BusinessObjects Certified Professional – Here It Goes Again!

Keeping up with Business Objects products can make a person feel like they’re on an eternal treadmill of learning. Yesterday, I passed the BusinessObjects Certified Professional – Enterprise (BOCP-BOE) upgrade exam, which brought my BusinessObjects XI R2 certification up to SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1.

For those of you who have never certified, it requires passage of 3 exams that loosely follow the three SA210, SA310, and SA410 public education classes (which are also available as e-Learning – but you want to come to our training centers in Dallas & Houston, don’t you?). I attended a BOCP “fast track” in the summer of 2005 and took the XI R2 exams shortly thereafter. It was the first time in my life certifying on anything and was quite surprised that I passed each exam on the first attempt. Exams are offered worldwide at Pearson Vue test centers.

The XI 3.0/XI 3.1 platform has LOTS of new features, with the primary burden on the administrator. Oh sure, there are some new features in Crystal Reports 2008, Web Intelligence and Universe Designer. But SAP BusinessObjects administrators have to deal with a redesigned Central Management Console (CMC), new security rules, and federation. Not to mention new architecture details like the Server Intelligence Agent (SIA), Adaptive Job Server and Adaptive Processing Server. Re-certification has been distilled down to just 40 randomly chosen questions, of which the test taker must get at least 67% correct.

As a part-time SAP BusinessObjects instructor, passing the BOCP upgrade exam entitles me to teach the XI 3.0/XI 3.1 administration classes, which I’ll be doing for the first time in December 2008. I should mention that any SAP BusinessObjects class can be taught on-site at your location. Especially for those of you in warm locales – I’d love to come train you or your staff during the upcoming winter months – please give me a call!