SFIA

SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age) is being used globally and is increasingly becoming the standard for IT skills. It provides compatibility between professional bodies, public sector organisations, employers and recruiters. The well-defined skills are simple to understand and can be easily applied to your organisation’s requirements. The current version, V5 (released in December 2011), incorporates 96 skills, with several levels of proficiency in each skill. The SFIA framework can be used to bring value to an organisation in several ways:

• Creation of job and role profiles - supports recruitment and selection
• Assessment of staff capabilities and performance, using the SFIA competencies outlined for the job or role - performance management
• Underpinning the organisation’s approach to IT professionalism
• Benchmarking current IT skill levels and future skill needs
• Developing IT skills that support the business strategy
• Building and retaining a competitive, well-skilled IT workforce
• Improving recruitment processes and reducing cost
• Retaining employees by providing clear career opportunities
• Identification of development plans - staff development and Continual Professional Development (CPD) 
• Reducing IT training costs by identifying actual training needs
• Identifying existing internal IT skills and reducing external costs
• Reducing risk by identifying and managing skill gaps
• Creation of job and role profiles – supports recruitment and selection

We have SFIA Accredited Consultants in the team who can help you to use SFIA as part of a competency-based skills framework, continual professional development, to influence redesign, or for various other purposes.