Summary of changes
SFIA categories and subcategories
The skills are presented for convenience in categories that 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).
| Categories in SFIA v3 | Categories in SFIA v4 |
|---|---|
| Strategy and planning | Strategy and architecture |
| Development | Business change* |
| Business change | Solution development and implementation |
| Service provision | Service management (in line with ITIL) |
| Procurement and management support |
Procurement and management support |
| Ancillary skills | replaced with Client interface |
* 'Business change' now appears before 'Solution development and implementation' because some of the activities in 'Business change' are precursors to the technical development activity.
Summary notes about subcategories
| Information strategy | Expanded with the addition of new skills |
|---|---|
| Business/information systems strategy and planning | Renamed Business/IT strategy and planning in line with SFIA policy of using 'IT' as the generic description of the field |
| New subcategory | Business change implementation introduced within the Business change category |
| Service management category | Now contains subcategories in line with ITIL v3 terminology; skills have been rearranged accordingly |
| Quality | Renamed Quality management |
| Education and training | Moved into Procurement and management support category and renamed Learning and development |
SFIA levels
The seven levels remain as before, though the wording of their generic definitions has been improved in a few places.
New skills
In Information strategy
Corporate governance of IT (GOVN 6-7)
Information analysis (INAN 4-6)
Information policy formation (DPRO 5-6) replaces Data protection (DPRO) which was in Service provision
In Business change
Portfolio management (POMG 5-7)
Business modelling (BSMO 2-6)
In Solution development and implementation
Requirements definition and management (REQM 2-6)
In Service management
IT management (ITMG 5-7), derived from the top three levels of Management and Operations
Release management (RELM 3-6)
In Procurement and management support
Technology audit, based on the top levels of the former Compliance audit (TAUD 4-7)