The document presents an overview of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and its applications in managing IT skills, with contributions from industry experts Andy Andrews and Peter Leather. It discusses the importance of SFIA in developing a skilled workforce, improving project success, enhancing employee retention through career development opportunities, and aligning skills with organizational strategies. Additionally, it outlines the benefits of implementing a skills framework, including better resource management, talent planning, and risk mitigation.

1. Beyond Role Profiles
Successfully Meeting
IT Business Challenges with SFIA
Andy Andrews, President, Salary.com Europe
Peter Leather, Independent SFIA Accredited Consultant
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2. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
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3. Andy Andrews
 I have a long legacy in Learning and Development
within the IT sector – from college lecturer and
training consultant to training manager.
 I was one of the original founders of InfoBasis Ltd – a
provider of skills management software and the first
accredited software provider for the SFIA framework.
 I have a wealth of experience in helping organizations
such as the Ministry of Justice, Visa, Aviva and
Safeway to implement SFIA and other skill
frameworks.
 Previously I have worked for Microsoft Learning
Services where I gained my first experience with
implementing skills management programs.
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4. Peter Leather
 A specialist in developing the capability of Business
Change & IT organisations and developing internal
communities of practice
 Over 20 years experience working with major IT,
financial services and professional services
organisations.
 I have more than 6 years hands-on experience using
SFIA operationally and strategically
 Accredited SFIA Consultant
 Leader of the on-line global SFIA User Forum.
 Speaker at the SFIA UK Capability Management
conference in 2007
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5. Salary.com: What We Do And Who We Are
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6. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
6

7. What SFIA looks like
The framework provides a clear model for
describing what ICT practitioners do. It is a
two-dimensional matrix.
People exercise skills at different
levels. SFIA recognises seven levels of
professional skill. The levels range
from 1 at basic entry to 7 at a very
senior level, normally in a large The Skills Framework for the Information Age is owned by The SFIA Foundation: www.SFIA.org.uk.
organisation.
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8. What SFIA looks like Increasing Levels of autonomy, influence, complexity
7 Set
1 Follow 2 Assist 3 Apply 4 Enable 5 Ensure 6 Initiate
strategy
Strategy &
• Each skill defined at up to 7
Architecture
levels
• Not all levels relevant to each
skill
Business Change • Total of 295 skill level definitions
Solution
Development &
86 Implementation
skills in
6
groups Service
Management
Procurement and
management
support
Client Interface
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9. SFIA Framework Structure
Proficiency Levels
Categories
Assessable Levels
Skill Name
Sub-category
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10. SFIA Framework Structure
Skill
Description
Skill Level
Proficiency Description
Framework Level
Proficiency Description
Text from the Skills Framework for the Information Age quoted by kind permission of The SFIA
Foundation: www.SFIA.org.uk.
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11. Assessing overall competence of Individuals and/or the IT Workforce
e.g. Prepare release plan Action
Action Process Abilities
Action
Action
SFIA framework Action
focuses on
Activity
e.g. Project Planning &
Professional skills Control
e.g. Project
Management
e.g. Java
Professional Skill
Knowledge
Behavioural Skill
e.g. Results
orientation
Experience
Have demonstrated
competence by …
11

12. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
12

13. Benefits of a Skills Framework
Why use a skills framework in the first place?
• Provides a common language to describe skills in the business
• Helps individuals and the organization to understand what „good‟ looks like
• Enables an agile workforce by using a common reference for skills
• Identifies skills required for career path development
• Rationalizes role profiling for selection and recruitment
• Helps to integrate Talent Management processes
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14. Benefits of SFIA
• Mature, well established and used worldwide to describe IT skills
• Developed by the IT industry for the IT industry
• Covers entire IT & IT-related professions / end to end IT & Business Change
• Recognized and used by government and professional bodies. Underpins IT
professional accreditation schemes
• Owned and maintained by The SFIA Foundation (BCS, e-skills UK, The IET, IMIS and
itSMF). Vendor neutral and not-for-profit. Facility for user input into regular updates
• Free licensing aside from commercial offerings, regularly updated
• Translated into English, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish. German version due in
2010.
• Supported by accredited consultants and partners
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15. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
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16. SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
Do any of these areas represent a challenge to your IT business?
• Ensuring that your people have the skills to support your IT business strategy
• Successfully delivering your IT projects by assigning people with the right skills to them
• Reducing the cost of expensive contractors by developing and utilizing existing employees
• Retaining employees by providing career paths and development opportunities for all
• Enabling high performance by supporting IT process improvement frameworks such as ITIL
• Reducing the impact of losing IT staff with key skills
• Supporting manager-employee development discussions
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17. Support for IT Strategy Development, Planning &
Implementation
Operational
Strategy Development Role requirements
Organisation design People Management
• Business Plan Skill requirements
• IT & technology plan Process design • Skills assessment
• Gap analysis
Technology and applications • Skills development
• Prioritization
architecture • Performance management
• Action planning
• etc
Skills Prioritization Grow
Incorporate Prioritize critical Maintain
Analyse 3-5 year
technology skills for future Plan for change
outlook
strategy business needs
Transition
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18. Deliver your IT projects successfully by assigning
people with the right skills to them,
Some Common Resourcing Problems
• Resource limitations constrain both project selection and project delivery
• Dissatisfaction with "depth" of high quality resources
• Complex legacy environment necessitates maintenance of a wide variety of skills
• No common language to facilitate demand and supply planning
• Resourcing decisions based on “who you know” not “what you know”
• Resource requests always urgent – little opportunity to forward plan
• Cost of external resources v time to develop skills
• Projects don‟t want the overhead of developing staff
18

19. Deliver your IT projects successfully by assigning
people with the right skills to them,
Strategic Workforce
Planning Planning
Using SFIA
• Skills assessments
• Short listing suitable resources
Demand • A common language for demand & supply Workforce
Planning • Prioritizing skill requirements Preparation
• Align development of staff and track skills
development
• Improved resourcing processes
• Roles based sourcing strategy
Resource Resource
Resource
Requests Selection
Management
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20. More effective use of external resources
Resource buyers Resource providers
Use SFIA skills / levels as
Use SFIA skills / levels to
benchmark for target quality
demonstrate the quality of
cost of resources
your resources and the
value they bring
● Use skill analysis and skills prioritisation tools (link to strategic and operational plans) to
identify skill areas you need to develop in-house
● Compare cost of external resource with costs and benefits of internal resource
development
● Monitor development of these skills (this stock of skills should increase)
● Monitor use of external resources being used to supply these skills (this stock of skills
should decrease)
● Assess / audit external resource providers to ensure quality levels are being met
● Set competitive rate cards between competing resource suppliers using SFIA as
standard benchmark
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21. Retain and engage your employees by providing career paths
and development opportunities for all
Scope Using SFIA to underpin 7. set strategy, inspire, mobilise
graduated career steps and
role types. Clarify the learning,
development and experience 6. initiate, influence
Depth of Versatilist
skill Generalist required to move between
5. ensure / advise
career positions.
Source: Gartner
Research
4. enable
Specialist
3. apply
2. assist
1. follow
Performance Strategic Intent
Career
progression Workforce Workforce
Role Specialists to wider
Focus on extracting the
roles Demand Supply
value.
Pipeline Design of career paths,
• Pipeline for progression to Workforce Management
more senior roles, applying
skills to new environments
recruitment / assessment
Solid performers – the or focusing on technical
specialism. processes for career
vital many
progression and talent
1.Attract 4.Buy
Under performers management processes to
enable career paths for all - 2.Identify 5.Keep
future leaders, technical 3.Build 6.Lose
Potential to develop new skills / undertake new roles
specialists, managers,
generalists
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22. Support for process improvement frameworks
E.g. ITIL, CMMi, CobiT, People CMM Process Improvement Targets
Process
Improving capability requires a
mix of process, people and tools.
People Tools
2010 2011 2012
• Defined, repeatable processes go well with a common language for skills & skill levels.
• A big benefit of SFIA is the end to end coverage of IT & Business Change processes.
• CMMI and CobiT have specific process areas which deal with people and people performance.
• ITIL does not but does recognise the importance of developing people.
• The People CMM focuses exclusively on the development of people and the workforce.
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23. Reduce the impact of losing IT staff with key skills and
knowledge.
Vacancy Risk Transition Risk
Risk of critical positions Risk of poor assimilation of
remaining vacant IT staff
Readiness Risk Portfolio Risk
Risk of underdeveloped Risk of poor deployment of
successors IT staff against business
goals
Source: Adapted from Corporate Leadership
Council
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24. SFIA Beyond Role Profiles (Bersin)
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25. Why Are Competencies Important? (AberdeenGroup)
Internal challenges to address via assessments All Organisations
Lack of skills to meet organizational needs 30%
Excessive first year turnover among new hires 31%
Consistency in employee competence 36%
Weak or limited leadership pipeline 37%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
0%
Impact of assessments -12% Recruiting costs
in Talent Management 0% Overall turnover
-10%
Employee productivity 7%
14% Not Using Assessments
Using Assessments
Quality of hire 2%
17%
8%
Employee performance 18%
-15% -10% -5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Source: Aberdeen 2009 Study; Assessments in Talent Management
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26. SFIA Applications
Applications Value Proposition
Recruiting and Selection Match the best candidates to key positions. Reduce unsuccessful hires. Set clear
expectations for new hires
Learning and Development Define most critical areas for development. Allocate training resources based on
strategic objectives. Reduce misguided, inconsistent training
Resources Planning Staff projects, teams and organizations based on critical requirements. Reduce
mismatches, and under and over skilling
Performance Management Set clear standards of “how” work should be completed. Provide a common language
for the performance discussion. Provide foundation for productive development and
feedback through the year
Succession Planning Define expectations for progression. Prepare succession candidates for future roles.
Career Planning and Provide framework for employee-based career planning that aligns to company
Development objectives, management input and career aspirations
Organizational Design Create the best current and future job structure
Compensation Use competency ratings to inform base and variable pay decisions
Strategic Planning Define the needed skills to execute on the strategic plan
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27. Summary of Business Drivers
 What are the IT business issues we are looking to address through SFIA?
 Are there any changes to our IT strategy that would benefit from implementing SFIA?
 Are there any operational risks that would benefit from a SFIA-driven initiative?
 What are the reports or applications that we would need to derive to address these
issues?
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28. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
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29. The Role of Technology
Using SFIA with technology provides a
common platform for Talent Career &
Management initiatives in the Succession
Planning
organization:
Learning
Compensation Needs
Analysis
SFIA
Resource Risk
Planning Analysis
Recruitment
& Selection
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30. The Role of Technology
The phases, sequence and content
Define Skills
Define Role Profiles
Model Organization
Assess Skills
Validate Assessments
Set Skill Objectives
Assign Learning
Analyze Skills
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31. Employee Skill Gap Analysis
How do our team managers know which employees require the greatest
development? And which skills should they target for development?
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32. Organizational Capability Analysis
What is the capability of the
organization - the strengths
and weaknesses?
How many people have each
skill and what is their level
of mastery?
What are the areas of risk?
Which people have key skills in the
organization? How can we plan for
their potential departure?
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33. Organizational Skill Gap Analysis
What skill gaps do we have which would prevent us from meeting our business
objectives? How will these impact each function within the organization?
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34. Subject Matter Expert Identification
How can we find out who does
what in the organization so that
we can put the right people on
the right project?
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35. Candidate Analysis
How do we find out who is best suited
for each role in the organization?
Or which other roles would better suit
them?
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36. Skill-Based Learning Needs Analysis
How can we identify what our highest priority learning and development
needs are in order to run the business? What are the highest priorities?
What will it cost to deliver them?
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37. Learning Plan Analysis
How can we plan skill-based
learning activities and schedule
according to priority?
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38. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
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39. Skills Management in Practice
Some practical suggestions in summary:
• Don‟t forget the principles of Change Management
• Get an Executive sponsor and make sure they are visible
• Define success criteria - clearly link the program to your strategic /operational plans, communicate the results
• Developing skills takes time – set realistic expectations and timeframes
• Identify your stakeholders and get them „on board‟, articulate the benefits
• Make sure employees and managers know what‟s in it for them
• Engage line managers - support them with SFIA and „soft skill‟ training
• Run a „pilot‟ program, learn from it
• Leverage existing skill, role profile content, keep it simple
• Make participation a performance objective, integrate into the review process
• Create a fan base and advertise, advertise, advertise!
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40. Summary of Implementation Considerations
 Sponsor?
 Pilot group?
 Stakeholders?
 Project Manager? Business or HR?
 Point of pain? Success criteria?
 Pilot duration?
 Communications plan?
 Manager training?
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41. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q &A
41

42. What’s in it for the Organization?
Risk Management:
• Do we have the critical workforce skills to compete today and in the future?
• What knowledge, skills, and abilities are walking out the door when an employee leaves?
Succession Planning:
• What is our bench strength?
Development Planning:
• Are we expending our development resources in the right areas, in the most efficient way?
Organizational Alignment and Communication:
• How do employees know what the company expects of them?
• Are individuals‟ jobs and competencies aligned with corporate objectives, strategies, and goals with
individuals‟ jobs?
Staffing and Recruiting:
• Are we hiring in the right skills at the right levels for the right positions?
• Do we have the talent in-house?
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43. What’s in it for Managers
• Which skills do I need to be successful in my job?
• How does my job fit in with organizational strategies?
• What responsibilities do I have for?
 developing organizational capability and skills
 managing staff
 getting value from external resource
 implementing resource strategy
• How do I develop my staff? Is it consistent with what other managers are doing?
• How can we objectively discuss required job responsibilities and knowledge?
• Does my team have the right skills for the next critical project?
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44. What’s in it for Individuals?
• How does my job fit in with the organizational strategies?
• Which skills do I need to be successful in my job?
• What are my career opportunities?
• Are my skills visible to other parts of the organization?
• How can we objectively discuss required job responsibilities and knowledge?
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45. SFIA Benefits Summary
SFIA will help your organization to:
• Execute your business strategy by developing the skills that support your business
objectives
• Stay competitive by developing and retaining an appropriately skilled workforce
• Reduce your costs by identifying „real‟ training needs, reducing contractor spend and
recruitment costs
• Maximize workforce ROI by developing and utilizing employee skills effectively
• Mitigate risk by identifying skills gaps and shortages and reducing the risk of non-compliance
• Develop intellectual capital by developing the capability of the organization
• Retain and engage employees by identifying and facilitating employee development and
improving utilization
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46. Agenda
 Introduction to Salary.com
 Overview of SFIA
 Why SFIA?
 SFIA Beyond Role Profiles
 The Role of Technology
 Key Factors to Successful Implementation
 Review and Conclusions
 Q&A
46

47. Questions and Answers
 Thank you for your time
47

48. Contact Information
For further information on Salary.com‟s skills management
technology solutions contact:
Andy Andrews
andy.andrews@salary.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 540 140
http://europe.salary.com
For further information on SFIA consulting services and the
SFIA User Forum contact:
Peter Leather
peter.leather@ex-p.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1423 504453
http://ex-p.co.uk/sfia
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