SFIA is used for measuring current capability and identifying requirements, including planning, for future demand, using the same capability criteria used throughout the skills management processes.

 

The Australia SFIA framework is an enabler for people who manage resources for ICT, Software Engineering, and Digital Transformation and is independent of technology, method, or approach. It is a common reference model, a common language, comprising 7 Levels of Responsibility with 102 Professional Skills or competencies. The Levels of Responsibility are key as they reflect the reality in an industry where skills are practiced at different levels of responsibility.

Australia SFIA framework - you have a skill or competence at a level of responsibility because you have practiced the skill or competence at that level in a real-world situation.

 

A job can be made up of one or more roles, which, in turn, include one or more skills at appropriate skill levels.

 

SFIA-aligned job descriptions and role profiles are useful and popular for many reasons.

They can support the complete skills management cycle.

They provide clarity to enable productivity and performance to match expectations

They reduce business risk by increasing the chances of recruiting and developing individuals with the required skills, at the right level.  This is positive for both the organization and the individual and reduces the costs of churn when individuals feel ‘the job is not what they thought it would be’, or the organization discovers the individual has not got the right set of skills to do the job effectively.

Many organizations streamline this process by recognizing standard combinations of skills. These are typically called role profiles or professional profiles. To apply SFIA appropriately, it is helpful to be clear on the relationship between skills, roles, and jobs.

SFIA does not attempt to cover everything that an individual may be required to do. SFIA does not describe any product or technology-specific skills or knowledge, industry years of service, or qualifications. For example, a service desk manager requires knowledge of a particular process framework (such as ITIL or COBIT) and the specific service desk tools which are used in that organization, and they may also need specific industry experience, security clearance, and defined qualifications.

Although role design is greatly assisted by the use of SFIA, the framework itself does not describe roles, jobs, or organizational units - it simply provides the building blocks to help create these. There are no organizational design templates, examples, or suggestions in the core Australia SFIA framework. The SFIA categories and sub-categories should not be used to imply specific organizational units, departments, teams, or jobs.

The role of Major Incident Manager, for instance, and the detail of the activities which anyone carrying out this role would have to complete can be defined in the Incident Management process. This role profile would use SFIA to describe the generic level of responsibility for the role and include the SFIA skills and levels for these skills which are required in order to perform this role consistently to the required standard. This role might be carried out by several different people with various job titles, and therefore be referred to in a number of job descriptions.