European e-Competence Framework

The European Union issued the "European e-Competence Framework" (version 2.0) in November 2010. The e-CF lists 36 ICT competences for ICT practitioners. This is similar to Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and the UK Government Knowledge and Information Management Professional Skills Framework (GKIMPS) but intended for international use. However, unlike SFIA which has been actively used and updated, the eCF seems to have been developed and then forgotten.

e-CF has five proficiency levels, spanning European Qualifications Framework (EQF) levels 3 to 8. The top level in this scale is a doctorate/PHD. In comparison, SFIA has seven (GKIMPS has four). e-CF has 32 competences in five areas, whereas SFIA 96 skills in six categories.

The eCF has four "dimensions", described in "European e-Competence Framework 2.0":

1. 5 e-Competence areas, derived from the ICT business processes PLAN – BUILD – RUN – ENABLE – MANAGE
2. A set of reference e-Competences for each area, with a generic description for each competence. 32 competences identified in total provide the European generic reference definitions of the e-CF 2.0.
3. Proficiency levels of each e-Competence provide European reference level specifications on e-Competence levels e-1 to e-5, which are related to the EQF levels 3 to 8.
4. Samples of knowledge and skills relate to e-Competences in dimension 2. They are provided to add value and context and are not intended to be exhaustive.

The 32 competences look very similar to SFIA:

A. PLAN

A.1. IS and Business Strategy Alignment
A.2. Service Level Management
A.3. Business Plan Development
A.4. Product or Project Planning
A.5. Design Architecture
A.6. Application Design
A.7. Technology Watching
A.8. Sustainable Development

B. BUILD

B.1. Design and Development
B.2. Systems Integration
B.3. Testing
B.4. Solution Deployment
B.5. Documentation Production

C. RUN

C.1. User Support
C.2. Change Support
C.3. Service Delivery
C.4. Problem Management

D. ENABLE

D.1. Information Security Strategy Development
D.2. ICT Quality Strategy Development
D.3. Education and Training Provision
D.4. Purchasing
D.5. Sales Proposal Development
D.6. Channel Management
D.7. Sales Management
D.8. Contract Management
D.9. Personnel Development
D.10. Information and Knowledge Management

E. MANAGE

E.1. Forecast Development
E.2. Project and Portfolio Management
E.3. Risk Management
E.4. Relationship Management
E.5. Process Improvement
E.6. ICT Quality Management
E.7. Business Change Management
E.8. Information Security Management
E.9. IT Governance