IDEAlliance and The International Cooperation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization announced that the JDF Expert Certification Training Program content has been moved to the CIP4 website and is now available to the general public free of charge.

The JDF Expert Certificate program is a 15-part training program designed to teach anyone interested in process automation the fundamentals of using the Job Definition Format (JDF) in print automation. Those interested in being certified by IDEAlliance as a JDF Expert may register for the exam on the IDEAlliance website.

Although programmers, developers and IT specialists may benefit from the program, the program is designed so that printers, educators, students, consultants and other non-programmers can readily learn the basics of JDF. The program is appropriate for printing professionals that are responsible for managing automation implementation programs at printing companies, publishing companies, or at prepress or premedia shops.

Students begin with the fundamentals of reading XML, learn how JDF is structured, and then learn how JDF is applied to common automation tasks. Furthermore, the program includes summaries of changes to JDF in version 1.3 and 1.4.

Individuals that want to become certified as JDF Experts can opt to take a certification exam through IDEAlliance for a nominal fee. Those who pass the JDF Expert Certification exam are posted in the IDEAlliance Official Directory of Certified Industry Professionals as well as the CIP4 Certified JDF Experts list. There are over 70 JDF Certified Experts from 17 countries. Furthermore, Certified JDF Experts are issued the JDF Expert logo for use on business cards, stationary, online and in marketing materials. The JDF Expert Certificate Training series can now be found at www.cip4.org/jdfexpertwebinars/, where information is also available on the JDF Expert Certificate exam.