Alerton s New Training and Certification Webinar Q&A

Transcription

1 Alerton s New Training and Certification Webinar Q&A CERTIFICATION Q: The new Certs/Training are they going to expire after 3 years like the current ACE? A: Yes, Alerton certifications will continue to expire every 3 years. This was announced back in 2013 that all Alerton certifications would effectively expire in 2016 and require individuals to potentially take updated course as refreshers and pass an online exam to maintain their certified status. Q: Can you describe the difference in the two different certification types again? A: The Engineering and Commissioning certification is focused on individuals who may not with to pursue programming. The target is for installers and service engineers who work with the product day in and day out, and may need to work with a little DDC, but not really be a full-fledged programmer. The ACE: Programming certification is for engineers who need or wish to do it all. Know how to install and service Alerton products, but also how to take a sequence of operations and create DDC to bring a building to life. Q: We are a Trend dealer who recently switched to Alerton. Is this certification required for at least one person associated with an Alerton dealer? A: We highly encourage all dealers to have at least one individual who holds an ACE Certification. Many specs are being written where personnel working on the job must hold some form of certification. REFRESH CERTIFICATION Q: Does BACtalk for Windows Certification count for the "refresher registration"? (pre-ace) (back in the Beta days) A: Yes, even those who certified under IBEX. We believe these individuals are a wealth of knowledge and wish to provide them an opportunity to bring their certification up to date. Q: To what level do you consider a person "ACE" certified? A: Currently, one who has completed the training curriculum (through the BT-400) and passed the certification exam. 1

2 Q: So, for re-certification, a candidate does not need to do the physical class? A: No. The online content is offered in the event one wishes to do a refresher prior to attempting to recertify, but that offer excludes the lab portion of the course. Should currently certified individuals desire to attend the lab portion, they would then be required to register and pay for the course like a new student. Q: What happens when your certification expires; will there be a refresher course, or do you have to start from scratch? A: Yes, we expect to offer refresher courses targeted towards those seeking recertification prior to Q: How do you maintain the certification? A: Stay tuned in to new products and technology either by self learning or by taking a future refresher course and then taking the certification exam. Q: If we have employees that have been through the BT-400 more than 3 years ago are they considered a "New Student"? A: If a student is ACE Certified, he or she can go through the entire 13 week courseware which would include the lab just like a new student and would be considered a new student. For a limited time, we are offering for those who are already ACE Certified that they can go through the online component of the courseware and we will waive the fee. Q: You said all certifications will expire on 2016 and after will have a 3 year life span. What if you have employees that got certified in the last year or two? Does this apply to them? A: Employees who have become certified since 2013 have certificates that state their certification will expire 3 years from the date of issue. The 2016 expiration are for certificates that do not have that explicitly stated. 2

3 TRAINING FEES Q: Are the fees waived for dealer & associate dealer employees? A: No. In order for us to continue to develop and deliver updated training courses we can no longer waive the training fees. NETWORKING CURRICULUM Q: Will the networking class be in the same format? A: The Networking curriculum will continue to be delivered in its current format. Q: What about people who have completed 230 but not 400? Will 500 still be offered? A: Yes, we will continue to offer the BT-500 Networking class and the prerequisites will remain pretty much the same. Completing the BT-400 class was never a prerequisite to register for the BT-500, only completion of the BT-230 Lab and NT-e100. CUSTOMER TRAINING Q: Will there be Generic Online Operator Training that we can offer our customers? A: We currently have the Just in Time (JIT) videos for Operators that we have made available on the Ascent web site. We ve also created a YouTube playlist with these videos that you can share the URL with your customers. Q: What about customers who want Alerton training? What program do we sell to them? Are prices any different? A: As we ve always done, we provide the same training to end use customers that we provide to our dealers. The pricing provided is dealer pricing, dealer multipliers do not apply. Dealers are free to mark up the price to their customers. 3

4 STUDENTS MID-STREAM Q: We currently have a number of folks signed up under the existing online training plan. Can/Should we roll these over to this new format? It seems well laid out given the modules that can be "lunch and learn" type sessions. A: If a dealer employee is currently registered for or has completed up through the BT-e230, we recommend staying the course and completing the BT-230 Lab and BT-400 when they are next offered to complete their certification. If a dealer employee has started the training program, beginning at the BT-e100, within the first 120 days of 2015 (between Jan 1 and April 30) and is part way through that courseware, we recommend moving to the new curriculum and we will credit the amount put forward for the BT-e100 towards the ACE Course. Q: What if someone has started the current online courses but hasn't finished or attended the labs, do they have to start over? A: If depends on when they registered for the course(s) and what they ve completed to date. Just as above, if a dealer employee is currently registered for or has completed up through the BT-e230, we recommend staying the course and completing the BT-230 Lab and BT-400 when they are next offered to complete their certification. If a dealer employee has started the training program, beginning at the BT-e100, within the first 120 days of 2015 (between Jan 1 and April 30) and is part way through that courseware, we recommend moving to the new curriculum and we will credit the amount put forward for the BT-e100 towards the ACE Course. Q: If they have taken the BT-e100 & BT-e230 already what can we do to start them over on the new online track since they are NOT ACE certified yet? A: If a student has completed up through the BT-e230, we recommend staying the course and completing the BT-230 Lab and BT-400 when they are next offered to complete their certification. Q: What kind of certification will you be issuing to people finishing the BT-230 Lab and BT-400? A: Those completing the BT-400 and successfully passing the certification exam will be provided the standard ACE:BACtalk certification that is currently in production. This certification will expire 3 years from the date of issue. 4

5 CURRICULUM Q: The 12 week online course... is that made up of 12, 20 minute sessions? A: No. The online course is made up of many modules and we ve attempted to keep each module no longer than 20 minutes in length. We estimate there is approximately 45 hours worth of online content in the course and each student s ability to get through it in that amount of time will be unique as the online portion course is entirely self-paced. REGIONAL TRAINING Q: What would be required or is it even possible for you to hold the 1 week physical classroom at a dealer s location? A: We currently have our training schedule built out through June of 2016 and will build upon it quarterly in an effort to maintain 1 year s worth of schedule online. We plan to offer training in each region of the US in 2-week stints at least 2-3 times per year. Q: Where is the regional training going to be? A: Southeast = Jacksonville, FL Northeast = Columbia, MD Midwest = North Kansas City, MO Northwest = Lynnwood, WA Southwest = TBD AVAILABILITY Q: When will the online content be available for the ACE certified employees? A: We expect to open up the online content the last week of May, MISC Q: Is there an AX certification program available through Alerton? A: Should there be enough demand from the channel; Alerton would entertain the idea of hosting Niagara AX Certification training at our Facility. 5

6 Q: Will the old training names like BT-e100, BT-e230 be phased out and replaced with some other names since the content seems to have changed quite a bit. A: Yes. We are simply referring to the new curriculum as the ACE Course. The certification components will be known as the ACE Cert E&C and the ACE Cert Prg. Q: Is there any way to get access to the online content for in house training? A: Sorry, but no. The online content is only delivered via our Learning Management System. TREND CONVERSIONS Q: Currently, new Alerton dealers who switched from Trend have their training fees waived. Does this still apply to the new format? If someone is currently enrolled in the BT-230 program, can they roll over into the new training with this fee waived? A: The recommendations stated above for students who are mid-stream will apply to new Alerton dealers switching from Trend. 6