Skills in categories and subcategories

One axis presents the whole set of SFIA skills. These are defined in a way that makes them easily recognisable in the workplace: the practical nature of the descriptions means that they can effectively be used to construct an organisation's internal competency framework.

The skills are presented for convenience in categories which are further broken down into subcategories.

The categories and subcategories are purely for the convenience of the SFIA user: they form a navigation aid. For example, SFIA does not claim to be offering a standard definition of the term 'Business change', nor is it suggesting that this should be the title of a business role or job. It is simply a convenient heading under which to group certain related skills (Business analysis, Benefits management etc).

Levels in SFIA

The other axis defines the different levels of responsibility and accountability exercised by IT practitioners. Each of seven generic levels - from new entrant to strategist level - is defined in terms of autonomy, influence, complexity and business skills.

The full definitions of the levels of responsibility are in the Levels of responsibility section.

Skills are described at several levels

The resulting matrix shows the complete set of skills used by IT practitioners. SFIA provides an overall description for each skill, supported by a description of how the skill appears at each level of competency at which it is recognised. A skill does not normally appear at all seven levels.