Audience 

All Learners

Overview

Registration for the CTA program entails a one-week window for individuals to register their interest in an open regional CTA cohort. Note that only users with a current status on all prerequisite certifications will be able to register for a cohort. Starting with the 2026 CTA programs, this will include the requirement of the Architecture Excellence (ArchX) accreditation. For more information on ArchX, please review our Architecture Excellence (ArchX) FAQs Knowledge article.

Following the registration period, enrollment is determined through random selection. Selected participants are notified and offered an enrollment via email the following week and have seven (7) days to accept the offer. Registration windows are listed on the Expert Programs website. There are 60 seats available in each program offering.

Registering

1. Navigate to the CTA website.
2. Select the Apply now button. The Certified Technical Architect (CTA) enrollment form displays.  
   
   Image example of the Apply now button.
   
   
   
3. Select the cohort to which you are applying. Then, click Next.
   
   Image example of the enrollment form.
   
   
   
4. Fill in the required fields and select Next.
   
   Image example of the enrollment form and required fields.
   
   
   
5. On the next screen, read and acknowledge the Expert Programs Terms & Conditions. Then, click Submit:
   1.  After submitting the application, your entry status will display as Application Submitted.
      
      Image example of Application Submitted status.
      
      
      
   2. When the application window has closed, all submitted applications will enter a "Review Pending” state.
      
      Image example of Review Pending state. 

 

Selection Notifications: The week following the registration window 

SELECTED: Selected registrants are notified via email with an offer to enroll, which will include a link that can be used to Accept or Decline the offer. Individuals must accept the offer within seven (7) calendar days or the offer will be voided and the seat will be offered to the next person randomly selected from the waitlist. 

Image example of Accepted state. 

Acknowledging having read the Terms & Conditions and clicking Accept Offer confirms student registration in the cohort. (If a student declines the offer, their application will be withdrawn.)

After accepting, students can then should complete the payment within 4 weeks of Accepting the Offer. We encourage the students to pay as soon as possible so that they can receive the class information before the program start date. For any questions on payment, please see this CTA Cost & Payments article.

Image example of Payment Pending state. 

 

NOT SELECTED: Registrants not selected will be notified via email and remain eligible for random selection, as the registration list becomes the waitlist, and may be offered a seat if one becomes available. 

Waitlist 

If a student's application is not selected as part of the initial selection process, they remain in the waitlist pool. If an available spot opens in the cohort, a replacement will be randomly selected from the waitlist.

Additionally, once the registration window for a cohort closes, candidates can continue to add themselves to the waitlist. To join a cohort waitlist after the application close date, click Apply Now and select the cohort. A window will pop up explaining that by continuing, the candidate will be adding themselves to the waitlist. Click OK and submit the application to be added to the waitlist.

If a student does wish to not be on the waitlist for that cohort, they can withdraw their application on the Check Status page.

Image example of the withdraw application option.

 

Registration Priority

Each user is automatically awarded a 'ticket' at the time of registration, which is virtually submitted for the random selection.  If a user is not selected for enrollment, they retain their ticket. The next time the user registers for a CTA cohort in the same region, any retained tickets they have collected are automatically entered into the drawing, as well. 

Tickets will only be applied to future registrations within the same region. Rejecting an enrollment offer eliminates all collected tickets for that user in that region.  

 

Check Status

During the enrollment process, users may check their status at any time via the Check Status button on the CTA webpage. Users must select the cohort to check on their status in that cohort:

Movement from the waitlist is determined through automatic random selection when a seat on the roster become available. As such, we cannot predict if or when there will be open spots on the roster. 

 

No Programs Available

If the website says, “We aren’t currently accepting applications for the CTA Program,” this is because there are no cohorts in an open registration status.

Image example of "We aren’t currently accepting applications for the CTA Program" verbiage.

Please review the Certified Technical Architect (CTA) Program Dates and Enrollment Windows Knowledge article for all the upcoming CTA cohorts application dates.

 

Prerequisites

All CTA program prerequisite certifications must be in Current status and the profile used for registration with must have the prerequisites associated with it. If certifications are held under another profile, follow these instructions to have this resolved.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the required prerequisites under their account and there are no certification expiration issues before attempting to enroll.

The prerequisites for the CTA program are as follows:

• At least three years of ServiceNow implementation experience
• Experience taking business requirements and converting them into ServiceNow platform capabilities
• Certified System Administrator Certification (CSA)
• Certified Application Developer (CAD)
• Any two Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS) disciplines ( ITSM, CSM, HR, SecOps, ITOM, etc.)
• Architecture Excellence (ArchX) accreditation (required for 2026 CTA program registration)
  • CTA cohorts beginning in 2025 will not require the ArchX prerequisite.
  • To learn more about the ArchX program, review our FAQ article here.

 

Registering for Another CTA Cohort

Users may register for another CTA cohort while on a CTA waitlist. Additionally, once the registration window closes, candidates can continue to add themselves to the waitlist. Users can check their waitlist status by selecting their cohort on the Check Status page. Withdrawing from the waitlist does not negatively impact registration ticket retention.

 

Overlapping Programs

Candidates may not be enrolled in overlapping CTA and CMA cohorts. If a student is enrolled in overlapping cohorts, they will be contacted by the Expert Programs team to withdraw from one program.

 

Once Enrolled

Users have up to four weeks from the date of accepting the offer to complete payment. Please see this CTA Cost & Payments Knowledge article for further information.

Before the program kickoff event, the Delivery Manager will send an email with details of the cohort schedule. One week prior to the kickoff, users receive access to our learning platform to get to know the cohort.

Once the program starts, users cannot change their account email in ServiceNow University. Any account merges must be done after the program has completed.

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