The Government IT Profession competency and skills framework is based upon the UK ICT industry standard Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). It underpins the Government ICT Capability Strategy and its implementation work.
The framework provides all public sector ICT organisations with a common language to describe the skills and attributes of ICT professionals, providing a consistent approach to skills identification, recruitment, performance management and workforce planning across the profession. It also helps enable the sharing of people, ideas and best practice within and between organisations and across the wider public sector.
Competency framework
The competency framework describes the competency groups which exist in the public sector ICT profession today. The framework enables the creation of communities of professionals and enables individuals to identify the community to which they belong.
There are six core competency groups:
- Strategy and architecture
- Business change
- Solution development and implementation
- Service management
- Procurement and management support
- Client interface
The six core competency groups map directly to levels one to five in the six skills categories described in SFIA.
The Government IT Profession also describes two senior competency groups:
- Enterprise strategy
- Delivery management
We have these two senior competency groups as ICT professionals at a senior level are expected to deploy a broader range of skills than members of the six core competencies. The skills of people in the two senior competency groups may span several of the competency groups described in levels six and seven of the SFIA framework.
Skills framework
The skills framework directly reflects the SFIA framework and describes the technical and specialist skills required in each competency group and across each level.
Organisations can use the framework to design roles, and as part of the performance appraisal, skills development or recruitment process for ICT professionals. The skills described at levels one to five of SFIA are regarded as the core skills for the Government IT Profession. Senior ICT managers will be using a subset of the full skills, performing predominately at levels six and seven of SFIA.
Individuals can use the framework to identify which group and skill level an individual’s skills sit. It can also help identify any skills gaps to assist with planning of career development.