How to Recertify the CNP & ACNP

Annual Recertification

To retain your CNP or ACNP designation, you must maintain your professional currency. Once you have been certified, you will need to recertify annually. Professional currency involves a combination of self-directed educational activities plus maintenance of your currency in the field of Network Information Systems.

Requirements

You are required to obtain:

At least 100 education credits per year.
At least 1000 hours per year of IS professional level activities.
A log and supporting information must be submitted with the recertification application. The recertification fee is $200 and is separate from your NPA membership fee. This fee supports the work of our committees and councils involved in professionalism related activities. These include: development of a common body of knowledge and registration of the CNP.

Examples of education credits are:

Attending Vendor Education	1 in class hour = 1 credit
Attending Formal Education	1 in class hour = 1 credit
Teaching a recognized course*	1 in class hour = 3 credits
Attending Seminars & Conferences	2 hours = 1 credit
Teaching/Leading Seminars	1 hour = 3 credits
Presenting at Conferences	up to an hour = 60 credits, after that it is an additional 40 credits for each 30 min interval
NPA & other professional events	1 hour = 1 credit
Self Study/CBT/Video	2 hours = 1 credit
Certification Test passed	10 credits
Paper accepted for publication	25 credits
Publishing a book	Credits are on a case by case basis, up to 100 credits

All courses must be CNP approved and only completed courses will be accepted.
Fractional units will not count
No more than 50 credits of self-study accepted.
A maximum of 3 papers can be used for credit.
1 paper published outside the Network Professional Journal (NPJ) will be accepted for credit.
2 additional papers will be accepted for credit if they are accepted for publication by the NPJ.
* Teaching credits only count for those classes outside of your normal profession. Those persons that teach as a profession can only use those hours for professional experience and not for continuing education credit. Educators can take the credit if the course was outside of their normal work experience.

For additional information on how to obtain educational credits or on what values are for other activities, please refer to the CNP Guidelines.

If I do not re-certify, what happens?

Your CNP or ACNP membership will be changed to inactive. You must cease using the CNP or ACNP designation, and cannot indicate that you are an Accredited Member of the NPA. In order to re-qualify, you will need to reapply under the CNP certification guidelines in use at that time. The fee for the review process is $300.

Accountability

There will be a process to ensure that CNP holders are being held accountable for their ethics and professionalism. All complaints will be investigated by the Ethics and Professionalism Committee and all outcomes will be governed by the NPA Accountability Guidelines.

Why is NPA Membership Required?

The CNP is strongly linked to adherence to the NPA Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct. Professional certification by NPA is not government sanctioned licensing. Adherence to a Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct provides one measure of professional conduct and behavior to employers, educators and the public. A cornerstone of our Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct is the assurance CNP holders will not take on tasks they are not competent to perform.

The NPA is responsible for the international practices and standards (e.g. Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, Common Body of Knowledge) needed by the CNP program. By its jurisdiction over CNP holders, the NPA will also provide a mechanism to guarantee the portability of the designation internationally.

The CNP program was developed and funded by the Network Professional Association® (NPA). The NPA is a self-regulating, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the network computing profession.