Differences between Prince2, ITIL and PMI

There are a lot of standards in project management so it can get a bit confusing what to use when and which to study.
Prince2 & PMI are focused on managing projects, pieces of work that have a beginning and end. The work could be large, like building a call centre, or small, like a social event. ITIL is focused on service delivery, the stuff that happens after you have built your “thing” in the project. For example, once you have built your call centre in your project, there will now be on-going work where the people in the call centre answer the phone. This service delivery goes on and on for as long as the call centre exists. ITIL is mainly focused on service delivery in the IT sector, whereas Prince2 and PMI cover all sectors.

Prince2 & ITIL are just processes (with quite a lot of explanatory text!) For example in Prince2 there’s a set of steps showing you what to do at the beginning of a project (like talk to people and find out what they want and plan to build) and then there’s a set of steps showing you what to do at the end.

PMI stands for Project Management Institute and is a worldwide body that promotes best practice in project management in all industries. You could belong to PMI if you were in the software industry, construction industry or anywhere basically that runs projects. The PMI have a book called the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK). Like Prince2 it covers the project process, however it does it in far less detail. It also covers loads of things that Prince2 doesn’t cover; people management, financial management, procurement management and special techniques for putting plans together, like critical path.
In some ways Prince2 and PMI are competitors, but actually they complement each other really well. Prince2 has got a comprehensive process model that PMI has not wheras PMI covers loads of essential areas of project management, that Prince2 doesn’t.
Both Prince2 and PMI have certification programmes. With Prince2 there is a Foundation level and a more advanced Practitioner level. To get either you need to sit an exam. For more information on how to do this and to find training organisations who teach the syllabus go to http://www.apmgroup.co.uk/PRINCE2/PRINCE2Home.asp Prince2 originated in the UK, and it is fair to say that it is the UK standard for project management certification. However, recently it is becoming more globally recognised

With PMI there are also two levels of certification; a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) and a Project Management Professional (PMP) For more information on these go to www.pmi.org The PMI originated in the USA and is the US standard for project management. However, like Prince2, it is globally recognised as well.
Finally ITIL has a number of levels of certification, Foundation, Intermediate, Expert and Master. For more information on these certifications go to http://www.apmgroup.co.uk/ITIL/Qualifications/ITILV3Qualifications.asp