axelos membership handbook - prince2 · • practitioner • advanced practitioner table 2.1...

AXELOS Membership Handbook

Excel in your role. Advance your career.

MEMBERSHIP HANDBOOK

This handbook contains everything you need to know about your membership including your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements and how to achieve a digital badge. It is supported by FAQs that answer common questions you might have about your membership and CPD Guidance that provides information about the types of activities you can count towards your CPD requirements.

1. Overview programme 3

• Membership benefits• Maintaining the standard

2. How do I join the programme? 5

• Entry requirements• Setting up an AXELOS account and

subscribing to membership• How to get an account• Subscribing to membership• If you do not hold an AXELOS certification• If you do hold an AXELOS certification• Finding your candidate number• Verifying your certification

3. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) 8

• CPD requirements• CPD categories/activities/points• CPD for multiple subscriptions• Incomplete CPD

4. Gaining your digital badge 12

• How does the digital badge work?• Using your digital badge

5. Your Annual Membership 14

• Membership for multiple subscriptions• What does the programme cost?• How to renew your membership• Lapsed membership

6. How is the programme monitored? 16

7. Membership support 17

2. Membership Handbook

1. MEMBERSHIP OVERVIEW

This online membership service will help you excel in your role and advance your career. Choose from ITIL, PRINCE2 or MSP memberships.

You will have access to an online portal of content, practical guidance and toolkits that will support you through your exams and in your day-to-day role. We are developing a one-stop-shop of best practice content that will ensure that you have the tools you need to be successful now and help you develop your skills and capabilities for the future.

As part of your membership you can choose to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and earn a digital badge linked to your qualification. This professional recognition of your commitment to ongoing development will help you demonstrate your relevance, skills and capabilities as an IT Service Management (ITSM) or Project and Programme Management (PPM) professional.

Finally you will also have access to an online community of professionals who you can share best practices with and help to develop the profession globally.

Watch our video to find out more about your membership.


1.1 Membership benefits

As part of your membership you have access to a range of resources that will help you at different stages of your professional career.

Help me pass my exams

• Practice for your exams with past papers and answers

• Watch revision videos with AXELOS examiners

• Prepare for your exams with study tips and techniques

Help me advance my career

• Take a skills assessment to benchmark your capabilities

• Get organized with our CPD planning and recording tools

• Tailored recommendations of CPD activities and content

• Stand out with a digital badge linked to your qualification

• Find your next role with career profiles for over 30 job roles

Help me excel in my role

• Access the latest ITSM and PPM best practice publications

• Download practical toolkits to apply best practices in your role

• Stay abreast of the latest industry trends and expertise with AXELOS Exchange webinar series

1.2 Maintaining the standard

Digital badges reflect a new way of demonstrating achievement and certification in a digital world. They can be shared online and are supported by metadata which makes them instantly verifiable. Our digital badges are only available to members with AXELOS certifications in ITIL®, MSP® or PRINCE2® and can only be earned through undertaking and logging CPD activities. To maintain this standard we undertake regular audits of a sample of members’ CPD logs to ensure they meet the requirements of the programme. Should your record be chosen for audit you will be asked to supply evidence to support your CPD claims.


2. HOW DO I JOIN THE PROGRAMME?

2.1 Entry requirements

Anyone can join the programme but you must hold an ITIL, MSP or PRINCE2 certification to claim a digital badge. The recognized certification levels for a digital badge are shown in table 2.1 below:

Product Qualification

• Foundation Bridge• Foundation • Practitioner• Intermediate (any module)• Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC)• Managers Bridge• Expert• Master

• Foundation• Practitioner• Agile Practitioner• Professional

• Foundation• Practitioner• Advanced Practitioner

Table 2.1 Recognized qualification levels.

2.2 Setting up your AXELOS account and subscribing to membership

In order to become a member, you will first need to create an account on AXELOS.com.

2.2.1 How to get an account

Visit AXELOS.com and click the ‘create profile’ option in the menu bar on the top, right hand side of the page. For members who already have an AXELOS.com account, click the ‘log on’ option.

2.2.2 Subscribing to membership

In order to subscribe to membership visit the membership homepage on the AXELOS.com website and click ‘subscribe now’. Choose from ITIL, PRINCE2 or MSP membership and add it to your basket.

2.2.3 If you do not hold an AXELOS certification

If you do not have a certification you are still able to join and access content and the tools for the membership you are interested in (ITIL, PRINCE2 or MSP) but you will not be able to claim a digital badge. Subscribe to membership by going to the membership homepage and skip the qualification verification step.


2.2.4 If you hold an AXELOS certification

If you hold a relevant certification you can choose whether to add your certification to your subscription on joining or at a later date. If you wish to obtain a digital badge your certification must be linked to your account. In order to do this, you will need your candidate number or candidate ID.

2.2.5 Finding your candidate number

Your candidate number is a unique ID given to you by your Examination Institute (EI) when you sat your exam. If you do not know your candidate number, you will have to contact your EI. Before doing this it would be worthwhile checking that you are also on the AXELOS Successful Candidates Register as this is a requirement of the verification process.

2.2.6 Verifying your certification

You will be required to verify your certification when adding it to your account. To do this AXELOS will check your candidate number

against the exam data we hold on the AXELOS Successful Candidates Register. If you are not on this register (you may have opted out) you will need to contact your EI, so your candidate number and certification can be added.

You can download a PDF of the contact details of all of the EIs. When you contact your EI you will need to ask them to:

• Provide you with your candidate number.

• Ask them to upload your candidate number and certification to the AXELOS Successful Candidate Register.

Note: when you contact your EI you will need to provide them with some personal information such as full name, the certification you would like added to the SCR and the year in which you took the exam.

Remember you only need to verify your certification if you are claiming a digital badge, but we do recommend that you add this information to your account as soon as possible.

If you experience any issues during the registration process, please contact

[email protected] for assistance.


Your candidate number and the Successful Candidates Register (SCR)

How do I register my certification on my profile?Your candidate number and the certification you want a digital badge for must be listed on AXELOS’ Successful Candidates Register (SCR). Check that your certification is listed displaying your name, candidate number, certification level and date correctly.

What if I do not know my candidate number?You can either find your candidate number on your certificate or from your Examination Institute. If you have your candidate number, but it is not the same as that listed on the SCR, you will have to contact your Examination Institute to amend it. If you took your exam with an Examination Institute that has now retired then check our FAQs for further guidance.

What if my certification is not listed on the SCR?Your certification will not be listed if you have opted out of being added to AXELOS’ SCR when you took your examination. It can take up to 6 weeks for your details to appear on the SCR post examination, so if you sat your exam recently this may be why your certification is not appearing.

How do I get my certification added to the SCR?If your certification does not appear on AXELOS’ SCR, you will have to contact the Examination Institute with whom you sat your examination and ask for your candidate number and certification to be uploaded to AXELOS’ SCR. Please note that Examination Institutes have their own in-house registers, therefore you have to ask to be added to AXELOS’ SCR.

How do I register my certification?Once you are listed on the AXELOS’ SCR, you will be able to add your certification to your user profile. Your certification will be verified against the SCR when you enter your candidate number on your user profile in the ‘Update Qualifications’ section. If you get an error message, check that you are using the correct candidate number for your certification − if you have several certifications, you may have different candidate numbers for each. You might also get an error message if the name on your user profile does not exactly match that on the SCR. If your name is incorrect on the SCR, please contact your Examination Institute to rectify this issue or update your AXELOS.com profile accordingly. If you have any further queries, please contact us at [email protected].


3. CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

As part of your membership you can complete CPD activities to help you remain current in your field. To support you in this you can access a CPD toolset to help you assess and plan your development activities so that you can meet your CPD requirements and earn your digital badge. We suggest you follow a three stage cycle to help you easily meet your CPD requirement.

CPD

ASSE

SS CAPABILITY AND PLAN LEARNING

AC

QU

IRE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

APPL

Y AN

D E

VALU

ATE

ProfessionalExperience Training

CommunityParticipation Self Study

Step 1: Assess capability and plan learning

For many, learning takes place in an unplanned environment, particularly in the workplace. However we recommend that you take the time to assess your skills and capabilities in order to help you understand your development needs, identify the right development activities and measure your progress.

Step 2: Acquire Skills and Knowledge

Having understood your development goals you can then undertake activities to help you meet them. This is the activity you will need to complete in order to achieve a digital badge. We have identified four categories through which you can undertake your development activities. Your development is about you and so it is in your power to choose the activities that are relevant to your development goals. However we have weighted the different activities to help you get the right balance of practical experience and skills development. More information about the weighting of these categories can be found in the Guidance Document.

Step 3: Apply and Evaluate

This final stage focuses on the outcome of your activity and how it has helped you meet your development goals. When you log your activity you will be asked to evaluate the outcome either by providing a description of your learning or by selecting the skills you have developed from the AXELOS Skills Framework.


3.1 What are the requirements for a digital badge?

Within a 12 month period you must complete 20 points worth of CPD activities for each product within your membership. Five points of these activities must come from professional experience, while the remaining 15 points can be obtained across training and qualifications, community participation and self-study.

To gain the mandatory five points for professional experience you will need to list five separate activities that you undertake within your role that relate to the best practice knowledge gained in your certification and that link to the skills and behaviours expected of your role.

For the remaining 15 points, one point equates to one hour’s worth of effort. You can record a minimum of 30 minutes or 0.5 points and a maximum of 15 hours or 15 points, depending on the activity type. Please read the CPD Guidance document for further information.

When you subscribe to membership you will be awarded 15 points in recognition of the certification that is linked to your AXELOS profile. This activity will be added to your CPD plan and will need to be logged to count. In order to achieve your first digital badge, you will also need to log the five additional activities for professional experience and submit your log. This can be submitted manually allowing you to achieve your first badge in as short a period as possible.*

Once you claim your first digital badge, you will then have the remainder of your annual membership cycle to achieve an additional 20 points in order to extend your digital badge for the following 12 months.

Your log will be automatically submitted at the end of your membership cycle, so make sure you update your log before your renewal date.

All of your activities must have taken place within your annual product membership cycle, including your professional experience. Activities completed before this point cannot be added.

AXELOS does not mandate the types of activities that you undertake, as long as they are relevant to your professional development and fit into the four categories of professional experience, training and qualifications, community participation or self-study. These categories should cover most of the activities you want to record and some activities could be relevant to more than one category. You need to select the most relevant category for the activity and that you are able to evaluate how it has helped your development. If you want to see examples of CPD activities take a look at our CPD Guidance.

*Requirements for ITIL V1 and V2 and expired PRINCE2 qualificationsFor individuals who hold the above certifications, the professional experience requirements related to your first CPD submission cannot include coaching or mentoring. It must reflect practical application of knowledge in a professional capacity i.e. undertaking a comprehensive body of work within your profession that adopts and adapts best practice into the work place. This is to ensure that your professional experience reflects practical application, something that coaching and mentoring does not always achieve. For more information on what your professional experience can entail, see the CPD Guidance document, or refer to the AXELOS Career Path job profiles.


3.2 CPD Categories/Activities/Points

20 C

PD

Poi

nts

Ann

ually • AXELOS qualifications

• Qualifications from Accredited Training Organizations• Professional qualifications from awarding bodies• In house training• E learning/webinars/online gaming.

• Organizing industry events• Contributing to community discussion forums• Authoring industry thought leadership

• Attending industry events including webinars, conferences etc. • Reading blogs, discussion forums etc.

• Relevant books, manuals, publications• Journal articles, white papers, case studies• Webcasts, podcasts, websites• Community discussion forums• Intranet• Blog posts/RSS feeds• Personal.

CPD Categories Activities

PROFESSIONALEXPERIENCE

TRAINING

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

SELFSTUDY

15

5

Active

Structured Training

Qualifications

Professional Practice

Passive

Reading

Research

Coaching and Mentoring

5Mandatory

Maximum

Maximum

Maximum

15

5

• Professional practice: applying best practice in the workplace• Coaching colleagues in relation to best practice• Mentoring individuals or groups to support their development• Work shadowing senior colleagues.


3.3 CPD for multiple subscriptions

If you add an additional subscription you will be able to share activity points between both subscriptions as long as they are relevant to both. You will be able to share a maximum of 15 points and the activity must have taken place after you registered your additional subscriptions to be valid. These 15 points that are shared can come from Training, Community or Self-Study. For example if you attend a one day training course focused on improving your communication skills you can share that activity as it will be relevant to both your subscriptions.

You cannot share points relating to professional experience. You will need to complete five points of professional experience for each membership subscription.

3.4 Incomplete CPD

If you want your digital badge to renew for the following 12 months you must complete and record your CPD activities within your membership cycle. If you do not log the additional 20 points required your badge will expire at the end of your membership cycle. Renewing your membership does not mean that your digital badge will be extended, as it is directly linked to your CPD activities and meeting your CPD requirements.


4. DIGITAL BADGES

By successfully recording and logging your CPD activities you will be rewarded with a digital badge.

Digital badges reflect a new way of demonstrating achievement and certification in a digital age and can be shared online with verified metadata that demonstrates your commitment to professional development. It will allow you to differentiate yourself from your peers by highlighting your achievement in developing your skills and knowledge.

We have partnered with Acclaim, a badging platform, to issue you these badges. Once you become eligible to receive your digital badge you will need to set up an account with Acclaim.

Your badge will be issued to you in the first year, and if you maintain your membership and log your CPD points, the expiry date will be updated for a further 12 months demonstrating that it is a continuous award.

Your badge will reflect the highest certification that you have linked to your AXELOS online profile e.g. If you have verified that you hold a PRINCE2 Practitioner certification you will receive a PRINCE2 Practitioner badge.


4.1 How does the digital badge work?

Each badge is underpinned by metadata that provides the following information:

• Defined outcomes required to earn the badge and the evidence provided to demonstrate your competence

• Information about AXELOS

• Verification of your identity and relevant, secure, trusted communications about your qualifications, competencies and skills.

4.2 Using your digital badge

Your digital badge can be used across online platforms including your AXELOS public profile, social media, email and web.


5. YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPYour membership will last for 12 months and will link to the membership subscription for which you registered. You can at any point during your membership subscribe to an additional product. This additional product membership will last 12 months from the date added to your account.

Diagram 5.1 illustrating an original membership in January and renewed on an annual basis, with an additional subscription being registered in June and the subsequent annual renewals.


JAN

JUNE JUNE

JAN JAN

Membership Registration: Original Subscription

Membership Renewal: Original Subscription

Membership Renewal: Original Subscription

Registration: Additional Subscription

Renewal: Additional Subscription

5.2 What does the programme cost?

Annual Membership: £100 +VAT

Registration Fee: £25 + VAT

This is a one-off administration fee that you pay when you join the membership programme. The cost of subscribing to a second subscription is £30 (+VAT) per annum and a third subscription is £20 per annum (+VAT).

5.3 How to renew your membership

As you approach the end of your 12 month membership for each subscription, you will be sent a reminder asking you to renew your subscription before expiry.

5.4 Lapsed membership

By not renewing your membership you will lose access to your online account, and the skills development and CPD tools and content that support your professional development. You will also lose your digital badge. You can restore your account, on payment of the membership fee and an additional registration fee, and your subsequent renewal will be based on this new payment date.


6. HOW DO WE MAINTAIN THE STANDARD?

To ensure that members are meeting their CPD requirements, AXELOS will undertake a sample audit throughout the year.

After completing your CPD requirements, you will be awarded the digital badge as recognition that you have completed your CPD. This is issued subject to your CPD log falling within the CPD requirements and that, if selected for auditing, your record stands up to scrutiny.

To facilitate this, AXELOS will check a random subset of candidate records. If members fail to respond to the audit request to submit evidence, or if their evidence is deemed as not meeting our CPD requirements of the Programme, AXELOS reserves the right to revoke the digital badge.


7. MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT

If you have any questions please check the FAQs section on our website. If you do not find the answer to your question then contact [email protected] and we will be happy to help.

Should you have a complaint regarding the conduct of a member, please send full details of your complaint to [email protected]

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within one working day. You should expect a reply within 10 working days. If we cannot respond fully to your complaint within 10 days, we will keep you informed of the progress of our investigation.


Contactsemail [email protected] AXELOS.com/membership

ITIL and PRINCE2 are registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited. AXELOS, the AXELOS logo and the AXELOS swirl logo are trade marks of AXELOS Limited.

@AXELOS_GBP AXELOS AXELOS Global Best Practice

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