Certified Lead System Architect

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White Paper

Lead System Architect

EXAM BLUEPRINT

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Pegasystems Inc., Cambridge, MA

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Document: Certified Lead System Architect Exam Blueprint

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The Pegasystems Certified Professional Program

The Pegasystems Certified Professional Program has created a worldwide community of certified professionals, drawn by a commitment to excel in their ability to deliver world class Pega applications. When a Lead System Architect participates in the design and development of a Pega application there are fundamental, essential Pega skills and knowledge areas that must be applied to ensure success. These skills and knowledge areas form the basis of the certification exam.

A certified Lead System Architect (CLSA):

 Leads complex design projects

 Builds Pega-based applications

 Has expert knowledge of the Pega architecture, security model, and service interfaces

 Has expert Pega knowledge based on in-depth experience and successful projects

 Manages the overall key design areas of the project

 Has strong technical leadership and expert consultative skills

 Ensures that systems are built for change, are reusable, and are maintainable

Pegasystems is committed to providing you with the training, tools, and knowledge needed to achieve certification as a Lead SystemArchitect (CLSA).

Path to the Lead System Architect

Certification

About the Exam Blueprint

The purpose of the blueprint is to provide you with a roadmap of the Lead System Architect Certification exam content to allow you to better prepare for the exam.

The blueprint includes test domain weighting, test objectives, and topical content. The topics and concepts are included to clarify the test objectives.

The exam is based upon the knowledge areas necessary for a Lead System Architect to be able to participate successfully in the design and development of Pega applications.

Candidates are tested on their:

 Understanding of the Pega 7 stage based case design approach, newer dynamic layouts useful in creating responsive user interfaces that can work on various devices

 Ability to analyze, design, and create business rules, data models required for the application

 Ability to understand and /or apply key concepts and techniques in the design and construction of the components of a multi-process application

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Prerequisites

The suggested training prerequisites for this certification level are:

 Certified System Architect (CSA) and Certified Senior System Architect (CSSA) certifications required; certifications must be reflected in your Pega Transcript on the Pega Discovery Network (PDN)

 3 to 6 months field experience (minimum)

 CLSA Immersion or Self-study

The skills and knowledge areas measured by this exam are derived directly from the content of these courses.

Professional Experience

Additionally, you may find the following professional experience and/or exposure to PRPC helpful in preparing for the exam:

 Three to six months of field experience minimum

 Have been the Technical lead on at least one project

 Had at least one project go through a Design Review

 Experience on multiple projects across multiple roles

 Proven technical ability with strong leadership skills and solid technical customer relationship building skills

 Experience with the SmartBPM®_{Methodology and DCO (Certified Methodology Black Belt}

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Exam Format Overview

LSA certification is achieved by successfully passing two components:

 Part 1: 70 multiple choice questions and three additional questions that are experimental items

and not scored.

 Part 2: Application Build

For Part 1, you are given 90 minutes to complete the exam and the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) requirement. You must achieve a score of 70% to pass the multiple choice component and to continue to Part 2. The Exam Part 1 question format, test domains and topics are discussed later in this document. After you have passed your CLSA Part 1 exam, you can contact [email protected] to schedule your Part 2 application build. The application build (and any subsequent application build attempts) costs $1,000 USD.

For Part 2, you must build an application based on a given scenario and answer 3 design questions. A score of 70% must be achieved to pass this part of the exam and achieve the CLSA certification. Further details regarding Exam Part 2 are explained later in this document.

Please note:

 The Part 2 Application Build must be attempted within 6 months of passing the Part 1 exam. After six months, your eligibility to sit for the Application Build will expire and you will be required to sit for your Part 1 exam again.

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Part 1: Question Format

The examinee selects from one or more response options to answer a question. A response is

considered correct when it accurately completes the statement or answers the question. Distracters or incorrect answers are plausible response options that examinees with incomplete knowledge are likely to choose.

Test item formats used in this examination are:

 Multiple Choice — Select one option that best answers the question or completes a statement.  Multiple Responses — Select more than one option that best answers the question or completes a

statement. The text states how many options are correct, such as Choose two.

The Part 1 exam is graded automatically by Pearson VUE. Your score report is given to you immediately after submitting your exam.

Part 1: Test Domains

The table below lists the Part 1 test domains and the extent to which they are represented as an estimated percentage of test items.

Test Domains % of Exam

Application Design 10% Case Design 13% Data Model 7% Automating Business Policies 12% Integration 11% Architecture 10% Reporting 7% Security 7% Administration 13% User Experience 10% Total 100%

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Part 1: Test Topics

Application Design

 Evaluate a class structure

 Understand dynamic referencing techniques and the benefits of extensible frameworks

 Understand the impact of using Solution frameworks

 Learn about developing an application from scratch

 Understand how to avoid common mistakes during Construction phase

Case Design

 Understand when and how to use key BPM functionalities including (but not limited to):

– Case Hierarchy Design

– Case Specialization

– Ad-how Work and Process Design

 Locking Architecture

 Understand how to safely upgrade flows in Production

 Process and Engine APIs

Data Model

 Understand polymorphism in PRPC

 Understand when to use and how to implement Reference Properties

 Understand how data pages are useful in creating the data access layer

Automating Business Policies

 Understand how change tracking, functions and expressions work together

 Understand the Goal Seek pattern

 Understand rule delegation

 Understand the declarative rules such as triggers and OnChange

 Understand the business rules such as functions and Collections

 Understand the service level rules

User Experience  Understand Controls

 Understand how to design User Portals

 Understand how to style a PRPC application

 Understand when and how to use IAC

 Understand how to build applications that work on mobile devices

 Understand how to develop applications that support localization and accessibility standards

 Understand UI best practices and usability guardrails

Reporting

 Deep understanding of topics including (but not limited to):

– Advanced Reporting Concepts

– Charting

– PRPC Reporting strategy

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Integration

 Identify and describe components of services and connectors Understand how to integrate PRPC with JMS and REST

 Understand the inbound email service design and configuration

 Understand PRPC asynchronous integration models

 Understand how to implement Integration Error Handling and debug integration issues

 Distributed transactions

 Understand how to use XML for Data mapping

Architecture

 Know the Java EE architecture and how PRPC fits into it

 Understand Rule Assembly and Execution

 Understand topics such as

– Pega Caches

– Pega Cloud and Multitenancy

– High Availiability

– Pega Mobile

Administration

 Use the tools available for measuring performance and assessing quality

 Identify which tools are appropriate for certain situations

 Diagnose problems associated with performance and describe how to optimize the system for performance

 Identify key performance alerts provided by the system and understand how to resolve the underlying issue

 Topics include but not limited to

– Parallel development – Release Management – Application Migration – Refactoring – Upgrades Security

 Understand how design principles ensure a safe and secure PRPC application

 Understand key security Best Practices and how PRPC guardrails promote a secure system

 Understand the PRPC Authentication and Authorization model

 Know the different authentication types that can be configured in PRPC

 Understand the difference between internal and external authorization

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Part 2: Application Development and Design Format

This part of the exam tests your ability to build an application based on a given scenario and answer 3 design questions related to the application. It includes creating a deployment package to migrate the application for grading. A design document is not required. As you build your application it is key to remember the following:

 Do not over engineer your application -- keep it simple

 Test your application, make sure it works

 Create a deployment package which is used to import your application onto another system for grading

 Complete the design questions document provided to you. There are two options for taking the Part 2 (application build) exam:

1. Build one large application within 7 consecutive days to create an application based on a given scenario. You must achieve a score of over 70% in order to pass the exam.

2. Build 3 phases of a large application spaced over several periods (3 days, 2 days, 2 days). Each phase concentrates on selected areas of PRPC:

a. Phase 1 – Enterprise class Structure; Case Design; Data Model, Business Policies b. Phase 2 – Integration, Case Design

c. Phase 3 – User Experience; Security, Performance, Reporting

Each phase is graded separately. You must achieve an average score of over 70% in order to pass the exam and ALL phases must be above 65%. If you fail one phase of the exam, you must retake the entire exam using a different scenario. The 3 phases must be completed within 6 weeks.

When the CLSA Immersion team receives your project deliverables, your application build is put into the grading queue and is graded by two Pega CLSA’s. The grading focuses on best practices, the design and implementation of each requirement, and your answers to the design questions.

When the Immersion team receives your scores from the graders you are notified of your results. It can take up to ten weeks for you to receive your grades from the time the application is submitted.