The APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) is designed for those who see project management as a key part of their role. It establishes a solid foundation in project management behaviours, skills, processes and tools. It is ideal for those, with a few years’ experience in project delivery, who are seeking to consolidate a structured method of project management in their company with a best-practice approach from the Association for Project Management.
Having traditionally run this course over 5 consecutive days in one week, we have restructured the programme to run for 5 consecutive weeks, one day a week. This allows delegates more time between sessions to revise and consolidate their learning. This course runs 1 day a week for 5 weeks, with an exam booked for you on week 6.
Week 1 - Day 1 - Structures, lifecycles and communicaiton
Week 2 - Day 2 - Leadership, teamwork and the business case
Week 3 - Day 3 - Project planning, scheduling and risk management
Week 4 - Day 4 - Quality, procurement and mock exam
Week 5 - Day 5 - Exam prep day, including mock exam feedback
Week 6 - Exam - You sit the PMQ exam
Please see 'Session Information' under each course for specific dates.
First we will cover an overview of the course syllabus, assessment criteria and the exam question types followed by exploring how projects transform ongoing operations and how project support strategic change as part of a co-ordinated programme or portfolio of projects.
Projects are not delivered in isolation they need to fit within the overall business, legal and political environment. In this session we will examine factors which may affect a projects context including relevant legislation, and tools you can use include PESTLE, SWOT and VUCA.
Projects need to work with a wide range of different organisations and cultures. To be effective a project team needs clear roles and responsibilities. In this session we explore the different types of organisation and the key responsibilities of the project manager, sponsor, user, product owner and the project office and how these operate in a linear, iterative and hybrid lifecycle. This includes the importance of project reviews and benefits of capturing lessons learned from projects.
The key to good communications in a project environment is the identification and management of stakeholders. In this session, we explore the processes for managing stakeholders, the contents and structure of a communications plan and the factors affecting communications in a project environment.
All projects have periods of conflict, resolving these conflicts by negotiations is a critical skill for many project managers. In this session we look at the different approaches to conflict resolution and the stages in the negotiation process.
People deliver projects and so in this section we look at how to develop and lead successful project teams. This includes discussions on the leadership qualities of a project manager, the principles of motivation, the impact of leadership on team motivation, the advantages of adopting situational leadership models and the benefits of effective teams and team working in virtual teams.
In this session we will define scope in terms of outputs, outcomes and benefits and explain how to manage scope through requirements management.
We will explain how to manage scope through requirements management and configuration management. We will also look at the different stages in change control and the relationship between change control and configuration management. Finally in this session we explain the advantages and disadvantage of a change control process.
Planning projects relies on a clear understanding of the project outcome, business benefit and a structured project management plan. In this session we explore the first stage in planning a project from the business case to the project management, plan. We will explain the purpose of a business case, benefits management and describe the authorship and ownership of a business case. We also explore the importance of payback, internal rate of return and net present value for project business cases.
In this session we explain project information management and a typical project reporting cycle, the purpose of the project management plan and the authorship and ownership of the project management plan. We will look into more detail at the management of stakeholders and the use of stakeholder maps and discuss the links with the communications plan. Finally, a range of estimating techniques will be explained, together with the problems of trying to provide an accurate estimate and the concept of the estimating funnel.
Planning and controlling activities and resources is a vital part of project control. In this session we look at detailed project planning explaining techniques such as dependency networks, critical path and critical chain analysis, and the process of creating a schedule.
In this session we will explore the management of resources including categories and types of resources used by projects and how resources are applied to a scheduling process. This will include differentiating between resource smoothing and levelling. Cost is also an important aspect of project control, so in this session we will explain budgeting and cost management, including the use of earned value management.
Every project has risk. In this session we look at a proactive risk management process. This includes examining the stages in a risk management process, risk response planning, the benefits of risk management and the difference between risk and issue management. In this section we will also examine the importance of a risk and issue escalation process.
Poor quality management leads to poor customer satisfaction, additional cost and project delay. In this session we look at the elements of project quality management including quality planning, assurance and control. We will also look at the role of a procurement strategy in project delivery and the different forms of contractual relationships and payment types as described in the APM Body of Knowledge.
The APM PMQ exam is a 3 hour written exam. The pass mark is 55%. The APM PMQ exam is taken online via a proctoring service, where you will be observed by an invigilator whilst completing your exam. Your exam registration will be organised by Parallel, however it is the APM who will contact you directly with the login information, and a test link for the exam.
A 5-day tutor led course in which you will work through the content with a tutor with real project management experience, completing practice questions and exercises.
Our APM accredited e-learning modules – hours of lectures and exercises with a tutor guiding you right through the whole APM PMQ course.
Our APM Project Management Qualification study guide written by Parallel Project Training. This study guide is delivered once you book the course so that you can start your preparation in advance.
A full series of APM PMQ Podcasts to listen to, integrated with the study guide, covering all the hot topics for the APM PMQ Exam.
Weekly homework, marked by tutors with feedback on exam technique.
The online APM Project Management (PMQ) Exam.
There are no prerequisites, but 1-2 years' experience working in a project environment is helpful in preparing for the exam. The course includes a comprehensive pre-course study pack. This means that if you are relatively new to project management you can prepare thoroughly for the course before you arrive.
We offer multiple options for payment;
1. Credit / Debit Card
2. Payment via invoice. During checkout for your course, select 'Offline Payment'. You will then receive an invoice from which you can pay. If you wish to add a Purchase Order number to your order, please enter this when prompted at checkout.