Skills framework for the information age (SFIA)
Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) is a global standard for describing the skills and competencies required by professionals in information and communication technologies (ICT), software engineering, and digital transformation roles. It can be used by individuals, managers, human resource professionals, capability development specialists and workforce planners.
Using SFIA to improve your team and hiring practices
SFIA provides a common reference point for you to manage your ICT workforce which:
- provides a framework consisting of a standard of professional skills
- describes the professional skills at various levels of competency
- describes the levels of responsibility, in terms of generic attributes of autonomy, influence complexity, knowledge and business skills
- is updated frequently to remain relevant and align with the needs of industry, business, and current thinking.
The framework, resources and tools can also help you:
- acquire the right talent by providing detailed role descriptions of specific skills and the skill level needed to do a role, helping you create more targeted ICT role profiles.
- uncover skills gaps and subject matter experts in your team to make it easier to deploy staff into areas of need, i.e., deploying employees to assist with community recovery
- assess and analyse your talent using a skills audit for both the individual and business unit which can help you plan for the needs of your future workforce
- develop your workforce by defining career paths and assisting with learning and development strategies
- guide you on how to track an employee’s professional development so they can be offered secondments and opportunities to act in roles at a higher level.
For example, you could use SFIA to assess the skills your team has in house to better design a workforce talent strategy to take advantage of those skills and what roles you should hire for to fill identified skill gaps.
See a listing of SFIA role profiles to help understand how various ICT roles function within an organisation and read more about the range of ways you can apply SFIA in your agency.
Using SFIA within the Queensland Public Sector
The public sector’s digital and ICT workforce is a broad and talented group that provide a range of transformational and business as usual services to support government priorities. By aligning to the SFIA framework, the sector adopts a common language to describe roles and skills which supports improved strategic workforce planning and targeted workforce initiatives including the development of career pathways and supporting mobility across the sector.
Mapping SFIA skills to public sector levels
SFIA does not replace the JEMS process for classifying roles. It complements that process. As per SFIA, classifications within the public service award have an indicative level of competence.
The following model can be used as a guide on how to map the levels in SFIA to Queensland public sector levels. This model applies to roles in the following areas of expertise:
- Technology and application building
- Technology services
- Enterprise implementation
- Enterprise governance.
| SFIA Classification | Public service award equivalent |
|---|---|
| SFIA Foundation level | |
| SFIA 1: Follow | AO3: L1 |
| SFIA 2: Assist | AO4, PO, and TO2:L2 |
| SFIA Practitioner level | |
| SFIA 3: Apply | AO5, PO3, and TO3: L3 and L4 |
| SFIA 4: Enable | AO6, PO4, and TO4: L4 and L5 |
| SFIA 5: Ensure, advise | AO7: L5 |
| SFIA Higher level | |
| SFIA 6: Initiate, influence | AO8: L5 and L6 |
| SFAI 7: Set, strategy, inspire, mobilise | SO2: L6 and L7 (majority L6) |
| SO1: L7 and L6 (majority L7) | |
| SES: L7 | |
Accessing SFIA tools and resources
Access the framework and additional tools at https://sfia-online.org/en.
You should register as a user to ensure access to all the information and resources.
Licencing agreement
Queensland Government agencies are licenced to access the global standard for digital and ICT skills for free within Australia through the Australian Government multi-year, whole of country licence.
Ensure you acknowledge SFIA within any products and services you develop by either using hyperlinked text (e.g. Powered by SFIA-AU) or by using one of the SFIA logos.
If your product does not support hyperlinks, use the following text:
This publication contains information from the Skills Framework for the Information Age used with permission from the SFIA Foundation.
Visit the Australian Government’s Digital profession page on SFIA for more details on the terms of use, including terms and conditions and downloadable SFIA logos.