ISO is the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 9001 Certification is the most comprehensive of the conformance standards. It examines all processes of a product development life cycle including: design, development, production, installation and servicing. Brainbench completed the audits in just seven months--beating the industry average by more than a year. ISO is made up of some 140 national standards institutes from countries large and small, industrialized and developing, in all regions of the world. ISO develops voluntary technical standards that contribute to making industrial production and supply more efficient, safer and cleaner, and to making trade between countries easier and fairer. ISO standards also serve to safeguard consumers and users in general of products and services--as well as to making their lives simpler. Brainbench, now with over two million registered users, pioneered online skills certifications. Brainbench provides professional online certification tests and employment assessments in information technology, finance, sales, administration, health and other categories. Corporate customers include EDS, Ernst & Young, IBM, Dell, PeopleSoft, Freelance.com, kforce.com, Manpower Professional, and TechieGold.com. Major investors include Manpower, Thomson Learning, Terra Lycos and Primus Venture Partners. According to research conducted on companies ISO certified, there are no direct competitors of Brainbench who are ISO 9001 certified. The only company providing design and delivery of training and certification programs found to be ISO 9001 certified is Novell Education Division. However, Brainbench is the first company to provide online certifications and customized tests. What does ISO certification mean to you the customer? Brainbench takes test quality seriously. The process by which Brainbench became certified demonstrates the commitment to product quality tests for our customers worldwide. As the leading skills standard for knowledge workers, we ensure that test quality maintains the following characteristics: Credibility Reliable Measurement Confidence and Value Those key concepts underlying Brainbench test quality strategy summarize the strategic reasons for pursuing the ISO 9001 certification. Credibility Our customers can be assured that Brainbench test development managers follow a repeatable and consistent test development process. Certifying that test development process demonstrated that the process is mature and solid to stand against the ISO 9001 elements. Because the ISO certification is an ongoing activity, Brainbench executive management and staff alike have a continuing commitment to quality. So while the process in place is strong today, it will be even stronger over time, as success depends on product excellence. ISO 9001 gives Brainbench a mechanism to achieving that excellence. Reliable Measurement Reliable measurement is gathered as a requirement from ISO 9001. Reliable measurement includes establishing goals and gathering metrics on goals on a quarterly basis. The executive team reviews the goals, which include reliability, validity and credibility, during management review meetings. The executive team evaluates the goals and associated metrics and determines if the metrics are being met. Should the executive team determine that metrics have not been met, they identify a corrective action to address the issue immediately. Through follow up reviews, the executive management team ensures the corrective actions are being implemented. Having the executive management accountable for participating in management reviews and taking responsibility for achieving the goals and associated metrics ensures reliability and validity are being achieved, thus ensuring reliable measurement to all customers. Confidence and Value Confidence and value are interrelated. For customers to realize value to their business, they must have confidence in a product they utilize and see positive results from using such products. Brainbench customer confidence builds as Brainbench provides evidence that tests developed are reliable, valid and high quality. There are 13 phases of test development. Throughout each phase deliverables (or evidence) are gathered to prove that a particular step has been performed according to the specified test development process. All evidence is compiled and stored as reference material should a company or individual ask how the test was developed. Why Brainbench Pursued ISO 9001 Certification? ISO 9001 provides a framework for taking a systematic approach to managing your business processes so that a company consistently turns out products conforming to the customer's expectations. Element K fully endorses Brainbench Certified Internet Professional series of certifications and is the only Brainbench Authorized provider of curriculum to support this program. Element K provides the most comprehensive line of IT professional training courseware in the industry, with significant breadth and depth of content in core Internet technologies as well as application-specific topics. It serves Training Centers on both national and regional levels, as well as corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions. Element K courseware, including titles that specifically support BCIP are available in book form as well as on-line at elementk.com and various partner web . Brainbench is good enough for Microsoft, IBM, Dell and many other Fortune 500 companies to test an applicant's credibility. Is it good enough for your business? Or... is a wannabe programmer ripping you off without even knowing that there is more to a website than making a page in a word processor? Think about it! Check the credentials of any web developer. The wild, wild west of the web is over!