Organizational Policy and Procedural Manual

The PMAC-AGPC Board of Directors has approved the following policies and procedures to govern the organization. These policies and procedures are in addition to the bylaws of the organization. In case of a conflict between the two, the bylaws take precedence.

Policies and Procedures are categorized under the headings shown below:

Awards

The PMAC offers several types of awards, each of which has its own rules and regulations.

Regardless of the type of award, one basic overarching principle governs the overall awards programme:

Currently-Supported Awards

The PMAC currently offers the following awards. Policies and procedures related to each can be found by clicking on the links below:

Canadian National Project Awards

The following policies and procedures govern the Canadian National Project Awards.

Overview

The Canadian National Project Awards are annually awarded to the most successful project teams in Canada. This award identifies examples of excellent project management and acknowledges innovative projects. It supports professional project management in achieving high performance in projects and motivates project teams to identify and optimize the use of their strengths.

Adjudication

The Canadian National Project Award follows the adjudication policies and procedures of the IPMA Project Excellence Awards and evaluates candidate projects using the IPMA Project Excellence Model.

Frequency

The Canadian National Project Award will be granted annually.

Assessors

Candidate assessors must first complete the IPMA award assessor training. This award assessor training will be offered in Canada from time to time.

Canadian Project Management Book Awards

Overview


The Project Management Association of Canada administers the Canadian Project Management Book Awards. These annual awards are given out to Canadian books published in either English or French that primarily deal with one of the 46 competence elements in the Canadian Project Management National Competence Baseline.

Eligibility

To be eligible for one of these awards, a book must meet a number of criteria:

  • New Publication - A book must be published during 2009 or 2010, or have a 2009 or 2010 copyright date on the back of the title page. If the copyright date is not 2009/2010, then the person submitting a book for these awards must provide proof of a 2009/2010 publication date, such as a letter from the publisher stating a 2009/2010 publication date, or a printout from one of the major bibliographic databases (TitleSource, Books in Print, etc.). Unpublished manuscripts are not eligible.
  • Canadian Publication - To be eligible, a book must be considered "Canadian" by satisfying one or both of these criteria:
    1. Author (or at least one co-author) is a Canadian citizen at the time of publication
    2. Publisher is a Canadian company. Canadian divisions of international publishing companies are eligible if the book was published by the Canadian division and carries a Canadian ISBN number.
  • Project Management Focused - The book must primarily deal with project management-related topics. Topics that are eligible for inclusion must be taken from the 46 competence elements of the Canadian Project Management National Competency Baseline (CPMNCB).
  • English or French - While the application forms are currently only available in English, books submitted may be written in either English or French. Reviewers will only review book in whose language they are fluent, yet all of the books in a category (regardless of language) will be pooled together for final scoring and ranking.

Application Process

To submit an eligible book for this awards programme, an applicant must submit an application form (see link at the bottom of this page), three (3) copies of the book, and a cheque of $50 per book for each award category entered to:

Project Management Association of Canada
Book Awards Program
Box 58043, Rosslynn RPO
Oshawa, Ontario
Canada L1J 8L6

Once books have been submitted, they become the property of the Project Management Association of Canada and will not be returned. Two of the three copies will be provided to reviewers who may annotate the book during their review process; these books will be kept by the reviewers as payment for their review. The third copy may be used by the Director of Awards to break ties during the final tabulation and ranking process. Copies not needed by the Director may be used as door prizes at PMAC member events.

Applicants may be the author, an employee of the publisher, or a publicist hired by either the author or publisher. Other applicants will not be accepted.

Award Categories

A book must be entered into at least one category, but may optionally be submitted into additional categories. An entry fee of $50 per category entered must be included with the books, as noted above. For 2010, the three categories are:

  1. PM Technical Competence - Books dealing primarily with one of the twenty (20) technical competence elements of the CPMNCB. The winner in this category will receive the "2010 Canadian Project Management Book Award - PM Technical Competence" and the runners up will receive the "2010 Canadian Project Management Book Award - Award of Merit"
  2. PM Behavioural Competence - Books dealing primarily with one of the fifteen (15) behavioural competence elements of the CPMNCB. The winner in this category will receive the "2010 Canadian Project Management Book Award - PM Behavioural Competence" and the runners up will receive the "2010 Canadian Project Management Book Award - Award of Merit"
  3. PM Contextual Competence - Books dealing primarily with one of the eleven (11) contextual competence elements of the CPMNCB. The winner in this category will receive the "2010 Canadian Project Management Book Award - PM Contextual Competence" and the runners up will receive the "2010 Canadian Project Management Book Award - Award of Merit"


    Timelines and Judging Process

    The cutoff date for applications is October 1, 2010. Applications, payments, or books received after this time disqualify the entry for inclusion in the 2010 awards. Late entry forms and cheques will be shredded, and any late-entry books received will be used as door prizes for PMAC member events.

    Books will be reviewed by a team of volunteer reviewers during the period from 1 October 2010 through 12 November 2010. Each book will be assessed against a number of criteria, with each book being reviewed by two separate volunteers. Each reviewer will complete a scorecard for each book.

    The Director of Awards (or a delegate) will average the scorecard results for each book, ranking the books in each category. The top book in each category will receive the award for that category, with up to three (3) runners up in each category receiving an award of merit.

    The Director of Awards (or a delegate) will also select one book from among all submitted entries to receive a special award: "2010 Canadian Project Management Book of the Year."

    All decisions of the judges and Director of Awards are final.

    Award finalists will be announced on the PMAC web site and will be notified via email during the week of 15 November 2010. The final winners and award presentations will take place at the 2010 Annual General Meeting on 11 December 2010 in Toronto, Ontario.

    Prizes

    Prizes will be handed out at the awards ceremony by the Director of Awards or a delegate. Prizes include:

    • Finalists receiving an Award of Merit will receive a certificate and a free pass to an upcoming PMAC webinar or teleseminar.
    • The winning book in each of the three categories will receive a plaque, a free one-year membership, and a detailed review published on the PMAC website, and mention in a press release issued by the Association.
    • The winner of the 2010 Canadian Project Management Book of the Year award will receive a plaque, a free one-year membership, a detailed review posted on the PMAC website, and a press release dedicated to the winning book issued to the media.

PMAC-AGPC Volunteer of the Year Awards

Overview

The Project Management Association of Canada could not exist without the tireless dedication of our volunteers. Whether they held positions on the management board of our association or of our certification body, or were just people who dedicated themselves to giving back to the Canadian PM profession, the PMAC-AGPC honours these members who are role models for the rest of us.

To recognize those who stand out among all of our volunteers, the Board of Directors of the association will award the annual Volunteer of the Year Awards.

There are two awards available for the Board of Directors to give:

  • PMAC-AGPC Volunteer of the Year Award - available to all regular members in good standing
  • PMAC-AGPC Young Volunteer of the Year Award - available to PMAC Young Crew members in good standing.

The Board of Directors does not have to award either award in any given year if the consensus of the Board is that the slate of candidates is not strong enough to justify granting the award at that time.

Nomination Process

Any current member of the Association may be nominated for one of these awards by any other member of the association. Nominating someone is simple: just send an email to the Director of Awards (awards@pmac-agpc.ca) with your name, the name of the member you are nominating for the award, and a brief (1-2 paragraphs) description of why you think this person should be considered for this award.

Members may not nominate themselves.

Evaluation Process

The Director of Awards will review all applications and will select a list of finalists who in the Director's opinion represent the top tier of candidates. The Director will present the list of candidates for the PMAC-AGPC Volunteer of the Year award to the Board of Directors at a special board meeting held for the purpose of reviewing applications for this award and selecting a winner. The board will discuss each application and will then vote on the candidates.

The nominee presentation, discussion, and voting process will be facilitated by the Director of Awards who will not be eligible for this award during his or her term of office.

If a member of the Board of Directors has been nominated for one of these awards, then that Board member will not be permitted to participate in the discussion/evaluation of candidates and resulting voting.

The Award

Award finalists will have their names and a brief description of the excellent service they have provided to the association announced on the PMAC web site as role models and inspirations to the other members.

The award winner(s) will be announced at the PMAC Annual General Meeting, where he or she will receive a certificate from the President and the Director of Awards.

Award winners will also be announced on the PMAC web site after the awards ceremony.

Course Assessment

This is a rough outline of the process for assessing courses for PMAC

Director of Certification:
- ensures that the application is complete and that the application fee has been paid.
- finds at least two assessors
- has assessors assess the course and give feedback
- discusses findings with assessors, especially if there are concerns
- communicates with the course vendor
- issues a letter to course vendor giving results of the assessment

Financial Management

Mandatory

  1. No cash transactions – everything is to be done by PayPal, cheque, etc. ***Needs to be revised to include use of petty cash as per Board of Directors call, June 7, 2010.***

  2. Use “cash-based” accounting practices, vs. “accrual-based”. i.e. Record income when the money is deposited and record expenses when the cheque / withdrawal is made. Use notes to the financial statements to record payables or receivables.

  3. Each year an audit is to be performed. The auditor may be a member of the organization. The purpose of the audit is to provide organization members confidence that the financial statements are materially accurate.

Discretionary

  1. The books are to be kept current and posted to the website during the weekend after each month-end.

  2. Received cheques should be deposited, and payables should be paid, before the end of each month so that they are reflected in the current monthly financial statements.

  3. Each year an internal audit should be performed to ensure that expected revenues have been received, and that payables have been paid. This should be the responsibility of a financial committee, not the Treasurer or portfolio-holding board members.

Responsibilities

  • The board sets the annual budget. The treasurer may develop a draft for discussion. The budget is a guideline for helping the board make decisions. It is not a constraint – actual funds are the real constraint.

  • The treasurer makes all deposits and withdrawals – except for electronic ones done via the website. Withdrawals must have approval of the board or of the appropriate portfolio-holding board member.

  • There should be separation of duties. Board members responsible for a portfolio authorize payment, but the treasurer issues the funds. Similarly, funds received by the organization go through the treasurer. For example, the membership director handles membership applications and renewals, but membership fees should go directly to the treasurer (or organization's bank account via the website or PayPal) and not through the membership director.

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