case studies

The Problem Isn’t the Exam — It’s Everything Around It

Most certification challenges don’t start on exam day.

They start earlier—during item development, workflow management, and publishing—long before a candidate ever clicks “Start Exam.”

Across a range of credentialing organizations—from large-scale programs delivering 25,000–100,000+ exams annually, alongside multi-program environments supporting 5–10+ certification programs at once—teams were navigating similar challenges:

• Disconnected systems for item banking, publishing, and delivery
• Manual workflows stretched across SMEs, editors, psychometricians, and administrators
• Limited visibility into candidate progress and exam readiness
• Delivery issues that compounded already complex operations

Even when individual pieces worked, the overall process didn’t hold together.

The Breaking Point: When “Good Enough” Stops Working

For some organizations, the strain went beyond inefficiency.

• Candidates struggled to access exams due to unreliable delivery or scheduling limitations
• Support requests were delayed—or redirected—leaving internal teams to troubleshoot issues they couldn’t control
• Online proctoring was, in some cases, removed entirely due to poor candidate experience

For teams already managing lean resources, volunteer contributors, and growing expectations, the model became unsustainable.

“The challenge wasn’t one single issue; it was how many moving parts we were managing across systems that didn’t always work together.”

When Systems Don’t Talk, People Compensate

In the absence of connected systems, internal teams became the glue holding everything together.

• Editors manually worked around formatting and workflow limitations
• Psychometric and data teams built scripts or made repeated API/data pulls to access what they needed
• Administrative teams tracked candidate status across spreadsheets and systems
• IT teams maintained integrations that weren’t designed to scale

In some environments, teams were managing hundreds to thousands of items in active development at any given time. That level of scale introduced complexity across workflows, where even routine processes like candidate intake or publishing required multiple handoffs, slowing progress and increasing the risk of error.

The result:

A system that functioned, but only through constant manual effort.

What Today’s Certification Programs Actually Need

Across organizations—regardless of size, structure, or program complexity—priorities aligned:

• Flexible item banking that supports real-world, scenario-based content
• Structured, transparent workflows across distributed contributors
• Reliable publishing that integrates with delivery providers
• Accessible, consistent testing experiences (in-person and remote)
• Automation that removes repetitive administrative work
• A partner who understands the full lifecycle—not just one piece of it

But knowing what’s needed—and delivering on it—are two very different things.

A Shift in Approach: From Fragmented Tools to Connected Ecosystems

Rather than optimizing individual steps, organizations began focusing on something bigger:

Connecting the entire assessment lifecycle.

Building Smarter Test Foundations with Pro!

Teams needed more than a place to store items—they needed systems that reflect how assessments are actually built:

• Support for passage-based and multi-part content
• Iterative workflows across drafting, editing, and review
• Flexibility to adapt to program-specific processes

For more advanced teams, API access enabled direct interaction with item bank data, allowing psychometricians and technical teams to analyze, extract, and operationalize content more efficiently.

Workflows That Reflect How Teams Actually Work

Certification programs aren’t linear—they’re collaborative.

With improved workflow structure and capabilities:

• SMEs, editors, and committees moved content more efficiently
• Assignment and review processes became more structured and transparent
• Teams gained real-time visibility into content status

“Before, we were constantly chasing updates and piecing things together. Now, we can actually see where everything stands and move work forward.”

For Strasz’s client organizations, this clarity has made a meaningful difference.

Instead of chasing updates, teams could focus on progress.

Publishing Without Bottlenecks

Publishing is one of the most complex—and critical—steps in the lifecycle.

For some large-scale programs, the ability to reliably publish into high-volume delivery environments was a non-negotiable requirement when selecting a partner. And for these high-volume programs, even small inefficiencies at scale—across thousands of items or multiple exam forms per cycle—created downstream risk.

With improved publishing workflows:

• Content moved more predictably from item bank to delivery
• Integration with providers like Pearson became more seamless
• Teams reduced last-minute risk and rework

When publishing works, everything downstream becomes more predictable—and easier to manage.

When it doesn’t, everything quickly begins to break down.

Delivery That Finally Delivered

Once upstream processes stabilized, something important happened:

Delivery stopped being the problem.

• Online proctoring became viable—and in many cases preferred—again
• Candidates received proactive communication before exam day
• Scheduling and access became more consistent and predictable

For some programs, improving delivery reliability meant supporting candidates across multiple geographic regions and time zones, without adding administrative burden.

What Actually Changed

As organizations moved away from disconnected systems and manual workarounds, their programs began to operate differently, not just in how systems performed, but in how teams worked day to day.

Processes that once required multiple handoffs began to move more seamlessly from one stage to the next. Teams no longer needed to bridge gaps between item development, publishing, and delivery. Instead, workflows became more connected, reducing friction and improving continuity across the assessment lifecycle.

Manual effort was one of the most immediate areas of improvement. In some cases, automating processes like candidate intake eliminated entire steps from the workflow—reducing administrative effort by an estimated 25–40% and freeing teams to focus on higher-value work.

Support experiences also shifted meaningfully. What had previously taken days—or longer—to resolve could now often be addressed within hours. Faster response times reduced escalations and minimized the need for internal troubleshooting, particularly for issues outside a team’s control.

Visibility improved across the board. With more consistent reporting and clearer tracking of candidate progress, teams were able to move from reactive follow-up to more proactive engagement, helping candidates stay on track while reducing internal coordination effort.

For more technically advanced teams, direct access to data through APIs created new efficiencies. Instead of manually pulling or reconstructing information, teams could work more dynamically with their data, supporting analysis, reporting, and decision-making in ways that weren’t previously possible.

Taken together, these changes didn’t just improve individual steps, they reshaped how the entire system functioned.

“The biggest shift wasn’t one feature. It was finally having a system we could rely on instead of work around.”

The Human Impact: What It Feels Like Now

The biggest transformation wasn’t just technical, it was experiential.

As systems became more reliable and workflows more connected, teams began to experience their work differently:

• “Editors spend less time troubleshooting and more time refining content”
• “Psychometricians access and analyze data more efficiently”
• “Administrative teams no longer chase candidate information across systems”
• “Leadership has renewed confidence in the integrity and reliability of their programs”

And candidates?

They experience a more consistent, predictable path through the certification process, one that better aligns with the expectations of a modern credentialing program.

Progress Over Perfection

Transformation doesn’t happen overnight.

• Some teams need time to adapt to new ways of working
• Some processes require rethinking
• And evolving platforms will always introduce change

But the difference is in how those challenges are handled:

With responsiveness.

With transparency.

And with a shared commitment to continuous improvement.

What’s Next: From Stability to Innovation

With a stronger foundation in place, organizations are now looking ahead:

• Exploring AI-assisted item development to support SME workflows
• Piloting alternative and next-generation item types
• Expanding integrations across systems
• Managing increasing content volume with greater efficiency

The conversation has shifted.

From: How do we fix this?

To: What can we build next?

The Bottom Line: Certification Is a System, Not a Series of Steps

The future of certification isn’t about one tool or one phase.

It’s about how everything works together.

When Your Systems Don’t Connect, Your Team Pays the Price

Disconnected workflows. Manual processes. Candidate friction.

If your team is navigating challenges like these, you’re not alone, and you don’t have to solve them in isolation.

Let’s talk about how Pro! can help your program can work better—end to end:

• Streamline disconnected systems
• Reduce manual effort across your workflows
• Deliver a more reliable, candidate-ready experience

Schedule a Conversation or Request a Demo

How Smithbucklin simplified operations, strengthened communication, and improved exam delivery across 9+ certification programs.

Background: Managing Multiple Certification Programs Without Losing Momentum

At Smithbucklin, no two certification programs are exactly alike. Supporting organizations across healthcare, trade associations, and technical industries, the team operates as an extension of their clients, overseeing everything from exam development and psychometrics to delivery and security.

For Certification Manager and Psychometrician Yenny Caceres, that means managing multiple certification programs at once, each with its own demands, timelines, and stakeholders.

It’s rewarding work, but without the right systems and support, even small inefficiencies can quickly multiply.

The Challenge: When Fragmented Support Slows Down Critical Work

Before partnering with Strasz Assessment Systems (Strasz), vendor relationships often felt reactive and transactional.

When issues came up, resolution wasn’t always immediate. Communication gaps meant time spent following up, escalating, and waiting—time that could have been spent supporting programs.

“In a lot of cases, the relationship felt very transactional rather than collaborative… we were often chasing people down for answers.”

For a team managing multiple programs, that friction added up quickly.

At the same time, many of the programs Smithbucklin supports are small- to mid-volume, making it difficult to access high-quality test delivery options without meeting the volume requirements of larger vendors.

The Solution: A Partner That Operates Like Part of the Team

Working with Strasz introduced a different kind of relationship—one built on responsiveness, transparency, and shared ownership of outcomes.

Instead of waiting for problems to surface, the Strasz team stays closely connected to day-to-day operations—flagging issues early, resolving them quickly, and keeping programs moving forward.

“It feels like someone is looking out for our programs rather than only stepping in when something has already gone wrong.”

That shift—from reactive support to proactive partnership—has made a measurable difference.

The Experience: Clarity, Consistency, and Control in Daily Operations

With structured weekly reporting and ongoing communication, Smithbucklin now has a clear, real-time view into each program’s progress.

From candidate scheduling to exam completion, the team can quickly identify who needs follow-up and where attention is required, without digging through systems or chasing updates.

“Those reports make it much easier to stay organized and make sure candidates are progressing through the process.”

Just as importantly, the technology supporting that work feels accessible.

The Pro! Item Banking System gives both staff and volunteers the ability to work directly in the platform—collaborating on item development, maintaining consistency, and managing workflows without unnecessary complexity.

“Pro! is much more user-friendly… I can go in and do the work myself without hitting constant barriers.”

The Impact: Expanding Access Without Adding Operational Burden

For smaller certification programs, flexibility matters.

Strasz’s delivery model, combined with its partnership with Pearson Professional Assessments, makes it possible to offer high-quality, widely recognized testing experiences without the constraints of large-scale volume requirements.

That means Smithbucklin can support a broader range of programs while still delivering a consistent, trusted candidate experience.

The Result: Less Time Managing Processes, More Time Supporting Programs

The impact of the partnership is felt across every level of the organization.

Administrative teams spend less time tracking down information. Program managers stay better organized. Psychometric work becomes more efficient and less interrupted.

“The proactive communication, the weekly reporting, and the usability of the platform have made managing certification programs much smoother.”

The result is not just improved efficiency, but greater confidence in the process itself.

“The consistency and reliability of the Strasz team has created a strong sense of trust.”

The impact is clear:

Looking Ahead: A Partnership Built for What’s Next

As certification programs continue to evolve, through remote delivery, AI, and changing candidate expectations, Smithbucklin values having a partner that is evolving alongside them.

With early success in remote proctoring and an eye toward future innovation, the foundation is already in place for what comes next.

“It feels like Strasz is paying attention to where the industry is heading and continuing to move in the right direction.”

Closing Reflection: A Partnership That Earns Trust

Today, Strasz is more than a vendor—it’s a trusted extension of the team.

“Whenever clients ask me for recommendations for testing vendors, Strasz is always at the top of the list.” —Yenny Caceres, Certification Manager and Psychometrician, Smithbucklin

And for organizations managing complex certification programs, that kind of trust makes all the difference.

Ready to Simplify Your Certification Program?

Smithbucklin is one example of how Strasz Assessment Systems helps organizations streamline operations, improve visibility, and deliver high-quality exam experiences—without adding complexity.

Let’s talk about what’s possible for your program.

Schedule a Conversation or Request a Demo