ACDA Advanced

Earn the Analytics Certified Data Analyst credential

The Analytics Certified Data Analyst (ACDA) is an industry-recognized certification which showcases your skills and abilities. We encourage all Diligent clients to become certified.

To help you prepare, check out the preparation section which includes study topics, review questions, and additional resources to help you prepare. Please review the Diligent Corporation Certification FAQ for additional details.

Benefits of Diligent Certification

Certificate of achievement
Obtain industry recognition as an Analytics Certified Data Analyst
Earn CPE credits by completing recommended prerequisite courses

Understand the exam

ACDA Advanced certification is comprised of three levels intended to assess your ability to automate data analysis through scripting. You should be comfortable writing scripts to solve business challenges as well as troubleshooting broken scripts written by others.

Level 5

Approximately 30 multiple choice questions
Duration is 2 hours
Passing score is 70%

Level 6

Troubleshoot and fix three broken scripts
Deadline is 5 days after enrolling
Passing score is 70%

Level 7

Write scripts to solve a business objective
Deadline is 5 days after enrolling
Passing score is 80%

Ensure your success

2+ years scripting experience within business context
Complete the Scripting in Analytics (ACL 303) (ACL 303) course on Diligent Academy
Review the preparation section

Pay

Level 5 is included with your Diligent software subscription.
Level 6 costs $300 USD whether you're taking it for the first time or reattempting it because you didn't pass.
Level 7 costs $300 USD whether you're taking it for the first time or reattempting it because you didn't pass. Re-certification is required every two years and costs $100 USD.

Enroll

Maintain your designation

ACDA Advanced credentials are valid for two years from issue date, after which time you'll need to re-certify through experience by demonstrating comparable ability applying Analytics to solve objectives within your organization. Re-certification costs $100 USD.

Questions?

See the Diligent Corporation Certification FAQ.

Topics

Applying scripting best practices
Troubleshooting broken scripts written by others
Improving efficiency of scripts and simplifying logic
Writing advanced, efficient scripts to address analysis objectives with continuous monitoring in mind

Review questions

Level 5 is set up as a preparatory level and is included with your Diligent software subscription.

Tips for success

Review the topics listed
Complete theScripting in Analytics (ACL 303) (ACL 303) course on Diligent Academy
Ensure you have completed these activities in a real-word scenario

Additional resources

Coming soon!

Understand the exam (Levels 5 - 7)

Level	Passing score	Questions	Duration	Ensure your success
5	70%	30 multiple choice questions	120 minutes (limit)	Skills from ACDA Intermediate 2+ years experience scripting in Analytics Completed Scripting in Analytics (ACL 303) (ACL 303) Writes efficient and well-planned scripts to solve moderate to advanced analysis objectives Identifies script errors that may prevent a script from achieving intended objectives Plans and performs end-to-end analysis using Analytics Implements ScriptHub products successfully Writes advanced, efficient scripts to address analysis objectives, with continuous monitoring in mind Recognizes and is able to break down the script structure and logic in scripts written by others and/or provided in ScriptHub Exhibits scripting best practices
6	70%	Troubleshoot and fix three scripts	3 hours (estimated)
7	80%	Build and script an analysis	120 minutes (estimated)

Understand the recertification exam

The ACDA Advanced recertification exam is comprised of a number of free-text questions, through which you'll provide a high-level description of a real project utilizing Analytics.

You'll re-certify by demonstrating comparable ability applying Analytics to solve objectives within your organization:

Writing advanced, efficient scripts to address analysis objectives with continuous monitoring in mind
Applying scripting best practices
Improving efficiency of scripts and simplifying logic

Exam structure

6 open-ended questions based on one of your recent Analytics projects
Minimum passing score is 70%
Duration of recertification exam is 2 hours

Tips for success

Prepare a real project involving advanced usage of Analytics
Describe how your project achieves analysis objectives and ensures correctness
Review scripting best practices

Note

You do not need to upload any of your personal project files. We are only asking you for descriptions of your project and scripts.

Pay

Recertification is required every two years and costs $100 USD. If you don't pass the recertification exam, you will need to pay the recertification exam fee again.

Enroll

Register for the Level 7 (ACDA Advanced) Recertification exam on Diligent Academy. An existing ACDA Advanced credential and a valid Diligent software subscription are required.