Certification
Professional Certification
DICRI maintains a progressive professional competency framework. Certification establishes demonstrated competency within a defined scope of governed work.
Professional Certification concerns the competency of the people who perform governed work; Infrastructure Certification concerns the condition of infrastructure. Within the DICRI Assurance Framework, the competence of the professional performing an activity is part of the basis on which the resulting evidence can be relied upon, and certification provides a common, governed basis for establishing that competence and its boundaries.
Professional Competency as an Assurance Condition
The assurance value of an engineering measurement depends in part on the competence of the professional who performs it. An instrument can operate exactly as designed while an inappropriate method, inadequate preparation or incorrect technique produces an observation that misrepresents the condition being evaluated.
Professional Competency is one of the seven Assurance Domains of The DICRI Assurance Framework. It establishes whether the individual performing a governed activity possesses the capability and authorization the activity requires.
Competency is specific to the work being performed. It combines technical knowledge, practical skill, procedural understanding and professional judgment, including recognizing when conditions exceed the professional's authorized scope. The ability to operate an instrument does not by itself establish competency to select the appropriate method, evaluate field conditions or recognize an unreliable result.
The assurance record therefore preserves the relationship between the governed evidence and the competency under which the activity was performed. DICRI Professional Certification puts this domain into practice: it establishes demonstrated competency within a defined scope, so that the assurance record can show that the professional responsible for an activity possessed the competency it required.
Certification, Eligibility and Authorization
A DICRI certification establishes demonstrated competency and its boundary. It does not by itself make a professional eligible for every governed activity. Three distinct conditions are involved.
- Certification
Establishes demonstrated competency within a defined scope: the competencies, engineering methods, assurance responsibilities and activities for which capability has been shown.
Demonstrated competency in one area establishes no presumption of competency outside its defined scope.
- Eligibility
Depends on alignment between the competency a governed activity requires and the demonstrated competency of the professional performing it.
Where an activity requires competency outside a professional's demonstrated scope, the professional is ineligible for it until that requirement is satisfied. Eligibility also remains subject to the other applicable DICRI assurance and governance requirements.
- Authorization
Organizations retain responsibility for assigning engineering work, establishing professional responsibilities and determining the authorities that apply within their operations.
Activity authorization remains subject to the applicable DICRI governance requirements.
Professional competency is one of the conditions under which governed work proceeds, alongside the authorized activity, the applicable Engineering Basis and the eligibility of the equipment used. A DICRI certification establishes competency for governed work within the DICRI Assurance Framework; it does not confer engineering licensure or legal authority.
The Credential Framework
DICRI's professional competency framework comprises three credentials. Competency develops progressively: each credential builds on the competencies established through the preceding professional foundation, extending into additional methods, evidence classes, assurance responsibilities and areas of professional judgment.
DICRI Foundation Practitioner
Establishes competency in the foundational disciplines supporting governed engineering practice: safe work practices, engineering fundamentals, evidence collection, equipment operation and the procedures required to produce trustworthy infrastructure records.
DICRI Certified Evidence Practitioner
Extends that foundation into the production and stewardship of governed engineering evidence within its defined scope, including more advanced field operations that require greater technical judgment, troubleshooting and independent decision-making.
DICRI Certified Assurance Professional
Establishes advanced competency applicable to assurance evaluation, professional judgment, governance and other responsibilities defined within its certification scope, including technical leadership and the mentoring of other practitioners.
Each credential establishes competency within its scope. Eligibility and authorization for a particular governed activity remain distinct conditions, as set out above.