Certifications

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Certifications

What does Certification mean?
Certification from the Association is the recognized, industry-wide standard that quantifies the skill level of individual category management professionals. Certificates from training firms, solution providers, and universities only meet requirements of the specific organization offering the courses and vary by company. The Association's certification is an objective, third-party designation and ensures that a minimum agreed-upon standard at each level has been met or exceeded.

Who gets certified — companies or individuals?
Individual category management professionals receive Association certification for a combination of experience and formal training.

Manufacturers and retailers may certify their internal corporate training programs; training firms, solution providers, and universities can also have their learning programs certified. Coursework certification means that the designated learning program officially fulfills a requirement towards individual professional certification from the Association. Much like a university degree can be earned with qualifying credits from various colleges, the credits earned from various pre-certified universities, training firms, solutions providers, or corporate training programs are applied as credit towards the individual professional's certification.

How does an individual professional or a company get certified?
Individual professionals must submit specific credentials for evaluation to the Association’s Certification Evaluation Board or test out to satisfy each level. Companies should contact the Certification Evaluation Board to begin the certification process.

What are the individual certification levels?

CPCA Certified Professional Category Analyst
CPCM Certified Professional Category Manager
CPSA Certified Professional Strategic Advisor

What happens if my certification application is not approved?
Specific remedial action direction to satisfy the certification, and subsequent re-submissions, will be offered at no extra charge.

How will I know if the courses I take are certified?
Courses that can be used as credits for certification will be clearly designated on the Association Website. Coursework certification is ongoing.

INDIVIDUALS
Request more information about certification.

COMPANIES
Request Certifications Standards document
Also available for use in benchmarking training programs, internal skills audits, and hiring standards