CIOB qualification targets project delays

The CIOB is launching a suite of three new qualifications in project time management, in an attempt to tackle the industry’s ongoing problem with project delays.

The entry-level Project Time Management Certificate (PTMC) is open to all industry professionals, while the forthcoming PTM Practitioner and PTM Specialist credentials would first require membership of the CIOB. Holding the new PTMC qualification could also offer partial exemption from MCIOB candidates as part of an assessment of their experience.

The PTMC qualification is aimed at new entrants to planning and scheduling, as well as experienced project managers, consultants and contractors, and involves a 12-month programme of study followed by an exam.

David Tyerman, managing director of Athena Project Services, which is delivering the course on behalf of the CIOB, said: “The problem with time management as a discipline is there’s no governance or professional body that an employer can go to to ascertain whether an employee or a potential employee is good, bad or indifferent. The CIOB said let’s be more rigorous about it and put that governance and credential structure in place.”

The PTMC course comprises 28 modules, divided into three areas: creating a system for effective project time management; putting procedures in place to develop that system; and management and communication of the system.

The first students on Athena’s online training course begin next Monday, but the plan is to also offer conventional courses in city centre venues or bespoke in-house courses for companies, depending on interest.

The online course is designed to be self-paced, collaborative and interactive, utilising a combination of video, course work, students’ forums, online chat and group sessions.

“Our main aim was to open up the course to users worldwide and ensure that students engage with the programme in an interactive way. Training modules will be delivered in e-meetings where students can connect and can post questions,” said Tyerman.

Each student will also be assigned an industry expert as a mentor within the online environment to monitor and evaluate their coursework.

Enrolment on the online course costs £495 for 12 months’ access, while the exam fee is £100.

“There’s really nothing like this course available and we’d love to start turning over students on a regular basis,” concludes Tyerman.

The qualification represents the culmination of a five-year CIOB campaign to raise standards of education and training in time management.

Research carried out by the CIOB in 2008 found that 67% of complex building projects were late, with 13% of those delayed by over three months and 18% over six months. In 2011, publication of the Guide to Good Practice in the Management of Time in Complex Projects set down the process and standards to be achieved in preparing and managing a time model.