04-February-13

To help credentialing agencies understand the selection process and criteria used for including credentials on COOL, we've added a new Agency Resources page. You can find a link to the page on the top navigation bar. To make room up there, we removed the Contact Us link from the top navigation, but you can still find it in the footer of each page.

01-October-12

What's new? What isn't new? You may have noticed COOL looks different. Don't worry, the same great information you have come to rely on is still there, it's just been repackaged for you. The new COOL has been designed to be easier to use and understand, and to make it easier to get at just the information you want.

For an explanation of the new site's features, see Check Out the New COOL!, also available in the top banner of the home page. (The home page top banner is now a slide show; just wait for the Check Out the New COOL slide to display, or use the forward/back graphics to get to it. You can also click on the dots below the banner to switch between them.)

The occupational equivalents listed on COOL summary pages now include icons indicating Bright Outlook and Green occupations. What does that mean? Glad you asked.

Green occupations have this leaf icon next to them. The icon means that the occupation could likely change as a result of the "green economy." This means green economy activities and technologies are increasing the demand for these occupations, shaping the work and worker requirements needed for the occupation, or generating new and emerging occupations.

Bright outlook occupations have this sun icon next to them. Bright outlook occupations are expected to grow rapidly in the next several years, will have large numbers of job openings, or are new and emerging occupations.

Take a look at the Occupational Equivalents tabs on your summary page and check out the new icons!

Sharp-eyed Sailors may have noticed a new listing in the Rating and Collateral Duty drop-down lists on the Enlisted search page: PACT. Professional Apprenticeship Career Tracks (PACT) is a program designed for enlisted Sailors to enter into an apprenticeship program that provides apprentice-level formal training and on-the-job training that leads to a permanent Rate/Career field within two years. It is a great program for people who are not sure what career field interests them when they are enlisting. Every rating belongs to one of the Career Track programs and has credentials related to them. The PACT programs are:

• Surface/Seaman Professional Apprenticeship Track
• Aviation/Airman Professional Apprenticeship Track
• Engineering/Fireman Professional Apprenticeship Track

To find out more information about what is available in each specific PACT Track and the Certifications for which you may qualify, see the PACT page here on Navy COOL.

Now go be the leader of your "PACT" and find out which certifications are available for you!

02-October-11

Yet ANOTHER great improvement to COOL! Now, every credential on the site has either a credential analysis page or a new credential snapshot page. Gone are the days of being sent off to fend for yourself on a credentialing agency website to learn about a credential. You can now get what you need right here in an easy to use, consistent format that makes learning about and comparing credentials easier than ever, so you can stay COOL.

04-August-11

To help clarify and highlight the eligibility requirements for exam and exam reimbursement vouchers, we've added new "Eligibility Tools" to the Costs & Resources page. These tools ask you to check off each eligibility requirement before downloading the request forms, to help you make sure you're good to go for your voucher request.

Check out the new tools on the Costs & Resources page.

01-July-11

Check out the Media Page for the latest COOL development: QR codes. These things look like a patch of digital camo, but they actually encode information. They're mainly used to be scanned with smart phones (free apps are available for major phone operating systems). When you scan a QR code, the information comes up on the screen so you don't have to type it in. For example, the QR code to the right encodes Navy COOL's URL.

The code has already been incorporated into two of the COOL posters, and you can look forward to seeing it on more COOL publications in the future. Happy decoding!

01-June-11

Have you looked at your rating summary page lately? We've added new tabs to better organize and present information to you. The tabs organize credential information to better meet your interests (for example, separating out credentials eligible for Navy COOL vouchers), and to make it easier to see and access the different groups of credentials. The new tabs are just part of many coming improvements so COOL can serve you better.

01-April-11

Detailed Credential Descriptions on Summary Pages

Thanks to your feedback, we've been making improvements. Up this month is "hover descriptions." Now, for all credentials shown on rating, job and collateral duty/assignment pages, hover your cursor over the credential name to see a detailed description. The descriptions are also available on the "reverse search" pages. Go hover around your favorite summary page, and see what there is to see!

01-March-11

New "Has Analysis" Icon Replaces Stair icons

To make the information about credentials on the rating summary pages more straight forward, we have replaced the four stair icons with a new "Has Analysis" magnifying glass icon: . When you see this icon to the left of a credential name, you know that credential has had its requirements analyzed against Navy training. Click the credential name to go to an analysis page to see in detail how your training matches up to the credential requirements.

01-Aug-10

MA Learning and Development Roadmaps (LaDR)

Currently, Learning and Development Roadmaps are being developed for all enlisted ratings. As these roadmaps are approved, Navy COOL will begin to display new pay grade icons beside those credentials that apply to a particular rating's LaDR.

For credentials shown on COOL with a LaDR paygrade icon, the credential is recommended for Sailors currently in the pay grade specified on the icon (for example: ). When on the individual rating page, click on the paygrade icon to go to NKO and view the rating's LaDR document.

To view the first rating to get the LaDR paygrade icons – Master-at-Arms – search for enlisted credentials and go to the MA Rating Summary Page.

 

03-May-10

DoN Civilians

Limited Credentialing Funding Available to DoN Civilians

Currently, credentialing exam funding for Department of Navy (DoN) Civilians, via the Navy's Credentials Program, is available ONLY to those performing duties as part of the DOD-8570.1M Information Assurance Workforce (IAWF). SECNAVMAN 5239.2 further describes the funding of IAWF credentialing for DoN Civilian.

There are plans to develop Navy COOL pages for ALL DoN Civil Service series. Development of COOL pages for DoN Civilians will commence at the completion of Navy COOL for Navy Officers.

Source Ratings on Officer Pages

Limited Duty Officers (LDOs) and Chief Warrant Officers (CWOs) can more easily view credentials that might be applicable to them based on their source ratings. LDO and CWO designator pages now include direct links to the source rating pages on COOL. You can find the new source ratings links near the top of LDO and CWO designator pages in the new Enlisted Source Ratings box.

01-April-10

Stair Icons Added to Reverse Search

Remember the reverse search pages we were talking about last month? We've added even more COOL goodness to them: they now include stair icons for credentials that have been analyzed for COOL. Click on the credential name, and look for the stair icons on the link page to see which Ratings, Jobs or Designators have an analysis page for that credential. Then visit the analysis page and see whether there are gaps between your Navy training and the civilian certification requirements. If there are, use the analysis page to identify resources available to help fill those gaps.

Also last month we promised officer search by civilian career area. Did we come through? Of course! Check it out on the officer search page.

02–March–10

Officer Pages Added to Reverse Search

We're sure you've been using the reverse search pages, right? Well, now they're even COOLer, since they include Officer pages in the results.

Coming soon– officer search by civilian career area!

02–November–09

COOL Redesign

What's new? What isn't new! Just look around... COOL is now bigger and better than ever before. Along with some behind-the-curtains tech updates to maximize compatibility with the latest browsers and improve things like download efficiency, COOL has a wider footprint to take advantage of all the bigger screens out there. So stop squinting! Kick back and enjoy.

Executive Brief

Now, in addition to the popular Credentialing Overview PowerPoint presentation, we've added an Executive Brief on the COOL program, which comes complete with an Instructor Guide. Impress your friends and your leadership with your professional COOL program presentation.

23–July–09

Revised Authority for Funded Credentialing Exams

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness signed a Memorandum for Secretaries of the Military Departments on July 16, 2009 about “Payment of Professional Credentialing Expenses for Military Members.” The Department of Defense recently assessed the Navy’s Credentialing Program and concluded that it offers substantial benefits to the individual, the Department of Defense, and the Nation. Navy service members enjoy personal benefits that include improved job performance and recognition, as well as, better job prospects in the private sector upon eventual transition. Other benefits to the DoD and the Nation are:

  1. Professional credentials provide clear, objective evidence of an individual’s competence that can help identify appropriate Service members for specific duties.

  2. Credentialing encourages continued professional education which provides improved capabilities and readiness in our military force.

  3. With many Service members routinely interacting with their civilian counterparts, the attainment of independent and common credentialing fosters increased trust and cooperation between those civilian and military sectors of society.

This memorandum is an update to the previously signed memorandum of November 13, 2008.

08–May–09

Funding Change for Remainder of Fiscal Year 2009

Due to popularity and high demand for Navy-funded credentialing, exam funds available for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) is nearly expended. As discussed in NAVADMIN 293/07 and OPNAVINST 1540.56, voucher requests will be processed and funded on a month-to-month first-come, first-served basis for the remainder of FY09.

17–February–09

Officer COOL!

Several officer credentialing pages have been developed and are now viewable on Navy COOL using the Officer Search page. Pages are currently under development for every officer designator, leadership position and collateral duty/assignment. Before a designator is activated on Navy COOL, detailed information related to the designator’s required Navy training courses or a job analysis must be provided by the associated Learning Center. Once data is received from a Learning Center, an analytical process will be accomplished to determine what specific certifications or licenses map to the designator based on its knowledge, skills, abilities and training. Designators will be included on Navy COOL as analysis is completed.

Funding for officer credentials has not yet been approved by CNP. Once authorized, credentials identified with the Navy$ icon will be eligible for funding. Check back here for announcement of funding availability for officer credentials.

25–July–08

Heads Up, Masters-At-Arms

The Anti Terrorism Accreditation Board (ATAB) is offering a Certified Anti-Terrorism Specialist (CAS) certification to Active Duty and Reserve Master-At-Arms personnel with at least four (4) years of MA field experience.

For more information, proceed to the MA page.  Pursuers must submit a voucher request form to the Navy Credentials Program Office PRIOR to filling out the application for ATAB.

02–July–08

New Ways to Search!

COOL's search features have expanded, and we must say they're COOL-worthy. In addition to your old friends Rating, Job, Designator, Occupation and Apprentice searches, you can now conduct "reverse" credential searches:

• Search by Civilian Career Area: Select a civilian career area to view a list of Navy ratings that are related to that career area.
  • Enlisted Search
    
    
• Search by Civilian Certification or License: View a list of civilian credentials alphabetized by credential name or credentialing agency name. Then pick a credential name, and see a list of Navy ratings, jobs and occupations or designators that provide training and experience that apply toward that credential.
  • Enlisted Search
  • Officer Search

01–May–08

ABCHS Certification in Homeland Security

The Navy's Center for Security Forces, along with the Navy's Center for Information Dominance, will be hosting The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security (ABCHS) Certification in Homeland Security (CHS) Levels IV and V training and certification exams. The training and exams will be held at Naval Base San Diego (32^nd Street) on the 5^th and 6^th of September 2008. This would be a great opportunity for Sailors certified as CHS-III to move up the CHS ladder.

CHS-IV course Prerequisites:

• Must pass CHS-III course and examination
• Must pass FEMA IS-700 "National Incident Management System (NIMS)"
• Must pass FEMA IS-800.B "National Response Framework, An Introduction"
• Fax both FEMA course completion certificates to ABCHS at (417) 881-4702

CHS-V course Requirements:

The course and exam for CHS Level V may be completed at a CHS conference or through the proctored examination process (such as the one being offered 5-6 Sep 2008).

For more information on the training, contact the Navy's Credentials Program Office:

Email:navycool@navy.mil
Comm: (850) 452-6683 or 6664
DSN: 922-6683 or 6664

For more information on ABCHS, and the CHS Certifications, see the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security web site.