NARA Records Express: Agency Records Management Training Requirements

John Mancini: Why do associations seem to be losing their community mojo?

NARA Records Express: Records Management Guidance for the Presidential Transition

Chris Zoladz: Why Attending Conferences and Networking Matters

Kevin Parker: Reflections on the 2016 InfoGovCon

Fast Company: New Research Points the Finger at Employers for the Widespread Talent Shortage (H/T: Steve Weissman)

Marko Sillanpaa: Why Employers Should Support Continuing Education

Activity 10/26: Treadmill, 8.5% incline, 2.4mph, 1:30, 3.6 miles

eLearning Industry: 10 Best Practices For Writing Multiple Choice Questions In eLearning. Note that almost all of these apply to any sort of multiple choice questions such as certifications.

Box: Introducing Security Classification: A Smart New Addition to Box Governance (H/T: Alan Lepofsky)

GRM press release: Staples Launches Licensing Program Expanding Its Footprint in Services (H/T: Bud Porter-Roth)

The care and feeding of solution provider professionals

TL; DR: Solution provider staff need to attend industry events, conferences, and training or they will fall behind.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the role of solution providers in the information management industry, specifically as applied to education and professional development. I define solution providers as providers of hardware, software, or professional services to end user organizations who consume those goods and services.

Full disclosure: I've spent much of my career as a solution provider, mostly on the technical side but with some responsibility for marketing, sales, and business development. And I currently work at AIIM, with more than a little interest in increasing the number attendees at our conference and our training programs. But I started in the industry as a solution provider and saw the same dynamic then and have been thinking about it off & on for more than 20 years now.

So for all the solution providers out there, a gentle question: Why don't you develop your people?

Let me take a step back and explain. I speak at a lot of information management industry conferences and events. And yet I rarely see solution providers' staff at these events and courses. Sure, I see them manning the booth. Sometimes they participate in the networking activities, though often "the team" has to go to a team dinner to meet with partners or clients, review the day's events, and strategize for the next day's events. But they don't attend any educational sessions, with the exception of the occasional session that's available on the show floor from another solution provider.

I also teach a lot of courses on various information management-related topics. It is still very rare to see a solution provider send people to our public courses. I don't think it's the course content, because end users still seem to get substantial value from them. The solution provider staff members that have attended generally seem to get value from the courses as well. This value is not just from the educational content, but also from the interactions, and discussions, and sharing of lessons learned and good practices by people who have "been there, done that." But we don't see very many of them, and in private discussions I've had with many of them, they don't often get to go to things like that unless they pay for it themselves.

In both cases, where solution providers are in attendance, they are generally either the significant exception - and possibly doing it on their own dime - or they are somewhat on the outside looking in. Either way, they aren't getting any individual professional growth or development out of the experience. Why?

It isn't because they are world-class experts with nothing left to learn - though that may be a perception particularly among senior staff and management. And of course it costs money. But I'm reminded of the apocryphal exchange:

"What happens if we train our people and they leave?"
"What happens if we don't - and they stay?"

What, indeed?

Think about it another way, solution providers. You hired that person with a specific set of skills, knowledge, and experience. You're paying for that expertise. Every white paper and conference has as an underlying theme how quickly the industry changes: the tools, the processes, the ways in which information moves and is used, and acceptable practices for how things get done. It's imperative that your people stay up to date with relevant changes. Yet how does your staff do that if they aren't getting training and if they aren't attending conference sessions? As good as your white papers and webinars undoubtedly are, they simply aren't sufficient. Even if they are the best coverage of that topic in the world, they still reflect only one point of view - your organization's.

You charge annual maintenance to your customers, so they have access to your upgrades, your technical support, your other resources, and sometimes even your training. You want them to stay up to speed on the latest and greatest. Your staff need to do that as well - and it's more than just keeping up with your new release and the features and functions therein. But they also need to understand the bigger picture. What are the trends in the industry? How have customers, or prospects, or just other organizations, addressed particular issues? How have your competitors done so, and to what extent have they succeeded?

I understand that your business is in the business of the business - just like every other business. But according to the Association for Talent Development, the average company provides the average employee more than 53 hours of training per year. That's almost 9 full days of training per year (the typical training day is around 6-6.5 hours because of breaks, lunch, administrative tasks, etc.). How close are you to that for your sales staff? Your support staff? Your implementation/professional services staff? Your customer service staff?

I know many, many exceptional people in the industry. Some of them have the great fortune to work for organizations that do support professional development, and there are a few of those out there. Others understand that they have to take responsibility for their own growth and development, and they go to training and conferences on their own dime, and they get out there to other events on their own time and dime. But if they aren't getting support from you, you run the very real risk of losing them to an organization that does recognize the real value of their developing and maintaining those skills.

Sharon Fisher, Laserfiche: What Does PDF 2.0, Due Next Year, Do?

This is also another great example of how solution providers can provide highly educational, highly relevant content. Laserfiche has always been good at this dating back to their imaging guide from the late '90s.

Laurence Hart: All About Design at the 2016 Information Governance Conference

Emily Overton (RMGirl): Records Management and Compliance: The bigger picture & the risk mitigation

Updated speaking schedule

Latest in an irregular series.

Oct 2016
18 Info Summit Denver
29-Nov 4 Private BPM class, Cayman Islands

Nov 2016
9-10 Private class, Regina, Saskatchewan
28-Dec 3 ECM Master Class, Silver Spring, MD (TBC)

Dec 2016
12-17 ERM Master Class, Silver Spring, MD (TBC)

Feb 2017
6-10 CIP Prep Workshop, Silver Spring, MD (TBC)
13-17 ECMM, Silver Spring, MD (TBC)

Mar 2017
13-16 AIIM17, Orlando, FL

Apr 2017
3-7 ERMM, Silver Spring, MD (TBC)
24-28 ECMM, Chicago, IL (TBC)

May 2017
7-10 MER 2017 (TBC)
22-26 CIP Prep Workshop, Silver Spring, MD (TBC)

AIIM Private Courses

In this post I'll explore one of the hidden gems AIIM offers, at least in my mind. Full disclosure: I run all the training at AIIM and, at least for classes in the U.S., I'm generally the instructor as well.

We periodically schedule public classes in the U.S., mostly at AIIM HQ in Silver Spring, MD. Most of these classes are for our ECM, ERM, BPM, and CIP Prep "deep dive" classes: 2-4 days of instructor-led, "butts-in-seats" discussion, lecture, and exercises. We also offer public courses in Canada (Toronto), the UK (London), and Europe (Amsterdam).

What you may not know is that we are also available to teach private courses. Basically the process is that you have a group of people you want to get some training. We work with you to schedule dates/times and location - most frequently in a training or conference room in your organization's building, though sometimes we use a nearby hotel or facility. We work to ensure that schedule, location, and content all meet your particular needs. We teach these courses all over the world and are happy to come to your location, region, or country!

So why would you schedule a private course? There are a number of benefits to this approach over our traditional public courses.

• Better control over the content. If your organization doesn't need X module, or wants to spend additional time on Y module, we can do that. We may also be able to tailor the discussions, etc. to your type of organization and location - I routinely teach at U.S. Federal Government agencies and can tailor the discussions to Federal IM and recordkeeping concerns such as FOIA. 
• Custom content. We can also "mix & match" among our courses to create exactly the learning experience you want. I did a 4-day private class last year that included modules from ERM, Information Governance, ECM, Implementation, Taxonomy, and SharePoint. We can also incorporate your training/trainers or develop custom training - for example, we can build content on email management, social media governance, the Managing Government Records Directive in the U.S.,  or other topics of interest. 
• Flexibility in scheduling. We had a course last year where a major holiday fell in the middle of the week. We made it work such that students were in class 2 days, took the holiday, and were back in class 2 more days.
• Cross-functional team training. Having us in-house makes it much easier for you to include staff that might not ordinarily be able to get away for 4-5 days or who have less personal interest but for whom the class is particularly important, such as IT, legal, or project managers.
• Flexibility in location. We go where the interest is; unfortunately, that means that unless you're in the DC area, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, London, or Amsterdam, your offerings are limited or require travel. With a private class we come to you. 
• Reduce or eliminate the travel cost. This is particularly true today, when travel budgets seem to be the first thing to be frozen or eliminated, and is more compelling the more people you have. If I come out to your site, you don't have to pay air, and hotel, and ground transport, and food, and everything else associated with a public class for each of your attendees.
• Significant cost savings for the actual training cost. We generally charge a per-day fee, either including travel or with travel billed extra, which can be significantly cheaper with higher numbers of attendees. If you have 10-15 people you want trained on a topic, it's definitely cheaper to do as a private course. 

If you're interested in more information on a private training course, please contact AIIM at training@aiim.org and we'll have Michelle (North America) or Angela (EMEA) follow up with you. You can also contact me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org for additional information. 

Jeff Potts: Activiti founders fork the project to create Flowable, an open source BPM engine

Activity 10/12: Treadmill, 8.5% incline, 2.4mph, 1:30, 3.6 miles

Activity 10/10: Treadmill, 8.5% incline, 2.4mph, 3:00, 7.2 miles

Stefan Waldhauser: A response to the Big Men on Content: Why Alfresco is set to lead as ECM and BPM converge

Note: this post is in response to Marko Sillanpaa's post, Why OpenText Will Not Lead ECM

John Newton: OpenText Swallows the Documentum Pill

eWeek: Why Co-Founder Believes Documentum is Doomed Under OpenText

Marko Sillanpaa, BMOC: Why OpenText Will Not Lead ECM

Activity 10/7:Treadmill, 8.5% incline, 2.4 mph, 1:30, 3.6 miles

ARMA International Calls for Nominations for Board of Directors

The ARMA International Election Management Task Force announces the call for nominations and candidates for the board of directors. View the candidate submission requirements and qualifications here: http://www.arma.org/r1/myarma/election-information/qualifications

For this election cycle, the Election Management Task Force will be filling the following positions beginning July 1, 2017:

- President elect - The president elect serves a one-year term, moves to president for a one-year term, and serves the final one-year term as immediate past president/chair of the board.

- 1 director – The director will serve a three-year term from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2020.

Do you know someone who meets the qualifications and would make a great addition to the board?Send your nominations, or your self-nomination, to Board.Affairs@armaintl.org. Please include the

e-mail address and phone number of the nominee. ARMA International will contact the nominee directly to confirm interest.

Nominations are due by October 19. All candidate-required materials are due by November 4. Watch for the announcement of the slate of candidates in early December and then plan to vote in the online election beginning January 9, 2016.

Candidates take note:

Newly elected candidates are invited to attend the board’s in-person strategic planning meeting in Kansas City on March 15-17, 2017. Participation is not required but is highly encouraged. A candidate forum via LinkedIn will take place in early January of 2017.

Activity 10/4: Treadmill, 8.0% incline, 2.4 mph, 1:11, 2.8 miles.

ICRM Introduces Certified Records Analyst (CRA) Certification

From the RECMGMT-L list:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT: ICRM Annual Business Meeting: September 24, 2016

The ICRM launches its third professional certification:

Certified Records Analyst (CRA)

The CRA provides another opportunity to be a member of the ICRM.  By achieving the CRA designation, records management professionals demonstrate a solid foundation in Records and Information Management (RIM); potentially on their way to attaining the CRM.  CRA’s are knowledgeable and experienced in active and inactive records systems. A CRA’s knowledge includes such areas as electronic records and information; regulatory compliance-related requirements; the lifecycle management of records and information; and more.

This certification provides an opportunity for immediate certification to those existing CRM candidates that have already successfully passed Parts 2-4 of the examinations; while still retaining the ability to continue on to the CRM.  The CRA allows newly educated and experienced records management professionals the ability to become a member of the Institute; thereby improving their opportunities for career advancement and increasing the number of educated and credentialed millennials to meet the demand for RIM and Information Governance (IG) positions in the global marketplace.

“We are excited to deliver the CRA certification to the RIM profession!  This new certification follows our time-tested approach and allows for more professionals to obtain a value-added RIM credential while promoting the continuance of their individual development.  We fully expect many to use the CRA as a spring-board to achieving their CRM over a timeline that meets their individual needs.” – Brice Sample, CRM – President

A CRA may vote in elections of the ICRM, may not hold office but can serve as a member or chairman of an ICRM Commission, Committee or Taskforce, may attend the ICRM Business Meeting and may attend the ICRM Annual Reception held annually at the ARMA Conference. Further, CRAs are granted access the ICRM website, the membership directory and all publications and information provided as a benefit of ICRM membership.

Candidates for the CRA, upon submitting an online application to the ICRM, will be approved to sit for Parts 2-4 if they properly document achievement of a 4-year (bachelor’s degree) from an accredited institution of higher education and also demonstrate one-year of professional Records and Information Management (RIM) experience.  Alternately, one year of professional Records and Information Management (RIM) experience can be substituted for each year of college education.

Founded in 1975, the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM) is an international certifying organization of and for professional records managers.  The Institute confers three designations: the Certified Records Manager (CRM); the Certified Record Manager/Nuclear Specialist (CRM/NS); and now the Certified Records Analyst (CRA).

Full disclosure: I manage AIIM's CIP, a certification, that, while complementary to the CRM and probably the CRA, is competitive at least from a payment/financial/"how do I or my company pay for this" perspective. I am also a CRM and member in good standing of the ICRM.

My thoughts, both my own and after some discussion of it with some folks at ARMA16. I think it's an interesting approach but will be challenging. The entry criteria appears to be the same as for the CRM, which is daunting, given that at most organizations a "records analyst" tends to be a lower-level position than a records manager. It eschews Part 1, on management, which makes sense, but also Part 5, on technology, which doesn't make as much sense to me today in 2016. It also requires analysts to join the ICRM at $200/year, which again may be prohibitive for someone at the typical records analyst level.

I certainly wish the ICRM well, but I wonder whether this is going to be more hassle than benefit and how many people will actually go after it.

Marko Sillanpaa at Big Men on Content: Who Will Lead ECM?

ARMA Solicits Volunteers for Industry Expert Task Force

From the email:

Volunteer Opportunity: Industry Expert Task Force

As part of our ongoing effort to increase membership value, ARMA International is pleased to announce the formation of a task force to create a comprehensive body of knowledge.  We need outstanding industry experts, like yourselves, to create an all-encompassing guide to the generally recognized best practices for managing and governing the full life cycle of information. This guide will be process-based and will focus on defining information management and governance concepts throughout the information life cycle. Your work on this taskforce will provide the knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to better support our practitioners in their day-to-day operations. As the authority on records and information management and information governance, ARMA International will lead this important initiative along with you, our outstanding industry experts. If you consider yourself an expert in your field and would like to make a difference in our industry, this opportunity is for you!

I'd have thought that the IGP and/or CRM provide wide swathes of this - and of course the CIP as well - but this sounds to me like something that will be developed from a blank slate. That also raises a question for me as to what happens once the BOK is developed - typically the next step is a certification, but again ARMA's IGP and the ICRM's (and ARMA's) CRM already exist.

I very much doubt I can participate, but anyone else interested can contact ARMA at kristina.franz@armaintl.org.

Some Perspectives on the Documentum Acquisition by Open Text

John Mancini: Some Perspectives on the Documentum Acquisition by Open Text This post includes links to just about every major ECM-related blog post offering perspective on this.

MER17 call for speakers open

Cohasset Associates is soliciting presentations for the MER17 program, scheduled for May 8-10, 2017 in Chicago, IL. Presentations must be submitted by November 1, 2016. Details and the submission form can be found at https://www.merconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/MER17-Speaker-submission-form-FINAL-1.pdf.

AIIM17 Call for Speakers still open

I was remiss in not posting this earlier. AIIM is (still) looking for speakers for the AIIM17 conference, scheduled for March 14-16, 2017 in Orlando, FL. Emphasis is on end users; consultants and vendors are not accepted for the main program. Details and the application form can be found at http://www.aiimconference.com/page/1274447/call-for-speakers.

Mike Alsup: So OpenText Buys Documentum: Making Sense of the Aftershocks Another great post from the always-thoughtful founder of Gimmal. I don't always agree with Mike, but when I do I carefully check my premises because he's been a really smart and successful guy in this industry for a really long time.

And I do agree with his point here that when it comes time to migrate from Documentum to OpenText, those customers just might also look to something lighter-weight. I suspect many of those might go the Box-IBM route, but certainly a big chunk will look to leverage their existing SP/O365 as well.

Aaron Levie: A New Chapter for Enterprise Content Management

Activity 9/13: Treadmill, 8.5% incline, 2.4mph, 1:30, 3.6 miles

Wow. According to this blog post by RecordLion, the list of active CRMs is at...923. I can't find any previous numbers but I seem to recall hearing 1100-1200+ a few years ago - maybe around the time I got mine (Oct 2009). The blog post is from April, and these things are always in flux, but still, that seems like a small and dwindling number.

Update: I checked the ICRM membership directory myself and there are 1,179 records in the database. When I filtered for CRM-Retired, I got 206, which leaves 973. Again could be the post was right before a test cycle, but wanted to clarify.

Long post at CMSWire, good links to others' reactions too. Documentum's Fate at Open Text: New Life or Certain Death?

Cheryl McKinnon: The Documentum Shoe Finally Drops...as ECM Undergoes a Changing of the Guard

Alan Pelz-Sharpe: Open Text Acquires Documentum

 Marko Sillanpaa: Open Text Acquired Another Legacy ECM Platform

Laurence Hart: Saying Goodbye to Documentum

PR Newswire: Open Text to Acquire Documentum from Dell

Activity 9/9: Treadmill, 8.0-8.5% incline, 2.4mph, 2:15, 5.21 miles

Activity 9/8: Treadmill, 8% incline, 2.4 mph, 1:24, 3:39 miles

Activity 9/7: Treadmill, 8% incline, 2.3mph, 1:05, 2.51 miles

Activity 8/29: Treadmill, 2.2mph, 7.0% incline, 1:01, 2.25 miles

Doculabs, Rich Medina: Quantifying ROI and Developing a Business Case for ECM

NARAtions: Rebooting the Social Media Strategy for the National Archives

Legal IT Professionals: Duke University School of Law Acquires EDRM

CloudNine Software: Court Declines to Sanction Defendant for Deletion of Former Employee’s Email Account: eDiscovery Case Law. My take: This sounds about right, and the judge's test is pretty typical and I think the right way to evaluate these sorts of claims. The case raises some questions in my mind about whether the policy to delete employees' files is the right one, and if so, what the right timeline for that should be, but overall I agree with this one.

Also, I find this another good example of how solution providers can provide real value to the market and demonstrate their expertise in a way that is more valuable than simply selling at their prospects.

Chris Walker: The More Things Change

Recipe: Yammie's Noshery: Cheddar Bacon Stuffed Pretzel Buns. Note that I have not made these yet. If I do I will repost with pics and thoughts.

CMSWire, Joe Shepley: Information Management: When Just Enough is More Than Enough

Fitness: Greatist: 14 Unexpected Moves That Work Your Abs Better Than Crunches

BA Times: Top Five Reasons Organizations Should Support Certifications

BA Times: Why A Business Analysis Certification is Worth Your Time. Note that this also applies to other certifications like the CIP.

Fitness: Lifehacker: Battle Ropes, and the Powerful Strength Workouts You Can Do with Them

Activity for 7/29: Treadmill, 2.2mph, 8.0% incline, 1:18, 2.87 miles

Liberty Munson, Microsoft: The Path from Beta Exam to Live Exam. Great, succinct look into what happens between the time a beta candidate sits down to take the test and when that candidate actually receives the final score.

Becoming a CIP Training Partner

With the CIP now live, we've gotten quite a few questions about how to become a CIP training partner. The short version is: Become a CIP, develop your materials, and start teaching. There are some additional steps you can take that might increase your success - read on for details. 

In the personnel accreditation industry, there is generally a certain amount of "separation of church and state" between the certifying  organization and those that would prepare people to take the certification. One of the reasons for this is to underscore that the certification is not a house organ, but is rather based on industry best practices, subject matter experts (SMEs) from around the world, etc. 

This separation of exam from training is in fact one of the key differentiators between certificates and certifications. It enhances the value and prestige of a formal certification to have that separation. And it's such a strong tradition that ISO 17024, the standard for personnel accreditation, notes that certifying organizations cannot require *their* training as a precondition to take a certification exam. They can offer training, as AIIM does for the CIP, but others need to be able to offer it as well. 

Now let's look at training providers and partners. They are neatly positioned to manage that separation by offering training while being closely affiliated with the credentialing body. 

But because we want that separation of church & state, it makes the relationship between the certifying body and the training partner necessarily a bit looser than it otherwise would be. So in practice, anyone in the world who wants to teach a PMI, or A+, or [insert credential here]...or CIP preparatory workshop can do so, with no formal arrangement with the certifying body in most cases. That means no licensing fee, no train-the-trainer fee, no per-student fee, nada.

Let me say that again: If you want to teach a CIP preparatory workshop, you don't have to pay licensing fees to AIIM. You don't have to pay student fees to AIIM. You don't have to get trained by AIIM or pay a train-the-trainer fee. And you don't have to use an AIIM trainer. 

We do recommend that you be a CIP, of course. This is more for your marketing than anything else - who would take a PMP prep class from someone who isn't a PMP? 

We are also willing to review your training content against the exam outline to ensure that your content covers everything on the exam. There is no charge for this at present either. 

And we have the AIIM-produced training content including slides and a study guide. We can make the slides available to anyone interested in teaching CIP at no charge. There is a charge for the study guide, but we can give a bit of a discount for those buying it in bulk. 

We do also recommend that training providers price the CIP exam voucher into the workshop. This is how we are teaching our own CIP prep workshops and is pretty typical. We can then supply those vouchers for specific workshops. 

Training providers can also have the actual exam proctored live onsite as part of their event. This requires an AIIM staff member to do the actual proctoring - which means the provider would need to pay for that staff member to be there including travel. 

To summarize then, anyone interested in teaching a CIP preparatory workshop can do so with no links or financial commitments to AIIM. Get your trainer(s) CIP-certified, develop your materials or use ours, schedule and market your workshops, and ensure a quality experience for attendees. For more information on how to go about developing and delivering a CIP workshop, contact me at jwilkins@aiim.org. 

The Value of the CIP - to the Company

The value of certification is often described from the perspective of the individual and how the certification will benefit the individual. But what about the organization – what is the value to a particular organization of hiring Certified Information Professionals (CIPs) or developing them internally?

CIPs reflect a more integrated, more holistic view of information management. Changes in one process, technology, or practice invariably affect others in the organization. CIPs are able to see the forest and the trees and understand and plan for these outcomes. Because of this, CIPs will identify and understand changes that could cause compliance issues, thereby reducing liability.

Organizations that manage their information more effectively enjoy reduced costs, faster time to market, increased revenues and cash flow, and increased business agility. CIPs are uniquely positioned to help organizations achieve these benefits because they understand the interactions between different information-intensive processes and activities.

At the same time, the CIP was built on industry standards, guidelines, and accepted best practices. CIPs are not just winging it or reinventing the wheel – they bring and use techniques that have been developed, revised, and improved upon by many others in the industry.

These techniques are not specific to a particular industry, work process, or technology solution; rather, they are broadly applicable across industries and technologies. CIPs understand how to leverage these standards and practices – and how to tailor them to meet the particular needs of their organization.

In the case of new hires, research has shown that certified individuals hit the ground running. A 2015 study by CompTIA found that 90% of employers believe IT certifications enable employees to learn faster once starting a job. Reducing onboarding time can reduce specific project costs as well as the overall cost to hire and train staff.

CIPs bring to their organizations a foundational base of knowledge that covers all aspects of information management. This means they will already be familiar with information-related processes and issues that are common to different types of organizations. Similarly, internal staff who complete the CIP process will demonstrate that they understand information management issues beyond just their narrow work process.

The CIP program provides a shared understanding and vocabulary, based on industry guidelines and good practices. CIPs will be able to communicate more consistently and effectively across process areas and bridge the gaps between information management, legal, IT, and specific business units. This also means that CIPs will be able to identify and resolve issues faster because of that shared language and shared understanding.

CIPs demonstrate a commitment to their own professional development. This means that as new developments occur in their industries, in technologies, and in processes, CIPs will be well-positioned to address and leverage them on behalf of their organizations. 

The CIP program itself was developed by AIIM, a global industry association dedicated to information management best practices. Since 1943 AIIM has been at the forefront of effective information management – developing standards, delivering educational events and content, and conducting research.

Organizations who hire or train CIPs can be confident that CIPs demonstrate the breadth and depth of knowledge required to effectively develop, manage, and support information-intensive processes throughout their organizations.

Note: also posted on the AIIM CIP website at http://www.aiim.org/cip.

ARMA 2016 conference approved for 18.5 CRM credits by the ICRM and 15.5 IGP credits by ARMA itself. As an aside, I counted 13.5 educational hours myself Sun-Tues which looks like "core conference". But it does make me wonder - which 3 hours of the conference does the ICRM consider educational that ARMA believes is non-educational?

Maintaining Your CIP Certification

One of the differences between formal certifications and other sorts of training/designations is the requirement to maintain them. Every certification has some sort of reexamination or continuing education requirement. This is to ensure that, as best practices, processes, and technologies change, certified professionals keep up with those changes.

The Certified Information Professional (CIP) is no exception. CIPs are required to recertify every three years. There are two ways to do this. First, CIPs can retake the CIP exam. CIPs should remember though that they will have to take the then-current exam at the then-current price.

Second, and more common, is to complete the continuing education unit (CEU) requirements. The CIP program requires that individual CIPs complete 45 CEU credits over the course of three years, or 15 credits per year. CIPs must also pay a nominal fee: $75 for AIIM Professional members, $150 for non-members, which in both cases is less than half the price of retaking the exam.

Please note that if you do not complete your CIP CEUs within the three-year certification period, you will be decertified and will have to retake the CIP exam in order to reinstate your CIP. 

What types of events count for CIP CEUs?
We've tried to make it as easy as possible to complete CEUs. It's this simple: If it's an event that meets one of the topic areas on the CIP, it counts. It doesn't matter who provides or sponsors the event - it just has to be educational and align to one of the topic areas on the CIP (2011 outline or 2016 outline). So all of these events would count for CIP CEUs:

• Attending an AIIM Chapter meeting
• Attending an ARMA Chapter meeting (or any other association meeting)
• Speaking at InfoGovCon, or MER, or ARMA, or AIIM, or any other industry event
• Attending a webinar
• Attending a formal training course
• Attending employee-sponsored training
• Attending a college course, whether for credit or not
• Developing and/or delivering a presentation
• Publishing an article or book. A blog post might count if it's a pretty meaty post. A Tweet? Not so much. 1 credit per article or page. 
• Attending vendor-sponsored or vendor-provided content, including product demos. Vendors have unique content to share that is incredibly valuable, even when it's very specific to their solution. 

Again, it has to align with at least one topic area on the CIP in order to qualify. And this is by no means an exhaustive list. 

Each event qualifies for 1 CEU credit per contact hour of educational content; we round down to the nearest 1/2 credit. So an AIIM preconference workshop from 9-5 would count for 6.5 hours - 8.0 hours, less 2 15-minute breaks, less 1 1-hour break for lunch - or 6.5 CEU credits. 

So what types of events would NOT qualify for CEUs?

Again, pretty simple: If it doesn't align with the CIP, it doesn't qualify. So: 

• Attending an AIIM or ARMA chapter meeting on "How to Dress for Success" or a similarly unrelated topic
• Employer-provided training on conflict resolution or how to drive a forklift
• A vendor mixer/meet & greet with no educational content
• Snack and lunch breaks during events and conferences
• The Welcome Reception at an event or conference
• Work experience. We just don't have any way to know how long it took you to do that thing you did or to compare it with others' work experience. 
• A conference unrelated to the CIP. However, if a session you attend does relate, it counts. We have given credit for specific sessions at conferences on genealogy, state government, project management, and many others. 
• Other certifications. But certification prep might count if you can document it. 

The bottom line is that if it relates to the CIP, we'll probably accept it; if it doesn't, we won't. 

How do you document and submit your credits?

We have a form you can complete and submit at http://www.aiim.org/~/media/AIIM-Real-Files/Training%20Data%20Sheets/CIP-Maintenance-Form-2016.pdf . 

List all the events you believe would qualify. For AIIM-delivered events - conference, webinars, etc. - we will confirm your registration and attendance in our systems. 

For any non-AIIM delivered events, you need to submit some sort of documentation: a registration receipt, certificate of attendance, something. We'll be flexible but we do need some sort of proof you attended what you said you did. 

You can email your credits to certification@aiim.org. You can provide your credit card number directly on the form, or request that we call you to take the credit card number over the phone. If you want to submit hard copy, pay with check, etc., mail your information to: 

AIIM

Attn: CIP Renewal

1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Event coordinators, submit your events for preapproval. 

Simply send an email to me at jwilkins@aiim.org or to certification@aiim.org with the name of the event, the location, date/time, and the details about the event such as a link to a web page or brochure. We generally turn those around pretty quickly so you can help market your event to CIPs. 

Note, however, that you do NOT have to get your events preapproved in order for them to be worth CIP credits; this just streamlines the process so you know what credits will be granted and helps you promote your event to CIPs as a way for them to get CEUs. 

The bottom line

Continuing education helps to ensure you're up-to-date on current processes, technologies, and best practices. It demonstrates to your employer your commitment to staying up-to-date and to your own professional growth and development. And you've passed the CIP exam, which is no small matter. Maintaining your CIP is a cost-effective way to demonstrate your professionalism and ensure that you can continue to reap the benefits of being a CIP in the future. 

I welcome your comments here or at jwilkins@aiim.org.

Activity for 7/23: 5k/3.1 mile race, walked, plus about 1 more mile walking to/from start.

Ken Treece: Despite Preservation Efforts, Company Heavily Sanctioned For Employee's Intentional Spoliation Pretty blatant behavior from a Senior VP of Sales - in other words, a senior manager who one would assume would be smart enough to realize the potential consequences (but apparently didn't care).

Activity for 7/20: Treadmill, 2.25 mph, 8% incline, 2:36, 5.83 miles

Mental Floss: Japan Will Make Its Last Ever VCR This Month

Document Strategy: To Delete or Not to Delete: The Debate over Deleting Emails

Activity for 7/19: Treadmill, 8% incline, 2:05, 4.6 miles total.

Marko Sillanpaa at BMOC: Smart Capture is not Text Analytics

Allen Podraza: Mini-Me going for CIP (Certified Information Professional)

Activity: 3.2 mile ruck w/ 40-lb pack but normal walk/run attire. 57 minute or 17:53 pace.

FCW: Court: Feds can't hide outside emails from FOIA. Well, of course not. Much longer post on this coming from me soonish.

Nick Inglis: Understanding the Information Strategist.

I'd argue that one of the gaps not on his diagram is information governance, where there is a lot of heat and even a bit of light here and there. I find that ironic given his call-out to his own IG conference. And I have quibbles here and there. But I think that the overall corpus he describes is part and parcel of CIP, not something new. I also think that there is no one role in an organization that does all three things:

• Sets organizational policy
• Is "in charge" of information 
• Coordinates between the various roles

That last is squarely where the CIP sits in my mind and in the roles and job titles of many of those that have already earned it. 

The CIP 2016 Update is LIVE!

I am pleased to announce that after a lot of hard work, some stops and starts, and with the assistance of dozens of information professionals around the world, the 2016 revision to the CIP is now LIVE.

Here's how we got here:

• We decided it was time to update the original CIP.
• We updated the exam outline and blueprint based on changes in the industry and technology.
• We wrote more than 300 exam questions.
• We launched a beta exam with those exam questions.
• We reviewed the performance of those beta exam questions.
• We set the passing score. Here's how we got to that score. 

So what's next? Well, the exam is live, so if you're a candidate or know someone who is or should be, you can:

• Review the final updated CIP exam blueprint.
• Take a 25-question CIP sample exam.
• Get the official CIP study guide.
• Take an AIIM training course. These all align more closely to the CIP; taking a particular course will help to prepare you for that area of the exam. 
• Take the AIIM CIP Prep workshop. This 4-day instructor-led workshop covers all the domains and topics on the exam. On the final day, attendees will be able to take a 100-question sample exam; at select workshops we will actually administer the CIP as an onsite proctored exam. 
• Find a Kryterion test center near you. 
• Register for the exam. 

Already a CIP? Nothing changes for you - you do NOT need to take the revised CIP to maintain your CIP status. Provided, of course, that you complete your 45 CEUs within the 3 years after you were certified and pay the CEU fees. If you did not do that within 3 years, your CIP has expired and you do in fact need to take it again.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this relaunch. I believe that this revision has made the CIP a stronger, better-written, more useful exam and that it will continue to grow into the premier information management designation in the industry.

Questions or comments? Feel free to comment here or ping me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org.

The CIP 2016 Passing Score

Over the long weekend we notified all the CIP 2016 beta candidates as to their total scores, their individual domain scores, and whether they passed or failed. I heard from a few beta testers that a 60% passing score seems quite low, and why are we making the test easier, and won't that compromise the overall perception and quality of the CIP?

One of the key steps in the development of any certification is setting the passing score. There is a widespread misconception that the passing score "should be" a certain score such as 70% - 75%. This is akin to setting the retention for some or all of your records at 7 years: Nobody really knows how they got there, and it's not defensible, but everyone else is doing it so it must be OK.

In order for a passing score to be defensible, it needs to be criterion-based. This is typically done through some sort of standard-setting study. There are a number of ways to do this; a common way used for certification exams is modified Angoff scoring.

The way Angoff scoring works is that subject matter experts, who themselves are representative of the target audience, take the exam in an unproctored, untimed, and unscored setting. As they go through the exam, they rate the likelihood of a candidate like them getting that question correct. The harder the question is perceived to be, the lower that percentage will be; a super-easy question might be given a 95% rating (because people still pick B accidentally instead of A), while the lowest grade, 25%, represents a pure guess on a question with 4 possible answers.

This was the approach we used to set the CIP passing score. Once the SMEs finished their ratings, we had a call to discuss them. Each item had a range of ratings and we discussed the individual ratings of those items with large ranges. We looked at the complexity of the individual item, how the beta testers answered, and how well those questions discriminated (good scorers tended to get them right, poor scorers tended to get them wrong). SMEs were allowed to change their ratings after discussion and many did on many items. This ended up with each item having a difficulty rating and a statistical validity associated with that rating. We then took all the individual items and assembled the final passing score range of 47-51 items which equates to a 55-60% passing score and set the passing score at the top of that mathematically determined, defensible, range.

So back to that 60% passing score: 60% seems quite low, right? But it's exactly the opposite: a 60% passing score reflects that the exam is actually harder compared to the previous CIP. Had we put the passing score at 70%, only about half the beta candidates would have passed, many of whom are superior candidates compared to the 3-5 year candidate that the CIP has targeted since its inception.

And in part because the exam is more challenging, we've already developed an in-depth CIP study guide and an instructor-led classroom prep workshop to help candidates prepare to succeed on the exam. The study guide is free for AIIM Professional members and $60 for non-members. The revised CIP is also more closely aligned to existing AIIM training programs; taking one of them will also help prepare candidates for the relevant portion of the CIP.

We will definitely monitor the performance of the CIP, and if the passing score needs to be tweaked  in 6 months or a year we have a process for doing that as well. But I hope this information will underscore my, and AIIM's, commitment to doing the CIP the right way, not simply throwing together a bunch of questions and setting an arbitrary passing score. 

Epicurious: Diner-Style Bacon for a Crowd. Because why wouldn't you?

The Atlantic: Are Slack Messages Subject to FOIA Request? (Spoiler: Yes.)

KTAR News: Out with old, in with newsfeed: Arizona department to switch from email to Facebook

Laurence Hart: What is an Information Professional?

Global News/The Canadian Press: Personal email, BBMs subject to records requests, watchdog tells public servants H/T: Tara Dragon.

Chris Walker: Three's Company

Laurence Hart: Content Management, Platforms or Solutions?

BMOC: Will ECM vendors catch up to Back Office Content Solutions? 

CIP update: Setting the passing score

As I mentioned in my previous post, we're almost done with what needs to be done to revise the CIP. We had a call this week with several subject matter experts (SMEs) who reviewed the beta results and made some determinations as to some of the items. I'm working this week to incorporate those changes, fix some typos, etc.

But we still need your help! We need 10-12 more SMEs for the final activity, setting the passing score. You do not need to be a member of AIIM *or* a CIP to assist, though we will give preference to CIPs. But you do need to be someone who could be a CIP if you aren't - preferably with no more than 5 years experience in the relevant domains. In other words, if you've been doing this since Methuselah, you're not the ideal candidate this time around.

Here's what we need. We have a training call scheduled for Tuesday, June 14, from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time. This call is to train the SMEs on how to do the scoring activities. Once that training call is done, SMEs will be taking the exam and deciding, for each exam question, how likely it is that someone like them, with 3-5 years experience, perhaps a CIP, perhaps not, would get the question right. Some questions will be easy, some will be hard. Once the SME has scored all the questions, we do some final analysis to end up at the final passing score. This in turn will be used to determine which beta CIP candidates passed and are full CIPs.

Important: Whether you are a CIP already or not, this will not impact your status. In other words, don't be concerned about "passing" the exam - if you're already a CIP you will stay a CIP as long as you do the recertification process. If you're selected and not yet a CIP, this will not impact you at all. You will also not be charged to participate in this process. You do not need to study - again, the point is to determine the difficulty of the items, not to try to "pass".

SMEs who are selected to participate in this final activity will also receive a free voucher good for one CIP exam once the final exam goes live. Those who participated on this week's call will receive a voucher as well. These vouchers are transferrable so you can give them to a colleague or use them yourself.

If you are interested, or know someone that you think would be a good candidate, please contact me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org.

FCW: Social confusion: Looming records mandates and social media. This has been near and dear to my heart for more than a decade - in fact I wrote the AIIM Social Media Governance course in 2008.

I've spoken recently on the topic, at ARMA Wyoming and ARMA Boston among others, and this article makes a key point with which I agree wholeheartedly: for social media, and for most communications technologies, automation is the only way to do it to ensure appropriate content is captured.

And this article, which was written by Austin Adams, VP of Public Sector, Alfresco, is another great example of how solution providers can provide truly educational content that demonstrates their expertise both generally and specific to particular circumstances.

CIP status update - POST-BETA

The CIP beta has come to a close. THANK YOU for everyone who participated - you play a key role in the CIP revision including perhaps the most important step: setting the passing score.

Many people who participated in the beta test have asked me about their scores, when they would receive them, when they would know whether they passed, etc. To them I say - soon. Sometime in June, most likely the week of June 20, but I still don't have an exact date. Let me explain.

Now that the beta is over, the next step is for Kryterion to do some statistical analysis of the questions on the beta to determine how they performed. Without getting into too much detail, we want there to be a correlation between what a CIP candidate answers on a given question and how that CIP candidate does overall. So if someone gets a particular question wrong, but gets 95% of the remaining questions right, that raises an issue. And if someone gets the same question right, but gets 90% of the remaining questions wrong, that also raises an issue. That's what we're looking for this week.

We have a call scheduled for next week with a small group of subject matter experts (SMEs) who will review any and all problematic questions and make recommendations as to whether/how to fix them or even to remove them entirely.

Once that's done, we have a larger group of SMEs who will participate an an exercise called modified Angoff scoring. Again, without getting into too much detail, the SMEs will make a determination as to how hard each question is. Once we have that done for each item, we put together the final exam and those scores will lead us to the final passing score.

At that time we will apply that to all of the beta candidates' scores and notify everyone. Those who passed will be CIPs just as if they'd taken the original exam or the updated final exam. Those who did not pass will be able to take the final CIP again at the regular exam price of $285 for Professional members and $349 for non-members. As with the previous CIP exam, candidates who take the final exam will get their score and pass/fail immediately upon completion of the exam.

So keep watching this space - we will announce the final passing score here as well as the general availability of the revised CIP study guide and training course. And as always feel free to direct any questions to me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org.

Chris Walker: unFUDding Cloud Content Management.

The article to which he is referring (because it took me a minute to find the link in his post).

Marko Sillanpaa at BMOC: The Information Professional - Software Diplomat

OT: Musing about future dates & events

I've been at AIIM 5 1/2 years as of this Sunday. This marks my third longest tenure with a single organization and my longest performing substantially the same duties. I'm not particularly looking to leave - love my team and the AIIM staff at large, enjoy what I do, and as a full-time teleworker since 2004, what's not to like?

All that said, is it hubristic of me to think about scheduling time off / scheduling around certain events I want to attend for 2017? I never used to think about planning further than about a quarter out, because you just never know. Maybe it's my old age catching up to me, or the fact that as lean as we are I do feel a certain amount of job security. Which now means that karma's gonna get me....

Anyway, I think as we start to look at scheduling for 2017, which we typically don't do for my stuff until Q3 or so, I'm going to be a bit more proactive in blocking out time for some of the events I used to go to but haven't because of scheduling conflicts. Things like ARMA Canada, and ARMA Houston, and maybe some of the training and/or association events, and at least one big SharePoint conference. Here's to me. :)

Allen Podraza: AIIM16 Conference - My Highlights and Takeaways

Chris Johnson at Loosely Typed: SharePoint's next epoch

AIIM has posted all of the AIIM Conference 2016 presentations as PDFs to Slideshare; all of them are posted by date in one spot on the AIIM blog.

Kevin Parker: Reflections on the 2016 AIIM Conference

The CIP Beta is Live!

Updated to reflect final beta date of May 31, 2016.

Updated to add correct link to the registration process.

I am pleased to announce that the beta exam is live for the CIP 2016 update. So what's that mean?

The CIP has to go through a beta process in order to set a defensible passing score. We need 100+ candidates for each of the two beta forms. Once we have those exam results we can analyze the individual items to ensure they meet our standards; we will also set the passing score using the modified Angoff scoring mechanism.

The beta is the same as the "regular" CIP and those who pass the beta will be full CIPs. The primary differences are:

• The price, as shown below
• The exam is 3 hours, rather than 2, to give candidates time to provide comments on each question if so desired
• You will have to wait until the beta is over to get your score

How can you register? Simply go to http://www.webassessor.com/aiim/index.html, create an account, and follow the registration process. We have documented that process in a Word document which you can access here: https://myaiim.box.com/s/lj4t21jocktku7rzfatlazalbeye8j9h

This link is to the final CIP outline: https://myaiim.app.box.com/s/x26nmu6oxizdjugmht477e3drjs6cq33

Please note that the beta will only be available until May 23 or until we get the necessary registrations, whichever comes first. Update: the beta will remain live until May 31, 2016.

Cost of the beta is only $135. This is a massive discount from the full price of $285 for Professional members and $349 for non-members.

Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions at jwilkins@aiim.org.

NARA: Criteria for Managing Email Records in Compliance with the Managing Government Records Directive (M-12-18)

SharePointMaven: 10 questions to ask your users before you create a SharePoint site for them

NYTimes: Swim. Bike. Cheat? This is a fascinating story because I do these types of events (albeit much, MUCH shorter distance) and I hate the idea of cheating on them because, as the story says, for most of us cheating on an event is cheating yourself.

But it's also fascinating because, on the one hand, many of the accusations are corroborated by metadata from the ubiquitous digital pictures taken throughout, and on the other hand, the accused could have provided significant data/metadata in her defense from her own GPS devices and hasn't.

Don Lueders: #ARMANextGen: Lipstick, Meet Pig

Update on the CIP 2016 exam development process

It's been a while since I've posted about the CIP. No news definitely means good news in this case! We've had more than 25 subject matter experts contribute questions towards the update, and right now we're working our way through more than 300 questions to make sure every question is as clear, correct, and concise as we can make them.

New Provider
When we made the decision to bring back the CIP, we also decided to look at other providers to see what other options were available in the marketplace. We've decided to change providers to Kryterion (https://www.kryteriononline.com/). We believe they offer the best combination of test centers and testing mechanisms for the revamped CIP and we're looking forward to working with them to help finalize the exam, including the beta exam.

The Beta Exam
The next step in the process to get candidates to take the beta exam. This will be available through Kryterion test centers in the next couple of weeks. We'll make a separate announcement through various channels once the beta exam is actually live. This is a critical part of the process because we need 100+ people to take each of the two exam forms in order to ensure the questions are correct and statistically valid.

The cost of the beta exam will be $135.00, which is a massive discount to the full price of the CIP exam once it goes live. This price will only be available until we get the minimum number of beta exams we need.

Candidates who take the beta exam are taking the CIP exam; the primary difference is that you will not receive your score, passing or otherwise, until we get the minimum number of beta exams. That in turn is what we use to set the final passing score. Once we set that final score we will contact every single beta exam candidate and provide their final score, the final passing score, and notification as to whether the candidate passed or failed the exam.

New Pricing
We also made the decision to increase the price of the CIP. There are a number of factors that went into this, including the cost of developing the new exam, the cost of similar sorts of exams in the marketplace, and the need to ensure that the CIP will be self-funding moving forward. Once the new exam is officially launched, the prices will be:
Professional Member: $285.00
Non-member: $349.00

However, the requirements and fees for maintenance will remain the same: 45 hours of continuing education (CEUs) over 3 years, plus a $75.00 fee for Professional Members and $150.00 fee for non-members.

Exam Prep Materials
We are also developing a preparatory course and training manual that will prepare candidates to take the CIP exam. We expect those to be available when the official exam launches. As with the previous CIP, a training class is not required, but candidates may benefit from taking a training class if they are unsure about a particular area of the exam. And unlike the previous CIP exam, taking AIIM training courses are also a great way to prepare for the various parts of the exam. Pricing and specific availability is still being determined and will be announced in the next few weeks.

Last Chance for LAPSED CIPs to Renew
Finally, one more reminder. If you completed the original CIP but let it lapse - that is, you didn't pay the CEU fee and complete the 45 hours of continuing education, we are offering a one-time grace period. Submit your documentation and pay any outstanding CEU fees by April 26, 2016, and you will be renewed and remain a CIP in good standing. Once this date passes, however, you will have to pass the test again at the applicable fee in order to remain a CIP.

Please feel free to contact me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org with any questions.

Update: fixed the link to Kryterion. Thanks to BMOC's Marko Sillanpää for spotting the error.

Update: changed last header to LAPSED CIPs. Current CIPs are current; this note was directed specifically to those who took the CIP but have not renewed it and have let it lapse.

The National Archives Records Express: Open Government: 2015 Senior Agency Official (SAO) Reports

Laurence Hart: Pointing AIIM in the Right Direction

Marko Sillanpää @ BMOC: If I Were AIIM President

Alison North: Re-shaping the Information Associations

Donda Young: Things I Want in an Association

Laurence Hart: Too Many Associations

Chris Walker: AIIM - Here's What I Want

Harvard Business Review: Before a Meeting, Tell Your Team that Silence Denotes Agreement. I agree with the point; not sure that making that statement will completely take care of it, but it does feel like a good way to at least get some feedback.

Activity: Walking desk, 2.2 mph pace, 8.0% incline, 1:23, 3.1 miles.

Chris Walker: The BA and the Shiny Objects

Russ Stalters: Time to Retire the Term ECM???

Laurence Hart: John Mancini Entering a New Phase at AIIM

John Mancini's post about his changing responsibilities.

John Mancini transitioning to new responsibilities at AIIM

Letter sent out today from AIIM:

Jesse,

As trusted, respected and valued members of AIIM, we wanted to make you all aware of some upcoming leadership changes in the organization.

After nearly 20 years as President, John Mancini has requested a transition to a new set of responsibilities at AIIM.  The Board thinks that this transition creates exciting opportunities for AIIM and for John.

John is not going anywhere, nor is he retiring.  He will expand upon his work with AIIM as an evangelist, author, blogger, and keynote speaker.  The new role will free John up to use his extensive knowledge of the industry and content marketing to help individual companies on their marketing strategies and messaging through a new set of advisory offerings and to evangelize the need for information professionals.

Tony Peleska, AIIM Chair and CIO of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, has agreed to chair a transition committee.  Peggy Winton has assumed John’s ongoing operating responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer.

We spoke with a number of people as we considered this opportunity, and thought we would share some of those perspectives with you:

John Newton, founder of both Documentum and Alfresco:  “AIIM and the content management Industry are at a critical crossroads. Content management is on the cusp of being something far larger and far more critical to organizations; it is a key enabling technology for the digital transformation that is occurring.  John has a rich understanding of both where content management is and where it is going, and focusing his knowledge on the market rather than on internal operations is a huge step forward.  He knows what works — and more importantly what does not work — when it comes to marketing.  This transition opens up a host of new opportunities for individual companies to capitalize on his knowledge."

Bob Zagami, long-time AIIM member and Fellow and industry advisor:  "Under John’s leadership, AIIM has transitioned from an association known for a large trade show and ever-changing technologies. His leadership has positioned the association for even greater things in the future. We don’t talk technology — we teach solutions. We don’t have a trade show — it’s been replaced by senior level educational conferences. We are a major resource for those who develop effective information management and governance products and services and the consumers who need this information, now more than ever, to stay current and competitive in an every-changing environment in their companies and organizations.”

Allen Podraza, Director of Records Management and Archives at the American Medical Association: “It is critical for AIIM to capitalize on opportunities to expand its visibility with external audiences who are unfamiliar with content and information management.  No doubt that focusing John’s efforts on this external mission will be exciting times for AIIM.  AIIM has always been among the most creative associations in approaching new markets and new opportunities. It is this creativity that ensures AIIM continues to be THE preeminent Association for information management professional now and into the future.”

Alan Pelz-Sharpe, Vice President at the Digital Clarity Group:  "The traditional lines between structured and unstructured information -- which served in the past to separate what was AIIM from what was not AIIM – have become so blurred as to be meaningless.  Content has become so ubiquitous, voluminous, varied, and critical to business processes that it is impossible to separate ‘content management’ as a separate discipline from business processes and applications.  Telling this story to the outside world requires focus and commitment, and freeing John up to focus on this mission is a big step forward for AIIM."

Thornton May, Futurist:  “Less than 1% of 1% of the seven billion humans on this planet excel at information management.  We can do better.  AIIM is now even better positioned to make the lessons learned during the long evolution from records management, through document/image management to content management and beyond affordably accessible to the majority of our species.”

We’re excited about what this means for AIIM and look forward to chatting with many of you about the exciting next chapter for AIIM.  And we hope to see many of you at AIIM16; it will be a great event!

Revised CIP 2016 Exam Outline Available for Review

We've been hard at work internally and with the CIP community updating the CIP outline for 2016, taking into account John Mancini's post at http://info.aiim.org/digital-landfill/cip-redux.

I'm pleased to say that the revised outline is now available for review at http://www.aiim.org/~/media/Files/Training/Certification/CIP_2016_Exam_Outline_DRAFT.pdf. Please send any comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. directly to jwilkins@aiim.org.

Please note that we'd like to receive all comments no later than Friday, February 12, 2016, so that we can finalize the outline and begin the next step: writing exam questions.

Again, if you have any questions please contact me directly at jwilkins@aiim.org.

Activity: Walking desk, 2.2 mph pace, 8.0% incline, 2:40, 5.75 miles.

CIP 1.0 Ends February 12, 2016

As regular readers of this blog know, we're actively engaged in revising the Certified Information Professional (CIP) certification. As part of that process we will be changing exam providers from Prometric to another company - those details to follow in the next couple of weeks.

But that also means that we have to end the Prometric-based testing. The last date to take the existing CIP exam through Prometric is February 12, 2016. After this date the CIP will not be available until the new exam goes live, currently planned for the AIIM16 conference at the end of April. If you are interested in the current CIP you must take the exam by February 12, 2016.

Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions at jwilkins@aiim.org.

Peter Sloan: What if companies treated their money like their information?

Activity: 90+ min shoveling 12" of snow.

KMWorld 2016 Call for Speakers

KMWorld has announced a call for speakers for KMWorld 2016, scheduled for November 14-17 in Washington, DC. Proposals are due by March 28; more details including a link to the submission form can be found here.

Activity: Walking desk, 2.4 mph pace, 8.0% incline, 1:02, 2.5 miles.

Activity: Walking desk, 2.5 mph pace, 8.0% incline, 1:16, 3.12 miles.

Activity: Walking desk, 2.5 mph pace, 7.0% incline, 1:40, 4.17 miles.

Grace Period for Lapsed CIPs

If you received the CIP but didn't complete your CEUs and pay the recertification fee within 3 years, you're lapsed and technically no longer allowed to call yourself a CIP. However, because of all the confusion around the cancellation of the CIP program and its reinstatement, we've decided to offer lapsed CIPs the chance to remain CIPs. This is a one-time grace period.

The way it works is as follows. You need to document 45 continuing education hours on topics relating to the CIP. These hours can come from AIIM events, other related groups' events like ARMA or PMI, or even vendor events as long as the content is educational and related. So vendor cocktail receptions don't count; neither did that ARMA chapter meeting on "Dressing for Success". But that webinar on privacy did, and so did the AIIM conference, and so did the demo of that new SharePoint-based solution.

You can document your hours using this form: http://www.aiim.org/~/media/Files/Training/Info-Cert/CIP-Maintenance-Form.ashx. Email the form to training@aiim.org. You can also mail it to:

AIIM
Attn: CIP Recertification
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Make sure you include your payment information. The recertification form and payment must be received by April 26, 2016.

If you are lapsed, and do not complete these requirements by April 26, 2016, you will be decertified and no longer allowed to use the CIP designation or logo. In addition, in order to recertify after that date, you will have to take the updated CIP exam in accordance with the new procedures and pricing in effect at that time.

Questions? Email me or ping me on Twitter at @jessewilkins.