Primavera P6 Certification Explained [Video]

After so many questions about how to get certified on Primavera P6 and the confusion around Oracle certification exams, Michael has decided to clear things up with an explanation of Primavera P6 certification for users of the tool. Michael answers the following questions in this Ask Plan Academy video:

• How do I get certified on Primavera P6?
• What’s the difference between a certification and earning a certificate?
• What is the Oracle exam 1Z0-567 all about?

Transcript

Hey Project people! Welcome back to Plan Academy studios, to another Ask Plan Academy.

So today we’re going to dispel some myths and clarify some confusing information. What’s our topic? It is, Primavera Certifications.

So how do you get certified in the use of Primavera P6? Great question. I get this question all the time. Well, let’s talk first about training and understanding the difference. What is a certification, what is a certificate.

So, certifications are handed down by organizations that set standards and come up with a standardized process. So for example, you guys all know about Project Management Institute. They’re an organization that comes up with these standards for project management, they put together an exam and they said if you follow these standards, and pass the exam you are certified; you know how to implement the standards.

What is the difference in the software world?

Well, we actually don’t have that in the software world. Hold on. It’s not to say that you can’t get certified in some software packages. Packages like Microsoft Project I’m pretty sure you can go and get a Ninjutsu exam and become a Microsoft Project Ninja and stuff like that. So Microsoft has gone through that process where they created some standard and they said in order for people to get the standards they would have to pass this exam.

But, in Primavera, we do not have that. Oracle has not come up with “Here are the standards and here’s the proper way to use the tool,” do the exam and become “Certified” in Primavera P6.

I know all of you guys are saying, “Rats! I thought we had that.”

No we don’t.

So what do we have? Here’s what we’re talking about, we’re talking about certification versus a certificate. In this world, we have certificates, and there are organizations out there that do training, organizations like Plan Academy and many others around the globe that do training on Primavera P6.

The best we can offer you is a training certificate on Primavera P6. That certificate says that you took the course, and you passed the course, and you have the knowledge to use the tool.

So if I’m in this Primavera P6 world, what do I do? Well yes, go and get training, go and get a training certificate – come to Plan Academy, do our training. Get a training certificate that says to your employers you have been trained on how to use the tool properly.

Here’s the myth and here the confusion I want to dispel. What is this course that I’v see when I Google Primavera P6 certification? It’s a course about Primavera 8, version 8 and it has got this number, 1Z0 – 567.

That is not a course for you.
That is a course for IT consultants. It comes up in Google searches all the time. This is a course to become a certified implementation consultant. That’s for people like me who help companies install the software and load it up and do all the computer IT things. That’s not for users.

So I want to be crystal clear because a lot of people ask me, how do I prepare for this exam?

And I’m pretty sure that’s not the exam you want to take.

So what do you do? You keep taking training, you keep getting involved in organizations like the AACE, organizations like PMI who are doing standardized things in project management.

I hope that clarifies everything in terms of certificates and certifications and I wish you the best of luck out there.