Certifications have benefits. They let potential employers or clients know you are knowledgeable in a given area. Certifications need to be renewed periodically because our world is ever changing and technology is ever so more changing and rapidly at that. Not only do we need to renew our certifications, the organizations that certify people need to periodically renew and update their certification test. This is what a known industry association needed to do. Their certification test was nearing its three year anniversary from its last revision so an update was needed. To further support the update, the exam had been compromised! This means that the exam questions and correct answers had been shared on the Internet!
This industry association contacted BF Virtual Associates with a request to project manage the exam update. The association said industry knowledge would not be needed as there would be a team of industry experts who would cover that aspect. All BF Virtual Associates had to do was … Project Manage… the effort. Simple enough – or is it! Once the statement of work or proposal was accepted and working with the provided contact, we set out to manage this effort. The client contact and BF Virtual Associates drafted a scope statement for the project which we used to manage the efforts of the team. We also developed a project timeline which needed to be revised throughout the project as we encountered roadblocks. Because we planned upfront, we were able to make our way through the roadblocks. The client and BF Virtual Associates held regular status meetings throughout the project which proved to be quite helpful.
Very early on, it became apparent that this would, in fact, require industry knowledge as well as knowledge about developing certification exams. Not a problem! With the assistance of the client contact, our first mission was to form our expert project team. We conducted a call for experts and vetted the applicants. While we were doing this, we performed the Job Task Analysis (JTA) where we went to the industry association’s membership with a survey to determine the common tasks information workers needed to do in a given day.
The expert project team met to review the JTA responses and finalize the job tasks an information worker performs. These tasks become the basis for the questions on the certification test. With this analysis complete, the team moved on to the next phase in the project which was to begin drafting questions for the job tasks from the JTA. It was very important to make sure the questions were secure and stored in a secure manner even as they were being drafted. So, the client gained access to a question bank service that would secure the draft questions. This service provider also helped in the analysis of the questions and the score setting which is important in determining if a test taker passes and can be certified. The question bank service provider did not provide help guides or training on how to use the question bank. So, as the project manager, BF Virtual Associates drafted training and user guides for the question bank.
Simultaneous to the question drafting, an existing study guide was being reviewed and updated by many of the same experts who were writing questions.
The work on the updated exam and the revised study guide ended and both were launched in October 2023. Those in the test group for the exam and those who took it after the exam was launched had favorable thoughts on the exam.
Project management can be used for almost any project that may arise. Yes, project management is project management regardless of the project. The same steps apply to any project.
If you have a project, contact BF Virtual Associates. We are ready to manage any project you may have. We also have project management tools, a template and a guide booklet that we would like to share with you. Let us know how we can help you.