SFIA allows a consistent approach to ICT skills across the organisation as a whole and is not limited to specialist departments, such as IT. At the heart of SFIA are 54 skills – task areas that describe the abilities needed to deliver on specific requirements. SFIA describes what people do, not necessarily what their jobs are called (often a source of confusion).
SFIA groups sets of skills into subcategories, which may relate to job roles, and then groups subcategories into six categories, which may relate to functions or departments in larger organisations.
The skills structure, shown in the table below, is very simple. First, the Category relates to job function (or entire departments). The Subcategory then usually relates to job roles. Finally, the skill itself relates to tasks – work activities sufficiently broad, yet self-contained enough to enable ICT personnel to position their skills. Of course, any person may possess multiple skills across multiple categories.
Category
Subcategory
Skill
Strategy & planning
Information management
Information resource management
Advice & guidance
Consultancy
Technical specialism
Business/IS strategy and planning
Business process improvement
IS strategy & planning
Business risk management
Technical strategy and planning
Systems architecture
Change control
Business continuity planning
Emerging technology monitoring
Methods and tools
Network planning
Management & administration
Supply management
Contract management
Procurement
Project management
Programme management
Project management
Project office
Quality management
Quality management
Quality assurance
Compliance
Resource management
Asset management
Systems development management
IS co-ordination
ICT management
Service delivery management
Sales & marketing
Sales and marketing
Account management
Marketing
Selling
Sales support
Development & implementation
Systems development
Business analysis
Data analysis
Technical authority
Systems design
Database design
Programming/software development
Systems testing
Human factors
Systems ergonomics
Media creation
Installation & integration
Systems integration
Systems installation/decommissioning
Service delivery
Education and training
Education & training management
Development & training
Training materials creation
Education & training delivery
Infrastructure
Configuration management
Network control
Capacity management
Security administration
Operation
Application & system support
ICT operations
Database administration
Service level control
User support
Network administration & support
User support
Once a skill is identified, it is important to indicate the level of competency for the skill. Each of the skills listed in the table above has standard levels of competency associated with them.
