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It never fails to astound me that asset management practitioners can be transformed from "I just got this job" into proficient(?) software asset management professionals in as few as one or two days of training. I'm further blown away that a majority of our industry training programs include an "instant" short-term memory exam as part of their certification schedule.
Do me a favor & check my math. It looks like the typical training session can be completed in an average of two business days. These sessions probably include multiple breaks for coffee, tea, lunch, & (I hope) at least a 2.5 hour exam. If I'm correct in my calculations, the actual time-on-task for today's certified SAM practitioners churned out by the typical 2-day program is less than 7 hours. I hate to even consider the time-on-task for a single day program.
Based on all this, it would seem to me that we're actually killing our credentials by popping out people who know just enough to get themselves & their enterprises into what an ancient Chinese knowledge expert dubbed as "interesting" SAM operational times. (Yes, I know they didn't phrase it quite that way.)
Here's how we approach the typical SAM certification problems with the training & credential programs from The Institute for Technology Asset Management:
- Our SAM credential has been broken down into Software and copyright compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM). Between these two, the candidate receives more than 29 hours of actual time-on-task training broken into approximately 39 individual focused self-paced sessions.
- We are not proprietary in our programming. We focus on openly available competencies that practitioners can easily apply specifically to their SAM (and IT) environments. Nothing is hidden.
- We have broken out the classic SAM training program into brief self-paced on demand sessions that can be taken singly or as a bundle.
- Via this individual session delivery, we can deliver significantly more time-on-task than ANY alternative program in the industry.
- When the basics of the certification are delivered online, we can eliminate the costly & disruptive travel aspect.of typical SAM programs.
- The Institute also provides an "open source" style knowledge base (in the form of our easily acquired Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK). Through this simple TAMBOK practitioners and enterprises alike can gain a comprehensive view of the actual needs of asset management infrastructure.
- What's more, The Institute provides third party tracking of your training portfolio via a SCORM Compliant industry standard Learning Management system.
- Also, the SAM-related exams are free-standing and can be completed at any time after fully completing the coursework. This provides candidates with plenty of time to study and translate their knowledge from short-term memory into their more stable long-term memory. Result? Candidates learn and remember more than ever before.
I'll cover additional differentiators for Institute credentials in follow-on posts. For now, recognize that The Institute is moving SAM & ITAM credentialing into the next generation of credibility - for practitioners, as well as for those who hire credentialed SAMs / ITAMs.
To look over the range of Institute Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM) credential programs, click HERE
sign in to the LMS (Learning Management System) [ It's Free] and review the course content. Each session has a brief printed introduction and the live sessions last from 30 to 90 minutes.
Any questions, please let me know.
I'd like to present the industry's first Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge - the TAMBOK. You can find it by clicking on the link below, but please take a moment to read this brief introduction.
I've been in the technology asset management industry for over twenty years. Fair warning: I rarely talk about “me” but, today, for this purpose, I’m giving you my personal/professional perspective. Here’s where I’m coming from…
In 2000, I designed and delivered two of the first professional certification programs in our industry - one for Software Asset Management and another for Technology Asset Management. For over twelve years I have been developing and delivering collegiate-level programs in Negotiations, Buying Technology Assets, Project Management and other related business topics. However, in 2004 I found myself forced to take a step back and to view the asset management professional development industry from a new perspective. I've spent nearly half a dozen years in intense study of credentials and of the credentialing processes used by some of the top professions - and I have been highly disappointed in the existing certification programs in our field.
We need a paradigm shift
Frankly, fewer than 5% of technology asset management-related training programs I’ve reviewed are performing an effective job of establishing and building our profession. Don't get me wrong: As a sort of "training wheels" beginning, we've produced some decent certifications over the past eight or so years - but we STILL haven't kicked the proprietary supplier/product habit. The vast majority of our training and certifications have been designed by, and in many cases are still delivered by, partners, pals, and allies of the very industry suppliers that created the financial and liability needs to establish technology asset management systems in the first place.
I think it’s well beyond time that we converted our professional preparation into a supplier- and product-agnostic process – one genuinely designed and developed by practitioners, FOR practitioners – a program series that is based on academic methodologies (Think Bloom’s Taxonomy) and shaped to help you obtain and retain professional career employment by delivering serious business value to the enterprise. This is the main reason why I worked with other asset managers to create the industry’s first non profit organization specifically focused on helping asset management professionals: The Institute for Technology Asset Management. It’s also why we’ve chosen to formally document our profession in the Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body Of Knowledge.
TAMBOK = What you need to know
So... Here's what I've done. I've spent the last five years working with over three hundred business professionals, academicians, and asset management practitioners to re-envision our collection of certificates into a serious credential program - one based on a publicly available Body of Knowledge as well as a credible credential preparation program of study. Together, we have built this Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK) to accurately reflect the skills you need to perform well in the fields of Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA), Software Asset Management (SAM), Technology Asset Management (TAM/ITAM), and Technology Portfolio Asset Management (TPM).
Understand that the copy of the TAMBOK currently available - the Third Edition - is the culmination of a series of short, yet comprehensive, reviews to bring together the major components of a credential series that not only speaks to what you KNOW, but more importantly, speaks to what you can DO with that knowledge. The major components include the following:
• Four Life Cycle Process Groups
o Procurement
o Distribution
o Operations &
o Governance
• Six Practice Areas
o Portfolio Management
o Business Management
o Financial Management
o Risk Management
o Contract Management &
o Project Management
• And Over Fourteen Applied Competency Areas
o Think about focused applied capabilities in topics such as Negotiations, Audit Methodologies, License Management, Documentation Management, and others.
We've come a long way with these professions since I first developed and implemented the knowledge infrastructure of my former association. After extensive research and development, our working group determined that we need to take the next step of converting the traditional certification process from a few hours of lecture followed by a memorization test to a credible credentialing process that mirrors the success of such credentialing programs as those provided by the Project Management Institute, the AICPA, the Contract Managers Association, and others. (There is an extensive list of organizations from which we drew samples, guidelines, and advice in the TAMBOK Appendix.)
That next step begins with a formal Body of Knowledge - the TAMBOK - on which we can build and evolve a solid foundation of applied capabilities. The TAMBOK is not a derivative work that attempts to bend technology skills into a new service added on to the responsibilities of enterprise technicians. Instead, this is an entirely new perspective of capabilities to be applied to the Business side of the Technology Portfolio.
And, to further clarify the potential of the TAMBOK, we’ll soon be presenting a Knowledge Briefing Series of how "What you know," is converted into "What you can actually apply," which translates into "The value you can deliver with a significantly more credible credential."
We'll be the first to admit that the TAMBOK isn't perfect - it's a work in progress. But this document IS the first supplier- and product-neutral effort by a credentialing body in our industry to bring order from chaos and to place your cost-effective Professional Development Blueprint in your hands where it belongs.
The TAMBOK is available HERE.
Comments are welcome - as are qualified practitioner volunteers to help evolve the next release.
