AXELOS

Membership Handbook
Excel in your role. Advance your career.
MEMBERSHIP HANDBOOK

This handbook contains everything you need to know about your membership
including your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements and how
to achieve a digital badge. It is supported by FAQs that answer common questions
you might have about your membership and CPD Guidance that provides
information about the types of activities you can count towards
your CPD requirements.

1. Overview programme 3
Membership benefits
Maintaining the standard
2. How do I join the programme? 5
Entry requirements
Setting up an AXELOS account and
subscribing to membership
How to get an account
Subscribing to membership
If you do not hold an AXELOS certification
If you do hold an AXELOS certification
Finding your candidate number
Verifying your certification
3. C
 ontinuing Professional Development 6. How is the programme monitored? 16
(CPD)8
7. Membership support 17
CPD requirements
CPD categories/activities/points
CPD for multiple subscriptions
Incomplete CPD
4. Gaining your digital badge 12
How does the digital badge work?
Using your digital badge
5. Your Annual Membership 14
Membership for multiple subscriptions
What does the programme cost?
How to renew your membership
Lapsed membership

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1. MEMBERSHIP OVERVIEW

This online membership service will help you excel

in your role and advance your career. Choose from
ITIL, PRINCE2 or MSP memberships.

You will have access to an online portal of content, practical

guidance and toolkits that will support you through your exams
and in your day-to-day role. We are developing a one-stop-shop of
best practice content that will ensure that you have the tools you
need to be successful now and help you develop your skills and
capabilities for the future.
As part of your membership you can choose to undertake
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and earn a
digital badge linked to your qualification. This professional
recognition of your commitment to ongoing development will
help you demonstrate your relevance, skills and capabilities as
an IT Service Management (ITSM) or Project and Programme
Management (PPM) professional.
Finally you will also have access to an online community of
professionals who you can share best practices with and help to
develop the profession globally.

3. Membership Handbook
1.1 Membership benefits 1.2 Maintaining the standard
As part of your membership you have access to a range of resources Digital badges reflect a new way of demonstrating achievement
that will help you at different stages of your professional career. and certification in a digital world. They can be shared online and
are supported by metadata which makes them instantly verifiable.
Help me pass my exams Our digital badges are only available to members with AXELOS
Practice for your exams with past papers and answers certifications in ITIL, MSP or PRINCE2 and can only be earned
through undertaking and logging CPD activities. To maintain this
Watch revision videos with AXELOS examiners
standard we undertake regular audits of a sample of members CPD
Prepare for your exams with study tips and techniques logs to ensure they meet the requirements of the programme. Should
Help me advance my career your record be chosen for audit you will be asked to supply evidence to
support your CPD claims.
Take a skills assessment to benchmark your capabilities
Get organized with our CPD planning and recording tools
Tailored recommendations of CPD activities and content
Stand out with a digital badge linked to your qualification
Find your next role with career profiles for over 30 job roles
Help me excel in my role
Access the latest ITSM and PPM best practice publications
Download practical toolkits to apply best practices in your role
Exclusive access to white papers and case studies

4. Membership Handbook
2. HOW DO I JOIN THE PROGRAMME?

2.1 Entry requirements

Anyone can join the programme but you must hold an ITIL, MSP or PRINCE2 2.2 Setting up your AXELOS account and
certification to claim a digital badge. The recognized certification levels for a digital subscribing to membership
badge are shown in table 2.1 below: In order to become a member, you will first need to create
Product Qualification an account on AXELOS.com.

2.2.1 How to get an account

Foundation Bridge
Foundation Visit AXELOS.com and click the create profile option
Practitioner in the menu bar on the top, right hand side of the
Intermediate (any module) page. For members who already have an AXELOS.com
Managing Across the Lifecycle (MALC)
account, click the log on option.
Managers Bridge
Expert
Master
2.2.2 Subscribing to membership
In order to subscribe to membership visit the
membership homepage on the AXELOS.com website
Foundation
Practitioner
and click subscribe now. Choose from ITIL, PRINCE2
Agile Practitioner or MSP membership and add it to your basket.
Professional
2.2.3 If you do not hold an AXELOS certification

Foundation If you do not have a certification you are still able

Practitioner to join and access content and the tools for the
Advanced Practitioner membership you are interested in (ITIL, PRINCE2 or
MSP) but you will not be able to claim a digital badge.
Table 2.1 Recognized certification levels. Subscribe to membership by going to the membership
homepage and skip the qualification verification step.

5. Membership Handbook
2.2.4 If you hold an AXELOS
certification
If you hold a relevant certification you can
choose whether to add your certification to
your subscription on joining or at a later date.
If you wish to obtain a digital badge your
certification must be linked to your account.
In order to do this, you will need your
candidate number or candidate ID.
2.2.5 Finding your candidate number
Your candidate number is a unique ID given
to you by your Examination Institute (EI)
when you sat your exam. If you do not know
your candidate number, you will have to
contact your EI. Before doing this it would
be worthwhile checking that you are also
on the AXELOS Successful Candidates
Register as this is a requirement of the
verification process.
2.2.6 Verifying your certification
You will be required to verify your certification
when adding it to your account. To do this
AXELOS will check your candidate number
6. Membership Handbook
against the exam data we hold on the AXELOS membership@axelos.com for assistance.
Successful Candidates Register. If you are not
on this register (you may have opted out) you
will need to contact your EI, so your candidate
number and certification can be added.
You can download a PDF of the contact
details of all of the EIs. When you contact
your EI you will need to ask them to:
Provide you with your candidate number.
Ask them to upload your candidate number
and certification to the AXELOS Successful
Candidate Register.
Note: when you contact your EI you will
need to provide them with some personal
information such as full name, the
certification you would like added to the SCR
and the year in which you took the exam.
Remember you only need to verify your
certification if you are claiming a digital
badge, but we do recommend that you add
this information to your account as soon
as possible.
If you experience any issues during
the registration process, please contact
 Your candidate number and the Successful Candidates Register (SCR)
How do I register my certification on my profile?
Your candidate number and the certification you want a digital
badge for must be listed on AXELOS Successful Candidates Register
(SCR). Check that your certification is listed displaying your name,
candidate number, certification level and date correctly.
What if I do not know my candidate number?
You can either find your candidate number on your certificate or
from your Examination Institute. If you have your candidate number,
but it is not the same as that listed on the SCR, you will have to
contact your Examination Institute to amend it. If you took your
exam with an Examination Institute that has now retired then check
our FAQs for further guidance.
What if my certification is not listed on the SCR?
Your certification will not be listed if you have opted out of being
added to AXELOS SCR when you took your examination. It can
take up to 6 weeks for your details to appear on the SCR post
examination, so if you sat your exam recently this may be why your
certification is not appearing.
7. Membership Handbook
How do I get my certification added to the SCR?
If your certification does not appear on AXELOS SCR, you will
have to contact the Examination Institute with whom you sat your
examination and ask for your candidate number and certification
to be uploaded to AXELOS SCR. Please note that Examination
Institutes have their own in-house registers, therefore you have to
ask to be added to AXELOS SCR.
How do I register my certification?
Once you are listed on the AXELOS SCR, you will be able to add
your certification to your user profile. Your certification will be
verified against the SCR when you enter your candidate number on
your user profile in the Update Qualifications section. If you get
an error message, check that you are using the correct candidate
number for your certification if you have several certifications, you
may have different candidate numbers for each. You might also get
an error message if the name on your user profile does not exactly
match that on the SCR. If your name is incorrect on the SCR, please
contact your Examination Institute to rectify this issue or update your
AXELOS.com profile accordingly. If you have any further queries,
please contact us at membership@AXELOS.com.
3. C
 ONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

As part of your membership you can complete CPD activities to help you remain current in your field. To support
you in this you can access a CPD toolset to help you assess and plan your development activities so that you can
meet your CPD requirements and earn your digital badge. We suggest you follow a three stage cycle to help you
easily meet your CPD requirement.
Step 1: Assess capability and plan learning
BILITY AND PLAN
CAPA LE For many, learning takes place in an unplanned environment, particularly in the workplace.
SS AR
E However we recommend that you take the time to assess your skills and capabilities in order
S

to help you understand your development needs, identify the right development activities and
NI
AS

NG

measure your progress.

Professional
Experience Training
Step 2: Acquire Skills and Knowledge
ALUATE

CPD
ACQUIRE

Having understood your development goals you can then undertake activities to help you meet
them. This is the activity you will need to complete in order to achieve a digital badge. We have
D EV

Community Self Study identified four categories through which you can undertake your development activities. Your
SK

Participation
N

development is about you and so it is in your power to choose the activities that are relevant
A

ILL
LY

to your development goals. However we have weighted the different activities to help you get
S
P

A
P

ND
the right balance of practical experience and skills development. More information about the
A
KN
weighting of these categories can be found in the Guidance Document.
OW
LEDGE

Step 3: Apply and Evaluate

This final stage focuses on the outcome of your activity and how it has helped you meet your
development goals. When you log your activity you will be asked to evaluate the outcome either
by providing a description of your learning or by selecting the skills you have developed from
the AXELOS Skills Framework.

8. Membership Handbook
3.1 What are the requirements for a digital badge?
Within a 12 month period you must complete 20 points worth
of CPD activities for each product within your membership. Five
points of these activities must come from professional experience,
while the remaining 15 points can be obtained across training and
qualifications, community participation and self-study.
To gain the mandatory five points for professional experience you will
need to list five separate activities that you undertake within your role
that relate to the best practice knowledge gained in your certification
and that link to the skills and behaviours expected of your role.
For the remaining 15 points, one point equates to one hours worth
of effort. You can record a minimum of 30 minutes or 0.5 points and
a maximum of 15 hours or 15 points, depending on the activity type.
Please read the CPD Guidance document for further information.
*Requirements for ITIL V1 and V2 and expired PRINCE2 qualifications
For individuals who hold the above certifications, the professional
experience requirements related to your first CPD submission cannot
include coaching or mentoring. It must reflect practical application of
knowledge in a professional capacity i.e. undertaking a comprehensive
body of work within your profession that adopts and adapts best practice
into the work place. This is to ensure that your professional experience
reflects practical application, something that coaching and mentoring
does not always achieve. For more information on what your professional
experience can entail, see the CPD Guidance document, or refer to the
AXELOS Career Path job profiles.
9. Membership Handbook
If you join membership within 3 months of taking your exam, and your
certification has been added to your profile, you will be awarded your digital
badge immediately. If you join membership outside of the 3 month period
you will be awarded 15 points in recognition of the certification that is
linked to your AXELOS profile. This activity will be added to your CPD plan
and will need to be logged to count. In order to achieve your first digital
badge, you will also need to log the five additional activities for professional
experience and submit your log. This can be submitted manually allowing
you to achieve your first badge in as short a period as possible.*
Once you claim your first digital badge, you will then have the remainder
of your annual membership cycle to achieve an additional 20 points
in order to extend your digital badge for the following 12 months. Your
log will be automatically submitted at the end of your membership
cycle, so make sure you update your log before your renewal date.All
of your activities must have taken place within your annual product
membership cycle, including your professional experience. Activities
completed before this point cannot be added.
AXELOS does not mandate the types of activities that you undertake, as
long as they are relevant to your professional development and fit into
the four categories of professional experience, training and qualifications,
community participation or self-study. These categories should cover
most of the activities you want to record and some activities could be
relevant to more than one category. You need to select the most relevant
category for the activity and that you are able to evaluate how it has
helped your development. If you want to see examples of CPD activities
take a look at our CPD Guidance.
3.2 CPD Categories/Activities/Points
CPD Categories Activities

Professional practice: applying best

Professional Practice practice in the workplace
Coaching colleagues in relation to best practice
Mandatory 5 Mentoring individuals or groups to
Coaching and Mentoring
PROFESSIONAL support their development
EXPERIENCE Work shadowing senior colleagues.
20 CPD Points Annually

AXELOS qualifications
Qualifications Qualifications from
Accredited Training Organizations
Maximum 15 Professional qualifications from awarding bodies
Structured Training
In house training
TRAINING E learning/webinars/online gaming.

Organizing industry events

15 Active Contributing to community discussion forums
Authoring industry thought leadership
Maximum
COMMUNITY Attending industry events including
5 Passive
PARTICIPATION webinars, conferences etc.
Reading blogs, discussion forums etc.

Relevant books, manuals, publications

Reading Journal articles, white papers, case studies
Webcasts, podcasts, websites
Maximum 5 Community discussion forums
SELF Intranet
Research Blog posts/RSS feeds
STUDY Personal.

10. Membership Handbook

3.3 CPD for multiple subscriptions
If you add an additional subscription you will be able to share activity points between both
subscriptions as long as they are relevant to both. You will be able to share a maximum of 15
points and the activity must have taken place after you registered your additional subscriptions
to be valid. These 15 points that are shared can come from Training, Community or Self-Study.
For example if you attend a one day training course focused on improving your communication
skills you can share that activity as it will be relevant to both your subscriptions.
You cannot share points relating to professional experience. You will need to complete five
points of professional experience for each membership subscription.

3.4 Incomplete CPD

If you want your digital badge to renew for the following 12 months you must complete and
record your CPD activities within your membership cycle. If you do not log the additional 20
points required your badge will expire at the end of your membership cycle. Renewing your
membership does not mean that your digital badge will be extended, as it is directly linked to
your CPD activities and meeting your CPD requirements.

11. Membership Handbook

4. DIGITAL BADGES

By successfully recording and logging your CPD activities you will be rewarded with
a digital badge.

Digital badges reflect a new way of demonstrating achievement and certification in a digital age and can be
shared online with verified metadata that demonstrates your commitment to professional development. It
will allow you to differentiate yourself from your peers by highlighting your achievement in developing your
skills and knowledge.

We have partnered with Acclaim, a badging platform, to issue you these badges. Once you become eligible
to receive your digital badge you will need to set up an account with Acclaim.
Your badge will be issued to you in the first year, and if you maintain your membership and log your CPD
points, the expiry date will be updated for a further 12 months demonstrating that it is a continuous award.
Your badge will reflect the highest certification that you have linked to your AXELOS online profile
e.g. If you have verified that you hold a PRINCE2 Practitioner certification you will receive a PRINCE2
Practitioner badge.

12. Membership Handbook

4.1 How does the digital badge work?
Each badge is underpinned by metadata that provides the following information:
Defined outcomes required to earn the badge and the evidence provided to demonstrate your competence
Information about AXELOS
Verification of your identity and relevant, secure, trusted communications about your qualifications,
competencies and skills.

4.2 Using your digital badge

Your digital badge can be used across online platforms including your AXELOS public profile, social media,
email and web.

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5. YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP
Your membership will last for 12 months and will link to the membership
subscription for which you registered. You can at any point during your membership
subscribe to an additional product. This additional product membership will last 12
months from the date added to your account.

Membership Registration: Membership Renewal: Membership Renewal:

Original Subscription Original Subscription Original Subscription

JAN JAN JAN

Registration: Renewal:
Additional Subscription Additional Subscription

JUNE JUNE

Diagram 5.1 illustrating an original membership in January and renewed on an annual basis, with an
additional subscription being registered in June and the subsequent annual renewals.

14. Membership Handbook

5.2 What does the programme cost?
Annual Membership: 50 +VAT
The cost of subscribing to a second subscription is 30 (+VAT) per annum and a third subscription is 20
per annum (+VAT).

5.3 How to renew your membership

As you approach the end of your 12 month membership for each subscription, you will be sent a reminder
asking you to renew your subscription before expiry.

5.4 Lapsed membership

By not renewing your membership you will lose access to your online account, the skills development and
CPD tools and content that support your professional development. You will also lose your digital badge.
You can restore your account on payment of the membership fee and your subsequent renewal will be
based on this new payment date.

15. Membership Handbook

6. HOW DO WE MAINTAIN THE STANDARD?

To ensure that members are meeting their CPD

requirements, AXELOS will undertake a sample audit
throughout the year.

After completing your CPD requirements, you will be awarded the

digital badge as recognition that you have completed your CPD. This
is issued subject to your CPD log falling within the CPD requirements
and that, if selected for auditing, your record stands up to scrutiny.
To facilitate this, AXELOS will check a random subset of candidate
records. If members fail to respond to the audit request to submit
evidence, or if their evidence is deemed as not meeting our CPD
requirements of the Programme, AXELOS reserves the right to revoke
the digital badge.

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7. MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT

If you have any questions please check the FAQs

section on our website. If you do not find the answer to
your question then contact membership@AXELOS.com
and we will be happy to help.

Should you have a complaint regarding the conduct of a member,

please send full details of your complaint to
membership@AXELOS.com
We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within one working
day. You should expect a reply within 10 working days. If we cannot
respond fully to your complaint within 10 days, we will keep you
informed of the progress of our investigation.

17. Membership Handbook

Contacts
email membership@AXELOS.com AXELOS.com/membership

@AXELOS_GBP AXELOS AXELOS Global Best Practice

ITIL and PRINCE2 are registered trade marks of AXELOS Limited.

AXELOS, the AXELOS logo and the AXELOS swirl logo are trade marks of AXELOS Limited.