HCDI Foundation Certificate

Unit 1.1 - Training, certification and authorization

Learning outcome - Distinguish the three, and state what each credential level does not confer.

HCDI governance ruleHCDI governance rule (Edition 0.3, Level 1, Unit 1.1; README section 2).

Why it matters. Three words are used loosely in the market, and each one makes a claim. If you cannot tell them apart, you cannot judge what a person who uses them is entitled to do.

The three. Training is a programme. Someone teaches, and someone attends or studies. It has no legal weight on its own. No HCDI-delivered training is required to sit the examination (interim, subject to ratification). Certification is a credential awarded by the HCDI Certification Scheme after an examination. It attests something about the holder. Authorization is permission granted by HCDI to act on one specific engagement. It is not a property of a person. It belongs to an engagement. None implies the others. A person can be trained and not certified, certified and not authorized, and authorized only for one engagement.

What every certificate says. Every certificate and every Statement of Results carries one sentence: "Certification attests competence. Authorization to act on any engagement is granted separately by HCDI."

The four levels and what each does not confer. The titles and limitation blocks are printed in the orientation above and are quoted verbatim from the certificate designs. Learn their words, because they are the words a counterparty will be held to. A note on "Indexer". "Indexer" is a credential level, and it is not a platform login role. The platform's engagement roles are Deal Lead and Reviewer. A person may hold the Indexer credential and have no role on a given engagement. [See CC-L1-001. The accreditation position of the scheme is held. This unit prints nothing about it until the placeholder is resolved.]

Worked example (illustrative). A firm's brochure says "our team is HCDI-trained". What does that tell you? Only that they attended or studied something. It says nothing about certification or authorization. The next questions are: which credential, at what level, with what number, and is anyone authorized on your engagement? Common Error. Reading a certificate as permission to act. A certificate is evidence of competence. Permission is a separate act.

Board Perspective. When an adviser introduces a team, ask each person's credential level and number, and whether HCDI has authorized them on your engagement.