asapm Competence Model Release 3.0, December 2005

Purpose
One way the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management (that's us) plans to advance the state of the Project Management practice is to move Project Manager education and learning opportunities beyond simple knowledge transfer and into Competence. The asapm Competence Model, together with our Education, Certification and Standards programs, will help us accomplish that.

Release 3.0 asapm Competence Model Is Now Available
Release 2.0 of the asapm Competence Model has been available for over a year now, and it is one of this site's most popular downloads. Now we have released an update, based on our now-completed USA National Competence Baseline. The new release contains criteria mapped to the elements of project stakeholder competence, and covers the range of our 4-Level Competence-based certification program, plus Project Sponsors, Resource Managers, and Project or Program Office participants.

Free licenses for CompModel 3.0 are available to asapm members and website guests. To skip this descriptive and background information and jump to the page to request your download, click here.

The CompModel Parts
PM CompModel: A database application that contains the model, and helps you assess and report your stakeholders’ Competence strengths and gaps.

The Competence Model : A structured list of the minimum Competences that Project Managers and key stakeholders must demonstrate—with the target knowledge and Competence levels for each:

• Project Sponsor
• Projects Director (IPMA Level A®)
• Resource Manager
• Project or Program Office Manager
• Senior Project Manager (IPMA Level B®)
• Project Manager (IPMA Level C®) and
• Project Practitioner (IPMA Level D®)

The Uses
Depending on your requirements, different audiences can use CompModel for many purposes.

Individual uses

• As a job-seeker, provide a summary of your PM Competences; use it as a differentiator in interviews.
• As a Project Manager, Team Leader or project participant, assess your strengths and weaknesses for professional development planning, both for your current role, and for advancement opportunities.
• As a Project Manager with a current knowledge-based certification, evaluate where you should focus your efforts to further advance your skills and Competences.
• Evaluate your readiness to apply for the appropriate Project Manager level in our new IPMA-based 4-Level Certification Program.

Organizational uses

• As a Project Manager, evaluate the stakeholders of your team to find "your weakest link", expose gaps, reduce risk, and improve project performance.
• As a Resource Manager or Training Manager, identify the gaps most in need of filling, and those staff members who demonstrate strengths you can use for coaching others.
• As a Project Sponsor or Executive in a Project-oriented enterprise, to assess your project teams, workgroups or organization to determine strengths to leverage, and opportunities for improvement.
• Assess your Project Management Office, to assure best use of your greatest strengths.

PM Vendor uses

• As an independent Project Management consultant, map your products and services to asapm's CompModel. In this way you can show savvy customers how you provide true value-added and differentiating services, and sell more of your gap-filling products, and services.
• As a Project Management Learning or Training Vendor, map your curriculum to the USA's National Competence Baseline. License the Pro version and show how your workshops or modules deliver each needed element of competence. Use CompModel with your customers to help them see the best return on their PM training budget. This will be increasingly important as asapm’s competence-based PM Certification creates awareness and demand for Competence-building.

Are You Ready for CompModel?