Search and find one or more types of credentials by the name of the credential and/or name of the credentialing organization.

As credentials are updated, they need to include information about their related occupations (via SOC codes) and about their related educational programs (via CIP codes). This will enable them to be found by their ties to that information, and for the user to discover that information upon finding the credential.

It is challenging to see the relationship between an educational program, an occupation, and a credential.

As credentials are updated, they need to include related labor market information. This will enable the user to discover that information upon finding the credential, and allow credentials to be compared by their labor market value.

It is challenging to see the relationships between credentials and their labor market value.

Provide comparable information about organizations and the credentials (and programs of study that lead to those credentials) that those organizations offer.

Help the user search for and plan for career pathways, including multiple pathway options and stackable credentials and career clusters. Provide more detailed information about the credential, including information from employers and the relationship between credentials.

Develop college and career plans based on labor market information, related credentials, and the organizations that offer those credentials.

Discover credentials that best meet career and/or education goals and are offered by a credentialing organization within a geographic area.

Search for credentials that have received quality assurance (e.g., accreditation, approval, or recognition) from quality assurance organizations, including those that are necessary for public financing (e.g., military benefits, student grants and loans, WIOA funding).

Search for credentials based on the requirements of those credentials (e.g., experience, other required credentials, required assessments, etc.).

Search for credentials that provide the best transfer value for credentials the user already has (e.g., high school and college course credits, degrees, certificates) along career and education pathways.

Discover credentials that reflect:

1. competencies the user wishes to attain through earning a credential
2. competencies the user wishes to be recognized for through the analysis of competency-based resumes, transcripts, and portfolios and other types of prior learning assessment.

Review and compare two or more credentials based on some combination of:

1. geographic area
2. credentialing and credentialing renewal/maintenance requirements
3. who gets them
4. education and training options to get them
5. cost of attaining them
6. recognition by quality assurance organizations
7. availability and cost of providing authentication services
8. value of attaining these credentials including transfer, career and education pathways/connections, and labor market value
9. competencies required to attain the credential
10. assessments required to attain the credential
11. how they develop, validate and continually update their competencies and assessments
12. what quality assurance organizations recognize them
13. credentialing and credentialing renewal/maintenance requirements
14. the number and types of individual who have attained these credentials
15. availability and cost of authenticating credential holders who apply for jobs with employers

Prepare students to meet the requirements for credentials by aligning related learning resources. The learning resources will provide the knowledge and skills that lead to a degree.

The user/organization publishing credentials should find learning resources and create these alignments. This firsthand information will be of the most value.

Enable the user to align competencies from different frameworks to each other.

Being able to crosswalk competencies to other competencies can theoretically lead to being able to crosswalk credentials to other credentials, and to allowing users to earn credentials using competencies that aren't necessarily directly listed as required competencies for that credential (but rather ones that crosswalk to said competencies). It would expand the range of credentials to which specific competencies apply.

Discover credentials in a geographic area based on information about industries and careers related to those credentials.

Search for credentials that have received quality assurance (e.g., accreditation, approval, recognition), based on required, assessed, and/or taught competencies.

Discover credential and competency connections or links to job profiles from employers.

Validate or look up the credentials and competencies preferred or required by employers.

Customize directories of industry-recognized credentials that are employer-preferred or required.

Discover credentials that address similar career and educational goals in a geographic area, and which have received quality assurance (e.g., accreditation, recognition, approval, etc.) from quality assurance organizations.

Search for credentials that apply to specific industries and/or occupations, based on labor market value and employer/industry recognition, within a geographic area.

Compare credentials to determine appropriate transfer value.

Compare competencies and competency frameworks based on some combination of related:

1. credentials
2. job profiles
3. learning resources
4. other competency frameworks
5. quality assurance
6. military competencies
7. labor market information

Use this information to help develop more transparent, assessable, and consistently-written competency statements, augmented by feedback systems (e.g., rating "power of competency" statements).

Use data analytic tools to monitor and analyze changes in the credentialing marketplace including changes in competency and quality assurance requirements and changes in labor market value.

Discover credentials in a geographic area that apply to similar industries and/or occupations, based on labor market value and/or employer recognition.

State Occupational and Professional Licensing Agencies. Compile a directory of state licenses that can be searched by major industries and occupations showing credentialing requirements, licensing renewal and removal, licensing costs and recognized credentials and education and training programs for each state license and related quality assurance organizations that are involved in state recognition. Search results would create license profiles containing name, scope of application (e.g., scope of practice), competency and assessment requirements, credential costs, other credentialing requirements, licensing renewal and removal, and authentication services.

Determine the gap between two different credentials based on their competency requirements, employer signaling, and how that relates to credentials the user already has.

Identify education and career paths or progressions between:

1. credentials and the degree of transfer value
2. potential to stack and build on other credentials
3. how to progress in learning sequences (e.g. learning maps)

Analyze credential and competency information to determine applicability or credit transfer value.

Analyze and measure the degree of transparency, portability, and value in the credentialing marketplace and provide useful data on the access and use of the credential data.

Search for military credentials based on:

1. required, assessed, and/or taught competencies
2. civilian occupations those credentials can help prepare the user for

Compare military and non-military credentials based on:

1. related education/career goals
2. occupations the credentials help prepare the user for

Search for military and non-military credentials based on:

1. connection to military credentials
2. labor market value
3. cost
4. geographic location

Enable the user to look up specific credentials and discover information about:

1. the credential's requirements
2. its required, assessed, and/or taught competencies
3. how long the credential is valid
4. who issues the credential

Employer is comparing resumes of multiple candidates and wants to understand the comparative value of the credentials earned by each candidate (so competencies associated with two different credentials can be compared).

Search for credentials based on:

1. required, assessed, and/or taught competencies
2. related learning opportunities
3. related industries
4. related occupations

Search for credentials based on employer preference.

User is an employee of a company and wants to move to a different position within that company, but needs to know what credentials will best prepare them to pursue the new position.

Search for credentials by:

1. who owns/offers the credential
2. geographic location
3. online availability
4. related learning opportunities
5. requirements
6. cost
7. estimated time to complete
8. required, assessed, and/or taught competencies
9. related occupations

A high school student wants to find out what credentials are available to them, given their limited budget, free time, and travel distance.

Compare credentials based on:

1. geographic location
2. online availability
3. requirements
4. related learning opportunities
5. related occupations
6. cost
7. estimated time to complete

Youth entering the workforce without a high school diploma or GED want to find credentials that can be obtained quickly and will lead to employment

Search for and compare credentials based on:

1. credential type
2. geographic location
3. requirements

User wants to find and compare apprenticeships based on their requirements

Enable the user to search for and discover competency frameworks based on the frameworks' related:

• Industries
• Occupations
• Subjects
• Credentials

Student/worker wants to discover career pathways that take her to, or toward her career target while building on already earned credentials and following the quickest, nearest and most economical path.

Student/worker knows they want to pursue a career in a certain area (e.g., hospitality and tourism); however he or she wants to get a better understanding of the possible choices and specializations in the area while building a foundation to progress down any one of the area’s credentialing paths.

Student/worker wants to find potential pathways based on comparison of the competencies they require at various stages along the path and the competencies he or she has already attained through earned credentials and other means.

User wants to discover credentials/programs that provide employment and earnings opportunities in industries and occupations related to career goals within a geographic area.

User wants to discover credentials/programs that provide employment and earnings opportunities in high-demand industries and occupations within a geographic area.

User wants to evaluate the employment and earnings opportunities and risks of a credential/program within a geographic area.

User wants to compare two or more credentials/programs on employment and earnings opportunities and risks for similar learners within a geographic area.

User wants to evaluate potential return on investment and the ability to finance the attainment of credentials/completion of programs (e.g., repay loans) based on expected future earnings compared to expected credentialing/program costs

User wants to discover other credentials/programs that provide opportunities for employment and earnings in similar industries and occupations within a geographic area.

User wants to compare employment and earnings opportunities provided by other credentials/programs serving similar industries and occupations within a geographic area.

User wants to discover credentials/programs that provide employment opportunities in occupations important to employers within a geographic area

User wants to identify credentials/programs meeting employment and earnings criteria (e.g., lower earnings thresholds, reducing differences in outcomes) established in government policies and incentives (e.g., outcome-based funding)

User wants to identify credentials/ programs meeting employment and earnings criteria related to quality assurance policies (e.g., accreditors)

User wants to establish employment and earnings criteria to indicate quality, informed by comparative information in similar geographies, sectors, or roles

User wants to identify credentials/programs meeting employment and earning criteria for private funders (e.g., outcome-based funders)

Actor is currently participating in an internship while transitioning from the military. The actor is enrolled in a postsecondary program and would like to explore potential career options after she exits the military and completes her college program to earn her education and industry credentials.

This use case highlights where uneven access to tools and systems and opportunities to learn digital skills can result in learners not achieving career and educational goals in the use of their learner records.

Actor is currently participating in an internship while transitioning from the military. While enrolled in a postsecondary program she would like to explore potential career options after she exits the military and completes her college program to earn her education and industry credentials.

This use case highlights where uneven access to tools and systems and opportunities to learn digital skills can result in persons not achieving career and educational goals in the use of their learner records.

Actor just completed a college program and received an education certificate and industry certification and would like to apply for another education program in pursuing her career goals.

This use case highlights where uneven access to tools and systems and opportunities to learn digital skills can result in persons not achieving career and educational goals in the use of their learner records.

Actor recently completed a postsecondary program and received her education certificate and industry certification and would like to use her professional profile and learner records to apply for a job opening.

This use case highlights where uneven access to tools and systems and opportunities to learn digital skills can result in persons not achieving career and educational goals in the use of their learner records.

Actor is currently a worker in a job and would like to use her professional profile and learner records to apply for career advancement opportunities.

This use case highlights where uneven access to tools and systems and opportunities to learn digital skills can result in persons not achieving career and educational goals in the use of their learner records.

Ability to manage the application, screening and verification process for employment, military and education, training and credentialing opportunities.

Ability to identify the opportunities meeting user requirements (e.g., finding relevant jobs and education, training and credentialing opportunities and finding potential job applicants).

Ability to manage participation and completion of employment, military and education,training and credentialing opportunities including monitoring, assessing and documenting performance and updating learner records.

Ability to analyze large numbers of de-identified learner/worker records to improve and support other applications and get better results.