PM Profession News - December 2006
- Global Standards for Project Managers Launched by GAPPS
- New Australian Standards May Be Good for IT Projects
- Sydney Project Portfolio Management SIG Meeting Update
- PMI in Latin America: Global Congress Day 1: PM + Merengue
- PMI in Latin America: Global Congress Day 2: History, Psychology, PM, and Chilean Dancing
- PMI in Latin America: Global Congress Closing Session
- AIS Forms New SIG for IT Project Management
- Iran Project Management Association Joins IPMA
- II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil has a Record Audience
- APM Completes Governance Restructure Project
- Portfolio Management and People Skills Discussed at II Annual PM Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil
Global Standards for Project Managers Launched by GAPPS
The Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS) has announced the launch of the Global Standards for Project Managers. GAPPS is an independent collaborative not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering mutual recognition for project and program management standards and qualifications.
According to the GAPPS announcement received by pmforum.org, the organization was formed in response to the need for global portability of project management qualifications, certifications and development programs.
M. Ishikura of the Project Management Association of Japan is quoted as saying, "When I joined GAPPS the world did not have global performance based standards, so I was interested in being part of the initiative to develop standards that were relevant to the increasing number of global projects emerging around the world".
The standards have been created by a global team of representatives from industry, academia, national training authorities and professional associations in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Russia and South Africa. Participating organizations have included Motorola, Services SETA (South Africa), Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA), Greater-China Project Management Association (GPMA), the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), ESC-Lille School of Management in France and many others.
Dr Lynn Crawford, a global leader in project management competence assessment and professor of project management at the ESC Lille School of Management said, "It's wonderful to have the involvement of so many organisations from all sectors of the project management community contributing to the development of the standards. This should ensure that they are truly relevant to all sectors of the project management community".
The GAPPS project manager standards provide a framework for assessment and development of project management skills. They also support the Millennium Development goals proposed by the United Nations addressing an identified applied skill shortage in many nations. The GAPPS standards can be adopted by organisations for the assessment, development and certification of their project managers, in their entirety or customised to support existing project management cultures, processes, tools and models. Benefits of GAPPS include its independence from proprietary project management methodologies and models, and that it can complement existing structures.
All the works produced by GAPPS are developed on a volunteer basis, are publicly available for use by public and private sector organisations, and can be downloaded from the GAPPS website at www.globalpmstandards.org. To become involved, to join the next working session scheduled for February 2007 in Hong Kong, or for more information, visit www.globalpmstandards.org, or contact the Secretariat at secretariat@globalpmstandards.org.
New Australian Standards May Be Good for IT Projects
Business mismanagement and, in particular, mismanagement of IT, costs organisations many millions of dollars each year.
Now there is some guidance in this area courtesy of Standards Australia. Standards Australia has recently issued a series of standards and handbooks that address these areas.
Specifically:
- AS 8000 - Corporate Governance - Good Governance Principles
- AS 8001 - Corporate Governance - Fraud and Corruption Control
- AS 8002 - Corporate Governance - Organisational Codes of Conduct
- AS 8003 - Corporate Governance - Corporate Social Responsibility
- AS 8004 - Corporate Governance - Whistleblower Protection Programs for Entities
- AS 8015 - Corporate Governance of Information and Communication Technology
- AS 8016 - Corporate Governance - ICT Project Benefits Management (soon to be released)
- AS 8018 - Corporate Governance - ICT Service Management (soon to be replaced by ISO 20000)
- HB 401 - Applications of Corporate Governance
- HB 408 - Corporate Governance Culture
Learn more at http://www.saiglobal.com/shop/script/search.asp and search on any of the standards numbers mentioned above.
Reported by Rob Posener in Sydney.
Sydney Project Portfolio Management SIG Meeting Update
The Sydney Project Portfolio Management Special Interest Group met on Thursday 9th November to discuss plans for 2007 and to hear an excellent presentation from Andrew Gorvin-White of Westpac bank.
Under the chair of Cathy Killen, 14 participants discussed SIG business activities, including a re-verification of its charter, the desire to remain independent of other organisations (including AIPM and PMI), the upcoming presentation to the PMI Breakfast session, and the desire to hold a half or full day portfolio management seminar in 2007.
After the business meeting the SIG was joined by Bob Hunt's Macquarie Graduate School of Management Project Management class to hear Andrew's presentation. Andrew is enterprise-wide project management practice manager at Westpac. His presentation covered the journey that Westpac has travelled over the past few years in institutionalising portfolio and project management processes.
The presentation provided excellent material on what to do and what can go wrong when you have an organisation of 27,000 employees with approximately 450 Project Managers and 400 Business Analysts. The major take-aways included get your processes right before implementing a tool, get executive level management buy-in and active support, involve the grass-roots practitioners, create a job family and don't expect this to happen overnight! While these might be "obvious" to some people, the approaches to these that were taken were explained and Andrew shared his experiences in a lively question and answer session.
The Project Portfolio Management Special Interest Group (PPM-SIG) is a networking forum for industry practitioners and researchers to share experiences and information and to promote educational activities and research relating to Project Portfolio Management. It meets bi-monthly in the Sydney area. The next meeting of the PPM-SIG is scheduled for early next year.
Reported by Rob Posener in Sydney.
PMI in Latin America: Global Congress Day 1: PM + Merengue
With the assistance of almost 350 project managers from all five continents, the Project Management Institute (PMI) Global Congress Latin America (GCLA) began today at the Grand Hyatt Santiago Hotel in Santiago, Chile. The congress will continue until Wednesday, 8 November. Mr. Gregory Balestrero, CEO of PMI, and Mrs. Linda Vella, Vice Chair of the PMI Board of Directors and newly elected Chair, welcomed attendees at the Opening General Session.
During his presentation, Mr. Balestrero pointed out the enormous growth that Project Management had during the last few years, a growth in Latin America has demonstrated by the increased attendance a the GCLA this year. Last year's congress, the very first PMI congress held in Latin America, counted only 250 attendees.
This means attendance at the GCLA has increased by 40%. Mr. Balestrero also remarked about the increase in attendance to the PMI Leadership Meeting that is held the weekend before the GLCA: last year 27 leaders attended, while this year there were 45 leaders from all over Latin America.
More than 10 presentations, in 3 different languages (Spanish, Portuguese and English) were held during the afternoon. The topics of the presentations represented the broad interest of Project Managers: from scheduling 50,000 task projects at NASA to social project management, including globalization of Project Management, Earned Value analysis, Companies' PM strategies, and more. It was clear that the GLCA includes topics for all interests.
Project Managers from all Latin America are present in Santiago, with a larger number of attendees from Chile, Peru, Brazil and Mexico. Project Managers from Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Nicaragua, USA, Canada, India, and Pakistan are also present at the GLCA as a testimony of the global interest in PM.
Today the GLCA also included moments of networking and relaxation. During the Opening General Session, "Claudia and her team" (a local group of dancers) offered Merengue dancing lessons and invited Mr. Balestrero and Mrs. Vella to be part of a Disco Dancing show. It was enjoyed by everyone. It seems the GLCA is full of Latin America's cheerful spirit. For sure during these days we will answer to people asking how we are doing, following Mr. Balestrero's instructions, clear and loud: (we are doing) SUPER BIEN!!!
Reported by Ana Maria Rodriguez in Santiago.
PMI in Latin America: Global Congress Day 2: History, Psychology, PM, and Chilean Dancing
Day 2, 7 November 2006, at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Global Congress Latin America (GLCA) in Santiago, Chile was a day full of presentations on a broad variety of topics. The day included more than 25 presentations in 3 different languages (Spanish, English, and Portuguese). Project Managers attending the congress enjoyed the opportunity to attend presentations on a broad variety of subjects reflecting the broad experiences of Project Managers in Latin America.
Due to the broad variety of topics, and having 5 presentations at the same time, it was not easy to choose where to go. Attendees shared their experiences in the different presentations in a very friendly atmosphere. According to the opinions that PMForum gathered from attendees at the congress, the following topics can be highlighted from more than 20 presentations held on Tuesday.
Mr. Fernando Escobar from Colombia presented his in-depth study of "The Panama Canal French Project 1880 -1889". His presentation focused on the lifecycle of the project according to PMBOK and pointed out some lessons learned from the project that many actual projects today are not considering, after more than one century. Mr. Escobar's presentation was very "AMENA", with an historical approach explaining all the project's environment and circumstances.
He made special emphasis on the mistake committed by Mr. Lesseps, the Panama Canal PM at that time and who had previously built the Suez Canal, when he considered that the Panama Canal was just a case of technology transfer, forgetting that every project is unique. Mr. Escobar also pointed out that Mr. Lesseps thought that all that was needed to develop the project was his reputation, and dismissed the need for in-depth studies before joining this endeavor.
At that time there were no PM tools. The valid concept was that there was no need for planning since engineers were so good they will find solutions to all problems that might emerge. For sure this was a lessons learned presentation.
Mrs. Valeria Bogadjian, a Psychologist from Uruguay held one of the most dynamic presentations. Her 3-hour presentation was focused on conflict management, and got all the attendees into dynamics to dramatically demonstrate the need for good negotiation tools. Mrs. Bogadjan explained the impact of negotiation in the different moments of a project lifecycle. She offered very interesting tips for negotiation, including a "business card size" synthesis of good negotiation rules. As she suggested, for sure attendees will carry this material in their wallets, just in time for any conflict moment in projects.
Mr. Pablo Lledó, from Mendoza, Argentina made a very interesting presentation regarding the scope of Project Management in Latin America. Mr. Lledó has been offering PM training to executives all around Latin America, and has been collecting their opinions regarding the use of modern PM tools in the executives companies, both before the training and one year after it.
The sample includes almost 400 executives, and offers shocking and realistic data: of these 400 executives, 85% considered that their companies applied very few or no modern PM tools to their projects; 85% of the executives had little or no knowledge about PMI. Regarding the use of PM tools, most of the executives were using email and excel as their PM software, fewer were using PM software. 87% of the executives had little or no experience with Earned Value Analysis.
One year after being trained following the PMBOK concepts, 70% of the surveyed executives have applied some PM tools at their companies, 50% considered the knowledge about PMI increased at their companies, and 80% consider that training and use of PM tools somehow increased their company's level of sales. Mr. Lledó is continuing his effort for gathering data, and as he expressed to PMForum will appreciate the interest of others trainers in Latin America to join his effort in order to increase the significance of his study.
He is especially interested in gathering data from Mexico, Chile and Brazil, countries that were not included in his study since he has not been part of training courses there.
Mr. Martín Spraggon, a professor from the Université du Quebec en Outaouais, an Argentinean by birth, presented a very well developed paper "Project Management of Radical Innovation: The case of Small Software Canadian Companies". Mr. Spraggon's presentation highlighted the benefits of well-conducted academia work on Project Management, and caused a great impression on attendees.
At the end of the day, the GCLA organizers surprised attendees with a very nice networking reception called "Taste of Chile" were typical food was offered (salmon, oysters and pisco as a drink).
A group of local dancers and musicians delighted participants with a demonstration of musical rhythms from Isla de Pascua (also known as Easter Island - located in the South Pacific Ocean, famous for Moai stone carvings & belonging to Chile), the most exotic region of Chile. During the reception we enjoyed the opportunity to meet colleagues from all countries of the region.
For sure the GCLA results also included a high amount of friendly moments. We have had the opportunity to meet such nice people from everywhere.
Reported by Ana Maria Rodriguez in Santiago.
PMI in Latin America: Global Congress Closing Session
For the first time, the Project Management Institute (PMI®) conducted a formal closing session on Wednesday, 8 November, the last day of the PMI Global Congress Latin America (GCLA). During this session, a synthesis of the event was shown on pictures and videos. PMI congratulated attendees for their enthusiasm and energy during the congress, which was really successful, and the Congress Project Action Team (CoPAT) was recognized for their great effort on this congress. Attendees were also invited to attend the next year's GCLA in Cancun, Mexico.
The 2006 GCLA ended with great satisfaction among attendees not only for the opportunity they had to be present at more than 40 presentations, but also for the networking opportunities that the congress offered.
Contacts were made between Project Managers (PMs) from all countries; every person left the congress with the interest in maintaining contact with those who have been met at Santiago, for business and also for friendship reasons.
GCLA was also an opportunity for Latin American PMs to obtain information about project management (PM) products at the Exhibit Room: Alpha Consultoria, a Mexican consulting company and also Cheetah Leaning's licence for the region attracted many PMs interested in taking their PMP exam; The International Institute for Learning got also great attention; Verano Engenheria made demonstrations of the latest Primavera Software tools. Remarkably, Microsoft was not present at the Exhibit room, even though PMs expectations for Microsoft Project 2007 are rapidly increasing. We were all expecting to have the opportunity to learn about it at the 2006 GCLA.
The PMI information Booth was also part of the Exhibit Room, and was visited by many PMs who got interested in becoming PMI members, and also by PMI members who wanted to learn about the resources PMI offers for them. The PMI Bookstore in the Exhibition area offered a large amount of PMI resources. The Standard for Portfolio Management, The Standard for Program Management, and the PM Lexicons in Portuguese and Spanish were the most demanded books from the exhibition.
In synthesis, the GCLA was a great opportunity to attend presentations, learn about PM resources, and to meet other PMs from the entire world. The friendly atmosphere at the Congress demonstrated that PM is a common language that gathers citizens of all nations behind the same goals: To share experiences and to increase PM professionalism.
As we left the beautiful city of Santiago, we could all reflect on what we learned this week.
We in Latin America are all looking forward to the next GCLA in Cancun; we appreciate that PMI has demonstrated a great interest in supporting that city during its restoration after Hurricane Wilma last year. For sure next year's GCLA will also be greatly successful.
Reported by Ana Maria Rodriguez in Santiago.
AIS Forms New SIG for IT Project Management
The Association for Information Systems (AIS) has formed a Special Interest Group for IT Project Management (SIGITProjMgmt). The stated mission of the new group is to globally promote and facilitate the creation, presentation and publication of research examining all facets of information technology project management, including pedagogical issues. The new SIGITProjMgmt will also strive to be the global leader in linking and integrating IT project management research and practice.
According to the AIS' website, the SIGITProjMgmt will be strategically positioned to bridge the gaps in research covered by current AIS SIGs with minimal overlap.
The SIGITProjMgmt will provide a global forum for its members, PM practitioners, and other IS/IT researchers to share ideas and experiences that relate to IT project management in all its forms. IT Project management has a rich literature of its own and this SIG is positioned to contribute in that area.
Strategic objectives for the new SIGITProjMgmt include the following:
- To drive membership and interest in AIS and SIGITProjMgmt due to the interest generated in AIS by a new group of researchers and possibly practitioners.
- To provide an electronic forum for networking and informing IT project management researchers.
- To develop a SIG-sponsored peer-reviewed "Information Technology Project Management" e-journal dedicated to publishing IT project management research. In the short-term, the Editors of PMI's Project Management journal, International Journal of Project Management, and e-Service Journal (eSJ) have agreed in principle to consider for publication selected articles (either individually or in a special issue format) from SIGITProjMgmt sponsored conference tracks, workshops, and symposium.
- To be present in all the four major AIS regions via the conferences (ICIS, AMCIS, PACIS, ECIS). This should facilitate interaction with project management and information systems scholars and practitioners around the world, enhance the visibility of IT project management research, and support research activities. To provide member services that support the development and production of high quality IT project management research.
To join the AIS SIGITProjMgmt, individuals can simply select SIGITProjMgmt from the list of special interest groups when applying for or renewing AIS membership. Additional information can be found at http://www.sigitprojmgmt.org/
Iran Project Management Association Joins IPMA
The International Project Management Association (IPMA) has announced that the Iran Project Management Association has joined IPMA. At the IPMA Council of Delegates meeting in Zagreb, Croatia in September, the Iran Project Management Association was formally elected as a transition member of the organization. Mr. Alex Jalalian represented the Iran PMA at the meeting.
According to the IPMA website, the objectives of the Iran PMA include "the improvement of the application of project management, through creation and correction of related methods and techniques and formation of national project management standards."
According to Mr. Jalalian, "Iran offers a wonderful opportunity to the IPMA for the growth and promotion of its highly acclaimed universal four level certification system."
IPMA Chair Miles Shepherd, Iran PMA Representative
Jalal Alex Jalalian and IPMA Vice-President Ed NaughtonAdditional information about the Iran Project Management Association can be found at E-mail: info@ipma.ir or Web: www.ipma.ir.
The IPMA (International Project Management Association) is a non-profit Swiss registered organization whose membership is comprised primarily of national project management associations throughout the world. IPMA represents more than 40 national PM organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas that promote project management professionalism across all types of projects. While these national societies serve the specific project management needs of each country in its national language, the IPMA represents them at the international level. More information can be found at www.ipma.ch.
II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil has a Record Audience
The second edition of this event, promoted by the Project Management Institute (PMI®) Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter, surpassed the expected audience, receiving more than 450 professionals representing over 160 companies. The first day of the event occurred during 27 November 2006 and was very successful.
The PMI Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter (PMI-MG), one of the local representative offices of PMI in Brazil, was founded in 1999.
The meeting brings to the audience thirty-two presentations and panels during its two days of activities. Mr. Ricardo Vianna Vargas, former PMI® Mentor and now a member of the PMI® board of directors, opened the event with a discussion of how to develop competences in project management.
The registration process was closed one week before the event, demonstrating the high level of interest from the public. The event took place at the Mercury Hotel BH Lourdes, on Av. do Contorno, 7315 - Lourdes - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil.
This meeting was co-sponsored by Petrobrás, Grupo A&C, ESI International, Squadra Tecnologia, Net Project, Consist, Prodemge, Minas Gerais Government and Mano Consulting. More information about the meeting can be found at: http://www.pmimg.org.br/geral/encontro_anual/evento.asp
More pictures of the first day of the meeting can be found at:
http://www.pmimg.org.br/fotos/II_encontro_gp/2006_11_27/index.html.
More information about PMI® Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter are available at: http://www.pmimg.org.br
With 220,000+ members in over 150 countries, PMI is the world's largest and best known project management professional society. PMI is actively engaged in advocacy for the PM profession, setting standards, conducting research and providing access to a wide variety of information and resources. PMI also promotes career and professional development and offers certification, networking and community involvement opportunities. PMI was founded in the USA in 1969, but is now a global organization with members, chapters and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.pmi.org.
Reported by Alcides Santopietro in Brazil.
II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil has a Record Audience
The second edition of this event, promoted by the Project Management Institute (PMI®) Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter, surpassed the expected audience, receiving more than 450 professionals representing over 160 companies. The first day of the event occurred during 27 November 2006 and was very successful.
The PMI Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter (PMI-MG), one of the local representative offices of PMI in Brazil, was founded in 1999.
The meeting brings to the audience thirty-two presentations and panels during its two days of activities. Mr. Ricardo Vianna Vargas, former PMI® Mentor and now a member of the PMI® board of directors, opened the event with a discussion of how to develop competences in project management.
The registration process was closed one week before the event, demonstrating the high level of interest from the public. The event took place at the Mercury Hotel BH Lourdes, on Av. do Contorno, 7315 – Lourdes – Belo Horizonte – MG – Brazil.
This meeting was co-sponsored by Petrobrás, Grupo A&C, ESI International, Squadra Tecnologia, Net Project, Consist, Prodemge, Minas Gerais Government and Mano Consulting. More information about the meeting can be found at: http://www.pmimg.org.br/geral/encontro_anual/evento.asp
More pictures of the first day of the meeting can be found at:
http://www.pmimg.org.br/fotos/II_encontro_gp/2006_11_27/index.html.
More information about PMI® Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter are available at: http://www.pmimg.org.br
With 220,000+ members in over 150 countries, PMI is the world’s largest and best known project management professional society. PMI is actively engaged in advocacy for the PM profession, setting standards, conducting research and providing access to a wide variety of information and resources. PMI also promotes career and professional development and offers certification, networking and community involvement opportunities. PMI was founded in the USA in 1969, but is now a global organization with members, chapters and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.pmi.org.
Reported by Alcides Santopietro in Brazil.
APM Completes Governance Restructure Project
The UK based Association for Project Management (APM) completed it drive to meet its president's challenge of becoming the model of a modern professional body when members gave final approval to the new structure and elected new Board Members. Last night's (29 November 2006) Annual General Meeting elected a further 6 new Trustees to complete the new management structure which sees the previous 2 tier Executive and Council combined into a single, smaller Board of Trustees.
APM Members voted to accept the new structure which was formerly approved at the association's Extraordinary General Meeting September 2006. The landmark vote, which saw the acceptance of new Memorandum and Articles of Association, has given the green light to begin the process of electing the six Board members to join four existing trustees Charles Egbu, Guy Hindley, Mike Nichols and Vic Simons. These four have been appointed to ensure continuity as the restructure takes shape.
Tom Taylor, Chairman APM
The process of change began more than 5 years ago and has been the subject of widespread consultation with specialist agencies from the Charity Commission to the Professional Associations Research Network and with members via Branch and Specific Interest Groups. Overall responsibility for the project has been vested in APM Chairman, Tom Taylor. In addition to the restructuring of the Board which, is aimed at streamlining decision making processes to better serve the PM community, the changes have been enabled by the introduction of a range of subsidiary Boards reporting to the Trustees. This move allows many more members to take an active part in the running of the Association's affairs. Board applicants are screened by the Nominations Committee to ensure best use is made of the talent on offer.
Dr Martin Barnes continues as President while Vice Presidents Donald Heath OBE and Miles Shepherd stand down along with Chairman Tom Taylor and the existing Council members.
The new governance structure replaces the existing two-tier Executive Board and Council ensuring that APM is able to deliver its objectives in an efficient manner whilst retaining the principle of being a member orientated organisation. Additional information about APM can be found at http://www.apm.org.uk/.
Reported by Miles Shepherd in London.
Portfolio Management and People Skills Discussed at II Annual Project Management Meeting in Minas Gerais, Brazil
The high quality of presentations was one of the strengths of the II Annual Project Management Meeting, an event promoted by Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-MG), that took place on November 27th and 28th. With more than 450 attendees, the event easily met all expectations of the audience. This was the second largest project management conference in Latin America in 2006, demonstrating the continued growth of the project management profession in Brazil.
Portfolio Management, an approach to manage multiple projects in a coordinated way, was one of the most discussed topics, demonstrating that currently the public is demanding a higher level of knowledge, beyond the basics of Project Management that used to catch attention in the near past.
The other topic also well covered at the Meeting was People Management, highlighting the "people skills" that every project manager should master to better manage their endeavors. It is noticeable how leadership, negotiation and conflict resolution, examples of people skills, are important for a professional to deal with the day-by-day challenges of project management.
Mr. Ricardo Vargas, former president of PMI Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter and currently one of the members of PMI Board, gifted the audience opening the meeting.
An international speaker, Mr. Charles Bosler, chair of the PMI Risk SIG, a special global group that promoted discussions about risk management in projects, was also present at the event.
A touching presentation closed the meeting: Mr. Rodrigo Raineri, alpinist, told his story about the mission to scale Mt. Everest without oxygen aid, mentioning that his decision to stop and go down when he was already 8,200 meters high saved his life. Unfortunately, his partner did not take the same decision reaching the top but succumbed when returning. Mr. Raineri has demonstrated that it is not enough to have great communication skills, courage, leadership, ability to negotiate and manage risks. It is also crucial to be aware of the limits imposed by the nature and each one's body.
At the end of the conference, two of the founders of the PMI-MG Chapter, Mr. Antonio José Soares, current president, and Mr. Gilberto Filho, current vice-president, received an unexpected reverence.
More information about the meeting can be found at: http://www.pmimg.org.br/geral/encontro_anual/evento.asp
Photos of the meeting can be found at:
http://www.pmimg.org.br/fotos/II_encontro_gp/2006_11_27/index.html.
More information about PMI® Minas Gerais, Brazil Chapter are available at: http://www.pmimg.org.br
With 220,000+ members in over 150 countries, PMI is the world’s largest and best known project management professional society. PMI is actively engaged in advocacy for the PM profession, setting standards, conducting research and providing access to a wide variety of information and resources. PMI also promotes career and professional development and offers certification, networking and community involvement opportunities. PMI was founded in the USA in 1969, but is now a global organization with members, chapters and offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.pmi.org.
Reported by Alcides Santopietro in Brazil.