APM North West 2015 conference APM Competence Framework 2nd edition: Introduction and overview by Colin MacKenzie 12th October 2015

1. APM Competence
Framework 2nd edition
Introduction and overview
APM North West Branch Conference
12th October 2015
Colin MacKenzie

2. What I’m going to talk about
 Provide a high level overview of the APM Competence framework 2nd
edition
 Summarise the benefits it can provide to organisations and individuals
 Give you an insight into our new qualification and how this is aligned to
the competence framework

3. Capability v’s Competence
Capability:
 “The power or ability to do something”
Competence:
 “The ability to do something successfully or efficiently”

4. Competence Framework 2nd edition
Why did we need to change?
 Previous framework had not been reviewed or updated since 2008
 Edition 1 only relevant to Project Managers, not inclusive
 Wanted to create a platform to build our product and service proposition that
enabled us to support our 2020 Strategy vision
 We wanted to respond to customer feedback:
– Extend existing framework beyond just Project Management
– Ensure it becomes more relevant and practical for project professionals
– Ensure it’s flexible enough to integrate into existing frameworks and programmes

5. What’s different?
 Streamlined and easier to use
– Number of competences reduced from 47 to 27
 Addresses both application and knowledge of each competence
 Relevant for Project, Programme and Portfolio Managers and PMO roles
 14 new role profiles
 New ratings scale
 New complexity guidance

6. 27 competences

7. Competence overview

8. Ratings scale and Complexity Guide

9. How should you use it?
 Review the Competences and decide which are relevant to your role
 Read the performance indicators for both application and knowledge then score
these holistically
 Ask someone else to validate your scores
 Measure yourself against a specific role profile
 Use the gaps highlighted to develop and build into your PDP and CPD plan

10. Key benefits for corporates
 Role profiles give you the professional body view of competence and provide a
trusted benchmark
 Enables you to make (consistent) comparisons across your PM community
 Identifies the differences between professional body benchmark and actual skills
within your organisation
 Identify skills gaps and can be used to support professional development plans
 Facilitates movement between the 4 project professional disciplines
 Modern Framework that can be used as it is or integrated into an existing
framework
 Flexibility - can be used for self assessment, line manager assessment, or as part
of a 360 degree assessment

11. In summary….
 It enables organisations to assess their capacity and capabilities across the
breadth of their different functions
– Enables senior management teams to plan the skills development and
knowledge acquisition strategies in a common way for all delivery teams.
 It enables individual project professionals to assess the knowledge and
experiences that they have against the knowledge and experience they
require to progress their career
– Identifies the study pathway that will best suit their individual requirements.

12. More information on APM website
Now forms part of your corporate membership and you should have
access to all these resources from your next renewal

13. Introduction to new APM qualification
 Currently in Pilot phase until January 2016
 Anticipate full launch in Spring 2016
 It’s not a direct replacement for the existing Practitioner
Qualification, but it sits in the same space

14. Qualification overview
 It’s based on APM’s Competence Framework 2nd Edition
 Aligned to the intermediate level role profiles
 It’s been developed as a multi-paper qualification taken in stages
 It includes 3 universal papers around governance, leadership and project
controls, alongside one elective paper
 3 role specific papers - Project, Programme and Portfolio Management
 It will provide a progressive “qualification route” to become a Registered
Project Professional (RPP)

15. Target audience
• Typically have 3-5 years’ experience as a project professional
• “Fast track” project professionals
• Project professionals who have already successfully achieved the APM
Project Fundamentals APM Project Management qualifications
• MAPM grade members
• Project, Programme and Portfolio Managers who have been mapped to
the intermediate levels on the Competence Framework Role Profiles

16. A mix of core and optional papers
Professionalism
and Managing
Others
Planning and
Control
Governance+ +
Project Manager
Programme
Manager
Portfolio Manageror or
APM Certified Project
Professional Qualification
RPP

17. Three ‘core’ papers
1. Professionalism
and Managing
Others
2. Planning and
Control
3. Governance
• Ethics, compliance and professionalism
• Team management
• Conflict management
• Leadership
• Risk and issue management
• Schedule management
• Resource management
• Budgeting and cost control
• Governance arrangements
• Stakeholder and comms management
• Reviews
• Change control
• Business case

18. Three ‘elective’ papers
Project Manager
Programme
Manager
Portfolio Manager
• Procurement
• Contract management
• Requirements management
• Solutions development
• Quality management
• Transition management
• Financial management
• Resource capacity planning
• Frameworks and methodologies
• Independent assurance
• Financial management
• Resource capacity planning
• Frameworks and methodologies
• Independent assurance
• Asset allocation

19. Overview of qualification process
 Successful completion of the 3 core and 1 elective exam paper will
result in the award of the qualification
 Each individual exam papers will count towards the total
qualification, provided they are completed within a 5 year period
 3 hour exam with 4 questions of equal value
 Candidates must provide rationale, justification and evidence
– Need to be able to demonstrate an application of the knowledge

20. Benefits
 Relevant to all project professionals
 Fills a gap in the market
 Provides that progressive route to RPP
 Encourages project professionals to demonstrate the practical
application of knowledge

21. Questions
colin.mackenzie@apm.org.uk