HOW TO DO THIS...

When you “Take the Test”, click on the relevant option circle; choose the action that BEST or MOST ACCURATELY DESCRIBES how you use or apply each attribute or competency.  Be as realistic as possible in your responses, for the more realistic you are, the more accurate, reliable and precise the SWOT Analysis generated by this instrument will be.

There is no time limt, you can take the assessments in any order and the entire assessment normally takes 45 – 75 minutes then refer to “How the Scoring is done” below to understand the results.

HOW THE QUESTIONS ARE ASKED IN THE TOOL...

Here is a graphic showing two questions from the tool as they relate to "Creating the Logical Relationships & Sequence Activites".  The first question, or competency, being about "Date Constraints" with the second about applying "Leads and Lags".  Across the top you will see the 6 possible options you can chose from to show how you use or apply your ability and competence in these instances:

HOW THE RESULTS ARE COMMUNNICATED...

Here is a sample image showing the self-assessment results for the 15 questions posed in regard to "Managing Project Progress".  The spider chart shows (confidentially) your assessment of your own skills compared to practitioners of similar experience profiles as well as how it compares to the Guild of Project Controls' expectation for you at the various competency levels; Foundation, Competent, Advanced and Expert levels (as documented in the Guild Role Descriptors)...

The above results would show you where you are strong and where you are less-strong.  For example, it indicates that I have:

• Advanced Level capability in questions / areas Q1-Q6 and Q12, and
• Expert Level capability in areas Q7-Q10 and Q14 and Q15
• Competent Level capability in the Q13 area, and
• Preparatory Level capability in the Q11 area 

The benefit being that I know from the assessment report that Q11 and Q13 were...

• Q11 - M09-4 - Assessing and Interpreting Progress Data (Assess Trends Achieved & Performance Analysis) - How the various formulas for both historic and forecasting, analyze the results generated by the relevant formula, and assess what are "good" or "bad" values and interpret what those values are telling us.
• Q13 - M09-5 - Project Performance Forecasting (Check Schedule Accuracy, Assess Milestones & Completion Dates) - How to validate the accuracy of the schedule, and assess progress against interim milestones and completion dates using earned value formulas and be able to propose preventative/corrective actions based on the analysis of float and SPI and other KPI's.

I know that I can then look at the relevant subject matter in the Guild Compendium & Reference and gain a better understanding of the various tools & techniques in question - a great way of confidentially understanding what you are good at AND a means to know what to look at in order to improve.  

The Guild also allows you to have your assessment validated by an independant Guild Assessor (who is a senior real-world practitioner) via a Skype or face to face interview if you wish to have your own assessment valdidated.

HOW THE SCORES ARE CALCULATED...

There are a total of 6 possible responses for each of the questions:

As you can only select one choice for each attribute, you want to select the highest value level which MOST ACCURATELY DESCRIBES how you use or apply that attribute or competency.  The maximum or perfect score you could “earn” would be 1,870 pounts (i.e. 374 X 5 points) so do not expect to get 100% as that would be unrealistic. 

HOW TO UNDERSTAND MY SCORES AND WHAT SENIORITY / CAPABILITY LEVEL I MIGHT EXPECT TO BE...

The following table provides a guide and shows how your length of experience should relate to the practitioner "Level" and gives a guide to the scores you should expect to be achieving:

1. M09-4 - Assessing and Interpreting Progress Data (Assess Trends Achieved & Performance Analysis) - How the various formulas for both historic and forecasting, analyze the results generated by the relevant formula, and assess what are "good" or "bad" values and interpret what those values are telling us
2. M09-4 - Assessing and Interpreting Progress Data (Perform Critical Path, Near-Critical Path & Non-Critical Path Analysis) - How to identify critical and near critical and non critical activities, prioritize the activities based on proximity and float values and can propose preventative/corrective actions based on the analysis of float and SPI and other KPI's
3. M09-5 - Project Performance Forecasting (Check Schedule Accuracy, Assess Milestones & Completion Dates) - How to validate the accuracy of the schedule, and assess progress against interim milestones and completion dates using earned value formulas and be able to propose preventative/corrective actions based on the analysis of float and SPI and other KPI's