To be certified for IPMA-B, you must successfully complete the steps below.
Steps:
You can register for the IPMA-B through your account. Don’t have an account yet? You’ll need to create one first. More information about the registration can be found here.
You start by submitting the Experience document, Executive summary report, and Self-assessment. Two reviews will take place.
- The IPMA backoffice will check your submitted documents on the eligibility criteria.
- Once the three documents have been submitted and approved, a final decision will be made by two assessors. A final decision will be made by two assessors.
Experience document
In the Experience document, you give a description of your education, training, and courses as well as work experience. Furthermore, you need to give the names of four referents that have been involved in your projects. In conclusion, you describe the projects/programs/portfolios in which you demonstrate that you meet the experience criteria for IPMA level B and indicate the level of complexity for each of these projects.
Self-assessment
In the Self-assessment, you score yourself on knowledge, skills, and experience for each competence. With every competence, you need to give a real-life example of your experience.
Summary report
In the Executive summary report, you give background information about the organization for which you execute projects and you give a description of the projects/programs/portfolios as mentioned in the experience document.
After the previous step has been successfully completed, we will arrange a date for the theory exam together with you and the assessors. The theory exam is conducted orally and lasts a maximum of 90 minutes. The oral theory exam will take place online via Zoom or Teams.
IPMA Certification does not provide training courses. To ensure full reliability and independence, we keep certification separate from training. The professional association IPMA Netherlands offers an overview of training providers that hold the IPMA quality mark.
Materiaal IPMA-B
Eindtermen
Rekenregels
Reference Check
As part of the reference check, four people will evaluate your professional performance. These referees are the client, your supervisor, and two team members. These referees will receive an email from us requesting them to complete a short online questionnaire. In this questionnaire, the referees will be asked about their experiences working with you, specifically regarding your performance within your field of expertise.
The results of this reference check will be used during the assessment. Before the assessment, you will receive, together with the invitation, the results of the reference check completed by the client and your supervisor. You will not be able to see the reference checks completed by the team members due to conflict-of-interest considerations.
Report
In the report, you give a description of a project in which you demonstrate that you have all IPMA level B-competencies. In the report, you broach the subject of the background of the project (cause, aimed result, stakeholders, duties), as well as the challenges of the project and a retrospect on your performance. The report needs to be drafted according to a special template. In the explanation entry instruction, you will read exactly what information to submit. Both documents are available upon request via the form below.
- Het tweede deel bevat open vragen met een tijdsindicatie van 120 minuten. De open vragen bestaan uit rekenvragen, korte open vragen en korte scenario’s.
- Je kan in totaal 90 punten halen voor het examen. De cesuur is 45 punten.
The assessment is an interview of two hours with two assessors. Your competencies will be tested by means of the documents submitted. Please bring the following items to the assessment:
- A document describing the project/program portfolio, project plan, project management plan, plan of approach, project initiation document (PID), or quotation.
- A document demonstrating your approach of the risks and uncertainties; a risk register, a risk and opportunities list, a risk log, an issue log, a risk database, etcetera.
- A document demonstrating how you handle changes; a change list, VtW-database, a changelog, change proposal file, etcetera.
- Documentation demonstrating the process of decision making in and about your project/program portfolio, reports of the steering committee meeting, project management meeting, meetings with the project executive, managerial meetings etcetera.
- Documentation in which it states how you concluded the project/program portfolio, completion report, project assessment, discharge statement, lessons learned report, closeout report, etcetera.
- The assessors may request additional documentation, depending on the content of your Executive summary. All information is kept confidential by IPMA Certification and assessors. All assessors have signed a confidentiality agreement. If, despite these security measures, you still have reservations, please contact us.
The assessors may request additional documentation, depending on the content of the documents you have submitted. All information is treated confidentially by IPMA Certification and the assessors. All assessors have signed a confidentiality agreement. If confidentiality is still an issue, please contact us.
The result
After completing the interview, the assessors will determine whether to recommend you for certification.
Passed
If the outcome is positive, our assessors will present you with your certificate immediately. If you wish, we can also take a photo to mark this special achievement. You will receive the certificate by email as well.
With an IPMA B certificate, you are officially entitled to call yourself a Certified Senior Project Manager. The IPMA B certificate is valid for five years and can be renewed for additional five-year periods upon demonstrating sufficient professional experience.
With an IPMA-B-PMO certificate, you are officially entitled to call yourself a Certified Senior PMO Manager. The IPMA B-PMO certificate is valid for five years and can be renewed for additional five-year periods upon demonstrating sufficient professional experience.
Successful candidates are included in the international IPMA Register. The register is updated monthly.
Not Passed
If you do not pass, you may retake the examination. Additional fees apply. Please refer to the fee schedule for details.