DAC Rulebook

How do I become DAC certified?

To earn Data Analysis Certified (DAC) designation you must complete 4 courses in accordance with the requirements of one of the DAC tracks, including 2 required courses and your choice of 2 elective courses in the track.

How do I successfully complete a course?

To successfully complete a course you must achieve a 70% or better score on the corresponding online exam. You even do not have to view the course itself if you are confident in your knowledge. However, most students will find it advisable to take the courses to prepare for the exams. Click here to learn more about exams.

Can I take an exam multiple times?

You can take each exam up to six times. However, each exam license that you purchase entitles you to three attempts. If you fail on all 3 attempts, you can purchase an additional exam license, and thus make up to three more attempts, by contacting support@elearningcurve.com. We believe that attempting an exam more than 6 times is not productive.

How do I achieve the DAC Ex level?

DAC Ex goes beyond DAC to indicate that you are a true standard bearer in in data analysis. To earn the DAC Ex designation you must demonstrate:

• Expertise You must complete 7 courses in a selected DAC track including 2 core courses for the track and your choice of 4 elective courses from the track, and any 7th course from the entire DAC curriculum
• Experience Have at least five years of work experience in job roles where data analysis is an essential skill. This could be any job in business or IT that involves acquiring, preparing, analyzing, and visualizing data to inform business decisions or enhance business processes. Each day in a role that is specifically data analysis (business analyst, data analyst, data scientist, actuary, etc.) counts as two days of experience. You may count a job towards DAC Ex experience requirements as long as at least 50% of your duties are eligible. If you are not sure that your experience qualifies, please, contact support@elearningcurve.com.
• Excellence Achieve the average score on the exams of 75% or better. If you have taken an exam more than once, only your best score will count. However, an incremental 3% "penalty" will apply to the score for each attempt beyond the second. Thus, if your actual score is 56% on the first attempt, 65% on the second attempt, and 76% on the third attempt, 73% (76%-3%) will be used for the purpose of calculating the average. Note, that there is no "penalty" for failing on the first attempt.

How do I get enrolled in the program?

The most convenient and cost-efficient method to enroll in the DAC program is with one of our DAC Packages. Each package includes all courses and exams necessary to earn DAC or DAC Ex in one of the tracks. Alternatively, you can enroll in courses one at a time. Click here if you want to enroll in the exams without taking the courses.

You must complete the required exams within 24-months from the time you pass the first one. Please note, in the event the required exams take longer than 24-months to complete, but your qualifications satisfy re-certification rules, you are still eligible for certification (based on eLC's verification of certain requirements.) For example, you can bypass the requirement to complete the required exams within 24 months if you can demonstrate at least 18 months of verifiable work experience related to the area of certification within the past 3 years. You can find complete re-certification rules at the end of this page.

What do I get upon completion?

• A digital certificate that formally declares your achievement and the credential that you have earned. Digital certificates allow you to easily display and share your achievement online.
• Letter of credential that describes DAC and your accomplishment in earning the credential.
• Use of DAC designation and logo on business cards, correspondence, web sites, and social networking profiles.
• Use of DAC designation as a preface to your job role or job title (for example Data Analysis Certified Financial Analyst) on business cards, correspondence, websites, and social networking profiles.
• Entry in the DAC online registry that can be accessed by employers and others to verify your credentials.

Is recertification required?

Re-certification is essential to maintain a credible and meaningful certification. This is especially true for a continuously evolving role such as data analysis. Each DAC certificate expires three years from the date on which it is issued. Re-certification requires only that you demonstrate a meaningful level of continued activity - work, study, and learning - in the field. You can satisfy this requirement in a variety of ways including:

• 18 months of verifiable work experience related to data analysis. You may count a job as long as at least 50% of your duties are eligible. In business management and knowledge worker roles, the requirement is not 50% of duties analyzing data, but 50% of duties where data analysis is an integral part of getting the job done.
• 30 months of verifiable work experience in job roles where data analysis is an essential skill. This could be any job in business or IT that involves acquiring, preparing, analyzing, and visualizing data to inform business decisions or enhance business processes.
• 90 hours of continuing professional education in the form of classroom training, conferences, and events related to the framing analysis problems, acquiring and preparing data, or analyzing and visualizing data to support business activities.
• 60 hours of continuing education in the form of additional eLearningCurve courses related to data analysis, where hours are determined by the duration of the recorded portion of the course.
• 90 hours of speaking, teaching, or professional presentation on topics related to data analysis, including conference presentations and local chapter presentations to DAMA, CIPS, and other professional organizations.
• 6 non-commercial articles, columns, or papers in recognized publications on the topics related to data analysis.
• Publication of one text or guidebook on topics related to data analysis by a recognized commercial (non-vanity) publisher.

Any combination of the above that collectively meets 100% of the requirement is accepted. For example, you can satisfy the DAC re-certification requirements with 12 months of work experience related to data analysis (67%) combined with 30 hours of continuing professional education (33%).