The Chief Information Officer (CIO) Certificate Program, sponsored by the DoD CIO, is the recognized source of graduate education for federal CIO leaders to develop themselves and their agency personnel for leveraging the information component of national power for strategic advantage.  The program addresses requirements in the Clinger-Cohen Act (1996), the Government Performance Results Act (1993), the Paperwork Reduction Act (1995), the Federal Information Security Management Act (1996), and the President’s Management Agenda (2001).  CIO Program graduates earn an official certificate, signed by the DoD CIO and the IRM College Director that recognizes they have earned an education in the federal CIO competencies.  Graduates earn an equivalent of 15 graduate credit hours toward selected master’s or doctoral degree programs at partnering institutions of higher education.

The CIO Certificate Program is organized around 11 subject areas directly related to CIO competencies identified by the Federal CIO Council.  Each of these subject areas contains multiple courses students can select to tailor their CIO program of study to meet their organization’s needs and priorities.

Certificate Requirements
Courses in each competency are designated as core because of their breadth and necessary links to the CIO competency or specialty because of their depth in a particular competency.  Students work with their supervisors and academic advisors to tailor their program to fit their professional and/or organizational needs within the guidelines set by the CIO Council.  Students earn the CIO Certificate by successfully completing eight courses in a way that satisfies the following requirements:

• Six core courses in six different competency areas, three of which are required:
  1. Changing World of the CIO (CWC)
  2. Measuring Results of Organizational Performance (MOP)
  3. Information Assurance and Critical Infrastructure Protection (AII)
  
• Two other courses of their choice from the College catalog.

Students may opt to complete the CIO Certificate with an Information Assurance (IA) concentration that leads to the Information Assurance Certificate (NSTISSI No. 4011) by selecting three IA courses as part of their CIO program.  Three of the following four courses may be applied toward requirements for the CIO Certificate Program.  Students who wish to complete both the CIO and IA Certificates must complete a total of nine courses to include the four that are mandatory for the IA program. 

1.  Information Assurance and Critical Infrastructure Protection (AII)
2.  Global Enterprise Networking and Telecommunications (GEN)
3.  Managing Information Security in a Networked Environment (SEC)
4.  Developing Enterprise Security Strategies, Guidelines, and Policies (ESS)

All courses, independently of the format in which they are offered, provide students academic content and intellectual rigor resulting in three graduate credit hours. Students have four years from the date of their acceptance into the CIO Certificate Program to complete the requirements and must successfully complete at least one course every 18 months to maintain active status in the program.

CIO CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
IRM COLLEGE Courses Supporting Federal CIO Competencies

Key Competency Subject Area	Core AMP Courses & Electives	Core eResident and Distributed Learning (DL) Courses
1. Policy	Foundations of IRM Electives: 6317: Changing World of the CIO	CWC:  Changing World of the CIO
2. Information Resources Strategic Planning	Information Management Planning	IMP:  Information Management Planning IWS:  Information, Warfare, and Military Strategy (Secret clearance required)
3. Performance-and Results-Based Management	Measuring Results of Organizational Performance	MOP:  Measuring Results of Organizational Performance
4. Capital Planning and Investment	IT Capital Planning	MTI:  IT Capital Planning BBC:  Building an IT Business Case
5. Process Improvement	Strategies for Process Improvement	PRI:  Strategies for Process Improvement
6. Process Management		ITP:  Strategies for Process Improvement
7. Technology Assessment		CST:  Critical Information System Technologies
8. Architecture and Infrastructures	6409:  Enterprise Architectures for Managers	ARC:  Enterprise Architectures for Managers DMS: Data Management Strategies and Technologies: A Managerial Perspective
9. Security and Assurance		AII:  Information Assurance & Critical Infrastructure Protection
10. eGovernment/ eBusiness		EGV:  eGovernment
11. Leadership		LDC:  Leadership for the Information Age
12. Acquisition	Strategic Information Technology Acquisition	ITA:   Strategic Information Technology Acquisition

Completing the CIO Certificate
Students are encouraged to maintain contact with their faculty advisor throughout their program of study, but particularly as they near completion of their certificate program(s).  When students complete the last course needed for the program certificate, they should notify their advisor by e-mail that they have satisfied the program requirements.  Advisors will review records to ensure that all program requirements are met and certify completion of the program(s).

Requests for exception to the application of previous IRM College academic work to a new program may be e-mailed with a justification to IRMCExceptionRequest@ndu.edu.

Students enrolled in the certificate program may take courses for Professional Development (PD); however, for courses to count toward the certificate or as a prerequisite, students must take them for credit.