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Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certificate Program with Externship

Program includes National Certification & an Externship Opportunity

The Project Management Professional (PMP®)

Project Management Professionals have a firm understanding of the basic competencies involved in management and oversight, including areas such as effective time management, managing multiple projects simultaneously, scope and estimation of project undertaking and devising a detailed project plan alongside project risk and cost analysis. The program includes training and exam preparation for students to become a Project Management Professional (PMP®) as designated by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The PMP is the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers. Globally recognized and demanded, the PMP demonstrates that individuals have the experience, education and competency to lead and direct people and helps individuals to stand out to employers and maximize their earning potential overall.

The Project Management Professional (PMP®) Program

Guiding a team toward successful project completion can be extremely taxing but also incredibly gratifying for supervisors and managers. More than that, however, juggling multiple projects at once, managing multiple staff and dealing with the individual and collective personalities on the project can be incredibly overwhelming without a fundamental understanding of how to get the most out of your team and really get things done. Valuable programs like the Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI) ensure students are best apt to guide their staff through this challenging process.

Program Objectives


  • Identify the PMI framework, 5 process groups, and 9 bodies of knowledge
  • Use recommended best practice tools, techniques, and processes to plan for Quality, Human Resources, Communication, Risk, and Procurement
  • Explain project execution's relationship to integration management, success & techniques
  • Apply monitoring and control techniques to measure progress and forecast completion
  • Administer the processes for closing a project and completing project procurement
  • Apply the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to specific situations
  • Perform the preparation techniques, including identifying knowledge gaps for exam prep
  • Use Microsoft Office


  • Describe how the type of organizational structure can impact a project
  • Explain the key characteristics of a project and the difference between projects, processes, and programs
  • List the six project constraints that are the most common challenges for project managers
  • Explain where and why stakeholder influences, risk, and uncertainty are at their highest levels in the project life cycle
  • Describe the relationship between the nine knowledge areas a project manager will use during a project and the specific output for each of the five process groups


  • Describe the importance of each component of a project charter
  • List the inputs and outputs of the Identifying Stakeholders process
  • Describe how project management integration management relates to other project management knowledge areas and the project management life cycle
  • Apply the formulas for the following selection methods: Internal return on investment (IRR), net present value (NV), benefit cost ratio (BCR), and payback period
  • Describe eight general accounting concepts that can be used during project selection


  • Explain the difference between core planning processes and facilitating planning processes
  • Describe the components required in the creation of a project management plan
  • Describe the contents, purpose, and components of the scope management plan
  • Describe the purpose of and how to create and use a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
  • Use Time Planning processes, tools, and techniques to schedule the time required to complete a project
  • Describe the uses of each of the estimating methods
  • Use Cost Planning processes, tools, and techniques to estimate the funds required for a successful project
  • Define each of the four cost estimating techniques used to minimize uncertainty of activity cost
  • Identify the inputs, tools, techniques, and outputs of the project budgeting process


  • Describe the tools and techniques used in quality management
  • Describe the importance of prevention and inspection in quality management
  • List the three primary types of cost associated with the cost of quality
  • Identify the relationship between the quality planning processes and their inputs and outputs
  • Explain the difference between quality and grade and precision and accuracy
  • Describe what Crosby, Deming, Juran, and Ishikawa added to the quality management approach
  • Differentiate the purposes of the organizational breakdown structure (OBS), resource breakdown structure, responsibility assignment matrix (RAM), and RACI matrix
  • List the components of a Staffing Management Plan
  • Describe the connection between the Communications Plan and project stakeholders
  • Define why different communication strategies would be used for different organizational situations
  • Create a Risk Management plan using correctly sequenced processes and recommended tools and techniques
  • Describe how to Identify a Project's Most Critical Risks using an Impact/Probability Matrix and Risk Breakdown Structure in order to categorize Project Risk
  • Identify the document that a project manager would use to track project risks, assumptions, and constraints
  • Describe the tools and techniques used for qualitative and quantitative risk analysis and why you would use each one
  • Describe four risk response strategies for negative risks and four strategies for positive risk and why you would use each
  • Describe the work involved in procurement planning, including acquisitions for projects, contents of a procurement management plan, and calculations involved in a make-or-buy analysis
  • Describe the differences between the three variations of the cost reimbursement contracts


  • Describe the tools and techniques used in assuring quality
  • Describe methods for auditing quality requirements and how to use control tools to ensure project quality
  • List the processes that will confirm human resource availability to obtain and assign project team members
  • Explain the sources of power and how these sources can be used to influence people
  • Explain how the theories of Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor relate to key concepts for managing people
  • Identify the tasks performed and the inputs and outputs of communications management
  • Calculate the number of communication channels for a given number of team members
  • Describe the role the project manager has in managing the stakeholder expectations process
  • Describe how the contractor, vendor, and pre-bid conferences are interchangeable
  • Describe the processes that project managers use in order to obtain seller responses, select sellers, and award contracts


  • Explain techniques for integrated project change control and issue escalation
  • Describe how scope is controlled with the use of a scope management plan
  • List the factors that can cause project change and the three scope related documents that must be updated when a scope change request is accepted
  • Name the process and the people who assist in managing changes to project scope
  • Describe three of the major factors used to determine the validity of the project schedule
  • Use the three formulas for calculating Estimate At Completion (EAC) under the appropriate circumstances
  • Use best practice methods for identifying variances and measuring cost and performance
  • Describe the inputs, tools, and techniques used, and outputs of monitoring and controlling project quality
  • Use the bell curve to predict probability using standard deviation
  • Describe the benefits of collecting and distributing performance information, including status reports, progress measurement, and forecasts
  • Describe the utility theory approach to risk management
  • Describe how risk triggers are used during the life cycle of a project
  • Describe the tools and techniques used in the procurement administration process


  • List the steps in closing out an incomplete project and four types of project conclusion
  • Explain how lessons learned can be used for risk identification, best practices, and mitigation strategies in future projects
  • Describe the procurement closing process and the purpose of formal acceptance
  • Describe the tools and techniques used in the contract administration process
  • List the core values in the Project Management Institute (PMI) Code of Professional Conduct
  • Explain the concept of "Conflict of Interest" and what implications it has to understanding fairness
  • Describe strategic readiness assessment and learning methods to improve your ability to complete the PMP certification exam
  • Apply exam tips, tricks, techniques, and activities to prepare for the PMP exam


Education and National Certifications

    • Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP®) Certification
      NOTE: This course satisfies the requisite 35 hours of project management education necessary to sit for the exam.  However, PMI requires candidates for the PMP Exam to meet additional eligibility requirements including: 
      • Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent), plus 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education, OR
      • A 4-year degree, plus 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education

National Certification

Upon successful completion of this Auburn University Project Management Professional PMP® program, students will be prepared to sit for the Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional PMP® exam. Although there is no state approval, state registration or other state requirements for this program, students who complete the Project Management Professional (PMP®) program will be prepared and are eligible to sit for this national certification exam. Students who complete this program can and do sit for the PMI PMP® and Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) national certification exams and are qualified, eligible and prepared to do so. Auburn University works with each student to complete the exam application and register the student to take their national certification exam.

Externship / Hands on Training / Practicum

