PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)®
The PMI-PBA certification recognizes an individual’s expertise in business analysis and uses these tools and techniques to improve the overall success of projects. The PMI-PBA certification carries a high level of professional credibility.
Experience
3-5 years of experience
Exam length
200 questions
Exam time
240 minutes
Languages
2
Is a PMI-PBA right for you?
Business analysis is a topic of growing importance to projects and programs. The marketplace reflects this importance, as practitioners increasingly embrace business analysis as a technique for uncovering business needs, managing requirements, and creating effective solutions to business problems.
PMI conducted a Role Delineation Study (RDS) in the development of the certification in alignment with industry best practices. This study determined the level of importance of each of the tasks, tools and techniques, and knowledge and skills required to use business analysis principles and practices in project management. It is the basis for the creation of the examination. The examination for the PMI-PBA certification is a vital part of the activities that lead to earning this certification. Thus, it is imperative that the examination accurately reflect the business analysis practices, tools and techniques being used by practitioners of business analysis.
The PMI-PBA Role Delineation states that candidates for the PMI-PBA certification:
• Perform their duties under general supervision and are responsible for working with stakeholders to define an organization’s business requirements in order to shape the output of projects and ensure they deliver the expected business benefit.
• Spearhead the discovery, analysis and overall management of the requirements for a project.
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience to appropriately apply business analysis tools and techniques to enable project success.
Before you apply, make sure you meet one of the following sets of PMI-PBA certification requirements:
Set A requirements
• Secondary degree (High school diploma, associate’s degree or global equivalent).
• 60 months working as a practitioner of business analysis. This experience must have been earned in the last 8 years.
• 35 contact hours earned in the topic of business analysis practices.
Set B requirements
• Bachelor’s degree or higher degree (or global equivalent).
• 36 months working as a practitioner of business analysis. This experience must have been earned in the last 8 years.
• 35 contact hours earned in the topic of business analysis practices.
Set C requirements
• Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree from a GAC accredited program (bachelor’s or master’s degree or global equivalent).
• Minimum two years/24 months unique nonoverlapping professional business analysis experience.
• 35 contact hours of formal education.
How to prepare for the PMI-PBA exam
Explore the study aid we offer to get you exam day ready.
Maintaining your PMI-PBA certification
Earning your PMI-PBA certification is a big step — maintaining it shouldn’t have to be. Continuing education is core to PMI certification. PMI-PBA holders need to earn 60 professional development units (PDUs) in each 3-year cycle to maintain certification. Each PDU represents one hour spent:
• Learning
• Teaching others
• Presenting
• Reading
• Volunteering
• Content creating
