Meet the AI-Ready CIP 2027

The 2027 Certified Information Professional (CIP) exam reflects how information work has changed. AI is built into every domain, from how information is captured and prepared for AI to how it’s governed and retained.

Take the Beta Exam – $225

CIP 2027 Exam Blueprint

The exam blueprint is your study map for the AI-ready CIP. It lists every domain and topic the 2027 exam covers, and how much each domain counts toward your score.

Every question carries the same weight, so the number of questions in each domain reflects that domain's weighting. AI isn't a separate topic: it's built into all five domains through real-world scenarios.

 

The Five Domains at a Glance

  • 12%  Domain 1: The Value of Information in the Age of AI
  • 23%  Domain 2: Capturing and Preparing Information for People and Machines
  • 18%  Domain 3: Using and Sharing Information and AI Outputs
  • 25%  Domain 4: Governing, Protecting and Retaining Information
  • 22%  Domain 5: Improving Information Management

Select a domain below to see its topics and what you should be able to do. Prefer a printable copy? Download the blueprint (PDF)

 

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$225 USD
Purchase by Dec. 31, 2026.

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Explore the Domains

Domain 1 (12%)
Domain 2 (23%)
Domain 3 (18%)
Domain 4 (25%)
Domain 5 (22%)

Optional Dropdown Label:

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Domain 1: The Value of Information in the Age of AI

Weight: 12% of the exam

Topics

  • Why information management matters
  • Artificial intelligence
  • AI governance and risk management

You should be able to:

  • Tell records from non-records
  • Connect information management to business outcomes
  • Match AI use cases to information work
  • Explain what large language models can and can't reliably do
  • Compare types of AI solutions
  • Describe intelligent information management
  • Articulate the business value of AI
  • Identify AI and analytics risks, such as poor training data, bias, black-box models and hallucination
  • Recognize reputational risk

See the full wording in the blueprint (PDF)

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Domain 2: Capturing and Preparing Information for People and Machines

Weight: 23% of the exam

Topics

  • Document capture and intelligent processing
  • Preparing information for AI
  • Organizing information: metadata and taxonomy
  • Knowledge management, search and discovery

You should be able to:

  • Apply records, document, content and data lifecycles
  • Identify capture points and design capture processes
  • Ensure completeness and accuracy at capture
  • Plan digitization and long-term file formats
  • Manage information from uncontrolled sources, such as personal devices and social platforms
  • Extract information from structured applications and scanned images
  • Attribute and label AI-generated content
  • Protect authenticity, integrity and chain of custody
  • Prepare content for AI, including ROT remediation
  • Spot data exposure in prompts and outputs
  • Support retrieval (RAG) and context management
  • Develop a metadata strategy
  • Use taxonomies, controlled vocabularies and ontologies
  • Design information architecture
  • Manage reference data and interoperability
  • Set access rules by classification and sensitivity
  • Choose classification, search and navigation approaches

See the full wording in the blueprint (PDF)

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Domain 3: Using and Sharing Information and AI Outputs

Weight: 18% of the exam

Topics

  • Document and content management
  • Collaboration and information sharing
  • AI governance and risk management: AI outputs
  • Managing prompts and improving AI practices

You should be able to:

  • Apply check-in/check-out, version control and workflow
  • Control changes to critical documents
  • Govern sharing with partners and customers
  • Manage email, chat and meeting content, including AI recaps, as records
  • Keep humans in oversight of automated processes and AI agents
  • Decide when AI output needs human review
  • Build review and approval workflows for AI outputs
  • Validate outputs and citations
  • Maintain audit trails for AI decisions
  • Manage prompt templates, prompt libraries and version control
  • Use quality metrics to drive continuous improvement

See the full wording in the blueprint (PDF)

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Domain 4: Governing, Protecting and Retaining Information

Weight: 25% of the exam

Topics

  • Information governance
  • Privacy, security and compliance
  • AI governance and risk management: ethics
  • Records management, retention and eDiscovery
  • Digital preservation and archiving

You should be able to:

  • Define stewardship and governance roles
  • Write governance policies and conduct information audits
  • Inventory systems and repositories
  • Protect personal and sensitive data
  • Apply Privacy by Design and privacy assessments
  • Handle consent and privacy impact assessments for AI data use
  • Use redaction, encryption and rights management
  • Address data sovereignty and breach response
  • Manage information incidents
  • Protect vital records and plan disaster recovery
  • Address fairness, ethics and bias in AI data
  • Build retention schedules and manage disposition
  • Automate records management tasks
  • Ensure secure disposition
  • Manage legal holds and eDiscovery
  • Decide whether AI prompts and outputs are records
  • Plan a digital preservation strategy
  • Govern use of archived content for AI training, including legal restrictions

See the full wording in the blueprint (PDF)

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Domain 5: Improving Information Management

Weight: 22% of the exam

Topics

  • Information strategy and digital transformation
  • Process and workflow automation
  • Technology and vendor selection and management
  • Change management and adoption

You should be able to:

  • Set an information strategy with KPIs
  • Run readiness assessments
  • Diagnose root causes
  • Build a program roadmap and business case
  • Establish the system of record
  • Govern continuous improvement
  • Map processes and judge automation suitability
  • Apply workflow, BPM, RPA and case management
  • Design workflows with audit trails
  • Select content management solutions
  • Evaluate vendors, including where data is stored and processed
  • Plan content migration
  • Manage implementation costs and projects
  • Create change plans and build AI literacy
  • Support ongoing education
  • Define implementation roles
  • Measure success and run post-implementation reviews

See the full wording in the blueprint (PDF)

Reference Standards

Know what they're for, not their numbers

You should recognize these standards and what they're for. Questions may test that recognition in context, but you won't be asked to recall standard numbers or clause details.

  • Records management: ISO 15489-1, ISO 16175, ISO 30301
  • Metadata: ISO 23081, ISO/IEC 11179, ISO 15836 (Dublin Core)
  • Digital preservation: ISO 14721 (OAIS), ISO 19005 (PDF/A), PREMIS
  • Information security and privacy: ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27701
  • Risk: ISO 31000
  • AI: ISO/IEC 42001, ISO/IEC 23894, NIST AI Risk Management Framework

Ready to Put the Blueprint to Work?

The best way to put the blueprint to work is to take the beta.

Pass it, and you earn the full CIP credential.

  • $225, 50% off the standard $450 (purchase by 12/31/2026)
  • Beta test window: January 1 – February 14, 2027
  • 130 multiple-choice questions, 3 hours, taken online with a remote proctor
  • Results 8–10 weeks after the beta window closes
  • Seats are limited to about 100 participants

Register for the CIP Beta

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