IAPM and IPMA/GPM
An overview of two popular project management certifications
Project management certifications help demonstrate competencies, establish standards, and advance project work professionally. Certifications and competency models such as IAPM, IPMA, and GPM are particularly common. While the IAPM primarily stands for a flexible, method-agnostic, and online certification approach, IPMA and GPM are particularly strongly rooted in competency-based project management. Both approaches support specialists and managers in implementing projects in a more structured, transparent, and successful manner, but differ significantly in structure, target audience, and application. Find out which approach best fits your project management goals and how BCS supports you in its practical implementation.
IAPM Certification: Flexible, practical, and methodology-agnostic
The International Association of Project Managers, or IAPM for short, offers project management certifications for traditional, agile, and international project management. Its approach is deliberately methodology-agnostic: instead of focusing on a single framework, IAPM provides broadly applicable project management knowledge for a wide range of project environments.
Particularly characteristic features include the flexible online exam, the low-threshold entry point, and the lifetime validity of many certificates. This makes IAPM especially suitable for beginners, project team members, hybrid teams, and organizations that want to pragmatically combine traditional and agile methods.
IPMA and GPM: Competence-based project management in practice
IPMA is an internationally established project management standard that takes a holistic view of project management competencies. In Germany, this approach is represented by GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement. The focus is on technical, social, and contextual competencies that project managers need to deliver successful projects.
IPMA and GPM certifications follow a structured competence model and are particularly widespread in the DACH region, in larger organizations, and in professional project environments. BCS supports the practical implementation of these standards through clear processes, transparent project structures, and powerful features for planning, controlling, and completing projects.
IAPM or IPMA/GPM – what's the difference?
IAPM and IPMA/GPM follow different approaches to project management.IPMA provides the Individual Competence Baseline, an internationally recognized competence standard for project, program, and portfolio management. This standard describes the competencies project managers need — structured into the areas of People, Practice, and Perspective. In Germany, the GPM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement is closely associated with IPMA and uses the ICB as the basis for training and certification.
IAPM, by contrast, is not a project management standard in the same sense as the IPMA ICB, but rather an international association and certification body for project managers. Its certifications are based on its own certification frameworks, such as the Project Managers’ Guide for traditional project management and the Agile Project Managers’ Guide for agile certifications. These guides define the exam-relevant content, but they function more as a certification framework than as a broadly established competence standard for organizations and certification bodies.
However, certification is possible under both approaches. IAPM focuses on flexible certifications that can be completed online, for example in traditional, agile, or international project management. For many entry-level and basic certifications, no mandatory proof of experience is required. IPMA, on the other hand, offers a competence-based four-level certification system that is geared toward different levels of experience and responsibility. In Germany, the corresponding qualifications and certifications are offered through GPM and its certification structures.
IPMA/GPM is particularly suitable when project management competencies are to be systematically developed and demonstrated according to an established standard.
IAPM is particularly suitable when a flexible, methodology-agnostic, and comparatively low-threshold certification is required.
Both paths can make project management competence visible — but they differ significantly in whether the focus is on an international competence standard or on a flexible certification model.
