Applying insight gleaned from a two-year course in strategic travel management combined with years on the front lines of travel management-the first 24 recipients of NBTA Foundation's Global Leadership Professional designation shared what they learned about three hot topics during the National Business Travel Association's annual convention last year.
The presentations on becoming a strategic player, the myths and realities of global travel programs, and the registered traveler initiative marked the end of a three-year journey to complete the master's-level coursework plus a group project or "quasi thesis" for classmates to earn the right to add GLP after their names.
Exactly what is GLP, CCTE, CTE, CMP, CMM, CMP, CMSM or the rest of the alphabet soup that increasingly follows names or appears on letterhead? The acronyms are professional designations issued by travel, meetings or procurement organizations to individuals who have completed classes to prove industry knowledge.
GLOABL LEADERSHIP PROFESSIONAL (GLP) | • | Issuer:NBTA Foundation | | | • | Requirements:Minimum of seven years professional experience, college degree, supervisor recommendation and resume for acceptance to two-year, master's-level course offered in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; at completion, participants receive Wharton certificates of professional development and may enroll in a 12-month GLP designation program in which they complete a group project | | | • | Cost/Time:$7,980, includes one five-day session ($4,995) and three two-day sessions ($995 each), typically completed over two years; $5,000 for GLP= designation, a one-year program that includes classroom and Web sessions and a research project | | | • | Number of GLPs:24 since 2006, with 14 more slated for August; 135 have received certificates of professional development since 1991 |
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For meetings, certifications are offered by the Convention Industry Council (an umbrella group for 34 meetings groups), Meeting Professionals International and, by this fall, NBTA.
The Institute for Supply Management and other procurement and contract management groups certify procurement and supply chain management professionals.
Within travel, NBTA offers a three-tiered certification program for corporations, as well as a new program for government travel professionals. Both the federal government and Society of Government Travel Professionals likewise offer programs to certify the knowledge base of government travel managers.
Supplier groups offer a bevy of other designations.
The most expensive and time-intensive designation program for travel and meetings professionals, NBTA's GLP is one of only two master's-level programs and the only one offered in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. As with MPI's CMM, candidates must formally apply for admission to the program and prove they have the college credentials, experience and drive. They also need money-more than $12,980 for the GLP and $1,875 for the CMM.
Added to the NBTA program only two years ago, the GLP designation has been bestowed on just 24 people. But 135 received Wharton certificates of program development after they completed the two-year Wharton program, said NBTA Foundation director Daphne Bryant. "More than 450 people have been through the GLP classes. Some will take one or two classes. But others, once they start, kind of get addicted. Some people have taken nine or 10 sessions because they find such value."
CORPORATE TRAVEL EXPERT (CTE) | • | Issuer:National Business Travel Association | | | • | Requirements:Complete Fundamentals of Business Travel Management course online or as two-day workshop and pass exam | | | • | Cost/Time:$345 | | | • | Number of CTEs:540 since 2005 |
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For some, the program was the "difference in landing a new job or getting a promotion," Bryant said. "The biggest thing I hear is their ability to be more of a strategic partner within their organizations." Participants, she noted, are typically executives, often with master's degrees.
After completing the classes, GLP candidates apply their newfound knowledge to one of three industry project teams. The teams research, conduct surveys and develop white papers, and present findings at the annual conference. In San Diego this August, 14 candidates will present three sessions on harnessing the power of the millennial generation, the benefits of greener travel programs and meeting CFO expectations.
ACCREDITED PURCHASING PRACTITIONER (APP) | • | Issuer:Institute for Supply Management | | | • | Requirements:Offered only as recertification to existing holders | | | • | Number of APPs:8,000 issued; currently 3,400 in 20 countries |
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"The idea behind this designation is to take everything that you've learned, apply it to your company and bring it back full circle by sharing it with the industry," Bryant said. Each GLP session ends with a 90-minute debrief between each student and academic advisor, she added, to identify "takeaways for you personally, professionally, for your company and for the industry."
The program "makes you think," "develop critical thinking skills" and provides a forum for "problem-solving and networking with peers," GLP designees stated in a foundation document.
Need For Advancement
CERTIFIED PURCHASING MANAGER (CPM) | • | Issuer:Institute for Supply Management | | | • | Requirements:Bachelor's degree, pass four tests, but no new applicants as of September; only existing CPMs can apply for recertification due to CPSM | | | • | Number of CPMs:50,000 issued since 1974; currently 28,000 in 50 countries |
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ISM last year broadened and advanced its certification program for supply management and procurement professionals after it recognized that the profession had changed and the certification needed to change, too. "Many of you are doing things that 20 years ago virtually nobody thought should become our responsibility. International sourcing has required us to learn things we simply did not need to know in such detail before," ISM CEO Paul Novak stated earlier this year in
Inside Supply Management. ISM also introduced a program to allow those who already had its prior certification to bridge to the new one and created a roadmap to sunset earlier designations.
The CPSM designation "demonstrates that an individual has a certain level of knowledge identified as critical" by those working within the supply management profession, said an ISM spokeswoman. "To the employer, it demonstrates a commitment to professional development and a common knowledge base." The profession also benefits, according to ISM, as the certification "establishes a body of knowledge and level of competence to ensure consistency." In addition to the knowledge, "professionals with the CPSM designation have made a commitment to abide by certain ethical supply management standards and practices to protect the public," the spokeswoman added.
CERTIFIED MEETING PROFESSIONAL (CMP) | • | Issuer:Convention Industry Council | | | • | Requirements:At least three years experience in meetings management; minimum of 90 of 150 points possible for experience and training; successful completion of comprehensive exam offered twice a year | | | • | Cost/Time:$750 or more, including $225 application fee, $450 exam fee, manuals, study guides and courses; recertification granted with proof of continuing employment and development as a meeting professional and $200 fee | | | • | Number of CMPs:13,000 in 35 countries since 1985 |
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The three CPSM exams each consist of 165 to 180 questions and each takes approximately three hours to complete. The pass rate is typically around 65 percent, ISM officials said.
MPI offers a master's-level Global Certified Meeting Manager certification, developed a decade ago with Michigan State University. As it approached the 10 year anniversary of the CMM, MPI took a hard look at the program to determine if the CMM still held value. Generally, it did, according to the group's executive summary. But "to drive greater success for meetings professionals during this period of economic uncertainty," MPI changed the CMM, "focusing additional curriculum and case studies on advanced strategic meetings management practices," MPI executives said in a prepared statement.
MPI also altered its marketing of the program. "The mission of the CMM program is to select, educate and certify management-level meetings and events professionals. We enhance the strategic decision-making ability of these leaders to manage and deliver exceptional meetings and events that drive organizational success."
Certification Multiplying
Approximately 3,000 agencies claim to offer certifications, and "triple that number" offer certificate programs that involve coursework, not just tests, according to Roy Swift, program director for the American National Standards Institute.
CERTIFIED CORPORATE TRAVEL EXECUTIVE (CCTE) | • | Issuer:NBTA | | | • | Requirements:Minimum of two years experience in business travel field, acceptance to program, two weeks of core classes at the University of Houston Conrad Hilton College of Hotel & Restaurant Management with successful completion of exams, plus five one-day electives offered by NBTA or chapters around the country or six two-hour online classes | | | • | Cost/Time:$5,000 to $7,500 estimated total, with each core week in Houston at $1,300 (excluding travel and accommodations) or online core week two at $1,500 and electives at $185 to $225 each; 18-24 months | | | • | Number of CCTEs:510 since 1998 |
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A voluntary standards-bearer, ANSI this month began a pilot accreditation program for organizations that issue education and training certificates to U.S. workers. "Currently, there is no nationwide regulation, oversight or monitoring consistently applied to all education and/or training bodies that offer certificates-nor is there a nationally recognized set of criteria/requirements to evaluate the quality of these programs," Swift said. "Consumers are unclear about the meaning of certificates, how to differentiate among certificate programs with varying levels of rigor and how they differ from personnel certificates."
The new accreditation for certificate programs is designed to "provide a neutral, third-party attestation that a given certificate program leads to better educated and qualified workers," according to Swift.
The quality of the professional education is a concern of corporations, governments and governors, all of whom are spending money to send employees to such programs with few assurances on the quality of the programs. "Particularly in IT," Swift said, "there are a lot of bad programs and false advertising out there."
CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN SUPPLY MANAGEMENT (CPSM) | • | Issuer:Institute for Supply Management | | | • | Requirements:Bachelor's degree, pass three tests about supply management and procurement | | | • | Cost/Time:About $540 ($180 for each exam), plus any study guides; typically weeks or months | | | • | Number of CPSMs:800 in 11 countries since 2008 |
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GLOBAL CERTIFICATION IN MEETING MANAGEMENT (CMM) | • | Issuer:Meeting Professionals International | | | • | Requirements:Minimum of 10 years experience in the meetings industry, five-day residency, pre- and post-residency work, business plan and completion of exam for strategic, master's-level program | | | • | Cost/Time:$1,875 (excluding travel and accommodations at residency), including $75 application fee | | | • | Number of CMMs:589 since 1998 |
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