The Ultimate
Guide to Data
Management
Certification
Prepared by Neil Burge, Cognopia Pte Ltd
THE
CHOICES
Why you need this guide
Are you thinking about getting certified in Data Management, but unsure what
choice is right for you?
Are you trying to train a team, or to adopt an Industry Standard framework like the
DAMA DMBoK or EDM Council’s DCAM in your organisation?
If so, this Ultimate Guide to Data Management Certification will help you pick the
right framework, training and certification to meet your needs.
Why trust Cognopia? Because all our Consultants have taken and passed the
CDMP, DCAM v2.2 and CIMP or CIMP Ex Certification, giving us a unique
perspective into the options available and an impartial comparison on the benefits
of each.
Page 2.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
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●
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Page 3.
Introduction
Do I need Data Management Certification?
○ What is the best Data Management Certification?
○ What are the differences between DAMA DMBoK,
DCAM and CIMP qualifications?
CDMP Certification
○ CDMP Training
○ How to pass the CDMP Exam
○ Passing the CDMP Fundamentals Exam - Cognopia’s
Experience
○ What are the CDMP Specialist Exams?
○ Is the CDMP worth it?
DCAM Certification
○ What is the DCAM Framework?
○ How do you get DCAM Certified?
○ DCAM vs DAMA DMBoK - what’s best?
CIMP Certification
○ CIMP Benefits
○ How does the CIMP compare to CDMP and DCAM?
Other choices for Data Management Training
Is Data Management Certification right for You?
○ Real-world Student Experiences
About Cognopia
GET
STARTED
Introduction
Interest in Data Management Certification has exploded in recent years, driven by
the growing need for organisations to unlock the value in their data.
Today’s firms grapple with:
● A global talent shortage
● An explosion in the volume, variety and velocity of the data they create and
consume, and;
● An exponentially growing set of complexity in their data and technology
landscapes
Many turn to standard frameworks like the DAMA DMBoK, the EDM Council’s
DCAM, or to training providers like eLearningcurve with their CIMP and CIMP Ex
curriculum in order to reduce the complexity and shore up their talent pool.
The Drive for Accreditation
As a result of these pressures, it is increasingly common to find a requirement on a
Job Ad or Consultant Profile Description that asks for:
● CDMP accreditation
● DCAM accreditation, or
● CIMP and/or CIMP Ex accreditation
This Ultimate Guide is designed to help you understand the pros and cons of each,
and to make the right choice about your own training needs.
Page 4.
GET
STARTED
Do I need Data Management Certification?
Let’s kick off with the basics – who needs to be certified in Data Management to
begin with?
Typically we see three main reasons why students want Data Management
Certification:
● They are changing jobs, and see that new job posts include requirements for
formal Data Management Training or Accreditation
● The student has worked in the field for many years, often as a technical
consultant,and wants to learn “best practice” and a “holistic view of Data
Management”
● Their company is willing to fund Training and they may as well get a
recognisable badge from taking the training
You do not need to be certified in Data Management in order to succeed in Data
Management. However it is increasingly common for Companies to request Data
Management Accreditation for new hires, so it is a useful line item for your
Resume.
Why do Companies want to hire Certified Data
Management Professionals?
Many firms struggle to implement Data Management successfully. It can be a
frustrating, lonely and challenging field. As a result, these companies find safety in
numbers –looking to adopt “an Industry Standard Framework” or best practices in
order to succeed.
The two major Frameworks are the DAMA DMBoK and the EDM Council DCAM
approach – depending on the country you work in, either or both might be preferred
by hiring managers.
Page 5.
Why do Companies want to hire Certified Data
Management Professionals? Cont’d.
Low Investment in in-house resources
One less obvious, ugly truth is that many firms do not invest in their Data
Management Team in the first place. It’s easier to hire a certified resource than to
create in-house training or invest in training your existing talent pool.
Our 2021 Data Maturity research discovered the following:
Data Management hires are
internal, largely from I.T. and
given little or no training
42% of firms in our 2021 Data Maturity Report
Hiring Certified Data Management Professionals is a shortcut to getting the skills
in house that you cannot develop yourself.
Page 6.
GET
STARTED
What is the best Data Management Certification?
In our opinion, the “best data management certification” is the one that delivers
maximum value to the person or organisation paying for it.
This guide will compare the 3 main choices, but you need to realise that the answer
to this question lies in the specific context of the person asking it:
●
●
●
●
●
What is your current level of knowledge in Data Management?
What will you do differently once you’ve been certified in Data Management?
Does your firm use one of the existing frameworks, which might suggest
that’s the right choice for you?
Which certification is most sought after in your country or region?
How much time and money can you afford to get certified?
Read this guide to better understand your options so you can pick the right choice
for your career, company and colleagues.
What are the differences between DAMA DMBoK, DCAM
and CIMP qualifications?
This guide focuses on the 3 qualifications the Cognopia team has been accredited
for. If you are only interested in “brand value” of the certification, the rank order
would be:
1.
2.
3.
DAMA Certified Data Management Professional “CDMP” Accreditation
EDM Council “DCAM v2.2” Accreditation
eLearningCurve “CIMP” Accreditation
Let’s walk through each at a high level and explain what each sets out to achieve.
Page 7.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What is CDMP Certification?
CDMP Certification stands for “Certified Data Management Professional”. It is
offered by the Data Management Association – “DAMA” for short, and requires
students to pass a 100 question exam that tests their knowledge of the DAMA Data
Management Body of Knowledge, or DMBoK for short.
What are the different CDMP designations?
The CDMP has multiple tiers – attaining a higher tier is a function of the exam
score you achieve.
Page 8.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What are the different CDMP designations? Cont’d.
CDMP Certification stands for “Certified Data Management Professional”. It is
offered by the Data Management Association – “DAMA” for short, and requires
students to pass a 100 question exam that tests their knowledge of the DAMA Data
Management Body of Knowledge, or DMBoK for short.
CDMP Associate Tier
The CDMP Associate level is the lowest level of CDMP certification and is achieved
through passing the Data Management Fundamentals exam with a score of 60% or
greater.
If you pass the exam, you’ll get a Central DAMA Membership, and DAMA
themselves recommend this for those with 6 months to 5 years of experience.
Cognopia’s view of the CDMP Associate Tier
Become a “CDMA” or Certified Data Management Associate is the bare minimum
goal for anyone looking at DAMA accreditation.
DAMA’s suggestion that someone with 6 months’ experience could attain this
accreditation is probably not true. It may be so if you have prior experience in a
related field, but there’s way too much to learn for this to be realistic for a new
graduate, for example.
The exception to this would be if you have paid for a “bootcamp” style CDMP
training course, where the focus is on exam prep – training the student to attain a
60% passing grade, not training them on the breadth and depth of the DMBoK itself.
Page 9.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What are the different CDMP designations? Cont’d.
Cognopia’s view of the CDMP Associate Tier, cont’d
Be aware that this is the “cheapest” tier you can get – the Data Management
Fundamentals exam is $311 USD. Even if you pass this at 100%, you cannot claim
to be at a higher tier without paying for and passing the CDMP Specialist Exams,
which cost an additional $311 USD each.
CDMP Practitioner Tier
A CDMP Practitioner requires a 70% passing grade on the Data Management
Fundamentals exam, PLUS a 70% passing grade on any two of the 7 “Specialist
Exams” that DAMA offers.
You get the same DAMA Membership when you achieve this grade, and the system
will automatically generate a “CDMP Practitioner” Badge (simply for passing the
Fundamentals exam at 70+%), however you should theoretically pass 2 Specialist
Exams before claiming to have this accreditation.
DAMA recommends that this level requires 2-10 years experience in Data
Management.
Cognopia’s view of the CDMP Practitioner Tier
This is a sort of “sandwich tier” of qualification. If all you need is the CDMP badge
on your profile, there’s limited value in chasing a higher score and gaining the
“Practitioner” designation, as this is only gained by passing 2 more exams.
Page 10.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What are the different CDMP designations? Cont’d.
Cognopia’s view of the CDMP Practitioner Tier, cont’d.
Getting CDMP Practitioner accreditation costs $933 USD (assuming you pass each
exam at the first time of asking), so those chasing this tier would be better off
aiming for the CDMP Master accreditation (it has the same process, only with
higher passing marks and a need for industry experience).
Their recommendation to have 2+ years of Data Management experience is a good
one. We believe you should have at least 2 years experience before chasing any of
the CDMP certifications, as the content is difficult to comprehend without working
context.
CDMP Master Tier
To get the CDMP Master accreditation, you need at least an 80% passing grade on
the Data Management Fundamentals exam, PLUS an 80% passing grade on any
two of the 7 “Specialist Exams” that DAMA offers.
The slight nuance of the CDMP Master Tier is that, whilst you’ll get the badge
simply by passing the Data Management Fundamentals exam at or above 80%, you
need to submit your CV to DAMA for them to verify you have at least 10 years
experience “in the data field”.
DAMA charges you a $50 USD administration fee to review your documents, which
means this is a more expensive tier – costing $983 USD in total to get.
Page 11.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What are the different CDMP designations? Cont’d.
Cognopia’s view of the CDMP Master Tier
This is realistically the “Gold Standard” from DAMA (if you’re a “CDMP Fellow” then
you likely don’t need the accreditation or badge on your CV to get work, anyway).
There may be value in chasing this if you want to work as a Consultant in Data
Management – being able to demonstrate a superior level of knowledge to other
consultants, plus the industry experience could have bragging rights.
In reality, no company is going to make a decision based on whether you got a
marginally higher score on a few exams than another candidate. By the time you’re
talking about getting a new job or acting as a consulting advisor your own
knowledge, experience and presentation style will carry far more weight than the
tier that DAMA has given you.
CDMP Fellow Tier
This level of DAMA membership is by invite only, and needs the candidate to have
>25 years experience in the data field.
There’s also an expectation of “Significant Contribution to the Data management
profession and the DMBoK”, so unless you’re really passionate about Data
Management it’s unlikely to be an aspiration for many students.
Page 12.
The CDMP Master
designation is the highest
grade you can get from the
exams alone. It’s suitable for
aspiring CDOs, consultants
or those that must prove
their knowledge and
expertise.
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 13.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
The CDMP Data Management Fundamentals Exam
In order to attain any of the CDMP Tiers, students must take and pass the CDMP
Data Management Fundamentals exam. The only way to purchase this exam is via
the DAMA website itself.
The exam itself is 100 multiple choice (select one from a list of 5) questions
covering the subject areas highlighted in the DAMA wheel:
Page 14.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
The CDMP Data Management Fundamentals Exam,
Cont’d.
Here are the subject areas (ranked by subject priority weighting):
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Data Governance -11%
Metadata Management -11%
Data Modelling and Design -11%
Data Quality -11%
Data Warehousing and BI -10%
Master and Reference Data Management -10%
Data Architecture -6%
Document and Content Management -6%
Data Integration and Interoperability -6%
Data Security -6%
Data Storage and Operations -6%
In addition to the subjects above, the CDMP Data Management Fundamentals
exam also asks questions on:
●
●
●
Data Management Process -2%
Big Data -2%
Data Ethics -2%
Students need to know that these subjects are not equally weighted – here’s the
breakdown of how many questions you’ll get on each topic:
Page 15.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
The CDMP Data Management Fundamentals Exam,
Cont’d.
The pass mark is 60%, but most students want to aim above the 80% Master Level
of certification. Let’s look at how you achieve that.
Preparing for the CDMP Exam
The most obvious preparation for passing the CDMP exam is to purchase a copy of
the DMBoK and read it cover-to-cover. The exam itself is “open book” which means
you are allowed to use one textbook whilst you complete the answers. Given the
questions are supposedly testing your knowledge of the DMBoK, this is the best
text to take into the exam.
The book comes as a physical copy ($79.95 USD) OR an electronic copy ($59.95) .
You may have a personal preference for hard or soft copy books, but we would
recommend the soft copy as you can use CTRL+F to find answers during the exam,
whereas with the physical book you need to manually search, which will eat up
precious exam time.
Page 16.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
The CDMP Data Management Fundamentals Exam,
Cont’d.
Preparing for the CDMP Exam, Cont’d.
There is another book “Navigating the Labyrinth” that DAMA also recommends as
an “Executive overview” of the DMBoK itself. The Cognopia team read the excerpt
of this online and decided not to purchase the book, however others do
recommend the content.
Studying for the CDMP - major challenges
One of the biggest reasons that students fail to achieve the CDMP certification is
because they’re studying for the CDMP in the wrong way.
If you follow the standard DAMA advice, you’ll need to read the DMBoK from
end-to-end. This makes sense until you realise the book is 628 pages long, and the
content is as dry as three day old toast.
Those that have purchased a physical copy of the DMBoK book are put off by the
sheer size and weight of the text – it’s the size of a phone book – and this reminds
most people of their time as a student, lugging heavy textbooks around and
spending late nights fuelled by coffee and Red Bull to cram for exams.
As a result, many students fail to even take the test in the first place – they never
get through more than 50% of the book before they give up.
Given the cost of the exam, no-one wants to risk taking the exam until they know
for sure they’ll get the passing mark they need. You only get one attempt to pass,
otherwise you must pay a further $200 USD to re-sit the test. Scary stuff!
Page 17.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What about CDMP Training?
DAMA has a list of authorised training providers that can provide either remote or
in person training to individuals and teams.
Most of these training providers are expensive – typically offering courses in the
$1,000-$2,000 USD price range, which is more suitable to corporate clients (or to
those that are changing jobs and believe the investment is worthwhile to secure a
better role/salary in their next job).
One other criticism of the CDMP Training options is that they don’t actually focus
on teaching the content of the DMBoK. Instead, they focus on ensuring that
students cram the right knowledge to pass the exam at 60% or higher. They do this
using a combination of focused study and example exam questions designed to
mimic the test (i.e. help you rote learn the answers).
CDMP Exam Sample Questions
Other options include CDMP Udemy Courses, which also include a question bank.
This is substantially cheaper (Udemy courses are always on sale), but the online
reviews indicate that the questions are a poor representation of the exam itself.
Customers of these courses that Cognopia has talked to say they are not worth the
money.
Try Cognopia's Free CDMP Practice Exam
We have designed a 40 question, free CDMP Practice Exam that you can take to
test your knowledge.
There is no time limit on the test, but you can time yourself and try to complete it in
less than 36 minutes.
Page 18.
The questions are balanced
according to the subject
weightings DAMA uses, and
the practice will help you
identify weak spots and
build your knowledge and
skills.
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Click here to start the quiz!
Page 19.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What about CDMP Training?
CDMP Study Guides
Lastly there are study guides, example exam questions, and a set of study notes
that are highly recommended on the DataStratgegyPros website. These are much
cheaper than the authorised training providers, however the Cognopia team did not
find much use for the content:
●
●
The CDMP Fundamentals Notes is a 35 page long summary of the DMBoK
chapters. Whilst it’s shorter and easier to read than the DMBoK itself, we
found the reduction in content also reduced the necessary context to
understand the subject matter.
The CDMP question set was more use, with 3 lists of 50 questions and then
50 answer sets that also reference the DMBoK. The issue here is that we
disagreed with some of the answers and found the references to the DMBoK
were often not landing us on useful/relevant pages. These are issued as a
PDF, so it doesn’t really mimic the experience of taking the real exam.
How to pass the CDMP Exam
So, if the DMBoK is massive, boring and intimidating, the Authorised training
courses are too expensive, and the Study Guides/CDMP test banks are poor quality,
how do you get the CDMP Data Management Certification?
Our approach to this was as follows:
Step One: pay the $311 for the Data Management Fundamentals exam.
Page 20.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
How to pass the CDMP Exam, Cont’d.
Signing up for the real CDMP Exam has 2 main benefits:
1.
2.
You’re committed. You’ve now spent $311 on top of the cost of the DMBoK,
so you have more motivation to get certified
You get access to the DAMA authorised CDMP Practice exam
By committing more money to getting your Data Management Certification, you
increase your motivation to pass it. The downside to this is that students
experience anxiety – the fear of failing the exam causes you to delay taking it “until
you’re certain of passing”.
To overcome this anxiety you need Step Two: leverage the CDMP Practice exam:
Using the CDMP Fundamentals Practice Exam:
The CDMP Practice exam is your friend. It delivers you 40 questions over the
course of 36 minutes, mimicking both the time constraint and the content of the
real exam.
Students can take the practice exam as many times as they like, and the course
software tells you what the correct answer is (without context) alongside your
score when you submit the quiz.
DAMA states that there are 200 questions that the practice exam draws from
randomly. This feels unlikely to us – we took the practice multiple times and the
questions became very repetitive after about 10 attempts. We suspect you’ll be
exposed to about 120 unique questions if you continuously take the practice exam.
As an alternative, you can take Cognopia’s free CDMP Fundamentals Practice Exam
– a 40 question test of your DMBoK knowledge.
Page 21.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
How to pass the CDMP Exam, Cont’d.
How to use the CDMP Practice Exam results
The Practice exam provides students with both their grade AND the correct
answers, you can quickly see:
1.
2.
3.
Where your knowledge is weakest – which sections of the DMBoK are you
strongest on and where are you weakest?
What percentage score you achieve – if you’re languishing at the 40% level
you need to put more work in than if you ace 80%+ on the first try
You get the correct answer, which allows you to think through WHY this
answer is correct and why the other alternatives are incorrect.
As a result, the student can learn both the correct answer AND the area of the
DMBoK they need to focus their studies on. Spend more time reading the subject
matter where you are weakest.
Limitations of this approach:
There is a limitation to this approach – namely that the real exam does not use the
same questions as the practice exam.
Even if you knew 100% of the answers from the Practice Exam, you’d likely only see
the same questions for 10% of the real exam.
In addition, if you are BRAND NEW to Data Management, it’s unlikely that you’d
score a significant amount, so this would not help you prioritise your reading. A
beginner level Data Governance course would be a better choice for those with
zero experience so you can at least learn the basics.
Page 22.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
Passing the CDMP Fundamentals Exam - Cognopia’s
Experience
For the real exam, you need to be prepared. As noted above, knowing all the
answers to the Practice Exam questions might help you score 10% of the required
total. Better than nothing, but not enough to get your Data Management
Certification.
To get a high score, realise the exam tests several different layers of
understanding:
●
●
●
The “what” of data management – what do various terms mean? Much of
this can be rote learned or answered by a simple CTRL+F search during the
exam. This might get you to 30% of the score alone.
The “why” of data management – why do you need to perform certain tasks,
and why are the roles important to implement.
The “how” of data management – often asking about the Activities,
Techniques and Tools listed in the DMBoK.
Taken together these probably get you to the 60-70% passing score. You can learn
this relatively easily, and supplement your knowledge with searching the DMBoK
during the exam (don’t worry, you have plenty of time).
To get up above the 80% grade you need practical experience and an ability to link
the concepts together with example data issues. For example, you might be asked
“what is the best example of the data quality dimension “consistency”?” – and then
presented with a list of descriptions of datasets to choose from. This tests your
knowledge of the what (what does data quality consistency mean?) but also forces
you to understand what to look for in a dataset that suffers from poor consistency.
Ensure you leave enough time to think through these answers if you want a top
score.
Page 23.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
Passing the CDMP Fundamentals Exam - Cognopia’s
Experience, Cont’d.
One word of caution – the real CDMP Fundamentals exam has a broader set of
topics that it tests you against than the Practice exam. In our experience, there
were more questions on Data Architecture, Integration and Interoperability, and
Data Security than we were exposed to in the Practice exam.
What’s the real CDMP Fundamentals Exam like?
The online, proctored exam gives you 90 minutes to answer 100 data management
questions.
The questions are not “interleaved” as they are in the Practice exam (i.e. randomly
jumbled up on different topics). Instead, the questions start with Data Management
Process and then sequentially progress through the book chapters. This makes it
slightly easier to know what area of the DMBoK you’re being tested on, and saves
time navigating between sections of the book.
The online exam requires that you install “Honorlock” – a system designed to
detect fraud and ensure students are not cheating. Here’s a video explaining what
the Proctor sees on the other side (not DAMA related, but it gives context).
You have ample time to take the exam – the quickest we completed it in was 27
minutes. Focus your time on the topics that are asking to think through the
implications of a data management issue, or to link together different sections of
the DMBoK (e.g. how does data governance oversee data architecture?).
Page 24.
As a result of our experience
we created the quickest way
to get CDMP certified, and
the only way that’s
guaranteed. Pick your grade,
take our 100-question
onboarding exam, and we’ll
provide a tailored training
plan just for you.
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Click here and choose your
CDMP Grade
Page 25.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
What are the CDMP Specialist Exams?
To get the CDMP Practitioner, CDMP Master or CDMP Fellow level certification, you
also need to pass two out of 7 “Specialist Exams“. Your choices are:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Data Modelling and Design
Metadata
Data Quality
Data Governance
Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence
Reference and Master Data Management
Data Integration and Interoperability
Each of these exams follows the same format as the Data Management
Fundamentals exam – 100 multiple choice questions (five choices for each
question). You have 90 minutes to complete the exam, and you need the Honorlock
Chrome Extension on your machine.
These exams take a deeper dive into the content of the major chapters of the
DMBoK. There are no Practice Exams for this – instead you get access to the same
generic Practice Exam that’s used for the Data Management Fundamentals exam
preparation.
Crucially, these exams require that you have industry experience and test your
ability to apply your knowledge, with only ~10% of the answers being searchable
in the DMBoK.
Page 26.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
Cognopia’s view of the CDMP Specialist Exams
The Specialist Exams are only required if you NEED to get the Practitioner or
Master level CDMP Certification. They demonstrate that you have a deeper
knowledge of the subject matter, but are employers specifically looking for you to
have this level of qualification?
In our experience, most of the Job Descriptions have been drafted by HR
professionals with limited understanding of the role they are hiring for. It is unlikely
that these HR teams will be able to differentiate between a CDMP Associate and a
CDMP Master, at least at the “CV sifting” phase of the hiring process
Think carefully about
spending more time and
money on the Specialist
Exams. What value do they
bring your CV?
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 27.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
Is the CDMP worth it?
DAMA is an established brand and the DMBoK is well-regarded across industry.
Many companies now demand Data Management Certification, and adding the
letters “CDMP” to your CV will certainly keep you in the race for a job, even if they
are not enough to get you the job on their own.
At the same time, you need to weigh up the costs of getting certified:
Can you commit enough time to learn the material?
Can you commit enough money to get “bootcamp” style training if you need
to get certified quickly?
● Can you afford the examination and study material costs, or will your
company fund them?
● Do you have enough existing knowledge to quickly and cheaply pass the
exam?
The “Capability Triangle” below is a good way to think through whether the CDMP is
worth it to you or not.
●
●
●
●
●
If you lack the knowledge, you need to invest time and money to get it
If you lack time, you need a baseline of knowledge and to spend more money
on training to get up to speed quickly, and;
If you lack money, you’ll need to develop the knowledge on your own, which
will take more time
If you’re not willing or able to accept these tradeoffs and make these investments
then no, the CDMP is not worth it for you.
Page 28.
CDMP
CERTIFICATION
Is the CDMP worth it? Cont’d.
The Capability Triangle:
Personal
Resilience
Proactivity
Time
Management
Change
Management
Communication
Skills
Unless you're willing to invest 2 of these three to unlock the third, CDMP
certification is not for you
Page 29.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
What is DCAM Certification?
DCAM stands for the Data Capability Assessment Model. It has been developed by
members. of the EDM Council, and is pitched as “the industry standard framework
for data management”.
DCAM Certification is provided to those that take a DCAM training course and
successfully pass the DCAM exam (with a score of 70% or more).
One important thing to note is that DCAM Certification alone does not allow you to
use the DCAM Framework in your company (or as a consultant). In order to actually
use what you’ve learned and gain access to any of the templates, you have to join
the EDM Council. At the time of writing the fees were between $2,750 and $37,500
USD per annum.
If you want to use the DCAM
Framework, be prepared to pay EDM
Council Membership fees ON TOP of
the training costs
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 30.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
What is the DCAM Framework?
As you can see from this guide, there is not just one “industry standard framework
for data management” (as the old joke goes, the great thing about standards is
there are so many of them).
The EDM Council clearly pitches DCAM as “the industry standard”, but unless your
organisation has already adopted DCAM, you can choose any data management
framework you like.
The DCAM Framework itself is composed of 8 components, 38 capabilities, 136
sub-capabilities with 488 different objectives. Sound confusing? Let’s dig in to
each:
What are the 8 DCAM Components?
One major difference between the DMBoK Framework and the DCAM Framework is
the structure of the content.
Whilst the DMBoK lays out the framework in the “DAMA Wheel”, the DCAM
Framework follows a more practical sequence of steps in a more prescriptive
manner. As such, the 8 DCAM Components build on one another and act as a kind
of roadmap for Data Management Professionals to follow:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Page 31.
Data Strategy and Business Case
Data Management Program and Funding
Business and Data Architecture
Data and Technology Architecture
Data Quality Management
Data Governance
the Data Control Environment, and;
Analytics Management (added to v2.2 of the DCAM)
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
What is the DCAM Framework? Cont’d
What are the 8 DCAM Components? Cont’d.
The image below shows how the DCAM Framework layers up from Foundational
Capabilities through Execution, Collaboration and Analytics layers.
Page 32.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
How do you use the DCAM Framework?
DCAM would be most beneficial for anyone that is brand new to Data Management.
The DCAM Framework lays out a prescribed sequence of steps that you need to
take when establishing a Data Management function. It also gives an indication of
the data maturity level of your organisation, which is a function of how well you
have adopted and evidenced the components, capabilities, sub-capabilities and
objectives listed in their framework.
The EDM Council also suggest that DCAM can be applied to in-flight data
management programs to review your progress and reset anything that may be
going wrong.
How do you get DCAM Certified?
Unlike the CDMP Certification, there is no “self service” option to get DCAM
Certified. You must take one of their training courses and pass the exam, making
DCAM Certification more expensive than CDMP Certification.
Online DCAM Training via eLearningCurve
If you prefer online, self-service training that you can take at your own pace, the
DCAM Certification track by eLearningCurve might be the right choice for you.
The course is 5 hours, 15 minutes long and walks you through each of the DCAM
components, capabilities, sub-capabilities and objectives.
Page 33.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
How do you get DCAM Certified? Cont’d.
Online DCAM Training via eLearningCurve Cont’d.
The Exam is 25 questions, over 50 minutes, with a 70% passing grade required.
Like other eLearningCurve exams, they use a mixture of:
●
●
●
1 point questions (recognition)
2 point questions (understanding), and;
3 point questions (application)
Some of the questions ask you to “select all that apply”, and you can get awarded
partial points for a partially correct answer (e.g. if I select 2 out of the 3 correct
answers, I still get awarded partial credit).
Cognopia's Review of the eLearningCurve DCAM Training
Unfortunately, this course did not live up to our expectations. It is 5 hours and 15
minutes long, which felt about 4 hours and 45 minutes longer than it needed to be.
The content itself was not useful to pass the exam. We would not expect anyone
that uses the slide notes or who tolerated the lectures to actually score heavily –
you do need prior experience in Data Management to know the answers (i.e. the
training did not actually train you to pass).
The lectures felt like someone reading out the bullets from the slide, with little
additional information, and given it was just a narrated slideshow the experience
was boring and difficult to stay awake for.
The course cost was $1,250 USD – definitely not value for money in our experience
Page 34.
Only take this course if
you have prior DCAM
Experience and you
need to evidence this
with certification on
your CV.
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 35.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
How do you get DCAM Certified? Cont’d.
Virtual DCAM Training via EDM Council Members
Another option for those seeking to get DCAM Accreditation is a virtual course.
These courses are slightly more expensive (Member price: $1,370 USD,
Non-member price: $1,825 USD), but have the advantage of being instructor-led.
The attendees are free to take the exam via eLearningCurve in order to gain their
badge.
Cognopia's Review of the virtual DCAM Training
Cognopia chose not to take this option, mainly because these are scheduled at
specific times/dates and it may not be practical for you to attend on those dates
(work commitments) or to wait that long to pass your course.
As part of our research, we did talk to many people that have attended the virtual
training. The access you get to discuss what is being taught, to engage as a group
about what you think the concepts mean, and to ask questions directly to the
instructor were seen as positive by students.
If you must get DCAM Accreditation we would prioritise the virtual training option
over the eLearningCurve material.
Page 36.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
DCAM vs DAMA DMBoK - what's best?
The DCAM Framework is structured in a more logical way than the DMBoK –
whereas the DMBoK is more comprehensive and covers a broader swathe of Data
Management capabilities.
DCAM Benefits
One of the major challenges of data management is knowing where to begin.
DCAM helps provide structure and direction by prescribing a sequence of steps you
need to take in order to improve data maturity in your firm.
In addition, the details provided in the Capabilities, Sub-Capabilities and Objectives
would be helpful to those that have not experienced implementing an
Enterprise-wide transformation program previously.
Many of the recommendations to allow you to evidence and audit your data
management program are solid, and in our experience these skills are often lacking
in Data Management Professionals.
DCAM Drawbacks
Based on the training we received it is hard to see how you could actually
implement the DCAM Framework.
In order to gain access to or use the DCAM assessment tools you must pay the
EDM Council membership fees. Based on the low quality of the training materials,
we did not feel inclined to spend even more money to get access to tools that
should really be provided in the training.
Simply knowing the sequence of steps to take and why they are important is not
enough to know HOW to implement data management best practices in your firm.
Page 37.
If DCAM Training is
your only Data
Management
experience, it’s hard to
see how you could
implement what you’ve
been taught
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 38.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
DCAM vs DAMA DMBoK - what's best? Cont’d.
DMBoK Benefits
The DMBoK is a comprehensive book, with 628 pages of information about the
components, activities, techniques and tools you need to use to manage data
effectively.
At ~$70 USD, it’s remarkably cheap to access this information, and you can rely on
the content for years to come as you deepen your data management program.
The DMBoK probably has the greater claim to being “the Industry standard data
management framework”, partly because it has been around longer than DCAM
and has had more time to establish itself.
DMBoK Drawbacks
The DMBoK is a huge book, which is intimidating for many people. Understanding
its contents requires more experience and a baseline level of knowledge, and
serious study of this text is necessary if you want to pass the exam.
The DMBoK places less relevance on building a Data Strategy and Business Case
than DCAM does. These are 2 critical areas often overlooked by data management
professionals that drive increased data maturity.
Lastly, the subject areas covered in the DMBoK are not well linked together. Each
subject is treated as a standalone chapter, when in many cases the subject areas
overlap and interrelate with one another.
Page 39.
Many firms say “we’ll
adopt the DMBoK
Framework”, but
without knowledgeable,
experienced people you
won’t know where to
begin.
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 40.
DCAM
CERTIFICATION
DCAM vs DAMA DMBoK - what's best? Cont’d.
CDMP Certification would be the “Gold Standard” as far as we are concerned at
Cognopia.
Historically, DCAM Certification was provided to anyone that took the course (not
just those that passed the exam). Given DCAM Certified resources cannot actually
use the DCAM Framework unless they pay for EDM Council membership, it feels
less practically beneficial.
Getting your CDMP Certification
demonstrates that you have a
deep understanding of the
DMBoK as well as the knowledge
to apply that in practice
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 41.
CIMP
CERTIFICATION
What is CIMP Certification?
CIMP stands for “Certified Information Management Professional” and is provided
by eLearningCurve.
Unlike the CDMP and DCAM certifications, the CIMP is not based on any specific
data management framework. Instead, students can select from a range of
different tracks, composed of different lessons that all lead to gaining the CIMP
Data Management Certification. These are:
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Information Management Foundations
Data Quality
Data Governance
Master Data Management
Metadata Management
Business Intelligence & Analytics
Data Science
How do you qualify for the CIMP?
CIMP Certification requires that you take and pass 5 courses from the
eLearningCurve Library.
Each course ends with a 25 question exam, taken over 50 minutes with a passing
grade of 70%.
Like other eLearningCurve exams, they use a mixture of:
● 1 point questions (recognition)
● 2 point questions (understanding), and;
● 3 point questions (application)
Some of the questions ask you to “select all that apply”, and you can get awarded
partial points for a partially correct answer (e.g. if I select 2 out of the 3 correct
answers, I still get awarded partial credit).
Page 42.
CIMP
CERTIFICATION
What is CIMP Certification? Cont’d.
How do you qualify for the CIMP? Cont’d.
Unlike the CDMP exam, you get 3 attempts to pass the CIMP Exams, with your
highest score being taken as the final score. As such, you can use the first attempt
as a “trial” exam if you wish.
What is CIMP Ex Certification?
CIMP Ex means you are a “Certified Information Management Professional” that
has demonstrated:
●
●
●
Expertise – completing 8 rather than 5 courses and exams
Experience – with at least 5 years data management experience on your CV,
and;
Excellence – passing the 8 exams with scores with an average of 75% of
greater
It is the highest tier of CIMP certification.
CIMP Benefits
Compared to the CDMP and DCAM, the CIMP allows the student to select what
they want to learn.
CIMP students choose 5-8 modules from the CIMP tracks available, allowing them
to pick the knowledge areas they are most interested in or need to know now.
This flexibility allows you to customise your own training and learning agenda
according to your strengths and weaknesses.
Page 43.
CIMP
CERTIFICATION
What is CIMP Certification? Cont’d.
CIMP Drawbacks
The CIMP as a data management certification is just not as well known as the
CDMP or DCAM designations.
The content of the courses is comprehensive, but the delivery method is stale and
boring – often using slides that belong in the 1990’s and lessons that last far too
long to capture the student’s attention.
The exams can be tricky – sometimes asking questions to remember specific
phrases that the instructor used in the lesson. The slides alone may not be enough
for a student to score 70% or higher.
How does the CIMP compare to CDMP and DCAM?
There are not direct comparisons to draw, because the CIMP is more similar to a
University education (where the student selects the subjects they want to learn)
whereas the CDMP and DCAM are prescriptive – testing knowledge of that specific
framework.
CIMP vs CDMP
The CIMP Data Governance and Data Quality tracks rely on John Ladley and Tom
Redman to teach. Both of these thought leaders have contributed to the DMBoK
and the concepts used have a lot of overlap.
The Cognopia team were already CIMP or CIMP Ex qualified before we took the
CDMP, and undoubtedly the knowledge from the CIMP helped pass the CDMP.
Page 44.
CIMP
CERTIFICATION
How does the CIMP compare to CDMP and DCAM?
Cont’d.
CIMP vs CDMP Cont’d.
From a CV perspective, the CDMP wins hands-down. From a cost perspective, the
CDMP could be substantially cheaper, as CIMP course costs range from $1,795
USD to $4,995 USD.
CIMP Certification would be best
for Corporate clients that need
to train specific skills whereas
the CDMP primarily benefits the
individual student by improving
their CV
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 45.
CIMP
CERTIFICATION
How does the CIMP compare to CDMP and DCAM?
Cont’d.
CIMP vs DCAM
Once again, the DCAM badge value for your CV is likely to be much greater than a
CIMP or CIMP Ex. It is more widely known and asked for in job ads.
The DCAM teaches a specific framework, and as noted above, this is only really
worth learning if you plan to join the EDM Council or if your firm is already a
member. Otherwise, you won’t get to apply or use this framework.
The CIMP will teach a deeper set of skills that are not tied to further membership
costs. Students can learn only what they need to learn and only what they are likely
to use in their specific role.
The price of the training is broadly similar, and both courses are offered via the
eLearningCurve platform.
Only choose the DCAM if your firm is
a DCAM member otherwise the
CIMP training is likely to be more
practically beneficial for your team
NEIL BURGE, Cognopia CEO
Page 46.
OTHER
CHOICES
What other choices are there for Data Management
Certification?
These are “the big three” when it comes to brand or badge value. Adding these to
your CV will give you an edge over the competition, especially if the market in your
area starts to demand certification (e.g. Saudi Arabia has seen an explosion in
CDMP students following the Government adoption of the Framework as “the
standard”).
If you want to go beyond certification and start to practically learn skills that might
benefit your career, you might want to consider Cognopia’s Academy:
●
●
●
●
Page 47.
We offer the Fastest way to get CDMP Certified, and the only way that’s
guaranteed
We have a Data Governance training course that takes you from zero to hero including our Implementation Methodology
We teach Data Strategy. This helps you to align your work with the business
needs, making it easier to get them onboard your vision
And we teach Data Valuation and Monetisation - so you can put a dollar value
on the work you’re doing for the business and build better data products
WHY
BOTHER
What value does Data Management Certification bring?
Given the expense and investment of both time and money, you might wonder “is it
worth it for me to get certified?”. The answer is context dependent, and in working
with our students we see a few clear points when the answer is an unequivocal
“Yes”, and a few where “it depends”.
Definitely get certified if the following statements are true for you:
●
●
●
●
●
You are between jobs and you find yourself failing to get through to the next
round of interviews
You are frustrated in your current job because your business peers won’t
listen to you, and you need the credibility of a certificate and “Industry Best
Practice” to back you up
You’re bored and underutilised in your current role, and you need help to “step
up” and take on the next challenge at a more senior level
You have hands-on experience in a few of the DMBoK knowledge areas and
need to gain theoretical understanding of the others to help you perform your
next role
You want to step up into a Consulting role (or you’re currently consulting in
Data Management) and your clients keep asking “is your methodology based
on the {DAMA/DCAM/CIMP} framework?
Be aware that it costs time as well as money to gain certification - hence you will
need to find time in your calendar away from work and family commitments to
clear the exams. As a result, pick a course or certification that is as engaging as
possible and gives you the best chance of succeeding on your first attempt.
Page 48.
WHY
BOTHER
What value does Data Management Certification bring?
Here are some real-world students sharing their experience of the value Data
Management Certification brought them. Perhaps their story can inspire you in your
career:
Mushir wanted to step up into a new Data Management role, but kept missing out
on the job at the last moment to more qualified candidates. He spent 2 weeks of
dedicated study to clear the CDMP at the Practitioner Level (75%).
Page 49.
WHY
BOTHER
What value does Data Management Certification bring?
Harin was comfortable in his role, but decided to step up and demonstrate his
initiative by tackling the CDMP Fundamentals Exam. He put the work in across two
weeks and cleared the exam with a monumental 82% on the first attempt.
Page 50.
HOW IT
WORKS
How to get CDMP Certified, FAST
How the Cognopia Academy process
works so well
Focus on your weaknesses
Customised for you
We put you through a
100-question onboarding exam
that mimics the CDMP exam
We provide bespoke study advice
based on your current knowledge
level and chosen grade
Build your strengths
Focused on understanding
Practice exams have been shown
to develop a deeper understanding
than reading alone
Our training teaches the
underlying concepts, so you can
easily pass the exam AND use
these skills at work
Outcome
Our CDMP Fundamentals Academy uses the “Flipped Mastery” teaching method to
get you the grade you pay us for, fast. The process works:
●
●
●
Average CDMP Score: 81.9%
Highest CDMP Score: 97%
Quickest time to pass: 2 weeks
If you’re sick of struggling through the DMBoK then our course is for you. We make
it quick, easy and fun to clear the CDMP so you can get a better job and make more
money.
Page 51.
GET
INVOLVED
Format and Delivery
How is the CDMP Fundamentals Academy
delivered?
Pick your grade
Take the onboarding Exam
Choose the CDMP grade that
meets your career needs and
available budget
Take our onboarding exam and
receive a personalised learning
plan to follow
Watch our content
Pass the exam
Our content is designed to make
the concepts easy to grasp and
even easier to remember
Take the guesswork away and
lose the fear-of-failure. We
guarantee you’ll pass or we pay
for the resit
Time commitment
●
●
Most students can clear the exam inside a month. 20 hours of study should
be sufficient
If you can focus for 2 weeks we’ll get you the grade you need
Pricing
●
The price ranges from $311 USD (Associate Tier) to $933 USD (Master Tier)
How do I sign up?
●
Page 52.
Head on over to the Cognopia Academy CDMP Fundamentals Course and
pick your desired grade today
About Cognopia
One of the major frustrations I’ve found in building a career in data management is
that the experts try to share their expertise, but you need decades of experience to
understand them.
We decided to democratise the knowledge, making it quick and easy for students
to gain the skills they need to get a better job and make more money.
No one wants “Continued Education Credits” - your next employer won’t care how
long it took you to learn, they’ll care that you’ve got the skills and a certificate to
prove it.
We’re on a mission to make that as easy for you as possible.
Contact Us
Cognopia Pte Ltd - sales@cognopia.com
20 Collyer Quay, #09-01, Singapore 049319
No part of this document or the information contained herein shall be shown or provided to any other party without prior written approval
from Cognopia Pte Ltd. Permission is granted for the copying of all or part of this document for evaluation purposes.
Page 53.