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Faq
Tivoli Professional Certification Program |
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We are always adding new FAQs to the site, so please check back here if
you do not see what you are looking for or contact
us with your questions.
| Why Should I Get Certified |
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- What
Tivoli Certifications are currently available?
Tivoli
has several types of certifications and each one, along with the
requirements, is listed in the certification by product view (Tivoli Software - roadmap section) of this Web site.
- What
are the benefits of becoming Tivoli Certified or encouraging my employees
to become certified?
The
Tivoli Professional Certification Program offers many benefits whether you
are a Tivoli technical professional, Business Partner, or customer. Many
of these benefits are listed in the benefits
section of the Tivoli Web site. In addition, many of our Tivoli Certified
professionals have sent in their own testimonials about their experiences
in being Tivoli Certified. These testimonials can also be viewed in the
Benefits section.
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| Preparing for the Exam |
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- How
do I get certified?
You can
find the information you need on certification preparation on the Certification check list.
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Where can I get the training materials for the classes to prepare for the
tests?
The
test description will provide recommended education, publications,
redbooks, Web sites, and other pertinent information to help you prepare
for tests. Simply click on the certification of interest in the
certification by product view - Tivoli Software Web site and then select "Recommended educational resources" at the bottom of each certification description page.
- If I
take a class, will I be able to pass the exam?
Taking
any Tivoli technical training course will not, by itself, prepare you to
pass any Tivoli Professional Certification exam. The exams are created at
a difficulty level appropriate to differentiate between those who are
competent to implement the products with little to no assistance from
others, and those who are not competent to do so.
We usually recommend that a person seeking certification attend the
training, read the manual(s) and release notes and have hands-on
experience implementing the product in a real world environment. In
addition, you can find sample tests and test objectives for each exam on
this Tivoli Certification Web site.
Tivoli certifications are more difficult to obtain than many in the
industry, but we feel that making the differentiation mentioned above is
key to keeping these certifications credible and worth having.
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Where are classes offered for the exam I want to take?
Access the worldwide Tivoli course schedules for all countries and locations.
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Where can I get technical documentation for Tivoli products if we
haven't purchased the software yet?
You can
obtain the product documentation in a few ways:
1. Soft copies of the
documentation are on the Tivoli Support Web site.
2.
Hard copies of the documentation must be obtained through your Tivoli
account manager or sales rep. You may be able to obtain documentation without having purchased the software, but again, you'd have
to check with your account manager.
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Where can I get Redbooks and product manuals?
Redbooks Online! is the source for finding complete redbooks and
redbooks-in-progress (redpieces) on the World Wide Web. You can view and
download the complete contents of Redbooks online. There are two ways to
find the redbook - by keyword search or by browsing through pre-selected
categories. Visit the IBM Redbooks Web site to get
this information.
- Why
doesn’t Tivoli have exam cram guides?
There
are no certification guides for Tivoli certification tests. The exams are
created at a difficulty level appropriate to differentiate between those
who are competent to implement the products with little to no assistance
from others, and those who are not competent to do so.
We usually recommend that a person seeking certification attend the
training, read the manual(s) and release notes and have hands-on
experience implementing the product in a real world environment. In
addition, you can find sample tests and test objectives for each exam on
this Tivoli Certification Web site.
A good place to start gathering knowledge about specific Tivoli
products and solutions is within the Tivoli Product page. From this page, you can select products of interest to you, read
online information, and find white papers/redbooks/technical manuals to
get you started.
In general, certification tests validate implementation knowledge and
skill as defined by the Certification Role description. Education is only
a part of the process to prepare for certification tests. It is not
surprising that those who have little hands-on implementation experience
would fail the test. Tivoli wants to make sure that a "certified"
individual will have the skill and knowledge to do the job
successfully.
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| Taking the Exam |
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- How
do I register for an exam ?
You can
find the information you need on the Certification check list page of the IBM Professional Certification Web site.
- If I
take and fail an exam on the first try, is there a time limit imposed on
when I can take it again?
There
is no Tivoli imposed time limit for your second try, though Sylvan may not
be able to download the exam for you until the next day. We do have a
policy that is fairly standard in the IT certification industry that
states that a person may not take the same exam more than twice in any
30-day period. This means if you fail an exam, try again 10 days later and
fail for the second time, you must wait for 20 more days before giving it
a third try.
- I
completed the recommended education for a certification test but failed
the test. Why doesn't the test match the education?
In
general, certification tests validate implementation knowledge and skill
as defined by the Certification Role description. Education is only a part
of the process to prepare for certification tests. It is not surprising
that those who have little hands-on implementation experience would fail
the test. If a customer hires a Business Partner to plan, design, install,
customize, and implement a particular solution environment, Tivoli wants
to make sure that a "certified" individual will have the skill and
knowledge to do the job successfully.
- I
just took one of the Tivoli Certification tests and was somewhat surprised
that I wasn't able to achieve a higher pass mark. I have lots of
experience and know the subject as well as any of the people who wrote the
questions. Can you explain?
The
test is not like a school test - more correct does not necessarily
indicate more knowledge and more skill as a Tivoli Certified individual.
The tests are designed to test for "minimal competence" at the defined
role level, and questions are not designed to test just knowledge, instead
the questions are designed to discriminate between those who are skilled
in a particular subject area and those who are not. This is the most
difficult thing to comprehend about the certification tests. I've seen
people who have passed the test take it again to try to get a higher score
but it really doesn't work that way. We have only a limited number of
questions to make the decision whether someone is a product expert so we
have to ask the best questions to be able to confidently award the
certification.
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| Getting My Certificate |
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- I
passed a Tivoli certification exam 4 weeks ago but I have not received my
certificate yet. Should it take this long? Who can I contact about
this?
Once
you have passed a Tivoli certification exam, your information gets sent to
IBM Certification fulfillment. Within 24 hours, IBM will e-mail you an electronic copy of your certificate. If you do not receive an e-certificate, please contact certify@us.ibm.com. If you lose this electronic copy of your certificate, you can re-request a copy by following the request process:
1. Find the original e-fulfillment e-mail that was sent to you. In it, you will find a Fulfillment ID and a Validation #.
Note: If you don't have this e-mail, send an e-mail to certify@us.ibm.com.
2. Enter in your fulfillment ID and validation # at the IBM Fulfillment site.
3. IBM Certification will re-send your certificate via .pdf file. It can take up to 24 hours to receive the .pdf file. If you do not receive your .pdf file within 24 hours, please contact certify@us.ibm.com and indicate you have re-requested your certification .pdf file but it has not arrived via e-mail.
If you would like to request a hard copy of your certificate, send an e-mail to: certify@us.ibm.com.
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| What Happens Now That I'm Certified |
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- My
address has changed. Who do I contact to make the update?
Send an
e-mail to: certify@us.ibm.com. Be
sure to include your name, testing ID or Social Security Number (US), and
the information that you would like to change. IBM will notify the
appropriate testing centers (Prometric, Pearson-VUE) of the changes in your
information.
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| Other Interesting FAQs |
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- How
does Tivoli decide what which questions to ask on an exam?
A job
task analysis workshop is held to determine the processes and tasks
performed in a functional job environment for the specified certified
professional. Each task is subdivided into subtasks that assess the
essential knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the
certification role. Through a survey of subject matter experts, the
identified tasks are ranked on their importance, frequency and skill level
to the role being certified. Based on the survey results, a test blueprint
is created defining the test objectives and the number of test questions
per objective to be used to measure the defined knowledge, skills, and
abilities. Item writers create questions that:
- match the content and level of the objective
- test significant knowledge or skill
- have appropriate level of difficulty
- differentiate between qualified and unqualified candidates
- follow good item construction practices
The items are then reviewed for technical accuracy, proper grammar, as
well as localization and sensitivity considerations before
publication.
- Why
doesn’t Tivoli have certifications for all their products?
Before a certification role is launched for a product, a business case is developed to determine the purpose, the audience, the benefit of a particular certification to an individual or a profession, and a financial return on investment. Certification justification may include any of the following:
- solve a business problem
- provide a means for professional recognition
- encourage professional development
- provide a means to document competencies
- provide a competitive advantage
- create a new career path
Once a business case is defined for a particular certification, a
schedule is developed to create the certification and the supporting
certification tests. It is important to map the schedule to product
release and update announcements to make sure that tests accurately
reflect the current features of the product.
- What
does it mean for a test to be in Operational Beta?
When a
new test is first published it is always published in either "full beta"
or "operational beta" mode. In full beta mode you do not receive a pass or
fail on the exam until the beta period is over and the results of all the
beta candidates can be analyzed statistically, then an appropriate passing
score is assigned and pass/fail notices are mailed out. A test in full
beta mode contains about twice as many questions as there will be on the
final exam since these questions will later be divided to create two forms
of the exam.
When a test is published in operational beta, a
passing score has already been assigned by the subject matter experts
working with the test developers, so the exam is scored immediately just
as it is with any published exam. We call this operational beta because it
is our intent to examine the test statistics at the end of the operational
beta period and make any necessary adjustments prior to final publication.
A test in operational beta will contain a only few more questions than
found on the final version, this will give us room to drop any questions
that for one reason or another do not perform the way we expected them
to.
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If we did not answer your questions, please contact
us and someone from the Tivoli Professional Certification team will
provide you with the information you need.
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