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Tracey Flynn
Author of Unlocking the Power of Certification - How to Develop Effective Certification ProgramsCertification should be managed and reside in the area that makes the most sense, whether that is in marketing, training, or the product engineering department. Where the program resides depends on your organization. Consider the following questions when trying to determine an appropriate home:
- Where can the certification program best leverage complex relationships and interdependencies?
- Where can underlying business assumptions be challenged?
The location of the certification program within the organization will be unique to each organization. Although it is often located in marketing departments, certification may best be housed in alternate locations. Sometimes this is necessary for the health of the certification program. It's like storing medication in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. We have grown up thinking it should be kept there, but actually storing it there can destroy the medicine itself. Where can the certification program be stored so that it remains a good and useful medicine for the organization?
Resources from a number of divisions are required to make a certification program successful. Senior management must weigh the advantages and limitations and create the certification program office and its reporting structure within the company. What is certification's relationship to curriculum and information development? Resources for development are usually aligned by function or product. Should certification exam development be just another facet of their general development, or should it be a separate, ad hoc activity?
The following table lists some possible organizations or departments that may house certification programs along with some possible advantages and limitations for each. You may wish to consider them when deciding where to house your organization's certification program.
| Possible Organizational Locations for Certification: | ||
| Department | Advantages | Limitations |
| Sales | Can identify customer needs | May not develop test with job competencies, technical accuracy, or legal guidelines |
| Marketing | Has connections to audience | May be less rigorous about test item development, may lack content |
| Product Engineering | Test should be technically accurate | May focus on obscure technical details, not the audience needs or real-world application |
| Human Resources (HR) | Should have access to all job descriptions for JTA (job task analysis) | May not have the skills to develop exams appropriately or have clout with SMEs |
| Training as an HR function | Test should be well designed and have linkages to training materials | May have no clout with product or SMEs and still find it difficult to develop a final test |
| Certification as a separate department | Focused effort with profit and loss | If the organization relies on funding from internal groups, then funding may be sporadic or cut based on other organizational priorities |
| Corporate | Should have excellent support and direction for the program | Reports may be afraid to push back if the program is off track. May not have the skills to develop tests. |
| Ultimately, the decision of where certification belongs is unique to each company or organization. | ||
Tracey Flynn can be reached through her Web site Performetrics.biz or via email.
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