VSE Expert

VSE experts are professionals that have expertise and competencies to implement process improvement, lead internal implementations and perform consultancy support activities in relation with the ISO/IEC 29110 standard for VSE (Very Small Entities).

Introduction

Making things better is the goal of all organizations. But it’s not an easy path. Fortunately, this issue is not new in the ICT sector and there are now methods and models that are used by industry-approved as good practices. The ISO/IEC 29110 standard, in particular, is aimed at small organizations (VSEs) with their detailed and free guides for easy and inexpensive process implementation.

In addition, upto25.net provides with guides and tools to approach this standard in an even easier way, with details of ‘how’ to implement it and with examples and models for its best use.

Guide for VSE

The best way to achieve the desired improvement and certification of the organization’s processes is having the knowledge and experience necessary to optimize any process improvement project. That’s why upto25.net has defined a scheme that allows both the registration and the certification of ‘VSE Experts’. This knowledge will help to optimize process improvements and to adapt them to the specific needs of any organization or VSE to be efficient processes and also to optimize both the internal functioning of the VSE, the response to customers and also to increase their market.

The VSE Expert aims to improve processes for the organization in which he works or as an external consultant. Process improvement is carried out through 3 activities:

ThThere are different levels of VSE Expert certification, where each of these levels have training, professional experience, experience in process implementations requirements and specific exams that must be met respectively:

These levels of VSE Expert can be registered and certified at upto25.net and are intended for:

Process practitioners that need the right knowledge and skills to implement process improvement e.g. consultants, quality personnel, process improvement teams, process owners.
Internal process VSE Experts e.g. those who lead internal implementations usually for the purpose of internal process improvement.
External 3rd party VSE Experts that either will provide consultancy support activities such as gap analysis, planning the implementation according to the context-profile, and ensure the quality of the process implementation or who will design and implement consultancy process improvement methods; who will design and develop training courses and materials; who will participate in national or international working groups to maintain 29110 ISO/IEC standard documents.

The following figure shows the path to the VSE Expert registration and certification grades, mentioning the necessary training courses (Initiation, Expert VSE), the relevant tests, evaluations and exams to be passed:

The VSE Expert Registration and Certification Scheme

The “Scheme of registration and certification for VSE Expert” has been created by upto25 to respond to the needs of the VSE market and to facilitate the implementation of the process requirements and for those who want to implement process improvement in VSEs and/or to participate in the development and maintenance of the standards of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard.

Soon there will be the need from both the market and the customers to the software suppliers to have their ISO/IEC 29110 processes certified to ensure a minimum of quality regarding their developments.
The design, administration and maintenance of the scheme is the property and responsibility of upto25 as an international non-profit association.

This scheme has been developed in accordance with the guidance of ISO IEC 17024 (Considerations and guidance on ISO Clause 8 of ISO/IEC 17024 for the development of schemes for the certification of persons) of the CASCO Committee (Committee on Conformity Assessment) of ISO that watches over the standards for the evaluation of conformity.

The scheme defines the requirements and the process for the registration and certification of the VSE Expert. In addition, the scheme defines the necessary procedures to accredit the providers of the training of these VSE Experts and the requirements for the accreditation of the training courses they will teach.

The scheme addresses the following topics:

Registration and certification of VSE Experts,
- Definition of the criteria against which VSE Experts are evaluated with the list of required abilities to be demonstrated during a VSE profile implementation or deployment.
VSE Expert grades,
- Description of both the registration and certification of VSE Expert grades defined by the scheme (Registered VSE Expert, Certified VSE Expert, Principal VSE Expert).
Applicant requirements,
- List of the minimum requirements for education, training, work experience and VSE expert experience for the relevant grade of certification for the applicants for registration and certification.
Application process,
- Description of the general application process and its processing steps: a) Submission of the application, b) Administrative check, c) Technical evaluation, d) Certification award.
Registration and renewal of certification,
Code of conduct,
Fees,
Accreditation of trainers and tutors,
Accreditation of training courses.

A VSE Expert can request his certificate to upto25 and, after an administrative control and a technical evaluation, if the upto25 Certification Director decides to grant the certification, a digital certificate of registration or certification is sent to each successful applicant and the VSE Expert record is updated.

The applicant should not publicly announce their certification or use their certification until receiving an upto25 message that the certification has been granted and posted on the upto25 website.

Any appeal or complaints against decisions about certification results should be sent by email to upto25@upto25.net. In no more than 24 hours you will receive an email confirming that the appeal has been received, and you will receive a response to your appeal in no more than 15 days.

Training providers, tutors and training courses

An accredited training provider can provide an accredited training course. A training provider must be authorized or must maintain its accreditation according to the requirements defined in the certification scheme and VSE expert registration (see below).

Training providers must have procedures for the selection and training of all tutors involved in the provision of the accredited courses to ensure consistency of presentation between courses. All tutors shall have experience in the principles, practices and subject matter of the courses they present, and be able to impart their knowledge to the course delegates and develop the skills of the delegates (see below requirements for tutors of the courses).

Training courses must meet compliance criteria. These criteria specify the requirements for the training courses, including the knowledge and skills that will be covered during the course (see the requirements for the tutors of the courses).

The criteria for the accreditation of course providers, tutors and training courses are provided separately in the scheme (see the requirements for the training courses).

Downloadable documents

upto25 provides all the information to be a VSE Expert, training provider or tutor. The following links provide the necessary requirements and/or forms:

All these documents are property of upto25 and available to users for their information and their use with upto25 exclusively. Application forms can be sent to the following email address; upto25@upto25.net.

List of certificates and accredited

The list of VSE Experts certified by upto25 can be found here.

The list of training providers, tutors and their accredited courses accredited by upto25 can be found here.