You’ve designed your assessment. You’ve partnered with a test vendor. As you prepare to launch your high-stakes certification exam, one big question remains: Does your certification software integrate with that test vendor? In other words, after you have determined that a candidate is eligible to test, how does the candidate get from your system to the exam registration system? Do you have test administrator integrations to help move your exam processes forward?
System-to-system data integrations facilitate data flow between systems to support key business operations. In this case, the data flows between your candidate management system and your testing partner. Most exam processes have three points of potential integration between your system and the testing provider:
- Eligibility approvals or Authorizations to Test (ATTs)
- Exam scheduling
- Exam results
Without integrations at each point, that data must “touch a lot more hands” to move back and forth between your staff, candidates, and the test vendor. A successful integration at each point keeps the candidate journey moving forward. It also saves time and streamlines staff operations.
Authorizations to Test Integrations: Critical to Efficient Exam Registration
What is one of the first steps to achieving operational efficiency and a positive candidate experience? Getting candidates who meet eligibility requirements to the exam registration step. The industry standard for passing the candidate information to the test administrator is the Authorization to Test (ATT) data exchange (API).
Without an integration, your staff runs eligibility approval reports themselves. Then, they provide the files to a test vendor. They may even need to manually enter that authorization data on the test vendor’s site. Integrating with your test vendor for ATTs saves time and helps prevent data entry errors.
It also helps you offer a better candidate experience. Without an integration, the test vendor has to invite the candidate to register. Since it’s coming from a different system, the candidate might miss that invitation. Eligibility integrations empower applicants to schedule their exams immediately upon approval. With an ATT API, eligible candidates automatically receive a notification with the next steps. They won’t need to wait for a manual data transfer.
Exam Scheduling Integrations: An Intermediary to Improve the Candidate Experience
Once a candidate schedules their exam, several larger test administrators offer an integration that sends that candidate’s appointment status back to your candidate management system. These scheduling integrations eliminate the need for staff intervention in the scheduling process.
What if a candidate hasn’t scheduled yet? A scheduling integration can allow program staff to run reports identifying those candidates. They can then create — even automate — targeted reminders. Choosing dates and scheduling exams can be easy, straightforward, and streamlined. All your applicants have to do is study.
Exam Results Integrations: The Data We’ve All Been Waiting For
For large programs operating under a continuous testing model, an exam results API is the most efficient means to receive data from a testing provider so that you can move your candidate to the next step: conferral or retake!
For smaller programs that have a cut score set with each window, even posting the file via SFTP is a huge improvement. In either case, the last thing you want is to enter scores manually; it’s slow and prone to error. Exam results integrations help take these processes off the hands of your program staff.
Exam results integrations can also go further and deliver score data in score reports rendered as downloadable PDFs. Score reports offer candidates a detailed breakdown of their performance on the exam. This helps them understand what areas to focus on in the future.
The right candidate management system can automatically process applications based on exam results. If they pass, it changes a candidate’s status to “certified” and moves them into recertification. If they don’t pass, it can also provide the candidate with an immediate retake pathway.
Test Administrator Integrations with LearningBuilder
LearningBuilder works with all major certification assessment test vendors to manage the exchange of candidate and exam data: authorization to test, single sign-on, booking and scheduling, and exam results. If you are not working with one of these exam providers, no problem! Our Professional Services team can help optimize the exchange of your unique program data. Are you exploring certification management solutions? Schedule a call with us today to find out if we’re a good fit for your program needs.
