The global skills and competency framework for the digital world

Help and resources page

You are in: Help and resources


The SFIA Foundation is a global not-for-profit organisation.
Our mission is to improve capability and capacity in the digital workforce globally. To do this we make our framework and supporting resources available at no cost for individuals and most employers. 



Contact the SFIA Foundation with ideas or contributions.

On this page


Quick links to other sections


New to SFIA

Just getting started? Learn about the SFIA framework , the SFIA Foundation and the SFIA community.

Browse the framework

Search or explore the SFIA skills and levels. Get the pdf and Excel versions of the framework.
🔗 Start browsing →

SFIA skills profiles

SFIA skills profiles are pre-defined mappings of SFIA skills to common industry roles and job titles.

Standard SFIA skills profiles are pre-defined mappings of SFIA skills to common industry roles and job titles. They specify which SFIA skills are typically required for recognised positions like "Software Developer" or "Data Analyst."

  • Saves significant time and effort in the initial mapping process
  • Offers tested, industry-validated skill combinations
  • Demonstrates practical application of SFIA concepts through real examples
  • Shows how skills from different SFIA categories work together in actual roles
  • Eliminates the intimidating "blank page" problem when starting with SFIA
  • Provides structure and guidance for organisations new to skills-based approaches
  • Enables rapid prototyping of skills profiles
  • Allows organisations to test concepts with minimal investment
  • Supports iterative refinement based on actual organisational needs

SFIA Users

Webinars, slides & articles describing real-world use of SFIA by employers, government bodies and academic institutions, a growing collection of resources to help employers adopt SFIA to improve and transform their skills-based workforce practices. Introductory guidance for the primary groups of SFIA users - employers, education & training providers, professional and government bodies. 

SFIA for employers

Using SFIA to increase the effectiveness of people and organisations

SFIA for professional bodies

Using SFIA to support your membership, competency framework and body of knowledge

SFIA for education and training providers

Using SFIA to guide and support your education and training products, services, and qualifications

Key themes and topics

Detailed resources and guidance for these key industry themes.

Cybersecurity Skills Framework

  • Skills-based approach for cybersecurity talent management addressing skill shortages
  • Seven levels of responsibility emphasising practical skills compared to academic knowledge
  • Covers both specialist cybersecurity roles and security elements in other roles
  • Enables comprehensive embedding of secure practices across the organization with clear skill descriptions

Cloud Skills Framework

  • Strategic skills-based approach for cloud computing transformation and migration
  • Supports both technical operations transition and cloud-native capability enhancement
  • Covers full spectrum from basic cloud tasks to strategic leadership
  • Broad-based framework addressing technical, business, and security disciplines rather than just vendor certifications

AI Skills Framework

  • Flexible framework describing professional AI capabilities without prescribing specific technologies
  • Focuses on enduring professional skills adaptable to any AI platform or tool
  • Integrates AI skills within established seven-level framework avoiding artificial boundaries
  • Provides structured content to mitigate AI risks in people and skills management while supporting workforce mobility

Knowledge

Knowledge is a critical component of competence. The design of the SFIA framework emphasises that knowledge is required to demonstrate any skill effectively. 

How the SFIA framework defines knowledge, skills and competency.

  • Knowledge describes facts and information typically acquired through experience or education. An individual can acquire knowledge without applying that knowledge.
  • Skill is applying knowledge and developing proficiency – which could be done in a controlled environment such as an educational institution through, for example, simulation or substantial project work.
  • Competency is applying the necessary knowledge and skill in a real-world environment with full professional responsibility and accountability for one's own actions. Experience in a professional working environment represents the difference between demonstrated skill and demonstrated competency.

Knowledge, skill and competency

Bodies of knowledge

Explore SFIA's knowledge component and links to industry 'bodies of knowledge'


Framework mappings

Framework mappings create alignments between SFIA's skills and competency framework and other industry standards.

Framework mappings create alignments between SFIA's skills and competency framework and other industry standards, which are primarily process, methodology, or governance frameworks. These mappings identify which SFIA skills are needed to successfully execute and operate within these other frameworks.

The key benefits include enabling organisations to conduct skills gap analysis when implementing industry standards, designing appropriate roles with defined skill and competency requirements, developing targeted training programs, and making more precise recruitment decisions. Rather than vague framework "knowledge" requirements, organisations can specify exact SFIA skills and levels needed.

This approach can transform implementation of these frameworks from a purely process-focused exercise into a people-capability strategy, ensuring organisations have the right mix of skills to successfully adopt, implement, and sustain various industry standards while maintaining consistency in how they define and develop professional capabilities.

SFIA Views

The SFIA views help users identify the SFIA skills which are most relevant to specific professional disciplines, industry topics and complementary frameworks.

What are SFIA Views?


SFIA views are different perspectives on the SFIA framework that present skills grouped and filtered according to specific professional disciplines, industry topics, and complementary frameworks, rather than the category-based navigation.

Quick-start approach

  • SFIA contains 140+ skills across multiple categories, which can be daunting for newcomers
  • Rapid orientation: Provides immediate focus on relevant skills for specific professional areas without having to navigate the entire framework
  • Reduced learning curve: Eliminates the need to understand all of SFIA before finding applicable skills

Address real-world working patterns

Cross-category skills: Recognises that real roles span multiple SFIA categories and subcategories
Practical groupings: Skills are grouped by how they're actually used together in professional practice
Industry-relevant clustering: Reflects how skills combine in specific industry contexts

SFIA views serve as entry point to the framework - they help users:

  • Start with a manageable subset of skills
  • Understand how SFIA applies to their specific context
  • Build confidence before exploring the full framework
  • Create role profiles more efficiently

SFIA Views

  • Digital Transformation skills
  • Agile skills
  • DevOps practices
  • Data Science, Data Engineering & Analytics
  • Information and Cyber Security
  • Enterprise IT core functions

SFIA assessments

The industry has always needed effective ways of assessing and diagnosing professional skills and competencies. Since its launch, SFIA has been used extensively and successfully for this purpose.

SFIA assessments

SFIA assessments - detailed guidance

  • A self-assessment – assessing your own skills and competencies
  • An independent/objective assessment – assessing someone else’s skills and competencies.
  • A certified assessment – a formal assessment of an individual’s skills and competencies.

SFIA Assessment and Digital Badges

The SFIA Foundation runs a number of digital badging schemes. These schemes enable the SFIA Foundation or its partner organisations to issue badges for particular achievements.

Knowledge

  • An individual should provide sufficient evidence that they possess the relevant knowledge appropriate to a particular SFIA element. 

Skill

  • An individual should provide sufficient evidence that they have applied the relevant knowledge and performed the activity at the performance level of “proficient in the skill” i.e. they can do what SFIA describes on their own without instruction, possibly in a controlled environment.

Competency

  • An individual should provide sufficient evidence that they have applied the relevant knowledge and skills, and have significant professional experience of performing the activities described by SFIA in a professional working environment through the performance of a role, job or function. They must consistently achieve expected objectives and a successful outcome on an ongoing basis, reliably as a professional level.

Help from commercial providers of SFIA products and services

Help in using SFIA is available from the SFIA Foundation, SFIA Partners or SFIA Specialists.

SFIA Partners and SFIA Specialists

Licensed organisations or individuals with practical SFIA experience who provide support, expertise and mapping.

This comprehensive commercial ecosystem ensures organisations can access professional support, tools, and expertise to successfully implement and leverage SFIA for their skills management objectives.


Accreditation of SFIA practitioners and consultants

  • The SFIA Accreditation Scheme provides confidence that accredited individuals or organisations have been rigorously and independently assessed against defined criteria.
  • It confirms they have demonstrated capability and hold appropriate licences to use the SFIA Framework.

Grow your business as a SFIA partner

All commercial products and services using SFIA must operate under proper SFIA Partner Licenses, ensuring quality standards and framework integrity. Partners can be licensed for single countries or globally, providing flexibility for organisations with varying geographical needs.

Partnership with the SFIA Foundation represents an opportunity for organisations offering products and services relevant to the management of digital and IT capability to gain business leverage from this popular framework.

SFIA Specialists

Consultants

  • lead people/skills management programmes or initiatives within an organisation. 
  • likely to be operating with and influencing 'C-Level' executives and senior managers with regards to the adoption and exploitation of SFIA for significant business benefit.

Practitioners

  • support and guide the adoption and use of SFIA or work on operational people /skills management activities using SFIA.
  • may work under the guidance of a SFIA Accredited Consultant or
  • work independently where SFIA related mechanisms are already in place or have a limited scope.

Assessors

  • assessing the skills and competencies of individuals using the SFIA Framework under a SFIA approved assessment scheme.
  • Note: An assessor is only an accredited assessor when they are operating under a SFIA Foundation approved assessment scheme and a digital credential is issued by that scheme.
SFIA Partners

Consulting services

  • Human capital and skills management consulting using SFIA
  • Strategic guidance for skills frameworks implementation
  • Support for organisational adoption and exploitation of SFIA

Software products and tools

  • Licensed software applications that support SFIA adoption
  • Skills management process automation tools
  • Systems that integrate SFIA framework capabilities

Training and education

  • SFIA Foundation accredited training courses
  • Instructor-led framework training programs
  • Specialist courses for different organisational needs

Approved Assessment services

  • SFIA Approved Assessment Partners operate Foundation-approved assessment schemes, enabling organisations to formally evaluate and credential their workforce's skills and competencies.
SFIA Partners

Mapping services

  • Organisations who have mapped training, qualifications, certifications to show their relation to SFIA skills.  

Rate card services

  • Organisations using a SFIA based rate card licence for the supply or hire of personnel, or resource-based services.