1/31/2007 -- Certiport announced last week that it has been working with Microsoft to create a line of Microsoft business certifications that will revolve around testing task-based skills in Office 2007 and Vista.

David Saedi, president and CEO of Certiport -- known for its years of developing and administering hands-on, live-application exams for the Microsoft Office Specialist program -- said that this next generation of exams is taking the entire concept of testing Office skills to another level.

"The information worker series [will give] business fresh look at why certifications that aren't necessarily branding IT are very, very important," he commented in an interview last week.

For starters, it's not just about Office anymore: Because the certifications are focused on common job tasks performed by various "information workers" -- from secretaries to vice presidents to everyone in between -- in businesses worldwide, the focus is not on applications alone but specific tasks.

One result of this is that the new suite's hands-on exams may cover a variety of Office programs plus Vista. Another new aspect is that online skill pretests will be available for the various exams. The exams themselves will be available through 12,000 Certiport testing centers worldwide.

Saedi said that full details of the new program -- including exam focus, exam names and pricing -- will be released after Microsoft formally announces the program in February. The English version of the exams are expected to be released by the end of February.

Certiport is "extremely excited" to be administering the new program, Saedi commented, saying that the program "will catch on fast, and have a very, very large, built-in foootpoint. The world's waiting to define this category [of information worker], and this will help to give them tools...to define the techno-savvy worker of the future." -Becky Nagel