The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) provides a common reference model for the identification of the skills needed to develop effective Information Systems (IS) making use of Information & Communications Technology (ICT).

SFIA enables employers of IT professionals to carry out a range of HR activities against a common framework of reference - including skill audit, planning future skill requirements, development programmes, standardisation of job titles and functions, and resource allocation.

Within Northern Ireland, SFIA is supported by Momentum (the ICT employers Federation) and DEL (Department of Employment and Learning).

Until SFIA, there has been no commonly agreed classification of the jobs that exist in ICT or of the skills required to perform them. This has meant it has not been possible to:

• enable employers to measure the skills they have against the skills they need and identify skill gaps;
  
  
• allows ICT practitioners and users to benchmark which skills they need for particular jobs or career paths;
  
  
• benchmark skills across different companies;
  
  
• quantify the future skill requirements of the ICT market;
  
  
• identify skills which are in short supply, or report on any shortage;
  
  
• set education and training targets for the Northern Ireland IT community;
  
  
• and inform education and training providers on the needs of the job market.
  
  

SFIA enables the measurement and benchmarking of an organisation’s collective ICT skills and its processes for managing and developing these.

All very well, but that's not much help in getting started with it. That's where Fabrio can help. The team at Fabrio are all accredited SFIA consultants, the only ones in Northern Ireland, so we can help you understand what SFIA is all about and get you started in making practical use of the framework.

With our help you'll be able to define the roles you need to deliver project, assess which of you staff are best placed to fill those role, identify the skills gaps in your organisation and produce a development plan for your staff.

There's also a big benefit to you staff as they will be able to assess their own capabilities, see a clear path for career development and understand that it takes to get to the next rung on the ladder.

If you're interested in more information on any of these opportunities then contact any of us at Fabrio and we'll be delighted to come and discuss things further.

For full details on SFIA, go to www.sfia.org.uk