Configuring Certifications

Before certifications can be conferred, they must be configured. Both certifications and applications contain many of the same settings as other products in the system, including price configuration, short and long descriptions, confirmation email options, and custom fields. Unlike ordinary products, these can also be configured with requirements such as document submission, the earning of education credits, etc.

Essential Configuration Types

The following are some essential examples of certification configuration possible in re:Members AMS. Please work with your project manager or client success if you need assistance in determining the configuration that works best for your team.

Certification Only

  • Configuration: A certification with no requirements and no application.

  • Suitable for: Setups in which certifications will be managed primarily by staff users only--that is, non-staff will not typically have an active role in certification themselves.

  • Recommendations:

    • Price Requiring Staff Approval: In this configuration, the price should be set as requiring staff approval, to prevent customers from being certified as soon as the certification order is created and paid. See also: Requiring Staff Payment Approval

Example: Use Case - "Certification Only" - ABC is a small association which tracks certificants in an Excel spreadsheet. Because they are tracking data outside of the system, they only wish to award and show certification status in re:Members AMS . Once approved, ABC staff purchase the certification on behalf of the customer.

Certification with Application

  • Configuration: A certification with a related application.

  • Suitable for: All setups. Particularly useful for certification processes in which non-staff users will have a part. That is, the expectation that non-staff log in and provide information on the application process themselves.

Example: Use Case - "Certification with Application" - DEF Association allows their non-staff users to log in to re:Members AMS and submit an application for a certification. The application process allows DEF to vet and review applications within the system, which staff can approve or decline. Once approved, staff can create an order for the certification itself.

Requirements on Certifications and Applications

In any certification configuration, you can force applicants to submit certain requirements on the application, certification, or both. Requirements can include:

  • Education CreditsClosedThe earning of education credits as a result of self-reporting, purchasing products, attending an event, etc. Staff can be required to approve submitted education credits.

  • Document SubmissionClosedThe requirement that the certificant submit a document of your choosing.

  • ExamClosedPassing an exam configured in the system.

  • Product PurchasedClosedThe requirement to purchase a product.

These requirements act as another step in the vetting and review process and allow staff to collect more data from certificants.

Example: Use Case - "Certification and Application with Requirements" - GHI Association offers a certification, but requires that customers submit an application, as well as to have earned at least 3 education credits as a result of attending the GHI Annual Conference. Customers must submit an application and will be able to see on the Application Detail page that 3 education credits are required to be certified. Once those credits are earned, staff can approve the requirement, approve the application, and create the certification order.

See also,

Adding a Certification