"We have designed a three-tier certification strategy," says Andy Hafer, CEO of Dynamic Communities. The program tiers are basic and advanced, along with what Hafer calls the "masters' tier", which he said will be awarded to very few. Those who pass the exam are certified as a Credentialed Dynamics Professional at the Core and Advanced levels. The Master'slevel has not been created yet but, "The best partners in the land will have some of those," he commented. The organization is utilizing Prometrics to run the testing program. Examinations will also be given in an unproctored computer-based testing environment. Hafer said Microsoft's decision not to require certifications impacted both users and resellers. "Both the partner channel as well as the customer groups had this outcry and said, 'That's crazy,'" Hafer said. VARs say certifications help distinguish them from competitors. Users complained they need some way of discerning which resellers are worth engaging. While Hafer's group will concentrate on Dynamics GP and NAV, he hopes that eventually testing will be expanded to other financial software vendors.
DYNAMICS TESTING LOOMING Featured
A test to establish certifications for resellers of Dynamics GP that pass will be administered for the first time this month. The first sitting for the test will be held at reImagine 2015, a Dynamics GP conference being held in Fargo, N.D., from September 21 through 23. It is the first step in a program designed to replace the certification programs that Microsoft dropped for Dynamics GP, NAV, SL and RMS in the summer of 2014. The conference and the certification program are being offered by Dynamic Communities, which is holding Summit, its conference for its Dynamics user groups being held on October 12-14 in Reno, Nev.
