It’s important to clearly understand the PMI PDU categories, as the PMP certification is valid for three years. To renew it, you must earn and report 60 PDUs every three years to PMI and complete the Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR) cycle.
You can earn these PDUs by attending a technical event, completing a course, or working as a professional. Since there are many ways to earn PDUs, the PMI has categorized them to make reporting easier.
In each category, you can earn a certain number of PDUs.
This blog post will explain these PDU categories and tell you how many PDUs you can claim under each. This will help you chart the best course to accumulate PDUs.
PMI PDU Categories
The PMI has divided PDUs into two categories:
- Education
- Giving Back to the Profession
The “Education” group is further divided into three sub-categories:
- Category A: Courses offered by the PMI’s Authorized Training Partners (ATPs), chapters, communities, and Global Accreditation Center (GAC).
- Category B: Continuing Education
- Category C: Self-Directed Learning
The “Giving Back to the Profession” category is divided into three sub-categories:
- Category D: Creating New Project Management Knowledge
- Category E: Volunteer Service
- Category F: Working as a Professional in Project Management
Education
You must earn at least 35 PDUs in this group (but no more than 30 in Category C). 8 of these should be earned in Technical Project Management, 8 in Leadership, and 8 in Strategic and Business Management.
These three skill sets are known as the PMI Talent Triangle.
First, let’s discuss the categories in the Education group.
Category A: Courses offered by the PMI’s ATP, chapters, communities, and GAC
This category includes courses offered by PMI, PMI local chapters, PMI Authorized Training Partners (ATP), and community of practice.
You can claim one PDU for every single hour of activity.
Category B: Continuing Education
If you complete an academic course related to project management, you can claim PDUs for it.
You can claim credit for this activity under Category B if the training is not registered with PMI.
Category C: Self-Directed Learning
Suppose you read a book or article related to project management, watched a video, or participated in a discussion. In that case, you can claim the PDUs under Category C, up to 30 self-directed PDUs every three years.
Giving Back to the Profession
Here you cannot earn more than 25 PDUs per CCR cycle.
Category D: Creating New Project Management Knowledge
If you have written a book, article, blog post, newsletter, or presented a webinar, podcast, etc., you can claim the PDUs for these activities under Category D.
You can count the time required to create and present the knowledge towards the PDUs.
Category E: Volunteer Service
If you have provided volunteer services without being compensated, you can claim PDUs.
Category F: Working as a Professional in Project Management
You can claim 8 PDUs per CCR cycle if you work as a project manager.
Summary
PMI has categorized PDUs to make the CCR process robust and flexible. You must earn 60 PDUs every three years to maintain your PMP certification. This is not difficult if you understand and follow the PDU categories guidelines and how many PDUs you can earn under each; you can maintain your credentials with little expense and hassle.
I recommend you refer to the official CCR Handbook for updated and authentic information on PMI PDU categories. If there are conflicts between my blog posts and the CCR Handbook, follow the information in the official Handbook.
I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.
