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Certification
 

ACTIVITY-CREDIT RULES

Extension Availability

In order to obtain a CFPS Certification Extension an individual must hold a CFPS designation in the most current Major Change (see 2.4.2) of the IFPUG Counting Practices Manual (CPM). In addition, BOTH the Activity-Credit Criteria described in Section 2.2 must be met AND a valid extension option from the Options for CFPS Certification Extension described in Section 2.4 must be available.

An individual who is applying for a CFPS Certification Extension must ensure that his/her application and supporting documentation arrives at the IFPUG Office or is postmarked 30 calendar days prior to his/her CFPS expiration date. Applications received or postmarked less than 30 days prior to his/her CFPS expiration date will be charged a $100 late fee.

Because of the 30-day lead-time required to validate and audit each application, it is possible that an individual will not have completed 100% of his/her planned Activities prior to the submission deadline. The individual must identify on his/her application the remaining planned Activity(ies) and provide supporting documentation upon completion of the Activity(ies).

Classes taken and conference presentations attended during the same week that an individual sits for the CFPS exam may be applied to his/her next extension period, assuming a successful exam.

All materials submitted as part of the CFPS Certification Extension application process will be retained by the IFPUG Office unless otherwise noted.

Activity-Credit Criteria

In order to qualify for a CFPS Certification Extension, individuals must meet the Activity-Credit criteria described below.

1. Individuals may accumulate CFPS Extension Credits (CEC) from any of the Activities listed in the Activity-Credit Table.
2. For a two (2) year extension, individuals must accumulate at least two (2) different Activities listed in the Activity-Credit Table.
3. For a three (3) year extension, individuals must accumulate at least three (3) different Activities listed in the Activity-Credit Table.
4.

There is no limit to the number of Activities to be accumulated.

5.

Individuals are not required to accumulate any particular Activity.

6.

All CFPS Certification Extension application and supporting documentation submitted must be in English.

7.

The initial eligibility period for accumulating CEA credit is three years prior to the expiration of an individual’s CFPS Certification.

  a. An individual has three (3) years from the date that they become certified by passing the CFPS Exam to accumulate sufficient CEA credit to have their CFPS Certification extended for either two (2) or three (3) years, i.e. to earn a CFPS Certification Extension.
  b. Activities completed more than three (3) years before the time the current CFPS Certification or CFPS Certification Extension expires will not be considered for CEA credit.
8.

The subsequent eligibility period for accumulation CEA is based on the length of time the CFPS Certification Extension has been granted.

  a. During the subsequent eligibility period, an individual can accumulate sufficient CEA credit to have their CFPS certification extended by either two (2) or three (3) years based on the number of CEA.
  b. Activities completed prior the subsequent eligibility period will not be considered for CEA Credit.

Validation and Audit

Each Activity listed in the Activity-Credit Table has Basic Validation and Audit criteria associated with it. All Basic Validation tasks for a given Activity will be performed every time an applicant applies for credit in that Activity. In addition, Audit tasks for any Activity may be performed at random or at the discretion of the Certification Committee for any application. See section 3.2 for Basic Validation and Audit criteria for each Activity.

Multiple individuals may be involved in reviewing an applicant’s CEA documentation. No individual may in any way be involved in reviewing his/her own CEA documentation.

Options for CFPS Certification Extension

Take the Current CFPS Exam

An individual may take the current CFPS exam to continue his/her CFPS Certification (become "re-certified"). This option eliminates the requirement for any additional education, experience or training classes for that individual.

Major Change to the Counting Practices Manual (CPM)

If there is a Major Change to the CPM, an individual will be required to take the current CFPS Exam reflecting the Major Change to become certified ("recertified") under the new Major Change version of the CPM.

A Major Change is generally defined as a "substantial change" to the CPM that warrants a version change to the next X.0 (e.g.; 4.0 to 5.0) version designation. The version number is updated as recommended by the Counting Practices Committee (CPC) with IFPUG BOD approval.

A caveat to the CFPS Certification Extensions is that an individual will only be allowed to obtain one CFPS Certification Extension if a Major Change occurs during their initial three-year CFPS Certification. If the Major Change occurs during their first CFPS Certification Extension, the individual will be allowed to obtain the second CFPS Certification Extension. The extensions in both of these scenarios would extend their current level of certification and would not provide the individual with certification at the new Major Change level.

Minor change to CPM OR No change to CPM

An individual must accumulate CEC from the Activity-Credit List. The CEC must be accumulated before the current CFPS Certification expires. The accumulation of CEC would "extend" an individual's CFPS Certification for a period of two years. An individual may extend their CFPS Certification a maximum of two consecutive times using the CFPS Certification Extension process. At the end of the second extension period, an individual will be required to take the current CFPS Exam to continue his/her certification. This process could be repeated, i.e., take and pass the CFPS Exam, obtain two CFPS Certification Extensions, take and pass the CFPS Exam, obtain two CFPS Certification Extensions, etc.

An individual may, if desired, make his/her certification "current" with the latest version of the CPM under a minor change. This would be accomplished by taking a class that categorizes and explains the minor changes to the CPM, similar to the FP230 class that was available for the version 4.0 to 4.1 changes. Note that this option does not extend an individual's certification expiration date.