FAQ - Certifications
BABOK® Guide and its Agile Extension
Our BA Practice Assessments for ECBA™, CCBA® and CBAP® are aligned with the BABOK® Guide.
Our BA Practice Assessments for the IIBA-AAC™ certification is aligned with the guide.
Professional Development
Category 1 - Formal Academic Education
Category 2 - Professional Development
Category 3 - Professional Activities
Category 4 - Self-directed Learning
Category 5 - Volunteer Service to Professional or Community Organizations
Category 6 - Professional Experience
You may refer to the CCBA® or CBAP® Recertification Handbook for more information on the specific categories.
Depending on the certification level, certain activities may or may not count towards professional development hours. Please refer to IIBA's FAQ page for more details to determine if the coursework you took qualifies.
Level 1 - ECBA™ 21 hours in the last 4 years
- Classroom and online courses (e.g. EEP endorsed courses)
- Webinars - live or recorded (e.g. IIBA webinars)
- Conference track sessions, tutorials, keynotes & workshops
- Chapter events (i.e. presentations, study groups, workshops, conference days)
- Self-directed learning (i.e. reading/reviewing the BABOK® Guide v3)
Level 2 - CCBA® 21 hours in the last 4 years and
Level 3 - CBAP® 35 hours in the last 4 years
- directly related to business analysis, underlying competencies, or perspectives as defined in the BABOK® Guide,
- be a session or course with a moderator, facilitator, or instructor who leads an individual or group through the material,
- have a measurable objective(s) that apply directly to business analysis (for example, changing behaviour or improving skills),
- include opportunities for students to interact and ask questions,
- include opportunities for students to practice the task or objective being presented, and
- include an assessment that identifies areas of improvement to the student.
Certification
- Your knowledge of the skills necessary to be an effective Business Analyst.
- A proven level of competence in the principles and practices of business analysis.
Having a ECBA™ certificate includes demonstrating the required knowledge and competencies of a new practitioner of business analysis according to requirements designated by IIBA. If you are working as a business analyst or planning on becoming one, it demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the principles and industry best practices.
- Personal satisfaction of accomplishing the first step in their BA careers.
- Improvement of overall performance.
- More market opportunities.
Having a IIBA-AAC™ certificate recognizes your ability to effectively execute analysis related work in an agile context. Earning this certification provides potential employers, a clearer indication of the competencies that you have developed. It demonstrates:
- That you have developed an agile mindset in doing business analysis.
- Your ability to apply the agile mindset consistently and as required at the different levels within an organization (Strategic, Initiative and Delivery).
- How feedback loops work back and forth at the different levels of an organization for better business outcomes.
Getting certified is a multi-step process where applicants must
1. Apply and Pay for the Certification.
2. Register for the Exam .
3. Prepare for the Exam (How about joining a Study Group?).
4. Take the exam.
Please refer to the Certification Handbook for additional details on the application/exam process and the Summary of Fees.
To learn about the different certification levels, please refer to the IIBA's Certification Levels page. You may also refer to our Certifications Framework page.
Level 1 - ECBA™ Entry Certificate in Business Analysis
Level 2 - CCBA® Certification of Competency in Business Analysis
Level 3 - CBAP® Certified Business Analysis Professional
The IIBA-AAC™ - Agile Analysis Certification has no specific level. It is a competency-based certificate that recognizes your enhanced capabilities in agile analysis.
Level 1 - ECBA™ Exam Blueprint
- Knowledge-based examination
- Online proctored exam
- Basic multiple choice
- 50 questions
- Knowledge based
- 1 hour to complete
- Scenario-based examination
- Computer based testing (CBT)
- Situations described in 2-4 sentences
- Multiple choice answers
- 130 questions
- 3 hours to complete
- Case study-based examination
- Computer based testing (CBT)
- Longer cases (1-1.5 pages) of information
- Multiple questions about the case
- Multiple choice answers
- 120 questions
- 3.5 hours to complete
1. Template developed by Georges Bryson, VP Professional Development, Montreal IIBA Chapter.
2. Template developed by Watermark Learning.
3. Template developed by the New Zealand IIBA Chapter. (Download and save on your workstation to edit)
ECBA™ and IIBA-AAC™ are online proctored exams through PSI.
CCBA® and CBAP® are computer based tests at a Prometric test centre.