Certification guide

Two certificates, both included

Certificate of Completion: finish the programme

The Certificate of Completion is awarded when you finish the whole programme: all 48 lessons across the eleven modules. It records that you completed the programme. There is no exam, quiz or pass mark. The Certificate of Applied Practice is the one that assesses your work. The shorter fast-track route does not lead to this certificate.

How to get it

1. Watch. Work through all 48 lessons within your 12 months of course access.
2. Request. After the final lesson (11.4), complete the short certificate request form linked at the end of that lesson. Use the email address you enrolled with.
3. Check. We confirm your progress in the course platform. Every lesson must show as complete.
4. Receive. Your certificate arrives by email as a numbered PDF, usually within two working days.
5. Verify. Anyone can confirm it at verify.krong.academy, using the certificate number and your full name.

What it signals

The Certificate of Completion tells employers and clients that you worked through a structured, application-focused programme on AI-augmented project planning, from problem analysis to monitoring and control. It is a record of learning, not an assessment of your work.

Certificate of Applied Practice: earn it through your own work

The Certificate of Applied Practice is for professionals who want to go further. Instead of following a plan being built, you produce an actual project plan of your own and submit three sections of it for review. Your reviewer, an experienced, certified project manager, reads your work, scores it against a structured rubric and gives written feedback before signing off. This is the closest an online programme can come to professional mentorship.

Eligibility

1. The Applied Practice review is included with your enrolment. The first review and one resubmission cost nothing extra.
2. Submit any time within 12 months of enrolment. You do not need the Certificate of Completion first, but complete the modules your three sections draw on before you submit.
3. You must submit your own original project work, not an adaptation of the Caldera Freight plan used in the programme.
4. Your project must be real or realistic. Fictional projects are permitted, provided they are grounded in a genuine organisational context.

What you submit

You do not submit your entire plan. You submit one document that holds a one-page Plan Summary, the three sections below, a short AI Use Note and a one-page Evidence Map. Take the sections from your full plan and leave everything else out: your reviewer scores only what is listed here.

1. Plan Summary (one page, not scored). Your milestones with their decision gates and dates, and your cost baseline by cost line and by month. Your reviewer uses it to check that figures and dates agree across your sections and, if you use earned value, that your planned value follows from your baseline.
2. Section 1, Problem Analysis and Business Case (at most 1,000 words). A problem statement with at least one measured baseline; a root cause analysis summary; at least three options, one of them doing nothing or the minimum, compared against stated criteria; the recommended option with its cost, benefits and payback; the decision you ask the sponsor to make.
3. Section 2, Scope, Governance and Stakeholder Plan (at most 1,000 words). A scope statement that says what is in and out of scope; the constraints; an assumptions list; a governance structure that shows who decides what; a stakeholder engagement approach. A RACI and a communication plan are recommended, not required.
4. Section 3, Risk Register and Monitoring Framework (at most 1,200 words). A risk register of at least eight risks, each scored on a probability-impact matrix, with an owner and a response; a monitoring approach (KPI or EVM) with its measures, targets, reporting frequency and the thresholds that trigger action.
5. AI Use Note (at most 300 words). The AI tools you used and where; what they got wrong or missed; what you changed as a result. Your reviewer checks it against the AI responsibility dimension.
6. Evidence Map (one page, not scored). A table with the five dimensions down the side and Sections 1 to 3 across the top. In each cell, say where the evidence is (for example, “1.3, page 4, options table”). Do not score yourself. Filling it in shows you any gaps before you submit. Your reviewer uses it to find your evidence: if a cell is empty, or points to evidence that is not on the page, that dimension cannot score above 2.

Word limits. Tables count towards the limits. A submission over the limits is returned before review, so cut it first. Short and complete reads better than long.

Tell the whole story. Your submission must read as one argument: the problem, the fix and the outcomes it delivers. Your reviewer scores only what is on the page and does not infer anything you leave out. If a figure, a decision or a link between sections matters, write it down.

How to submit. Upload the one document, in PDF or Word, through the secure submission form linked in your dashboard. The form is a Google Form, so you need a free Google account for this step only.

The review process

Who reviews your work. Every submission is read and scored by an experienced, certified project manager. As the programme grows, other certified project managers may share the first reading, but the lead reviewer, who wrote the course, checks every review and signs off every result and every certificate. People read your submission. We do not use an AI tool to read it.

Once you submit, your reviewer reads your work personally and scores it against a structured rubric. This review is the Human Audit described in the Terms and Conditions and the Human Audit Scoring Model. The rubric covers five dimensions for each submitted section:

• Rigour: is the analysis evidence-based and logically structured?
• Integration: do the three sections work as one plan, with figures and decisions carried through from one to the next?
• Application: have the programme’s frameworks been applied correctly, not just referenced?
• Professional judgement: does the work reflect the kind of thinking a senior practitioner would recognise?
• AI responsibility: does your AI Use Note make clear where AI was used, and is there evidence of meaningful human-in-the-loop (HITL) review?

How a section is decided. Each dimension is scored from 1 to 4. A section meets the standard when every dimension scores 3 or 4. A strong score on one dimension cannot make up for a weak one. Your feedback gives one result per section, Meets the standard or Not yet. For a pass you get one strength. For a Not yet you get the change needed. The scores stay with your reviewer.

Timing. You receive written feedback on each section within twenty-one business days of a complete submission. If anything is missing, we tell you within seven to ten business days.

Resubmission. If your work does not yet meet the standard, you receive the change needed and one resubmission, included with your enrolment. Resubmit within twenty-one business days of the feedback, covering only the section(s) your reviewer flagged. Your original submission stays on file for context.

Results are final. Your reviewer does not re-review a result: if you disagree with the feedback, your resubmission is the route. A section is checked again only if your reviewer missed something that is in your submission. Reply within ten business days, quote the page, and it will be checked.

Further reviews. If your resubmission still falls short, we tell you in writing. You may then buy one further review for $100, once only, within 60 days of that email. It covers a third attempt, due within 90 days of payment, and a fourth if needed, due within twenty-one business days of feedback on the third. That gives you up to four attempts in total.

If the standard is not met. After a fourth attempt that does not meet the standard, the Certificate of Applied Practice is not awarded. Your Certificate of Completion is unaffected, provided you have finished all 48 lessons.

Time limits. Submit within 12 months of enrolment. We send reminders at months 3, 6 and 9. After month 12, a review-only option may be offered at Krong Academy’s discretion. The other deadlines above run on their own clocks, even after your course access ends, and a missed deadline loses that attempt. No review, including a paid one, is available more than 24 months after your purchase date.

What it signals

The Certificate of Applied Practice tells employers and clients that you did not just complete a programme. You applied its frameworks to a real project, and a certified project manager read, assessed and signed off that work. It is evidence of professional capability, not just professional learning. Anyone can confirm it at verify.krong.academy, using the certificate number and the holder’s full name. For project managers building a portfolio, seeking promotion or moving into a new sector, this is the credential that carries weight.

Alongside any certification. The Certificate of Applied Practice is a capability credential, not a replacement for a professional certification. It sits alongside whatever certification you hold or plan to hold, and shows something an exam cannot: that you applied the method to a plan of your own and an experienced practitioner signed it off.

How the two certificates compare

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a project management certification to enrol?

No. The programme is designed for experienced project managers and leaders who plan, approve or sponsor projects, including those moving into AI-augmented roles. No prior certification is required.

Do I need a Google account?

Only for the Certificate of Applied Practice. Plan submissions go through a Google Form, so you need a free Google account to upload your submission. You do not need one to take the course. Creating one takes a few minutes.

Do I need the Certificate of Completion before I submit my plan?

No. You can submit any time within 12 months of enrolment. We recommend you finish the modules your three sections draw on first, so your work reflects the full method. Submitting a plan for the Human Audit ends the 14-day refund period (see Section 5 of the Terms and Conditions).

How long do I have?

Your course access lasts 12 months. Finish the lessons and request your Certificate of Completion within that time, and submit your plan within 12 months of enrolment. The time limits for reviews are set out under the review process above.

Will my employer recognise these certificates?

The Certificate of Completion is a learning credential: it shows you finished a structured professional development programme. The Certificate of Applied Practice is stronger. A certified project manager reviews your original work, so it is closer to a portfolio assessment than a course certificate. Recognition depends on your employer, but both certificates can be checked at verify.krong.academy.