Much was made of an announcement last August that Microsoft would no longer be offering certifications for Dynamics GP.   Mariano Gomez wrote a good piece about this last year.   Shortly after this announcement reIMAGINE took place in Fargo.   It was during reIMAGINE that the idea of a partner driven certification program was first discussed.   The new certification process is getting closer.

The Association of Dynamics Professionals was recently announced as an independent, not-for-profit membership organization devoted to the Microsoft Dynamics community. The goal of the association is to serve its members and to improve the community as a whole through education and the establishment of competency standards and assessments.

The association is in the early stages of development and much is expected to change between now and when the certification process is officially launched.   It is expected that the new proctored, exams will start to be offered in the fall of 2015.   Follow this link to be added to the mailing list so that you don’t miss any announcements.

I am excited to be participating in this process.   Implementing Dynamics GP should not be undertaken by just anyone.  While certifications do not guarantee quality they are a good first step at establishing credibility.

The Association of Dynamics Professionals is built around individual memberships, open to any professional (consultants and users) seeking to better themselves and the Dynamics community.  With this in mind it is not surprising that the impetus to create the organization first came from Dynamics Communities, which brought us the Dynamics Partner Community as well as GPUG, NAVUG, and CRMUG.

I regard this as a positive step.  What do you think?