Appendix A

Looking into MSP Qualifications

If reading MSP For Dummies gives you the programme management bug (no nasty spots, I promise), you may want to take some of the MSP exams. Here I provide the basic structure of the MSP exam system as well as a few tips on the purpose of the exams and how to tackle them.

Examining the Exam Format and Sequence

You can take three MSP examinations:

• Foundation
• Practitioner
• Advanced Practitioner

You need to pass the exams in sequence: that is, you have to pass the Foundation exam before you can sit the Practitioner exam and pass the Practitioner exam before you can pass the Advanced Practitioner exam. If you read that sentence carefully, and I'm sure you always do, you can see a slight difference in what I say about this sequence (I imply that you can sit the Advanced Practitioner before passing the Practitioner).

When you sit the Foundation exam, it's marked immediately. So you can sit the Foundation exam, take a break for an hour or so, and then sit the Practitioner exam.

The Practitioner exam may also be marked immediately, or you may have to wait a few weeks. You can sit the Practitioner exam and then immediately afterwards sit the Advanced Practitioner exam. But if later marking reveals that you failed your Practitioner, your Advanced Practitioner exam is put in abeyance until you pass the Practitioner exam at another attempt.

An increasingly diverse range of options exist for sitting the exams. Any list I give here would probably be out of date before you read this book. Suffice it to say that you can sit the exams as part of face-to-face training, as part of e-learning, at an open centre or by arrangement with an accredited training organization such as AFA, run by yours truly (www.AFAprojects.com).

Facing the Foundation Examination

The purpose of this qualification is to confirm that you have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the MSP guidance in order to carry out various roles in a programme. For example, you may want to interact with those involved in the management of a programme or act as an informed member of the team working within an MSP environment ‒ perhaps in a Programme Office, a business change team or project delivery team.

In other words, the Foundation exam tests that you know the MSP vocabulary. If you attend a course, you receive instruction in this aspect so that you can understand the jargon sufficiently to speak fluent MSP. After you read this book thoroughly, you should be able to speak MSP well enough to pass the Foundation examination; a course may be unnecessary.

Understanding the exam

Here are some key points about the Foundation examination:

• It tests general understanding of the basics of MSP.
• It's for people who intend to work within a programme environment.
• It's the starting point for higher-level MSP qualifications.
• It contains 75 multiple-choice questions that cover all 11 areas of the MSP foundation syllabus. Each of those syllabus areas is then broken into about a dozen syllabus topics
• It lasts for 1 hour and is a closed-book examination.
• Its pass mark is 50 per cent.
• It features one question per topic. So, for example, one topic is the definition of a programme.

The questions are pretty straightforward. A typical question may be:

• Who's ultimately accountable for the programme?
  • Senior Responsible Owner
  • Programme Manager
  • Business Change Manager

(I hope you chose the Senior Responsible Owner!)

Appraising the exam's value

The questions test knowledge, or basic understanding, at quite a detailed level. If you have a grasp of the big picture of MSP, you can often deduce the answers. But quite often you can practise for the exam by just remembering some detailed MSP facts.

I think the Foundation exam is pretty straightforward, and most people do pass it, if they concentrate for a little while. Pass rates are extremely high, which means that it doesn't really reveal the level of your understanding of programme management; it just shows that you have an interest.

Preparing for the Practitioner Examination

The Practitioner exam is for people who are going to take a more substantial role within a programme. As well as being able to speak the language (which the Foundation exam tests; see the preceding section), such people need to understand how the different parts of programme management fit together.

Understanding the exam

The Practitioner exam:

• Tests for a thorough understanding of the principles and theory in the MSP manual.
• Is for people coming into programme management.
• Is a stepping stone up from concepts that are tested in the Foundation exam.
• Contains eight objectively marked questions, each 10 line items long. Oh, sorry about the educational jargon. Objectively marked just means there can only be one right answer to each question (no subjectivity needed). To you and me, each of those line items looks like a mini-question.
• It lasts for 150 minutes and is an open-book examination (you can take in an MSP manual, but not a book such as MSP For Dummies or anything else).
• Its pass mark is 50 per cent.

Appraising the exam's value

A typical Practitioner exam question may ask you to match characters described in a scenario to possible roles, or perhaps tie up pieces of information about a scenario to individual sections in a document.

The MSP manual probably contains some detail that I don't cover in MSP For Dummies, but which you need for the Practitioner exam. I've never heard of anyone passing a Practitioner exam without having an MSP manual with them during the exam. So if you want to sit the Practitioner, I'm afraid you're going to have to buy or borrow an MSP manual. (Also, make sure you have a good supply of strong coffee to hand, because, although it's a really good reference manual, it's not the most riveting read.)

Detail is the key to passing the Practitioner exam. You're being tested about precise and detailed information from the manual. Although you're applying it to a scenario, you're not applying your real-world experience, however. You're just showing that you know how the manual is put together.

Most people find the Practitioner exam pretty hard work. It's over two hours of focused cross-referencing between a scenario and different parts of the MSP manual. If you have the sort of mind that can concentrate and assimilate a fair amount of information, you should be able to get through, even without experience of programme management. But some people do find the exam a bit of a hurdle.

About two thirds of people who sit the Practitioner pass it first time, so in the real world it shows that you've got your mind round the theory of MSP. But it doesn't necessarily indicate any experience.

Considering the Advanced Practitioner Examination

The Advanced Practitioner exam is how you demonstrate that you've been working in programmes and you have opinions about how programme management works (or should work).

Understanding the exam

The Advanced Practitioner examination:

• Tests excellent understanding of the MSP manual and its practical application.
• Is for people who've worked in programme management.
• Features one compulsory, complex scenario.
• Contains up to three compulsory essay-style questions, each of two or more parts.
• Lasts for 180 minutes and is a completely open-book examination (as with the Practitioner exam, you can take in an MSP manual and also a book such as MSP For Dummies or anything else).
• Has a pass mark of 50 per cent.
• Also features additional material. You have a chance to look at the scenario before the exam. But then they slip in a black swan like the programme budget has been cut in half or the timescale is reduced by 50 per cent, just to keep you on your toes.

Alternatively you can write an essay of about 2,000 words, about a programme you've worked on.

Appraising the exam's value

The Advanced Practitioner is an extremely useful qualification. If I were recruiting people to take important roles within a programme, this qualification would indicate to me that someone had experience and had taken some time to pass an examination that demonstrated that experience.

The Advanced Practitioner isn't for the fainthearted. Whether you do the exam in the classroom or complete a paper in your own time, you need to understand MSP thoroughly and have your own views on how it works.

Interestingly, the markers of the Advanced Practitioner don't have a set of answers they're looking for. If you can make a persuasive argument for why, say, quality should be managed by Business Change Managers and not Programme Managers, they read and consider your reasoning. You score marks if your reasoning:

• Starts from a clear understanding of MSP.
• Shows an understanding of the exam scenario or the programme you're describing.
• Makes a persuasive argument.

You need to be highly organized and a master of MSP and the scenario. But that's what I'd expect of someone I was appointing to a programme, so it's a pretty good test.

You may be the sort of person who's sufficiently well organized that you can take an Advanced Practitioner exam, or write the paper, without any guidance. But I think that's unlikely. Most of the people I've coached through the Advanced Practitioner find that they need some help with their writing technique. Very few people write naturally with the level of precision you need for an Advanced Practitioner, against the clock.

For some reason, virtually no one sits the Advanced Practitioner exam; it's not very popular (though trainers and consultants have to sit it). Therefore very few people have the qualification and it's not widely known. That's a real pity. I encourage people to do the Advanced Practitioner exam.

Adding some Advanced Practitioner exam thoughts

Here are my top tips for succeeding at the Advanced Practitioner exam:

• Write your answer in the style of a consultant to a client:
  • Be bold and make recommendations.
  • Show you understand the scenario environment.
• Always argue and support your position.
• Support your opinions with evidence from your experience.
• Remember that your answer is never complete – so ensure that you hit the main points.

Taking the Three Exams on One Course

Theoretically you can sit all three exams on one training course, but in practice doing so is extremely difficult and very few training companies offer this option.

A much more realistic approach is to sit the Foundation and Practitioner on a course and then arrange to do your Advanced Practitioner a little later. You can do this exam on a course or with a little remote coaching. Be clear what you want when you select a training provider:

• Distance or e-learning can get you match-fit for the exams, but may not improve your understanding of MSP. You also need to be pretty disciplined to make sure that you undertake an e-learning course in the right environment. You aren't likely to get on very well if you try and do e-learning while watching TV and eating a pizza (even one packed with brain-power nutrients!).
• A face-to-face course makes sure that you're in one place for a period of time, and so allows you to concentrate on getting the knowledge and understanding you need for the exam.

  But again a word of caution: some training companies offer what's in effect an exam cram. If that's what you want, you'll find it's competitively priced.

• If you want to prepare for the exams and improve your understanding of programme management in discussion with others, the best approach is probably to pay just a little more for a training course.

As with so much in life, caveat emptor (buyer beware): you get what you pay for.