Once you have earned your Scrum Alliance CSM certification, you must maintain it. Scrum Alliance wants all the credential holders to continue upgrading their knowledge and skills, to stay up to date on industry developments and trends. And, when you do it, you are maintaining your certification. Learning new things and fine-tuning your skills about Agile will earn you Scrum Education Units (SEUs). These SEUs are basically hours that you will spend in doing certain activities, upgrading your knowledge and skills. Scrum Alliance CSM renewal requires you to earn 20 SEUs every two years. If you do not earn these SEUs and do not renew your CSM certification, your certification will expire. You can read our Full Scrum SEU Guide.
So what are the steps of Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal?
- Earn Scrum Education Units (SEUs) with activities such as writing articles, giving presentations, volunteering, attending courses or Agile events, etc.
- Submit your earned SEUs on the Scrum Alliance website.
- Pay the $100 renewal fee on the Scrum Alliance and that’s it you renewed your CSM certification!
What happens if you don’t earn 20 SEUs in 2 years?
If you don’t earn the SEUs and two years have elapsed, you will have six months of grace period to renew your CSM certification. Going forward, if you still do not renew it, your credential will expire and you will not be able to renew it anymore. If you wish to renew it after six months, then the only option you will have is to pay the fee and retake the Scrum Alliance CSM exam. You obviously don’t want to do that. Once you already have put a lot of effort into earning your CSM certification, why not put a little bit more effort into maintaining it? The Scrum Alliance CSM renewal requirement is light and it doesn’t cost much either. You only need to pay $100 to renew your certification.
Twenty hours of effort earning SEUs and $100 after every second year is not a burden on the shoulder at all. In fact, this is the opportunity for you to keep learning new Agile stuff and upgrade yourself with new Agile practices, techniques, and tools being used in the industry.
How to Earn Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal SEUs?
For Scrum Alliance CSM renewal, Scrum Alliance has allowed you to participate in a whole lot of different activities, which will earn you SEUs, which you need to renew your certification. By indulging in SEU earning activities, you maintain your certification and fulfill the Scrum Alliance’s certification maintenance requirement also. The Scrum Alliance CSM renewal activities that you will participate in must be related to your certification though. And, once you have earned the required SEUs and two years have passed since your certification date, you can submit these to Scrum Alliance to renew your certification. You can see our Scrum SEU Webinars post.
The Scrum Alliance CSM renewal activities that you can participate in are categorized by Scrum Alliance and these are explained in the lines below.
Master of Project Academy offers Free Scrum SEU Training. You can enroll for FREE and earn 2 SEUs.
The Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal Events
There are many different types of events where you can participate to earn SEUs. These events are explained below.
Scrum Alliance Global Gatherings
The Scrum Alliance Global Gatherings take place two times every year, once in the European region and another time in North America. Participating in these gatherings allows you to exchange your knowledge with others, learn something new, and even make new friends.
These gatherings are led by industry experts and you also get the opportunities to participate in interactive learning sessions. From these sessions, you will learn about the current best practices in the field of Agile. You will hear about the success stories and also about any new developments in Agile.
People around the world attend Scrum Alliance Global Gatherings. This is a three-day event and it comprises open space sessions, presentations, and workshops. There are also one-on-one coaching sessions and you get the opportunity to network with other CSMs and experts in the field. This is a great opportunity to fly to another country or city, learn something new, upgrade yourself, and also earn SEUs for Scrum Alliance CSM renewal.
Regional Scrum Gatherings
The regional gatherings are hosted and organized by a regional or local Agilest and these are happening every month, in different cities of the world. These gatherings span two to three days at most. In these gatherings, you get the opportunity to meet with Scrum trainers, practitioners, enthusiasts, and coaches.
During the event, you can participate in presentations, workshops, and open space sessions. You can check the Scrum Alliance website for the schedule of upcoming events and register online to attend one. If attending a Scrum Alliance Global gathering is not feasible for you, then the local Scrum gatherings offer an interesting opportunity for you to earn the SEUs for Scrum Alliance CSM renewal. So, you must not miss attending these gatherings.
Non-Scrum Alliance Sponsored Events
Occasionally, organizations and different user groups also organize events to gather together the Scrum Alliance members and also the non-members. These privately organized events may include presentations, workshops, or one-on-one discussions on Agile and the related topics.
If attending regional or global events are not so easy for you, then why not attend a few of the privately organized events and enhance your Agile knowledge? Any such event where Agile is the topic of the workshops, presentations, and discussions will also allow you to earn the SEUs.
Learning
This category includes a vast variety of learning activities that you can undertake to earn SEUs. These activities include:
Authoring books, articles, blogs
If you like writing and ever wished to become an author of a book, this is the opportunity for you. You can choose the length of the book, and publish it online or with a local publisher. This is up to you, though publishing is not necessary. The content of the book must be related to Agile and your effort in writing the book will earn you SEUs. You can choose the subject of the book. The book could be on best Agile practices, Agile methodologies, etc. Writing Agile exam practice questions to earn SEUs will also be acceptable.
Master of Project Academy offers Free Scrum SEU Training. You can enroll for FREE and earn 2 SEUs.
Alternatively, if you rather like to write articles or blogs on the Internet, you can do so and earn SEUs. It’s comparatively easier than authoring a book. You can create any number of articles or blog posts and publish them on your website or blog and at the same time earn SEUs. For your articles and blogs, too, you are free to choose the Agile topics of your interest.
You can consider enrolling in our Scrum SEU Training Bundle and earn SEUs you need to renew your Scrum Alliance certification.
Preparing Presentation
Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal even allows you to prepare presentations to allow you to earn SEUs. Maybe you can get an opportunity to teach Agile at a college. Or maybe you would like to prepare a presentation to coach your peers or other employees in your department. Any such activity will also contribute to your SEUs.
Watching a training video/webinar
There are tons of videos on the Internet on Agile. These include Agile training videos, Agile workshop videos, Scrum SEU webinars, etc. If you search on YouTube or other websites, you will easily find many such Agile-related videos that would interest you. Watching these videos is another easy way of earning SEUs.
If you rather like to watch commercially produced videos on Agile, you will find many such videos too. Online academies, research, or non-profit organizations may also have produced learning videos on Agile or self-paced Scrum SEU Course Bundles which you can watch and also earn SEUs.
Reading an Agile book
If you like reading, especially books, then why not choose the best book on Agile and start reading it, in your free time? And, when you are reading the book, you will be earning SEUs. There is no limit on how many books you read. Read as many books as easily can, to upgrade your knowledge. There are many free and also paid books available on the Internet to download. Alternatively, if you like, you can also buy yourself a paperback book and read that one, at your bedtime or any other spare time that you get.
Volunteering
This category of Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal activities includes participating in volunteer work to give back to the community. What you can volunteer to earn SEUs, you may ask? Well, you can do many things. For instance, you can teach someone Agile. Or help someone prepare for the CSM exam. You may give a free lecture in a college on Agile. Volunteering for such activities is a great way to help others and also earn SEUs.
Others
Scrum Alliances acknowledges that not all activities fit completely in the above-mentioned categories. Hence, you are allowed to participate in many other different types of activities also to earn the required SEUs.
What can you do or what other activity you can participate in to earn SEUs? Well, there are actually many things that you can do. For instance, if you are sharing your Agile knowledge at lunch or dinner with your colleagues or friends, you will be earning SEUs. If you have implemented an Agile methodology in your organization, you will earn SEUs. If you have recorded an Agile video training, then too, you will earn some SEUs. So, you see, there could be many things that you can do to earn SEUs.
How Recent Your SEUs Can Be?
You cannot claim SEUs that you have earned many years ago. Your SEUs must have been earned within the last thirty months, to be eligible for claiming in the Scrum Alliance CSM renewal process. Any SEUs earned before thirty months will not be acceptable by Scrum Alliance.
How Can You Claim SEUs to Renew The CSM Certification?
Once two years have passed since your certification date, you should have earned the required number of SEUs. To submit the SEUs to Scrum Alliance and renew your certification for another two years, you will go through two different processes – one for submitting your SEUs and another one for renewing your certification. Both of these processes are explained below:
Submitting the SEUs
Step-1: Go to the Scrum Alliance’s website – https://www.scrumalliance.org/login
Step-2: Login to the website with your username and password.
Step-3: On the top-right corner of the page, click on your name and click on ‘My Dashboard’
Step-4: On the right side of the web page, you will see the text “Scrum Education Units”. Besides that, click the blue button, labeled “Manage SEUs”
Step-5: Choose the category that fits best your continuing education opportunity, from the “Select an Activity Type” drop-down menu.
Step-6: Complete all the required fields and submit the information.
Note that when you are logging SEUs for Scrum Alliance CSM renewal, you will also need to describe in a few words the activities that you have performed.
Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal
So after you have submitted the required SEUs, now you can renew your CSM certification. Follow the steps below to complete your Scrum Alliance CSM renewal:
Step-1: Log in to your account at the Scrum Alliance website. (If you are already logged in then skip this step)
Step-2: Click on your name, at the top-right side of the page.
Step-3: Click ‘My Dashboard’
Step-4: Next to the label “Actions”, click “Renew Certification”
Step 5: Select the certification that you wish to renew. When you select the certification, the payment amount and the required SEU information will be displayed at bottom of the page.
Step 6: Proceed to make payment for your Scrum Alliance CSM renewal.
If you hold any lower-level certification, which will also automatically be renewed, their information will also be displayed on the screen.
Summary: Scrum Alliance CSM Renewal
In this post, we explained the complete Scrum Alliance CSM renewal method. If you are a Scrum Alliance CSM holder, you now have learned that you need to earn 20 SEUs to maintain your certification. We mentioned above that CSM renewal is necessary or your certification will expire. So, you should make sure to start participating in SEU earning activities, soon after you earn your CSM certification.
Scrum Alliance sends a reminder for your Scrum Alliance CSM renewal, 90 days before its expiry date. At this point, if you still haven’t earned the required number of SEUs, now is the time to worry about it and start doing the activities that will earn you SEUs.