My BPMN training includes post-class certification.  It’s optional, and not everyone who tries for it gets it.  For the first few years we offered it, only 10-15% of students got certified.  Now it’s well over half, and in some classes close to 100%.  I actually think it’s the most valuable part of the offering, and I’m glad that students now think so, too.

A number of organizations offer a broad “BPM” certification, including ABPMP and OMG OCEB, but I’m not sure anyone else offers certification in BPMN specifically.  Unlike ABPMP or OCEB, our BPMN certification does not test broad knowledge of BPM lore.  It just tests mastery of BPMN 2.0 at “Level 2” (equivalent to Analytic subclass elements, especially Message, Timer, and Error events) and ability to construct BPMN diagrams in accordance with my Method and Style approach.  It is based on a reasonably difficult multiple choice exam and a mail-in exercise that I personally review and approve.  Only students of the training are eligible, and they have 60 days to complete certification following the class.

People sometimes ask me, “who recognizes your certification?”  My honest answer is “your manager does, and you will as well”… because it’s not easy to get.  The list of certified students is posted here, and I invite you to email any of them and ask about it. Managers want to make sure their investment in training results in actual learning, and certification gives them that assurance.  Increasingly, they are insisting that all their people getting the training complete the certification.

Another interesting trend is an increasing number of consultancies and SIs are seeing BPMN certification as giving them an edge in competing for contracts, particularly in public sector.  Booz Allen Hamilton, Geocent, Raytheon, Tata, Creetion, Vennster, and CSC are recent examples.