Certification Maintenance Program (CMP) FAQ
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KB0011172

Certification Maintenance Program (CMP) FAQ

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Audience

  • All Learners
  • Customer Admins
  • Partner Admins

Overview 

This Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) knowledge answers questions related to our 2025 Certification Maintenance Program (CMP). The CMP fee is an annual maintenance fee. Candidates have between January 15, 2025, and April 15, 2025, to pay. Once the fee is paid, the next step is for candidates complete the delta exam. 

General Notes: 

Self-serve Model with No Manual List Uploads

  • Individuals must pay for their CMP fee using a credit card or Learning Credits (LCs) beginning January 15, 2025.
  • There will be no CMP group enrollments handled by ServiceNow by list upload, nor any bulk Learning Credit payments. 

CMP Dashboard Reports for Training Admins

  • Similar to the other Now Learning Dashboards, Training Admins will have access to a CMP Dashboard. This dashboard provides visibility of the total number of candidates that will owe the CMP fee and include a downloadable report on all certified candidates.

Preparing User Account Management and Learning Credit Pools

  • Training Admins currently have all the tools needed to manage users and Credit Pools for this year’s CMP window.
  • Training Admins should prepare the management of users benefits to prepare for the CMP.

No refunds

Select a link in the table below to go directly to the FAQ section or scroll down in the article.

Frequently Asked Questions

CMP Value
QuestionAnswer

What is the CMP fee?

  • Certified candidates are assessed a $200 (tax is applicable) yearly fee to keep their certification active.
  • Not all certified candidates are assessed CMP. Read more in Who Must Pay CMP Fee below. 
Why is there a CMP fee? 

The ServiceNow Certification Program implemented the annual Maintenance Fee as an overall program fee. The Maintenance Fee allows certified candidates to stay active in our program and makes maintaining each certification more efficient. 

Is this a “delta fee” and payment for delta exams? 

No. The CMP fee is for any mainline certification that allows a candidate to maintain all of their certifications, including delta exams.

Why should I participate in the CMP?

The yearly maintenance fee:

  • Ensures that the ServiceNow certified community remains up to date with continued learning. 
  • Eliminates Certified candidates from having to pay and repeat the same exam to obtain a new certification.
  • Saves time and money as a candidate does not need to repeat training, schedule an exam, or pay to retake the exam again. 
  • Opens access to the required delta exams to keep the candidate's certification active. 
How do customers and partners access training benefits such as learning credits and discounts?    

Use the following guide to understand accessing the learning credit management processes specific to your company type:

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CMP Participants
QuestionAnswer
Who must pay the fee? 

All Certified Professionals who attained their first mainline certification before or during the Utah release. The last date to take the Utah Mainline Certification Exams was October 31, 2023. Certification holders with an original certification date prior to November 1, 2023 are assessed. Exceptions may apply dependent on your company's affiliation to ServiceNow.

Do Impact Customer users pay the fee?

  • Impact Guided
  • Impact Total
  • Impact Advanced 
  • Certified Impact Guided customer users who completed their first mainline certification before November 1, 2023, are required to pay the CMP fee.
  • Certified legacy Impact Total and Impact Advanced customer users who obtained their first mainline certification before November 1, 2023, are exempt; no payment is required.
    IMPORTANT: This benefit is exclusively available to Legacy Impact, Total, and Advanced customers who made their purchase before May 2024. It will no longer apply to Impact customers who purchase or renew their subscription after May 2024. 
Can a Customer or Partner Training Administrator or Learning Credit Manager pay the fee on behalf of their users?


No. The certification maintenance fee is assessed to an individual and not to an organization. Therefore, payment of the maintenance fee will be handled by each individual user.

IMPORTANT: There are no exceptions, the certification maintenance fee is a self-service model. 

Can admins bulk register or bulk pay? No. Candidates need to self-pay for CMP.
Are there manual list uploads (like in previous years)? 

No. ServiceNow will not handle group payments for any organization with a manual list upload, and training administrators cannot pay the fee on behalf of another person.

How do Admins find a list of certified users who need to pay for their CMP? 
  • Training admins use the CMP Dashboard to assist in identifying users who are certified and need to pay their CMP. 
  • This report assists in determining the total amount of LCs needed for CMP. 
Is the CMP Fee assessed multiple times if a candidate holds more than one certification? No. The CMP Fee is assessed only once regardless of the number of certifications held by a candidate. 
 
CMP Renewal Period
QuestionAnswer 
Did I miss the 2024 CMP Fee?No, there was no 2024 CMP Fee as the Xanadu Exams are not releasing until January 15, 2025. CMP Fee is assessed in tandem with an exam release.
When does CMP take place? The CMP Fee is assessed in tandem with an exam release. Exam releases fluctuate and are subject to change. For 2025, the fee is assessed at the beginning of the year.
When can a user pay 2025 CMP? The 2025 CMP Fee opened on January 15, 2025. 
When does the 2025 CMP close? The 2025 CMP Fee closed on April 15, 2025. 
When should Partner/Customer Admins and their Training Admins be managing their users for CMP (linking/delinking users from the accounts). 
  • Admins can manage their users via the Partner Portal (Partners) or Now Support (Customer Organizations).
  • For more information, refer to Managing Employees Overview.
Can Partners or large organizations pre-pay the CMP for their users? No. Pre-payments are not allowed for CMP.  
As a candidate I paid the fee in January 2024, why am I asked to pay again? 

The 2023 CMP Fee was held from November 16, 2023, through February 2, 2024.

  • If a candidate paid the 2023 CMP fee in January of 2024 it was for the 2023 fee, and the candidate must pay the 2023 CMP fee

There was no 2024 CMP Fee.

Payment for the 2025 CMP fee needs to be made before April 15, 2025.

  • 2025 CMP fee coverage if January 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

NOTE: CMP was not collected in 2024.

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CMP Process & Payments
QuestionAnswer
When does CMP take place? The CMP Fee is assessed in tandem with an exam release. Exam releases fluctuate and are subject to change. For 2025, the fee is assessed at the beginning of the year.
As an Admin, how do I know how many LCs to purchase to cover employee’s CMP costs? 
  • Training Admins will have access to a CMP Dashboard. The dashboard provides visibility of the total number of candidates that will owe the CMP fee and include a downloadable report on all certified candidates.
  • Admins can reference the full list of individuals who need to pay their CMP fee.
  • Multiply the number of individuals who need to pay by 200 LCs to determine the total LC cost.
As an Admin how do I request additional LCs if I do not have enough to cover an employee’s total LC costs? 

Create a Now Learning support case.
NOTE: For additional information on creating a case, refer to Submitting a Support Case for Assistance.

How often is the CMP dashboard updated to reflect the latest CMP data?

The CMP dashboard is updated 1 month before CMP opening. 

As an Admin can I combine Credit Pools so all CMP costs can be deducted from the same Credit Pool?

  • No. Credit Pools cannot be combined due to expiration dates and other system limitations.
  • Admins can set Credit Pools to Managed, and list individuals who will need to use them to pay for their CMP fee.
  • As Training Admin or Learning Credit Manager, you can transfer learning credits from one credit pool to another with your company account. Refer to Transferring Learning Credits From One Credit Pool to Another Credit Pool.
Can Admins restrict the use of Credit Pools so they are only used for CMP? 

Can organizations share LCs with other entities or child entities? 

  

Yes, company account administrators (admins) who are managers on the credit pool can initiate one-way transfer of Learning Credits (LC) to eligible associated accounts. This user-friendly, self-service feature allows admins to initiate a transfer request by accepting the Terms & Conditions and completing a simple transfer form. 

For instructions refer to, Transferring Learning Credits to a related account.

Why am I being asked to pay the CMP fee as a ServiceNow Partner?

Why am I asked to pay the full CMP fee, and not seeing a discount on this fee?

  • Make sure you are linked to your company account to access any applicable discounts.
  • Discounts are only applicable with credit card payments at the time of checkout, and are not valid when self-paying for CMP with learning credits.
Do LC Customer and partner discounts apply? 
  • Yes. Customer and partner discounts are applied during the sales process for LCs.
  • Additional discounts do not apply to the certification maintenance fee.
Do Credit Card (CC) Customer and partner discounts apply? 
  • Yes. Customer and partner discounts are applicable during the CMP payment checkout process, when paying by credit card.
  • Additional discounts do not apply to the certification maintenance fee.
How is the CMP fee collected? 
  • Payment is managed through Now Learning.
  • Candidates can pay with a credit card or learning credits (LCs) if a candidate is linked to an account with LCs and has approval from their company to use LCs. 
How will candidates be prompted to pay their maintenance fee?  

IMPORTANT: Make sure your Now Learning account is linked to Webassessor, otherwise if the fee is due the banner prompting for CMP payment does not display. Refer to Link Your Webassessor Account to Now Learning.

  • Candidates will receive an initial pop-up on the home page when they log into Now Learning. There is a prompt on the banner to click and begin the payment process.
  • The banner remains on the home page of their Now Learning account until payment has been made or the maintenance window has closed. 
Do Impact Total and Impact Advanced customer users need to pay the CMP fee?  
  • Impact Total and Impact Advanced customer users will not be charged the CMP Fee. No payment is required.
    IMPORTANT
    To maintain candidate certification, these Impact users must complete the Tokyo Mainline Delta Exams. For more information, refer to Complete Mainline Certification Delta Exam.
Do Impact Guided customer users need to pay the CMP fee? 
  • Certified Impact Guided customer users who completed their first mainline certification before November 1, 2023, are required to pay the CMP fee.
  • Impact Guided customer users are required to pay the $200 fee with LCs or a credit card.

Can the CMP Fee be paid with a credit card? 

Yes. The CMP Fee can be paid with a credit card. Refer to Paying the Certification Maintenance Fee by Credit Card.

Can the CMP Fee be paid with Learning Credits (LCs)? 

Yes, the CMP can be paid with LCs.

NOTE: You must be linked to your company account and have approval from your organization to use LCs. There will be no refunds for misuse of LCs. Refer to Paying the Certification Maintenance Fee with Learning Credits.

Are there refunds for the CMP fee? 

No. ServiceNow has a no-refund policy for the CMP fee, and payment is final. For additional information, refer to the Training and Certification Terms and Conditions.

IMPORTANT: If you belong to a customer or partner organization, verify your Now Learning account is associated before making a credit card payment so you can benefit from any associated discounts. Check with your training administrator if you are approved to use LCs for CMP. If you are not approved, you will need to pay using your credit card. 

If an individual pays their own CMP fee, but their Partner/Customer Organization wants to pay, can we provide individuals a refund? No. There will be NO refunds to individuals, Partners, or Customer Organizations (via credit card or LCs). 
Where can I download an invoice with my CMP payment? 

You can download a copy of your Maintenance Fee invoice from the My Invoices tab in Now Learning. For more information, refer to View & Download Invoices in Now Learning.
NOTE: There could be a 24-hour delay from the time you pay until the invoice is available.

When/How is the CMP Badge awarded?

In general, CMP badges are granted either after the CMP Eligibility Script confirms your discounts exempt you from payment, or once your payment is processed.
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Process After CMP Paid or Missed Payment
QuestionAnswer
What happens after the CMP payment is collected? 

Candidates should complete their delta exam.

Steps to take your delta exam:
Refer to Completing Delta Exams.

What happens if the certification maintenance fee is not paid? 
  • If the certification maintenance fee is unpaid, each of the candidate's certification(s) will expire and the user will need to re-enter the certification program for each of these.
  • Candidates can re-enter the program by paying $200 (for each certification,) in Webassessor and then taking the Mainline Exam again. 
Can a candidate who missed the 2023 CMP pay for 2025 and activate their certification? No. If the 2023 CMP Fee was not paid a candidate's certification has expired and they must re-enter the certification program
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