Which solution is the right fit for your program?

CM Connect, Alpine’s candidate, credential, and exam data management solution, offers three new options focused on assessment programs that need a robust data management solution, including reporting and data forensics. By design, these new options do not include candidate access and the powerful logic engines that support credentialing, badging, eligibility, and continuing education.

 “As we evaluated the certification community’s data management needs, we recognized the value in expanding our CM Connect solution set for test sponsors who don’t need a full candidate and credential management solution but, instead, need an intelligent repository for their exam data. We met this challenge and are excited to announce the launch of our CM Connect Exam and Data Management Solutions,” explained Gina Raney, Product Owner, CM Connect.

The exam and data management solutions provide three options: 

  • CM Connect™ Data and Reporting
  • CM Connect™ Psychometrics
  • CM Connect™ Security

All three options are tailored for programs that need a well-thought-out, secure, and reliable data repository without the full-blown functionality – and related prices – of a full candidate and credential management solution. Alpine continues to offer the proven and respected CM Connect™ Essentials, CM Connect™ Standard, and CM Connect™ Premium for programs needing a feature-rich, full candidate and credential management solution.

According to Raney, “By employing any one of the exam and data management options, test sponsors benefit by allowing CM Connect to automate collecting, storing, and exporting exam data. By offloading the arduous data wrangling tasks, programs have more time to use the data in support and growth of their programs. The Psychometrics option benefits programs that do not have an in-house psychometric team or wish to expand the reporting options for an in-house team. The Security option is ideal for programs wishing to also adopt a more proactive security posture.”

All three exam and data management options provide automated, daily imports of test results data from test delivery providers. The data is cleaned, stored, and backed-up in a secure, independent location. Because the test sponsor will have direct access to the data, it will no longer be necessary to request data sets from delivery providers to support regular or ad-hoc reports and analyses. Data to support even longitudinal studies will be at the sponsor’s finger tips.

Data security is of utmost importance. Alpine is ISO27001 certified and is compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). In addition, each client is provided with a separate database and code instance with enterprise grade encryption.

Test Sponsors have the flexibility to influence the layout of their system by implementing colors and logo from their organizational branding. Alpine’s framework meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and also provides one-click localization for English and other languages.

CM Connect Data and Reporting

The system acts as a reporting warehouse which allows test sponsors to access and export data through a series of available reports, including volume and candidate demographic reports. The system’s basic reporting technologies and standard backend functionality allow for ‘runs-while-you-sleep’ maintenance. Programs can run reports on demand or schedule reports in advance to run automatically on a subscription basis. The system also allows programs to send some automated emails (e.g., welcome emails and exam notification emails) to candidates.

Programs can also upgrade their reporting licenses to leverage the QlikSense Visualization Tool option to create and publish customized reports and visualizations.

CM Connect Psychometrics

This option adds psychometric reporting capabilities to the system. The reports, which include exam-, form-, item-, and option-level analyses, are based on classical test theory and provide the related statistics required in accreditation applications such as ANAB or NCCA. Like the data and reporting reports, they can be run on-demand or scheduled. This enables programs to establish performance baselines, monitor exam health over time, and make informed decisions regarding the investment needed to maintain the integrity of exams.    

Raney explained, “Psychometric reports are like the dashboard in your car that helps monitor if the car needs maintenance. If a warning light comes on, you take the car to a mechanic. But you generally don’t take your car to a mechanic unless there is something wrong with it or it’s time for a check-up. It’s the same for exams. In between exam health checks, you can monitor the health of your exams based on report data. Only if you see issues would you take it to a psychometrician for a deeper dive.”

CM Connect Security

This option adds daily, automated security analyses to the system. As exam results data is imported into the system, anomalous results and/or policy violations are detected through automated data forensics including, but not limited to:

  • retake rule verification
  • response similarity index comparisons
  • item group comparisons
  • time and score analyses

Because the analyses are run daily upon import, programs no longer need to wait weeks—or even months—to identify and take action on violations or anomalous results. Test sponsors can configure and set up security reports on a subscription basis so reports are automatically delivered, and violations can be addressed – even daily. The advantage of this is self-evident for on-demand testing programs. It is also valuable for windowed programs because issues can be identified during the window rather than waiting until after the window closes.

Summary

“All versions of CM Connect are built on the same architecture, so programs have the flexibility to turn on or turn off features as needed. They also have the flexibility of an upgrade path from exam and data management options to the full-featured credential and candidate management options. This makes it easy for sponsors to keep up with the growth and changing needs of their programs,” stated Raney.

A program may start with a version of CM Connect and then choose to move to another. For any type of program, any size and any level of maturity, Alpine can help where it makes sense; we offer flexibility in how to monitor, modify, and grow programs via various CM Connect solutions.

Alpine is committed to partnering with our clients to provide a platform they can rely on well into the future. As always, Alpine’s goal is to help programs manage their exam, candidate, and credentialing data in the most efficient way possible so they can focus on building their programs and facilitating life-long candidate journeys.