April 17, 2018

CIP Today Newsletter - March 2018

We're less than three weeks away from The AIIM Conference 2018 in San Antonio, TX and I'm really excited about the agenda this year. We're putting extra focus on the CIP program and all of you as individual CIPs during the event. Here are just some of the highlights:

  • 12.5 CIP CEUs for conference, and 6.5 more if you attend a precon workshop
  • The CIP precon on April 10
  • The CIP exam on April 11
  • The exclusive CIP-only luncheon on April 11, right after the exam. This is also where you will get your exclusive CIP T-shirt!
  • The annual CIP photo
  • Lots of great speakers, many of whom are CIPs as well
  • And lots of opportunities to network with your fellow CIPs and the other attendees.

With the event just around the corner, you need to act soon if you're going to join us in San Antonio. We'd love to have you. Visit http://www.aiimconference.com for more details.

I hope that you will find this newsletter valuable, and I welcome your thoughts, comments, and submissions at jwilkins@aiim.org.

Sincerely,
Jesse Wilkins, CIP
Director, Professional Development
AIIM

We're Looking For A Few Good...Stories!

One of the things that helps to build the value of CIP is to share stories and case studies. I'm looking for a few good examples of what the CIP has meant to you and your organization. For example, one CIP recently shared with us that "Our technology world is rapidly changing, and companies are requiring that our skills span multiple dimensions. To compliment my technical skill set, the AIIM Certified Information Professional was my certification of choice. Due to its high recognition in the EIM world, it helped me launch my career. I'm proud to say I have accepted a great opportunity with a great company." That's pretty powerful.

So how has CIP helped you - have you gotten a promotion, a raise, or a new job or new responsibilities? If you're a solution provider or consultant, has it helped you develop new business? We'd like to share your name and company if at all possible; if your company isn't willing to do so, we can refer to it generally, e.g. "A large North American bank". But the more of these stories, and interviews, and case studies we can get, the greater the impact on the CIP program as a whole. Please reach out to me at jwilkins@aiim.org if you are interested.

Announcements

CIP Reinstatement:
As with other formal certifications, in order to maintain your CIP status, you must either retest every three years or complete 45 hours of continuing education credits. But sometimes stuff comes up, or you forget the renewal date, and you end up letting your status lapse. Until now the only way to reinstate your CIP status was to retake the exam.

After a lot of research and discussion, both internally and with a few current (and former!) CIPs, we've developed a reinstatement process that we think is fair, that underscores the value of the CIP, and that stresses the importance of maintaining the CIP over time. I wrote about it at length, but here are the highlights:

  • You must reinstate within one (1) calendar year of lapsing.
  • You must submit 45 CEUs and pay the reinstatement fee of $200.
Because we've just introduced the reinstatement program, we are allowing CIPs to reinstate regardless of how long it's been. This is a one-time grace period; in order to take advantage of this you must reinstate by April 10, 2018. Once that date passes, you will have to reinstate within one calendar year or else retake the exam.

If you're not sure whether your status is still current or not, we maintain the updated list of active CIPs at http://www.aiim.org/Education-Section/CIPs-List. If your name is not on the list, your status has lapsed. If you think your name was removed from the list in error, please contact me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org and I'll investigate.

New Modern Records Management Master Class:
In February, we completed the development and launch of the Modern Records Management Master Class. This is complementary to, and includes, the MRM Specialist content we announced in the previous newsletter.

The course differs substantially from the ERM course in three main areas. First, we've removed a lot of the "RM 101"-type content. That content will be made available at some point, probably as a quick study course. Second, we've added a ton of in-depth content on digital recordkeeping including specific processes for how to conduct a systems and information inventory and how to conduct a file share cleanup. And most importantly, every module includes some focus on records management as a business enabler, with content that will help records managers get a seat at the table by showing how effective records management supports the goals of the organization.

The MRM Master Class is worth 26.0 CIP CEUs; for students who have already taken the MRM Specialist, you can elect to take just the Master content at a discount and earn 13.0 CEUs.

More information about this course is available at http://www.aiim.org/Education-Section/Deep-Dives/Deep-Dive-MRM.

You can find more information about all of our courses, all of which are approved for CEUs, at http://www.aiim.org/training.

The AIIM Community:
If you haven't been to the AIIM Community recently, you don't know what you're missing! Every day brings new questions and discussions that could be directly relevant to what you're doing. The Community includes an Open Forum, groups for individual chapters, and five specialist interest groups:

  • ECM - Peer to Peer Advice
  • GDPR - Peer to Peer Advice
  • U.S. Federal Government
  • Oil & Gas
  • Women in Information Management

Anyone can read the posts, but you have to be a member to post something yourself. This is just one of the great benefits of being an AIIM member. The Community is available at http://community.aiim.org.

From the CIP:

Five Things that Well Written IM/IT Policies Avoid
by Lewis Eisen, CIP
Well-written administrative policies are clear, concise, and respectful to the people they govern. IM/IT policies are no exception.

The written policies of many organizations fall far short of that goal, however. They are overly long, ambiguous or confusing, and written as if angry parents were talking to bad children. It should come as no surprise in those cases that the organization spends an inordinate amount of time dealing with compliance problems.

There are five things that well written IM/IT policies avoid. [Continue reading.]

Why Do We Need Standards?
by Betsy Fanning, CIP
Standards reduce risks the organization may have when implementing technologies because they are developed by subject experts who collaborate to document the best way to implement or utilize a technology or improve a process. When you use a standard, you can be certain it has been tested which will provide a high level of reliability in its use. [Continue reading.]

CIP, the Lingua Franca of ECM
by Marko Silanpaa, CIP
To me, one the biggest value of the Certified Information Professional program is as common language for Enterprise Content Management. The lack of this common vocabulary easily costs tens of thousands of dollars to vendors and can add months to the vendor selection cycle for end users. [Continue reading.]

Share Your Story
As a CIP, I want to know what you're doing and how you're doing it. If you have a story to share, an article you think would be of interest to other CIPs, or even just want to tell your CIP story, send me a note at jwilkins@aiim.org. I can help you write it if needed, and we'll make sure it gets in the next newsletter.

Upcoming CEU Opportunities
Just a reminder that all CIPs have to complete 45 hours of continuing education every three years in order to remain certified. Here are some upcoming AIIM events you might wish to consider:


And non-AIIM events are OK too, as long as they are educational in nature and address at least one topic on the CIP. Vendor demos/presentations/sessions as well. Questions? Ping me at jwilkins@aiim.org.

Key POCs

You have questions? We have answers. Here's where to get AIIM-related information:

For questions about your CIP status, CEU status, or general questions about CIP - Me! jwilkins@aiim.org

For questions about AIIM training - Maureen Hearn, mhearn@aiim.org

To register for AIIM training:

US/areas outside of Europe: Michelle Clark, mturner@aiim.org
Europe: Angela Hymas, ahymas@aiim.org
For questions about Professional membership – Jessica Lombardo, jlombardo@aiim.org

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