Presented by Rob Hanna CIP at the 2012 STC Summit in Rosemont, IL. So we’ve determined that you’re certifiable - now what? Rob Hanna, vice-chair of the STC Certification Commission, will walk you through the application processes. He will describe the submissions and explain how the commission is evaluating candidates qualifications for certification.

1. So, I’m certifiable, now…
How do I get certified?
STC Summit, Rosemont, IL
May 2012

2. Session
Agenda
£ Introduction
£ Review
£ Certification Process
£ Submission Packet
£ Submission Evaluation
£ Maintaining Certification
2

3. INTRODUCTION
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4. Your Speaker:
Rob Hanna
£ STC Certification Commission
Vice Chairman (2011-2013)
£ STC Associate Fellow (2011)
£ Senior Information Architect,
Innovatia, Inc – Saint John, NB
£ STC Board Member (2007-2009)
£ AIIM Certified Information
Professional – CIP (2011)
4

5. STC
Certification
Commission
£ Incorporated in 2011, in Virginia, as a
501(c)(6) organization
£ Independent of STC
£ Responsible for establishing
certification policies, granting CPTC™
certifications, and overseeing day-to-
day operations
£ Bylaws, policies, procedures, finances
separate from STC
£ Seven commissioners, serving two-year
terms
5

6. What is Certification?
REVIEW
6

7. The Value to Practitioners
Certification is an objective,
portable, personal credential
that is associated with higher
salaries, job-hunting
advantages, and better job
opportunities
7

8. Are You Eligible?
£ All practitioners who meet
eligibility requirements can Experience... Plus Education
apply
£ STC membership is not High-school diploma
required 5 years
or equivalent
£ Prerequisites: combination
of full-time experience and Degree in related
education 4 years
field
£ Must agree to abide by Code
of Conduct Degree in specified
3 years
field
8

9. The Process
You send application You send submission Commission evaluates
and payment packet and payment packet
Eligibility verified Completeness verified Trained evaluators assess
individual sections under
non-disclosure
Commission returns CPTC™ granted for
evaluation three years
Results within 60 days Continue training and
professional development
with annual maintenance fee
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10. Assessing Areas of Practice
1. User, Task, Experience • Project Planning
Analysis
• Project Analysis
2. Information Design
• Solution Design
3. Process
Management • Organizational Design
4. Information • Written Communication
Development
• Visual Communication
5. Information
Production Areas of Practice Submission • Content Development
Packet • Content Management
• Final Production
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11. SUBMISSION PACKET DETAILS
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12. Your submission
£ You have one year after your
application is accepted to complete
and deliver your submission to the
Commission.
£ Submission consists of one section for
each of the nine competencies.
£ Each section is evaluated £ Refer to the
independently by at least two trained
raters and scored as: Candidate Instructions for
CPTC™ Certification
£ Pass
£ Borderline Pass £ Available for download at
£ Borderline Fail http://www.stccert.org/?q=node/138
£ Fail
12

13. Section 1
Documentation
Planning
£ Demonstrate your skill in planning
projects for delivering information
products.
£ Factors include developing a plan for
creating and tracking the implementation
of an information product.
£ Include with your submission:
£ A sample portion of the project plan.
£ A project schedule and/or list of
milestones. This may include a Gantt
chart or MS Project schedule.
£ A written commentary.
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14. Section 2
Documentation
Analysis
£ Demonstrate your skill in analyzing
requirements for developing
information products.
£ Factors include analyzing audience,
task, and data requirements for
developing an information product.
£ A sample portion of a persona,
profile, or other document that
details the primary audience.
£ User requirements, use cases, user
task analysis, or needs analysis
characterizing task content required
for the information product.
£ A written commentary.
Filippo, Elizabeth. “The Road to Personas"
Intercom 56.1 Jan. 2009: 22
14

15. Section 3
Solution
Design
£ Demonstrate your ability to design
high‐level solutions for implementing
information products.
£ Factors include research methodology
and synthesis of research results into
an overall design solution.
£ Include with your submission:
£ An actual or simulated work sample
of a project design document. The
sample may be a documentation
plan, document specification, or
equivalent document.
£ Written commentary on the project
including considerations for
universal accessibility.
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16. Section 4
Information
Architecture
£ Demonstrate your ability to design the
organization of information products.
£ Factors include selection and
construction of an organizational
framework that defines the information
architecture.
£ Include with your submission:
£ A project outline, storyboard,
template, DTD, or other evidence of
the framework for the information
product.
£ A written commentary that explains
the rationale for organization and
level of detail selected for the
framework.
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17. Section 5
Written
Communicatio
n
£ Demonstrate your ability to compose
content and communicate in written
form.
£ Factors include writing style, use of
structural elements, appropriateness of
presentation for the intended audience,
and consistency.
£ Include in your submission:
£ A representative sample of your
information product.
£ A written commentary that explains
how your knowledge of objectives
and audience influenced your
writing style.
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18. Section 6
Visual Literacy
£ Demonstrate your knowledge of visual
communication principles that support
written content.
£ Factors include templates, styles,
graphics, signal words, layout, and
navigation.
£ Include in your submission:
£ A representative sample of
published information product that
you have developed, such as a chart,
table, diagram, or illustration.
£ A written commentary that explains
how the layout and design support
the structure of the information.
Dragga, Sam; Voss, Dan. "Cruel Pies: The
Inhumanity of Technical Illustrations"
Technical Communication 48.3 Aug. 2001:
265-274 18

19. Section 7
Content
Development
£ Demonstrate your knowledge of
content development principles and
ability to develop content.
£ Factors include your ability to review,
edit, and verify content.
£ Include in your submission:
£ An edited copy of the provided
sample.
£ A written commentary that explains
how you collaborate, validate
technical accuracy, and conduct
technical and editorial reviews.
Read Don Bush, STC Fellow
“The Friendly Editor” in back
issues of Intercom online
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20. Section 8
Content
Management
£ Demonstrate your knowledge of
content management principles and
ability to manage content.
£ Factors include
DITA
£ collaboration and workflow
£ topic‐based authoring
structured authoring
METADATA
£
£ single‐source authoring and reuse
£ metadata
£ version control and archiving
£ Include a written commentary.
WIKIS XML 20

21. Section 9
Production
Processes
£ Demonstrate your knowledge of final
production principles and processes.
£ Factors include handling for both
electronic and print outputs.
£ Include in your submission
£ A commentary that explains
£ Electronic and print channels
and production processes.
£ QA processes for final
production.
£ Working with production
services such as commercial
printers.
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22. Preparing your
submission
£ Read and follow all the directions
on the candidate instructions
£ Treat each section separately
£ Don’t skip anything
£ Choose your samples wisely
£ Observe all page lengths
£ Proofread carefully
£ Submit only PDF files (we do not
accept other formats)
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23. Packaging your
submission
£ Give us your finest work.
£ Only one PDF per section.
£ Do not cross-reference other
sections in your submission.
£ Use features available in the
PDF.
£ Remove all references.
£ Signed PDFs cannot be
combined with other PDFs.
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24. Annotating
your
submission
£ Do not add comments or Remove identity in MS Word
annotations directly to your ✤ Click Office button
PDF in Acrobat.
✤ Click Word Options
£ Your identity is far more
difficult to obscure in Acrobat. ✤ Select Popular settings
£ Change your User Name ✤ Change User Name to Candidate
and Initials in MS Word and Initials to CPTC.
before annotating. ✤ Print document to Adobe PDF.
£ Use track changes feature to ✤ Select Document showing markup
show your edits. from Print what drop down.
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25. EVALUATING YOUR SUBMISSION
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26. Evaluation
£ Your packet is received and
administratively screened
£ Double-blind assessment
£ Evaluated section by section
£ You must pass core
competencies
£ Results returned within 60
days
26

27. Evaluation
methodology
£ Submission demonstrates
Minimal Competency
£ Evaluation is Criterion-Based
£ Subjectivity has been
minimized
£ Scoring demonstrates a high
level of parity between raters.
£ Raters and scores are
continuously evaluated to
maintain parity.
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28. Maintaining
your
certification
£ Your CPTC™ certification is
valid for three years
£ To maintain your certification:
£ Ongoing professional
development
£ Stay active in the field
£ Annual maintenance fee
£ Renewable without retest,
resubmission packet, or
recertification fee
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29. Where do I
sign up—?
£ To get started on your
CPTC™ certification:
www.stccert.org
£ More questions? Email
cert@stc.org (or me at
rob@ascan.ca)
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30. Join the 2012 CPTC Professionals
2012
Beth Agnew CPTC Jody Agraz CPTC Meredith Kinder CPTC Cheryl Taylor CPTC
Carrie Chambers CPTC Stephen Daugherty CPTC Michael Opsteegh CPTC Michele Wallace CPTC
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