Leading SAFe® 5.1 Training (SAFe® Agilist Certification)

SAFe® consists of different roles at 4 levels of the organization. The responsibilities of the Scaled Agile (SAFe®) roles are as follows.

Team Level:

The roles at this level synchronize and coordinate with the team level events. This helps Agile teams develop and deliver a value in the context of the Agile Release Train (ART). The team level roles include-

• Agile Team- A cross-functional team which includes Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Dev Team.
• Development Team- A cross-functional team which includes testers, developers, and other specialists, delivers a vertical slice of functionality.
• Product Owner- Responsible for prioritizing the blog and defining user stories.
• Scrum Master- An Agile Team coach and servant leader who helps the team to facilitate team events, removes impediments and fosters an environment for high-performing teams.

Program Level:

The roles at the Program level keep the team aligned to a project goal and support the ARTs with the necessary governance. The roles include-

• System Engineer- An individual that applies system thinking in the project
• Product Management- They are responsible for the program backlog and work with the customers and product owners to understand the requirements.
• Release Train Engineer- A chief Scrum Master and a servant leader who facilitates optimizing the flow of value using different mechanisms.
• Business Owner- A small group of stakeholders who have the technical responsibility for ROI. 

Large Solution Level:

The roles at the Large solution level coordinate multiple supplier and ARTs and provide the required governance. The roles include-

• Customer- The buyer of every solution.
• Solution Architect/Engineering- A small team or an individual that defines a common architectural and technical vision for the solution under development.
• Solution Management- Work with customers in order to understand their needs.
• Solution Train Engineer- A coach and servant leader who guides and facilitates the suppliers and ARTs.
• Supplier- An internal or external organization that builds and delivers the components, services, or subsystems.

Portfolio Level:

The roles at the Portfolio level coordinate at the multiple stream level and provide the highest level of governance and accountability.

• Lean-Portfolio Management- Represents the individuals with the highest level of decision making and financial accountability.
• Epic Owners- Coordinate portfolio epics via the portfolio Kanban systems
• Enterprise Architect- Optimizes portfolio outcomes by providing the strategic technical direction.

Other supporting Roles:

• System team- Helps in creating and using the Agile development environment.
• Lean User Experience (Lean UX)- A process, culture, and mindset that embraces Lean-Agile methods.
• Lean-Agile Leaders- Responsible for the successful adoption of SAFe®.

Scaled Agile is the certifying body for the Scaled Agile Framework or SAFe. It is a professional certification program that assesses the knowledge, skills, and mindset of professionals. Here are the various SAFe Certifications available from Scaled Agile:

• Certified SAFe Agile Product Manager

This certification combines the values and principles of Lean-Agile with design thinking for creating viable, sustainable, feasible, and desirable solutions and products. For this certification, you must have the following prerequisites:

• Familiarity with the principles and practices of Agile
• Completed at least one SAFe course
• Background in solution or product management
• Experience being a business owner, product marketer, product manager, or product owner
• Certified SAFe Lean Portfolio Manager

These professionals understand how to establish a strategy and investment fund, apply Lean governance and Agile portfolio operation, and build a plan for the implementation of Lean Portfolio Management. Here are the prerequisites for this certification:

• An understanding of SAFe, strategy and funding models
• Knowledge of value stream organization
• Should have attended the Lean Portfolio Management course
• Certified SAFe Architect

These professionals are a change agent and an effective leader who delivers the Agile Architecture for enabling the creation of business value. The prerequisites for this program are:

• Knowledge of the application of Lean-Agile principles
• Should have attended the SAFe for Architects course
• Certified SAFe Agile Software Engineer

These professionals are responsible for applying test-first principles so that they can create alignment between requirements and test, communicate with Agile modelling, apply Lean-Agile principles, build applications with design and code quality, etc. You must satisfy the following requirements for this program:

• Understand the SAFe framework
• Have a background in development, engineering, quality assurance or managing development.
• Should have attended the SAFe 5 Agile Software Engineering course
• Certified SAFe Government Practitioner

This program is for the SAFe change agent who uses the principles and practices of SAFe to execute and release value through Agile Release Trainings (ARTs) while leading a Lean-Agile transformation. The prerequisites for this certification are:

• Foundational understanding of SAFe principles, House of Lean, and Agile Manifesto.
• Understanding of the lifecycle of government technology programs.
• Should have attended the SAFe Government course.
• Certified SAFe DevOps Practitioner

This is a SAFe professional who improves the flow of value throughout the Continuous Delivery Pipeline - from idea to the operational solution. Here are the prerequisites for this certification program:

• Experience working in operations or development environment
• Should have attended the SAFe 5 DevOps Practitioner course
• Certified SAFe Program Consultant

These professionals are SAFe change agents leading all organizational levels through the Lean-Agile transformation by coaching, training, mentoring, and facilitation. The certification has the following requirements:

• Should possess facilitation, time and classroom management skills
• Sufficient Agile experience to be able to teach it to beginners
• Technical skills to work with the workflows and processes
• Should have attended the Implementing SAFe course
• Certified SAFe Release Train Engineer 
  

These are coaching professionals and program servant leaders who drive end-to-end delivery of value in a value stream or a single program of a Lean-Agile enterprise. Prerequisites for this program are as follows:

• Skills for cross-team communication
• Working knowledge of team dynamics
• Knows how to use SAFe principles in action and can coach
• Launch or participate in at least one Program Increment (PI) or ART
• Minimum 3 months of hands-on, real-world experience as an RTE
• Attend the SAFe Release Train Engineer Course
• Certified SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager
  

This SAFe professional works with development organizations and customers to identify and prioritize requirements. The prerequisites for this certification program are:

• Experience in Agile and Lean
• Should have attended the SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager course
• Certified SAFe Advanced Scrum Master

These professionals are Scrum Masters who are responsible for improving the results of the team by facilitating relentless improvement and cross-team interactions. Here are the prerequisites for this certification program:

• Hands-on experience in a Lean-Agile environment
• Should have attended the SAFe Advanced Scrum Master course
• Certified SAFe Scrum Master 

These are SAFe Scrum Master Professionals who integrate the Scrum practices into an organization. Here are the requirements for this certification program:

• Hands-on, real-world experience working in an Agile-Lean environment
• Should have attended the SAFe Scrum Master course
• Certified SAFe Practitioner

They are SAFe team members responsible to use Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), and Kanban in a SAFe environment. Here are the prerequisites:

• Familiarity with Scrum, XP, Kanban, concepts, and principles of Agile
• Working knowledge of hardware and software development process
• Should have attended the SAFe for Teams course
• Certified SAFe Agilist

These are SAFe enterprise leadership professionals who are a part of the Lean-Agile transformation. Prerequisites for this certification are:

• Experience in Scrum
• At least 5 years of experience in software development, testing, product or project management, and business analysis
• Should have attended the Leading SAFe course

Certified SAFe professionals are recognized globally for their knowledge of SAFe. Digital badges. Through these digital badges, they can share their online verifiable certifications online on digital signatures, social media sites, and email signatures. The badges include metadata describing the qualifications of a Certified SAFe professional.

Scaled Agile is partnered with Acclaim for providing digital versions of SAFe certifications. Once the individual has earned their SAFe certification and set their Community Platform privacy reference for sharing their data with Acclaim, they will receive an email from Acclaim to claim their digital badge. All you have to do for activating the digital badge is click the link present in the email, make an account on the Acclaim, claim the badge, and share it through email or social media.

There are no eligibility requirements for the Leading SAFe course. However, basic experience is recommended in software development and testing, product or project management, business analysis, and Scrum before you start the course. The course is created for professionals who want to better execute their roles in the SAFe organization. Here is the target audience for the Leading SAFe course:

• Leaders and Executives (Directors, Managers, VPs, CIOs, etc.)
• Experienced testers who want to get a better understanding of their roles
• Project and Program Managers
• QA, Development, and Infrastructure Management
• Product Line Management
• Process leads and PMOs
• System, Solutions, and Enterprise Architects

Scaled Agile announced a new version of the Scaled Agile Framework, SAFe 5.0 at this year’s Global SAFe summit. The new version has a simple model presentation and emphasized on the business agility. It also focuses on customer-centricity and expanding the aspect of portfolio management. Here are some more changes made in the SAFe 5.0:

• Business Agility at the forefront
• New metric in the framework - Business Agility Assessment
• Two new competencies - Organizational Agility and Continuous Learning culture
• New level in SAFe (Essential SAFe) and two competencies have been redefined (Enterprise Solution Delivery and Agile Product Delivery)
• Renewed emphasis on the Lean Portfolio Management’s Core Competency
• New themes - Design thinking and Customer Centricity
• New Principle - Organize around the value

The SAFe Implementation Roadmap provides a strategy and a set of activities that can help in implementing SAFe successfully. Achieving the benefits of Lean/Agile development and business agility at scale takes a lot of effort. Before you can get the rewards of SAFe, your organization needs to embrace the Lean/Agile mindset and implement the Lean/Agile principles. And even though there are no perfect step-by-step instructions for implementation, the following 12 steps can help in getting the best results to the businesses:

1. Recognize the tipping point
   Organizations must recognize once they have reached their tipping point, a point at which the only reasonable way forward is toward success. The reason for change will get so compelling that resisting it will be unacceptable
2. Train Lean-Agile Change Agents
   All the Lean-Agile change agents will be trained as the Certified SAFe Program Consultants who can offer the knowledge and horsepower to the business for implementing the change. 
3. Train executives, managers, and leaders
   Implementing any change requires strong leadership. In the case of SAFe, some leaders will provide ongoing and direct sponsorship for the change as participants in the LACE (Lean-Agile Center of Excellence). Some others will be involved with implementing SAFe or leading, influencing, and managing the transformation. 
4. Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence
   LACE is a team of people who are dedicated to the implementation of SAFe in the organization. This is among the key differences between companies that are committed to the practices of Lean-Agile and those who are practicing Agile just for the purpose of the name.
5. Identify Value Streams and ARTs
   This requires an in-depth understanding of the organizational model that will be facilitating the flow of value through functional silos, boundaries, and activities.
6. Create the Implementation Plan
   The newly trained Lean-Agile leaders will apply their new knowledge for identifying the strategies to implement the framework. This leads to the creation of the implementation plan. 
7. Prepare for ART Launch
   This includes executing the activities required for the successful ART launch. SAFe Program Consultants will lead this implementation. 
8. Train teams and launch the ART
   This includes focusing on the Agile teams who will be creating the system needed by the organization.  
9. Coach ART Execution
   By now, organizations will have made an investment in training stakeholders and developing SPC change agents in the new working ways. Now the time is for the Lean-Agile leaders to focus on what actually matters. This will start with ART-level and team-level coaching.
10. Launch more ARTs and Value Streams
    This stage involves moving at an accelerated speed. The enterprise will launch more ARTs and value streams for consolidating gains and producing more change. The organization will be able to realize the complete benefits of SAFe. 
11. Extend to the Portfolio
    With the success of the ARTs and value streams, the organization will be exposed to traditional and phase-gated processes that impede performance. This will put pressure on the portfolio triggering the need for more changes that can improve strategic flow.
12. Accelerate
    This is the start of another journey that is based on relentless improvement. The emerging Lean enterprise will now have to start to create a new operating culture and model, one where the practices and principles of Lean and Agile are the norms. 

While there is no eligibility criterion for attending the workshop, participants who wish to take the SAFe® Agilist exam must have at least:

• 5+ years of experience in software development, testing, business analysis, product or project management
• Experience in Scrum

Our SAFe® instructors have the practical understanding of how the framework is implemented within complex organizations as they have hands-on experience working in enterprises that are actively implementing Scaled Agile Framework in their pursuit of business agility. They provide participants with an exceptional training experience by combining leading-edge industry expertise with proven educational training methods. You will hugely benefit from their professional expertise and industrial experience. 

No, there is no such Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) online training provided. The SAFe® 5 Agilist Certification requires in-depth knowledge of the SAFe® framework which you get from our certified experts who lead the workshop.

The Leading SAFe® 5 exam is really tough and if you lack experience in SAFe® implementation or Scrum then it becomes very difficult to crack the exam. It is highly recommended to practice SAFe® Agilist certification exam sample questions to pass the exam on your first attempt. You can take mock tests for practice purposes that have the same level of difficulty.

Follow the steps below to access your course exam:

• You are required to attend a Leading SAFe® 5.0 course after which you will receive an e-mail containing your login credentials to the SAFe® Community Platform
• Log-in to your Community profile
• Click the Learning tab in the top navigation menu
• Go to the In Progress section
• Select the Learning Plan tile for your course
• Complete the feedback survey
• Scroll to the bottom of the plan to locate the exam, then click the blue Launch button

Candidates who have achieved 77% passing score (35/45) in the certification exam will receive the SAFe® Agilist Certification from Scaled Agile.

Follow the steps below to obtain your certificate on successful completion of your exam:

• Login and click on My Profile on the upper-right bar
• In the box at the right hand of My Profile, go to Manage Profile
• Scroll down to Content & Features and choose Professional Development
• Choose and click on the Certifications/Programs tab
• Click on the certificate icon to the left of "Certification Name"
• Once you have accessed your certificate, you can download and print it.

Holding the SAFe® Agilist certification shows your proficiency in implementing lean thinking,  SAFe® Framework, and Product development flow principles in an organizational context. Our two-day Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) training course gives you practical experience of applying Scaled Agile Framework in large enterprises which is delivered by a SAFe® Program Consultant, authorized by Scaled Agile, Inc.

While it is easy to apply Lean/Agile principles at the team or department level, replicating these benefits at the enterprise level is often challenging due to the scale of the change. Organizations, therefore, rely on the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) that helps seamlessly carry out large-scale, multi-team transformations. SAFe® 5 Agilists are in much demand for their expertise in leading this change through carefully thought of program releases and identifying roles and structures required to scale Agile to the program level.

Scaled Agile, Inc. is the provider of SAFe® which is one of the best-known frameworks for enterprise agility. SAFe® was initially released in 2011 by Dean Leffingwell as a knowledge base for enterprises to adopt Agile. It is the leading provider of SAFe® courses for implementing Agile practices at enterprise level. The SAFe® Agilist (SA) Certification is given to those who have undertaken the SAFe® 5 Agilist Certification Exam and received the passing score.

The average salary of a Scaled Agile Certified SAFe® Agilist (SA) professional is $ 117,647 per year. 

The Scaled Agile Framework certification cost is included in the SAFe® Agilist course fee.

Step  1: Register for a 2-day course
Attend 14-16 hours of training delivered by an authorized training partner.    

Step 2: Get access to the exam

• On successful completion of 2 days of training, you will be receiving the exam information directly from Scaled Agile.
• Log in and you are ready to take the exam.

Step 3: Take the exam

• 1.5-hour online test
• 45 MCQs
• Closed-book exam

Step 4: Pass the exam

Score a minimum of 77% (35 out of 45) to pass the SAFe®️ Agilist test.

Step 5: Get SAFe®️ Agilist Certification

Scaled Agile, Inc will dispatch your certificate within 5-7 business days with a 1-year membership after passing the exam.

Ready to take up the certification? Click here

SAFe® Agilist certification renewal needs to be done every 1 year. You need to pay $100 to extend the credential for a further 1 year from the date of your current expiration.

PDUs and SEUs are credits awarded by the Project Management Institute and Scrum Alliance respectively. They recognize your dedication to the Project Management and the Agile world through the award of credits for every educational effort you make throughout your career. Scrum Alliance members who hold a credential from Scrum Alliance need to earn SEUs to get recertified every two years. Every PMI® certification, except the CAPM®, requires you to earn a specific number of PDUs per three-year certification cycle in order to maintain your credentials.

Yes, you will get 16 PDUs and 16 SEUs toward your continuing education requirements with the Project Management Institute (PMI)® for PMP® and PMI-ACP® certifications.