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This May we celebrate the 20 year existence of QRP International. We are happy and delighted to have reached this milestone and look forward to the next 20 years!

The history and the DNA of QRP

Exactly 20 years ago, on a hot July day, our CEO Coos heard a strange noise coming from behind him. Wondering what it was, he looked around the small mediaeval flat on the walls of Bergamo's old town that he had rented when he decided to move to Italy. The strange noise came from the fax machine: he had just received his first ever registration for a PRINCE2 course!

After Coos organised his first PRINCE2 course (in Italian!) he decided to rent an office and to hire his first intern, a young university student by the name of Michelangelo, the current Chief Operating Officer of QRP International. This was the start of a team of 25 employees, with dedicated departments like operations, finance, marketing and sales growing over the years.

In 2006 already 1,000 people were trained by QRP International, and in 2008 the first million in revenues was celebrated. A specific market strategy for Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland was developed and these countries became the core of QRP International. In 2015 QRP started a dedicated blog on different topics related to Project, IT Service Management, Agile and Change Management that now reaches more than 200,000 annual visits. In 2020 we also started offering virtual classes due to Covid, besides the more traditional live classroom format.

Through all these years our main goal has been and still is to develop professionals to facilitate changes, which inspires our team and forms the value proposition of our company.

We cannot repeat our Core Values often enough:

1. We do our utmost to make our clients happy
2. We enjoy working together as a team
3. We keep our word
4. We are committed to our professional development

Awesome QRP Initiatives and Fun Facts about the Team

Besides organizing courses and developing professionals, QRP International also has devoted its time to charity. We strive to give back to our community by making a positive impact on society. QRP contributes €1 euro for each person trained in the fiscal year.

With regards to one of our team building activities, QRP has called into life the QRP Days. Born in 2007, the QRP Days bring the full team together for a day or two with the aim of learning from each other. During these days we also invite our trainers around the world to come visit us in Italy so we can get to know each other better. In this way, we live our values together.

And then some Fun Facts about the Team! We work with 75 trainers worldwide, we have count 9 different nationalities in our QRP office and we welcome new employees by treating the whole team to a brioche. Recently we organized a table-soccer competition during lunch breaks, and we go for a coffee walk every day after lunch. Real insider tip: did you know that the most common QRP zodiac sign is a Capricorn?

QRP’s Future

At QRP we work continuously to help professionals improve their skills and support both organisations as individuals throughout their learning journey.Our mission is to help clients when they are tired of losing time and money on their projects and processes. Our training courses can help unlock individual potential and achieve a higher level of structure and efficiency in the organisation, leading to an increased productivity.

In order to do so, we plan to expand our business beyond the countries that are already operational and to establish a presence in other mature markets across Europe. We stay close to our Core Values, both for working with our clients as for the relationship with our own employees. Through great social initiatives that keep developing, we continuously value having fun together as a team; we only just established our QRP Social Committee! We’re just getting started…

As in 2023 we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are grateful that we had the opportunity to work with many great clients and help many professionals achieve their goals. We look forward to continuing this journey of providing the highest quality training solutions to our clients, and to contribute to their ongoing success.

For our 20 years of success we have to thank not only our clients but especially our trainers which lead us in a bright future and make us such a competitive business.

Do you know who is behind QRP? Meet our team and follow us on Linkedin!

Starting from 2023, PeopleCert announced that all Global Best Practice certifications will need to be renewed after three years. This way PeopleCert can assist candidates in their lifelong journey and inspire them to keep on developing their professional skills. Besides retaking the same exam or taking further courses and certifications, the third option is collecting and logging CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points.

How to log your CPD Points each year

You can further develop your professional skills by logging CPD points through the MyAxelos portal. To keep your current certifications valid, CPD points can be logged against an individual or multiple certifications. For each Product Suite, candidates must submit at least 20 CPD points each year, across different categories of CPD, for three years consecutively. At the end of this period, your certification renew-by date will be extended by three years, and the cycle will repeat. These points must be submitted by the date on which you originally passed your most recent exam within the Product Suite. For example, if you originally passed the exam on 1st April, your 20 CPD points must be logged by 1st April each year.

What are the PeopleCert Product Suites?

Renewing a certification can be done within the same product suite. An ITIL® 4 certification will not be renewed by obtaining a PRINCE2® certification, but could be renewed by taking any other ITIL 4 certification, such as ITIL 4 Specialist: Create, Deliver and Support. Product suites are as follows:

• ITIL 4 Product Suite: All ITIL 4 certifications
• Project, Programme & Portfolio Management Product Suite: PRINCE2®, PRINCE2® Agile, MoR®, MSP®, MoV®, MoP®, P3O®

What are the different categories of CPD points?

Below you can find some examples (a more extensive overview can be found on the PeopleCert website):

• Professional experience: applying best practice in the workplace or coaching colleagues in relation to best practice
• Professional education: PeopleCert certifications or other certifications from non-PeopleCert accredited training organisations
• Community: organising or attending industry or best practice related events

For any questions, please reach out to us anytime or have a look at PeopleCert’s website.

Are you looking for a light, lean, concrete and equipped project methodology? Participate in our webinar and discover PM², the European Commission's project management method. PM² is a flexible and modular project management methodology that can be adapted according to the needs of any project. It consists of three main phases: initiation, planning and execution. The methodology also includes monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure the project’s quality. PM² is designed for use in projects of all sizes and complexities. It is particularly suitable for projects that involve multidisciplinary teams and external partners, such as research and development projects. To help project management professionals better understand and apply the PM² methodology, we are hosting a free webinar available in four different languages. This webinar will cover the main concepts and practices of PM².

PM² Project Management: harmonisation and united in diversity - Webinar

We invited our experts Natacha Brenner (EN/FR/DE) & Eusebio Gianodomenico (IT) to host the webinar. In just 30 minutes the webinar aims to provide an overview of the PM² methodology and seeks to clarify what makes the methodology stand out. Our experts will highlight the advantages of using PM² in an interactive way. Questions and active participation are encouraged! Choose your language and register to one of our webinars:

ENGLISH - May 11, 2023 11:00 AM

"PM² Project Management: harmonisation and united in diversity"

FRENCH - June 15, 2023 11:00 AM

"Gestion de projet PM² : harmonisation et solidarité dans la diversité"

GERMAN - May 30, 2023 11:00 AM

"PM²: Harmonisierung und in Vielfalt geeint"

ITALIAN - June 13, 2023 11:00 AM

"PM² Project Management: armonia ed unità nella diversità"

We are glad to announce that we will continue organising our User groups and other onsite events this year. As QRP International seeks to develop professionals, we started organising User Groups some years ago. The support that we can bring to professionals by not only training them, but also helping them succeed in implementing Best Practices, means a lot to us. Our User Groups are a unique opportunity for professionals to learn and grow. We showcase user stories but also seek to have professionals interact, discuss and network.

QRP International currently organises three different User Groups, one within the theme of the PMO, one for those working in IT Service Management and one that focuses only on the healthcare sector. We decided to have three small and tight communities in order to be able to offer content that really matters for the professional. Communication and updates are shared by means of a newsletter.

PMO User Group

The road to successfully implementing a Best Practice is often hard and lonely as a strategic PMO is just a few (or even one) person(s) within a large organisation. Our PMO User Group has the aim to respond to this need. The goal is to bring similar backgrounds and profiles together to discuss specific topics within PMO management.

We have planned three different PMO User Groups this year, all we held onsite in Brussels. Speakers and specific topics will be decided and communicated in the course of the year. Write down the following dates in your calendar;

• 20 June
• 28 November

Subscribe directly to our newsletter in order to receive all the latest updates regarding the User Group and other relevant news. 20

ITIL User Group

You have followed the course, passed the exam and are now a proud owner of an ITIL certificate. But what do you do next, how do you actually apply ITIL on a daily basis? ITIL is created to adopt and adapt, to tailor to your organisation, but that is easier than said. That is why we organise these user groups; to get the users together. Write down the following dates in your calendar;

• 22 June
• 29 November

Subscribe directly to our newsletter in order to receive all the latest updates regarding the User Group and other relevant news.

Healthcare User Groups

Our Healthcare User Groups aim to specifically help the hospitals with setting up their PMO. We choose to target them specifically as their sector is very different then others and there is little communication between the different hospitals. With our User Group, we create a free place where Hospital PMO or ITIL users can find one another. Write down the following dates in your calendar;

• 20 September - PMO FR
• 21 September - ITIL FR
• 22 September - PMO NL

Subscribe directly to our newsletter in order to receive all the latest updates regarding the User Group and other relevant news.

This year, QRP participated with the Mattei Foundation in the charity program of the Lenovo Marathon of Milan in order to support the Gaslini Institute. This annual sporting event attracts runners from all over the world to participate in the 42 km race through the city of Milan, Italy. The route goes through the historic streets of Milan, offering spectacular views of the city's main monuments and buildings. The encouragement from the spectators was a real driving force for the runners throughout. By running the relay marathon, Adélaide, Maarten, Rémi, and Giacomo have contributed to raising funds for the Gaslini Institute. These funds will facilitate the structural, technological and digital improvement of the hospital and the humanization of its environment for welcoming families.

The Gaslini Institute

The Gaslini Institute is one of the largest and most important pediatric hospitals in Italy and Europe, a center of excellence for treatment, research and health training dedicated to children. Specialized in complex treatments, disabling pathologies, rare and chronic diseases, the Gaslini Institute takes care of children from birth to adulthood. The Institute has been a national and international benchmark for modern pediatrics and perinatal medicine for 84 years. It is equipped with 400 beds, 25,000 hospitalizations and 500,000 outpatient services per year, 20 pavilions and 2,000 employees. If you would also like to contribute to our fundraiser for Gaslini, please visit the donation page.

We are happy to announce that QRP International is one of the launching partners of the PM² Group. The PM² Group is a non-profit consortium of professionals and organisations that facilitate and promote the usage of the PM² project management methodology.

What is the PM² Project Management Methodology?

PM² is a project management methodology developed by the European Commission. Its purpose is to enable Project Managers to deliver solutions and benefits to their organisations by effectively managing the entire lifecycle of their projects. PM² has been developed and supported by the European Union Institutions, with their projects in mind but is transferable to projects in any organisation.

Until the end of 2016, the PM² Methodology and Certification was only available to the staff of EU institutions. With the OpenPM² Initiative, the European Commission decided to provide open access to the PM² Project Management Methodology beyond purely EU institutions and including Contractors, Member States and finally all European citizens. PM² captures the experience of EU institutions from managing thousands of projects, change initiatives, programmes and grants.

What is the purpose of the PM² Group?

The purpose of the PM Group is to facilitate access to PM² learning materials, training, and PM² Certification for non-EU staff members. The PM² group is the first public PM² certification program to comply with the internal certification program of the European Commission for EU staff.

Like all the other members, QRP International is an active contributor and supporter of the PM² Methodology and works to establish a foundation for better and more efficient European projects.

The PM² Group is the first organisation to offer a public certification based on the internal certification guidelines of the European Commission with the same certification levels for theoretical and practical knowledge.

Why choose the PM² Group Certification?

The PM² Group offers PM² Project Management Methodology courses in accordance with the European Commission, Centre of Excellence in PM² (CoEPM²), to non-EU staff. QRP International is part of the PM² Group, the only certification institute that meets the European Commission’s standards. Both certification programmes have exams with the same covered topics, the required level of understanding, number of questions, passing score, and exam time. For the first time, non-EU staff can now be certified the same way as EU staff.

In short, the PM² Group Certification:

• Offers a Programme and exam which align 100% to the EU syllabus
• Is equivalent to the internal EU Certification programme
• Is available in multiple European languages, among which English, French, Italian, Spanish & German

Who is the PM² Group Certification for?

PM² helps establish a common project management language and process for projects across organisations, increase effectiveness, collaboration efficiency and success in the coordination of projects in the EU.

Using PM² is especially effective for managing projects within:

• European institutions
• Public Administrations and non-governmental organisations
• Service Providers to these administrations and institutions
• European coordinated or funded projects
• Private companies with a significant project portfolio.

The PM² Foundation certification is aimed at Project Managers and aspiring Project Managers. It is also relevant to other key staff involved in the design, development and delivery of projects.

Would you like to learn more about the PM² Project Management Methodology? Take a look at our website or write to us for more information!