Hi Stephen, 

To answer only that part addressed to me, and again I work for AIIM. 

The ERMM, ECMM, SharepointM, etc. are all certificate programs that provide
fairly deep instruction on a given topic (4 days for the respective Master
class) and have an examination at the end. While the content makes use of a
number of industry standards, for example ISO 15489 and ISO 23081 for the
ERMM, and is vetted by the AIIM Education Advisory Groups which include
vendors, consultants, and end users, it is nevertheless AIIM's view of the
world, just like e.g. ARMA's Essentials of RIM Certificate is their view of
the world. There is significant value to certificates because they provide
the educational content as well as validation of understanding of that
content - in fact if you go to CareerBuilder or Dice you'll see some job
postings that call AIIM certificates out by name. But - they are not
certifications. 

The CIP in contrast was developed as a formal certification under the
auspices of ISO 17024, the ISO standard for certification of personnel.
Among the many things ISO requires: 
- Separation of exam development from delivery
- Use of subject matter experts in the industry to develop a job task
analysis as well as the exam questions
- Initial and ongoing psychometric validation of exam items so that those
that are suspect or outdated are regularly revised or removed
- No mandating of training from the exam developer - you can require
training and you can provide training, but you cannot require *your*
training
- No mandating of membership in a particular organization as a condition of
certification or maintenance
- Continuing education or recertification requirements (ours is 45 credits
over 3 years)

To be clear we have not submitted for formal ISO accreditation by ANSI yet
but it's on my list of to-dos. 

Content-wise, we developed the CIP as a broad certification that attests to
a candidate's understanding of a broad range of topics and that is
complementary to, rather than competitive with, narrow, deep certifications
like those we've been discussing. In HR this concept is often referred to as
"T-Shaped" individuals and they are quite valuable because they understand
their area of expertise and can understand how it interacts with and affects
all the other areas of expertise. 

Frankly I think it will be especially important for RM people who are often
heard discussing the challenges associated with getting a seat at the Board,
getting senior management support, etc. Those of you who have been
successful at this are in all likelihood exhibiting the skills covered by
the CIP - you know the heck out of RM and you know enough about tech,
privacy, etc. to be able to converse intelligently with your peers and with
senior management. Time was when I'd recommend people take the CDIA+ to get
some of that because it covered enough tech and enough soft skills to cover
the critical need. Today it's quite dated and doesn't cover many of the
areas on the CIP - areas that folks like Gartner and Forrester among others
cite as critical to the holistic management and use of information across
the enterprise. 

I hope this helps and isn't seen as too sales-y. I'd be happy to take any
additional questions or comments offline - or leave them here, whatever the
group wants.

Regards, 

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 

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]