When asked, certification program managers can (almost) always share their program’s cut score, as it is the number that defines who might pass the exam and who might not. Beyond the cut score, many programs measure other key aspects of their programs to determine program health and viability. The right reports can offer insights to focus and guide your program planning and priorities.
Define Your Certification Program Success Metrics
As we have worked with dozens of certification organizations on their reporting requirements, we have identified several themes that are important indicators of your program as a whole, your program components in particular, and your operational efficiency.
We are delighted to share what we’ve learned as you consider your next system, reporting tools, and possibilities.
Program Growth
What it is: We define program growth according to the total number of active certificants year over year.
Why it’s important: Tracking program growth is a means to predict the long-term viability of a certification and the financial health of a certification program.
Based on what you see in your numbers, you may have some interesting follow-up questions:
- If the program is growing, what is the rate of growth? Is there a point of market saturation?
- Is there a change in practitioner demographics as program growth changes? Is this in sync with the profession?
- If program growth is slowing, at what point should an organization consider sunsetting the exam offering?
Practitioner Retention
What it is: We define practitioner retention according to the total number of applicants eligible to recertify who did so, compared to the amount who did not.
Why it’s important: Practitioner retention can also be an indicator and predictor of program viability and financial health. For most programs, the cost to maintain a recertification program (to the organization) is significantly less than the cost to maintain their program’s exam.
As you consider your program retention rates, there are also some interesting follow-up questions:
- Are factors outside your program (like career mobility) impacting whether your practitioners choose to recertify?
- Are there aspects of the recertification requirements that impact a practitioner’s ability to recertify?
- Program operations: Is it easy for your practitioners to find activities that fulfill their recertification requirements? Are your practitioners aware of their upcoming recertification deadlines? Do you offer a clear path to reinstatement?
Analyzing practitioner retention can offer insight into the impact of CE management, automated communications, and other adjustable facets of your recertification processes.
Earnings
What it is: We define program earnings according to gross revenue or total payments brought into the program by type (like application fees, exam retake fees, recertification fees, reinstatement fees), year over year.
Why it’s important: At a high level, you want to know your program revenue sources and what can be recognized as revenue. Operationally, you may want to know if refunds, discounts, and other payment exceptions affect your bottom line. An earnings report helps shed light on the payments flowing into your program so that you can create, adjust, and defend your fee structure through data-driven decision-making. When you tie this metric to program growth and retention, you can also start to forecast future revenue.
Exam Success
What it is: We define exam success according to the total number of passing scores, failing scores, and exam no-shows year over year.
Why it’s important: Insights related to exam success go beyond just how many candidates passed; they give you insight into exam operations from a candidate’s perspective (vs. a test administrator’s perspective) and pass rates as they relate to the characteristics of the candidates.
For example:
- Has there been a change in the number of no-shows, cancellations, or retakes?
- Is there a relationship between a certain aspect of demographic data (like graduation date) and pass rate?
While our psychometric friends focus on item performance, exam metrics in the candidate management system offer insights into how exam success relates to aspects of your candidate record.
Application Success
What it is: We define application success as the total number of applications started and completed by your submission deadline, year over year.
Why it’s important: Certification operations are core to most programs, and the completion of either initial applications or recertification applications can indicate operational efficiency, effective program marketing, or possibly program health.
As you analyze your program retention rates, consider:
- How many people begin your certification applications and go on to complete them?
- Where might they be getting stuck and dropping out?
- Do they need more reminders?
Application Review Time
What it is: We define application review time as the average total time taken from application submission to disposition completion year over year.
Why it’s important: Also an indicator of operational efficiency, knowing your application review time, and related variations, can help you set external expectations with your practitioner community and make appropriate internal resource allocations.
From an operations perspective, you might ask:
- Do you have enough reviewers?
- Are they equipped and efficient?
- Are there specific areas in the application that reviewers “spend their time” on?
This metric helps you analyze your application processing to make informed decisions about your technology (are there areas for improvement?), and policies (what percentage of applications should you audit?).
LearningBuilder Puts the Power of Certification Data in Your Hands
Over LearningBuilder’s last 15 years, we have cultivated a diverse customer community with equally diverse configurations. These organizations may think about their programs differently, but they can all benefit from analysis of their program data. As your technology partner, we empower our client partners to tell a quantitative story about their success. LearningBuilder’s powerful Reporting Engine facilitates informed and intentional decisions driven by access to certification program data. If you’re ready to define and analyze your own program metrics, LearningBuilder offers:
- A drag-and-drop report designer and preview pane
- An administrator dashboard for real-time analytics
- Interactive filtering for your KPI reporting
- Functionality to report out on data from both LearningBuilder and outside sources (like your AMS)
- Custom permission visibility rules to keep your program data secure
- Exportability in multiple formats for easy sharing
- Automated email report delivery to make routine data sharing even easier
Are you interested to learn more about LearningBuilder’s comprehensive certification management solutions? If you think we’re a potential fit for your program needs, click here to set aside time on the calendar for an introductory call.
