> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://academy.pentaho.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://academy.pentaho.com/partner-enablement-sandbox/the-practitioner-requirement.md). # The Practitioner Requirement Exactly what each partner engineer needs to hold, by role — and what they don't. Partner compliance is a single credential per engineer: **Level 1 — Practitioner** for the role they work in. This page sets out the requirement role by role and links to the course each engineer will take. *** ### The three roles in scope

Role	Who at your organisation	Practitioner course
PDI Developer	Implementation engineers who build and operate pipelines on customer projects	PDI Developer — Level 1 Practitioner 55 lessons · 7 modules · capstone pipeline · ~13 hrs
Administrator	DevOps and platform engineers who install, secure and run Pentaho Server for customers	Administrator — Level 1 Practitioner 39 lessons · 5 modules · capstone server build
Solution Architect	Pre-sales and senior delivery leads who scope, design and sign off solutions	Practitioner level not yet published — the Solution Architect path currently starts at Level 3. Added to the partner requirement once its Practitioner level ships.

{% hint style="info" icon="calendar" %} **Data Engineer and Analyst** join the partner requirement in Year Two, once those learning paths exist for the wider catalogue. Until then there is nothing for those roles to complete. {% endhint %} *** ### What Practitioner involves Every Practitioner course follows the same shape, whichever role: * **Hosted lab, included.** A ready-made environment opens from the voucher; the Lab Guide is embedded and starts automatically. * **Guided modules.** Around 13 hours of effort, self-paced — pause and resume, no continuous week to block out. * **A capstone project.** A real, deployable piece of work the engineer builds themselves and can show in a customer conversation. * **An open-book assessment.** No proctoring at this level. Pass it and the credential is issued immediately, valid for two years. *** ### What is *not* required {% hint style="success" icon="circle-check" %} **Only Practitioner is required.** Level 2 — Associate and Level 3 — Certified Professional are part of the open Academy catalogue and available to any of your engineers who want to pursue them, but they are never a condition of partner compliance. See [Beyond Practitioner](/partner-enablement-sandbox/beyond-practitioner.md). {% endhint %} Nothing here is a headcount threshold either. How many Practitioner-certified engineers your organisation needs, and whether that maps to a partner tier, is set by the Partner Programme — see Your Organisation's Standing. *** ### One credential per engineer, not per role An engineer holds Practitioner for the role they actually work in. Someone who both builds pipelines and runs the server for a small customer can hold both, but only one is required — pick the role that is most of their job. Next: how enrolment works --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://academy.pentaho.com/partner-enablement-sandbox/the-practitioner-requirement.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.