Frequently Asked Questions

For online training courses at Advanced Level you will receive an official iSAQB partic­i­pation certificate with the respective credit points.

For Advanced Level training courses, partic­i­pation certifi­cates with the desig­nated credit points can only be issued if a partic­ipant has attended at least 75% of the training. If less than 75% have been completed, the intended credit points may not be awarded. It is necessary to repeat the entire training or to make up for the missing part in order to earn the credit points. In any case, this regulation also applies to reasons that are not the fault of the partic­ipant (e.g. illness, accidents, traffic jams, etc.).

In case the exami­nation language is not your mother tongue, the duration of the exami­nation can be extended to 90 minutes (net). Please indicate this when regis­tering with the certification body.

In case you are profoundly visually impaired the duration of the exami­nation can be extended to 90 minutes (net). Questions and possible answers can be read to you by the examiner. Please mention this when regis­tering with the certification body.

To prepare for the Foundation Level exam, partic­i­pation in classroom or online training from an iSAQB^® Accredited Training Provider is highly recom­mended. An accredited CPSA‑F^® training course usually lasts three to four days, and covers all relevant topics of the exam.

However, it is also possible to take the CPSA‑F^® exam without attending a Foundation Level training course. We recommend the following liter­ature for independent exam preparation:

• Software Architecture Foundation by Gernot Starke and Alexander Lorz; Van Haren Publishing, 1st Edition, May 2021
• Software Architecture Funda­mentals by Mahbouba Gharbi, Arne Koschel, and Andreas Rausch; dpunkt.verlag, 1st Edition, February 2019

Credit points, once you have earned them, are valid indef­i­nitely and do not expire. 

You can find all information about the certification bodies here.

You can apply for membership or sponsorship at any time (a corre­sponding appli­cation form is available here). As an active member, you should spend approx­i­mately ten days a year working for the iSAQB — in one or more working groups of your choice. Preference will be given to new members who have experience in training software architects.

The actual CPSA‑F exami­nation consists of a multiple-choice test of approx. 75 minutes in which you will be required to answer roughly 40 questions (as the number of points allocated to individual questions varies and questions are randomized, the exact number of questions can vary, depending on which questions are drawn). You will be awarded points for every correct answer, and you will need to achieve 60% of the examination’s maximum possible points score in order to pass.

Candi­dates usually attend licensed training courses in order to prepare for this exami­nation, but in terms of formal requirements you could also complete the exami­nation without having taken part in any training.

The exami­nation will be carried out by a licensed certification body – which will also be in charge of assessment and necessary formal­ities. This organi­zation will then provide you with your exami­nation result, usually within a week of completion of the exami­nation, and also your official CPSA‑F certificate if you have passed the examination.

Alongside the TOGAF training, the CPSA program rates highly in companies inter­na­tionally. Compared to the TOGAF training, the CPSA program generally places more emphasis on the practical imple­men­tation of IT systems.

Within the iSAQB, the Foundation Level working group is committed to further devel­opment and updating of the CPSA-Foundation Level curriculum. Together, the experts of the working group contribute sugges­tions for improvement, and evaluate change notices, which all inter­ested parties can post as “GitHub Issues” in the public repos­itory at https://github.com/isaqb-org/curriculum-foundation/issues. Each release cycle is two years. Changes in the curricula usually affect existing training courses of training providers as well as the current exam questions. All training providers and licensed certification bodies will be notified of any changes well in advance of the release of a new curriculum.

A CPSA certification is valid for life, just like a university degree.

The exami­nation fee for one partic­ipant is 2,550.00 EUR plus VAT, a repeat exami­nation is 750.00 EUR plus VAT.

The CPSA-Foundation Level exam can be repeated several times without any waiting period.

If your certificate has been lost, you can contact the certification body that took your exam or the iSAQB. Generally, you can request a copy of your certificate within 10 years after the date of the exam.

The Advanced Level exami­nation is aimed at people with profes­sional experience, see also the requirements in the Advanced Level Exami­nation Rules. If you are a student with work experience, it is best to check whether you meet all the requirements using the Advanced Level Exami­nation Rules.

Software archi­tects who do not yet have a Foundation Level certification can also partic­ipate in the Advanced Level training courses. Successful partic­i­pation in the Advanced Level courses earns credit points, which are required for a possible Advanced Level exam. However, a prereq­uisite for applying for an Advanced Level exam is always a success­fully passed Foundation Level exam.

The iSAQB operates an elaborate quality assurance system with regard to its training providers, CPSA trainings, and trainers. Our aim is to ensure a consis­tently high training standard for all CPSA training courses worldwide. However, despite extensive accred­i­tation processes, the iSAQB assumes no liability for the quality of trainings provided by its accredited training partners. Furthermore, the iSAQB assumes no liability for the results of CPSA examinations.

The CPSA certification is not a vocational quali­fi­cation, but a proof of knowledge in the field of software architecture. The iSAQB is not entitled to award vocational quali­fi­ca­tions, so we propose you call yourself “Certified Profes­sional for Software Architecture by iSAQB” after passing the exam.
In Germany it is unclear if it is legally allowed to call oneself “Software Architect”. We recommend you inform yourself about the laws regarding the vocational quali­fi­ca­tions in your country.

For the purpose of CPSA‑A training, the iSAQB has defined the three following areas of competence:

• Methodical compe­tence: a systematic approach to architectural tasks, regardless of the technologies used
• Techno­logical compe­tence: knowledge and imple­men­tation of technology solutions used in design tasks
• Commu­nicative compe­tence: commu­ni­cation, presen­tation, argumen­tation, and moder­ation skills as well as the ability to cooperate produc­tively with different stakeholders

The CPSA‑F (Foundation Level) consists of the following parts:

1. Basics of software architecture, role and task of software architects
2. Description and commu­ni­cation of software architectures
3. Design and devel­opment of software architecture
4. Architecture and quality
5. Tools for software architects
6. Examples of software architectures

Part 1–5 are relevant to the CPSA‑F certification exam.

The detailed learning content and learning objectives can be found in the official curriculum, here online or for download.

The iSAQB has stipu­lated that there be a formal and organi­za­tional separation between training course providers and certification bodies – hence these two different roles. Training course providers offer training, courses, workshops in order to prepare you for the CPSA‑F exami­nation for instance, or your CPSA‑A exami­nation project.

Certification bodies organize the CPSA‑F and CPSA‑A exami­nation – but must not offer any training or seminars in this area themselves.

Information system

An information system is used to retrieve information and process business trans­ac­tions. Users in different roles work collab­o­ra­tively on an overall result. The system takes care of the storage, input and output, validation and processing of the data for the users. The aggre­gation of data into reports also occurs.

Information systems are often used in a company’s intranet. The users in an intranet usually are expected to have a behaviour that is predictable (e.g. with respect to scala­bility) and regular within certain limits (not a “wilderness” like on the Internet).

Often rather complex business processes are important, which can make it challenging to properly authorise users for the business processes.

Information systems can also be web-based, but they are not a “web system” (see the next section for a more precise definition).

Web system

A web system basically serves the same purposes as an information system. The difference lies in the target group and the type of use. A web system is intended for use on the Internet (the “wilderness”). The Internet is an environment in which large numbers of users, heavily fluctu­ating loads and occasionally malicious attackers can be expected.

Due to the use of the Internet, higher network latencies are often to be expected than with in-house appli­ca­tions, which can have a negative effect on the system response time behaviour and thus (also) its usability.

Attention must be paid to these special circum­stances when designing a web system (in addition to the business logic itself).

Embedded system

An embedded system is directly connected to its environment through sensors and can also influence the environment through actuators. The tasks of an embedded system are often measurement and control of processes in its environment. In the case of information or web systems, on the other hand, the environment consists exclu­sively of human users or other IT systems. In contrast to IT and web systems, resources (e.g., memory, energy, computing time) in embedded systems are limited and archi­tec­tures for those systems have to consider this. Often, latencies are important, that is, the reaction time to external events and their handling. Special cases are embedded real-time systems in which timely task processing is essential, as well as safety-critical systems.

The credit points can be reval­uated by the iSAQB every 12 months. If you plan your training measures over some years you should consider this, in case you focus mostly on the number of points for the individual seminars. This reval­u­ation can apply to the number of points as well as to the distri­b­ution to the areas of compe­tence. It is possible that credit points are no longer rewarded for one of the three compe­tence areas, so you would have to cover this compe­tence area with another seminar. However, there have only been very few changes so far.

All iSAQB members work on a voluntary basis. There are different types of membership at the Inter­na­tional Software Architecture Quali­fi­cation Board:

Active Board Members

Active members are elected by the general meeting and have a right to vote on all important decisions within the associ­ation. An active member can be an individual or a repre­sen­tative of a sponsoring company. In order to receive the status of an active member, one has to have worked actively and produc­tively in one or more iSAQB working groups for a longer period of time.

Supporting Board Members

Supporting members are usually individuals. They can have the status of an active or passive member. Supporting members do not pay a membership fee.

Sponsoring Board Members

Sponsoring members are usually companies that wish to support the iSAQB and its goals with their membership fees. These can be training providers, but also end users or software devel­opment and consulting companies.

• Successful training and certification at CPSA‑F level (Certified Profes­sional for Software Architecture, Foundation Level).
• A minimum of three years full-time profes­sional experience in the IT industry, including the involvement in the design and devel­opment of at least two different IT systems. Excep­tions can be granted upon appli­cation (for instance involvement in open source projects).
• Training and further education within the scope of iSAQB Advanced Level trainings of at least 70 credit points. All three areas of compe­tence must be covered with at least 10 credit points each.
• Successful completion of the CPSA‑A certification task, including an interview with two independent examiners appointed by the iSAQB.

Partic­i­pants should have the following knowledge and/or experience:

• At least 18 months of practical experience in software devel­opment, acquired by programming various projects or systems outside of education.
• Knowledge of and practical experience in at least one higher programming language.
• Basics of modelling and abstraction.
• Basics of UML (class, package, component and sequence diagrams) and their relation to source code.
• Practical experience in technical documen­tation, especially in the documen­tation of source code, system designs or technical concepts.

Helpful for the under­standing of some concepts are also:

• Knowledge of object orientation
• Practical experience in at least one object-oriented programming language
• Practical experience in the design and imple­men­tation of distributed appli­ca­tions, such as client/server systems or web applications

We consider it useful to prepare for the CPSA‑F exam by attending an accredited training course – but in general you can also take a CPSA‑F exam without training.

The associ­ation was founded in 2008 by about 20 volun­teers. The iSAQB e. V. brings together various software architecture experts. Its members include profes­sionals from industry, consulting, training, academia, and other organi­za­tions or associ­a­tions. The purpose of the associ­ation is to standardize the training of software archi­tects internationally.

Trainings at CPSA-Advanced Level may only be offered and conducted by training providers accredited by the iSAQB. Accredited training providers have proven the high quality of their CPSA training offers and are committed to the iSAQB accred­i­tation conditions.

In order to be able to offer and conduct training courses, an accred­i­tation by the iSAQB is required. That means that training providers commit themselves to the accred­i­tation condi­tions of the iSAQB. For more details, please see our accred­i­tation info page.

We take care of the devel­opment and admin­is­tration of standard curricula for software archi­tects (CPSA Certified Profes­sional for Software Architecture®). This includes the defin­ition of exams for certification based on the CPSA curricula as well as guaran­teeing the profes­sional quality of further training for software archi­tects. The iSAQB e. V. (regis­tered non-profit associ­ation) itself does not provide trainings or exams, but deter­mines exami­nation rules and regula­tions, grants licenses to training course providers and certification bodies, and defines and super­vises the necessary processes. All activ­ities of the iSAQB e. V. are based on voluntary work – the active members do not receive any earnings or fees for their contribution.

As finan­cially supporting member you become part of a broad network of experi­enced software archi­tects. You benefit from the know-how of the members, who are often also training course providers. Make new contacts with industry experts and maybe even find new employees over the network.

Finan­cially supporting members are presented on the iSAQB website. You can be presented with your company’s logo there, and show your membership of our well-respected association!

Finan­cially supporting members are allowed to dispatch a member, who can contribute to the association’s working groups. Thus, own demands on the curricula can be introduced.

All assign­ments by partic­i­pants of the Advanced Level exami­nation are first subjected to a plagiarism check by the certification bodies, which results in an exami­nation report. This exami­nation report is then forwarded to the respon­sible examiners for evalu­ation, along with the assignment.