The Guide to Indirect Certification within the IT Architect Certification Program

Copyright © 2002-2006 The Open Group

Issue 1.2, February 28 2006

1. Introduction

The intended audience for this document is the Certification Program Manager for an Accredited Certification Program who wants to register batches of IT Architects for indirect certification within The Open Group Information Technology Architect Certification Program (referred to in the rest of this document as the Program or the IT Architect Certification Program).

Indirect Certification within this Program occurs using an online web system . This document provides an overview of the method for Batch certification of IT Architects.

Batches of IT Architect Certification Records can be entered into the system by uploading a file of one or more records. Attributes such as the default visibility on the register and how payment can be collected are set on a per batch basis. Once a batch has been uploaded you are able to track the certification status for individuals within a batch.

2. The ACP Resource Center

Once you have been accredited the ACP Resource Center becomes available to you. It can be found by selecting the Home symbol within your account, which then displays the Accreditation Home Page, within which the Resource Center is available as show below:

Accredited Certification Program account for Aard Cheeses

ACP registration status:

Click the first link to check the ACP details
Click to see what can be done with a registration
Click any date to view or process the uploaded file

IT Architect Accreditation Conformance Requirements

ACP name	CID/ Status	Conformance Statement	Checklist	Registration
ACP2 1.0 »Resource Center	770 Accepted	Uploaded 23-Nov-2005 Checked 24-Nov-2005	Uploaded 23-Nov-2005 Checked 24-Nov-2005	Sent 24-Nov-2005 Ack. Signed 25-Nov-2005

The ACP Resource Center provides the following facilities and resources to manage your ACP account and indirect certified individuals. You will have one Billing Center predefined from your original application. You can also define additional billing centers.

3. The Batch Upload Facility

The Batch Upload facility is available within the ACP Resource Center.

Uploading a batch of IT Architects for indirect certification is a two stage process.

1. Firstly, you upload a batch file to the web system. The batch file format is defined later in this document.
2. Secondly, you process the batch file on the web system.

   There are a number of selections when you process a batch.

   • You can select the default visibility level for the entries on the Directory of Certified IT Architects. The default value is confidential (also see section 5 below).
   • You can select the billing option for the batch (see later).
   • You can select the level of the Conformance Requirements (Master Certified IT Architect versus Certified IT Architect) for the batch.

Note

If you are using an Architecture Method that your ACP has approved, but which is not presently listed, then you should submit a request to the Certification Authority. You must include a brief descriptive name for the Method (no more than 20 characters) that allows it to be identified.

The batch upload screen is as follows. Note it also provides information on recognized field codes for the Country Names and Method codes that should be used within batches.

Criteria for Batch Creation

You should create batches of IT Architects according to the following criteria:

• Conformance Requirements: All certification records must be set to the same level of the conformance requirements.
• Default Visibility: All certification records must be set to set to the same initial visibility level for the Directory of Certified IT Architects.
• Billing Option: All certification records will be billed in the same way for this batch

You use your browser to upload a batch file into the system:

Once uploaded the file then appears in the summary:

You then select to process the batch, setting the default values:

Once you have processed the batch, you can scroll further down the screen to track progress of the individuals. Clicking on the links gives you further detail.

3. Billing Options

For each batch you can select the billing option as follows:

• Bill to individual credit card: Each candidate will have to supply credit card details when they enter the certification system to accept the TMLA and become certified.
• Bill to Billing Center: This allows you to select to have an invoice sent to an existing billing center, or define a new billing center. When you define a billing center you are required to provide sufficient details for an invoice to be issued. This includes full contact information and a purchase order number. The default Billing Center is defined as the Finance Contact in your original application for accreditation.

You can create a new Billing Center in the ACP Resource Center:

4. Batch File Format

The batch format file is a text file, having twenty-five fields as described in the table below. Each field is separated by the pipe symbol ("|") separator.

Field #	Use	Format	Mandatory
1	Mr/Ms etc	char(16)	Y
2	First name	char(30)	Y
3	Middle initials	char(8)
4	Last name	char(30)	Y
5	Job title	char(70)
6	Company name	char(70)	Y
7	Email address	char(120)	Y
8	Address - line #1	char(50)	Y
9	Address - line #2	char(50)
10	City/Town	char(30)	Y
11	State/County	char(30)	Y
12	ZIP/Post code	char(30)	Y
13	Country (for example USA, UK etc. See the pulldown list in the Resource Center for all available values)	char(35)	Y
14	Telephone	char(30)	Y
15	Cellphone/Mobile	char(30)
16	Fax	char(30)
17	Employer address - line #1	char(50)
18	Address - line #2	char(50)
19	City/Town	char(30)
20	State/County	char(30)
21	ZIP/Post code	char(30)
22	Country (for example USA, UK etc. See the pulldown list in the Resource Center for all available values)	char(35)
23	URL of employer web site	char(100)
24	Grandfathered Certification date (*)	date(dd-mm-yyyy)
25	Code Number for Method	integer	Y

Note

For four (4) months after first becoming accredited, an ACP is permitted to Grandfather their architects, provided that the architects to be grandfathered: Meet the applicable Conformance Requirements of the Program at the time of Grandfathering Have already been evaluated by the Organization's own processes within the three (3) years prior to accreditation

5. The Search Facility

The search facility allows you to search on current and previously certified individuals and those still in the process of certification.

The search fields are as follows:

• Batch ID:
  The identifier given by the web system to the batch uploaded.
• Last name:
  The individual's last name.
• Status:
  This field can be set to Any, Accepted or Certified. Accepted is the status for an individual who has not yet accepted the terms of the trademark license agreement. Once an individual has accepted the terms of the trademark license agreement they become Certified.

6. Visibility of the ITAC Register Entries

A certified person has an optional PCC (Personal Confirmation Code) which may be personally set/updated and given out as required.

A person may choose to have one of the following settings:

(a) All details visible on the register
(b) Contact details initially suppressed by default.
(c) No visibility on the register at all.

An entry of type b) offers to reveal the contact details if a valid PCC is given.

An entry of type c) can only be found by searching the register, giving a PCC. If found - contact details are always suppressed.

A person's associated organization details are displayed if (a) they exist and (b) their own contact details are not suppressed.