Maintain Your APICS Certification

Certification Maintenance Requirements

To keep your APICS certification valid, you must earn 75 professional development maintenance points every five years (100 points for APICS Fellows).

Maintenance can be fulfilled with activities you’re already doing to expand your supply chain knowledge and stay up to date on the latest supply chain trends. ASCM membership gives you six maintenance points a year – that’s 30 of your required 75 points just for being an ASCM Member.

APICS Maintenance Handbook

Submit your maintenance points now on the Maintenance Application

Overview of Maintenance Requirements

Different certifications have different requirements.

If you do not maintain your certification and it suspends or expires, you no longer hold the designation and cannot claim the certification on your resume, LinkedIn, or anywhere else.

Find the specific requirements for your certification below.

CPIM, CSCP, CLTD

You must earn a total of 75 professional development points every five years
Certifications not maintained in five years will be suspended
With each year your certification is suspended, you are required to submit 15 additional professional development points per year to reinstate your certification
Certifications not reinstated after five years of suspension will expire and will require you to retake and pass your exams
Once certification exams are passed, expired certifications will be reinstated

CPIM-F, CSCP-F, CLTD-F

You must earn a total of 100 professional development points every five years
Certifications not maintained in five years will be suspended
With each year your certification is suspended, you are required to submit 20 additional professional development points per year to reinstate your certification
Certifications not reinstated after five years of suspension will expire and will require you to retake and pass your exams as well as resubmit a Fellows application
Once certification exams are passed, expired certifications will be reinstated

CTL and PLS

Both the CTL and PLS certifications are discontinued. Maintenance is no longer required for either certification. All current and new CTL and PLS certifications earned prior to January 1, 2016, are lifelong certifications and will no longer expire.

Submitting Your APICS Maintenance Points in 5 Easy Steps

Tracking and submitting your certification maintenance points is easy. You can access your maintenance application as soon as 30 days after earning the certification or at any point during your maintenance cycle to stay up to date and keep your certification active. However, you must accumulate the full points needed to maintain your certification before submitting the maintenance application. To submit your maintenance application:

Log in to My Account
Find the designation you need to maintain
Access the online maintenance application (accessible 30 days after you obtain your certification)
Record the number of points you have earned in each category
Pay the fee and submit your application

To help us uphold the highest standards of quality and excellence, we perform random audits of certification maintenance applications. Our Maintenance Audit Guidelines will assist you with understanding audit documentation requirements.

Achieving Maintenance Points

Candidates can receive maintenance points by presenting, attending activities, or proving involvement in organizations related to industry-specific topics.

Download our Eligible Maintenance Activities PDF for a complete list.

ASCM Membership

ASCM PLUS and CORE members earn six maintenance points a year – that’s 30 of your required 75 points just for being an ASCM member. Not a member? Join today!

ASCM Connect

Attend the annual ASCM conference – ASCM Connect – to earn up to 24 maintenance points. This three-day event takes a deep dive into best-in-class supply chain insights and solutions. Learn from inspiring industry leaders and connect with peers through new and innovative networking opportunities.

Qualifying Webinars

We’ve made it easy for you to earn points for viewing qualified webinars. Choose from the two playlists below to select from a variety of webinars that qualify for one point per hour viewed toward your certification maintenance.

Contribute to ASCM Content

Writing an article for SCM Now magazine or the ASCM Insights blog entitles you to 5 certification maintenance points, respectively. Learn more at ascm.org/editorial.

Ineligible Activities

The following activities are ineligible for earning professional development points to maintain your APICS certification:

Any class on presentation skills, public speaking, best teaching practices, or prerequisites and basic requirements for business classes
Non-APICS exams
Managing a booth at a conference
Reading websites
Basic computer courses
MS Suite courses

Verifying Your APICS Credentials

The online certification verification tool provides prospective employers and other stakeholders with a simple, easy way to verify any certification status.

If you are verifying your own credentials, you can view a detailed report through My Account.

If you have any additional questions regarding the maintenance program, please contact Customer Relations at 1.800.444.2742 or 1.773.867.1777 or email support@ascm.org.