APM Scotland branch Project Management Challenge 2016/17

The Scotland Project Management Challenge (SPMC) is an annual competition for developing project management professionals. Teams from organisations and universities deliver a project to the benefit of their chosen charity. This is the 7th SPMC and will be run from November 2016 to March 2017.

The SPMC aims to improve the competitors’ project management skills in a real-life environment with the support of a mentor, while at the same time helping local charities and raising the profile of the project management profession. The challenge is run over a number of months and culminates in a prestigious finals night.

Objectives and Benefits

The key objectives of the competition are:

• Individual – Improve project management skills and experience within the competing teams;
• APM – Assist early project management practitioners in gaining the necessary skills, experience and networks to achieve the APM Strategy 2020;
• Charities – The chosen team charities benefit from increased profile and fundraising.

Additional benefits include:

• An excellent opportunity to develop and practice professional competences associated with project management in a realistic environment from concept to completion;
• An opportunity to be mentored and work alongside experienced project professionals;
• Gain real-life project experience and practice a wide range of competences and skills to deliver a solution;
• Develop knowledge of the success criteria and qualities required to deliver a successful project;
• Develop a better understanding of the personal qualities required to become an effective project manager and leader;
• An opportunity to compete and gauge your performance against other aspiring project professionals in the Scotland region;
• An opportunity to enhance the project management learning experience within the corporate and further education environments (Continual Professional Development);
•  A high-visibility example of successful project management delivery and implementation which should provide beneficial publicity for the corporate team sponsors.

This is also an excellent way to develop and practice your project management skills in a real project environment. It is also a unique addition to your CV.

Project Theme
 
The theme for this year’s SPMC is ‘innovation while benefiting a charitable organisation or community based project.’ 

Participating teams are expected to define, plan and deliver a project that demonstrates creativity and ingenuity while benefiting their selected charity or community based project. The benefit is usually in the form of fundraising, but can take other forms. The project must show adherence to project management best practices in line with APM project management principles. The teams that make it to the final will be invited to present their experiences to fellow project professionals at a fun and enjoyable night in Aberdeen.

What previous teams had to say

“Personally, I found it to be an extremely worthwhile challenge that expanded my knowledge of project management and helped me to work better within a team of people who I had never previously met. Most importantly it is a massive sense of accomplishment to know that our hard work has led to improving the life of someone else.” Wood Group PSN, winners of PM Challenge 2014-2015

"Participating in the APM challenge was incredible and gave us invaluable project management experience. It gave us an opportunity to apply our theoretical knowledge which we gained from our MSc Project Management course at Robert Gordons University.” Ladies in Red, winners of PM Challenge 2013-2014.

Included as attachments are Team Entry Form, PM Challenge Sponsorship Form and PM Challenge Guidance notes