PM² GROUP

The Open PM² group certification program is based on the guidelines of the European Commission’s Centre of Excellence in PM²

European Commission guidelines for PM² Certification

The European commission’s Centre of Excellence in PM² (CoEPM²) created a professional certification program to establish a common understanding of the expertise level of project management professionals in PM². Unfortunately, this program is only available for EU staff members. 

The PM² GROUP is the first organization to offer a public certification program based on the internal certification guidelines of the European Commission with the same certification levels for theoretical and practical knowledge. Both programs have exams with the same covered topics, required level of understanding, number of questions, passing score, and exam time. 

For the first time, non-EU staff can now be certified the same way as EU staff. The PM² GROUP establishes a common understanding of proven skills for each certification level between all professionals, both EU staff and non-EU staff.

A level playing field for
PM² certification

The European commission’s Centre of Excellence in PM² created a professional certification program to establish a common understanding of the expertise level of project management professionals in PM². Following these requirements, the PM² GROUP the PM² certification to the general public creating a common language among all professionals.

Understanding the certification ecosystem

The PM² GROUP certification guidelines

Requirements for the organization issuing the certificate

    1. The organization must comply with ISO/IEC 17024:2012 Conformity assessment — General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons. This guarantees the independence and objectivity of the certification organization and guarantees compliance with GDPR, equal treatment of candidates, etc. The organization’s registered office must be in a member state of the European Union.
    2. The organization needs to have relevant experience exploiting certification programs and organizing exams professionally. It needs to have a portfolio of at least three different certification programs with more than 100 certified professionals per year.
    3. The organization cannot use, reference, promote, or share any outdated PM² materials.
    4. The organization needs to contribute to the PM² community actively.
    5. The organization needs to ensure that certification exams are available to the public independently of purchased training material.

Requirements for the certification program

    1. The certification program needs to be administered by an organization that fully complies with the above requirements.
    2. The certification program needs to issue a certificate based on a written exam that complies with the latest published version of the PM² certification syllabus issued by the European Commission and must be solely based on the latest version of PM².
    3. The exam must be solely based on the latest versions of relevant documentation, such as the PM² guide.
    4. The exam that gives access to certification needs to be available in at least the following languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, and English.

Requirements for a training organization that offers access to a certification exam

    1. Training organizations that offer access to the certification exam need to be accredited by the organization responsible for the certification program related to the exam. The certification organization is accountable for the quality assurance of the courses of that organization.
    2. The training organization cannot use, reference, promote, or share any outdated PM².
    3. The training organization must have a quality management system and be ISO 9002 certified or equivalent.
    4. The organization needs to contribute to the PM² Community actively.

Requirements for the PM² GROUP Certification