Why are the certification requirements for FinOps Platform and FinOps Service Providers being updated?

The practice of FinOps, and the landscape of FinOps tools & service providers, continues to evolve.  The certification requirements have been updated to align with the latest Framework update, the FOCUS Specification, the FinOps Landscape, FinOps Foundation learning materials and the FinOps related content and language being used by practitioners in the community.

What’s changed?

The FinOps Certified Platform certification has been simplified by consolidating the previous separate but overlapping certifications for “platform” and for “specialty solution”. Framework Capability requirements have been updated to recognize strengths and differences between software features and professional services offerings. Criteria has been updated to help you showcase and validate your FinOps capabilities. Additionally, criteria for the FOCUS specification has been introduced.

What are the certification types being introduced with this update?

The updated certification types are FinOps Certified Platform for software tools related to FinOps, and FinOps Certified Service Provider for professional services/consultant FinOps offerings.

Why were the Platform and the Specialty Solution certification types consolidated into a one certification?

The FinOps Certified Platform certification has been simplified by consolidating the previous separate but overlapping certification requirements for “platform” and for “specialty solution”. Also, feedback we received suggested there was confusion around terms like “Platform”,  “Solution”,  “Specialty”.

Do updated certification requirements make it harder for FinOps Platform and FinOps Service providers to become certified?

The level of effort to become a certified FinOps Platform or FinOps Service Provider remains relatively unchanged as the criteria still covers the same broad themes as past certification requirements.  However, the latest criteria does provide a clearer emphasis on community engagement and community contribution expectations, it introduces new FOCUS criteria along with updated FinOps Capability requirements that recognize strengths and differences between software features and professional services offerings.

Does a FinOps Certified Professional certification count towards any number of FinOps Certified Practitioner individual certifications an organization needs?

No. The different types of individual certifications are mutually exclusive. For example, one FinOps Certified Professional certification does not substitute for any FinOps Certified Practitioner certifications.

What does “Company Size”  mean for the number of individual FinOps certifications that are required?

The “Company Size” column refers to the parent organization size that was used for defining your fee structure when you joined the Linux Foundation and counts are not based on the individual business unit. For example, a 100 person product team that is part of a 1,500 person organization would fall into the “500-4,999” individual certification requirement tier, and not the “100-499” individual certification requirement tier.

Does a FinOps Certified FOCUS Analyst certification count as credit towards the required number of FinOps Certified Practitioner  certifications an organization needs?

No. The knowledge validated by the Certified FOCUS Analyst certification is supplementary and separate from the FinOps Certified Practitioner certification.  The FinOps Certified Practitioner aims to validate the knowledge related to the FinOps Framework and the practice of FinOps, while the FOCUS Analyst certification is specific to validating concepts, measures and datasets related to the FOCUS specification.

Does a FinOps Certified Engineer certification count towards the required number of FinOps Certified Practitioner  certifications an organization needs?

Yes. The FinOps Certified Engineer certification will be counted as 1:1 toward the required number of FinOps Certified Practitioner individual certifications based on company size. In other words 1 FinOps Certified Engineer certification is equivalent to 1 FinOps Certified Practitioner certification.

Why are more FinOps Certified FOCUS Analyst individual certifications required as a services provider versus a software provider?

The updated certification requirements aim to recognize the strengths and differences between building software features when compared to providing professional services offerings.  Validating the knowledge that consulting requires for understanding and supporting FOCUS initiatives is different than how software that supports producing, importing and/or exporting FOCUS conformant datasets is validated. 

Is my current FinOps software/services certification still valid?

Yes.  Current FinOps software and service provider certifications remain valid. We will contact members that are due to renew their certification(s).

Do we have to re-certify and go through the FinOps Platform/Service Provider certification review process?

Not right away.  Current FinOps tool and service provider certifications remain valid. We will contact members that are due to renew their certification(s).

What is a FinOps Platform?

FinOps Foundation members that build, license and deliver a commercial software product that helps FinOps practitioners successfully adopt FinOps capabilities aligned with the FinOps Framework and best practices. This extends to open-source tools for which FinOps Foundation members are founders/maintainers of an open-source project.

What is a FinOps Service Provider?

FinOps Foundation members that provide consulting/advisory FinOps services that help FinOps practitioners successfully adopt FinOps capabilities aligned with the FinOps Framework and best practices. They have a dedicated FinOps or cloud financial management offering listed publicly.  Professional services may include implementation of software and/or the deployment of technology solutions as part of their professional services offering.

Can open source FinOps tools be considered for the FinOps Certified Platform certification?

Yes. FinOps Foundation organization members that are founding maintainers of an open source software project that helps FinOps practitioners successfully adopt FinOps capabilities aligned with the FinOps Framework and best practices will be considered for the FinOps Certified Platform certification.

Do these certifications imply recommendations or endorsement of products and service offerings?

No. This is not a ranking or rating system. While we understand there is demand to rank FinOps tools and service providers, the FinOps Foundation aims to be a neutral space for the entire FinOps community. The FinOps Platform and FinOps Service Provider certifications are intended to inform the community about members that are engaged in FinOps best practices, aligned with the FinOps Framework, and actively contributing to the community.

Can our certification be transferred to or shared with my partners if they white-label my FinOps software or service offerings?

The certification is not shareable or inheritable by partners. The certification does not extend to partners that white-label your FinOps Platform or Service offerings.

What do the FinOps Framework criteria values mean?

Each Framework Capability is assigned a FinOps tool criteria value that is weighted in the context for how software functionality enables that FinOps Capability for FinOps Core Personas. The criteria value is not a reflection of the FinOps Framework Capability’s value in the practice of FinOps. The sum total of all the criteria values do not represent a score or ranking value of a FinOps tool itself.

What does FOCUS Adopter mean?

There is publicly referenceable information indicating your FinOps Platform supports FOCUS by having adopted a version of the FOCUS specification to enable functionality for producing and/or importing and/or exporting FOCUS datasets.

How Do I Get Started on My Certification?

Contact us at member-cert@finops.org to get started on your certification process.

Have a question about the FinOps Platform and FinOps Service Provider certifications not answered by this FAQ?

Contact us at member-cert@finops.org