PMI PBA PDU Requirements.

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What Business Analysis Experience Should A Certified PBA Have?

PBA Exam is the last hurdle for one to cross before landing PMI PBA Certification. Before applying for the exam, a candidate must fulfill either of PMI’s prerequisite options. These criteria for eligibility qualification help candidates in a way. The need to acquire proper education, training, and experience becomes binding on them. Candidates have to produce evidence in the form of experience documentation wherever required in the exam application form.

Here is a detailed description of the tasks an individual must accomplish to get his/her candidature approved.

PMI doesn’t disappoint individuals who have achieved a higher secondary degree. It allows them to apply for PBA Exam just like those possessing bachelor's or even higher degrees.

What Are PMI’s Standards For Entering The PBA Exam Application?

Both undergraduates and post-graduate degree holders are entitled to possession of specific qualifications.

Undergraduate applicants

PMI expects such individuals to have gathered a 5-year working experience within less than a decade. Five years equal to 7500 working hours as a practitioner. This duration refers to one’s experience in executing business analysis. Whatever experience gathered must be 8 years old or more. 35 hours of professional education and 2000 hours of project work are also required. The project-working experience need not be separate but a part of those 5 years.

Post-graduate applicants

Individuals possessing a bachelor’s degree or continuing further education are also fit for appearing in PBA Exam. They too must accumulate 3 years or 4500 hours of experience in business analysis practice. 2000 hours to be spent working with project teams, which can either be detached or attached to those 3 years. 35 hours of PBA training is compulsory here, as well.

Why Is Early Planning Recommended For PBA Certification Eligibility?

One is unable to submit a PBA Exam application until one fills in the necessary details. For that, one has to gather all the experience beforehand to record it in the application form. There is no way out of exiting an application once one starts filling it. The tenure for fillup is 90 days after which the application will automatically close. One may begin with the preparation 8 to 10 years ahead of taking the PBA Certification Exam.

An aspirant might wonder how to maintain the credentials of his/her business analyst certification. The expiry of the certification term can impact an individual’s career. He/she will lose the recognition and prestige of being an active business analyst. PMI also has a solution for it excluding any further exams. All a candidate requires to do is make the payment of the PBA Certification renewal fee along with proof of the collection of 60 PDUs (Professional Development Units).

What Are The Different Ways Of PDU Collection?

The ways of gathering PDUs are varied, interesting, and beneficial at the same time.

Educational PDUs refer to the ones accumulated through receiving business analysis education in the following manner:

  • Undertaking PBA Training either online or in classroom sessions.
  • Individuals can attend conferences and meetings held by PMI or other relevant organizations. PMI Chapter membership isn’t needed at all.
  • Networking with professionals or experts from the business analysis domain. This could also include attending lunches with them, which sounds interesting.
  • Self-directed reading of journals or books containing relevant information.
  • Individuals have to take down self-explanatory notes and understand what they are reading.
  • The start and end timings of reading would be used as proof of the PDUs collected in this way.
  • Mentoring other employees or colleagues in an organization also make up for some of the PDUs.
  • Attentive listening to or viewing of PBA-related podcasts along with tracking its duration.
  • Last but not least, holding professional discussions.

These activities account for at least 35 of the 60 PDUs that an aspirant has to collect in three years. PMI gives candidates the liberty to meet their entire PDU count by following the aforementioned techniques.

There are professional experience-related PDUs also but they are limited to just 25 for their contribution to the total PDU count. The following activities will fetch these PDUs to an aspirant.

  • Become a teacher of business analysis skills and theoretical knowledge.
  • Continue with one’s job role as a business analyst in a project.
  • Offering 15-minute presentations to the teams at meetings following webinars with them.
  • Create informative content and publish it on the web through private websites or community platforms.
  • Shooting tutorial videos and podcasts for other learners and internet users
  • Opting for the professional business analyst training courses is the most hassle-free way out.

After joining a training program, one doesn’t have to keep track of how and when one will meet the exact PDU collection. It is a total of 60 that one has to gather within PMI’s deadline.

How Is The Audit Process Connected To PBA Certification Eligibility?

Just like the PMI PDU collection even PMI audit calls for the record of a certain experience and qualification-related documents. So, meeting the experience and education criteria beforehand keeps one at an advantage.

Here, is a list of the documents that one may have to produce:

  • Photocopies of educational qualifications acquired.
  • Documented proof of 35 educational hours in the form of registration letters and certificates of training attended.
  • Project work experience copies bearing signatures of project managers or other supervisors.

Those candidates are lucky whose applications get selected for undergoing the audit process. This double-checking before application approval strengthens one’s position as a candidate for the PBA Exam. Candidates should make the most of this opportunity to provide PMI with genuine information. Especially, when they get 90 days in hand for document submission. Usually, the result following an audit is out within 5 to 7 days. The period extends when a candidate sends individual documents separately. So, that was all about keeping off from any mistakes for PMI’s quick acceptance of one’s application.

Earning PDUs for the certification can actually be rewarding. Publishing content online is one of the prescribed PDU collecting tasks. Individuals may turn out to be potential authors over the internet while putting out content on such tasks. They can even post blogs and articles relevant to project management. This enriches them professionally as volunteer trainers or teachers to all aspirants out there who seek guidance online. Creating platforms for discussions on such topics provides them media exposure, as well.

Team leadership skills do contribute to PBA PDU requirements. Leading a project team enables an aspirant to become a professional in business analysis. This counts as a significant PDU activity while the number of PDUs depends on the duration or areas of performance. Even an hour at an informal discussion with like minded professionals on a web platform is worth 1 PDU. Thus, PBA PDUs ensure that professionals always spend quality time outside working hours.

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Only the properly filled-in PBA Exam applications receive PMI’s approval. To ensure appearing at the exam one must first provide the information asked for, as precisely as possible. This requires an individual to gather all the experience and training needed to meet PMI’s standards.

Being a mentor to others not just helps them but the mentor also benefits from it. Such sessions are equivalent to PDUs demanded by PMI for revalidating PBA Certification credentials. One may also transform mentoring into one’s career since it would remain a never-ending PDU earning source.

As per PMI’s PBA Certification eligibility requirements, one should start planning 8-10 years before the date of applying. The exam application form asks a candidate to document experience and training gathered not before 8 years.

Surely, one can if the PDU is earned by attending webinars, especially in an organization where one works. Only 15 minutes of a summary presentation gets counted as a professional development unit if its duration is tracked properly.

PBA Certification eligibility causes one to strike a balance between professional education and experience. From the stage of applying to renewing certification, an individual remains connected to constructive activities alongside his/her job.

Either through personal or forum websites one can publish journals related to the business analysis domain. This is another PDU collecting technique and also makes one popular as a writer.

Lunch meetings with business analysts who are colleagues or industry experts lead to constructive discussions. Such discussions are also included in PDUs as per PMI guidelines. What an interesting way of maintaining PBA Certification that no one could ever imagine.

5 and 3 years of business analysis practice are prescribed for undergraduate and graduate individuals, respectively. One may engage in projects that merge with such practices instead of spending a separate period for project experience.

Candidates need to undergo 35 hours of formal training in PBA. PMI keeps the criterion the same for undergraduates, graduates, or highly educated individuals. This adds an educational value to the certification eligibility procedure.

It isn’t an obstacle for those who effortlessly produce the required documents the audit team asks for. PBA Exam applications passing the audit ascertain one’s selection to appear in the exam. One must keep the documents ready at hand.

PBA PDUs ensure that professionals always spend quality time outside working hours.

Publishing content online is one of the prescribed PDU collecting tasks. Individuals may turn out to be potential authors over the internet while putting out content on such tasks.