AD/M Benchmarking Certification

Industry Value

Having accurate and reliable data is critical for organizations to survive in today’s highly competitive business world. Organizations must ensure they are focused on the appropriate goals by comparing their data against industry best-in-class benchmarking data available in the market. IT organizations strive to benchmark their development practices with other IT organizations around the world and this is achieved by accessing highly reputable benchmarking data and reports.

For over thirty years, IFPUG has demonstrated a strong commitment to the IT industry by providing best practices, methods and knowledge to sustain high levels of performance within the global IT industry. IFPUG continues its pursuit of IT industry excellence with the IFPUG Benchmarking Certification program.

IFPUG has envisioned that the ISO/IEC 29155 series (Systems and software engineering — Information technology project performance benchmarking framework) represents the most appropriate framework for achieving IT industry-quality benchmarking data.

Overview

The IFPUG AD/M (Application Development and Maintenance) Benchmarking Certification represents a standard method through which IFPUG affirms that a benchmarking service provider has fulfilled the requirements deemed necessary to be competent to conduct an AD/M benchmark analysis, through the investigation of evidence upon criteria that were defined based on applicable ISO/IEC 29155 tasks and activities.

Requirements

All benchmarking service providers and internal IT organizations who perform application development and maintenance benchmarks are eligible for an IFPUG AD/M Benchmarking Certification.

IFPUG requires that the candidate benchmarking service provider comply with the following pre-requisites prior to applying for certification:

  • Be an IFPUG corporate member;
  • Have completed at least 3 benchmarks studies in the last 3 years;
  • Have the contact information of at least 3 internal or external clients that the organization has done benchmarks for during the last 5 years (these organizations may be contacted during the assessment to determine their evaluation of completeness and quality of the work).

Certification Process

IFPUG certification process is comprised of the following major steps:

  1. The candidate organization completes and submits the IFPUG AD/M Benchmark Certification Application to [email protected], which includes payment instructions.
  2. The IFPUG designated assessment committee will conduct a kick-off meeting with the candidate organization to go through the process and level of expectations directly after the payment approval date.
  3. The candidate organization has up to two months after the kick-off meeting date to submit the required evidence package described in the IFPUG Benchmarking Certification Criteria Checklist to [email protected]. All evidence provided must be listed and cross-referenced with the question/s ID on the checklist and specified where in the document the requirement is met (i.e. page #). Any questions can be submitted to [email protected].
  4. The IFPUG designated assessment committee initiates the evidence package evaluation once received and accepted. The candidate will receive the IFPUG Benchmarking Certification Criteria Checklist containing review comments and findings together with the approval result within one month from the receiving date (the assessment period can be extended if the original language used in the evidence package isn´t English).
  5. During the assessment period, the IFPUG designated assessment committee may request additional evidence, request an interview with the candidate organization or contact one of the three clients indicated in the Application Form. Delayed responses may require additional review time.
  6. IFPUG´s office communicates to the candidate organization´s primary contact the final decision and issues the certificate if appropriate.

Download the Application Review Criteria Checklist

Certification Policies

  • The IFPUG Benchmarking Certification is valid for 3 years from certificate´s issue date.
  • The Benchmarking Certification fee enables the candidate organization to submit to the assessment process only.
  • Maintaining an IFPUG corporate membership is mandatory to retain certification during the three years of certification period.
  • IFPUG Benchmarking Certification application fee paid is NOT refundable: Once payment is approved and the kick off meeting has occurred, the eligible organization has up to two months to submit the criteria checklist and evidence to support assessment. Once the period has expired and neither the checklist nor the evidence package is received, IFPUG will inform the candidate organization that the certification process is cancelled, and fees are not refunded.
  • If the candidate organization fails to pass the assessment, it can reapply for certification at a 50% discount rate within a period of 6 months from the date when the final result is published. The evidence package sent for certification will be retained for 6 months from when the final result is published after which it will be deleted. If the candidate organization reapplies for certification, they only need to submit changed or additional evidence.

Approval Criteria

Scoring Criteria:

  1. Qualification Criteria (per question):
    • Essential questions (6 of 14)
      • Fully Achieved (FA) = 25 points
      • Partially Achieved (PA) = 15 points
      • Not Achieved (NA) = Disqualifier
    • Regular questions (8 of 14)
      • Fully Achieved (FA) = 15 points
      • Partially Achieved (PA) = 9 points
      • Not Achieved (NA) = 0 point
  2. Total Assessment Scoring = Sum of Points per Question
    Scoring Table:
    Question ID Fully Achieved (FA) Partially Achieved (PA) Not Achieved (NA)
    1. 15 9 0
    2. 15 9 0
    3. 25 15 Disqualifier
    4. 15 9 0
    5. 15 9 0
    6. 15 9 0
    7. 25 15 Disqualifier
    8. 15 9 0
    9. 25 15 Disqualifier
    10. 25 15 Disqualifier
    11. 15 9 0
    12. 25 15 Disqualifier
    13. 15 9 0
    14. 25 15 Disqualifier
    Total Assessment Scoring 270 162 0
  3. Approval criteria:
    • 216 points (or 80% of the maximum scoring points of 270 points that can be achieved) AND
    • No Disqualifiers.

Certification

Overview

The IFPUG AD/M (Application Development and Maintenance) Benchmarking Certification represents a standard method through which IFPUG confirms that a benchmarking service provider has fulfilled the requirements deemed necessary to be competent to conduct an AD/M benchmark analysis, through the investigation of evidence upon criteria that were defined based on applicable ISO/IEC 29155 tasks and activities.

The Re-Certification process ensures that the essential benchmarking standards are maintained over a period of time. The standards for re-certification focuses on six essential questions focused on maintaining a high level of quality data associated with the benchmarking process.

Requirements

Benchmarking service providers and internal IT organizations who are IFPUG certified are eligible for an IFPUG AD/M Benchmarking Re-Certification.

IFPUG requires that the candidate benchmarking service provider comply with the following pre-requisites prior to applying for re-certification:

  1. Be an IFPUG corporate member;
  2. Have completed at least 1 benchmark study in the last 2 years;
  3. Have a valid IFPUG AD/M Benchmarking Certification
Re-Certification Process

IFPUG re-certification process is comprised of the following major steps:

  1. The candidate company completes and submits the IFPUG AD/M Benchmarking Re-Certification Application Form to [email protected], which includes payment instructions.
  2. The IFPUG designated assessment committee will conduct a kick-off meeting with the candidate company to go through the process and level of expectations directly after the payment approval date.
  3. The candidate company has up to two months after the kick-off meeting date to submit the required evidence package described in the Benchmarking Re-Certification Criteria Checklist to [email protected]. All evidence provided must be listed and cross-referenced with the question/s ID on the checklist and specified where in the document the requirement is met (i.e. page #). Any questions can be submitted to [email protected].
  4. The IFPUG designated assessment committee initiates the evidence package evaluation once received and accepted. The candidate will receive the IFPUG Benchmarking Re-Certification Criteria Checklist containing review comments and findings together with the approval result within one month from the receiving date (the assessment period can be extended if the original language used in the evidence package isn´t English).
  5. IFPUG´s office communicates to the candidate company´s primary contact the final decision and issues the certificate if appropriate.
Certification Policies
  1. The renewed IFPUG Benchmarking Certification is valid for 3 years from certificate´s issue date.
  2. The Benchmarking Re-Certification fee enables the candidate company to submit to the assessment process only.
  3. Maintaining an IFPUG corporate membership is mandatory to retain certification during the three years of certification period.
  4. IFPUG Benchmarking Re-Certification application fee paid is NOT refundable: Once payment is approved and the kick off meeting has occurred, the eligible company has up to two months to submit the criteria checklist and evidence to support assessment. Once the period has expired and neither the checklist nor the evidence package is received, IFPUG will inform the candidate company that the certification process is cancelled, and fees are not refunded.
  5. If the candidate company fails to pass the assessment, they will no longer be certified. If they choose to continue then they must reapply for certification from the beginning.
Approval Criteria

Scoring criteria:

  1. Approval criteria:
    1. 120 points (or 80% of the maximum scoring points of 150 points that can be achieved) and no Disqualifiers.
  2. Total Assessment Scoring = Sum of Points per Question
  3. Qualification Criteria (per question):
    1. Essential questions (6)
      1. Fully Achieved (FA) = 25 points
      2. Partially Achieved (PA) = 15 points
      3. Not Achieved (NA) = Disqualifier*
        *Not Achieved rating on an Essential question represents a Disqualifier

Document History

Version Description of Change(s) Date Author(s)
1.0 Initial document version 05/01/2023 Pierre Almén, David Herron