How to Receive 21 PD Hours Required for ECBA Certification Examination

21 PD Hours Required for ECBA Certification Examination

The ECBA certification is perfect for those people entering the business analysis profession or for those who are looking for a career in business analysis. For business analysts who want to accelerate their career path and be able to better support their organization, acquiring the ECBA certification is one of the crucial steps to take.

If you are a Developer, Quality Assurance Analyst or a Project Manager who aims to enhance your knowledge in business analysis, taking ECBA or Entry Certificate in Business Analysis certification would be highly advantageous. It will offer you with rich knowledge, experience, and valuable information about business analysis.

There are eligibility requirements you need to fulfill to attend the ECBA Certification test. To participate in the ECBA certification exam, a candidate will need 21 PD hours or Professional Development hours. IIBA does not use or refer to Professional Development Units (PDUs). Instead, IIBA uses the term Professional Development hours (or PD hours). When applying online, you enter in your professional development hours in the Contact Hours field.

Please note: 1 hour of Professional Development = 1 Contact Hour.

Ways to Earn PDUs

PD hours can be acquired by attending ECBA Certification Training online or in person. The course should be conducted by an IIBA Endorsed Education provider. 

ECBA Certification Online Course

This course is suitable for people who are working in, or moving into the field of business analysis. This course provides a comprehensive overview of what is ECBA, who can apply for ECBA certification, preparation tips for ECBA test, eligibility criterias and most important is BABOK v3.0 guide chapters with practical application and examples throughout. 

Acquiring PDU through your day job

If you are working as a business analyst or a project manager, your day job already offers you one of the easiest ways to get up to 25% of the 21 mandatory PD hours you need to qualify for ECBA certification program. If you are practicing for at least 6 months every year, that gives you a claim of about 5 PD hours per year with a maximum total of 15 PD hours for every period of three years.

Public Presentation in Business Analysis

If you have some public speaking skills, now is the time to get it out. By giving a presentation on Business Analysis to a local project in a community or speaking to your colleagues, you are not only sharing your knowledge, you are also formally earning PD hours needed towards your ECBA credentials.

Creating and Sharing Content Related to Business Analysis

The amount of hours you spend to prepare the content for your presentations can also count as PD hours. You can create business analysis blog content and publish or share it online and that counts towards your total PD hours. You can either post your presentation on Slideshare or if it is a video, you can upload it on YouTube.

Formal Training in Business Analysis

One of the easiest and straightforward ways to earn the required 21 PD hours is by attending a formal training. Of course, there are also free courses online that you can access if you lack the funds. Attending training sessions as a part of an in-person conference can count as PD hours as well. This is also as long as it is relevant to your ECBA certification.

Volunteering in Business Analysis

If you lack the funds to spend on PD hours but you have plenty of time, you can earn the 21 PD hours by volunteering. You can find thousands of volunteers worldwide and surely, there would be an IIBA chapter near you. Contact your nearest IIBA Chapter and ask what position would fit to your skills and would be great for your ECBA PD hours log.

Watch and Listen Videos Related to Business Analysis

Install a podcast app and subscribe to it. Watch and listen to any free or premium episodes and document your learning. This will earn you free PDUs.

Academic Training Accredited by IIBA

Proper academic training related to business analysis or project management accredited by IIBA will earn you 10-15 PDUs per semester. It is one of the easiest ways to earn PDUs if you financially well and good.

Create and Deliver Contents Related to Business Analysis

You can either create or assist to create an article, books or newsletters related to the field of Business Analysis or Project Management, also present a webinar or podcast. Each hour spent on creating, preparing and delivering the above mentioned activities will earn you one PDU.

Convert CEU’s into PDUs

Continuing Education (CE) can be submitted as PDUs. Unlike Formal Academic Training, continuing education courses that comply with IACET standards. CEU’s (Continuing Education Units) can be converted to PDUs; generally at a ratio of 1 CEU to 10 PDUs. Your want to confirm with the provider that the course you are interested in complies with the ANSI/IACET 1-2007 Standard and indeed it must be about project management.

Self-Study

Are you interested in reading articles or books, watching videos or CD ROMs? Or do you have formal discussions with colleagues or customers? Or did you recently get trained? If you have participated in any of these activities and if the topic was relevant to project management, had a specified purpose and used knowledgeable resources then you can earn 1 PDU for every hour spent on this as “self study”. There is a maximum of 30 PDUs for self-study.

Earn free PDUs through E-mail

Subscribe to the newsletter relevant to the Project Management. This newsletter via email will provide you links to the upcoming events where you can claim PDUs.

Podcast

Podcast is nothing but a snippet of an audio which either you can download or you can listen through any digital device. Podcast is a great aid, which will help you to earn PD hours in between your busy schedule. Loads of high quality professional podcasts are available on a wide range of topics.

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