CDIP study guide
CDIP · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Document Imaging Architect (CDIP) is a vendor-neutral credential aimed at people who design, build, or migrate document capture and records systems: imaging architects, ECM engineers, scanning operations leads, and solution consultants moving from paper-heavy processes to managed digital repositories. It tests architectural judgment rather than button-clicking, so expect questions framed as scenarios - a batch arriving skewed at 300 dpi, a retention rule colliding with a legal hold, a workflow that stalls at a manual index queue - where you must choose the design or remediation that best fits the requirement. The CDIP study guide has 5 sections and about 2,263 words.
01Capture
Capture covers everything that turns a paper or electronic source into an indexed, usable image or record. The exam tests your ability to pick the right input path, scanner settings, recognition technology and index method for a business case, and to spot settings that quietly destroy quality or inflate storage.
510 words, about 3 min02Storage and Retrieval
Storage and Retrieval tests how you size, tier, index, protect and eventually migrate a repository so a specific document can be found within an acceptable time for its whole retention period. Online: disk or SSD with millisecond access, used for active images and indexes.
445 words, about 2 min03Workflow and Process Management
Workflow and Process Management tests whether you can model a real business process, route work items correctly, handle exceptions, and measure the result, rather than simply storing images. Start with a swimlane map: roles across the top, tasks and decision points down the page.
440 words, about 2 min04Output and Distribution
Output and Distribution covers how content leaves the repository or composition engine and reaches a recipient by print, mail, email, portal or archive, with the integrity controls that prove nothing was lost. Transactional output (statements, invoices, policies) is composed from data, often in AFP/MODCA, Metacode, PostScript or PDF print streams, and rendered on production laser or inkjet devices.
431 words, about 2 min05Standards, Compliance, and Security
Standards, Compliance and Security tests whether your design would survive an audit: are formats open and durable, are retention and disposition defensible, and is access controlled and evidenced. TIFF 6.0 baseline with CCITT Group 3/4 compression remains the workhorse for bitonal images; JPEG and JPEG 2000 handle continuous tone.
437 words, about 2 min