Scheduling is the part of the planning phase where managers and leaders have to assign time limits to different tasks. These time limits are decided upon after carefully planning the entire production procedure. The schedulers communicate with the teams, understand their domains and their problems, and design the project schedule accordingly. This is very important because, without a schedule, a project is bound to stray away into unnecessary and rogue activities. This not only kills time but also increases the costs. In the end, the product is not completed in time and is not delivered when the customer is supposed to get it. Companies stress on effective scheduling to satisfy their customers and improve their product quality.
Risk management, on the other hand, is the process through which employees assess the various operations of the project. The assessment includes many statistical and analytical tasks that point out potential risks that can harm the production in the end. These risks include cost inefficiency, unnecessary activities, mobility problems, and labor issues. Therefore, stakeholders and employers recruit risk management professionals to realize these hidden problems and make adequate suggestions to help eliminate them. This is an important job because most of the problems are anomalies that are not always obvious to untrained officials. Only professionals have the skills to conduct these tests and checks perfectly.
In this article, we will discuss the differences between the respective certification programs of both these jobs, the PMI Scheduling Professional (SP) and PMI Risk Management Professional (RMP).
OVERVIEW
The PMI SP caters to individuals who want to get into scheduling jobs in the project management industry. There is a huge demand for individuals who are skilled at making the perfect schedule. They should be able to strategize the entire process, plan the procedure, communicate with the team, and control the schedule. Similarly, PMI RMP is suited to individuals who have the knowledge to conduct risk analysis using statistical methods. They should understand the consequences of each analytical result, report them to the employers, and suggest to them business strategies deal with the problem. Both the certification programs serve as industry standards for quality employees in their respective jobs. Each program has its own requirements, tests, and suitable employment prospects.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
In order to apply for PMI SP, candidates have to fulfill some educational qualifications and work experience requirements. For high school graduates, the necessary work experience is about 40 months. They should also account for 40 hours of professional training. For university graduates, the work experience should be a minimum of 28 months, and they should have trained for 30 hours.
To apply for PMI RMP, candidates with high school degrees should have three years of work experience and 40 hours of training. University graduates have it better with the minimum experience requirement being two years and education requirement being 30 hours. Candidates can be trained from registered online sources or individual instructors. However, self-study does not count.
EXAM CONTENT
The test content for both certifications also differs. Each exam addresses the different aspects of the respective job. The PMI SP test checks the candidate’s knowledge regarding strategizing and planning the whole process. It also checks how well the individuals are able to control the schedule progress and close the schedule in the end. They should also have good communicative and networking skills. PMI RMP checks how well candidates can get the employers involved in a project along with proper planning. They must report all their findings to the administration. These employees are responsible for extremely specialized analytical techniques that no other employee with different qualifications can perform.
JOB PROSPECTS
PMI SP allows candidates to get into scheduling jobs. Master schedulers are the most efficient among these certified individuals and take care of very important projects, programs, and portfolios. Control managers are also good planners who can make the perfect timeframes for every production process. PMI RMP, on the other hand, gets individuals to access jobs such as Chief Risk Officer, Risk Analysts, Operations Risk Analyst, and Market Operations Manager. Some of these are pretty generic and are seen in any project team. However, certain industries demand project roles that are specialized and have the requisite domain knowledge, such as RMPs working in market analysis.
Whether you apply for PMI SP Certification or PMI RMP Certification depends on your priorities. Both jobs are integral components of project management, and it is important that both employees work in their respective projects perfectly. PMI’s certification serves as an industry-standard in both careers, which is why candidates prefer them over other alternatives. Candidates with better strategic and communication skills should apply for SP, while those with better analytical and reporting skills should apply for RMP.
