You’ve managed multiple projects that you want to include in your PMP® application, but you are having trouble keeping your thoughts organized. The solution: create a PMP® Application Worksheet in excel. Here’s how you can do so in excel step-by-step.
Step 1) Open a new excel document and list the project name, start and end dates, and process groups as headers. It should look like the following:
Step 2) Underneath the column “Project Title,” write down all the projects you’ve managed. Try to write your projects in a chronological order as much as you can. In this example, we are just going to keep things simple and call the project 1, 2, 3, etc.
Step 3) Create new tabs equal to the number of projects you have listed. For example, if you have 10 projects, create 10 new tabs. When you are done, it should look like this:
Step 4) Populate the ‘Start Date’ and ‘End Date’ columns. Make sure that the cells are in a Date format. To check, you can right click on the cell, then select ‘Format Cells’ and choose ‘Date’. When you are finished, your spreadsheet should now look like this:
Step 5) To calculate the months of experience you have, find your minimum start date and your maximum end date. Then, subtract the two dates and divide by 30. You want to divide by 30 because there are roughly 30 days in a month.
If you have an university degree or equivalent, you need a minimum of 3 years of experience, or 36 months, to qualify for the PMP®.
Note: If you are managing multiple projects at the same time, PMI does not double count the time. For example, if you ran Project 1 from Jan 1, 2014 to Aug 1, 2014 and you ran Project 2 from Feb 1, 2014 to May 1, 2014, PMI counts this as 8 months of work experience (not 8+3=11 months!) because Project 2 happened within the time frame of Project 1.
Step 6) Fill in the number of hours you’ve spent on each project across each of the 5 Process Groups. Then, sum up your hours across each project, and sum up your hours across each process group. After you’ve finished this step, you are done with the summary tab!
Note: You need at least 4500 hours to qualify for the PMP® exam!
Step 7) For each project you’ve listed, you need to create a new tab (we did this in step 3) and populate some important information about that project.
Go to the ‘Project 1’ tab, and create a form that looks like the following:
The good news is that once you’ve created this form, you can reuse it for all your subsequent projects.
Step 8) Before submitting your application, reach out to all of your organization contact. You want to tell them 1) how many hours you put down for each process group, and 2) your description of the project. Make sure your contact agrees with your estimates because you will be in big trouble if s/he refuses to sign off on your documentation during an audit.
Step 9) Write a brief description summarizing the project. This is generally the hardest section for students because reducing years of experience down to just 550 characters is not easy.
To help you write the description, look at the summary of tasks within each process group. This will give you an idea for the type of activities PMI is looking for on your application. Here’s a summary to help you get started:
| Initiating | Develop project charter; Identify risks, assumptions and constraints; Identify stakeholders, Define high-level scope; Perform project assessment |
| Planning | Present project plan to stakeholders; Develop project schedule, budget, and other management plans; Develop WBS; Define scope; Prepare project plans |
| Executing | Communicate with stakeholders; Implement approved changes; Execute tasks defined in the project plan; Obtain and manage resources |
| Monitoring & Controlling | Assess results of corrective action; Ensure quality standards are met; Manage changes to scope, schedule, and budget; Measure project performance |
| Closing | Archive documents; Measure customer satisfaction; Obtain administrative closure; Document lessons learned; Obtain final acceptance of deliverables |
Click here for more PMP® Application Project Description examples.
Step 10) Repeat steps 7-9 for all of your other projects.
Step 11) Once you are done, copy and paste your information to your actual PMP® Application on the PMI website.
Now you are done! Leave a comment to share your application experience.
All ExamsPM students get a copy of this PMP® Application Worksheet when they enroll.
Click here for the full guide on how to fill in your PMP® application.
If you’ve been selected for an audit, read “How to Successfully Pass a PMI Audit”