Functional Deployment can be thought of a logical progression from the v8.x Administrator exam and I would not recommend someone take the V8.x administrator exam currently. The areas of focus are different though. I would review IBM Certified Maximo Manage v9.0 Functional Deployment - Professional to get an idea of the topics. Compared to IBM Certified Administrator - Maximo Manage v8.x, you will see various differences.
Certifications are always being evaluated for whether they need updated and/or new ones need to be added. Some of this is simply changes to the product require updating the questions. You don't want to quiz someone where the provided answer is no longer correct in the latest versions for example. Some of this is evaluating what knowledge you are testing for in that area. For example, a previous version of the test potentially might have focused too much or too little in the areas we would expect someone with this certification to be proficient in. Integrations are a good example where there are topics that are more geared towards developers that we wouldn't want to test an administrator on but also topics that an administrator should be expected to know.
And regarding new ones being added, Work Management is a good example of that. This is something functional users, consultants, administrators, etc. could strive for and is an important topic in Maximo. The audience is larger, and the area of focus is narrower, so it deserves its own certification path. I could see other ones (asset, inventory, etc.) being incorporated in the future. Ideally, a developer focused one as well. The specialty certifications are a little shorter and cheaper for customers to take.
Finally, building a certification takes months. With Maximo releasing updates annually now, it is not feasible to update the exam every year. I would expect not expect to see the 9.0 ones get replaced with 9.1 versions. New certifications may get added though
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Steven Shull
Naviam
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