50 Years of Professional Certification

Certificate in Data Processing (CDP) Emerged 50 Years Ago

By Joseph Albers, CCP, CBIP, CDMP
Chair of the IT Credentialing & Certification Committee

September 2012 is the 50^th anniversary of the introduction of the Certificate in Data Processing (CDP) certification by the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP), formerly known as the National Machine Accountants Association (NMAA) and the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA).

The first CDP examination was given at New York University in June 1962 where 235 of the 340 candidates passed. The first certificate, 620001, was awarded to George W. Abbott, FLMI, CPA, CDP on September 4, 1962 and was later presented to the Smithsonian Institution in October 1977.

In August 1973 the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) became one of the founding constituent members of the Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP), http://www.iccp.org/, which expanded the goals of the certification along with other Data Processing related societies. Joining DPMA were nine other organizations: Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), Association of Computer Programmers & Analysts (ACPA), Association for Educational Data Systems (AEDS), Automation 1 Association (A1A), Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), The Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The Society of Data Educators (SDE), The Society of Certified Data Processors (SCDP) and The Society of Professional Data Processors (SPDP). Today, three of the ten founding organizations remain as constituent members; ACM, CIPS and AITP.

The CDP, along with Certificate in Computing Programming (CCP) and the Certificate in Systems Programming (CSP), were converted to the current Certified Computing Professional (CCP) certification in 1994, at which point 33,972 CCP certificates were issued.

The ICCP continues to be active in providing the standard in certification for business intelligence, data management and computing, with over 98,750 certificates issued in the past thirty-nine years. The ICCP currently offers eight designations (see http://iccp.org/certification/designations): Associate Computing Professional (ACP), Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP), Certified Computing Professional (CCP), Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP), Certified IT Consultant (CITC), Data Governance and Stewardship Professional (DGSP), Information Systems Analyst (ISA) and Information Systems Professional (ISP).

AITP continues its involvement as a constituent member of the ICCP, appointing two directors, Bill Fly, CCP (ICCP President and AITP President-Elect) and Joseph Albers, CCP, CDMP, CBIP (ICCP Secretary and AITP Chair of the IT Credentialing & Certification committee), who serve on ICCP's Board of Directors.

Want to learn more about the beginning of the CDP and ICCP? Read the Data Management September 1982 article "CDP – 20 Years of Certification; Portrait of a Profession”.

What are your thoughts about certification today? Join the discussions on AITP's LinkedIn group.