Gapps Analysis

IPMA’s 4 Level Certification System in Project Management has been rated higher, compared to all its other global counterparts, both on Content coverage and rigor of Assessment. The Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS) is a not for profit independent institution, based in Australia and a globally well known institution in the field of project management, which published a report on standards and benchmarking of various certification systems and methodology.

GAPPS carried out a study of the elements which are necessary for project managers. During their study, they identified 64 elements which are of importance for project managers. Based on these 64 elements, they carried out a detailed benchmarking of the various project management certifications. Based on the IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB ver. 3.0) and the PMBOK® Guide 2008, they found that IPMA Competence Baseline (ICB ver. 3.0) covers 62.5 elements out of the 64 elements whereas the PMBOK® Guide 2008 covers only 45 elements. As per GAPPS, IPMA got 98% rating while the PMBOK® Guide got 70% rating. This reflects the high standard of competence in IPMA. It may be mentioned here that ICB is used for the IPMA Levels A, B, C & D certifications and PMBOK® Guide for the PMP® Certification of the Project Management Institute (PMI). Similarly in their index for Robustness of Assessment, IPMA Certification Levels score higher than any of the international counterparts like PMP certification and Prince2 certification.