You apply for a certification or renewal from a Portal page your association provides. After you apply, you can check your application and update it until your association decides it.
Prerequisites
- You are signed in to the Portal.
- If you are applying for or managing an organization's application instead of your own, your role at that organization must allow it.
Apply for a Certification
- Find the program you want to apply for. You usually start from the program's overview page by choosing Submit Application/Renewal, or from a certification you already hold by choosing Apply/Renew.
- Complete your association's application form.
- Pay for the application.
Result
Rhythm saves your application and takes you to My Applications.
If you need more credits first
If the application requires credits you have not logged yet, use the button to report activities without losing your place. After you finish reporting, a button on your activities list takes you back to the application so you can continue where you left off.
Save your progress
If you are not ready to finish, choose Save & Return Later. Rhythm keeps any files you have already uploaded, and when you reopen the draft, you see the usual indicator that a file is attached. On the Draft Saved Successfully page, the Continue button takes you to My Applications, not back into the draft itself. To keep working, return to the program and continue the application from there.
If a payment attempt fails
If your payment does not go through while you are applying, return to the program and choose Submit Application/Renewal or Apply/Renew again instead of looking for an update option. Rhythm reopens your draft and takes you back to the payment step so you can finish.
Check on Your Applications
- Go to your association's My Applications page, if it has set one up.
Result
You see your own applications, plus your organization's applications if your role allows it. Each application shows its date, program, and status. Choose a program name, or select the magnifier icon, to open an application and see more details. Staff can also review submitted applications directly in the Certifications console.
When you open an application, you see its status, application number, and requirements. Requirements can include courses, exams, credits, or references, and each requirement shows whether it has been met. A gauge also shows how complete the application is overall, based only on requirements. To see how many credits you have earned, go to My Credits in the Certifications area instead. If your application includes references, you can see each referee's name and whether they have responded.
Tip
An application you started but never paid for stays as a draft and does not appear in My Applications. This can also happen if a submission hit an error or timed out, and you closed the browser before it finished processing. If you have an unpaid application in progress, start again from the program. Rhythm can detect your saved draft and take you back to it instead of making you start over.
Update Your Application
While your application is still undecided, you may be able to change it yourself. Update My Application is for changing details on an application you have already submitted and paid for, including a $0 payment. It is not a way to finish an unpaid draft or resume payment. If you still have an unpaid application in progress, use the program's submit or renew option again and choose to continue your draft.
- Open the application from My Applications.
- If offered, choose Update My Application.
- Make your changes in the form.
- Save.
Result
Rhythm saves your changes and checks the requirements again while your application is missing requirements or pending approval. Depending on which requirements are now met, the application can move between those two statuses. If every requirement is met and your association automatically approves applications at that point, the application can become approved.
You can't update an application once it's decided
Update My Application only appears while your application has not been decided yet. After your association approves, rejects, activates, or expires it, you can no longer make changes from the Portal.
If Something Goes Wrong
| What you see | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
Unable to load settings; be sure certifications is configured | Certifications is not fully set up for your association yet. Contact the association. |
| You don't see an Apply or Renew button for a certification you expect to qualify for | Meeting the eligibility rules and having an active application process is not enough. Your association must also turn on Portal display for that process. Contact the association to check this setting. |
| Update My Application isn't offered | Your application process does not allow Portal updates for this kind of application, or your application has already been decided. Contact the association if you need a change made. If you have an unfinished, unpaid draft, this button was never meant to appear for it. Use the program's submit or renew option again and choose to continue your draft instead. |
A Forbidden error naming your application's status appears when saving an update | Your application has already moved to a decided status: approved, rejected, activated, or expired. Because of that status, the Portal can no longer save changes to it. This message is about the application's current status, not how you signed in or a required field. Contact the association to make the change for you. |
A Forbidden error appears while your application still shows missing requirements or pending approval, before any decision | This has been reported even though that status should still allow updates. Contact the association so they can check on it or make the change for you. |
| Selecting Next does nothing on an application page that includes a signature | Rhythm can still treat the signature as incomplete after you have signed it, so the page does not advance and no error appears. Try signing again, or contact the association if the problem continues. |
| The application shows several blank pages after the last one you expect, and Save Changes does not seem to appear | This can happen on some applications that are pending approval. Keep selecting Next through the blank pages. They are usually membership or payment-related pages with nothing to fill in, and Save Changes appears after them. |
| The online application cannot be completed and you need to submit right away | Ask the association whether you can submit a paper or PDF version instead while the online issue is looked into. |
| You don't see an organization's applications you expect to | Your role at that organization may not include permission to view its applications. Ask an administrator at your organization or the association. |