First Round of New Dynamics GP, NAV Professional Certifications Taking Shape, With Help From The Field

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First Round of New Dynamics GP, NAV Professional Certifications Taking Shape, With Help From The Field – MSDynamicsWorld.com 

The Association of Dynamics Professionals, formed to develop independent exams and certify Microsoft Dynamics professionals, needs your help. The organization is trying to build a tiered set of exams to certify levels of professional development.

“We are hard at work creating the first set of exams for Dynamics GP professionals (other folks are working on other Dynamics products),” noted Dynamics GP MVP Mark Polino on his blog. “If you are interested in submitting one or more questions for the exam, we would love to have to your help. A ton of work is going into this to make sure that we have solid, relevant exams, so you’ll have to do some work, not just shoot questions into the air.”

Microsoft’s decision to end professional certifications for Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV, and SL professionals in 2014 was received with disappointment by many and uncertainty by others, but few in the partner channel found any real good news in the change.

So in March, the Association of Dynamics Professionals was announced to fulfill that role of testing and certification authority for the Dynamics SMB ERP products. The Association of Dynamics Professionals is spearheaded by Dynamic Communities, the company that runs the AXUG, GPUG, NAVUG, and CRMUG user groups, but it will operate independently as a non-profit organization.

Polino’s position has been that killing the certification exams for Dynamics GP (and other Dynamics products) was a bad idea. The exams were far from perfect, but they at least conveyed a baseline competency and a willingness to keep up with the latest versions, he.

“I still think that certifications are an important differentiator. Despite some visual similarities, GP 2015 is dramatically improved over GP 10 or 2010,” Polino noted in his blog post. “Items that were gotchas in those versions are now strengths. It’s important for users to understand the differences and it’s even more important for consultants as we help companies get the most out their solution. Certification is an important part of preventing complacency and promoting competence.”

If you are interested in submitting questions for consideration in an upcoming GP exam, please go to credentialing.dynamicspro.org and follow the instructions there. You’ll have to watch a video on what makes a good or bad exam question and there’s a process to follow.

With many motivated and opinionated GP and NAV professionals participating, expect some spirited debates in the coming months as the group works toward releasing its first round of tests, planned for release in the autumn event season at NAV Directions US and around the GPUG and NAVUG Summits.

About Linda Rosencrance

Linda Rosencrance is a freelance writer/editor in Massachusetts. She has written about information technology for 10 years. She has been a journalist since the late 1980s. She wrote for numerous community newspapers in the Boston area, where she covered politics and was a high-profile investigative reporter. She has freelanced for the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. She is the published author of four true crime books “Murder at Morses Pond,” “An Act of Murder,” “Ripper”, and “Bone Crusher” for Kensington Publishing Corp. (Pinnacle imprint).