Dear WAA Members and Potential Certified Web Analysts™

Social media means we all get to have our say and express our opinions. That's great but it is important for everyone to know the facts. So, on behalf of the WAA Board of Directors, here's the real inside info on the Web Analytics Association Certification test to help clear up the confusion.

• You do not need to be a WAA member to take the test (but you get a discount if you are).
• You do not need to take any workshops or courses to pass the test.
• You do not need to be proficient with any particular tool.
• It is not offered online for security and verification purposes.
• It's not cheap because it represents an enormous amount of work and an in-person proctoring methodology is costly.

That's the summary and here are the details:

Although the WAA certification exam is being launched at eMetrics in San Jose and London, an international proctored computer-based testing network will be available in August 2010. In order to ensure the security and integrity of the certification program, the exam will only offered at proctored exam locations.

The reason we are not offering online testing is that there is no way to ensure the actual candidate took the test or that others did not assist the candidate with answering questions. In addition, there is no way to ensure that other individuals in the room are not reading the test along with the candidate, giving them unauthorized access to the exam.

At this point, we have over 170 proctored centers in the U.S. and approximately 60 proctored international centers identified where individuals will be able to take the exam. This network will continue to expand so that we are able to adequately meet the needs of our members located across the globe.

Please note that individuals do not need to register for eMetrics in order to take the exam. We do not expect individuals to travel to San Jose or London to take the certification exam if they hadn’t planned on being in the area anyway. Instead we have designed these two sites as the location where the exams will be launched and our international network will open up in August.

The WAA Certification Program follows established best practices for the certification industry. In order to ensure the certified individuals remain current on what is going on in the industry, WAA requires individuals to participate in professional development activities, such as conferences and training activities. In order to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change in the industry, we believe it is important that individuals participate in professional development activities to retain their certification.

WAA has expended significant resources, including hiring a Certification Director with over 15 years of experience operating and managing international certification programs, to ensure that our program follows best practices that have been established by the certification industry. In addition to the fees paid to consultants over the past two years, we have spent resources on certification examination software, computer-based testing infrastructure, proctor set-up and legal fees. In addition, we have allocated resources to run several “Test the Test” sessions to ensure the quality of the exam.

In addition to the money spent to ensure a high-quality certification program that meets the needs of the industry, a tremendous amount of volunteer effort has gone into the development of this certification program. About 50 WAA members from all over the world have participated in the development of this program so far. We would not have been able to launch this certification program without the dedicated volunteers who have participated.

The WAA certification program was designed in response to requests made by our membership. Because of this, we offer 1 or 2 (depending on membership dues) complimentary certifications per year for our corporate members. Although the certification is offered to both members and non-members, in order to get the $635 member pricing on exams individuals who are not members of WAA can join for $199. All proctoring fees are included in the certification exam fee. These individuals not only get the member-pricing for exams but also can take advantage of the other benefits that are available to our membership.

For more details about the Certification exam and the whole process, please read Jim Novo's FAQ on it called Inside WAA Certification: Any Questions?

I hope that clears things up a bit. To the more than 50 people who have worked on this project for over two years, the WAA Board of Directors thanks you. To those who have provided feedback directly to the WAA, we thank you and encourage others to do the same.

Jim Sterne, Target Marketing, Chairman
on Behalf of the Board of Directors, Web Analytics Association:
Alex Langshur, PublicInsite, President
Vicky Brock, Highland Business Research, Secretary
Stéphane Hamel, Immeria Consulting Services, Treasurer
Anil Batra, POP, Director
June Dershewitz, Semphonic, Director
Matthew Langie, Omniture, Director
Dennis Mortensen, Yahoo!, Director
Peter Sanborn, Microsoft Corporation, Director
Rachel Scotto, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Director
Ed Wu, Dell, Director
Alex Yoder, WebTrends, Director