SFIAplus is the IT training and development model of the British Computer Society (BCS).SFIAPlus, on the BCS website Based on the original Industry Structure Model, first published by the BCS in July 1986, which was remapped to the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and rebranded as SFIAPlus.SFIA forms the basis of BCS product SFIAplus with extra detail previously held in the Industry Structure Model
Background
Responding to the wide recognition of the importance of an externally accredited professional development scheme,Firms failing to formalise development for IT professionals, article from The Training Foundation the BCS consulted with hundreds of contributorsUpdated skills framework brings professionalism a step nearer, article from Computer Weekly developing SFIAPlus to enable individuals and organisations to: Understand the broad range of ICT practitioner roles and activities Research the experience, training and development required in those roles Benchmark IT skills against the framework Describe IT skills in a common language and a logical structureOxford University ICT Forum
SFIAPlus is used by a large number of organisations, including many major companies, to apply quality control to the practical experience and training of ICT practitioners,Unilever uses SFIAplus to get more from its IT skills, article in Computer Weekly and is widely used outside the UK, forming the basis of the European Informatics Skills Structure used throughout Europe.ICT Professionalism Developments, paper based on presentation to the Education, Training and Life Long Learning conference September 2007
SFIAPlus tools
While the first version in 1986 (of the Industry Structure Model) was produced as a paper publication, the complexity in SFIAPlus mean that it is best accessed using a software interface (BCS describe it as three-dimensional as compared to the SFIA two-dimensional model).
SFIAPlus can be browsed to access the full range of ICT competencies and tasks, and there are a number of additional tools:
BCS Career Builder Individual tool for self-planning for career and professional developmentContinuing Professional Development, article from Inside Careers - Specialists in Graduate Careers
IT Job Describer Corporate tool for generating job descriptions using the SFIAPlus modelBCS brings standardising tool for IT employers, article from Tech World
Skills Manager Corporate tool for managing skills within an organisation against the SFIAPlus modelBoost to IT professionalism with BCS Skills Manager tool, article from Public Technology
Career Developer Corporate tool for planning the development of IT competencies against the SFIAPlus modelNo need to firefight on skills, article from Computer Weekly
Structure
While SFIA maps IT competencies in two dimensions (skill categories and seniority) and briefly describes the 263 tasks expected of a role in each of the 78 categories at the relevant level of seniority; SFIAPlus extends this with additional categories, making 86 specific skills and 290 tasks; adding a more thorough overview of each competency (with eight skill resources); and providing significant detail behind each task description (six task components).
Task descriptions in SFIAPlus are supplemented by: Background Work activities Knowledge and skills Training activities Professional development activities Qualifications
References
External links SFIAPlus, on the BCS website