About current affairs

The first step in developing a certification about current affairs is to define the responsibilities of the recipients of the credential. It must be known what individuals who lead and direct project tasks actually do on the job before a content-valid test can be developed. A content- valid examination draws questions from every important area of the profession and specifies that performance areas (domains) considered more important, critical, and relevant be represented by more questions on the examination. Defining the role of individuals leading and directing project tasks occurs in two major phases: one in which individuals currently in the role defines the responsibilities, and another in which the identified responsibilities are validated on a global scale. In the second half of 2004, a series of international meetings sponsored by ias was held in the four major regions of the current affairs EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America. The meetings involved panels of global project management practitioners who met to develop a comprehensive description of the Tasks that individuals leading and directing project tasks perform. These regional meetings were followed by a final meeting at Global Congress 2004North America, where the final list of Tasks was agreed upon by a group of panelists from around the world. Panel participants, working under the direction of CASTLE, reached consensus on the performance domains, a broad category of duties and responsibilities that define the role. The panelists identified six domains that are important for competent performance by an individual who leads and directs project tasks: Initiating the Project Planning the Project Executing the Project Monitoring and Controlling the Project Closing the Project Professional and Social Responsibility. Next, panelists defined the Tasks that are important for each domain, along with statements about the knowledge and skills that are associated with performing each Task competently.