No. On Nov 11, 2019, PMI announced that the REP Program would be replaced by the ATP Program. In this letter, PMI revealed a major departure in how the Project Management Institute would partner with training companies. A quote from the letter: “Across the network, training partners will be required to use PMI-provided course materials to lead PMP Exam Preparation.” Per PMI, the ATP program was designed to align all program participants to the same material version and the methodology that PMI preferred when teaching PMP students. To our knowledge, PMI did not consult with REPs before this change to understand potential issues or to potentially integrate other lines of business into the program.
Given our long partnership with PMI, we wanted to understand how this new relationship would work. Velociteach went through a meticulous journey of discovering the details of the ATP program (what was allowed and what was not) through the summer of 2020. Eventually, PMI answered some of our specific questions, including those about the textbook Andy Crowe first wrote 2 decades ago that is the cornerstone of the Velociteach curriculum. PMI stated that Velociteach would have to abandon the book – we could not join the ATP program and continue to publish the Amazon bestseller for PMP prep. The same was true for our online, self-paced courses and other content/assets we’ve developed and updated through the years.
We value our relationship with PMI, but this ATP change went against the very DNA of our company. Therefore, we decided not to join the ATP program.
By not joining the ATP program, Velociteach has the freedom to do what we do best. Velociteach continues to publish the bestselling PMP Exam prep book on the market, hold the most effective PMP boot camps, and deliver the number one online, self-paced PMP exam prep course. And, we continue to partner with universities and other training providers who use our content with their students.
There were other factors involved as well:
- Our InSite PDU line of business was not allowed under the ATP program.
- Our mind-map teaching methodology, developed and enhanced over 20 years, was not allowed if we were to become an ATP and be forced to use the PMI material.
- Velociteach has a robust licensing line of business which was not allowed under this program. Joining the ATP program would have unfairly and negatively impacted dozens of long-term Velociteach strategic partnerships who use our material for their training needs.