Well, I'll take a stab at it as one of the leads for the team that developed
it, a former CDIA+ subject matter expert, a former TAWPI Information Capture
Professional subject matter expert, a CRM, and holder of more than a dozen
current or expired other certifications and credentials. And, in full
disclosure, an AIIM employee. 

The purpose of the CIP is to demonstrate a broad understanding of
information management processes and how they relate to each other. CRMs are
as a rule very knowledgeable about records management. And as a rule many of
them are not very knowledgeable about other areas of information handling
such as enterprise search, social and mobile technologies, web content
management, etc. all of which are covered on the CIP exam. 

The folks who have taken the CIP to date include a variety of information
professional roles including a number of CRMs, some very highly regarded IT
consultants, quite a few business managers, and others. 

I'd like to think I am a "real" records manager - and the point of the CIP
was not to tailor it to any one particular role's needs - after all, that's
what the CRM, PMP, CIPP, CISSP, CKM, etc. are for. Rather, the CIP is
designed to show that that RM professional, or privacy officer, or whatever,
knows about more than just their narrow role. Every year at the ARMA
conference there is a session called something like "IT and RIM: Bridging
the Gap". That's what the CIP does - only it's not just between IT and RIM
but also legal, business analysts, knowledge managers, help desk, etc. 

I think it's also interesting to bring up CDIA+ given it was last
meaningfully updated in 2002, with a question refresh in 2005. Remember
imaging tech c. 2002? Exactly. The CIP will be updated at a minimum every
couple of years - and given the rate of technology innovation, it's more
likely to be 2-3 years tops between refresh cycles. 

In developing the CIP we followed the best practices established under ISO
17024, the international standard for personnel certifications. We intend to
have the CIP accredited under ISO 17024 by ANSI - CDIA+ isn't, CIPP isn't,
and CRM isn't and the latter two can't be in their current format because of
the mandatory membership requirements associated with it which is a
specific, black-letter no-no under ISO 17024. Think about it - your
continued certification depends on your *membership* more than anything
else? After all, you only have to recertify every three years, but you have
to maintain your $200 a year membership every single year or you get
decertified and have to retest (for CRM, it's Part 6). 

Finally, I would never go after letters just to have them. I'd like to think
that the people who take the CRM aren't doing it just to make their business
cards take up a bit more ink. Even those who never take the exam benefit
from certifications like CRM and CIP because we are putting a stake in the
ground in terms of developing and formalizing a body of knowledge. I'm sure
lots of people laughed at the PMI and the ICRM in the early days too - after
all, records management is so different across organizations and sectors
that there's no way to standardize it, right? And don't get me started with
project management - yet the 380,000+ current PMPs would probably disagree. 

I suggest that those who are interested in the CIP make up their own minds,
starting with a look at the materials at http://www.aiim.org/certification
and maybe take the sample exam linked there. This is not a cakewalk exam -
the folks I have talked to who have taken it have all found it to be
challenging. If anyone has specific questions feel free to contact me
directly at [log in to unmask] - those of you who know me know a) I'm a
straight shooter, b) I know what I'm talking about at least 50% of the time,
and c) I won't sell you anything including a load of bull. 

Respectfully, 

Jesse Wilkins, CIP, CRM
Director, Research and Development
AIIM International
[log in to unmask] 
http://www.aiim.org 
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessewilkins 
Get Information? Get Certified. 
http://www.aiim.org/certification 

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