Monday, June 9, 2008

Preparing for CDMP Exams

Pat and I often get questions about how to prepare for the CDMP exams. There are many ways to approach this, and several study guide publications available. Here's a list of some available resource for purchase:
  • DAMA International also publishes two additional study guides that provide more in depth information, and sample questions, for the Data Management Exam and the Data Warehouse Exam. These are available for purchase through DAMA-I (info@dama.org) or through the ICCP (ICCP office@iccp.org or call 1-800-843-8227).
  • In addition to these self-study guides, the ICCP offers two tutor-supported online courses: Information Systems CORE and Systems Analysis & Design (supports the Systems Development exam). Exam Prep Bootcamps are also available for DAMA chapters or groups of 10 or more. These are a great way to get certified quickly. Contact the ICCP office for more information about these.
  • You can also get an idea of what test questions will be like by trying the sample tests available through ICCP. You can purchase these for $35 each - much less than taking the exam. If you are clueless about the answers on the sample tests, it's an indication that you may need more prep before springing for the full exam. If you feel fairly confident after taking the tests, even if you get a few answers wrong, your knowledge-level is probably at least in the ballpark to pass the exam.
Since several of the newer exams don't yet have formal study materials, I suggest that people do independent study by reviewing the exam subject outlines from ICCP.org and research the topics on the outline using the web. One way to do this is to start with a search engine or Wikipedia and follow links to bibliographical references. Also, you can check out the related publications and authors that are listed on the DAMA website. Buy or borrow related printed materials, and scan the available online information.

I will also be doing a series of postings "from the trenches" on this blog. Over time, I hope to provide a forum for the CDMP community to post additional study suggestions and links to online, freely available resources for each of the CDMP exams on this blog, so if you have some useful ideas or resources you would like to share with others, please let me know, and stay tuned...

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

More Data Governance

The second day of the conference began with an entertaining keynote by Terry Goodbody from Pinnacle Entertainment. Pinnacle is a gaming/gambling company. I hadn't really thought about the data required to managing a gambling operation, but it is extensive, and compliance is a big deal. The casinos can be closed down if data and operations are not compliant with the state and federal gambling commission regulations. Terry said that everyone in his I.T. organization that has access to corporate data must be trained and licensed by the commission. His presentation was enlightening and full of funny antecdotes.

I also attended Pablo Riboldi's session on Data Governance at a Large, Bureaucratic, Non-profit Organization - Year 1. Pablo is implementing Data Governance at the LDS Church, a huge organization with many applications and a lot of data. He provided a pragmatic view of the process, including those things that did and did not work. He also had some very good "take-aways" and examples of policies, principles and communications that he developed. The principles were well grounded in basic data management principles of data as a corporate asset.

In the afternoon, the Special Interest Group for "Building the Business Case for Data Governance" was also very useful, led by Danette McGilvray. We broke up into groups and did a short exercise on writing a business case statement for a particular audience, then shared the results. The Keynote Panel on Ethics was also thought provoking. The panelists all provided various perspectives on ethical and legal challenges related to data. Dominique Shelton, an attorney, provided insight on some of the legal issues emerging related to Web 2.0 and data.

Overall, it was another full day that sparked many new ideas to ponder.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Data Governance - Day 1

I'm exhausted after a long day of workshops. The first day of the Data Governance conference in San Francisco was all pre-conference tutorial sessions. It began with a great buffet breakfast that included eggs and croissants! Much more than continental. The morning tutorial that I attended was Bob Seiner's "The Stewardship Approach to Data Governance: Let's Be Practical." It was indeed, a practical approach that Bob calls the "non-invasive" approach to data governance. What I took away from this session was the idea that data governance can be accomplished without the perception of control and adding overhead. By using a common data matrix to make implicit relationships more explicit, the stewardship roles can be identified and existing decision-making structures within an organization can be leveraged to accomplish data governance.

The lunch meal was so-so. The typical conference chicken dish. However, I had the opportunity to talk with some interesting folks at our table. It was delightful to talk with a business SME who was attending a data management conference for the first time. She told me that she is interested in becoming a data management professional, and wondered if I could give her some advice about what kind of training is needed to get into this field. Good question! I told her about CDMP, but realized that somehow this isn't enough for someone new to the profession - we need to have a better answer to questions like this!

In the afternoon, I attended "Developing an Effective Culture Change Management Plan for Data Governance and Master Data Management" led by John Ladley and Pam Thomas. This contained many useful gems and tools for any change management project. The most useful tool was the survey and assessment exercise that we did in small groups at the end of the session. Although I often do this to my students, I dread doing small group work when I'm at conferences... however, this was most enlightening. Using the tools and data provided, our group was able to identify a set of change management actions for a case study project in less than 30 minutes.

The day ended with a panel of the day's presenters, led by Peter Aiken. Each presenter shared a tool, template or technique from their sessions. This was a nice way to wrap up the day, and also get some additional information about sessions I could not attend. I liked this aspect of the conference. So far, I've gained a lot of practical tools from this conference that I can apply right away in various projects that I'm working on.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Blogging Data Governance in San Francisco

I'll be at the Data Governance Conference this week and will try to blog observations from the conference. Many old friends from the DM community are here presenting and attending.

Portland takes on Seattle

On May 20th, I gave an overview presentation of certification and the CDMP process to 35+ DAMA members at the Portland chapter. It was an enthusiastic and interactive group, and over 20 of those who attended indicated interest in going through the Exam Prep "Boot Camp" and taking the exams to become certified. In November, 2007, the Seattle Chapter's Exam Prep Boot Camp produced 7 new CDMPs, and Bill Hoke, chapter president, issued a challenge to the other DAMA chapters to beat this number. Wayne Little and the folks in Portland have taken up the challenge and will strive to get at least 8 new CDMPs certified during their 2-day Boot Camp in Portland. This will be scheduled for the last week in August - the specific dates and location are yet to be determined. I'll post the details here once they are firmed up.

Portland is also planning to proctor the Data and Information Quality free beta exam after its June meeting, for anyone who is interested in taking it. Those who pass the free beta exam will be able to pay a small conversion fee to apply it toward their CDMP.

It was a great trip. The Portland folks were fun and friendly, and it was nice to see some familiar faces at the meeting. I'm looking forward to doing the Boot Camp with them in August!