Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) -- For Professionals

Earn the CAP^®

Those who meet CAP's high standards and pass the rigorous exam distinguish themselves and create greater opportunities for career enhancement.

Earning the CAP^® credential requires meeting eligibility requirements for experience and education, effective mastering of "soft skills," committing to the CAP^® Code of Ethics, and passing the CAP^® exam.

Once your application to become a CAP has been submitted, reviewed, and accepted, you will be able to take the exam at one of our computer-based testing centers around the world.

More information about the CAP, including a sample exam and the CAP Study Guide, is available by registering here. There is also a offered by INFORMS to help applicants prepare for the exam.

BENEFITS FOR PROFESSIONALS

Showcasing Credibility

CAP is an independent validation that you have superior knowledge of the entire analytics process - from business problem framing, analytics problem framing, data through to methodology selection and model building, deployment and lifecycle management. CAP enables you to easily convey to others that you have mastery of the analytics process.

Enhancing Skillset

Maintaining your CAP means that you are continually working to advance your skills. That's achieved through a combination of continuing education, ongoing analytics employment, and sharing analytics experiences and knowledge - all part of the requirements for renewing your CAP every three years.

Opening Doors to New Opportunities

Every day more and more employers are adding "CAP Preferred" to their analytics job openings because CAP provides a trusted means to identify, recruit and retain top analytics talent. Add "CAP" to your signature to open doors to new opportunities and professional growth.

PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

Stands for Certified Analytics Professional
Portable credential based on practice of analytics professional
Vendor and software neutral: sponsored by INFORMS, a neutral third party
Created by teams of subject matter experts from practice, academe, government
Focused on 7 domains of analytics process: 1. Business Problem Framing, 2. Analytics Problem Framing, 3. Data, 4. Methodology Selection, 5. Model Building, 6. Deployment, 7. Lifecycle Management
Available since April 2013
Global reach through computer-based testing
Must have education & experience & agree to ethics code
Confirmation of soft skills and provision of transcript can be done after exam
Base price is $495 INFORMS member, $695 nonmembers
Renew every three years with professional development units

"I see this as a milestone in my professional career."

— Manuel A. Bolívar, CAP

"My congratulations and appreciation to the Analytics Certification Board for designing an exam that covers an impressive breadth yet is also quite fair"

— Justin Landry, aCAP

"The CAP^® designation shows employers and customers alike, regardless of industry, that you have the expertise to not only analyze and build models, but to define and understand the business question, and present and explain results."

— Elizabeth Nielsen

"CAP^® independently certifies a breadth of knowledge needed to make analytics pay--clients centered problem structuring, data defined analytic possibilites, and value focused empiricism. What more could you want?"

— Thomas Chestnutt

"I have to say — I found the exam material excellent — it was tougher than I expected but it was very relevant to the real world. I'll be an advocate of the certification for sure."

— Nishit Shah, CAP, Director of Analytics at a leading Canadian Bank

"The INFORMS Analytics Certification Program is positioned to be the defacto standard for Analytics Professionals worldwide. It will be a must-have for the analytics field in the same way PMP is for project managers."

— Greta Roberts, CEO Talent Analytics, Corp.

"INFORMS offers an exam to have a professional certification for analytics and become a Certified Analytics Professional (CAP). CORS endorses the INFORMS CAP program and CORS is a Media Partner of the CAP program."

— Canadian Operation Research Society Council

"While helping to work up a new center for analysis to full operational capability, I felt that certification would increase the credibility of our organization and the important work it is doing."

— Operations Research Analyst, U.S. Coast Guard

"The designation of Certified Analytics Professional indicates that I have the skills and experience needed to apply advanced analytics in multiple domains. With more organizations recognizing the value of analytics, my value to those organizations becomes easier to explain."

— Irv Lustig

"Neither uncomfortably obscure nor simplistic in scope, the exam induced in me a pleasant state of challenge, asking a range of questions spanning the central domains of business problem (question) framing, analytics problem framing, data, methodology (approach) selection, model building, deployment, and model life cycle management."

— Scott Mongeau

"It takes analytics professionals several years to cultivate the necessary on-the-job experience to hone their skills and qualify for a full CAP certification. The aCAP program is exciting in that in enables this developing generation of analytics leaders to distinguish themselves to employers earlier in their career, while garnering the experience necessary for a full CAP certification and continued career growth."

— Andrew Urbaczewski, chair of the Department of Business Information and Analytics, University of Denver

"Professional certifications have always been an integral part of our approach to graduate education. That’s why I’m excited about featuring the aCAP program with our students in the Master of Science in Analytics. It's one more distinguishing facet of a highly competent analytics professional that employers can rely on when recruiting talent."

— Professor Michael Rappa, founding director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics, North Carolina State University

"The aCAP certification is a wonderful first step for those new to the workforce to join the elite group of certified analytics professionals. Furthermore, it ensures they will remain on the cutting edge of the most up-to-date approaches even after graduation."

— Esma Gel, professor with the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University