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Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®)ProgramLouise 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.

30%

29%

28%

6%

7%

Note: This survey question had 1765 respondents.

93%thinkOR &Analyticsare related!

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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.analytics-magazine.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.org/Certification-Continuing-Ed/Analytics-Certification

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Analytics Magazine – January/February 2014

https://www.informs.org/Certification-Continuing-Ed/Analytics-Certification

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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

• Several different components to certification

ORCertification“Target”

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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:

• Be software and vendor neutral• Be available to all who are eligible• Be eligible for accreditation (ISO/IEC 17024

& NCCA standard)

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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 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

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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. T-shaped 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

• Business Problem Framing (12% - 18%)

• Analytics Problem Framing (14% - 20%)

• Data (18% - 26%) • Methodology (Approach) Selection (12% -

18%) • Model Building (13% - 19%) • Deployment (7% - 11%) • Model Lifecycle Management (4% -8%)

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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

• 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

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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

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

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CAP demographics

• Those who earn the CAP can be listed at https://www.informs.org/Certification-Continuing-Ed/Analytics-Certification/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

• 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, 2014The 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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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.

Talking about CAP…

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Don’t be Left Behind…

Questions? Web: www.informs.org/certificationEmail: certification@informs.orgPhone: 443-757-3599Certification Manager: Louise Wehrle