As the main sponsor, Procept is pleased to announce the official dates for the 6^th PM Paper Competition. The annual event will be hosted at the University of Toronto and is open to post-secondary students across Canada in the academic category and those working in the PM profession, each in two distinct categories.

The first round of the competition sees participants submitting papers on the lessons learned from real-world projects. Guidelines and entry requirements are posted online at www.PMPaperCompetition.com. The submission deadline for the application forms and papers to the first round of judging is midnight (Toronto time) July 1st, 2016.

Finalists passing the first round of judging will be asked to give a short presentation on their papers in front of an audience and panel of judges to select the winners in each category. Presentations and final judging will be on Saturday, September 10, 2016. All finalists receive cash and other prizes, while winners receive an additional cash prize and bragging rights. Visit the PM Paper Competition web site for up-to-date news and details.

PM Paper Competition Official Website

In celebration of the new year, Procept is releasing a series of free instructional videos teaching topics from the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) from the IIBA and the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) from the PMI.

There will be ten new videos in the series, featuring Procept associate Jonathan Nituch. The videos will be released on Procept’s YouTube channel early in 2016. The videos will also be featured in the “BA Resources” section of Procept’s new training site to be launched in January 2016.

Go to Procept’s YouTube Channel

Responding to growing customer demand for consulting services related to the various functions of a project management office (PMO), Procept is launching a new PMO practice in January 2016. Under thew new practice, Procept will pull together all of its PMO-related training and consulting offerings.

Leading this new practice is a new Procept associate, Rose-Marie Yee, who will be drawing on over 25 years of expertise with IBM where she was responsible for developing and running large PMOs in its IBM Global Services line of business. Rose-Marie will be responsible for refining and building out our strategy for this new practice and for leading the teams we already have working on various PMO-related offerings, such as our PMO-In-A-Box offering containing a process library, templates, and tools that can be licensed by clients looking to establish (or formalize) a PMO in their organization.

Stay tuned for more upcoming announcements in early 2016 related to this exciting development.

View Rose-Marie's Bio

Procept is pleased to announce that it has released a number of educational videos from its archives to be available publicly on YouTube.com. The videos were created by Procept between 2008 and 2011 and cover both project management and business analysis topics.

The titles of the videos are:

• Back to Basics: Project Management and Business Analysis — Procept associate Janice Petley explains the similarities and differences between project management and business analysis activities within an organization.
   
• Procept's Certificate in Project Scheduling and Controls — A recording of a 30 September 2009 webinar wherein Procept associate Darya Duma discusses the newly announced Procept Certificate in Project Scheduling and Controls.
   
• Procept's Certificate in Business Analysis — A recording of a 28 September 2009 webinar by Procept associate Terry Aldebert on the business analysis career and certification options including Procept's Certificate in Business Analysis.
   

To view the videos, please visit Procept's YouTube channel by clicking on the button below.

View Procept's YouTube Channel

Below are Procept's business hours for the upcoming holiday season.

Procept opens up again for regular business hours starting on Monday, January 4, 2016.

Procept is pleased to announce that Katherine Maddox from the Canadian Red Cross is the winner of our draw at the 2015 Association for Fundraising Professionals Conference in Toronto. As the draw winner, Katherine receives an Amazon Kindle.

From all of us at Procept, congratulations, Katherine!

Procept Associates Ltd. announced today that it is now supporting the GPM Alliance for Sustainability in Project Management.

The GPM Sustainability Alliance is a platform for project management organizations, associations, communities of practice, and other groups to pledge their support to advance sustainability in project management. This green project management initiative is a member of the UN Global Compact who has put in place a policy framework for the development, implementation and disclosure of sustainability principles and practices, related human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. The U.N. officially launched their sustainable development goals on 25 September 2015. The GPM Sustainability Alliance applies this UN framework within a project management context. More details on this initiative are available at http://www.greenprojectmanagement.org/affiliated-organizations/support-sustainability-in-project-management

In support of the UN Global Compact, we support the following ten principles:

• Human Rights (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
  
  • Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
  • Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
• Labour (The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work)
  
  • Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
  • Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
  • Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
  • Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
• Environment (The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development)
  
  • Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
  • Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
  • Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
• Anti-Corruption (The United Nations Convention Against Corruption)
  
  • Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

  

Sustainability is now included in IPMA's International Competence Baseline v4, released in early October 2015.  PMI's PMBoK Guide only mentions sustainability vaguely in one place in the book, but expectations are that the next edition will have a more pronounced treatment of sustainability. 

Procept will be incorporating sustainability materials into our project management training in early 2016.

Procept Associate Kevin Aguanno is offering a FREE one-hour webinar to anyone who wishes to register on PMI's new PDU reporting requirements and processes.

On December 1, 2015 the Project Management Institute (PMI) changed the way that project managers must accumulate and claim professional development units (PDUs) for recertification. The new model encourages a more well-rounded view of project management knowledge and skills by having project managers claim PDUs in three separate areas, with new ways of earning PDUs. In addition, PMI has introduced restrictions on how many PDUs you need to collect at a minimum in each category.

Claiming PDUs has always been an administrative chore that few looked forwards to; however, with the confusion caused by the new model, project managers are concerned about how the new process works. Join project management expert Kevin Aguanno as he explains the new PMI Talent Triangle model, the new minimum requirements for PDUs in various categories, the new ways of earning PDUs, and how a project manager should go about claiming them in the new model.

More information and a sign-up form are available by clicking the button below.

Register Online

At the 2015 Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) annual conference, Procept announced that its Project Management for Festivals, Events & Conferences course has been accredited by CFRE International for individuals seeking Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) certification or recertification. Find out more about this in the video below.

CFRE International has named Procept as an Approved Provider for Continuing Education. CFRE International manages the Certified Fundraising Executive program worldwide. Certification candidates would be able to earn 14 points towards initial certification or recertification for taking our Project Management Essentials for Festivals, Events & Hospitality course.

Procept plans on introducing other courses in 2016 aimed at providing additional management training to the fundraising professional community.  Procept Associate Janice Petley has extensive experience in the non-profit sector and is translating that experience into a richer curriculum of courses.  Stay tuned to www.procept.com for details on these new courses as they emerge.

Visit Procept's booth on November 23-24, 2015 at the Association for Fundraising Professionals annual conference in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.