AXELOS is a joint venture set up in 2014 by the Government of the United Kingdom and Capita, to develop, manage and operate qualifications in best practice, in methodologies formerly owned by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). [1] PeopleCert, an examination institute that was responsible for delivering AXELOS exams, acquired AXELOS in 2021. [2]
AXELOS manages:
There are third-party training providers, but Axelos manages certification. In April 2014, AXELOS announced that it was also launching a cyber-resilience qualification; [3] this would complement guidance available from CESG.
PeopleCert have been chosen by AXELOS as the sole EI (Examination Institute) for the delivery of Accreditation and Examination services worldwide, starting 1 January 2018. [4]
The portfolio was originally developed for UK government, and is valuable; the government periodically requests tenders for private-sector partners to manage it. Historically, this had been APMG. However, in April 2013 Capita won the contract, under a new arrangement which required them to invest in a joint venture. Capita hold a 51% majority stake, the Cabinet Office the remaining 49%. [5] This joint venture, AXELOS, was formed in July 2013, and it took over from APMG on 1 January 2014. [6] [7]
Project management is the process of supervising the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. The primary constraints are scope, time and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet predefined objectives.
PRINCE2 is a structured project management method and practitioner certification programme. PRINCE2 emphasises dividing projects into manageable and controllable stages.
This article covers the historical timeline of project management. There is a general understanding that the history of modern project management started around 1950. Until 1900, projects were generally managed by creative architects and engineers themselves, among those, for example, Christopher Wren, Thomas Telford and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Dynamic systems development method (DSDM) is an agile project delivery framework, initially used as a software development method. First released in 1994, DSDM originally sought to provide some discipline to the rapid application development (RAD) method. In later versions the DSDM Agile Project Framework was revised and became a generic approach to project management and solution delivery rather than being focused specifically on software development and code creation and could be used for non-IT projects. The DSDM Agile Project Framework covers a wide range of activities across the whole project lifecycle and includes strong foundations and governance, which set it apart from some other Agile methods. The DSDM Agile Project Framework is an iterative and incremental approach that embraces principles of Agile development, including continuous user/customer involvement.
Information technology management is the discipline whereby all of the information technology resources of a firm are managed in accordance with its needs and priorities. Managing the responsibility within a company entails many of the basic management functions, like budgeting, staffing, change management, and organizing and controlling, along with other aspects that are unique to technology, like software design, network planning, tech support etc.
Information technology service management (ITSM) are the activities performed by an organization to design, build, deliver, operate and control IT services offered to customers.
The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) was a UK Government Office established as part of HM Treasury in 2000. It was moved into the Efficiency and Reform Group of the Cabinet Office in 2010, before being closed in 2011.
The IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) is an independent, international, not-for-profit organization of IT service management (ITSM) professionals worldwide. Around the operation of IT services the itSMF collects, develops and publishes best practices, supports education and training, discusses the development of ITSM tools, initiates advisory ideas about ITSM and holds conventions. The itSMF is concerned with promoting best practices in IT service management and has a strong interest in the international ISO/IEC 20000 standard. The itSMF publishes books covering various aspects of service management through a process of endorsing them as part of the itSMF Library.
A project management office is a group or department within a business, government agency, or enterprise that defines and maintains standards for project management within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.
IT portfolio management is the application of systematic management to the investments, projects and activities of enterprise Information Technology (IT) departments. Examples of IT portfolios would be planned initiatives, projects, and ongoing IT services. The promise of IT portfolio management is the quantification of previously informal IT efforts, enabling measurement and objective evaluation of investment scenarios.
Software Quality Management (SQM) is a management process that aims to develop and manage the quality of software in such a way so as to best ensure that the product meets the quality standards expected by the customer while also meeting any necessary regulatory and developer requirements, if any. Software quality managers require software to be tested before it is released to the market, and they do this using a cyclical process-based quality assessment in order to reveal and fix bugs before release. Their job is not only to ensure their software is in good shape for the consumer but also to encourage a culture of quality throughout the enterprise.
Release management is the process of managing, planning, scheduling and controlling a software build through different stages and environments; it includes testing and deploying software releases.
Project assurance or programme assurance is a discipline that seeks to provide an independent and objective oversight of the likely future performance of major projects for those responsible for sanctioning, financing or insuring such undertakings. The discipline has emerged as a response to consistent problems in major projects and the need to provide confidence for project or programme stakeholders of technologically advanced, high capital or high risk projects.
Alternative pathways in education are alternative means of obtaining educational qualifications, other than the traditional means of gaining access to or completing the required study to obtain the educational qualifications.
The Cyber Resilience Review (CRR) is an assessment method developed by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It is a voluntary examination of operational resilience and cyber security practices offered at no cost by DHS to the operators of critical infrastructure and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. The CRR has a service-oriented approach, meaning that one of the foundational principles of the CRR is that an organization deploys its assets to support specific operational missions. The CRR is offered in a facilitated workshop format and as a self-assessment package. The workshop version of the CRR is led by a DHS facilitator at a critical infrastructure facility. The workshop typically takes 6–8 hours to complete and draws on a cross section of personnel from the critical infrastructure organization. All information collected in a facilitated CRR is protected from disclosure by the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002. This information cannot be disclosed through a Freedom of Information Act request, used in civil litigation, or be used for regulatory purposes. The CRR Self-Assessment Package allows an organization to conduct an assessment without the need for direct DHS assistance. It is available for download from the DHS Critical Infrastructure Cyber Community Voluntary Program website. The package includes an automated data answer capture and report generation tool, a facilitation guide, comprehensive explanation of each question, and a crosswalk of CRR practices to the criteria of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework. The questions asked in the CRR and the resulting report are the same in both versions of the assessment. DHS partnered with the CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University to design and deploy the CRR. The goals and practices found in the assessment are derived from the CERT Resilience Management Model (CERT-RMM) Version 1.0. The CRR was introduced in 2009 and received a significant revision in 2014.
ITIL is framework with set of practices for IT activities such as IT service management (ITSM) and IT asset management (ITAM) that focus on aligning IT services with the needs of the business.
QA Ltd is a provider of technical and business skills in the UK and in North America. They offer technical, management and other associated professional skills. The company is currently involved in providing education and training across self-paced learning, instructor-led learning, apprenticeships, consulting, with higher education as a separate division. It is an accredited training provider for Microsoft, PeopleCert, AWS, ITIL and an approved trainer for the ISO/IEC 20000 Standard. It provides certified qualifications for the Association for Project Management and the Project Management Institute as well as Prince2 qualifications.
EXIN is a Dutch company which certifies IT professionals worldwide. In addition, EXIN accredits organizations in the field of ICT training and the development of ICT training materials. EXIN is active in more than 165 countries and provides examination in many languages. Since EXIN Was founded in 1984, it has assessed and certified more than two million professionals. EXIN’s headquarters are situated in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
PM² is a project management methodology developed and endorsed by the European Commission (EC). It is the official project management methodology of the EC, incorporating elements from a range of widely accepted best practices in project management and building heavily on PMBOK, PRINCE2, IPMA-ICB, CMMI, TEMPO, and operational experience from EU institutions.
The Department of Home Affairs is a department of the Government of Australia that is charged with responsibilities for national security, protective services, emergency management, border control, immigration, refugees, citizenship, transport security and multicultural affairs. The Home Affairs portfolio reports to the Minister for Home Affairs, currently held by Tony Burke, and is led by the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Stephanie Foster.