4 Ways to Earn Scrum Alliance SEU Hours

Scrum Alliance® is the world’s most renowned agile certification body. Having a Scrum Alliance certification brings several benefits to the holder. However, there are certain Scrum Alliance SEU requirements to maintain your certification.

In this article

This article will go through the 4 Scrum Alliance-approved ways to earn SEUs. We will provide some Scrum Alliance SEU examples as well. Let’s go through how to earn Scrum Alliance SEUs now.

📌 Hint: Do not skip this article, you will find FREE Scrum Alliance SEU resources throughout the article.

Scrum Alliance SEU Requirements

An SEU is based on a 1:1 ratio of contact hours to points. For example, if you attended a Scrum SEU Course and the duration of the course is 20 hours, you will earn a maximum of 20 SEUs.

Scrum Alliance requires different numbers of Scrum Alliance SEU credits for different levels of certifications.

Scrum Alliance® Certification	SEUs Required Every Two Years	Renewal Fee
Professional (CSP®-SM, CSP®-PO, CSP®, CAL)	40	$250
Advanced (A-CSM®, A-CSPO®)	30	$175
Foundational (CSM®, CSPO®, CSD®)	20	$100
Leadership (CAL-E, CAL-O, CAL-T)	10	$50

If you are holding more than one Scrum Alliance certification, you will need to submit the full amount of required SEUs for your highest-level certification, but you will only be required to submit half the amount of required SEUs for each certification in a different track thereafter.

If you have CSM certification, you can read our How to Earn SEU for CSM Renewal article.

For instance, if you are holding A-CSM certification (requires 30 SEUs) and CSPO certification (requires 20 SEUs), you need to submit 40 SEUs in total (30 for A-CSM and 10 for the CSPO, half of the required SEUs).

No limits or caps exist for earning SEU credits from a certain category. So, you can attend an online self-paced Scrum SEU Course, and earn all required SEUs for your Scrum Alliance certification renewal. Your SEUs must have been earned within the renewal period, which is two years prior to your certification’s current active-through date. SEUs must have been earned within thirty (30) months for all certification renewal cycles.

SEU Categories

There are four main SEU categories that Scrum Alliance accepts as a source of SEU credits.

Learning (*Most Popular)
Events
Volunteering
Other

You can learn more in our Renew Scrum Master Certification article.

Watch 4 Ways to Earn Scrum Alliance SEU Video

We’ve explained the 4 Scrum Alliance-approved ways to Earn SEUs in our following YouTube video. Watch now.

If you have a CSM certification, you can read more on our 3 Steps to Renew CSM Certification article.

Let’s go through each SEU category one by one now.

1st Way of Earning Scrum Alliance SEU – Learning

As we’ve highlighted in the previous section, earning Scrum Alliance SEUs through the learning category is the most popular way for professionals.

Professionals Choose Scrum Alliance SEU Courses

While there are several benefits of renewing Scrum Alliance certification through SEU courses, here are the top five reasons:

No Caps: There is no maximum limit for the learning category, so, you can earn all Scrum SEU needs in one program, and renew your certification. You do not need to go elsewhere to find additional SEUs.
Self-Paced: You do not need to attend an event, conference, or seminar. You can follow the courses at your place, at your pace.
Affordable: Depending on the program content, you can enroll in a self-paced Scrum Alliance SEU course bundle for ~$200-300. However, seminars or conferences start from $1,000, not only that, you may not earn all SEU needs in one event.
Requires less effort: When you enroll in SEU Courses, all you have to do is follow the curriculum, earn SEUs, and renew your Scrum Alliance certification. However, other SEU earning ways require significant effort from the certification holder such as creating content, sharing a presentation, authoring, etc.
Less prone to Scrum Alliance® audit: Since the SEU training programs are used by many certified professionals, Scrum Alliance already has a track and record of the activities. However, for other categories, SEU submissions are more unique and may be more likely to hit an audit.

San Francisco Business School offers a 20 SEU Course program. The program offers a self-paced business training program: Executive Leadership. SFBS awards a certificate of graduation. While earning SEUs, you will earn reputable business merits to highlight in your resume and LinkedIn.

Watch how Natalia Earned 20 SEUs and Renewed Her CSM®

Natalia Olson is a CSM-certified Professional. Natalia enrolled in the 20 SEU Program from SFBS and renewed her CSM. Watch now her CSM renewal journey.

2nd Way of Earning SEUs – Events

You can earn SEUs for participating in events like Scrum Alliance Global Gatherings, Scrum Alliance Regional Gatherings, and Non-Scrum Alliance-Sponsored Events, as well as in User Groups events and activities. Presenting, coaching, and attending sessions all count as SEU-eligible activities.

Typically, the duration of the activity determines the number of SEUs you will earn. For instance, if you attended a one-day Scrum Alliance SEU event, if the schedule of the event was 9 to 12 in the morning, and 1 to 5 pm in the afternoon, the total hours for the event would be 7 hours. So, you can earn 7 SEUs with this event.

Attending events has benefits like expanding your professional network and learning the changing trends in your domain. However, there are some pitfalls to these events.

Typically organized in big cities. If you are living in a relatively smaller city, you might not see any events to earn SEUs.
Requires in-person attendance. Many of the events take a few days, and you have to take days off from your work to attend these events.
Expensive. On average, these events are charged $1,000/day. So, for a two-day event, you need to pay around $2,000. Travel and accommodation, if needed, are not included in these fees.
May not earn required SEUs at once. Although it requires a significant amount of time and money, you may not earn all SEUs through one event.
Considering you are a full-time working professional and looking to earn the Scrum Alliance SEU hours you need in one step, you may opt for other alternatives to earn SEUs.

3rd Way for Earning Scrum SEUs – Volunteering

Scrum Alliance encourages professionals to give back to the community. Therefore, SEUs may be earned by providing non-compensated professional Scrum services.

For instance, if you are volunteering in an activity for teaching the basics of agile to high school students, this activity can earn you SEUs. The critical point here is, that you should not be compensated if you are in a volunteering activity. You can submit SEUs for the duration of the activity. For instance, if you attended a one-hour event, you can submit 1 SEU toward renewing your certification.

Note that, these activities may not be available in your location if you are living in a small city.

4th Way for SEU Earning – Others

SEUs may be earned through a variety of other learning activities as Scrum Alliance acknowledges that not all learning fits neatly into the categories above. For instance, if you are reading a book, blog, or article about agile, you can earn SEUs in the Others category.

Scrum Alliance SEU Examples

In this section, we will go through Scrum Alliance SEU examples by scenarios.

Note that, the following scenarios are fictional to provide a better understanding of SEU reporting.

Scenario #1 – Jane completes a Free Scrum SEU Course

Jane works as a Scrum Master in a Fintech company. She earned her CSM certification 1 year ago, and her certification due date is approaching.

Jane attends the San Francisco Business School’s Free Scrum Alliance SEU Course Online Program. The program contains three self-paced courses, and each course is one hour in length. After completing the self-paced program, Jane can submit 3 SEUs to renew her Scrum Alliance certification.

Scenario #2 – Bruce attends a one-day Scrum Event

Bruce works as a Product Owner in a software company in Austin, Texas. Bruce has CSPO certification from Scrum Alliance.

A product analysis event named “1 Analysis” is organized in Austin. Bruce’s company is one of the sponsors of the event. Several presentations and talks were organized during this one-day event. Bruce attended this Non-Scrum Alliance-Sponsored event. The event schedule was as follows:

09:00-10:15 – Opening Talk
10:30-12:00 – Presentations in Various Rooms
12:00-13:30 – Lunch Break
13:30-14:45 – Talks in Various Rooms
15:00-16:30 – Talks in Various Rooms

Bruce earned 6 SEUs by attending this event.

Summary

You need to earn SEUs every two years to renew your Scrum Alliance certification. Scrum Alliance requires a different number of SEUs for each certification track. You can earn SEUs in four different categories: Learning, Events, Volunteering, and Others. Earning SEUs through Scrum SEU courses is the most popular among Scrum Alliance-certified professionals.

Professionals choose to earn SEUs through courses because they are self-paced, affordable, and require less effort. Since there is no cap for the learning category, professionals can earn all required SEUs at once through Scrum Alliance SEU course programs. One of the other benefits of SEU courses is they are less prone to Scrum Alliance audits.