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ACTIVITY-CREDIT RULES
Extension Availability
In order to obtain a CFPS Certification Extension an individual must hold a CFPS designation in the most current Major Change (see Major Change below) of the IFPUG Counting Practices Manual (CPM). In addition, BOTH the Activity-Credit Criteria must be met AND a valid extension option from the Options for CFPS Certification Extension must be available.
An individual who is applying for a CFPS Certification Extension must ensure that his/her application and supporting documentation arrives at the IFPUG Office or is postmarked 90 calendar days prior to his/her CFPS expiration date.
Because of the 90-day lead-time required to validate and audit each application, it is possible that an individual will not have completed 100% of his/her planned Activities prior to the submission deadline. If an individual has completed less than 70% of his/her planned Activities prior to the submission deadline, he/she is ineligible for a CFPS Certification Extension. If an individual has completed 70% or more of his/her planned Activities prior to the submission deadline, he/she is eligible to apply for a CFPS Certification Extension. The individual must identify on his/her application the remaining planned Activity(ies) and provide supporting documentation upon completion of the Activity(ies).
Classes taken and conference presentations attended during the same week that an individual sits for the CFPS exam may be applied to his/her next extension period, assuming a successful exam.
All materials submitted as part of the CFPS Certification Extension application process will be retained by the IFPUG Office unless otherwise noted.
Activity-Credit Criteria
In order to qualify for a CFPS Certification Extension, individuals must meet the Activity-Credit criteria described below.
| 1. |
Individuals may accumulate CFPS Extension Credits (CEC) from any of the Activities listed in the Activity-Credit Table. |
| 2. |
Activities completed prior to September 1, 2002, will not receive credits toward a CFPS Certification Extension with the exception of specific classes taken during the Spring 2002 Workshop in Orlando, Florida, USA, as communicated to the membership early in 2002. |
| 3. |
Individuals must accumulate a minimum of 100 CEC in the defined eligibility period. |
| 4. |
Individuals must accumulate CEC from at least four (4) different Activities listed in the Activity-Credit Table. There is no limit to the number of Activities from which CEC may be accumulated. |
| 5. |
Individuals may not accumulate more than 70% of the CEC required for CFPS Certification Extension in a single Activity. See the Activity-Credit Table in Section 3.1 for maximum credit amounts for each Activity. |
| 6. |
Individuals are not required to accumulate CEC from any particular Activity. |
| 7. |
All CFPS Certification Extension application and supporting documentation submitted must be in English. |
| 8. |
The eligibility period for accumulating CEC is three years prior to the expiration of an individual's CFPS Certification. |
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a. |
An individual has three (3) years from the date that they become certified by passing the CFPS Exam to accumulate sufficient CEC to have their CFPS Certification extended for three years, i.e. to earn a CFPS Certification Extension. |
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b. |
An individual also has three (3) years to accumulate CEC for a second CFPS Certification Extension. Any CEC accumulated in the final year of the CFPS Certification period beyond the minimum required for the initial CFPS Certification Extension can be applied to the second CFPS Certification Extension (carryover CEC) up to a maximum of one-third of the CEC (33 credits) required for the CFPS Certification Extension (100 credits). |
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c. |
Specific CEC may only be applied to one CFPS Certification Extension. |
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d. |
Activities completed more than three (3) years before the time the current CFPS Certification or CFPS Certification Extension expires will not be considered for CEC. |
Validation and Audit
Each Activity listed in the Activity-Credit Table has Basic Validation and Audit criteria associated with it. All Basic Validation tasks for a given Activity will be performed every time an applicant applies for credit in that Activity. In addition, Audit tasks for any Activity may be performed at random or at the discretion of the Certification Committee for any application. See section 3.2 for Basic Validation and Audit criteria for each Activity.
Multiple individuals may be involved in reviewing an applicant's CEC documentation. No individual may in any way be involved in reviewing his/her own CEC documentation.
Options for CFPS Certification Extension
Take the Current CFPS Exam
An individual may take the current CFPS exam to continue his/her CFPS Certification (become "re-certified"). This option eliminates the requirement for any additional education, experience or training classes for that individual.
Major Change to the Counting Practices Manual (CPM)
If there is a Major Change to the CPM, an individual will be required to take the current CFPS Exam reflecting the Major Change to become certified ("recertified") under the new Major Change version of the CPM.
A Major Change is generally defined as a "substantial change" to the CPM that warrants a version change to the next X.0 (e.g.; 4.0 to 5.0) version designation. The version number is updated as recommended by the Counting Practices Committee (CPC) with IFPUG BOD approval.
A caveat to the CFPS Certification Extensions is that an individual will only be allowed to obtain one CFPS Certification Extension if a Major Change occurs during their initial three-year CFPS Certification. If the Major Change occurs during their first CFPS Certification Extension, the individual will be allowed to obtain the second CFPS Certification Extension. The extensions in both of these scenarios would extend their current level of certification and would not provide the individual with certification at the new Major Change level.
Minor change to CPM OR No change to CPM
An individual must accumulate CEC from the Activity-Credit List. The CEC must be accumulated before the current CFPS Certification expires. The accumulation of CEC would "extend" an individual's CFPS Certification for a period of two years. An individual may extend their CFPS Certification a maximum of two consecutive times using the CFPS Certification Extension process. At the end of the second extension period, an individual will be required to take the current CFPS Exam to continue his/her certification. This process could be repeated, i.e., take and pass the CFPS Exam, obtain two CFPS Certification Extensions, take and pass the CFPS Exam, obtain two CFPS Certification Extensions, etc.
An individual may, if desired, make his/her certification "current" with the latest version of the CPM under a minor change. This would be accomplished by taking a class that categorizes and explains the minor changes to the CPM, similar to the FP230 class that was available for the version 4.0 to 4.1 changes. Note that this option does not extend an individual's certification expiration date.
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