thank you for submitting your Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification audit materials. After a thorough review of all project descriptions, your application was closed because you did perform the role of project manager on the projects.

The PMP credential recognizes the competence of an individual to perform in the role of a project manager, specifically experiences in leading and directing projects. According to the PMP Handbook (page 5), the PMP Role Delineation (Job Analysis) states that candidates for the PMP credential must:

· Perform their duties under general supervision and are responsible for all aspects of the project for the life of the project
· Lead and direct cross-functional teams to deliver projects within the constraints of schedule, budget and resources
· Demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience to appropriately apply a methodology to projects that have reasonably well-defined project requirements and deliverables

We are also unable to determine how you led and directed across all project domains (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing). On page 6 of the PMP Handbook it states that candidates should have project management experience leading and directing each of the projects being submitted on the PMP application as identified with the tasks, knowledge, and skills specific in the Project Management Professional (PMP) Examination Content Outline. You should have experience in all five process groups across all your project management experience submitted on the application. However, on a single project, you do not need to have experience in all five process groups.

Hi Roselin,
I recommend that you share here the project descriptions you used while applying, so that our moderators can check the possible reasons PMI would reject your applications and possibly can suggest modifications.

however some general recommendation are:
- Use PMBOK terminologies (processes, process groups, terms) while describing your role in the project.
- Make sure to clearly describe the project (temporary endeavor that produces a unique result) to differentiate it from regular daily operations.
- Use more recent projects as much as you can (will be easier for you to document more details and to approve it in case you got audited).
- clearly describe your role in the project and highlight your role leading the project and directing the progress of the project.

Hope this helps

Thank you for your reply.
I will share it.
I had mentioned the projects handled from 2013-16 earlier.
Now when I re-apply should I be mentioning the same projects handled or add the project handled in 2016-17 also now
Will it be the same PMI membership ID.
How fast can I do this...or should I wait for some time like 3-6 months then apply
Thank you

Yes - and I want to cancel my application even before submitting documents for audit. I dont want to waste my time - rather better to get certifications from other institutes like Scrumalliance. In that case, I believe they should NOT CHARGE me processing fees as they have not even wasted 1-minute for me. Rather, I have wasted my hours in filling application fees and collecting certificates. They have wasted my time and I should be compensated for my time.

Hi Rekha:

I have two questions. I am very worried and any guidance you provide will be very very very helpful to me. Please do reply .
1. I am in a similar situation. How much time did you wait before resubmitting your application and did you resubmit t he same projects with reworded descriptions?
2. Did you have to get signature son a sealed envelope all over again ? How much time did PMI take to response to your second submission?

Thanks. I just failed the audit. This should help me in my re-application.

Solomon - Sorry to hear about your application. I too had to resubmit twice and decided to rewrite the application and get new mentors to sign off on my application. The biggest thing I did for the new application was to balance the percentages based on the PMI recommendations. It worked. Best Wishes - jfw

John Wolverton wrote: Solomon - Sorry to hear about your application. I too had to resubmit twice and decided to rewrite the application and get new mentors to sign off on my application. The biggest thing I did for the new application was to balance the percentages based on the PMI recommendations. It worked. Best Wishes - jfw

Hi John,

Could you please elaborate and advise on what you meant by balancing the percentages based on PMI recommendations?

John Wolverton, could you please elaborate on what you meant by balancing the percentages? Did PMI recommend something ?

During my Audit the PMI person I talked to recommended that my portfolio of experience be balanced just like the the exam is balanced. For me I had worked in all of the areas so I wrote my new application that way.

Just a small clarification; did you mention new projects or added new one. I have failed the audit and need assistance before resubmitting

Yes I add new ones to ensure I had all areas covered. I also recommend spending time on the PMI website looking at how to submit an application. I had to read through it several times to get the full understanding of what they wanted.

Also from: Cheng-yi (Andrew) Shih
My application also got rejected when I submit the first time, but I got my work experience approved after I revised the project descriptions. Here are some tips:

I find the following link helpful:
www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public...application-tips.pdf
Also, in the online application where you fill in the hours for each of the process domains, it lists out sample tasks for those process domains.

I sent the audit team (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) one of my revised response to validate if it will satisfy the project description. I explained that I don't want to waste my managers' time so I will really appreciate if they can review first. The PMI audit team was kind enough that they reviewed my sample revision and confirmed it's OK.

For project description, basically you want to highlight the tasks in the process areas you lead and the some techniques you used. It's not likely you can cover all processes and techniques in 550 characters, so keep it brief. I did many workshops so many project descriptions look similar, but that's not a problem for audit.

If you still need a sample project description, you can reach me on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/chengyishih

Lastly, I know it seems like a hassle being selected for audit, but having gone through the process I actually feel more confident and proud that my work experience has been reviewed and approved by PMI. Hopefully you will feel the same that your experience is getting stamp of approval and good luck to your application process.

Hi guys

I am also upset because the audit process dind'nt accepted my PM Experience.
I would like to ask if worth send them an email asking for a revision because I beliave they misunterstand my PM Experience, or is it a wast of time and I should apply again?

Do you know if I need to apply all projects experence again in the PMI website? In this case is it necessary to provide again the documents with the signature of my supervisors for the other 2 projects that was approved as Project Managment Experiences?

My Application has been rejected PMI response is pasted as below please guide me how to resubmit it again

After thorough review of your application, it has been determined that your application does not meet the minimum eligibility requirements. At this time your application has been closed.

Eligibility Not Met: Experience is not a project
PMI defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product service or result. Every project creates a unique product, service or result such as:

A product that can be either a component or another item, an enhancement of an item, or an end item in itself
A service or a capability to perform a service (e.g., a business function that supports production or distribution)
An improvement in the existing product or service lines (e.g., A Six Sigma product undertaken to reduce defects)
A result, such as an outcome or document (e.g., research project that develops knowledge that can be used to determine whether a trend exists or a new process will benefit society)

Hi ,

I failed the PMP Audit twice over. First time, i realized I submitted the application with descriptions like bullet points in a resume. But the 2nd time around I corrected that. Do not know the reason, but i just read in the blog that the hours for each project also need to be balanced like the hours balanced for the exam for different phases? Should i submit all different project and also have a different person than before validate my experience etc? Does submitting the same projects create problems. What other tips do you recommend. I have been looking up the PMI website and handbook to get more details. Appreciate your help on this. Thanks

Hi RK,
Thanks for sharing your PMI experience. I am in the same boat. PMI rejected my first application for lack of PM experience. I mainly work in IT and have led and delivered multiple projects successfully. Can you please share how you worded your experience (redacting project info of course).

Thanks
RP