How to pass BIAN's Banking Architecture Foundation Certification

If you like to view the video version of this blog post, you can click on the video.

Thanks to Allah; I have passed "BIAN's Banking Architecture Foundation Certification" on Feb-2022. In this blog post, I’m sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification.

Target Audience (Personal opinion)

This certification is targeting enterprise, business, application, data, solution, and integration architects working in FSI (Financial Services Industry) domain. It is not for infrastructure, technology architects. 

Pre-requisites (Personal opinion)

Officially, there are no pre-requisites for the certification, but I think you need to have a look at the below pre-requisites from my point of view.

Category	Pre-requisite	Mandatory / Preferred	Rationale
Experience	Have Enterprise Architecture experience or knowledge, such as a certificate or working experience in TOGAF Standard.	Must	The material considers you have knowledge in Enterprise Architecture and multiple domains are classified based on TOGAF standard. Even book chapters is addressing multiple domains and relations with TOGAF.
Experience	Having working experience in bank, Fintech or FSI service provider.	Must	Understanding BIAN artifacts (APIs, Service Domain landscape, ... etc) requires that you have working experience in FSI.
Experience	Understanding of ArchiMate as a modeling language.	Must	It is used as standard notation in most diagrams (Strategy, Business, Application, Composite).
Experience	Basic understanding of UML (Class, Sequence diagrams).	Preferred	It is used as standard notation.

Version releases

I found two versions of the certification in the store as of the time of writing this blog. I wanted to highlight the difference for you to make sure you are selecting the latest version.

The version in descending order	Exam Link / Certification Logo	Included book version	Book publish date	Book ISBN	Exam price	Service landscape version
Latest as of Feb-2022			19-Jun-2021	978-9401807685	Euro: 449.95	V9
Older			31-Jan-2019	978-9401803151	Euro: 544.44	Older

Exam information

• Current code: BNF
• Title: BIAN Banking Architecture Foundation.
• Exam language: English - ESL has no time extension (There is a feature “Language aid” where you can set the language, and the exam engine provides Google translate feature in page content).
• Open book: No
• Supervised: No
• The number of questions: 60 MCQ (Question include negation) (Single & Multiple correct answers (The number of correct answers is mentioned in the question)).
• Exam duration: 60 mins
• Passing score: 42/60 (70% confirmed score from certN platform).
• Time / question: 1 min
• Cost: 449.95 EUR (Excluding taxes).
• Exam location: Online (There is an option for an on-site exam, but not aware of the details).
• Validity duration / Expiry: 2 years.

Study material

Reference	Cost	Mandatory / Optional	Note
BIAN – A framework for the financial services industry	50.49 – 65 USD (Included in exam voucher, no need to pay)	Mandatory	Certification is based on this book. But, I found the below issues, I hope they can be corrected in the newer version: 1- Some diagrams' resolution is not good and should be enhanced, some of them were not readable. Figure 2-14, 2-22, 2-27, 4-4, 5-5, 5-9, 6-3, 7-9, 9-6, A2-1 2- Some diagrams should be in color (Example: heat maps) and color has semantic but it is found diagram in greyscale. Figure 2-20, 6-4 3- It seems that copyright and the watermarked document are not allowing rotating a page. This made it hard to view landscape-oriented pages.
BIAN Semantic API Practitioner’s Guide	Free	Mandatory (Personal opinion)	The first 3 chapters of this book clarified my understanding of BIAN. Especially “Figure 8 Diagram” which connected a lot of dots.
BIAN Open Digital Repository (v9.1)	Free	Mandatory	Navigating the service domain landscape is a must, and this is the online version.
BIAN Reference Implementations	Free	Optional	Not related to certification rather very good examples of companies adapting to BIAN standard.

Study tips

• The exam depends on understanding more than memorization.
• The longest & most difficult chapter of the book "BIAN – A framework for the financial services industry" was "Chapter 2: Explaining the BIAN Architecture", my recommendation will be to read the first 3 chapters of "BIAN Semantic API Practitioner’s Guide" as a start before you read the official exam book for the following reasons:
• It contains examples for BIAN, that illustrated the idea of every component of BIAN toolbox and meta-model. I missed some of these examples in the main book.
• Uses simpler English and more straightforward wording than the original book.

Register for home online exam

1. Purchase the exam from the link (Payment: Credit cards, Invoice, iDeal, Paypal).
2. Separate email for download ebook, and you need to enter the voucher code for it.
3. You will be able to download a PDF with your email.
4. In the same email, you will get a link to "certn.global" for certification and subscription instructions.
5. It uses the email without a password (It sends a code for every login).
6. Log in and submit your name details, and agree on some terms & conditions.
7. Enter “exam voucher code” to activate a new exam.
8. You will get activated practice exams (12 attempts) & actual exams (2 attempts), these will be valid for 1 year since the day you added the voucher.
9. Practice attempts of exams are available for 3 months for review.
10. I have tried the exam on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge based on Chromium and both were working fine.

Getting exam results

Exam results are provided instantaneously, with the categorization of questions provided. You will be able to download the certification and share it on social networks as well.

References

• vhls.glbal: Official exam site
• Van Haren store: Exam page
• BIAN Services GmbH
• Request syllabus Download (Always download the latest, as it keeps updated)
• Complimentary BIAN Webinar: BIAN Book - 2nd Edition (fully revised) preview - A framework for the financial services industry
• Van Haren Exam Instructions – certN platform
• BIAN Channel on Vimeo
• BIAN Wiki
• BIAN Adoption journey

9 Tips for passing ArchiMate Practitioner exam

I have included links for Video and Slides for your convenience.

Youtube video	The presentation shared in SlideShare

How to pass ArchiMate® Certification

If you like to view the video version of this blog post, you can click on the video.

Thanks to Allah; I have passed ArchiMate Certification on Nov-2021. In this blog post, I’m sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification.

Target Audience (Personal opinion)

This certification is targeting Enterprise Architects and Domain Architects.

Version releases

The below table lists versions for ArchiMate, listed below as there are several resources on the Internet that are considered old and not matching the current version v3.1.

Version	Release Date
ArchiMate v1.0	Feb-2009
ArchiMate v2.0	Jan-2012
ArchiMate v2.1	Dec-2013
ArchiMate v3.0	Jun-2016
ArchiMate v3.01	Aug-2017
ArchiMate v3.1	Nov-2019

Changes from v2.1 to version 3.1

Exam information

	Foundation	Practitioner
Exam code / name	OGA-031: ArchiMate® 3 Part 1 Exam (English)	OGA-032: ArchiMate® 3 Part 2 Exam (English)
Open Book	No	Yes
Duration	1 hr (ESL: 1 hr, 30 mins)	1 hr, 30 mins (ESL: 2 hrs)
Questions	40 simple single choice questions. 1 (Correct), 0 (Incorrect) point per question	8 Complex gradient scoring. 5 (Best answer), 3 (Second best), 1 (Third best), 0 (Incorrect) points per question
Time / Question	1.5 mins (ESL: 2.25 mins)	11.25 mins (ESL: 15 mins)
Passing score	24/40 (60%)	28/40 (70%)
Individual Cost	360 USD	360 USD
Combined Cost	550 USD
Validity	Indefinite
Exam location	Home (OnVUE Online Proctoring from Pearson VUE) or Testing center.
Retake policy	After 1 month

Note about ESL

When you are booking the exam from one of the ESL countries, you will get approval for extra 30 mins.

Study material

Reference	Cost	Mandatory / Optional	Note
ArchiMate® 3 Certification Self-Study Pack, 3rd Edition (B175)	$49.95	Mandatory (Selected)	Updated to 3.1 specs. Summer, Black Friday, and Christmas sales you can get 50%. I found it contains more examples than the public specs site.
ArchiMate Modeling Language – Youtube playlist	0	Optional	Provide good introduction before you start learning if you are new to the language. Not all videos are required. Voice quality for some videos is not as expected 😌
Archi Five Minute Guides – Youtube channel	0	Optional	Demo for using ArchiMate in Archi.
ArchiMate Cookbook (Patterns & Examples)	0	Optional	The book is usually updated, download from the link. Introduces patterns and examples of what you can do with ArchiMate. Many thanks 🙏 to the author for making such a book free, it is simply a treasure to any Enterprise Architect.
Mastering ArchiMate Edition 3.1	$31.87	Optional	I received two recommendations for this book.
Enterprise Architecture at Work: Modelling, Communication and Analysis (The Enterprise Engineering Series) 4th Edition	$54.22	Optional	Referred as one of the best in presenting ArchiMate. Not exam-focused.

Practice makes perfect

• Archi – ArchiMate Modelling (Free Download: Many thanks for the contributors).
• ArchiMapp - Free design tool for iPad.
• ArchiMate® Tool Certification Register

Study tips

• The foundation exam is easy to intermediate but requires memorization (I found it hard to memorize all the meta-models and decided not to do it).
• The practitioner exam is tough (I will try to share my tips for this in another post).
• Build a study plan (MS Project, MS Excel).

Exam Payment

• Purchase “ArchiMate 3 Part 1 and Part 2 Bundle Exam |Voucher (Retail)”
• It is mentioned that you will receive vouchers within 3 days, in my case it is 1 day but I didn’t know as I was expecting an email, but it was sent. Just you need to check the website.
• Go to The Open Group Shop -> My account
• Click “My Order Attachments” from left menu, download two CSV files containing voucher codes (Expiry date after 1 year).

Register for home online exam

1. Go to website.
2. From left menu, click “Take an examination”.
3. Click “Login”, and use the Open Group credential.
4. Click “View exams”
5. Select “OGA-031: Archimate 3 Part 1 Exam (English)” / “OGA-032: Archimate 3 Part 2 Exam (English)”
6. Click “OnVUE”
7. Click “Next”, “Next”, “Agree”
8. Select Exam date and time
9. Make sure of your information, and click “Proceed to Checkout”
10. Click “Add Voucher or Promo code”, enter Voucher coder, click “Apply”, you will find the estimated total due is 0
11. Click “Next”
12. Click “Submit Order”

Taking exam from home

For a detailed checklist for OnVUE exam preparation, please check this blog post Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) Checklist

Getting exam results

After the exam was completed and within 15 mins, I received an email with the subject "Score Report Available Notification". You will need to log in to Pearson with credentials of The Open Group, and you will find the link "View score report" and you will see your score and detailed report.

If you didn't receive an email from "The Open Group" having an email with a link to agree on the Trademark License Agreement. You will need to send an email stating your issue to certifications@opengroup.org and it will be looked at only if 6 working days (US, UK timing) has passed. When you agree on the trademark license agreement, you will have your certificate ready as a soft copy and be able to download it.

In the same reply email, you will find that the open badge may take up to 10 business days to get issued in Credly platform. I received mine after around 1 day of accepting the agreement.

References

• Official exam site
• ArchiMate 3.1 specs online
• ArchiMate Twitter Account
• The Open Group Twitter Account

How to pass Digital Practitioner Certification: DPBoK™ Foundation in less than 1 month?

Youtube video about certification contents	Presentation shared in slideshare
Youtube video how to pass the certification

Thanks to Allah; I have passed Digital Practitioner Certification: DPBoK™ Foundation on 2-Apr-2021. In this blog post, I’m sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification in less than 1 month.

Target Audience (Personal opinion)

The exam is covering 12 competencies recommended for digital business based on company size.

Company	Number of employees	Capital
Founder	1-3	< $1m
Team	8 - 12	> $1m
Team of teams	40 - 70	> $10m
Enduring Enterprise	350 - 500	> $50m

The exam is covering all company sizes, I think candidates considering the certification should have worked in enterprise to be able to understand the challenges at every company size. A fresh graduate or entry-level computing and digital business professionals might not face such challenges and my recommendation to them will be reading Digital Practitioner Body of Knowledge™ Standard related to their company size and not target the certification.

Exam information

• Current code: OGD-001 DPBoK™ Part 1
• Current release date: October 2019
• Open book: No
• The number of questions: 40 (Multiple choice, one correct answer).
• Exam duration: 60 mins
• Passing score: 26 / 40 (65%) Each correct answer scores a single point, no negative scoring.
• Time / question: 1.5 mins
• Cost: 360$ (414$ including VAT)
• Retake: After 1 month
• Exam location: Home (OnVUE Online Proctoring from Pearson VUE) or Testing center.
• Validity duration / Expiry: Indefinite, no recertification or renewal requirements.

Note about ESL

When you are booking the exam from one of the ESL countries, you will get approval for 90 mins. But I found the actual exam time is 1 hour only. I opened a case with OnVue and the answer was that 90 mins is covering all duration including tutorials, agreements, ...etc. And this is actually mentioned in the email when I purchased the exam, as copied below:

Your appointment's time extension applies to all information presented on the computer, including any agreements and tutorials, in addition to your actual testing time. The total appointment length noted in this confirmation includes each of these components and is not equal to the actual testing time available to you.

Study material

Purchase The Digital Practitioner Certification Self-Study Pack ($39.95).

• Reasonable price: Sometimes discounts reach 50% (Summer, Black Friday, and Christmas sales you can get 50%).
• The number of pages: 231.
• The number of chapters: 14 chapters.
• It includes a pocket guide (I didn’t use it as it was 151 pages, so I thought of reading the study guide again better).
• It includes a reference cards summary (I didn't use it as it is considered briefer than the required information about the exam, and a smaller set of figures you need to memorize).
• It includes one exam that is good but the actual exam is harder.
• PROS: Every chapter ends with questions, answers provided.
• PROS: One document has it all, focused target.

Study tips

• Exam difficulty: Above intermediate.
• Build a study plan (MS Project, MS Excel).
• The study guide must be read at least twice.
• Understand & memorize all figures in the study guide, you will have lots of questions about them.

Register for home online exam

Follow the below steps:

1. Login to The Open Group Certification website.
2. From left menu, click “Take an examination”.
3. Click “Pearson VUE launch page”.
4. Review personal information that is from the open group profile page that will be used to create or login to Pearson VUE, before clicking “Proceed to Pearson VUE”.
5. In the dashboard, click “View Exams”.
6. Select “OGD-001” “DPBoK part 1 Exam”.
7. Select “Online from my home or office”, click “Next”.
8. In agree to online exam policies, please read carefully, and mark checkboxes, click “Next”.
9. Click “Next”
10. Select a suitable date. Your local time zone will appear, select the best way to view the timing 12/24hr.
11. Value with estimated tax is $414
12. Click “Proceed to Checkout”.
13. Read and agree to policies, click “Accept”. (These important policies will be sent to you by email after completion).
14. Add card details, click “Next”, then “Submit order”.
15. ESL will be added after complete exam registration as long as you register from one of the ESL countries. Exam length 90 minutes!!!
16. Check-in time will be 30 mins earlier.
17. You will receive an email with details of the invoice, and policies / useful information.
18. For customer service online chat, use this link.

Taking exam from home

For a detailed checklist for OnVUE exam preparation, please check this blogpost Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) Checklist

Getting exam results

After the exam completed and within 15 mins, I received an email with the subject "Score Report Available Notification". You will need to login to Pearson with credentials of The Open Group, and you will find the link "View score report" and you will see your score and detailed report.

If you didn't receive an email from "The Open Group" having an email with a link to agree on the Trademark License Agreement. You will need to send an email stating your issue to certifications@opengroup.org and it will be looked at only if 6 working days (US, UK timing) has passed. When you agree on the trademark license agreement, you will have your certificate ready as a soft copy and be able to download it.

In the same reply email, you will find that the open badge may take up to 10 business days to get issued in Credly platform. I received mine after around 1 day of accepting the agreement.

References

• Official exam site
• DPBoK™ Certification: How to Get Started with Individual Certification
• DPBoK Twitter account It was showing when there are discounts on self-study packages, they are very responsive.
• DPBOK™ PROGRAM CONFIGURATION – X194
• DPBOK Foundation Data Sheet
• The TOGAF Role Based Badges
• Very good Arabic session in DPBoK covering first 2 contexts

How to pass APMP Foundation in 2 weeks?

If you like to view the video version of this Blog, you can click on the video.

I have passed APMP Foundation in 25-Nov-2020. In this blog, I'm sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification in 2 weeks.

Exam information

• Current code: APMP (2015) Foundation
• Current release date: 12-Feb-2016 (Exam option: 2015), updated every 5 years.
• Number of questions: 75
• Open book: Yes (Unrestricted material)
• Exam duration: 1 hr – ESL (1 hr, 15 mins)
• Passing score: 42/75 (56%)
• Time / question: 48 secs – ESL (1 min)
• Cost: 400$ Exam + 160$ Membership + Course fees
• Validity duration / Expiry: 2 years (20 Educational Units CEU to renew, blogging, publishing articles, presenting).
• Exam availability: 24/7
• Exam location: Home / Authorized Training organization.

Training courses

On Oct-2020, I have checked all approved Training Organizations. I have made a quick comparison based on available information on these companies website:

Course / Link	Cost	Duration	Notes
baachuscribble	161 USD	12 hours / 1 - 2 weeks	Lifetime access. Includes 200+ sample practice questions. Opportunity for money back with WOW2K program. Found some youtube videos about APMP Very responsive in email's reply.
Bidcraft	360 USD
thebidtoolkit	307 USD	4 hours / on demand
sixfold	602 - 712 USD	1 full day training	Includes exam fee. Seems they are confident to sit for the exam in the same day after you finish the training. Includes Study guide. Includes glossary. Include quick reference guide.

I have selected baachuscribble from the above list based on the notes mentioned above and reasonable course price.

Study plan

I will recommend you start by answering the free sample exam, and select "APMP Foundation" before studying to understand how the exam looks like. 

I'm sharing with my MS project study plan to achieve both certifications in less than 2 weeks of study (Study time 20 hours / week ). If you don't have MS project, here is a link for Excel sheet having the same information. You can use it as a base for your study schedule.

Exam registration

1. Register on the apmp website. Offer 15 months for 12 months price 160$ (PayPal).

2. Register in course from WOW2K link.

3. Register in course from Baachuscribble link. Price 153$ (VISA, MasterCard, American Express). Your will find two courses:

• APMP Foundation Level Certification.
• APMP Foundation Practice and Revision.

4. Booking the exam on website

• Language: English.
• APMP Foundation (2015).
• Enter last name, and APMP membership id so exam fee is 400$ (Without membership 600$).
• If you didn’t register, you will need to register in this site. Fill your data.
• Is exam in a second language? Yes (This will add an extra checkmark in same page that you won’t be able able to book your exam until APMG confirm your request by contacting you).
• Click “Pay by card”.
• Enter information and card details.
• Gives you a booking reference with a validity of 1 year & sent by email (Login information will be sent within 24 hours unless further information is required as ESL).

5. Within 1 day, I received an email to register on the exam website after filling:

• Personal information
• Employer
• Industry
• Communication preference
• Name appearance on certificate First, Middle, Last.
• Data protection.
• Confirm declaration about entered data is correct.
• After this step, you are ready for an online exam at any time.
• I received a receipt for purchase after 4 days.

Exam tips

• The exam can be scheduled anytime, I prefer to have it during vacation or before work.
• Pick a quiet time to test.
• Disable notification from your PC (Windows Focus Assist).
• Silent Smartphone, no vibration, screen facing down.
• Avoid conducting the test from your work network and use your home network.
• Fully charged laptop not PC & connected to an electrical outlet.
• Test your internet connection & have a backup connection up & running for an easy switch (Mobile Hotspot and set as a metered connection on your laptop).
• Use Chrome browser.
• Have Study guide, APMP Glossary website for quick reference, but use it as last resort as no time will be available in the exam.
• Have google translate opened or its plugin installed to your browser.
• Have the APMP tracking sheet printed per exam attempt.

References

APMP Certification Program

Frequently Asked Questions for the APMP Accreditation Program

TOGAF 9 certification preparation advices & exam tips

I have passed TOGAF 9 level 1 foundation, and level 2 certification on Mar-2013 and would like to share the experience with everyone. The following is the recommended steps from my perspective to prepare and pass the exam:

1- Watch tutorial video
You need to know what is Enterprise Architect? What is TOGAF? Overview of the framework so you can decide if you will benefit from this certification. A good introduction is offered here.

2- Get a quick look to TOGAF 9.1 specs
The specification is shared online here, please have a look at the content; no need to get into deep details in this stage. 

3- Attend TOGAF course
TOGAF doesn't necessitate that you get a course to attend the exam, but I think you will benefit from the course very much for the following reasons:
    a- Course takes 5 days, you will find the first two days, you just need to switch your mind to think the TOGAF way, even if you have previous architecture experience. Having someone answering your question will be of great help.
    b- Course offers TOGAF slides, exam material, template that you will really benefit from.
    c- You will benefit from instructor if he has past experience in implementing TOGAF.
    d- Most people attending such course have considerable long experience in IT in general, seeking excellence in their work, you will really enjoy the talk and you will benefit from expanding your professional network as well.
TOGAF has accredited course calendar listed here. I prefer if you select 5 days course for level 1 & 2 as course is already long and 4 days won't be sufficient.

4- Stick to a study schedule
I have prepared a study schedule using Microsoft Project 2010 shared here (For Microsoft Project 2007 shared here). It has specific study calendar “TOGAF Study Calendar” of 4hrs/day, 5 days/week. I encourage using it and modifying the project calendar to suite your availability. This link provides a detailed explanation of how to change the calendar in Microsoft Project 2010. I think 2 weeks after the course will be enough to take level 1 exam.

5- Solving exam questions
You need to solve exam questions before showing for the exam. If you attended a course, usually you will get exam material for your preparation. Others are available as below:
•    The Open Arch.
•    Technology trend analysis practice test.
•    TOGAF free quiz.
•    TOGAF 9 class.
The above are just samples, you can search and find lots more.

6- Exam level 1 foundation advices

a- ESL: You can have extended time for the exam by selecting English as Second Language (ESL).

b- After tutorial and before starting the exam: Draw ADM, as you will get questions asking you with phase letter.

c- Method of elimination is best used for exam, for tough questions, pick any answer from what you think are probably correct before marking the question for review; i.e. never leave a question without an answer.

d- Level 1 is not covering all topics, it is highlighted in study schedule with yellow color, and also indicated as (Level 1).


7- Exam level 2 certified advices (Specs open book)

a- ESL: You can have extended time for the exam by selecting English as Second Language (ESL).

b- A MUST topics for exam (ADM processes & guidelines & techniques - Transition planning techniques - Architecture Capability Framework - Iteration to ADM - Example set of architecture principals specs section 23.6 - Architectural artifacts ch 35).

c- I recommend reading the scenario twice to determine (State of EA office, Management direction, stakeholders concerns, current phase you are dealing with).

d- When you know the phase you are in, you can check the process guidelines, approach, or steps to guide your answer.

e- In answering questions that you should address concerns, or select best architecture artifacts for stakeholders, I recommend using below table as follows:
    i- While reading the statement of the question, write the concerns from multiple stakeholders in the columns.
    ii- Write multiple options in rows.
    iii- For each option, check if it satisfies the concern raised or not and add a mark X or √.
    iv- Select choice that best suites the question & have √ on all columns.

	Concern / stakeholder 1	Concern / stakeholder 2	Concern / stakeholder 3	Concern / stakeholder 4
Option A	X	√	X	√
Option B	√	√	√	√
Option C	X	√	√	√
Option D	X	X	X	X

I hope this will help someone there.