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• How has SAP improved its certification program?
  In order to support SAP's strategic objective of sustaining market leadership in a highly dynamic market, the SAP certification strategy had to be revised to more adequately address corporate business needs today and in the future. SAP has also conducted a market survey on certification and will continue to enlist feedback from the certified community, as well as customers and partners to ensure that the certification strategy consistently addresses market needs in the future. We have significantly enhanced and expanded our certification program. There are now certifications at two levels of expertise – associate and professional.
• Do current certificates keep their value?
  Absolutely; the new certification program is designed to build on the program that came before, while at the same time creating opportunities for individuals to demonstrate their experience and expertise at more advanced stages of their career.
• Do certifications expire after a period of time? How are they refreshed?
  Certification is used as an essential benchmark for customers in times of increasingly dynamic market change. Therefore, we need to ensure that certification credentials are always up-to-date. With the new program, SAP will be able to monitor the level of certifications within the certification community, and contact professionals with outdated certifications for a reminder that there is a need to re-certify. SAP retires exams as soon as they are two releases behind the current release of the software for which a certification exam is available.
• Are certification exams based on a mandatory set of prerequisites, such as participation in a series of training courses?
  While there is no course or set of courses required in order to take a particular certification exam, SAP does provide a listing of recommended courses to help test takers prepare. In addition, it is not mandatory to have completed a lower level (associate) exam in order to take a higher level (professional) exam; however, many professional-level certification seekers may find it valuable.
• Will Delta certifications be offered in the future?
  No, these will be phased out in the future. There are principles of the multi-tiered certification which are in direct conflict with the concept of delta certifications. In order to make the multi-tiered certification attractive there should be no barriers to entry (mandatory training or prerequisite certification exams) for people wanting to certify, e.g. a professional � level consultant should not have to pass the associate cert before taking the professional certification exam. Customers needed more flexibility to be able to test when and where they choose, using blending learning options etc. to prepare and then going to a location near to their home, office or customer – hence the VUE test center option. But, if we are to conduct exams via multiple delivery channels we would have to share results data with external providers to be able to support prerequisites. The transformation of the certification program is also based on a switch from product function and feature oriented testing to job task oriented testing. In order for customers to understand better the meaning of our certification and to be able to use it as a reliable benchmark they want it to test which tasks a consultant or employee can actually perform. This means that the classical training and certification are both changing in parallel and certifying someone on the new features of our software will no longer guarantee that they are certified up to the standard. Typical candidate for a Delta certification hav e around 4 years+ of experience and should be validating their higher level experience and knowledge with a professional certification.
• How will SAP measure experience and higher-level skills?
  SAP has moved towards higher-level item writing methods and more advanced assessment techniques to better test understanding, application, and analytical skills rather than knowledge recall. In addition, the tests have been revised to be more clearly job-task aligned. Above and beyond testing the associate level test taker's knowledge of software functions and features, the test also validates the test taker's ability to apply that acquired knowledge to perform mission-critical tasks in a project. The necessary skills can be acquired through good practice-oriented training, such as the SAP Solution Academies, or by real live project experience. At the professional level, the majority of questions are scenario-based and cannot be answered on training alone. They reflect high-level analytical and evaluation skills which can be fine-tuned with training but are fundamentally based on project experience.
• Is certification available for a variety of profiles?
  Yes. The existing certification programs are being extended to address more experienced technical and application consultant profiles and solution architects in multi-tiered certification tracks. Career-enabling certification tracks are also designed for emerging roles, such as the enterprise SOA architect, technology architect and business process expert tracks. As certification exams are based on roles which are widely recognized across the industry there will continue to be some highly specialized roles which are not covered by certification.
• How can test takers prepare for the certification exam?
  Each specific certification comes with its own set of preparation tactics. We define them as "Competency Areas," and they can be found on the Web pages associated with individual exams. On those pages, you can find the number of questions, the duration of the exam, what areas you will be tested on, and recommended course work and content. For all new exams, SAP also publishes a selection of sample questions. Further preparation courses are also available locally and can be found on the local education sites. In addition there are useful certification guides written by leading consultants in the field available via SAPPress under http://sap-press.com/product.cfm?account=&product=H3036 and http://sap-press.com/product.cfm?account=&product=H3027
• How many times can the test taker take the certification exam?
  He/she can sit for an SAP certification exam a maximum of three times. If he/she is unsuccessful in passing your certification exam after two attempts, and has not previously taken SAP training classes, we highly recommend that they complete the training offered by SAP. The fee for certification retakes is the same as the initial exam. No candidate may sit for the same examination for the same release more than three times. A candidate who has failed an examination three times for a release may not attempt that examination again until the next release. The rule that a test taker must wait 30 days before retaking an exam no longer applies from May 31, 2009.
• A test taker just missed reaching a passing grade and would like SAP to review my exam for possible rescoring. Please explain the appeals process.
  Unless there were technical system difficulties experienced while taking the exam, exams will not generally be reviewed for rescore.
• Is there negative marking? How are the exams scored?
  In order to publish more job-task oriented certification exams, also at the advanced professional level, SAP Education has changed the exam scoring models for all new exams published since September, 2007, to a dichotomous scoring model. This model will be adopted for all exams from Q3 2009. The dichotomous scoring model scores multiple response questions as either correct or incorrect and does not give partial grades for responses. This better reflects the need for SAP customers and partners to know whether a certified individual can perform a task to the complete satisfaction of all concerned. Leaving a question blank is equivalent to zero points or zero score or no answer.
• Where can SAP BusinessObjects tests be taken?
  SAP BusinessObjects certification exams are currently only available through Pearson VUE test centers. In order to register you need an SAP User-ID. You can find instructions on how to apply for that ID and register for the exam at http://www.vue.com/busobjects It is planned to make the SAP BusinessObjects exams available in SAP Education Centers in the second half of 2009.
• Is there any difference in the certification exam at an SAP Education center or through SAP's delivery partner, Pearson VUE?
  No. Certification exams are the same no matter where the test is taken. SAP entered into a partnership with Pearson VUE several years ago, in order to provide our customers with the greatest number of locations from which to take certification exams. A test taker can now take certification exams at SAP Education centers as well as a selection of the exams at some of the 4,000 Pearson VUE centers worldwide. A list of the exams available via VUE can be found on the Pearson VUE Web site or at http://www.vue.com/busobjects/. Please be aware that not all exams are available in all countries.
• How does a test taker take a test at a Pearson VUE test center?
  He/she can visit the Pearson VUE Web site or http://www.vue.com/busobjects/ to register for tests and pay via credit card or voucher. There are step-by-step registration guidelines, including selection of locations, exam types, dates, and payment options.
• What methods of payment are accepted by Pearson VUE?
  Whether registering via call center or online, the test registration must be paid by credit card or voucher.
• Does the test taker need to enter a SAP user ID when registering for a certification exam and does he/she need to be affiliated with an SAP customer or partner in order to take an exam?
  The test taker does not need to be affiliated with an SAP customer or partner in order to take an exam, but does have to apply for a so-called S-User ID (or in the case of internal employees an I, D or C-user ID) from SAP prior to registering via Pearson VUE. In order to ensure that the certification results count and are tracked, it is important to enter the SAP user ID in the appropriate registration field when registering to take an exam with Pearson VUE. Instructions on how to apply for that ID and register for the exam can be found at http://www.vue.com/busobjects/ or http://www.vue.com/sap
• How does a test taker obtain the actual certificate?
  On successfully passing the exam, the certificate will be sent to the test taker within 4-6 weeks. For exams taken at SAP Education Centers, these certificates are sent by the local Education team. For SAP BusinessObjects tests taken at VUE test centers these certificates are sent by a third party fulfillment vendor. For queries please contact kps.businessobjects.kt@sap.com. All other exams delivered at VUE currently receive their certificates at the test center but this process is also being changed so that they are sent via a third party fulfillment vendor.
• Can a test taker go to a center on the exam date and just pay cash to take the exam?
  In order to take an exam at a Pearson VUE test center, you must pay in advance during the registration process. Exceptions can be made in certain regions if the test taker chooses to call the Pearson VUE test center directly beforehand and asks the test center to register the exam. Taking a test at an SAP Education center, this can vary by region. It is important to ensure that this is possible at the point of time of registering.
• What sort of identification is needed to be allowed to take the test?
  On arriving at the test center, the test taker will be required to present two valid forms of ID, of which one must be a valid photo ID, such as passport or government-sponsored ID card.
• What is the passing score of the certification exam?
  The passing scores vary from exam to exam, based on a scientific standard-setting process to determine the cut score. The passing scores and scoring models used can be found in the Certification Information spreadsheet which is updated weekly and provided on the Instructor Portal here:
  https://portal.wdf.sap.corp/irj/portal?NavigationTarget=navurl://935cb8c61d0dabaf4f63b5bd0b0a7bd5
  
  During the QMP rollout process, the new cut scores for the exams delivered via Questionmark Perception can be found in the sheet QMP cut scores on the same portal.
• Can SAP BusinessObjects vouchers be ordered for taking tests at VUE?
  Yes. Voucher can be ordered online here http://www.vue.com/vouchers/pricelist/
• Who handles queries for exam confirmations for tests taken at VUE test centers?
  All such questions are handled by VUE customer support. Contact details can be found under http://www.pearsonvue.com/sap.
• Can I see the results of test takers who have taken a test at a VUE test center?
  With the exception of the SAP BusinessObjects certification results, all results are uploaded centrally into the ILP system and can be found there. If you are unable to find the results please ask the test taker whether they entered their S-user ID when registering for the VUE test. If the S-user is not provided, this can cause delays in uploading the results to ILP. SAP BusinessObjects certification results will be uploaded into ILP from Q3 onwards and currently queries on BOBJ results can be directed to the KPS-KDO team.
• If there is a customer service issue caused by a Pearson VUE test center how is this dealt with?
  The test taker should contact VUE directly with their complaint. There are customer service contact numbers available at http://www.pearsonvue.com/sap.
• If there is a customer service issue caused by SAP at a Pearson VUE center how is this dealt with?
  There are vouchers available regionally which can be issued to the test taker. Please contact your local Certification representative for more details.
• When a certified individual changes company the certification has to be reposted. How is this done for certification tests taken at VUE test centers?
  The results are tracked under user IDs in ILP and can be reposted with the same process as for tests taken at SAP education centers.
• How can a test taker get information about recommended training offerings to prepare for the tests?
  The recommended training alternatives are listed in the test section on http://www.sap.com/services/education/certification/index.epx. Please be aware that the Professional certifications also require several years of practical on-the-job experience and address real-life scenarios. The test taker should be aware of that before entering the exam.
• How do we handle requests for the new certification logos?
  This is handled differently region by region. The certification logos are available and can be sent on a case by case basis. Please contact your local certification regional portfolio manager for options.