People Capability: SFIA & SFIAplus

The Skills Framework for the Information Age, or 'SFIA' is a public domain product developed by a UK-backed SFIA Foundation, of which the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is a key member.

SFIA is gaining increasing international recognition and it provides a single paragraph job description that can be obtained from the BCS web site.

BCS has produced SFIAplus from SFIA by adding in the results of some twenty years development of industry standard job descriptions. SFIAplus delivers detailed job descriptions and a comprehensive set of web-based tools, and is available under licence only.

SFIAplus allows organisations to apply a standard framework to the specific skills, qualifications, competencies and responsibilities required for typical roles within the IT industry. It not only takes the headache out of writing endless job descriptions, but it can substantially increase productivity and consistency, saving organisations valuable time and money.

ProActive are the only reseller of SFIAplus in Australia and New Zealand.

SFIAplus also provides specific guidelines for IT professionalism, whereby each employee is aware of the specific measures that entitle them to reach higher levels or change roles within their organisation.

This has several benefits including:

  • Providing the ability to map employees' career paths;
  • Ensuring the right people are placed in the right role, and that these roles are carried out most efficiently;
  • Managers have a better understanding of each role and the abilities of each employee in that role;
  • Organisations can customise their own job descriptions;
  • Employees are more motivated to add to their skill base, qualifications and have a clear understanding of what is required to progress to the next stage of their career; and
  • Providing tangible evidence and guidance to support the Performance Review and Learning Path process.

For insights into the differences between SFIA and SFIAplus, take a look at the podcast developed by Andy Doyle, from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT; Andy will take you through not only the differences between the two, but discuss the relevance of the framework today, the organisational benefits of implementing SFIAplus, and how it supports business change / transformation programmes.