Army COOL Snapshot - Certified Information Professional (CIP)

The following Army Occupations provide training and/or experience that contributes to attaining this credential. Please review the "Civilian" tab, if present, for information about which DOL Job Families this credential falls under.

Personnel Category	Occupation	Occupation Type	Related As	CA Eligible	Promotion Points
Enlisted	1E Knowledge Management Professional	ASI	Some	CA Eligible	Promo Points
Enlisted	25B Information Technology Specialist	MOS	Other	CA Eligible	Promo Points
Warrant Officer	170A CYBER Operations Technician	WOMOS	Other	CA Eligible
Warrant Officer	255A Information Services Technician	WOMOS	Other	CA Eligible
Warrant Officer	255N Network Management Technician	WOMOS	Other	CA Eligible
Warrant Officer	255S Information Protection Technician	WOMOS	Other	CA Eligible
Warrant Officer	255Z Senior Network Operations Technician	WOMOS	Other	CA Eligible
Officer	26A Network Systems Engineering	AOC	Other	CA Eligible
Officer	26B Information Systems Engineering	AOC	Other	CA Eligible
Officer	26Z Senior Network Systems Engineering	AOC	Other	CA Eligible
Officer	51R Systems Automation Acquisition and Engineering	AOC	Other	CA Eligible
Officer	70D Health Services Systems Management	AOC	Other	CA Eligible

This credential is related to the following DOL Job Families:

	Civilian Job	Job Family	Bright Outlook	Registered Apprenticeship	Local Salary Info
	Computer and Information Systems Managers	Management	Bright Outlook	Apprenticeship	find local salary

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Attainability:

Eligibility Requirements (View Details)

Credential Prerequisite
Experience
Education
Training
Membership
Other
Fee

Note: This credential may have multiple options for a Service member to meet eligibility requirements. Requirements listed here are based on the minimum degree required.

Exam Requirements (View Details)

Exam
Written Exam
Oral Exam
Practical Exam
Performance Assessment

Exam Administration (View Details)

In-person exam
Remote proctored on-line exam
Third-party test vendor

RECERTIFICATION SUMMARY

Renewal Period: 3 years

Continuing Education
Exam
Continuing Education OR Exam
Fee
Other

AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION

Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)

1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Phone: (800) 477-2446

Fax: (301) 587-2711
Email: aiim@aiim.org

Written Exam

Creating and Capturing Information (20%)
- Identify sources of content to be captured, e.g. paper, microfilm, email, born-digital, legacy sources such as file shares
- Explain the challenges associated with managing digital information, e.g. determining what to capture and how, the dynamic nature of some digital information, how formats impact capture and management
- Select the appropriate file format for creating and capturing content based on business requirements, e.g. target audiences, access to content over time, regulatory requirements
- Determine the impact of using proprietary file formats on information creation, capture, and access
- Identify specific types of content to capture that provide unique challenges, e.g. email, social media, forms, rich media, and determine how to capture them, e.g. using a digital asset management system
- Distinguish between structured and unstructured information and the differences in how they are managed
- Determine methods for extracting and capturing data from structured applications
- Determine methods for capturing structured data using electronic forms
- Develop a process for capturing content, e.g. what to capture, approvals, audits
- Determine strategy for capturing backfile, e.g. day-forward, backfile conversion, on- demand and factors that contribute to each
- Select the appropriate file format(s) for captured images based on business requirements, e.g. number of pages, compression, need for Web-based access, need for public access, bandwidth
- Identify issues associated with file conversion, e.g. between formats, from digital to analog
- Identify the system of record/system of ownership for a given type of content or information
- Identify the benefits and challenges associated with managing both structured and unstructured data, e.g. in case management applications
- Compare and contrast the content management capabilities of enterprise content management solutions, point solutions, and enterprise file sync and share solutions and select the appropriate solution based on business requirements
- Determine information management needs and issues associated with virtual teams (e.g. synchronous vs. asynchronous collaboration)
- Identify issues associated with sharing content across internal and external organizational boundaries, i.e. between departments, with customers
- Identify issues associated with legacy collaboration approaches, e.g. email
- Identify key features required for effective document-centric collaboration, e.g. version control, workflow, audit trail
- Determine the functionality required for particular collaboration requirements, e.g. wikis, virtual conferencing, social networking, VoIP, blogs, content rating, recommendations
- Determine whether and how to apply governance to collaboration environments/artifacts
Organizing and Categorizing Information (20%)
- Describe the importance of information architecture to effective information management
- Identify specific business benefits associated with effective metadata usage, e.g. lifecycle management, security management, improved findability
- Define a metadata strategy and the elements to include, e.g. consistency of metadata model & vocabulary, metadata maintenance, mandatory v. optional metadata, metadata automation
- Describe and compare different methods for applying metadata to information objects, e.g. manual data entry, recognition technologies, inheritance, workflow, analytics
- Identify sources of metadata and compare and contrast the benefits and drawbacks of getting metadata from each source
- Identify challenges of sharing/propagating metadata across tools and systems
- Describe methods to improve the quality of metadata values, e.g. data validation, data masking, controlled vocabularies
- Identify approaches to automating metadata application and the benefits associated with them
- Compare and contrast the use of formal classification schemes, search, and navigation and their impact on findability
- Identify the benefits of developing and deploying a thesaurus in support of search and classification
- Compare and contrast various classification schemes, e.g. lists, trees, hierarchies, facets, system maps, folksonomies
- Compare and contrast different approaches to classification scheme development, e.g. buy vs. build
- Compare & contrast different approaches to developing classification schemes, e.g. thesaurus-based vs. hierarchical, organizational vs. matter/topical vs. functional
- Identify the stakeholders for a formal classification scheme
- Describe and apply techniques for automating information extraction, description, & classification, e.g. autocategorization, autoclassification, entity extraction, summarization
- Compare & contrast application and enterprise search capabilities
- Compare approaches for improving findability of enterprise content, e.g. metadata, consistent classification structures, saved searches
- Uses for, strengths, weaknesses and overlap of usability of different findability mechanisms, e.g. keyword based search, typed-field search, semantic techniques
- Define the issues associated with collecting information from sources not owned/controlled by the organization, e.g. personal devices, commercial social media platforms
- Provide information from a variety of sources in response to requests, e.g. litigation, audit, regulatory inquiry, or Freedom of Information Act-type requirements
Governing Information (16%)
- Define the concept of data and information “stewardship”
- Identify the ethical considerations associated with not following a comprehensive information governance (IG) program
- Identify strategic benefits of improved information management, e.g. improved engagement, process automation
- Define the objective of an information and/or information systems inventory
- Identify desired information to gather as part of an information and/or information systems inventory
- Gather information about the context of the organization, e.g. jurisdiction(s) and nature of organization
- Identify current business, legal, and other requirements for IG, e.g. privacy, confidentiality, national security, regulatory requirements
- Describe the purpose of an information management maturity model
- Identify key stakeholders for an IG initiative
- Gain support for the IG program from senior management
- Establish IG roles & responsibilities, e.g. champion, center of excellence, community of practice, IG-specific roles, IG support roles
- Evaluate existing IG strategy, processes, documents, and tools
- Develop a framework for evaluating and understanding information risk
- Identify the role of content quality and content standards in an information governance program
- Identify key information management concepts, e.g. core technologies and related terms
- Compare and contrast different information management disciplines, e.g. enterprise content management, records management, document management, knowledge management
- Identify the IG implications for cross- border/cross-jurisdictional storage of content
- Identify the IG implications of cloud vs. on- premises deployment, e.g. costs, security, uptime, management/maintenance, lock-in
- Identify the IG implications of commercial social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter), e.g. security, third party control of information, privacy, “liking”/sharing, ownership
- Identify the IG implications of mobile platforms, e.g. security, BYOD, bandwidth, user experience, accessibility
- Identify key events to be captured into the system audit trail, e.g. changes to content, changes to system settings like security
- Develop appropriate IG policies and procedures
- Describe key considerations for using security technologies effectively, e.g. redaction, encryption, digital rights management
- Describe the importance of reviewing IG program with senior management
Automating Information-Intensive Processes (10%)
- Articulate typical reasons for business process change
- Distinguish among different business process scenarios and determine which are most suited for change
- Describe the benefits of formal business analysis
- Describe the role of the business analyst in an information management initiative
- Compare different approaches to information gathering, e.g. interviewing, process mapping
- Develop a flowchart using best practices and standard methodologies
- Identify the limitations of flowcharting processes
- Ask the right troubleshooting questions and evaluate each step in an existing business process
- Determine how to plan routing of tasks or information using a workflow/BPM system, e.g. deadlines/time stamp, parallel processing, sequential processing, via API
- Compare and contrast modeling and flowcharting
- Distinguish between process modeling and execution and the role of standards
- Compare and contrast workflow and BPM technologies, e.g. routing, workflow, BPM, transactional content management, case management
- Identify and compare various approaches to workload balancing
- Describe the benefits of formal process monitoring
- Identify different metrics to capture and oversee
- Distinguish between on-demand and automated reporting
Managing the Information Lifecycle (20%)
- Identify the steps in the information lifecycle
- Compare and contrast the characteristics of data vs. documents vs. records vs. knowledge
- Explain the purpose of capturing and managing records
- Distinguish between records and non-records based on legal, historical, administrative, and operational requirements
- Define the concept of vital records and explain their importance
- Identify and compare sources of electronic records, e.g. office documents, email, scanned images, communications technologies
- Explain the challenges associated with managing digital information, e.g. determining what to capture and how, the dynamic nature of some digital information, how formats impact capture and management
- Determine how long to retain different types of content based on legal, regulatory, and operational requirements
- Describe the purpose of a retention schedule and the elements it should contain, e.g. records identifiers, retention periods, disposition instructions
- Define legal holds and the importance of legal holds in the information lifecycle
- Compare & contrast different approaches to disposition of information based on the type and sensitivity of information and the type of media
- Compare and contrast approaches to automating disposition, e.g. automated archiving, scripting, workflow
- Differentiate between archiving, backups, and active storage
- Determine appropriate storage technologies based on business requirements, e.g. regulatory requirements, speed of access and retrieval, costs, openness, long-term accessibility
- Describe how file format and archiving standards affect long-term access to information
- Select the appropriate file format and storage media to ensure long-term access to information, e.g. PDF/A
- Identify preservation risk factors, e.g. format obsolescence, media/hardware obsolescence, media degradation
- Identify and compare approaches to address each of the preservation risk factors, e.g. select standard/open media and file formats, storage considerations, emulation, migration
- Identify the elements to include in a digital preservation strategy
- Identify the steps to include in a migration plan
- Differentiate between tacit and explicit knowledge and their impact on an information management program
- Define and compare approaches to expertise location, e.g. social graphing, analytics
Implementing an Information Management Solution (14%)
- Determine the impact of an information management initiative, e.g. on ways of working, on business processes, on training and change management requirements
- Develop an information management strategy, e.g. vision, key performance indicators, critical success factors, success measures
- Identify the roles & responsibilities required for an information management implementation program, e.g. sponsor, champion, management, specialists, business users, others
- Conduct a baseline organizational assessment, e.g. business and regulatory environment, organizational culture
- Conduct a baseline technical assessment, e.g. existing enterprise architecture, system lifecycle stage, enterprise architecture roadmap
- Identify existing information management- related systems and determine whether they can be used/expanded/improved for a particular information management initiative
- Determine how to prioritize areas in scope, e.g. by identifying quick wins, areas with the biggest pain point, areas most receptive to change, platform, information type/class
- Develop a project charter for an information management initiative
- Develop an information management program roadmap
- Compare & contrast metrics for determining the success of an information management initiative, e.g. financial, non-financial, non- quantifiable
- Determine specific metrics for an information management initiative
- Develop a business case for improving information management
- Determine the value associated with improved information management
- Determine the right approach for buy vs. build for a given information management initiative
- Conduct risk analysis for an information management initiative and develop a risk mitigation plan
- Determine all costs associated with an information management initiative, e.g. acquisition costs, maintenance costs, one- time costs
- Determine the role of business and system requirements in an information management initiative
- Determine the appropriate logical architecture for an information management solution, e.g. centralized, decentralized, federated
- Design new ways of working with information, e.g. collaboration, security, governance
- Design required interfaces, e.g. configuration, forms, overlays, templates
- Design system and content migration processes, e.g. data cleaning, data conversion, quality control
- Develop plans for business continuity/ disaster recovery in the event of a major data loss or breach
- Develop change management plan
- Develop communications plan
- Develop training plan
- Determine approaches for continuous improvement post-implementation

Exam Preparation Resources

There are a number of resources available to help you prepare for the Certified Information Professional (CIP) examination:

Best Sources

An additional resource is O'Reilly Learning Safari Books Online, a searchable digital library that provides online access to thousands of books, training videos and conference sessions. See the Educational Resources section on the Related Sites page here on COOL to learn how to get free access.

Testing Information

Exam Administration
Credential exams may be administered in-person at a testing site, proctored on-line remotely, or have options for both. If an exam is administered through a test vendor, the third-party test vendor box will be checked. The following test administration options apply to the Certified Information Professional (CIP) credential where checked:
- In-person exam
- Remote proctored on-line exam
- Third-party test vendor

For more information on the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) testing process, visit the agency website.

Third-Party Test Vendor Information
Testing for this credential is handled by the following vendor:

Kryterion

The test centers are located in the U.S.

To find out more, use the following links on the Kryterion website:

RECERTIFICATION

Certified Information Professional (CIP)

Renewal Period: 3 years

The Certified Information Professional (CIP) credential has the following recertification information:

CIP certification holders may retake the CIP Exam or submit 60 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) over a three-year period for recertification.

For additional recertification information, visit the AIIM website.

Additional considerations for the Certified Information Professional (CIP) include:

AIIM does not require candidates to have any minimum education or experience before taking the exam, but recommends candidates have some years of relevant experience or education.