In this post we speak with Christian Walenta, the President of the International Association of Information and Data Quality (IAIDQ).

Our goal was to find out more about the forthcoming professional certification scheme the IAIDQ have recently been developing and how it could benefit our readers and members.

When implemented this initiative could help you benchmark your skills, create a structured approach to your career and help cement your reputation in the industry as a DQ/IQ professional.

Read on for more details.

Further Details of the Forthcoming IAIDQ CIQP Certification Scheme

Can you describe the goals of the certification scheme?

In a nutshell, our goal is “to do for Information/Data Quality what Black Belt did for Six Sigma”.

We want to give people a yardstick for their skills and experience and an opportunity to set a baseline for their abilities so that they can be comfortable that they know what they are doing. In the future, this yardstick or benchmark may be used to guide the training and development of new or experienced staff in information quality organisations. We want to advance the profession by establishing a standard of practice which people working in our field can aim for.

Having a certification that is not driven by specific tools or methodologies but represents comprehensive standards in the industry also serves to raise the profession in the eyes of peers and customers. To draw a parallel with the construction industry, people pay more for work done by a certified master craftsman than the local handyman and it is often a requirement of Building Regulations that a qualified tradesperson has done certain work.

Ultimately, by us having to think about the questions and issues raised by the certification process, and through certification candidates having to do likewise, we intend to drive up maturity in the discipline and the industry so that, for example, we no longer have data cleansing projects being the solve activities of “information/data quality” programs. We need to evolve towards business and IT process improvement to achieve error prevention.

We have undertaken extensive research as part of planning the certification programme. The findings from this research will be published by March in the IAIDQ Job Analysis Survey Report, which will be available from www.iaidq.org

How will the certification scheme be delivered?

Candidates will earn the IAIDQ's CIQP^SM certification by successfully completing three steps:

1. An application review step that essentially verifies that the candidate meets the CIQP work experience requirements,
2. Meeting or exceeding the passing score for a multiple-choice exam (likely to consist of 150 questions over 4 hours), and
3. Confirming adherence to an Information Quality Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

The exam will be delivered in a web-based format to assure its availability worldwide.

In keeping with the importance of continuous improvement, lifelong learning and professional development, there will be a requirement for re-certification every three years.

In this regard, the CIQP^SM certification is very like the PMI's PMP certification, and our goal is that the CIQP^SM credential quickly becomes as respected as the PMP certification. (PMI is the Project Management Institute, PMP is Project Management Professional).

The IAIDQ's CIQP^SM certification is being designed to be a holistic and inclusive certification addressing the specific needs of information quality practitioners as identified in our Job Analysis study and in the workshops we've had with our international members on the Certification work team.

When launched later this year, the CIQP^SM certification will be the most comprehensive IQ/DQ certification on the market and the only one that focuses exclusively on information/data quality. The fact that all the exam topics are being defined and validated primarily by practitioners further strengthens the value and validity of this certification.

In which countries will certification be available?

We have not yet selected a delivery partner, but we will select one who can ensure that testing is widely available in most countries on all the continents. As a truly international Association it is important to us to be as inclusive as possible.

Do you have a timeline and roadmap for delivery?

There is a very clear roadmap for delivery available on-line. The first key deliverable was the Job Analysis study which we have undertaken and which will be published by March. The next key phases will consist of the development of the question bank, the assembly of the exam itself, and the determination of the passing score.

Initial roll out of the exam is planned for summer 2009. However, that is dependent on us raising sufficient funds to finance this second phase of the certification. We have had some success raising funds directly from information quality professionals and IAIDQ members, and that is a testament to the passion people have for this certification.

A comprehensive sponsorship program is to be rolled out in the coming month, with a specific focus on seeking sponsorship from vendors and businesses who would benefit from this certification. If anyone is interested in helping out, please contact me at president(at)iaidq.org. I

If any individual or organisations would like to donate, you can do so via http://iaidq.chipin.com. 

Personal donations are tax deductible if you are US resident, people in other countries should check with their tax authorities as to the possibility of deductibility.

Any news on the likely cost of certification for an individual?

We have benchmarked other certifications on the market to ensure that the pricing we set compares favourably with similar credentials on the market. The cost of the CIQP^SM certification will not be a barrier to people pursuing this valuable certification.

How will people be able to obtain training to meet the certification criteria?

This is part of the value proposition for the certification.

We will provide various resources that candidates can use to prepare for the exam: detailed listing of exam topics, study guides, sample exam questions, list of useful references (typically published books or widely available whitepapers), etc. We will also encourage consultants out there to develop and offer training courses based on these IAIDQ-provided resources.

Finally, where gaps remain, we will also sponsor the delivery of training courses and development of required resources ourselves.

Are there plans to enable specialist DQ/IQ training providers to become certified IAIDQ trainers themselves?

Great trainers typically have two attributes; they master the domain or subject area, and they have great teaching skills that embrace adult learning best practices.

As of now, we believe that there are enough wonderful IQ/DQ specialists out there who can deliver great CIQP^SM training without the need for a stamp of approval from IAIDQ. We also know that the reality of an IQ/DQ certification will encourage many to develop and offer their own training courses and materials, based on the CIQP^SM exam topics.

We have seen this happen in many other disciplines, such as quality or project management, for example, and we have already been approached by a few experts out there considering doing just that.

Still, this is an enticing concept that we may pursue in the future.

Quite frankly, this was part of the idea: use the CIQP program as a way to define a standard for the discipline and drive IQ/DQ education worldwide. This is one way to make good on IAIDQ’s mission to advance the quality of information and data around the world by building a community, supporting learning and sharing knowledge for the benefit of all information consumers.

I believe that this first stage of our Certification development program is quite an historic event. As far as we can gather, never before in the Information/Data Quality industry has a truly international group of people, each of them a recognised leader in the discipline, sat together and agreed on the knowledge domains and fundamental tasks of information/data quality. The fact that we have managed to achieve this consensus at our workshop in North Carolina is very exciting.

And now, this consensus has been further validated though a survey of data quality professionals. All this input will effectively determine the specifications for the certification exam, such as the topics that will be included and the number of questions for each topic. This is a significant milestone and building block for the profession which we fully intend to build on in the months and years to come.

Additional Information

A powerpoint presentation can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/iaidq_slideshows/iaidq-cidq-certification-update-rev-1-presentation?type=powerpoint or viewed below:

A blog on the development of the certification can be found at http://idqcert.iaidq.org

What are your thoughts on the certification scheme proposed by the IAIDQ? Please add your comments below.