Certified Analytics
Professional (CAP®)
Program
Louise Wehrle, PhD, CAE
Manager Certification
11/19/14
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Agenda
• Background
– History of development
– What is certification
• Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®)
– ACB
– Status
• Questions
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Who is INFORMS?
• Institute for Operations Research and Management
Science; founded in 1952
• Mission: lead in the development, dissemination and
implementation of knowledge, basic and applied
research and technologies in operations research,
the management sciences, and related methods of
improving operational processes, decision-making,
and management.
• 11,000 members (50% academic, 30% practitioner, 20%
student)
• Highly educated (51% earned PhD, 96% earned/pursuing
MS/higher)
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Liberatore & Luo, Interfaces, 2010
• OR is a subset of analytics
• Analytics is a subset of OR.
• Advanced analytics is the
intersection of analytics and OR.
• Analytics is the same as OR.
• Analytics and OR are separate
fields.
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Note: This survey question had 1765 respondents.
30%
29%
28%
6%
7%
93%
think
OR &
Analytics
are
related!
INFORMS and Analytics
• Definition: Analytics is the scientific process of
transforming data into insight for making better
decisions.
“Analytics doesn’t take anything away
from Operations Research (OR).
Outside our community, OR seen as a
toolkit but Analytics seen as a
process.”
-Anne Robinson, Verizon
Past President of INFORMS
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Gartner – Analytics in Top 10
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Analytics at INFORMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) program
Analytics Maturity Model
Analytics Section
Career center
Find an Analytics Consultant
Analytics Magazine (http://www.analyticsmagazine.org/)
• Analytics Conference (Huntington Beach, CA April
12-14, 2015)
• Continuing Education (Essential Practice Skills for
Analytics Professionals)
• Engagement with Industry, Government, and
Academia
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Analytics Magazine –
September/October 2013
https://www.informs.o
rg/CertificationContinuingEd/AnalyticsCertification
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Analytics Magazine –
January/February 2014
https://www.
informs.org/
CertificationContinuingEd/AnalyticsCertification
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What is Certification?
Credentialing - official recognition of a
process of meeting a set of defined
standards, generally via education, training,
experience, and testing.
• Licenses - mandatory credentials
granted by government to regulate
practice of a profession.
• Certifications - voluntary credentials
granted in industry attesting to
attainment of knowledge/skills, often
required or preferred by employers.
Source: Department of Labor / Department
of Defense Study on Coordination of Job
Training Standards with Certification
Standards, September 2005
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Early Concepts of OR Certification
• People take multiple paths to get there
OR
Certification
“Target”
• Several different components to certification
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Why establish the CAP®?
• Advance the use of analytics by introducing standards
of quality
• Identify individuals with appropriate breadth of
knowledge
• Encourage continued competency
• Three additional goals:
•
•
•
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Be software and vendor neutral
Be available to all who are eligible
Be eligible for accreditation (ISO/IEC 17024 & NCCA
standard)
Benefits of Certification
•
•
•
•
•
•
Advances career potential by setting you apart
Shows competence in practice of analytics
Demonstrates continued investment in career
Demonstrates commitment to the profession
Boosts salary potential
Provides personal satisfaction---key career
milestone
• Illustrates adherence to industry-standard
practice
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THE Analytics Certification Board
• Semi-independent governing body; assumed responsibility for
•
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development of the certification program in July 2013.
Members include:
Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, SAS (Chair)
Scott Nestler, CAP, US Army (Vice chair)
Tom Davenport, Babson College
Bill Franks, Teradata
Esma Gel (Arizona State University)
Jeanne Harris, Columbia University
Terry Harrison, CAP, Penn State Univ.
Lisa Kart, CAP, Gartner
Kathy Kilmer, Disney
Jack Levis, UPS
Melissa Moore, INFORMS Exec. Director
Jonathan Owen, CAP, General Motors
Glenn Wegryn, CAP, Analytic Impact LLC
The “Shape” of Analytics Certification
• The idea of “T-shaped skills” has been
promoted since at least the early 1990s.
The “T” represents breadth of skills,
across the top, with depth in one area
represented by the vertical bar. Tshaped professionals can more easily
work in interdisciplinary teams than
those with less breadth and can be
more effective than those without depth.
» - Analyzing the Analyzers, an O’Reilly Strata publication,
2013
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Job Task Analysis
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Domains of Analytics Practice
End-to-End Analytics Process
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Business Problem Framing
Analytics Problem Framing
Data
Methodology (Approach) Selection
Model Building
Deployment
Model Lifecycle Management
(12% - 18%)
(14% - 20%)
(18% - 26%)
(12% - 18%)
(13% - 19%)
(7% - 11%)
(4% -8%)
Comparisons
• PMI in Years 1 & 2 had 71 PMPs
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CAP® Goes Global
• Computer based testing began in
June
• 700+ test sites world wide
• CAPs currently represent
• 32 states in USA
• 9 countries
• 10% of Fortune 100 companies
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Where can you take the test?
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CBT Locations – Global
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Colorado Sites
1. Arapahoe Comm. College Littleton, CO
2. Assessment & Testing Services (Lakewood)
3. Colorado Mountain College (Glenwood Springs)
4. Comm. College of Denver (Denver)
5. Detol Technology (Aurora)
6. Elite Career Ctr of CO (Colorado Springs)
7. Front Range Comm. Coll. (Fort Collins)
8. Front Range Comm. Coll. (Longmont)
9. Ground Forces Testing (Colorado Springs)
10. International IT Solutions (Denver)
11. Morgan Comm. Coll. (Fort Morgan)
12. Otero Junior Coll. (La Junta)
13. Pikes Peak Comm. Coll. (Colorado Springs)
14. Pueblo Comm. Coll. (Pueblo)
15. Red Rocks Comm. Coll. (Lakewood)
16. Regis Univ. (Denver)
17. Sunset Learning Inst. (Centennial)
18. TestPro Center (Centennial)
19. Univ. of Colorado (Boulder)
20. Univ.
of Northern Colorado (Greeley)
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CAP’s 5 E’s
Education*:
Experience:
Exam: Tests skills and knowledge in the 7 domains of the Job Task Analysis
Effectiveness: Soft skills confirmed by employer or client
Ethics: Must agree to a Code of Ethics
*Waivers of the educational eligibility requirements will be considered on an
individual basis. See: www.INFORMS.org/Certification
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Assessment Instrument
•
•
•
•
•
•
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100 M/C test items
3 hours to complete
1 correct answer
Balanced with the Job Task Analysis
Items created by SMEs
Items are reviewed by SMEs
Item Classification
• Links item to the JTA
• Links item to the examination’s test specifications
(blueprint or content outline).
• Linkage establishes the practice-relatedness of an
item
• Also establishes “Content Validity” of exam
• Examinations lacking this could be vulnerable to
successful legal challenge.
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Why is this important?
•
•
•
•
•
To maximize the quality of examination
To ensure the accuracy of examination
To ensure the fairness of examination
To ensure the validity of examination
To minimize the measurement error of
examination
• To minimize errors in the classification of
candidates for the CAP®
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How to Prepare
• CAP Study Guide
– Available for FREE on website for review/comment
• Candidate Handbook
– Review the sample questions -- familiarize yourself with the
exam question format
– Review and use the list of key references
• Continuing Education classes
– List can be found on website
ALL resources are available online at:
http://www.informs.org/Certification/
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How to Prepare (Cont.)
INFORMS created a series of informational webinars on
Bright Talk
- Expert presenters
- Delivered every two weeks
- December 3rd through to February 4th
- Recorded and available at
https://www.brighttalk.com/channel/11147
- Useful for Self or Group study
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Using your CAP® Certification
• INFORMS hopes you will display the certificate
and wear the pin with pride in your
accomplishment.
• You may use the designation after your name in
your business or personal stationery.
• We will announce your designation as a Certified
Analytics Professional to three people on your
behalf.
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Maintaining the CAP® Designation
• Certification requires that
knowledge be kept current
• Recertification every 3
years
• Based on earning at least
30 PDUs
• 1 Professional
Development Unit (PDU) =
1 hour of activity
• PDUs can be maintained
online at INFORMS
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PDU Category
PDUs Allowed
Education/Training
programs
1 PDU/hour of activity:
must earn 8
Self-directed learning
1 PDU/hour of activity:
maximum of 10
Creating new analytics
knowledge
1 PDU/hour of activity:
maximum of 10
Volunteer service
1 PDU/hour of activity:
maximum of 10
Analytics professional
work experience
5 PDUs/year of
employment
CAP demographics
• Those who earn the CAP can be listed at
https://www.informs.org/Certification-Continuing-Ed/AnalyticsCertification/Certification-Registry/
• Currently more than 200 are listed
– Not all who pass the exam are listed
• CAPs are in 9 countries: US, Canada, South
Africa, Mexico, Australia, Netherlands, India,
Belgium, Zimbabwe
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Number of CAPs is Growing
•
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More than 10% of the ‘Fortune 100’ companies
have one or more CAPs on staff.
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Who Uses CAP…
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CAP in the News
CIO Magazine, “11 Big Data
Certifications That Will Pay Off,” Jul
31, 2014
The CAP certification is a rigorous general
analytics certification. It certifies end-to-end
understanding of the analytics process, from
framing business and analytic problems to
acquiring data, methodology, model building,
deployment and model lifecycle
management. It requires completion of the
CAP exam (available at more than 700
Kryterion computer-based testing centers in
more than 100 countries) and adherence to
the CAP Code of Ethics.
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Talking about CAP…
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Talking about CAP…
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Talking about CAP…
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Talking about CAP…
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Talking about CAP…
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Talking about CAP…
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Talking about CAP…
INFORMS, Uniting Operations Research and
Analytics
INFORMS is a large professional association which
started in operations research and management
science. I discuss their evolution to analytics, CAP
certification, Big Data and more.
By Gregory Piatetsky, @kdnuggets, Jun 4, 2014.
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Don’t be Left Behind…
Questions?
Web: www.informs.org/certification
Email: certification@informs.org
Phone: 443-757-3599
Certification Manager: Louise Wehrle
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