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National Chapter Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Find quick answers to your questions on the proposed PMI Australia Chapter, the transition of current Chapters to Branches of the PMI Australia Chapter, and the division of responsibilities between PMI organizations in and near Australia.
These FAQs are as at March 2009 and will be updated as more information becomes available from the Transition Project and APC’s ongoing discussions with PMI Global Operations Center (GOC).
If you have further questions, please direct them to Wendy Macdonald, Transition Project Manager, (email: wendy_macdonald@aapt.net.au) or Satya Sairam (email: satyasairam@yahoo.com)

PMI ORGANISATIONS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEARBY

What is the PMI Australia chapter?

The PMI Australia Chapter is the proposed single National Chapter for all PMI members in Australia. It will have Branches in each State, possibly more than one to meet the needs of members in each state.

What is the PMI Australasian Office?

PMI Global Operations Center (GOC), located in the USA, announced in August 2008 that it would establish the PMI Australasian Office to be located in Australia. “Project Management Institute Australasia Pty Ltd” was registered as a proprietary company in Australia on 4 November 2008.
The office will use full time employees to provide a business development function for PMI in Australia and later New Zealand which will be coordinated with the local chapters. PMI GOC has recognized the growth potential of PMI in Australia and New Zealand for both membership and its certifications such as PMP.
The office will NOT provide any component or membership services support.

What is the APC

In 2003, the Australian Chapter Presidents established a peak body as a vehicle to improve the collaboration between the existing six Australian PMI Chapters and to facilitate a more effective approach to communication and coordination in the development of project management within Australia. The body was named the ‘Australian Project Management Institute Council (APC)’ and has all Australian Chapter Presidents as members. In 2006, the APC membership was expanded to include an independent Chairperson and Treasurer to assist in the management of the APC and its activities.
It should be noted that the APC is not a legally constituted body (that is, it not incorporated under Australian law) and is not formally recognized as a PMI Component (Chapter). However, the PMI GOC holds regular teleconferences with the APC to discuss project management in Australia.

What is a Regional Service Center?

A Regional Service Center is a PMI representative office outside the United States that provides membership services for the convenience of PMI members located within the region. The Regional Service Center is located within the general ‘local’ time zone enabling queries to be made by members during ‘normal’ business hours rather than having to wait until the PMI office in the USA is open for business.
PMI members in Australia are supported by the Asia Pacific Service Center, located in Singapore.

What is the PMI New Zealand Chapter?

PMI New Zealand is an example of a single National PMI Chapter with Branches model in operation. PMI New Zealand Chapter currently has 5 branches spread across the North and South Islands. We are examining this Chapter model and their experience for lessons that may be instructive in establishing the PMI Australia Chapter.

PMI AUSTRALIA CHAPTER

Why do we need a single Australian Chapter?

Growth and strength through unity is the prime reason why Australia needs a single PMI Australia Chapter. The business drivers include the following:

To provide a single legal entity to represent PMI members within Australia

Develop a cohesive strategic approach – not six separate approaches
To facilitate easier movement of members relocating between States
To provide a shared services approach to all Australian chapter members
To optimise efficiencies in delivering services to members
Increase the capacity of our supporting infrastructure through amalgamation
To better facilitate organic growth of the PMI within Australia
Increase the performance of our services to Australian PMI Members
More effective allocation of resources and management of risks
To align with the recommendations of the PMI’s Chapter and Branch model (Community Transformation project – CTP)

To facilitate easier engagement with:-

the Federal Government sector
the State government sectors
corporate Australia
the educational sector
the Australian media

What are the benefits of moving to a National Chapter?

Remove duplication in Chapter services for reduced costs or better services eg: web services, centralised support, e
Better coordination of national initiatives including the PMI Australia awards; national conference, etc
Coordinated effort for PMI GOC engagement, particularly in coordinating national road shows, Asia Pacific Congresses and PMI GOC staff visits
One Chapter membership fee will give member access to all Branches across Australia
Easier to set up Branches and sub-Branches outside of the capital centres of each state

Increase standard of membership “Core and Extended Services” across Australian States through closer collaboration
Government departments will engage with the new National Chapter in the same way they have previously with AIPM
Engage corporate sponsorship nationally as a coordinated body. Previously some organisations (eg: PeopleBank -previously Ambit) engaged with several states separately

What is the Transition Project?

In simple terms, the Australian PMI Council (APC) has sponsored a project to investigate the new PMI Australia Chapter. First of all, the project will test the feasibility of the proposal and conduct a number of due diligence exercises. The outcomes from the project team will be presented to the APC and each State Chapter Board as a set of recommendations for adoption prior to any actions being taken. If there is a business case to proceed with the approval of our membership, the project will create the new National Chapter, transition current State Chapter members to it, and facilitate dissolution of the existing State Chapters.

Where will the PMI Australia Chapter be located?

The PMI Australia Chapter will operate across all Australia. It is proposed to have the Chapter’s administration office located in the same city as the PMI Australasian Office, which will be Sydney, New South Wales. This is to ensure that the PMI Australia Chapter can maximize the support from and relationship with the PMI Australasian Office.

How will the Chapter-Branch legal structure work?

Although it’s too early to say what the best legal structure will be, it is envisaged that the PMI Australia Chapter will be formed as a not-for-profit organization, incorporated either as (a) an Association under a State law and registered for national operation with ASIC, or (b) as a national company under the Corporations Act. The Branches will be part of the Australian Chapter entity, and will not be separate legal entities.
Henry Davis York (HDY) are independent Australian legal council who have been engaged by PMI Global Operations Center to make recommendations regarding the ‘best practice’ Australian legal structure for the chapter.

What will the PMI Australia Chapter be responsible for?

The PMI Australia Chapter will have all of the normal Chapter responsibilities. These responsibilities will be very similar to the responsibilities held by the current Chapters and will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Annual Charter renewal with PMI GOC
Conducting the Annual Business Meeting
Election of the Chapter Board
Management of the Chapter Strategy, Business Plan and Strategic Alignment Scorecard (SAS) based on the Catalogue of Core and Extended Services
Management of membership at the national level
Marketing at the national level
Chapter finances at the national level including:

Management of the financial accounts
Submission of financial statements to PMI
Compliance to various government regulations, e.g. the tax act, corporations act

Management of the single Chapter web site
Management of the PMI Australian Awards (PAA) selection and ceremony
Provision of the national project management conference
Manage other national (common benefit) initiatives

What will the Branches be responsible for?

In short, the Branches are expected to function much the same as the State Chapters do now, however with less of an administrative burden. The Branch responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Local event management
Coordinating Training and Certifications (with increasing potential to leverage off nationally coordinated offerings from vendors & REPs)
Branch level Financial management
The Branch Business Plan and measurement of the Branches performance against PMI’s Catalogue of Core and Extended Services (reported by the Chapter in the SAS)
Assist to coordinate the Chapter ABM and election of Chapter and Branch officers
Local membership management

In carrying out these responsibilities, the Branches will be acting as part of the PMI Australia Chapter, not autonomous entities.

How will the Chapter-Branch governing structure work?

The options and recommended governance structure for the Australian Chapter and Branches will be determined by the Transition Project and with guidance by an independent Australian legal council engaged by PMI Global Operations Center. It is expected that the Directors of the PMI Australia Chapter Board and the Branch Committee will be elected by all Chapter members in Australia. It is expected the Branch Committee members will be elected by their local membership but the details of how this would occur are still being worked through. It is also expected that the Branch Chairs will have a key role in the PMI Australia Chapter management, probably as Chapter Board members.

How will the State Chapter to Branch Board transition occur?

The outcome of the Transition Project will determine the options for transitioning the existing Chapter management into the Branches, but one of the obvious options is that the current State Chapter Boards of Directors will assume the Branch management roles as a temporary measure until the elections can be arranged and actioned.

What will happen to the APC?

Whilst the APC may be utilized to care take the PMI Australia Board temporarily while the elections for the new Chapter Board are being conducted, the APC’s role will effectively become redundant once the PMI Australia Chapter Board is established.

Why do we need to dissolve the current chapters?

Once the PMI Australia Chapter is approved by the PMI Global Operations Center and registered as an Australian legal entity, the current Chapters will no longer be required and will be deregistered as components of the PMI organization. PMI does not allow Chapters to overlap geography.
The current Chapter legal entities will need to be dissolved within their respective States after all assets are transferred to the National Chapter.

How will the Australian Chapter be funded?

The PMI Australia Chapter will be funded primarily by member dues, similar to the current State Chapters. The Chapter will seek additional funding through sponsorship and national fund-raising events, such as the national conference.

What happens to the current State Chapter funds?

Each State Chapter’s funds will be transferred to the respective Branch sub-account, with the exception of a proportion of funds required by PMI Policy to be retained for the Chapter’s sustainability (Chapter Reserves). Branches will still need to submit an annual budget proposing the use of any funds for the coming year, and therefore fund expenditure is governed by the PMI Australia Chapter Board.

What happens to the APC funds?

The APC funds will be transferred to the PMI Australia Chapter.

PMI AUSTRALIA CHAPTER MANAGEMENT

How will the finances be managed?

All membership dues will be paid into an account operated by the PMI Australia Chapter. Branches will not have separate accounts, rather they will likely utilize sub-accounts.
Budgets will be set for national level operation of the PMI Australia Chapter, and for each of the Branches for regional activities. In accordance with the PMI Chapter and Branch model, the Branches will submit an annual Budget to the Australian Chapter Board to secure funding for their operations for the coming year.
The Branches are expected to continue their individual fund raising operations with very little change; funds will be credited to their respective sub-accounts.
The detailed financial management arrangements between the PMI Australia Chapter and the Branches will be recommended by the Transition Project.

How will the membership be managed?

All current state chapter members will be transferred to the new PMI Australia Chapter simultaneously when the new PMI Australia Chapter is put into place by PMI (which means the local Australian entity formation is completed) and the current state chapters are ‘deregistered’ and therefore no longer recognized by PMI GOC.
The membership is then expected to be managed at two levels. Firstly, the overall membership management will be carried out by the Australian Chapter Board in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Service Center, while the day to day assistance to members will remain the responsibility of the Branches.

How will the marketing and communications be managed?

The marketing and communications are expected to be managed at two levels. Firstly, the overall governance of the Chapter marketing and communicating will be managed by the Australian Chapter and any subsequent national marketing initiative, and secondly, the day to day management of the marketing and communications activities will remain the responsibility of the Branches.

How will the training and certification be managed?

It is anticipated that training and certification will be overseen and coordinated by the PMI Australia Chapter, but the Branches will conduct the day to day training and certification operations for their members.

How will the volunteers be managed?

It is anticipated that the PMI Australia Chapter and the Branches will recruit and manage their volunteers separately. That is, the Chapter may call for members to participate as volunteers in National activities while the Branches will call for and manage volunteers to conduct Branch activities.

How will the events be managed?

It is expected that Events will be managed at two levels. The PMI Australia Chapter will have responsibility for ‘National’, events such as the PMI professional awards and a National Conference, while the Branches will maintain responsibility for local events, such as monthly Branch meetings, State-based Conferences, round table breakfasts, and the like.

PMI AUSTRALASIAN OFFICE

What is the PMI Australasian Office?

Who will manage the PMI Australasian Office?

The PMI Australasian Office will be owned and managed by the PMI GOC in accordance with its business plans, independent of (but in coordination with) the PMI Australia and PMI New Zealand Chapters. It will function primarily as a business development office in Australia and New Zealand and will aim to increase the PMI membership through directed relationship building with both Commonwealth and State Government and corporate Australia.
The PMI Australasian Office is a proprietary limited company and a separate entity from the PMI Australia Chapter.

What are the responsibilities of the Australasian office and the Asia Pacific Service Center?

The PMI Australasian Office is a business development office targeted at government, corporate and academic organizations. It does NOT support PMI members or chapters although it will coordinate its activities with the chapters.
The Asia Pacific Service Center in Singapore supports both Chapter members and the PMI Australia and PMI New Zealand Chapter leaders’ enquiries.

Where will the PMI Australasian Office be located?

The PMI Australasian Office location has been determined by PMI GOC to meet its aims and serve both Australia and New Zealand. The decided location is Sydney, New South Wales.

How will the PMI Australasian Office be funded?

PMI GOC will fund the PMI Australasian Office as a component of the annual operating budget for the Market and Business Development are headed by its Vice President Harry Stephanou. Like any business, the office has been created and will function based on a business case with benefits, such as increased membership and certification income that will more than cover the operating costs. Funding and control will focus back to GOC through Harry’s department.

Do we need a National Chapter to meet the requirement to be a national body or is the PMI Australasian Office deemed the national body"?

The PMI Australasian Office is a GOC-managed office. It represents PMI GOC not the Australian Chapter(s) or the Australian membership. While it will coordinate its efforts with the Australian Chapter(s), it does not interface with the membership in anyway.
It is set up as a private company (Pty Ltd) and not as an Association so is very different than that of a Chapter. It therefore is not chartered to be the membership-representative national office or to engage with members. It is also manned by GOC-hired personnel and not volunteers.
As the PMI Australasian Office has a business development function, it will interface with the Australian Chapter(s), but it will not represent the Chapter unless requested or agreed to by the Chapter.

Who will Federal Government interface with?

The PMI Australasian Office will interface with the Federal Government as an extension of PMI GOC Through a Account Development Manager who will act as a Government liaison.
While the current PMI Chapters can interface with Commonwealth Government, there are a number of previous cases where AIPM secured a seat on Commonwealth Committees while PMI did not because PMI only had State Chapters and not a Federal entity.

Will the Federal Government also interface with the PMI Australian Chapter?

While the final roles and responsibilities around interfacing with government, corporate and academic organisations is to be worked through when the PMI Australasian Office is up and working, the separate roles indicate that both entities will depend heavily on each other to get best penetration and results from their contact with these organisations.
Typically the chapters would provide the contacts for the Account Development Manager. Having penetrated the organization, would then introduce Chapter representatives to initiate conversations about how the Chapter could work with the organisation – whether it be to provide representatives on a government committee form a close relationship with a corporate or organise scholarships for an academic institution.

When was the PMI Australasian office registered?

The “Project Management Institute Australasia Pty Ltd” was registered on 4 November 2008.

Where do I go for more information?

The APC will continue to provide the PMI Australian membership with updates as the Transition Project progresses. Members can approach their respective Presidents about any specific questions, realizing that much of the detail is currently being determined by the Feasibility Study being undertaken as part of the Transition Project.


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