A CCR audit checks whether the PDUs you reported match what your credential requires for the three-year cycle: 60 for PMP, PgMP, PfMP or PMI-PBA, 30 for PMI-ACP or PMI-RMP, 15 for CAPM. What you keep should show, PDU by PDU, which category each one falls into, so your record lines up with the Education minimum and any category cap that applies to your cycle.
30
PMI-ACP and PMI-RMP need 30 PDUs every three years, of which at least 18 must be Education.
15
CAPM needs 15 PDUs every three years, of which at least 9 must be Education.
3
A continuing certification cycle runs three years from the date the certification was earned or last renewed.
A continuing certification cycle runs three years from the date the certification was earned or last renewed. An audit is PMI comparing the PDUs you claimed for that three-year window against the total, and the mix, your credential requires. It is not a check on your project work or your job performance. It is a check on whether the numbers you reported add up to a real, categorized record.
That means the useful preparation is not a general portfolio. It is a record that maps cleanly onto the specific totals and splits your credential’s cycle requires, so that if PMI asks, you can point to which PDUs cover which requirement.
The total differs by credential, and this is the first number an audit checks.
For the 60-PDU cycle, at least 35 of the 60 must be Education — taught learning. Education has no ceiling, so all 60 may be Education if that is how your record works out. Giving Back, which covers things like volunteering and creating content, is capped at 25 PDUs and is optional, so it can sit anywhere from zero up to 25 without breaking the requirement.
If your record shows fewer than 35 Education PDUs, or more than 25 Giving Back PDUs, that is a mismatch an audit would flag, regardless of whether your total adds up to 60.
Inside those 35 Education PDUs, a minimum of 8 must sit in each of Ways of Working, Power Skills and Business Acumen. That is 24 fixed across the three areas, leaving 11 Education PDUs free to place wherever you like. A record that shows 35 Education PDUs but only 4 in Power Skills, for example, does not satisfy this part of the requirement even though the total looks correct.
For a full walk-through of how those 8-PDU minimums work in practice, see how many PDUs you need in each Talent Triangle area.
Given the shape of the requirement above, the practical answer is: keep a record for every PDU that notes which category it belongs to — Education or Giving Back — and, if it is Education, which of the three Talent Triangle areas it counts toward. That single habit is what lets you reconstruct, at any point in the cycle, whether you are on track for the 60, 30 or 15 total your credential needs, the 35 or equivalent Education minimum, the 25-PDU Giving Back cap, and the 8-PDU minimum in each area.
Do this as you go, PDU by PDU, rather than trying to reconstruct it near the end of the cycle. A record built against these specific numbers is far easier to produce than a general list of courses attended, because it already answers the question an audit is asking.
Yes — the cycle runs three years from the date the certification was earned or last renewed, so your record only needs to cover PDUs earned inside that specific three-year window.
Giving Back is optional and capped at 25 PDUs in a 60-PDU cycle, so your record can show zero Giving Back PDUs and still meet the requirement as long as the Education minimum is met.
The 35-PDU Education minimum and the 8-PDU-per-area split apply to the 60-PDU cycle; PMI-ACP and PMI-RMP need 30 PDUs with at least 18 Education, and CAPM needs 15 PDUs with at least 9 Education.
A total that hits 60, 30 or 15 is not enough on its own — the record also needs to satisfy the Education minimum and, for a 60-PDU cycle, the 25-PDU Giving Back cap and the 8-PDU minimum in each Talent Triangle area.
Last reviewed: September 2026