Operational excellence isn’t just about achieving your organization's goals faster—it’s about maximizing efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction through dedication to continuous improvement and innovation.
For credentialing programs, this means fostering a culture where leaders and certification teams align their mindsets and processes to drive long-term success. It’s not about working harder—you're already doing that. It’s about working smarter, being adaptable, and partnering with the best organizations and tools to move the needle on your efficiency.
Here are the three things operationally excellent certifiers do:
- Embrace centralization
- Automate everything
- Leverage Data-Driven Decision Making
1. Embrace Centralization
As credentialing organizations grow, the resulting web of tools and services needed to run your programs grows with it—not just in size, but complexity. For example, your credentialing management system (CMS) needs to talk seamlessly to your exam delivery and results partner, and pass data back and forth quickly and accurately.
As you may already know, that’s hard to do well.
One organization told us their previous credentialing system could take two weeks to generate any sort of reports needed by directors and leaders of the organization—and that the data in the report could never truly be trusted because of issues pulling data from different databases.
You cannot be operationally excellent when your team is left waiting for the things it needs, or so bogged down in paperwork and process that it can’t implement new ideas. Your team, from the top down, needs to embrace the streamlined simplicity of centralizing your operations.
The most efficient organizations bring all of the key elements of their credentialing process together through integrations for better visibility, accuracy, and security. It is typically done either through a credentialing management platform like ROC-P, or by building a custom platform with help from a developer.
(We’ve previously written about why a custom solution probably isn’t what your organization needs, so we’ll save that discussion here.)
This, of course, comes with a lot of change, and for some organizational members, a lot of anxiety. That’s understandable—there is a lot of valuable data and insight locked into your existing processes. The good news is, that with the right partners, you can extract those insights and data and use them to inform the design of your new platform.
Perhaps the most critical piece is getting your current staff to “buy in” and engage with the transition and training process. They need to understand why it’s so important to unify your operations, and work actively to find solutions as workflows change.
2. Automate Everything
You know that repetitive, manual tasks consume an inordinate amount of staff time, as well as increase the likelihood of errors. But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore, and you should strive to build a culture that embraces that.
The automation tools found within modern credentialing management platforms allow teams to offload these sorts of tasks, so they have time to focus on things that really matter. The top platforms also allow teams to set these automations up themselves, so you can adjust them to fit the people and processes you have in place now and evolve in the future.
You might be surprised at how much automation potential you can find in your program. You and your teams just have to look for it.
Push them to take on this important task and create incentives for getting it done. Look closely at your certification workflows, from application to payment to scoring. How does data flow between parts of your system? Are there spots where humans are getting involved unnecessarily? If the answer is yes, how can you leverage your platform’s automation features to smooth it out?
Consider brainstorms and whiteboard sessions to find novel ways of configuring your workflow—and don’t accept, “Because we’ve always done it that way” as an answer.
Another way to build cultural buy-in on this point is to regularly highlight your biggest wins when it comes to automation, such as during regular touch base or all-staff meetings.
One board we work with described having a staff member focused only on processing credential verifications. By automating that task, that staff member was redeployed to much higher value work within the organization; the organization was also able to expand the number of verifications it could handle each year, from about 100 requests a year to more than 3,000, with additional revenue attached to each one.
That’s real growth that makes a difference to your organization’s future—make sure others know about it, and why it’s so important to automate as much of your workflow as possible.
3. Leverage Data-Driven Decision Making
Operational excellence is all about spotting trends and resolving roadblocks before they impact your organization’s flow. The only way to do that is with accurate, up-to-date data.
The top credentialing organizations across industries incorporate analytics and reporting tools into their everyday processes to monitor key metrics, identify chokepoints, and assess program performance in real-time. For example, if asked today, could you answer:
- How many applicants have completed all of their requirements for your exam?
- How many applicants registered for this year’s spring exam, compared to last fall or last spring?
- The average number of tries before passing?
- Which school, employer, or partner has the most credential holders?
- If your day-of exam process is running ahead or behind schedule?
Knowing these metrics when they’re needed, as opposed to needing to wait days or weeks to have it compiled from multiple sources, allows your decision makers to move much faster and seize opportunities (or avoid pitfalls) as they present themselves.
Are there late adjustments to a deadline or exam structure that can be made if registrations aren’t coming in as expected? If you have an exam waitlist, can you easily fill an empty seat with the next person in line, or is it manual? Is there an issue with your application or continuing education pipelines that’s preventing candidates from completing requirements on time?
By using analytics to identify bottlenecks, you can allocate resources more effectively and improve experiences for your candidates right now, instead of the next cycle.
Gone are the days of “leading from the gut.” We know from studies on data-driven decision-making that organizations that prioritize data use outperform their peers. Building a culture where you’re relying on data—not hunches or intuition—can help you pinpoint areas for improvement and drive meaningful change.
Unlock Operational Excellence with ROC-P
As you can see, operational excellence isn’t an outcome—it’s a culture and an approach to credentialing that leads to better outcomes and stronger organizations.
By embracing centralization, automation, and data-driven decision-making, you can create a culture of efficiency, innovation, and growth. It’s not just about having the right tools—it’s about using them to their fullest potential to unlock new possibilities and improve every aspect of your credentialing operations.
At ROC-P, we see ourselves as your partner in this journey. Our platform is designed to help you achieve more by simplifying complexity, empowering your team, and paving the way for greater innovation. Whether you’re looking to streamline processes, guarantee data accuracy, or scale your operations, we’re here to help you make it happen.
Your path to operational excellence starts today. Let us help you explore the full potential of your credentialing workflows. Reach out for your personalized demo, or download our free guide to building a better certification application.