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 A summary of the requirements for the certification of a CPSM, or Certified PACS System Manager are listed here. The requirements for the Systems Manager builds on the skills acquired as CPIA and CPSA. The focus is on detailed technical understanding of the imaging chain, advanced standards understanding and strong network and security knowledge. Passing the CPIA and CPSA exams are requirements for taking this certification.
The CPSM certification exam consists of two parts. Part 1 is a theoretical exam, similar to the other PARCA exams, which consist of 100 questions to be answered, in a time period of one hour. Upon successfully passing Part 1, you will have to perform a hands-on exercise whereby you will set up a VPN and IPsec connection to the secure server PARCA from your computer, be able to communicate with that server by downloading a file, use a network monitoring tool (Wireshark) to determine certain network parameters, and finish a simple network diagram showing major network components. The required (public domain) software components to perform this test will be provided. You can request a date from our PARCA secretary, which will then be confirmed. This is needed to avoid conflicts between multiple CPSM candidates accessing the VPN simultaneously and also will allow us to verify the information that you accessed (the contents of the server will change daily). You will be allocated a 24 hour time slot to take this exam (12:00am CST - 11:59pm CST). Once you begin Part 2, you will have 4 hours to complete it. The results are to be emailed to our PARCA examiner for verification. You should typically get your grade back within a week. IMPORTANT: Make sure your computer allows VPN communication; most corporate networks might not allow that without cooperation from your IT department to circumvent firewalls etc. Click here to take an exam.
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 Click here for a detailed list of requirements.
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| Summary of Requirements |
- Image Quality, grayscale pipeline:
1.1 Pixel representation
1.2 Pixel pipeline in detail
1.3 Modality LUT
1.4 MASK
1.5 VOI LUT
1.6 Presentation LUT
1.7 GSDF
- Image quality, presentation pipeline:
2.1 Shutters
2.2 Image annotations
2.3 Spatial transformation
2.4 Display Area Annotation
2.5 Hanging protocols
- Image quality, trouble shooting:
3.1 IHE consistent presentation state test images
3.2 AAPM TC 18 monitor tests
3.3 AAPM TC 18 anatomical test images
- Advanced topics, DICOM Standard:
4.1 New DICOM objects (CT/MR)
4.2 GWL
4.3 Hanging Protocols
4.4 PDF encapsulation
4.5 Configuration Management
4.6 WADO
- Structured Reporting (SR):
5.1 Different SR SOP Classes
5.2 SR building blocks
5.3 Templates
5.4 Special applications
5.5 SR used for computer-based reporting
5.6 Use of SR in IHE Radiology
- Advanced standards, general:
6.1 Information model
6.2 CDA
6.3 CCOW
6.4 Audit trails
6.5 HL7 3.0
- Security:
7.1 HIPAA requirements for PACS
7.2 Administrative safeguards
7.3 Physical Safeguards
7.4 Technical safeguards
7.5 Standard implementation for security
7.6 Remote servicing
7.7 Implementation zones
- Networking fundamentals:
8.1 LAN design
8.2 Ethernet, TCP/IP
8.3 WAN network design
8.4 Packet switching, circuit switching
8.5 The Internet
8.6 High availability is critical
8.7 Throughput, bandwidth, level of service parameters
- Security mechanisms:
9.1 Network monitoring tools
9.2 Firewalls
9.3 DMZ
9.4 Using encryption
9.5 IDS
9.6 Patch management
- Security implementation:
10.1 Network monitoring tools
10.2 Firewalls and DMZ
10.3 Proxy servers
10.4 Secure VPN connections
10.5 IPsec
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