TOPIC: Submitting a high number of PDUs at once

Hello,

I would like to share a recent experience submitting a high number of PDUs all at once. I recently completed the Agile PrepCast for PDUs online course, which took me roughly three months to complete. After following the submission instructions, I received an email from PMI the next day requesting for more information to back my claim. I ended up needing to attach the certificate from this course to serve as proof that I had completed the course. The instructions in the article titled: "How do I report PDUs for this course?" has a statement at the end that reads "This is all the information that you need to provide in your claim. You do not need to include a copy of your certificate. The copy will only be required if your claim is selected for audit."

I would actually suggest that the certification is attached when claiming PDUs for this course given the high number of PDUs being claimed. The email from PMI stated the reason for their email requesting more information as follows: "The amount of PDUs claimed require verification. Please provide documentation verifying the hours spent in this activity or the credits advertised."

For the OSP team, I would also perhaps include this as a step in the instructions on how to claim the PDUs for this course and remove the statement at the end that mentions the certificate is only needed if audited. I don't think I got unlucky and I'm the exception, I believe PMI will always require backing documentation when claiming this high number of PDUs. I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thank you,

Daniel,

That is quite surprising! You are the first one to report this situation back to us. In the past, PMI only asked for a certificate, if the number of PDUs claimed was >35, which is why we keep all our PDU courses at around 30 PDUs maximum so that this would not happen.

There are two explanations: PMI has lowered the threshold, or you were indeed unlucky and were randomly picked for an audit. At this time - because you are the first and only person to report this back to us - it is more likely the audit scenario. However, I will of course keep an eye on this and make appropriate changes if this is indeed PMI's new process.

One final thought: Even if you wanted to, you cannot actually attach the certificate to your original claim. As far as I can see, when claiming PDUs for an online/webinar/podcast, there is no "attach" option.

Hi Cornelius,

It was actually rather strange because you are correct, there was no option to attach any documents in that category. However, after I received the email from PMI the next day asking for more information, I was able to go back to my submission in my PMI Dashboard and edit my submission. At that time there was a field to attach documents, so I ended up attaching my PDF certificate that I received at the end of the course. Once the submission status changed to "In Review," I was no longer able to edit the submission. They mentioned it would take up to 10 business days to complete de the review from the time I submitted the certificate, and they only give you 3 days from your original submission to submit the supporting documents. I apologized and asked for an exception because I ended up replying directly to the email from PMI with the attachment, and after 5 days of not hearing back I realized the email from PMI is a DoNotReply email, so I read the steps carefully and realized they wanted me to submit the document directly in the dashboard. I'd be curious to hear what others are experiencing. Thank you for your response!

Regards,

Daniel and Cornelius:

I have my own peripherally related story about the PMI Dashboard: The system will not allow you to input future dates in the "Work as a practitioner." For example, if I want to claim a year of work (or three years of work), I need to wait until after the date is past. So, effectively I will not be able to claim the last full year of work until after my certification cycle closes!

My other professional certification allows you to input your entire work period on the first day of the renewal cycle, which I find is much more efficient. My previous PMP reporting period allowed for this practice also, but no longer.

Cornelius - if you have PMI's ear about things, you might want to mention this. Sometimes I think PMI is run by a bunch of people that just don't think through the unintended consequences of their actions.

My 2-cents. That and another 148 cents will get you a small coffee at McDonalds!

Harry

Quick update on this topic:
I received another email from PMI again today (almost 3 weeks after my initial submission), letting me know that my PDUs were approved. I hope this is just a one off, but I'll keep my eyes open in case I see similar experiences submitting a large number of PDUs.

I had the same thing happen to me today when submitting the 30 PDU package. I did not attach my certificate but instead the spreadsheet breakdown of the 30 PDUs. After seeing this topic, I tried to go back and also attach my certificate but was unable to. I will keep you posted on if PMI approves my claim.

Hi Amy,

You can either wait for PMI to come back with an answer or you can get ahead of it and contact them to inquire how you can submit the certificate. I don't think they will accept the spreadsheet since it is not a proof of you completing the course. The spreadsheet can be submitted by anyone who has access to it, but the certificate only gets generated for you specifically after completing the course. That is the real proof they will be looking for in my opinion.

PMI has a very helpful support team, and you can even chat with them to ask about this using the reference number of your submission. Please return to this forum to let us know the steps you take and the outcome.

Thank you,

I followed your advice and reached out to them. They had me email my certificate, which I did last night. My PDUs were approved overnight. Thanks again!

Hi Amy,

I'm glad I was able to help. It's good to know that I wasn't the only one who experienced this, and indeed PMI might have lowered the total number of PDUs you can submit at once without being asked to show proof.

I had a similar experience the last day as I went through to submit my PDUs for a cycle; I entered a few different PDU categories and had three flagged for more information - even the giving back category/mentorship. I included some of the working documents and certificate for one 30 hour course but was surprised to have them coming up flagged for more information. Fingers crossed they get approved in the next day - it's not a very useful feedback cycle, no comment on what supplement data/support information or information. Hoping for the best!

Hi Holly,

As long as you have the right evidence for the PDUs you are claiming, then there should really not be any issues. I'm sure your PDUs will get approved. All the best!

Regards,