NetApp certification program policies

For passed exams

• A candidate who passes an exam must wait 18 months before retaking the exam.
• A candidate whose passing score has been revoked must wait 30 days before retaking the exam.

For failed exams

• First failure: A candidate can immediately retake the exam.
• Multiple failures: A candidate must wait 14 days before retaking the exam.

Once earned, certifications are active for 27 months. In certain situations, active Professional-level certifications are renewed when a candidate earns a Specialist-level certification. This will extend the expiration date of the active Professional-level certification to the same date as the Specialist-level certification expiration date. If the Professional-level certification has expired, earning a Specialist-level certification will not renew the expired Professional-level certification; a new Professional-level certification will need to be earned for the Specialist-level certification to be activated.

Example: if a candidate earns the Professional-level NCDA cDOT certification on June 1, 2015, the expiration date for this certification is September 1, 2017 (27 months later). The candidate then earns the Specialist-level NCIE SAN cDOT certification on February 1, 2017 (which has an expiration date of May 1, 2019). The earning of the Specialist-level certification (NCIE SAN cDOT) extends the expiration date of the Professional-level certification (NCDA cDOT) to May 1, 2019.

In countries where English is not the native language, candidates for whom English is not their first language will be granted a 30-minute extension to the allotted examination completion time.

NetApp is committed to maintaining the credibility and value of the NetApp Certification Program (NCP) and the NCP brand. Individuals and organizations that commit exam fraud as described below undermine the value of the NCP for all participants. NetApp reserves the right to take action it deems appropriate against violators of the NCP Exam Security Policy. This benefits the credential holder in many ways:

• Achieving certification is not easy. Individuals work very hard to prepare for and attain NCP certification. When others commit exam fraud, they undermine the hard work that the majority of candidates put into achieving certification.
• NetApp works to identify and take action when individuals are suspected of exam fraud. NetApp strives to ensure that those who earn the right to use the NCP brand have demonstrated their proficiency with NetApp products and technologies and have the actual knowledge and skills to confidently and successfully work with NetApp products and technologies.

Exam fraud comes in many forms. The following are examples of actions that NetApp considers to be exam fraud; in any form, whether done with intent or knowledge:

• Using live (currently active) exam questions and/or exam answers to prepare for the exam
• Disclosing and/or distributing NetApp confidential exam material; this includes sharing exam questions and/or answers with other exam takers, members of your training class, colleagues, etc.
• Requesting access to exam questions, answers, screen captures, or other protected exam material in forums or other social networking sites
• Enlisting others to take an exam on your behalf
• Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance when taking an exam
• Possessing or using unauthorized materials when taking an exam (e.g., notes, recording devices, photographic devices, or any other means)
• Taking an exam in violation of the NCP Certification Candidate Agreement
• Taking an exam in violation of the NCP exam retake policy
• Altering exam scores and/or score reports
• Reproducing exam materials by any means, including reconstruction through memorization
• Purchasing or using exam materials that were gained by the above methods to prepare for the exam

This list is not intended to be exhaustive. NetApp may take action in other circumstances where it deems that exam fraud has occurred, compromising exam security in any way. Actions may include revocation of your certification or barring you from future participation in the program. This policy may be updated from time to time without specific notice to you. NetApp asks that you review it regularly.

Our goal with the NetApp digital badge program is to help you communicate your certification status with NetApp. This program establishes a consistent and clear way for you to identify yourself to customers as a NetApp Certified user. You should use the NetApp digital badge when you are communicating your own brand in conjunction with your NetApp certification.

Once you have earned a NetApp certification, you will be able to access the digital badge associated with the certification by going through CertCenter and selecting BADGES. The digital badge for your earned certification(s) will be visible. Please follow the instructions on how to correctly use your digital badges by visiting the FAQ posted here.

The digital badge can be used in the following approved methods:

• Within your email signature
  
• Posted on your social media account (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.)
  
• Within your contact information in a digital presentation or document (PowerPoint, PDF, etc.)
  

• Modify the text on the digital badge
• Modify the code embedded in the digital badge
• Cause the badge to link to another web address
• Continue to post the digital badge after your certification status has expired
  
• Continue to post the digital badge after the certification has expired
• Include the digital badge on business cards (use the official NetApp Certification Program logo on any printed, non-digital materials)

If you have any questions on how to correctly use the digital badges, please contact us.

Internal and external organizations that pursue the NetApp Certification Program (NCP) designations require status reports regarding individual and organizational progress. The following guidelines outline the policies and procedures for processing requests for information, including individual and organizational status. Specific requests outside these guidelines are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis by the NCP office. All out-of-scope requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the NCP program manager.

Individual certification status is confidential. Individuals’ requests for their own personal progress reports are directed to CertCenter. This tool provides information such as exams attempted, progress toward certification, certification status, and access to printing their certificate. Program participants may publish their credentials to a third party by using the tools available in CertCenter (e.g., Add to LinkedIn, Publish Digital Badges, Publish Transcripts).

The NCP reports on certification status to internal NetApp management as required to support partner programs and customer requests. NetApp considers the following information as public information to NetApp management:

• Number certified by certification
• Number certified by certification and/or organization
• Number certified by certification and/or audience
• Partner status by certification
• Partner and employee individual certification status

Customers and partners make significant investments in training and testing related to the NetApp Certification Program. Status reports directly related to their investment are requested to assess corporate status and partner qualifications. To request external status information on customers and partners, the requestor must submit in writing a brief description of what information is required and the business justification. All submissions should be sent to ncp@netapp.com for approval and follow-up.

NetApp will, under situations described above, share certified status. We will not share individual exam-level information such as pass/fail information, individual score, exams attempted, or number of exam attempts.

Any questions or requests related to this policy should be sent to ncp@netapp.com.

To ensure that your certification data is connected to your Learning Center account, it is critical that you link your Certification ID to your Learning Center account. Doing so will ensure that your profile correctly reflects your certification status for partner compliance and transcript reporting purposes.

Certification information can take two to three business days from the date of the exam completion to be fed into the Learning Center.

To ensure that your certification data is connected to your Learning Center account, it is critical that you click here to enter your Certification ID.

You will be prompted to log in to your Learning Center account, with your username and password, in order to view the page where you can enter your Candidate ID and click the Validate button.

This process needs to be completed only once. You will be able to confirm the connection between the two systems by reviewing your Learning Center Transcript for the certification by:

1. Logging into your Learning Center profile
2. Selecting the My Learning tab
3. Selecting My Transcript on the left border (you may need to adjust the date filters as the default view shows only the previous three months of activity)

Note that you may need to wait two to three business days to ensure that the information has been fed into Learning Center.

If you have a question about how to find your Certification ID, please click here.

NetApp and the NetApp Certification Program (NCP) may sell or distribute NetApp exam vouchers. NetApp, NetApp Authorized Learning Partners and Pearson VUE (NetApp’s test delivery partner), do not guarantee the authenticity of certification vouchers that are obtained from any individuals or entities other than NetApp, NetApp Authorized Learning Partners and Pearson VUE. Individuals who acquire and use counterfeit certification vouchers and/or certification vouchers obtained from an unauthorized source may be subject to sanctions at the discretion of NetApp, up to and including a lifetime ban on taking all future exams and the nullification of all previous exam results and certifications. NetApp will not compensate candidates for counterfeit vouchers or vouchers obtained from an unauthorized source.

NCP exam vouchers are provided in advance as future payment for registration for NCP exams. At the time of exam registration, the exam voucher value is applied to the exam fee.

NetApp exam voucher terms of use:

1. Can be used by one person, one time, for one exam discount/fee.
2. Are not valid after the expiration date.
3. Cannot be extended past the expiration date.
4. Become void if altered or revised in any way.
5. May not be canceled or redeemed for cash, credit or refund.
6. Cannot be resold.

Neither NetApp Authorized Learning Partners nor NetApp and its partners are responsible for vouchers that are lost or stolen.

NetApp vouchers are non-refundable, non-transferable, non-exchangeable and cannot have their expiration date extended. NetApp reserves the right to take appropriate actions against individuals who do not abiding NetApp Certification Program policies.

NetApp periodically offers exam vouchers included with courses. These vouchers are available through courses offered directly by NetApp and by Authorized Learning Partners (ALP). Information about these programs can be obtained by contacting the ALP or the course instructor.

If you encounter any issues, please review the NetAppU FAQs or select the Ask a Question link on the FAQ page.