Selecting from the alphabet soup of information certifications.

• Author: Whited, Jeff
• Position: Cover story

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Earning professional certifications can help an information professional establish credibility, but choosing the most relevant ones from among the many available can be a challenge.

AS the value of information governance (IG) is becoming more apparent worldwide, information professionals have an opportunity to play a more strategic role within their organizations. But, those who will be "invited to the table" are only those who have visibility and credibility in the areas that are critical to IG, such as information technology (IT), security, and privacy.

An obvious way to gain such visibility and credibility is by earning professional certifications. There are many to consider, and determining which ones are right for you can be difficult. Several successful information professionals recently spoke about the certifications they have attained --or plan to attain--and why others might consider doing the same.

IGP Spans Information Professions

Coming in late spring, the Information Governance Professional (IGP) certification is designed for certified records managers (CRMs) and other professionals who drive the governance of all information, not just the official records. Those who attain the credential are expected to be able to implement the Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles[R] in an organization and to work closely with the C-level officers.

The development process has been rigorous, in accordance with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accreditation standards. It began last spring, when 11 information management professionals performed a job analysis and developed an exam blueprint, which was later validated by nearly 350 respondents from 111 countries.

Two versions of the exam have been developed, each with 125 questions. The exams will be pilot-tested before the certification is made available to everyone.

While information managers have several certifications they can pursue, Brian Tretick, CIPP, believes the IGP certification is necessary and unique because of its strategic nature. Tretick, managing director of Athena Consulting, sees the fields of records management, privacy, and information security becoming progressively intertwined.

"As this combined discipline matures--as it obviously will--the certification will become part of the fabric of that profession," he says. "Anyone who seeks to be in such an important and strategic role would benefit."

Raymond Cunningham, CRM, CA, CDIA+, CIPP/US, CIPP/IT, director of records services at the University of Illinois Foundation, suggests the IGP certification is needed, in part, because the chief information officer (CIO) often takes on too large of a role in managing information.

"The CIO role emerged as information technology became pre-eminent in the workplace, but the role of the information to be governed took a back seat as CIOs came from the technology side," he says. "Organizations soon discovered that the skill sets for managing IT are entirely different from those required for managing information."

Cunningham, who helped develop the exam with Tretick and others, believes professionals with broad experience in the legal, records management, risk management, or privacy fields are ideally suited for the new certification.

The IGP certification exam will...