Certification Track at LibreOffice Conference in Berlin

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LibreOffice Conference Berlin 2012
LibreOffice Certification Program
Italo Vignoli
Director of The Document Foundation
Chairman of the Certification Committee

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Agenda
Italo Vignoli
Certification in the Marketplace
Outline of LibreOffice Certification Program
Certification of Developers
Outline of Migration and Training Protocols
TDF and Certification Professionals
Discussion
Objectives, Needs and Issues
Next Steps to Launch Certification in 2013

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Background Stuff

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Wikipedia: Defining Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain
characteristics of an object, person or organization
This confirmation is often, but not always, provided
by some form of external review or assessment
Today, one of the most common types of certification
is professional certification, where a person is certified
as being able to competently complete a job or task,
usually by the passing of an examination
Certification does not refer to the state of legally being
able to practice or work in a profession

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Wikipedia: Certification Issues
The current proliferation of IT certifications has led
some technologists to question their value
Proprietary content that has been distributed on the
Internet allows some to gain credentials without the
implied depth or breadth of expertise
Certification programs that take into account length
of service and recognized experience, via peer and
community recognition avoid some of the issues
associated with a simple examination

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Wikipedia: Certification in Computer Technology
Professional certifications in computer technology are
non-degree awards made to those who have achieved
qualifications specified by a certifying authority
Depending on the certification, qualification may include
completing a course of study, a proof of competence, a
grade on an examination or some combination thereof
The intention is to establish that an individual holding a
certification is technically qualified to hold certain types
of position within the field

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Wikipedia: Certification Length
Certifications need to be renewed periodically
As a part of a complete renewal of an individual's
certification, it is common for the individual to show
evidence of continual learning

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Certification Resource (http://www.gocertify.com/)

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Wikipedia: RedHat Certification Program
The program was launched in January 1999
As of 2010, there were nearly 75,000 Red Hat
certified professionals spanning 162 countries
All certifications are given after passing exams
The program distinguishes itself in that exams
are performance-based, meaning that students
must perform tasks on a live system rather than
answering multiple choice questions

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BSD Certification (http://www.bsdcertification.org)

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Wikipedia: Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
The Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) is a certification
program for using the Microsoft Office suite for business
applications
The MOS examinations are managed by the third party
company Certiport, rather than Microsoft
To achieve the title of "Microsoft Office Master" an
individual must pass exams for 4 main Office products:
Word and Excel (both at "Expert" level), and 2 of Access,
Outlook or PowerPoint

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Wikipedia: Microsoft Certification Resources
There are several courses, boot camps and practice tests
from different vendors offering preparation material for
Microsoft certification exams
Bootcamps provide residential program that includes food
and lodging, and are meant for busy professionals who do
not have enough time for self-preparation or wish to get
trained by professional trainers
Microsoft Press provides several books towards Microsoft
certification exams preparation
Apart from Microsoft Press books, there are other reputed
publishers like Sybex, and others
In addition to books, Microsoft Learning also offers courses
for each of the exams

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LibreOffice Certification Program

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Certification Program (draft)
LibreOffice Certification
THE DOCUMENT FOUNDATION
Certification Project Management
Certification Process (Trainers: Sponsors / Members)
Development
Migration Support Training
Certified Organizations (Sponsors / Members / Third Parties)
LibreOffice Migration / Integration / Deployment Projects
Corporate Users / Governments / Organizations
YEAR. FEE REIMBURS.
PAY CONSULTANCY / VAS

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Certification Program Overview
There are two distinct aspects to certification
To certify individuals or organizations that are recognized
community members and/or contributors
To certify competence in specific areas like development,
migrations, training and support (L2 and L3)
There are several distinct objectives in certification
To increase the global perceived quality of the ecosystem
To allow individuals or organizations that are recognized
community members and/or contributors to sell their
services based on recognized competence
To relief the individual responsible for the migration to LO
from the entire responsibility of the problems

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Certification Program Challenge
Certified professionals have the objective of extending the
reach of the community to the corporate world, and offering
CIOs and IT managers a professional recognition in line with
proprietary offerings
The challenge is to grow the ecosystem around the project
and the product in order to cross the chasm (a lull in market
development that occurs after the visionary market is
saturated and pragmatists will not buy into a discontinuous
technology unless they can reference other pragmatists,
which are highly support oriented)

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Certification Program Peculiarities
LibreOffice Certification is going to be the first from an
independent community and not from a corporate sponsor
Developing a new certification model is both a challenge and
an opportunity, for TDF and for its partners
It should be absolutely clear that the program it is not
supposed to become a source of competition for corporate
sponsors, partner companies and members who provide VAS
(value added services) to the market
The certification provides a method of regulating the quality of
value added services provided by these entities and a method
of recognizing that services conform to clear and transparent
regulatory criteria

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Certification Program Description (1)
LibreOffice Certification is overseen by TDF Board of
Directors through a Certification Committee, which is purely
functional and will be reporting to the BoD on a quarterly basis
The members of the Certification Committee are approved by
the BoD
TDF Certifications recognizes the individual competence but
does not bind The Document Foundation to the actions of the
certified individuals, nor is holding it liable for their actions
The quality of service is the sole responsibility of the certified
individuals

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The certification path will be shorter and easier for TDF
members, and will be exclusive to TDF members in the area
of development
TDF members will be also the first to be certified, according to
the criteria set by the Certification Committee for migration,
support and training
Certification criteria, requirements to apply for certification,
training programs and accreditation process will be defined by
the Certification Committee, with the help of TDF partner
companies and TDF members
The Engineering Steering Committee and the Advisory Board
members will also be instrumental for the creation and the
evolution of the certification program

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Certification will be attributed to individuals who have
demonstrated their skills by participating to the community, or
who have followed a certification training and have passed the
final test
Certification will last for 24 months from the time of the test,
and will be renewed for another 24 months by going through
the relevant test just before (three months) or immediately
after (three months) the expiration date
There will be a certification fee for third parties, which will not
be applied to core contributors (members with a high level of
involvement in the project)

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Certification Committee
Italo Vignoli (coordination)
Olivier Hallot and Charles Schulz in representation of the
Board of Directors
Sophie Gautier and Cor Nouws in representation of the
Membership Committee
Jan Holesovsky (SUSE), Stephan Bergmann (RedHat), Björn
Michaelsen (Canonical) and Tim Janik (Lanedo) in
representation of developers
Jacqueline Rahemipour and Lothar Becker in representation
of third parties

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Certified Developer
Is able to hack LibreOffice code in order to
Develop new features or provide L3 Support to enterprise
users
Research and develop solutions to new or unknown issues
Design and develop one or more courses of action,
evaluating each of these in a test case environment, and
implementing the best solution to the problem
Once the solution is verified, it is delivered to the customer
and given back to the community
Certified Core Developers need to be present TDF members,
and part of their certification is peer review by the Engineering
Steering Committee

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Certified Migration Professional
Is able to coordinate the migration process from Microsoft
Office to LibreOffice, working with the customer to manage all
aspects of the process (integration, development of macros
and templates, training and support) in order to have a
smooth transition

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Certified Professional Trainer
Is able to teach the use of LibreOffice at basic, intermediate or
advanced level

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Certified L1 Support Professional
Is able to handle basic customer issues, gathering the
customer’s information and determining the customer’s issue
by analyzing the symptoms and figuring out the underlying
problem
Technical support specialists in this group typically handle
straightforward and simple problems like verifying the proper
hardware and software set up, and assisting with application
menus
In a corporate environment, the goal for the group is to handle
70-80% of the user problems before finding it necessary to
escalate the issue to L2 support

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Certified L2 Support Professional
Is able to assist L1 support personnel in solving basic
technical problems and investigating elevated issues by
seeking for known solutions related to these more complex
issues
If a problem is new or a solution cannot be determined, is
responsible for raising this issue to L3 support
Technical support specialists in this group typically handle
complex functional problems
Within a migration project, is able to develop macros and/or
templates reproducing Microsoft Office ones, to offer end
users the same functionalities they were used to

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Migration Certification

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Migration Project (draft)
Evolution
1
1
2
2 N
N
Week 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week N
Transition
Preparation
Pilot
Users
Kick Of
Finalization
Formazione
Support
Training
Communication

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Migration Process
Migration from MS Office to LibreOffice is a complex
endeavor, which need multiple skills and a strong project
management background
Migration starts from the analysis of the situation, including
macros and templates, and gets to the objective through a
number of steps: communications, identification of power
users, training, migration pilot, rollout and support
Although there might be different approaches to migration,
The Document Foundation considers some steps as key for
the success, and will certify migration professionals following
specific guidelines

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Draft Protocol of Migration Process
Preparation
Communication
Get Power Users
Kick Off
End User Training
Pilot of First Users
LibreOffice Support
Official Transition
Finalization

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Training Certification

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Training
Training is a key factor in any LibreOffice deployment
Trainers must be not only proficient in the use of LibreOffice
but must also have a strong teaching experience
Certified trainers will be responsible for the contents and the
length of the trainings, according to the objectives of each
course
The ability to personalize the trainings according to the end
user needs will be a compulsory requirement

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Expectations

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Training
Ideally, a certified individual is a good citizen of the LibreOffice
community
In fact, behind every activity covered by the certification there
are opportunities for improvements to the project and the
software
Certified individuals should become ambassadors of TDF and
LibreOffice, as they are the ones facing organizations,
companies and users

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All text and image content in this document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
(unless otherwise specified). "LibreOffice" and "The Document Foundation" are registered trademarks. Their respective logos
and icons are subject to international copyright laws. The use of these therefore is subject to the trademark policy.
Italo Vignoli
[email protected]
skype italovignoli - gtalk [email protected]

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Certification Track at LibreOffice Conference in Berlin

Certification Track at LibreOffice Conference in Berlin

Italo Vignoli

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