As you land on this page, you should have a PMP certification and look for PMP renewal PDU options. You are on the right track! There are 11 legitimate ways to earn PMP renewal PDUs and we’ve explored all of them in this article. Let’s go over each of them one by one.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PMP Renewal PDU resources throughout the article.

PMP Renewal PDU Requirements

Before exploring how to earn PDUs, first, remember the PMP PDU requirements as they are crucial in the PMP renewal process. PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PMP PDU hours every three years. And, there are further requirements for this requirement. The following three are the fundamental PMP renewal PDU requirements:

• A minimum of 35 PDUs must be earned through the Education category. (There is no maximum limit, all 60 PDUs can be earned through Education PDUs)
• A maximum of 25 PDUs can be earned through the Giving Back category. You cannot claim more than 25 PDUs
• A maximum of 8 PDUs can be earned as working as a practitioner.

You can learn more details in our PMP PDU Requirements article.

As long as you satisfy these PDU requirements, PMI will approve your PDU claims, and you will proceed to renew your PMP certification.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

PMI PDU Categories

There are two main categories to earn PDUs. Education and Giving Back. Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning. Giving Back to the Profession PDUs can be earned through volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more. Each of these are the ways to earn PMP renewal PDU hours.

The following table summarizes the 11 ways to earn PMP Renewal PDUs.

You can watch our 11 PMI Approved Ways to Earn PMP PDU videos on YouTube.

Let’s go through each way and explore the details.

1st Way – PMP Renewal PDU Courses

As we’ve highlighted in the table, PMP renewal PDU course programs are the most popular way to earn PDUs among PMP-certified professionals.

While there are several benefits of renewing PMP through PMP renewal PDU courses, here are the top five reasons:

1. No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the education category, so, you can earn all 60 PMP PDUs in one program, and renew your PMP. You do not need to go elsewhere to find additional PDUs.
2. Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
3. Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced PMP Renewal PDU course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you cannot earn all PDU needs in one event.
4. Requires less effort: When you enroll in PMP Renewal PDU Courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn PDUs, and renew your PMP. However, other PDU earning ways require significant effort from the PMP-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.
5. Less prone to PMI audit: Since the PDU training programs are used by many PMP-certified professionals, PMI already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, PDU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a PMI audit.

We’ve explored this alternative in detail in the PMP PDU Courses article.

Course or Training Programs Accepted by PMI as Source of PDU

PMI accepts instructor-led formal education courses or classes held in-person or online. Here is a list of courses accepted by PMI as a source of PDUs.

• Virtual and in-person instructor-led courses from PMI Training
• Online courses are available on demand
• Academic education through programs accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center (GAC)
• Training courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partners
• Disciplined Agile or PMP® certification training courses offered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner
• Courses from other third-party providers (SFBS 60 PMP PDU Course Online program belongs to this category).

San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive 60 PMP PDU Online Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning PDUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

2nd Way – Attending Global Events

Several project management conferences, events, and activities are organized throughout the year. You can attend these events and earn PMP Renewal PDU credits. Typically, a one-day activity earns 6 PDUs. So, if you attended a two-day event, you will earn around 12 PDUs.

Attending global events has benefits like expanding your professional network and learning the changing trends in your domain. However, there are some pitfalls to these events.

• Typically organized in big cities. If you are living in a relatively smaller city, you might not see any events to earn PDUs.
• Requires in-person attendance. Many of the events take a few days, and you have to take days off from your work to attend these events.
• Expensive. Typically, these events are charged $1,000/day. So, for a two-day event, you need to pay around $2,000. Travel and accommodation, if needed, are not included in these fees.
• Does not earn 60 PDUs at once. Although it requires a significant amount of time and money, you cannot earn all 60 PDUs through one event.

Considering you are a full-time working professional and looking to earn 60 PMP Renewal PDU hours in one step, we do not recommend this way for earning PDUs.

3rd Way – Local Meetings

PMI has an extensive network in many countries and cities. In many major cities, there are PMI chapters and they organize 1-2 hour events every month. Typically, one presenter talks about a topic for 1-2 hours and the attendees follow the activity. These activities typically earn 1-2 PDUs.

4th Way – PMP Renewal PDU Online or Digital Media

PMI accepts self-paced learning activities as a source of PDUs. You can find several PMP renewal PDU programs online while many of them offer limited PDUs. San Francisco Business School offers a self-paced Free PMP PDU Course Online Program as well. If you attend this program, you can earn 3 Free PDUs and submit them in the Online or Digital Media sub-category under the Education category.

5th Way – Reading

Self-directed reading relevant to the certification you hold can be claimed for PDUs. For instance, reading a project management-related blog, a business education blog, or a book can count PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification. 1 hour of reading counts as 1 PDU, however, everyone’s reading pace is different. So, earning PMP renewal PDUs through reading resources is not a crystal clear way to go.

6th Way – Informal Learning

You can earn PDUs by engaging in structured professional discussions with others, for example, mentoring or “lunch and learn” sessions. For instance, if you are giving a presentation to your colleagues about project management, you can submit this as PDUs.

Important Note: The 7th through 11th Way of Earning PMP Renewal PDUs below are under the Giving Back category. As we’ve outlined in the beginning of the article, you can claim a maximum of 25 PDUs through Giving Back PDUs.

7th Way – PMP Renewal PDU Working as a Practitioner

By working in your certified role, you can earn PDUs by applying your knowledge and skills in a practical setting. If you are working in a project management-related role, you can earn up to 8 PDUs as working as a practitioner. However, it has a limitation. PMI accepts a maximum of 8 PDUs in a three-year cycle for the work as a practitioner category.

After earning 8 PDUs under the Working as a Practitioner category, you will need additional PDUs to complete your 60 PMP PDU cycle. SFBS offers 45, 30, and 15 PDU programs as well.

• 45 PMP PDU Program
• 30 PMP PDU Program
• 15 PMP PDU Program

If you need fewer than 60 PDUs, you can opt for one of these programs.

8th Way – Create Content

Do you write articles or blogs? Give webinars? Make videos? Today’s digital world is full of new content and anything you create counts towards your re-certification. Typically, you can submit PDUs for the hours you worked on project management content creation. For instance, if you wrote a blog post for an hour, you can claim 1 PDU in your PMI profile.

Creating content is cumbersome. There are several aspects of curating quality content. If your profession involves creating content, it is fine, you can earn PMP renewal PDU hours while you are working. However, just to earn PDUs, creating content is a tough path.

9th Way – Give a Presentation

If you speak at your organization, at a PMI chapter event, or at a conference, you can claim PDUs for it. For instance, if you gave a speech in a project management activity for an hour, you can submit 1 hour PDU for this activity in your PMI profile.

While there are nearly one million PMP-certified professionals, only a few thousand professionals could have earned PMP PDUs through this way. Because giving a speech to top-notch professionals requires exclusive skills. Besides, you should be invited to these events as a speaker, so you can earn PDUs.

10th Way – Share Knowledge

Others can benefit from your experience and knowledge. Keep track of the time you spend mentoring and teaching and claim it towards re-certification. An example of this can be sharing your knowledge in a discussion group at work. If you have a group of professionals sharing knowledge, if you attend those activities, you can claim PDUs.

For instance, if you’ve explored the ways of using AI in project management and want to share this knowledge with your colleagues, you can earn PDUs through this activity. You can gather in a meeting room and share your knowledge with your colleagues.

11th Way – Volunteer

PMI is just one of many organizations that relies on volunteers. Why not become one and earn credit toward re-certification in the process? You can search for volunteering options at the PMI website. Note that, these activities may not be available in your location if you are living in a small city.

Summary of PMP Renewal PDU Ways

PMI requires PMP-certified professionals to earn 60 PMP renewal PDU hours every three years. There are 11 ways to earn PMP PDUs. The first six are under the Education category and the last five are under the Giving Back category. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the Education category. However, there is a maximum 25 PDUs earning limit for the Giving Back category.

PMP Renewal PDU course programs are the most popular way to earn PDUs. Professionals choose to earn PDUs through courses because they are self-paced, affordable, and require less effort. Since there is no cap for the education category, professionals can earn all 60 PDUs at once through PMP PDU course programs. One of the other benefits of PDU courses is they are less prone to PMI audits.

The post PMP Renewal PDU – 11 PMI Approved Ways to Earn PMP PDUs appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

You’ve worked hard to earn your PMP certification. Now, it is time to renew your PMP certification. And you are looking for PMP PDU Courses to renew your PMP certification. Don’t worry, you’ve landed on the correct page! We’ve explored the PMP PDU courses that can earn you 60 PDUs and complete your PMP renewal process.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PMP PDU resources throughout the article.

💡Julia Boyer earned 60 PMP PDU hours and renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

PMP PDU Courses

PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PDUs every three years. There are certain PMP PDU requirements, and the most popular way to earn PDUs is by attending PMP PDU courses. You can see the PDU categories in the following infographic.

While there are several ways to earn PDUs, the most popular way followed by PMP-certified professionals is attending  PMP PDU courses or training.

Here is why PMP certification holders choose PMP PDU Courses to renew their PMP:

1. No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the education category, so, you can earn all 60 PMP PDUs in one program, and renew your PMP.
2. Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
3. Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced PMP PDU course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you cannot earn all PDU needs in one event.
4. Requires less effort: When you enroll in PMP PDU Courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn PDUs, and renew your PMP. However, other PDU earning ways require significant effort from the PMP-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.
5. Less prone to PMI audit: Since the PDU training programs are used by many PMP-certified professionals, PMI already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, PDU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a PMI audit.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

What are the Best PMP PDU Online Courses?

If you’ve googled about the PMP PDU online courses, you will see several resources. Some of them offer technical courses, that will not benefit your career. Some of them offer just PDF papers to read, and that does not bring any skills.

The best PDU online courses should offer you business courses, earn new business skills, and contribute to your career growth.

For instance, San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive 60 PMP PDU Online Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning PDUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Program #1- Executive Leadership Program

Improve your decision-making, and cross-functional competence, expand your understanding of the global marketplace, and build your way to servant leadership. Learn how to tackle business challenges. Earns 20 PMP PDUs.

Program #2- Strategy Creation & Execution Program

Develop the global perspective, quantitative background, and creative problem-solving skills to take your strategy from formulation to execution. Harness the power of disruptive innovation to craft winning strategies and turn them into play. Earns 30 PMP PDUs.

Program #3- Marketing Strategy Program

Boost revenue and profit by targeting the right segments, designing effective go-to-market strategies, and building high-value brands. Align your marketing and promotion efforts with business strategy to maximize Return on Investment. Earns 10 PMP PDUs.

When choosing a PMP PDU online course program, do not just look at the price. You will spend 60 hours with the program you will attend, and make sure you will earn some skills at the end of the program.

You can learn 11 Ways to Earn PMP Renewal PDU in our article.

What should be covered in a PMP PDU Program?

PMI accepts project management-related or business courses as a source of PDUs. For example, if you are a software developer, and attended a coding course, this course will not count as a source of PDU to renew your PMP certification. Because, the coding course is technical, and does not teach project management or other business areas.

Typical PMP PDU course programs cover:

• Business courses: Any business courses such as leadership, strategy, marketing, etc. can be considered as a PDU course.
• Project Management courses: Project management courses such as Agile, kanban, etc. can be considered as a PDU course.
• Soft Skill courses: Communication skills, negotiation, decision-making, etc. can be considered as a PDU course.

Note that, we tried to list the popular domains covered in PDU programs. There may be other courses that cover other topics and count as PDUs for PMP.

Free PMP PDU Online Courses

There are YouTube videos, free courses, and webinars available on the web. You can enroll in these free activities and earn PDUs towards renewing your PMP certification. Typically, these events earn 1-2 PDUs. Earning all 60 PDUs through Free PDU events is not feasible. Even if you can attend free events, your schedule may not allow you to attend assuming you are a full-time working professional. You may need to spend your evenings and weekends or even you may need to take a day off from your work to attend these free events.

SFBS offers a 3-hour Free PMP PDU Course program as well. You can earn 3 PDUs by attending this program.

Learn more about Free PDU for PMP Renewal.

Summary

PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PDUs and renew their PMP every three years. There are education and giving back PDU categories to earn PDUs. While there are several ways to earn PDUs, enrolling in PMP PDU Online course programs is the most affordable and convenient way to earn 60 PDUs to renew PMP certification. It is important to choose a PMP PDU program that will earn you new business skills not just PDUs.

The post PMP PDU Courses – Earn 60 PDUs to Renew PMP appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

Do you hold a PMP® Certification? You need 60 PMP PDU hours every three years to retain your PMP certification. PMP-certified professionals have lots of questions about the PMP PDU details. We’ve explored all topics about PMP PDU in this post.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PMP PDU resources throughout the article.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

Why do I need PMP PDU Hours?

PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PMP PDU hours every three years to retain their certification. That is why you need PMP PDU hours if you hold a PMP certification.

PMP® Certification is the most renowned project management certification around the globe. There are more than one million PMP-certified professionals around the world. For sure, the US is the most dominant country for PMP certification with nearly 400,000 PMP certification holders. (Numbers taken from PMI website).

While you earned it, do not lose it just because of missing PMP PDU hours in your renewal cycle. Because many organizations looking for project management roles are requiring PMP certification. You can see a sample LinkedIn job posting from California, and PMP certification is required for the position.

What are the PMP PDU Requirements?

There are certain requirements to earn PMP PDU hours. Let’s dive into PMP PDU requirements.

There are two main PMP PDU categories:

1. Education: Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning.
2. Giving Back to the Profession: Giving Back PDUs are for time spent volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more.

For each PMI certification track, there are further requirements, such as minimum and maximum PDUs that can be earned from each category.

PMP PDU requirement for certification holders is to collect 60 PDUs through a maximum of 25 Giving Back PDUs and a minimum of 35 Education PDUs. However, there is no cap for education PDUs. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the education category. You can see the PMP PDU requirements breakdown in the following figure.

The 35 Education PDUs also have other requirements:

• reporting at least 8 Ways of Working project management PDUs
• reporting at least 8 Business Acumen PDUs
• reporting at least 8 Power Skills PDUs.

There is a maximum PDU reporting cap for the Working as a Professional subcategory of the Giving Back PDU category. If you are working in a project management related job, you can report up to 8 PDUs under working as a professional PDU category.

What are the PMP PDU Courses?

As we’ve outlined in the PDU categories section, there are two main ways to earn PDU: Education and Giving Back. PDU courses are a way to earn PDU credits in Education Category.

There are six different sub-categories under the Education category to earn PDU hours. Let’s explore these:

1- Course or Training

Instructor-led formal education courses or classes held in-person or online belong to this category.

• Virtual and in-person instructor-led courses from PMI Training
• Online courses are available on demand
• Academic education through programs accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center (GAC)
• Training courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partners
• Disciplined Agile or PMP® certification training courses offered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner
• Courses from other third-party providers (SFBS 60 PMP PDU Course Online program belongs to this category).

You can read more on our PMP PDU Courses article.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

2- Global Events

Meetings and events that bring together the global community are another way to earn PDUs. These events include educational sessions, keynote, and featured speakers. Typically you can earn 7 to 50 PDUs by attending these events.

3- Local Meetings

Local activities and events that are related to the project management profession count for PDUs. Often held at PMI chapters, these are also a great opportunity to network. These meetings earn typically 1 to 2 PDUs.

4- Online or Digital Media

Self-paced learning is conducted online or through varied forms of digital media. (SFBS Free PMP PDU Course Online Program belongs to this category).

5- Reading

Self-directed reading relevant to the certification you hold can be claimed for PDUs. For instance, reading a project management-related blog, a business education blog, or a book can count PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification.

6- Informal Learning

You can earn PDUs by engaging in structured professional discussions with others, for example, mentoring or “lunch and learn” sessions. For instance, if you are giving a presentation to your colleagues about project management, you can submit this as PDU.

Explore 11 Ways of Earning PMP Renewal PDU.

Can I earn Free PMP PDUs?

There are several free courses, webinars, and events that you can attend and earn PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification. However, earning all required 60 PDUs from free resources will not be practical. 60 PDU hours require around 60 hours of activity. Most of the PMP-certified professionals are full-time working busy professionals, we assume you are busy too. Therefore, it is not easy to find free events. Even if there are PDU events in your neighborhood, that may not fit your schedule.

SFBS offers a 3-hour Free PMP PDU Course program as well. You can earn 3 PDUs by attending this program.

Free PMP PDU Webinars

Some platforms schedule online free webinars. If a webinar is about project management, you can submit PDUs for the duration of the webinar. For instance, if you attended a 1-hour webinar on negotiation skills, you can submit 1 PDU in your PMI profile.

Finding free PDU resources and fitting them into your schedule can be cumbersome. Most of the PMP-certified professionals attend a self-paced PMP PDU course program, they follow the courses at their pace and earn PDUs easily.

Learn more about the 11 Free PDU Earning Ways.

How many PMP PDU Hours can I claim for Working as a Practitioner?

PMI accepts your day-to-day activities as PDUs. However, there is a maximum limit for this category. You can submit a maximum of 8 PDU hours for working as a practitioner category.

What are the best PMP PDU Online Courses?

If you’ve googled about the PMP PDU online courses, you will see several resources. Some of them offer technical courses, that will not benefit to your career. Some of them offer just PDF papers to read, and that does not bring any skills.

The best PDU online courses should offer you business courses, earn new business skills, and contribute to your career growth.

For instance, San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive 60 PMP PDU Online Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning PDUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Program #1- Executive Leadership Program

Improve your decision-making, and cross-functional competence, expand your understanding of the global marketplace, and build your way to servant leadership. Learn how to tackle business challenges. Earns 20 PMP PDUs.

Program #2- Strategy Creation & Execution Program

Develop the global perspective, quantitative background, and creative problem-solving skills to take your strategy from formulation to execution. Harness the power of disruptive innovation to craft winning strategies and turn them into play. Earns 30 PMP PDUs.

Program #3- Marketing Strategy Program

Boost revenue and profit by targeting the right segments, designing effective go-to-market strategies, and building high-value brands. Align your marketing and promotion efforts with business strategy to maximize Return on Investment. Earns 10 PMP PDUs.

Summary

PMP certification holders need to earn 60 PMP PDU hours every three years to maintain their certification. There are two main categories of PMP PDUs: Education and Giving Back. Education PDUs can be earned through courses, webinars, events, reading, and informal learning. Giving Back PDUs can be earned through volunteering, mentoring, and working with professional groups.

There are certain requirements for earning PMP PDU hours. For the Education category, at least 35 PDUs must be earned, with a minimum of 8 PDUs in each of the Ways of Working, Business Acumen, and Power Skills subcategories. For the Giving Back category, a maximum of 25 PDUs can be earned, with a maximum of 8 PDUs for working as a professional. There is no maximum limit for earning PDUs in the education category. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the Education category.

While there are some free PDU offerings, completing 60 PDUs through free activities is not practical. Choose a PMP PDU course that will enhance your business skills and earn new certificates that will shine in your resume.

The post PMP PDU Guide [Updated] – Incl. Free PMP PDU Courses appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

If you have PMI certification (PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, or others), you need to claim PDU hours to renew your PMI certification. The PDU requirements for each certification track differ. You can learn how many PDUs to claim from our PMP PDU requirements post.

In this article, we’ve shown step-by-step how to claim PDU hours on the PMI.org website. Note that, the screenshots are from a PMP-certified profile, however, the steps are exactly the same for other certifications. Let’s go through each step and claim PDU hours together.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PDU resources throughout the article.

Note: For the privacy of the professional, we’ve masked the credential ID, claim ID, and other personal details in the screenshots below.

Step 1 – Login to PMI Profile

The first step is to log in to your PMI profile. If you have a certification, you should have an active profile on the PMI.org website. If you do not remember your credentials, you can email PMI and ask for an account recovery.

After successful login, you will see your account name on the right top of the screen. Click on your profile, and select “Certification” from the drop-down menu.

Certification Status

After going to your certifications area, you will see the status of your PMI certifications. For our example, the professional has PMP certification, and PMP certification status is shown.

As you can see on the screenshot, the professional needs 60 PDUs to renew their PMP. 42 PDUs have been earned already. 34 of the earned PDUs are from the Education category, and 8 PDUs are from the Giving Back Category. As you can see from the mark on the Education PDUs bar, the minimum required Education PDUs for the PMP certification is 35 PDUs. Be careful to earn as much as Education PDUs to renew your PMI certification. There is no maximum limit for earning PDUs in the Education category.

To claim PDUs, we hit on “Report PDUs” button.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renew story!

Step 2 – Claim PDU Details

When you click on the report PDUs button, you will see 11 ways to Earn PDUs. The first six are under the Education category, and the next five are under the Giving Back category.

The most popular way to earn PDUs is through the PMP PDU Courses. In this post, we will go through claiming PDUs for an attended course or training.

Provide PDU Activity Details

After you select the activity type, you will be asked to enter activity details on the next page. You will be asked to provide details about the provider, activity name, description, dates attended, etc. There are mandatory and optional fields. You must type details for the mandatory fields, however, you can skip the optional ones.

As you can see above, we provided the details of the activity, dates attended, and the number of PDUs earned through each category. Note that, while you are typing provider names, some providers’ names are suggested. Your provider name might not be on the list. Do not worry, just type the provider name, do not pick any provider from the drop-down menu, and proceed to provide the next details about the PDU activity.

PDU distribution of the activity should be provided by your provider. If you are unsure about the distribution of the PDUs for each category, you can ask your provider or PMI for further guidance.

Hit on the “submit” button, and claim PDU hours.

PDU Claim Submission Summary

On the next page, you will see the summary of your PDU claim.

Then, watch out for emails from PMI. You will be emailed about the status of your PDU claim. Typically, you will receive two emails. 1st one is for your submission, 2nd one is about the approval status of your PDU claim.

1st Email – Your PDU Claim has been submitted

In our case, PMI approved the PDU claim immediately, so, the emails for PDU submission and approval arrived right after each other.

2nd Email – Your PDU Claim has been approved

Once the PDU claim is approved, PMI sends a second email with the details of the PDU claim submitted.

Your claim might not be approved immediately if PMI needs further investigation of the activity. In some cases, PMI may ask for further information such as a letter of attendance, certificate of completion, etc. regarding the PDU activity. After providing those details, if everything complies with the PDU policy, PMI approves your PDU submission.

Step 3 – Renew Your PMI Certification

If you’ve completed the required PDUs in your CCRS cycle, you will see the “Eligible to Renew” note at the top of the screen.

You can see in the screenshot that 52 education PDUs have been earned and 8 Giving Back PDUs have been earned. A total of 60 PDUs have been earned, and PMP certification is eligible to renew. The next step is renewal fee payment.

Pay PMI Certification Renewal Fee

The final step to renew your PMI certification is paying the renewal fee. In our case, the PMP certification renewal fee is $120. However, if you opt to be a PMI member, you will be paying a less price.

PMI membership has a yearly cost as well. Consider the benefits of being a PMI member and if you opt to be a PMI member, you can add to your cart and checkout together with your PMI certification renewal fee.

Summary

There are three steps for renewing PMI certification. The first step is earning the required PDUs. Then, you claim PDUs on the PMI website. In the last step, you pay for the renewal fee and renew your PMI certification.

PMI may audit your PDU submissions. In that case, watch out for the emails from PMI and provide the details requested to clarify your PDU claim.

Explore the Free PDU Earning Ways.

The post How to claim PDU – 3 Steps to PMI Certification Renewal appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

You’ve worked hard to earn your PMI certification. Now, it is time to renew your PMI certification. And you are looking for PMI PDU Courses to renew your certification. Don’t worry, you’ve landed on the correct page! We’ve explored the courses that can earn you PMI PDUs and complete your PMI certification renewal process.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PMI PDU resources throughout the article.

PMI PDU Courses

PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PDUs every three years. There are certain PMP PDU requirements, and the most popular way to earn PDUs is by attending PMI PDU courses. You can learn more about the 11 Ways for PMP Renewal in our article.

You can see the PDU categories in the following infographic.

While there are several ways to earn PDUs, the most popular way followed by PMP-certified professionals is attending  PMI PDU courses or training.

Here is why PMP certification holders choose PMI PDU Courses to renew their PMP:

1. No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the education category, so, you can earn all 60 PMI PDUs in one program, and renew your PMP.
2. Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
3. Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced PMI PDU course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you cannot earn all PDU needs in one event.
4. Requires less effort: When you enroll in PMI PDU Courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn PDUs, and renew your PMP. However, other PDU earning ways require significant effort from the PMP-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.
5. Less prone to PMI audit: Since the PDU training programs are used by many PMP-certified professionals, PMI already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, PDU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a PMI audit.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

What are the Best PMI PDU Online Courses?

If you’ve googled about the PMI PDU online courses, you will see several resources. Some of them offer technical courses, that will not benefit your career. Some of them offer just PDF papers to read, and that does not bring any skills.

The best PDU online courses should offer you business courses, earn new business skills, and contribute to your career growth.

For instance, San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive 60 PMI PDU Online Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning PDUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Program #1- Executive Leadership Program

Improve your decision-making, and cross-functional competence, expand your understanding of the global marketplace, and build your way to servant leadership. Learn how to tackle business challenges. Earns 20 PMI PDUs.

Program #2- Strategy Creation & Execution Program

Develop the global perspective, quantitative background, and creative problem-solving skills to take your strategy from formulation to execution. Harness the power of disruptive innovation to craft winning strategies and turn them into play. Earns 30 PMI PDUs.

Program #3- Marketing Strategy Program

Boost revenue and profit by targeting the right segments, designing effective go-to-market strategies, and building high-value brands. Align your marketing and promotion efforts with business strategy to maximize Return on Investment. Earns 10 PMI PDUs.

When choosing a PMI PDU online course program, do not just look at the price. You will spend 60 hours with the program you will attend, and make sure you will earn some skills at the end of the program.

You can learn 11 Ways to Earn PMP Renewal PDU in our article.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

What should be covered in a PMI PDU Course Program?

PMI accepts project management-related or business courses as a source of PDUs. For example, if you are a software developer, and attended a coding course, this course will not count as a source of PDU to renew your PMP certification. Because, the coding course is technical, and does not teach project management or other business areas.

Typical PMI PDU course programs cover:

• Business courses: Any business courses such as leadership, strategy, marketing, etc. can be considered as a PDU course.
• Project Management courses: Project management courses such as Agile, kanban, etc. can be considered as a PDU course.
• Soft Skill courses: Communication skills, negotiation, decision-making, etc. can be considered as a PDU course.

Note that, we tried to list the popular domains covered in PDU programs. There may be other courses that cover other topics and count as PDUs for PMP.

Free PMI PDU Online Courses

There are YouTube videos, free courses, and webinars available on the web. You can enroll in these free activities and earn PDUs towards renewing your PMP certification. Typically, these events earn 1-2 PDUs. Earning all 60 PDUs through Free PDU events is not feasible. Even if you can attend free events, your schedule may not allow you to attend assuming you are a full-time working professional. You may need to spend your evenings and weekends or even you may need to take a day off from your work to attend these free events.

SFBS offers a 3-hour Free PMI PDU Course program as well. You can earn 3 PDUs by attending this program.

Learn more about Free PDU for PMP Renewal.

Summary

PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PDUs and renew their PMP every three years. There are education and giving back PDU categories to earn PDUs. While there are several ways to earn PDUs, enrolling in PMI PDU Online course programs is the most affordable and convenient way to earn 60 PDUs to renew PMP certification. It is important to choose a PMI PDU program that will earn you new business skills not just PDUs.

The post PMI PDU Courses – Earn PMI PDUs to Renew PMI Certification appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. In this “How I Renew My PMP” article, Julia explained her PMP renewal journey, why she renewed her PMP, how she found PMP PDU resources, and other hints about the PMP renewal process. Julia Boyer penned this article based on interview questions, and our editorial team reviewed the article.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PMP PDU resources throughout the article.

Who is Julia Boyer?

❓ Question: Before we dive into your PMP renewal journey and how you earned PMP PDU hours, can you please tell us a bit about your background?

I was born in 1976, in Brooklyn, New York, as the third and last kid of the Boyer family. My father was a truck driver and my mother was a housewife. I graduated from Northern Michigan University with a B.A. in communications degree in 1999. I started my professional career right after the university as a Logistics Specialist at FedEx. Since then, I worked in different companies and I have taken different roles in each company. Now, I am working as an Operations Manager in a Fortune 500 company in Dallas, Texas.

Why I Decided to Take PMP Certification

❓ Question: When and why did you decide to take PMP certification?

I have been working for more than five years in functional roles. Then, I decided to take managerial roles and looked for alternatives to pursue my career. At that time, I decided that the best option for changing my career was going through project management roles.

I’ve applied for some project management jobs, however, since I did not have any prior project management experience, I was not successful in securing a PM job. Roughly, more than half of the PM roles I am applying for were looking for “PMP certification”. That is when I decided to take PMP certification.

After spending six months of preparation time, I earned my PMP certification on the first attempt. Then, my phone started to ring more frequently regarding the jobs I applied for. I joined a Healthcare company as a Project Manager four months after I earned my PMP certification.

60 PMP PDU Online Course Program – Renew Your PMP Certification

San Francisco Business School offers an online, self-paced comprehensive PMP renewal course program. Enroll in the 60 PMP PDU Training Program. Complete three self-paced online courses. Earn 60 PDUs and renew your PMP certification. PMI approved renewal process.

Why I Renew PMP Certification

❓ Question: After you earn it, why do you keep on renewing your PMP certification? 

PMI requires PMP certification holders to earn 60 PMP PDU hours every three years. There are further PMP PDU requirements as well such as you must attend some activities rather than professional work. At first, I thought I earned PMP, I secured a PM job, and I could pursue my career even if I did not renew my PMP. However, I saw several benefits of renewing PMP certification.

First of all, it keeps me up to date on the changing project management dynamics. For instance, when I was preparing for PMP certification, the exam content and actual project management world were turning around waterfall methodologies. Since the 2000s and especially after the 2010s, Agile methodologies have been widely adopted by many organizations. The PMP renewal process pushed me to be aware of these changing dynamics, and even if I was not working on Agile, I attended PMP PDU courses regarding Agile methodologies and I enhanced my skills in Agile as well.

The second benefit of the PMP renewal process is, that you increase your chances for PM-related jobs. Still, many organizations look for PMP-certified professionals for their project management vacancies. So, keeping PMP certification active is very important and must have assets.

The third benefit of trying to earn PMP PDU hours is enhancing your network. There are 11 ways to earn PDUs and some of them are attending events, seminars, and meetings. I have met wonderful people and enhanced my professional network through these events.

How I Earn PMP PDU Hours

❓ Question: Since you earned your PMP, you have gone through the “renew PMP process” several times. How do you earn PMP PDU hours, what are your best resources?

PMI is very generous and flexible in accepting PMP PDU hours. There are 11 different ways to earn PMP PDU credits. In my first cycles, during the 2000s, primarily, I was attending events, seminars, and conferences. In some cases, my employer sponsored the event fees and in some I paid myself. I have met several people and extended my professional network with the help of these events.

However, especially after the 2010s, I’ve discovered ways to earn PMP PDU hours online. Because, events, meetings, or seminars require daytime attendance and as I progressed in my career, I could hardly find time to attend these events. Now, I am looking for online PMP PDU Course options to earn PMP PDU hours.

Free PMP PDU Online Course Program – Renew Your PMP Certification

San Francisco Business School offers an online, self-paced mini PMP renewal course program. Enroll in the Free PMP PDU Training Program. Complete three self-paced online courses. Earn 3 PDUs. PMI approved renewal process.

Why I Choose Online PMP PDU Courses to Renew PMP

❓ Question: What are the pros and cons of earning PMP PDU hours through online courses?

Well, the biggest benefit of online PMP PDU courses is, that there is no maximum limit of earning PDU hours. Attending courses are under the education category, and PMI accepts all 60 PDUs from this category. However, for other categories, there are maximum limits. For instance, PMI accepts your day-to-day activities as PDUs. However, there is a maximum limit for this category. You can submit a maximum of 8 PDU hours for working as a practitioner category.

Another benefit is, that if you attend a self-paced PMP PDU course, you do not need to attend in person. You can follow the courses around your schedule. In my last cycles, I chose to attend PMP PDU Courses, because I am busy and I cannot set a time to attend chapter meetings, events, or seminars.

PMP PDU Courses are Affordable

PMP PDU courses are more affordable compared to other alternatives. I was paying around $800 per day to attend a conference. Besides, if I had to travel, there were additional costs. So, for a one-day event, I was paying at least around $800 and I was earning six to eight PDUs at most. However, when I attend PMP PDU courses, I can earn all required PDUs for around $300.

Attending online PMP PDU courses are more convenient. When I enroll in PMI PDU Courses, all I have to do is follow the curriculum, earn PDUs, and renew my PMP. However, other PDU earning ways require significant effort from the PMP-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.

Moreover, PMP PDU courses are less prone to PMI audits. Since the PDU training programs are used by many PMP-certified professionals, PMI already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, PDU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a PMI audit. For my course PDU submissions, typically, PMI did not ask for further documentation to approve my PMP PDU claims.

Cons of Earning PMP PDU Online

After listing all these benefits, I think I should tell a few cons of renewing PMP through courses. Compared to events, self-paced PDU courses are less interactive. At events, I had the chance to meet new people, extend my network, and socialize. In self-paced PDU courses, this is not an option. However, you can use the discussion forums or social channels of the course provider to meet other people.

Watch Julia’s Renew PMP Journey

In her last PMI CCRS cycle, Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

How I Find Free PMP PDU Resources

❓ Question: Are you looking for Free PMP PDU earning activities? Is it possible to earn 60 PDUs for free?

There are several offline and online events. To be honest, I checked if I can earn 60 PDUs for free. I attended some free webinars and earned PDUs for free. However, I found it difficult and not another benefit other than earning PDUs. For instance, if there is a free webinar about social media project management, this is not on my career radar. Just to earn PDUs, I do not want to spend my hours on an event that will not benefit my development.

I can watch free courses, attend free webinars, and earn PDUs towards renewing my PMP only if these are in my interests. These events typically earn 1-2 PDUs. Besides, you have to set your schedule to attend the event. In each three-year renew PMP cycle, I attend one or two free events and earn PDUs. However, I do not think it is feasible to earn all PDUs through free events.

How I Found San Francisco Business School PMP PDU Courses

❓ Question: In your last renew PMP cycle, you attended the SFBS 60 PMP PDU course program. How was it? Do you recommend it to other PMP-certified professionals?

Finding 60 PDU hours was a hassle in my previous PMP renewal processes. Because I am a full-time working professional it was not easy to attend seminars, conferences, or other PM activities to earn PDUs. Besides, these activities cost a lot if you are just looking for PDU hours to renew your PMP certification.

This year, I came through with the 60 PMP PDU bundle of San Francisco Business School. I enrolled in the courses immediately and could earn all 60 PDU hours I needed to renew my PMP 100% online. I followed the courses at my own pace and whenever I had time. After submitting the PDU hours I earned for each course, PMI approved them and I could renew my PMP easily.

Not only did I earn PDUs, but also I gained business skills and certifications. The program offers Executive Leadership Training, Strategy Development & Execution Training, and Marketing Strategy Training. All these courses helped me to sharpen my business skills and I started to apply them already in my work!

Very straightforward, hassle-free, and affordable PMP renewal process. Thanks to San Francisco Business School!

What I Do After Earning PMP PDU Hours

❓ Question: How do you report your PMP PDU hours? Do you wait for the end of the cycle, or submit it right away?

I submit PMP PDU hours right after I earn them. This is what PMI recommends as well. Because there might be issues in PMI submissions or PMI might ask for additional documentation for approval. Therefore, instead of waiting for the end of the cycle, I claim my PDUs right after I complete an activity.

If the activity is already recognized by PMI, typically I receive an approval email immediately. For instance, for the San Francisco Business School’s PMP PDU courses, PMI approved my submissions right away.

Once I complete 60 PDUs, the next step is paying the PMP renewal fee and extending the PMP validity for another three years. Sometimes, the “renew PMP” fee is cheaper if you opt to be a PMI member for one year. I check if the PMI membership will reduce the total PMP renewal fee and opt for membership accordingly.

What’s Next After PMP Renewal

❓ Question: What do you do after you renew PMP certification?

First, I feel relief as it takes time, effort, and cost to earn PMP PDU hours, report them, and renew PMP certification. However, the next cycle starts immediately. So, I keep on looking for activities, courses, and events that I can enhance my skills, for instance, I am looking to improve my leadership skills. While I am looking for activities that will enhance my competence, I am checking if they earn PDUs as well. If they both match, I jump on the activity.

I wish all PMP-certified professionals happy learning and smooth renewal cycles!

The post Julia Boyer: How I Renew My PMP – 2026 PMP PDU Options appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

If you have a PMI certification, you should be aware that you need PDUs to renew your certification. Each certification has a different PDU requirement. However, in all certifications, you must be aware of how to earn PDUs for PMP renewal.

In this article, we’ve explored the 11 PMI-approved ways of how to earn PDUs. Let’s explore them now.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PDU earning resources throughout the article.

PMP Renewal PDU Requirements

Before exploring the ways to earn PDUs, first, remember the PMP PDU requirements as they are crucial in the PMP renewal process. PMI requires a different number of PDUs for each certification track.

• If you have a PMP®, PgMP®, PfMP®, or PMI-PBA®, you must earn 60 PDUs in a three-year cycle. There is a further requirement for these 60 PDUs as well. You must earn at least 35 Education PDUs and you can earn at most 25 Giving Back PDUs.
• If you have a PMI-ACP®, PMI-RMP®, or PMI-SP®, you must earn 30 PDUs in a three-year cycle. You must earn at least 18 Education PDUs and you can earn at most 12 Giving Back PDUs.
• If you have a CAPM®, you must earn 15 PDUs in a three-year cycle. You must earn at least 9 Education PDUs and you can earn at most 6 giving back PDUs.

Note that, there are further details about PMI triangle categories. You can learn more about PMP PDU requirements. Let’s move on to How to earn PDUs now.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

How to Earn PDUs – PDU Categories

There are two main categories to earn PDUs. Education and Giving Back. Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning. Giving Back to the Profession PDUs can be earned through volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more. Each of these is a way to earn PMP renewal PDU hours.

The following table summarizes How to Earn PDUs in 11 Different Ways

You can watch our 11 PMI Approved Ways to Earn PMP PDU videos on YouTube.

Let’s go through each way and explore the details.

1st Way – How to Earn PDUs by Courses

As we’ve highlighted in the table, PMP renewal PDU course programs are the most popular way to earn PDUs among PMP-certified professionals.

While there are several benefits of renewing PMP through PMP renewal PDU courses, here are the top five reasons:

1. No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the education category, so, you can earn all 60 PMP PDUs in one program, and renew your PMP. You do not need to go elsewhere to find additional PDUs.
2. Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
3. Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced PMP Renewal PDU course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you cannot earn all PDU needs in one event.
4. Requires less effort: When you enroll in PMP Renewal PDU Courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn PDUs, and renew your PMP. However, other PDU earning ways require significant effort from the PMP-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.
5. Less prone to PMI audit: Since the PDU training programs are used by many PMP-certified professionals, PMI already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, PDU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a PMI audit.

We’ve explored this alternative in detail in the PMI PDU Courses article.

Course or Training Programs Accepted by PMI as Source of PDU

PMI accepts instructor-led formal education courses or classes held in-person or online. Here is a list of courses accepted by PMI as a source of PDUs.

• Virtual and in-person instructor-led courses from PMI Training
• Online courses are available on demand
• Academic education through programs accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center (GAC)
• Training courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partners
• Disciplined Agile or PMP® certification training courses offered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner
• Courses from other third-party providers (SFBS 60 PMP PDU Course Online program belongs to this category).

San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive 60 PMP PDU Online Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning PDUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

2nd Way – Attending Global Events

Several project management conferences, events, and activities are organized throughout the year. You can attend these events and earn PMP Renewal PDU credits. Typically, a one-day activity earns 6 PDUs. So, if you attended a two-day event, you will earn around 12 PDUs.

Attending global events has benefits like expanding your professional network and learning the changing trends in your domain. However, there are some pitfalls to these events.

• Typically organized in big cities. If you are living in a relatively smaller city, you might not see any events to earn PDUs.
• Requires in-person attendance. Many of the events take a few days, and you have to take days off from your work to attend these events.
• Expensive. Typically, these events are charged $1,000/day. So, for a two-day event, you need to pay around $2,000. Travel and accommodation, if needed, are not included in these fees.
• Does not earn 60 PDUs at once. Although it requires a significant amount of time and money, you cannot earn all 60 PDUs through one event.

Considering you are a full-time working professional and looking to earn 60 PMP Renewal PDU hours in one step, we do not recommend this way for earning PDUs.

3rd Way – Local Meetings

PMI has an extensive network in many countries and cities. In many major cities, there are PMI chapters and they organize 1-2 hour events every month. Typically, one presenter talks about a topic for 1-2 hours and the attendees follow the activity. These activities typically earn 1-2 PDUs.

4th Way – How to Earn PDUs through Online or Digital Media

PMI accepts self-paced learning activities as a source of PDUs. You can find several PMP renewal PDU programs online, many offering limited PDUs. San Francisco Business School offers a self-paced Free PMP PDU Course Online Program as well. If you attend this program, you can earn 3 Free PDUs and submit them in the Online or Digital Media sub-category under the Education category.

5th Way – Reading

Self-directed reading relevant to the certification you hold can be claimed for PDUs. For instance, reading a project management-related blog, a business education blog, or a book can count PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification. 1 hour of reading counts as 1 PDU, however, everyone’s reading pace is different. So, earning PMP renewal PDUs through reading resources is not a crystal clear way to go.

6th Way – Informal Learning

You can earn PDUs by engaging in structured professional discussions with others, for example, mentoring or “lunch and learn” sessions. For instance, if you are giving a presentation to your colleagues about project management, you can submit this as PDUs.

Important Note: The 7th through 11th Way of Earning PMP Renewal PDUs below are under the Giving Back category. As we’ve outlined in the beginning of the article, you can claim a maximum of 25 PDUs through Giving Back PDUs.

7th Way – How to Earn PDUs as Working as a Practitioner

By working in your certified role, you can earn PDUs by applying your knowledge and skills in a practical setting. If you are working in a project management-related role, you can earn up to 8 PDUs as working as a practitioner. However, it has a limitation. PMI accepts a maximum of 8 PDUs in a three-year cycle for the work as a practitioner category.

After earning 8 PDUs under the Working as a Practitioner category, you will need additional PDUs to complete your 60 PMP PDU cycle. SFBS offers 45, 30, and 15 PDU programs as well.

• 45 PMP PDU Program
• 30 PMP PDU Program
• 15 PMP PDU Program

If you need fewer than 60 PDUs, you can opt for one of these programs.

8th Way – Create Content

Do you write articles or blogs? Give webinars? Make videos? Today’s digital world is full of new content and anything you create counts towards your re-certification. Typically, you can submit PDUs for the hours you worked on project management content creation. For instance, if you wrote a blog post for an hour, you can claim 1 PDU in your PMI profile.

Creating content is cumbersome. There are several aspects of curating quality content. If your profession involves creating content, it is fine, you can earn PMP renewal PDU hours while you are working. However, just to earn PDUs, creating content is a tough path.

9th Way – Give a Presentation

If you speak at your organization, at a PMI chapter event, or at a conference, you can claim PDUs for it. For instance, if you gave a speech in a project management activity for an hour, you can submit 1 hour PDU for this activity in your PMI profile.

While there are nearly one million PMP-certified professionals, only a few thousand professionals could have earned PMP PDUs through this way. Because giving a speech to top-notch professionals requires exclusive skills. Besides, you should be invited to these events as a speaker, so you can earn PDUs.

10th Way – How to Earn PDUs by Sharing Knowledge

Others can benefit from your experience and knowledge. Keep track of the time you spend mentoring and teaching and claim it towards re-certification. An example of this can be sharing your knowledge in a discussion group at work. If you have a group of professionals sharing knowledge, if you attend those activities, you can claim PDUs.

For instance, if you’ve explored the ways of using AI in project management and want to share this knowledge with your colleagues, you can earn PDUs through this activity. You can gather in a meeting room and share your knowledge with your colleagues.

11th Way – Volunteer

PMI is just one of many organizations that relies on volunteers. Why not become one and earn credit toward re-certification in the process? You can search for volunteering options at the PMI website. Note that, these activities may not be available in your location if you are living in a small city.

Summary of PMP Renewal PDU Ways

PMI requires PMP-certified professionals to earn 60 PMP renewal PDU hours every three years. There are 11 ways to earn PMP PDUs. The first six are under the Education category and the last five are under the Giving Back category. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the Education category. However, there is a maximum 25 PDUs earning limit for the Giving Back category.

PMP Renewal PDU course programs are the most popular way to earn PDUs. Professionals choose to earn PDUs through courses because they are self-paced, affordable, and require less effort. Since there is no cap for the education category, professionals can earn all 60 PDUs at once through PMP PDU course programs. One of the other benefits of PDU courses is they are less prone to PMI audits.

The post How to Earn PDUS – 11 Ways for PMP Renewal appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

PMP certification is for sure the most prestigious project management certification around the globe with nearly 1 million holders. While there are several benefits of having a PMP certification, there are certain PMP PDU requirements to retain this invaluable certification. Make sure you comply with the PMP PDU requirements while attending PM activities and learn how to get PDUs for PMP certification renewal. You can visit our PMP PDU Guide for more information.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PMP PDU resources throughout the article.

PMP PDU Requirements

PMI forces PMP certification holders to earn PDU (Professional Development Units) to renew their certification. The main motivation behind the PMI PDU program is, to ensure the continuous learning of PMP-certified professionals, and keep up the pace with the changing dynamics of the business world.

Tip: You can watch the content of this article in the following YouTube video.

To earn PDU hours, you need to perform certain types of project management related activities. Let’s dive into the details of PDU.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

What is PMP PDU?

Professional Development Units (PDUs) are one-hour blocks of time that you spend learning, teaching others, or volunteering. There are certain PMP PDU requirements for activities to qualify as PDUs. By accumulating and tracking these over your certification cycle you can maintain your certification status with PMI. Typically, one-hour project management activity counts for 1 PDU. PMI enables the submission of PDUs in fractions as well. If you attend a 30-minute project management webinar,  you can submit 0.5 PDUs in your profile.

PMP Contact Hours vs. PDU

While we are talking about PMP PDU requirements, there is another term “Contact Hours” which is commonly confused with the PMP PDU Hours. Contact Hours is a term related to project management training requirements for PMI certification aspirants. For instance, PMI requires 35 contact hours of project management education attendance to apply for PMP certification. What are the main differences between Contact Hours vs PDU hours?

• The contact hours must be “instructional” while PDUs can be self-learned: To be able to earn contact hours, they must be instructional. It means that an instructor or tutor must be actively teaching for the required hours to earn the contact hours. On the other hand, PDUs can be learned from instructional activities as well as self-learning activities. For instance, you can earn PDUs while you are reading a business blog, however, you cannot earn contact hours by reading a resource.

Therefore, if you are not a PMP-certified professional yet, you need contact hours to satisfy PMP certification requirements. However, if you already have a PMP certification, you need PMP PDU hours to renew your PMP certification.

60 PMP PDU in a Three-Year Cycle

PMI requires certification holders to earn PDUs in three-year cycles. The requirement for each certification track is different. For the PMP certification, certification holders must earn 60 PMP PDU hours every three years to renew their certification. Below is an infographic from the PMI website about PMP PDU requirements.

Let’s explain each of these steps in detail.

PMP PDU Categories

There are two main PMP PDU categories:

1. Education: Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning.
2. Giving Back to the Profession: Giving Back PDUs are for time spent volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more.

PMP PDU requirements for certification holders is to collect 60 PDUs through a maximum of 25 Giving Back PDUs and a minimum of 35 Education PDUs. However, there is no cap for education PDUs. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the education category.

Hint: You can earn 60 PMP PDUs by enrolling in the SFBS PMP PDU Course Online program.

The 35 Education PDUs also have other requirements:

• reporting at least 8 Ways of Working project management PDUs
• reporting at least 8 Business Acumen PDUs
• reporting at least 8 Power Skills PDUs.

There is a maximum PDU reporting cap for the Working as a Professional subcategory of the Giving Back PDU category. If you are working in a project management-related job, you can report up to 8 PDUs under working as a professional PDU category.

How to Get PDUs for PMP Certification Renewal

As we’ve outlined in the PMP PDU categories heading above, there are two main ways to earn PDU: Education and Giving Back. PDU courses are a way to earn PDU credits in Education Category.

Education Category for Earning PMP PDUs

Six different sub-categories satisfy PMP PDU requirements under the Education category to earn PDU hours. Let’s explore these:

1- Course or Training

Instructor-led formal education courses or classes held in-person or online belong to this category.

• Virtual and in-person instructor-led courses from PMI Training
• Online courses are available on demand
• Academic education through programs accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center (GAC)
• Training courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partners
• Disciplined Agile or PMP® certification training courses offered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner
• Courses from other third-party providers (SFBS 60 PMP PDU Course Online program belongs to this category).

You can read more on our PMP PDU Courses article.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

2- Global Events

Meetings and events that bring together the global community are another way to earn PDUs and satisfy PMP PDU requirements. These events include educational sessions, keynote, and featured speakers. Typically you can earn 7 to 50 PDUs by attending these events.

3- Local Meetings

Local activities and events that are related to the project management profession count for PDUs. Often held at PMI chapters, these are also a great opportunity to network. These meetings earn typically 1 to 2 PDUs.

4- Online or Digital Media

Self-paced learning is conducted online or through varied forms of digital media. (SFBS Free PMP PDU Course Online Program belongs to this category). This way is one of the easiest ways to satisfy PMP PDU requirements.

5- Reading

Self-directed reading relevant to the certification you hold can be claimed for PDUs. For instance, reading a project management-related blog, a business education blog, or a book can count PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification.

6- Informal Learning

You can earn PDUs by engaging in structured professional discussions with others, for example, mentoring or “lunch and learn” sessions. These will qualify for PMP PDU requirements. For instance, if you are giving a presentation to your colleagues about project management, you can submit this as PDU.

Read 11 Ways of Earning PMP Renewal PDU.

Giving Back Category for Earning PMP PDUs

Giving Back to the Profession is a unique opportunity for you to expand your knowledge and skills while growing both personally and professionally. Although not required for recertification, earning Giving Back PDUs is a great way to expand your horizons.

Here are some popular ways that you can earn Giving Back PDUs:

1- Work as a Practitioner

By working in your certified role, you can earn PDUs by applying your knowledge and skills in a practical setting. However, there is a maximum PMP PDU requirements limit for this way. If you are working in a project management-related role, you can earn up to 8 PDUs as working as a practitioner. This is a very common question asked by many PMP-certified professionals:

• “How many PDUs can I claim for working as a practitioner?”
• Answer: PMI accepts a maximum of 8 PDUs in a three-year cycle for the work as a practitioner category.

2- Create Content

Do you write articles or blogs? Give webinars? Make videos? Today’s digital world is full of new content and anything you create counts towards your re-certification. Typically, you can submit PDUs for the hours you worked on project management content creation. For instance, if you wrote a blog post for an hour, you can claim 1 PDU in your PMI profile.

3- Give a Presentation

If you speak at your organization, at a PMI chapter event, or at a conference, you can claim PDUs for it. For instance, if you gave a speech in a project management activity for an hour, you can submit 1 hour PDU for this activity in your PMI profile.

4- Share Knowledge

Others can benefit from your experience and knowledge. Keep track of the time you spend mentoring and teaching and claim it towards re-certification. These activities satisfy PMP PDU requirements. An example of this can be sharing your knowledge in a discussion group at work. If you have a group of professionals sharing knowledge, if you attend those activities, you can claim PDUs.

5- Volunteer

PMI is just one of many organizations that relies on volunteers. Why not become one and earn credit toward re-certification in the process? You can search for volunteering options at the PMI website.

Frequently asked questions about PMP PDU

How can I submit my earned PDUs?

You should have a profile on the PMI website. Log on to your profile, go to your credentials tab, and submit PDUs. Once you earned 60 PMP PDUs, you will be eligible to pay the PMP renewal fee and renew your PMP certification.

What is the PMP certification renewal fee?

The PMP certification renewal fee is 60 USD for PMI members and 150 USD for non-members. This fee is payable only after earning 60 PDUs and satisfying all PMP PDU requirements.

How many PDUs can I claim for working as a practitioner per year?

You can claim a maximum of 8 PDUs in a three-year cycle for the work as a practitioner category. There is no cap for reporting working as a practitioner PDUs per year. You can claim all 8 PDUs in one year. This is a maximum limit for satisfying PMP PDU requirements through practitioner way.

How can I earn PDUs for PMP?

There are two main ways to earn PDUs: Education and Giving Back. You can earn Education PDUs in six different sub-categories:

• Course or Training
• Global Events
• Local Meetings
• Online or Digital Media
• Reading
• Informal Learning

You can earn Giving Back PDUs in 5 different sub-categories:

• Work as a Practitioner
• Create Content
• Give a Presentation
• Share Knowledge
• Volunteer

How can I  renew a suspended PMP certification?

If your PMP certification gets suspended and you do not complete the renewal process within a year, your certification will expire fully. To reactivate your PMP certification from expired status, you must reapply for the PMP exam, submit all associated fees, and pass the PMP exam again. Therefore, do not miss the CCRS cycle, satisfy the PMP PDU requirements and renew your PMP on time.

If you do not renew your PMP in the three-year period, your certification will be suspended for one year. After one year, if you do not renew your certificate, your certification will expire.

Summary

PMP certification holders must earn 60 PDUs in three-year cycles to renew their certification. There are certain PMP PDU requirements to satisfy. There are two main PMP PDU categories: Education and Giving Back. Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning. Giving Back PDUs are for time spent volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more.

PDU requirements for PMP certification holders is to collect 60 PDUs through a maximum of 25 Giving Back PDUs and a minimum of 35 Education PDUs. However, there is no cap for education PDUs. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the education category.

The post PMP PDU Requirements – How to Get PDUs for PMP appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

If you hold a PMI certification, you need to earn a certain amount of PDUs to renew your certification. Professionals seek Free PDU resources when it comes to renewing their certification. They look for Free PMP PDU courses, Free PDU webinars, Free PDU events, and so on.

In this article, we’ve explored the 11 legitimate PMI-approved free PDU earning ways. Let’s go on through each way one by one.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE PDU resources throughout the article.

How many PDUs do you need to claim?

Before diving into free PMP PDU resources, you should determine how many PDUs you need to claim to renew your certification. PMI requires a different number of PDUs for each certification track.

• If you have a PMP®, PgMP®, PfMP®, or PMI-PBA®, you must earn 60 PDUs in a three-year cycle. There is a further requirement for these 60 PDUs as well. You must earn at least 35 Education PDUs and you can earn at most 25 Giving Back PDUs.
• If you have a PMI-ACP®, PMI-RMP®, or PMI-SP®, you must earn 30 PDUs in a three-year cycle. You must earn at least 18 Education PDUs and you can earn at most 12 Giving Back PDUs.
• If you have a CAPM®, you must earn 15 PDUs in a three-year cycle. You must earn at least 9 Education PDUs and you can earn at most 6 giving back PDUs.

Note that, there are further details about PMI triangle categories. You can learn more about PMP PDU requirements. Let’s move on to Free PMP PDU earning ways now.

💡Julia Boyer renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

Free PDU Categories at a Glance

There are two main categories to earn Free PDUs. Education and Giving Back. Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning. Giving Back to the Profession PDUs can be earned through volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more. Each of these are the ways to earn Free PMP PDU hours.

The following table summarizes the 11 ways to earn Free PDU for PMP Renewal.

You can watch our 11 PMI Approved Ways to Earn PDUs video on YouTube.

1st Free PDU Earning Way – Free PMP PDU Courses

As we’ve highlighted in the table, Free PMP renewal PDU course programs are the most popular way to earn PDUs among PMP-certified professionals. The following infographic summarizes why PMI-certified professionals opt for PDU courses when renewing their certifications.

While there are several benefits of renewing PMP through PMP renewal PDU courses, here are the top five reasons:

1. No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the education category, so, you can earn all 60 PMP PDUs in one program, and renew your PMP. You do not need to go elsewhere to find additional PDUs.
2. Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
3. Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced PMP Renewal PDU course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you cannot earn all PDU needs in one event.
4. Requires less effort: When you enroll in PMP Renewal PDU Courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn PDUs, and renew your PMP. However, other PDU earning ways require significant effort from the PMP-certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, volunteering, etc.
5. Less prone to PMI audit: Since the PDU training programs are used by many PMP-certified professionals, PMI already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, PDU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit a PMI audit.

We’ve explored this alternative in detail in the PMP PDU Courses article.

Free PDU Courses or Training Programs Accepted by PMI as a Source of PDU

PMI accepts instructor-led formal education courses or classes held in-person or online. Here is a list of courses accepted by PMI as a source of PDUs.

• Virtual and in-person instructor-led courses from PMI Training
• Online courses are available on demand
• Academic education through programs accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center (GAC)
• Training courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partners
• Disciplined Agile or PMP® certification training courses offered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner
• Courses from other third-party providers (SFBS 60 PMP PDU Course Online program belongs to this category).

Note that, earning all PDU needs through Free PDU resources is not practical. However, you can earn a few Free PDU hours from Free PDU courses.

San Francisco Business School offers a comprehensive 60 PMP PDU Online Course program. The program offers three self-paced business training programs: Executive Leadership, Strategy Creation & Execution, and Marketing Strategy. For each course in the program, SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning PDUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

2nd Way – Attending Free Global Events

Several project management conferences, events, and activities are organized throughout the year. Note that, these events are generally premium events and you need a ticket to attend the event. However, some employers pay for the ticket price for their employees. Or, if the employer is a sponsor in the organization, employees of the sponsor organization can attend for free. So, you can attend these events and earn Free PDUs for your PMI certification renewal.

Typically, a one-day activity earns 6 PDUs. So, if you attended a two-day event, you will earn around 12 PDUs.

Attending global events has benefits like expanding your professional network and learning the changing trends in your domain. However, there are some pitfalls to these events.

• Typically organized in big cities. If you are living in a relatively smaller city, you might not see any events to earn PDUs.
• Requires in-person attendance. Many of the events take a few days, and you have to take days off from your work to attend these events.
• Expensive. Typically, these events are charged $1,000/day. So, for a two-day event, you need to pay around $2,000. Travel and accommodation, if needed, are not included in these fees.
• Does not earn 60 PDUs at once. Although it requires a significant amount of time and money, you cannot earn all 60 PDUs through one event.

Considering you are a full-time working professional and looking to earn 60 PMP Renewal PDU hours in one step, we do not recommend this way for earning Free PDUs.

3rd Way – Local Free PDU Meetings

PMI has an extensive network in many countries and cities. In many major cities, there are PMI chapters and they organize 1-2 hour events every month. In many cases, these events are for free. Typically, one presenter talks about a topic for 1-2 hours and the attendees follow the activity. These activities typically earn 1-2 PDUs. You can earn Free PDUs by attending these Free PDU meetings.

4th Way – Free PMP PDU Online or Digital Media

PMI accepts self-paced learning activities as a source of PDUs. You can find several Free PMP PDU programs online while many of them offer limited PDUs. San Francisco Business School offers a self-paced Free PMP PDU Course Online Program as well. If you attend this program, you can earn 3 Free PDUs and submit them in the Online or Digital Media sub-category under the Education category.

Free PMP PDU Webinars

There are several project management webinars organized on the web. If you can attend these Free PDU webinars, you can earn Free PMP PDU hours to claim on your PMI profile. Free PMP PDU webinars typically earn 1 PDU and last for one hour.

Free PDU webinars can be on different business-related topics. Such as how to start your own company, fundamentals of entrepreneurship, common mistakes on project management, etc.

5th Way – Reading Free PDU Resources

Self-directed reading relevant to the certification you hold can be claimed for PDUs. For instance, reading a project management-related blog, a business education blog, or a book can count PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification. 1 hour of reading counts as 1 PDU, however, everyone’s reading pace is different. So, earning Free PDUs for PMP renewal through reading resources is not a crystal clear way to go.

6th Way – Informal Learning

You can earn Free PDUs by engaging in structured professional discussions with others, for example, mentoring or “lunch and learn” sessions. For instance, if you are giving a presentation to your colleagues about project management, you can submit this as PDUs.

Important Note: The 7th through 11th Way of Earning PMP Renewal PDUs below are under the Giving Back category. As we’ve outlined in the beginning of the article, you can claim a maximum of 25 PDUs through Giving Back PDUs.

7th Way – Free PDU for PMP Renewal as Working as a Practitioner

By working in your certified role, you can earn Free PDUs by applying your knowledge and skills in a practical setting. If you are working in a project management-related role, you can earn up to 8 Free PDUs as working as a practitioner. However, it has a limitation. PMI accepts a maximum of 8 PDUs in a three-year cycle for the work as a practitioner category.

After earning 8 Free PDUs under the Working as a Practitioner category, you will need additional PDUs to complete your 60 PMP PDU cycle. SFBS offers 45, 30, and 15 PDU programs as well.

• 45 PMP PDU Program
• 30 PMP PDU Program
• 15 PMP PDU Program

If you need fewer than 60 PDUs, you can opt for one of these programs.

8th Way – Create Content

Do you write articles or blogs? Give webinars? Make videos? Today’s digital world is full of new content and anything you create counts towards your re-certification. Typically, you can claim Free PDU hours for the hours you worked on project management content creation. For instance, if you wrote a blog post for an hour, you can claim 1 PDU in your PMI profile.

Creating content is cumbersome. There are several aspects of curating quality content. If your profession involves creating content, it is fine, you can earn Free PMP renewal PDU hours while you are working. However, just to earn PDUs, creating content is a tough path.

9th Way – Give a Presentation

If you speak at your organization, at a PMI chapter event, or at a conference, you can claim PDUs for it. For instance, if you gave a speech in a project management activity for an hour, you can claim 1 hour PDU for this activity in your PMI profile.

While there are nearly one million PMP-certified professionals, only a few thousand professionals could have earned PMP PDUs through this way. Because giving a speech to top-notch professionals requires exclusive skills. Besides, you should be invited to these events as a speaker, so you can earn PDUs.

10th Way – Share Knowledge

Others can benefit from your experience and knowledge. Keep track of the time you spend mentoring and teaching and claim it towards re-certification. An example of this can be sharing your knowledge in a discussion group at work. If you have a group of professionals sharing knowledge, if you attend those activities, you can claim Free PDUs.

For instance, if you’ve explored the ways of using AI in project management and want to share this knowledge with your colleagues, you can earn a Free PDU for PMP renewal through this activity. You can gather in a meeting room and share your knowledge with your colleagues.

11th Way – Volunteer

PMI is just one of many organizations that relies on volunteers. Why not become one and earn Free PDU credit toward re-certification in the process? You can search for volunteering options at the PMI website. Note that, these activities may not be available in your location if you are living in a small city.

Summary of Free PDU Ways

PMI requires PMI-certified professionals to earn PDU hours every three years. There are 11 ways to earn Free PDUs. The first six are under the Education category and the last five are under the Giving Back category. You can earn all required PDUs in the Education category. However, there is a maximum PDU earning limit for the Giving Back category.

PMP Renewal PDU course programs are the most popular way to earn PDUs. Professionals choose to earn PDUs through courses because they are self-paced, affordable, and require less effort. Since there is no cap for the education category, professionals can earn all the required PDUs at once through PMP PDU course programs. One of the other benefits of PDU courses is they are less prone to PMI audits.

The post 11 Free PDU Earning Ways – Free PMP PDU Sources appeared first on San Francisco Business School.

If you’ve earned PMP certification, you must be aware that you need to renew PMP certification every three years. There are certain PMP PDU requirements you must adhere and we have outlined all the 7 basic steps you need to renew your PMP certification.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE Renew PMP Certification resources throughout the article.

💡Julia Boyer earned 60 PMP PDU hours and renewed her PMP certification. Read Julia’s PMP renewal story!

There are 7 basic steps to renew PMP certification. These are

1. Check your current PMP certification status on PMI website
2. Make sure how many PMP PDU credits you need to renew PMP certification
3. Decide how you will earn PMP PDU credits
4. Attend PMP PDU Activities and Earn PDU hours
5. Report Your PDUs to PMI
6. Complete the CCRS Cycle
7. Pay the renewal fee and renew your PMP certification

Let’s go through each of these steps one by one!

Step #1 to Renew PMP Certification – Check Your Current Status on the PMI Website

PMI has a strong website with all the details and information showing your certifications, certification status, and actions you need to take to keep your certification active. Once you earned PMP certification, you should have a PMI profile already. If you forgot your details, you can contact PMI support and ask for a password reset to log on to your profile.

Once you logged on to PMI website, you can see your certification status under the “Certification” area.

We’ve shared a screenshot from a sample profile below. As you can see in this profile, the PMP certification is in good standing, meaning not expired and just needs PDU hours to renew PMP certification. In some cases, if PMP certification was earned years ago and the certification holder did not report PDUs for several years, PMP certification can be in a suspended state or expired state. If your certification is in such a status, we recommend you to contact PMI first as earning PDUs may not be sufficient to renew PMP certification.

In the example profile above, PMI clearly states the total number of earned PDUs, which is 42, required PDUs and optional PDUs. We will describe the required and optional PDUs in the further stages of this article.

Step #2 to Renew PMP – Determine How Many PDUs You Need

In the PMP certification profile we shared above, you can see that PMI clearly shows the required PDUs, mandatory ones, and optional ones. PMI requires certification holders to earn PDUs in three-year cycles. The requirements for each certification track are different. For the PMP certification, certification holders must earn 60 PMP PDU hours every three years to renew their certification. Below is an infographic from the PMI website about PMP PDU requirements.

Let’s explain each of these steps in detail.

PMP PDU Categories

There are two main PMP PDU categories:

1. Education: Education PDUs can be earned at professional seminars, webinars, classes, or even self-directed learning.
2. Giving Back to the Profession: Giving Back PDUs are for time spent volunteering, mentoring, working with professional groups, and more.

PMP PDU requirements for certification holders is to collect 60 PDUs through a maximum of 25 Giving Back PDUs and a minimum of 35 Education PDUs. However, there is no cap for education PDUs. You can earn all 60 PDUs in the education category.

Hint: You can earn 60 PMP PDUs by enrolling in the SFBS PMP PDU Course Online program.

The 35 Education PDUs also have other requirements:

• reporting at least 8 Ways of Working project management PDUs
• reporting at least 8 Business Acumen PDUs
• reporting at least 8 Power Skills PDUs.

There is a maximum PDU reporting cap for the Working as a Professional subcategory of the Giving Back PDU category. If you are working in a project management-related job, you can report up to 8 PDUs under working as a professional PDU category.

Some of the activities you’ve attended previously might have earned you PDUs to renew PMP certification. For instance, if you have attended a seminar, a conference, or a project management-related training, these activities can count for PDUs towards renewing PMP certification. You can claim those PDUs through your PMI profile, and check how many more PDUs you will need to renew your PMP certification.

Step #3 – Decide How You Will Earn Remaining PDUs to Renew PMP Certification

After you’ve submitted your earned PDUs, the PMI dashboard will show how many Education PDUs and Giving Back PDUs you will need to complete your PMP renewal cycle. Depending on the missing PDU hours, you should decide how you will earn the PDUs.

If you need Education PDUs, there are six different sub-categories under the Education category, and if you need Giving Back PDUs, there are five sub-categories. The following table summarizes the 11 ways to earn Renew PMP PDUs.

Step #4 – Attend PDU Activities and Earn PDUs

Note that, you can earn all PDU hours you need through education activities. However, there is a maximum of 25 PDUs limit for Giving Back PDUs. Even if you attend several giving-back activities, you will be able to report a maximum of 25 PDUs every three years.

Let’s explore the six different ways to earn Education PDUs to renew PMP certification.

1- Course or Training

Instructor-led formal education courses or classes held in-person or online belong to this category.

• Virtual and in-person instructor-led courses from PMI Training
• Online courses are available on demand
• Academic education through programs accredited by the PMI Global Accreditation Center (GAC)
• Training courses offered by PMI Authorized Training Partners
• Disciplined Agile or PMP® certification training courses offered by a PMI Authorized Training Partner
• Courses from other third-party providers (SFBS 60 PMP PDU Course Online program belongs to this category).

You can read more on our PMP PDU Courses article.

Watch how Julia Earned 60 PDUs and Renewed Her PMP

Julia Boyer is a PMP-certified Professional from Dallas, Texas. Julia enrolled in the 60 PMP PDU Program from SFBS and renewed her PMP. Watch now her PMP renewal journey.

2- Global Events

Meetings and events that bring together the global community are another way to earn PDUs. These events include educational sessions, keynote, and featured speakers. Typically you can earn 7 to 50 PDUs by attending these events.

3- Local Meetings

Local activities and events that are related to the project management profession count for PDUs. Often held at PMI chapters, these are also a great opportunity to network. These meetings earn typically 1 to 2 PDUs.

4- Online or Digital Media

Self-paced learning is conducted online or through varied forms of digital media. (SFBS Free PMP PDU Course Online Program belongs to this category).

5- Reading

Self-directed reading relevant to the certification you hold can be claimed for PDUs. For instance, reading a project management-related blog, a business education blog, or a book can count PDUs toward renewing your PMP certification.

6- Informal Learning

You can earn PDUs by engaging in structured professional discussions with others, for example, mentoring or “lunch and learn” sessions. For instance, if you are giving a presentation to your colleagues about project management, you can submit this as PDU.

If you need Giving Back PDUs, you will have the following five options to earn PDUs and renew PMP certification.

1- Working as a Practitioner

By working in your certified role, you can earn PDUs by applying your knowledge and skills in a practical setting. If you are working in a project management-related role, you can earn up to 8 PDUs as working as a practitioner. However, it has a limitation. PMI accepts a maximum of 8 PDUs in a three-year cycle for the work as a practitioner category.

After earning 8 PDUs under the Working as a Practitioner category, you will need additional PDUs to complete your 60 PMP PDU cycle. SFBS offers 45, 30, and 15 PDU programs as well.

• 45 PMP PDU Program
• 30 PMP PDU Program
• 15 PMP PDU Program

If you need fewer than 60 PDUs, you can opt for one of these programs.

2- Create Content

Do you write articles or blogs? Give webinars? Make videos? Today’s digital world is full of new content and anything you create counts towards your re-certification. Typically, you can submit PDUs for the hours you worked on project management content creation. For instance, if you wrote a blog post for an hour, you can claim 1 PDU in your PMI profile.

Creating content is cumbersome. There are several aspects of curating quality content. If your profession involves creating content, it is fine, you can earn PMP renewal PDU hours while you are working. However, just to earn PDUs, creating content is a tough path.

3- Give a Presentation

If you speak at your organization, at a PMI chapter event, or at a conference, you can claim PDUs for it. For instance, if you gave a speech in a project management activity for an hour, you can submit 1 hour PDU for this activity in your PMI profile.

While there are nearly one million PMP-certified professionals, only a few thousand professionals could have earned PMP PDUs through this way. Because giving a speech to top-notch professionals requires exclusive skills. Besides, you should be invited to these events as a speaker, so you can earn PDUs.

4- Share Knowledge

Others can benefit from your experience and knowledge. Keep track of the time you spend mentoring and teaching and claim it towards re-certification. An example of this can be sharing your knowledge in a discussion group at work. If you have a group of professionals sharing knowledge, if you attend those activities, you can claim PDUs.

For instance, if you’ve explored the ways of using AI in project management and want to share this knowledge with your colleagues, you can earn PDUs through this activity. You can gather in a meeting room and share your knowledge with your colleagues.

5- Volunteer

PMI is just one of many organizations that relies on volunteers. Why not become one and earn credit toward re-certification in the process? You can search for volunteering options at the PMI website. Note that, these activities may not be available in your location if you are living in a small city.

Explore 11 Ways of Earning PMP Renewal PDU.

Step #5 to Renew PMP – Report PDUs to PMI

Once you attended PDU earning activities, report them to PMI. You can see our PDU claim article defining how to report PDUs step by step. After you log on to PMI, when you click on the report PDUs button, you will see 11 ways to Earn PDUs. The first six are under the Education category, and the next five are under the Giving Back category.

After you select the activity type, you will be asked to enter activity details on the next page. You will be asked to provide details about the provider, activity name, description, dates attended, etc. There are mandatory and optional fields. You must type details for the mandatory fields, however, you can skip the optional ones.

As you can see above, we provided the details of the activity, dates attended, and the number of PDUs earned through each category. Note that, while you are typing provider names, some providers’ names are suggested. Your provider name might not be on the list. Do not worry, just type the provider name, do not pick any provider from the drop-down menu, and proceed to provide the next details about the PDU activity.

PDU distribution of the activity should be provided by your provider. If you are unsure about the distribution of the PDUs for each category, you can ask your provider or PMI for further guidance.

Hit on the “submit” button, and claim PDU hours. On the next page, you will see the summary of your PDU claim.

Step #6 – Complete the CCRS Cycle

If you’ve completed the required PDUs in your CCRS cycle, you will see the “Eligible to Renew” note at the top of the screen.

You can see in the screenshot that 52 education PDUs have been earned and 8 Giving Back PDUs have been earned. A total of 60 PDUs have been earned, and PMP certification is eligible to be renewed. The next step is renewal fee payment.

Step #7  to Renew PMP – Pay the PMP Renewal Fee

The final step to renew your PMI certification is paying the renewal fee. In our case, the PMP certification renewal fee is $120. However, if you opt to be a PMI member, you will be paying a less price.

PMI membership has a yearly cost as well. Consider the benefits of being a PMI member and if you opt to be a PMI member, you can add to your cart and checkout together with your PMI certification renewal fee.

Summary

If you earned PMP certification, you need to earn 60 PDUs every three years to renew PMP certification. We’ve explored the seven basic steps to renew your PMP. First, you need to check the current status of your PMP certification. Second, you need to determine the missing PDU hours you need to renew PMP certification. Third, you need to decide which PDU activities you need to attend to earn PDUs.

Once you completed the PDU hours, the next steps are completing the cycle and paying the PMP renewal fee. Then, your certification will be in good standing for three years.

The post Renew PMP Certification in 7 Basic Steps appeared first on San Francisco Business School.