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The Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) was a professional organization for people working in data processing and its management. It promoted professional education and the sharing of knowledge, while explaining how data processing could serve business and management.
What did DPMA mean?
DPMA stood for Data Processing Management Association. It referred to an organization, not to the general process of handling data. Its historical focus was the profession and its role in organizations.
A 1969 entry in an ERIC directory describes the association’s founding aim as improving the data processing profession by building understanding of its characteristics. It highlights education, dissemination of information, and the relationship between data processing and management. ERIC’s archival directory is a contemporaneous reference for that description.
How did DPMA fit into the organization’s history?
The group began in 1951 as the National Machine Accountants Association (NMAA), according to the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP). AITP says it adopted the DPMA name in 1962 and became AITP in 1996. A contemporaneous 1963 Datamation profile dates the DPMA name change to July 1, 1962. The sequence reflects a move from a name rooted in machine accounting toward the broader field of data processing.
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AITP’s About page describes the change this way: “In 1962, we became the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA), reflecting the growing importance of data processing in the IT industry.” See AITP’s history for its organizational chronology and AITP’s About page for its statement of the name change.
What did the association do?
- Promoted education: It supported learning relevant to data processing work.
- Shared professional information: It helped circulate knowledge among people in the field.
- Connected technology with management: It emphasized data processing’s contribution to business needs and management decisions.
These aims distinguish DPMA from a technical term or a single data-processing system: it was a professional association concerned with the people, knowledge, and organizational importance of the work.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened to DPMA?
DPMA was an earlier name in the organization’s progression to AITP. An Akron-area AITP chapter reports that AITP merged with CompTIA in 2017 and says the local chapter continues professional-development and networking activities. That chapter account is evidence about its local activities; it does not, on its own, establish the full present-day structure of a national organization. See the Akron-area chapter for its description.
For readers seeking the history rather than a current guide, Google Books catalogs Data Management, Volume 8, published by DPMA in 1970. Its catalog record documents the archival publication, but does not establish current retail availability: Google Books catalog.
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