Survey of Certification Schemes for IT Professionals

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

LEONARDO DA VINCI Community Vocational Training Action Programme Second phase: 2000-2006

HARMONISE EUR/04/C/F/RF–84802 www.cepis-harmonise.org

Survey of Certification Schemes for IT Professionals across Europe towards Harmonisation Final Report Version 1.1

Contents 0.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 4

1.

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 12 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

2.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY............................................................................... 20 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

3.

INTRODUCTION – VALUE OF CERTIFICATION .................................................................... 27 THE ICT PROFESSIONAL LABOUR MARKET IN EUROPE ..................................................... 28 SOURCES OF SUPPLY ................................................................................................... 33 DEFINING THE ICT PROFESSIONAL MARKET .................................................................... 34 MEASURING THE ICT PROFESSIONAL MARKET ................................................................ 35 DEVELOPMENT OF DEMAND OVER RECENT YEARS............................................................ 36 RESPONSE OF THE SUPPLY CHANNELS........................................................................... 37 THE NATURE OF SHORTAGES......................................................................................... 38 FORECASTING FUTURE DEMAND ..................................................................................... 39 DETERMINANTS OF FORTHCOMING DEMAND .................................................................... 42 RECRUITMENT BEHAVIOUR OF EMPLOYERS ..................................................................... 45 CONCLUSIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS .......................... 46

THE SYSTEM OF ICT SKILLS CERTIFICATION .............................................................. 48 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11

5.

AIMS OF THE PROJECT.................................................................................................. 20 STARTING POINT .......................................................................................................... 21 THE FOUR THEMES ...................................................................................................... 22 ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS ............................................................................................ 25

ICT PROFESSIONAL LABOUR MARKET ........................................................................ 27 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12

4.

BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................. 12 APPROACH .................................................................................................................. 12 ICT CERTIFICATIONS AND IT PROFESSIONALISM .............................................................. 13 ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF ICT PROFESSIONAL SKILLS ................................................ 14 KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY AND INFORMATION SOCIETY ....................................................... 16 THE CERTIFICATION JUNGLE ......................................................................................... 17

RELEVANCE AND VALUE OF ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS ..................................... 49 ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS STRIVING FOR BROADER RECOGNITION .................... 51 BRIEF GLIMPSE AT THE ICT CERTIFICATION MARKET ....................................................... 52 ANALYSIS OF ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS .......................................................... 55 COMPONENTS OF ICT CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS.............................................................. 56 ARCHITECTURE OF ICT CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS ............................................................ 58 DEFINITION .................................................................................................................. 63 INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PATHS AND TRAINING PROCESS .................................................... 67 TAXONOMY .................................................................................................................. 73 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR ICT PROFESSIONALISM ................................................. 75 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 78

THE MARKET OF ICT SKILLS CERTIFICATION ............................................................. 81 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

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INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 81 ANALYSING THE MARKET USING THE 6 “O” METHODOLOGY ............................................... 88 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REAL ICT CERTIFICATION MARKET .................................... 94 CONSIDERATIONS ON LOCALISATION AND SOME OTHER PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS ........... 97 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CERTIFICATION MARKET ..................................................... 100 THE FUTURE OF THE ICT CERTIFICATION MARKET ......................................................... 105

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5.7 6.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................... 109

ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION QUALITY STANDARDS ................................... 112 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 112 QUALITY ASSURANCE, MEASUREMENT AND FRAMEWORK ................................................ 114 QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR VENDOR-SPECIFIC CERTIFICATION ......................................... 124 QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR VENDOR-INDEPENDENT AND VENDOR-NEUTRAL CERTIFICATIONS 131 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE HARMONISATION OF ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS .... 137

6.5 7.

SYNTHESIS OF FINDINGS ............................................................................................. 142 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4

KEY FINDINGS............................................................................................................ 142 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES .............................................................................. 151 PROPOSED ROADMAP TOWARDS HARMONISATION ......................................................... 162 EUCIP BUSINESS CASE ............................................................................................. 170

8.

RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................... 180

9.

CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK ................................................................................... 188

10.

GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................ 194

11.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 203

12.

ANNEX ........................................................................................................................ 214

12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ 214 RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................. 216 HARMONISE SURVEY METHODOLOGY INFORMATION ...................................................... 235 SURVEY OF CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS FOR ICT PROFESSIONALS IN EUROPE .................... 238 HARMONISE RECRUITMENT SURVEY............................................................................. 253 OVERVIEW REFERENCE MATERIAL ............................................................................... 261 LIST OF ICT CERTIFICATIONS ...................................................................................... 261 PROJECT W EBSITE ..................................................................................................... 262 W IKI ......................................................................................................................... 266 HARMONISE KNOWLEDGE BASE ............................................................................... 268 MARKET ANALYSIS ................................................................................................. 273 QUALITY STANDARDS ............................................................................................. 293 EUCIP PROFESSIONAL PROFILES ............................................................................ 307

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0. Executive Summary CEPIS (The Council of European Professional Informatics Societies) is a non-profit organisation that seeks to improve and promote high standards among informatics professionals. CEPIS represents 37 member societies in 33 countries across Europe.1 In recognition of the impact of informatics on employment, business and society, CEPIS is currently focusing on three key areas: Skills, Professionalism, and Education & Research. The Harmonise project, which is the subject of this report, forms the background for this work. The Project’s Scope and Objectives The purpose of the Harmonise project was to review the existing qualification and certification schemes for ICT2 professionals in Europe, and to clarify the underlying schemes, profiles, terminology and curricula. This report presents the results of the survey and summarises the main findings of the analysis. The project took an in-depth look at vocational ICT qualifications in Europe, with the aim of establishing a common basis for assessing and comparing the ICT professional qualifications offered in each country. The project started by gathering information on the current situation, and then examined the need for harmonisation and the feasibility of achieving it. It proposes a number of concrete measures designed to achieve convergence between the existing approaches to ICT skills certification in the different countries. It also recommends ways in which the differences between the approaches in different countries and institutions might be made more transparent, with obvious benefits for users and employers. The project concentrated on certification arrangements and related training offerings, and on career development services offered to ICT professionals in Europe and beyond. This report analyses four thematic areas: •

ICT Professional Labour Market (Section 3)

•

ICT Skills Certification System (Section 4)

•

ICT Skills Certification Market (Section 5)

•

ICT Professional Certification Quality (Section 6)

An overview of the key findings is presented in Section Figure 7-33 section 7.14. The Harmonise Reference Material website is http://www.cepisharmonise.org/harmonise/php/index.php

1 2 3 4

Further information available on http://www.cepis.org Information and Communication Technology. See page 150. See pp. 142.

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The Harmonise Project Consortium The Harmonise project was carried out by a consortium of nine partners led by CEPIS, and including CEPIS member societies from Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and the United Kingdom, as well as the ECDL Foundation5 and partners from education and research.6 T The Harmonise project is one of many activities that CEPIS conducts in the area of professional skills. For example, in its recently completed eSkills Foresight Scenarios for the ICT Industry7, CEPIS took an in-depth look at the core issues affecting the supply of and demand for IT practitioners and professionals. In that study, CEPIS predicted a significant shortfall in the supply of IT graduates over the coming years. ICT Professional Certification Since the 1990s, ICT certification has become an integral part of the education and training landscape. In the broadest sense, certification involves formally assessing that the candidate’s knowledge and/or skills in relation to a subject are in conformance with a predetermined standard. In a narrower sense, it is the end point of a learning process with an accreditation system that formally validates the candidate’s ability to perform a set of activities in the workplace to the required standards. ICT professional certifications are driven mainly by the major ICT vendors, who use them as an important method of maintaining market share and customer support. The most popular of them are product-focused and driven by marketing and business interests. It is difficult to provide an objective assessment of the value and quality of these certification schemes, as their operation lacks transparency. Similarly, it is difficult to obtain reliable estimates of the number of individuals certified: our estimate, based on data gathered from twelve leading vendors, is that some 7.2 million professional certifications have been issued since the 1990s. While the growth of ICT-vendor-specific certification appears to be slowing, vendorindependent offerings are still at the beginning phase of their lifecycle. There is also an observable shift toward profile-based certification. These developments are driven mainly by vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certification providers. Need for Harmonisation The continued development of the ICT industry – and ultimately the success of the economy as a whole – depends on the availability of sufficient numbers of qualified people with the required skills and competences. The annual cost of software failures in Europe is estimated at almost €100 billion. Adequate training of staff would result in improved project success rates and better 5

European Computer Driving Licence Foundation See Appendix N for list of consortium members. 7 Report to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise & Industry 6

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innovation capability. Thus, ensuring that ICT practitioners are able to perform to professional standards is a matter of vital importance for the economy and for society. Our survey revealed 62 certification suppliers, delivering 617 types of certification. This proliferation is an obstacle to the achievement of global standards for the ICT profession. It also hampers the development of ICT as a professional discipline, and makes it less likely that employers will recognise ICT as a serious profession adhering to higher principles and clearly defined, international standards. Our research suggests that employers do not place much value on ICT professional certification. This deserves further examination, as it strongly influences the demand by ICT practitioners for training and certification. We believe that certification should not itself be a priority, but that the obvious need is to establish ICT professionalism and international professional standards. The value of certification varies greatly, and is determined to a significant degree by the ICT labour market. As a result, all stakeholders share a common interest in exercising more control over future developments and in forecasting market demand and supply more accurately. Defining Harmonisation If ICT professional certification schemes are successfully harmonised, the certifications will be more widely recognised, employers and job-seekers will be more aware of them and their value, and it will be clear to all stakeholders what they are and what they mean. This would be of considerable value in establishing ICT as a professional discipline. In this project, harmonisation was defined in those terms: the achievement of broader recognition and transparency of ICT professional certification, higher awareness of what is available in the market, and the promotion of the benefits arising from a consistent, international ICT profession, based on clearly defined standards. The project also sought to agree the scope of the harmonisation process and the principles that should guide it. The aim was to create an indepth understanding of the size and the nature of the IT Professional certification market and to arrive at (voluntary) certification guidelines and processes, based on common understanding and agreed definitions and requirements. This would provide a consistent base for dealing with more complex issues and problems in subsequent stages of the harmonisation process. From the start, the project was aware that it had set itself an ambitious and challenging task. A number of pivotal questions were explored with experts and the wider community: •

What are the specific complexities of the ICT certification market?

•

How do we expect this market to evolve and change?

•

What do we need to do to harmonise this market?

ICT professional certification is part of a broader issue Certification of ICT professionals has to be seen as part of a broader issue, namely the establishment of recognised standards for the international ICT profession. Concentrating on certification as an end in itself would fail to deliver sustainable results.

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The goal of ICT professionalism is far more important, and should drive the harmonisation process. Comprehensive knowledge base One obvious obstacle to the achievement of harmonisation in the area of ICT professional certification is the limited knowledge of how these systems operate, what they offer, and what they actually deliver. The report provides answers to these questions, explaining the wider context of ICT professional certification and the major factors influencing its future development. The report also clarifies the origin of these systems, how they are built, and how they operate. The Harmonise project has assembled a comprehensive knowledge base that can help stakeholders, employers and individuals to better understand what is currently available. It has prepared a number of options for achieving greater transparency within the EU, and analysed the feasibility of establishing a widely accepted common European approach to qualification and certification of ICT professionals. The project web site (www.cepis-harmonise.org) includes information on existing ICT professional certification schemes, and links to important stakeholders and leading initiatives and expert communities in the area. The challenge now is to validate the feasibility of the proposed harmonisation approach, and to transform the project’s results and theoretical knowledge into action. The knowledge base provides a detailed picture of the ICT certification landscape. Decision makers and stakeholders will need these details to arrive at the concrete measures and solutions needed in the years ahead. Success Stories and Experiences from the ECDL The project drew heavily on the knowledge, background and insights of the ECDL Foundation, which was able to contribute its considerable experience of promoting and operating a successful certification business, with its unique partner network of learning providers and test centers. Besides its end-user ECDL certification, the ECDL Foundation is currently deploying a certification programme called EUCIP (European Certification of Informatics Professionals). EUCIP complements the ECDL offering by providing a development path towards ICT professionalism. However, the end-user certification market is quite different from the market for certification of ICT professionals – it is a high volume business, less specialised and less fragmented. The ECDL is pre-eminent in its field, with 7 million candidates registered in 146 countries, and now becoming accepted worldwide as the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL). It is a single, clearly focused qualification, valued by employees and employers alike, with strong marketing, quality assurance, and ongoing development. The Harmonise project considered the opportunities and challenges in emulating this success in the professional field. The project became convinced that there is a market need for a certification programme that is: •

Generic in scope, covering the main ICT job roles;

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•

Supported by all stakeholders, especially vendors and education/training providers;

•

Attractive to employers and employees alike;

•

Available Europe wide, at affordable prices;

•

Quality assured throughout; and

•

Consistent with the European Qualifications Framework and the emerging European e-Competence Framework.

The project results were checked by reference to EUCIP. The EUCIP qualification enables ICT professionals to document their competencies and skill-sets for employers or prospective employers and so increase their market value. EUCIP is owned and managed by the ECDL Foundation, supported by CEPIS and the professional ICT organisations across Europe. European Certification of Informatics Professionals (EUCIP) EUCIP is a relatively new programme developed by CEPIS in the last 4 years. The EUCIP Core level certification has been offered to date by the ECDL Licensees in Italy, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Greece and Estonia, and is now ready to be promoted and supported in other countries. The complete set of 21 EUCIP Professional Profiles was formally launched in March 2007, and EUCIP now certifies several levels of ICT professionals: •

EUCIP Core;

•

EUCIP Professional (21 EUCIP Professional Profiles); and

•

EUCIP IT Administrator.

The EUCIP programme was developed in cooperation with the major companies in the ICT sector, but CEPIS – a non-profit organization – guarantees its total independence from those commercial interests and influences. Towards harmonisation The Harmonise project sets out a roadmap for harmonising ICT professional certification, along with concrete recommendations for action. It draws on the EUCIP experience to suggest a path towards how IT Professional Certification harmonisation can be implemented. The proposed harmonisation approach is built on ICT professionalism, a multistakeholder approach, quality standards, and visibility. It attempted to address the following key questions: Why harmonisation? For whom? and How? The proposed approach is market-driven; we do not recommend a top-down regulatory approach to the existing market for ICT certification. Round Table Harmonisation activities need to be carefully planned, and must involve all stakeholders. The successful implementation of quality standards will require commitment from all

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involved and affected parties, and in particular from professional associations, industry, and educational institutions. The various stakeholders should meet regularly in a round table setting that facilitates the formation of partnerships and the exchange of information and knowledge. We recommend that such a round table be established without delay. All stakeholders should be invited to join. The Harmonise project has produced a comprehensive knowledge base that would provide this round table with a useful foundation for its work, including definitions, requirements and objectives. The harmonisation process will depend on multi-stakeholder partnerships, in which the business sector complements, supplements and extends the resources of the public sector. Harmonisation is a complex matter that demands the involvement and commitment of a variety of actors, each of whom may have different interests. Certification and training occupy separate domains. Industry stakeholders, such as e-SCC (the e-Skills Competences Consortium), complain that there is an observable disconnect between public education and the training needs of industry; they demand measures to build bridges between industry and education to avoid the creation of a ‘parallel universe’. The round table itself would agree the scope of harmonisation and the principles underpinning it, and aim to assemble an agreed body of knowledge and to arrive at global certification standards and processes. ICT professionalism – the wider context Harmonisation of ICT professional certification must be seen in the broader context of ICT professionalism. The ICT professional associations play a pivotal role in setting, developing and promoting standards in ICT certification – their desire to develop ICT as a professional discipline is the single most important driver of harmonisation. Participation by the ICT professional associations in the harmonisation endeavour will ensure that it is effective – the members of these associations are the potential users and beneficiaries of the standards that will emerge from the process. It is important, therefore, that ICT professionalism be seen as the foundation of the harmonisation effort, and that broadly recognised professional standards be seen as an essential requirement for professionalism. ICT professionalism also requires a shared body of knowledge, and establishing such a body of knowledge requires the broad support of all stakeholders. The multi-stakeholder approach that we recommend will help in this development. Umbrella approach A sustainable solution to the harmonisation of ICT professional certification must be based on an umbrella approach that allows different certification systems to co-exist and to be cross-referenced in a reference framework. As the certification market is led by the major ICT vendors, the harmonisation effort must establish goals that are acceptable to these stakeholders and enable them to benefit from the emerging standards, and to invest in them. In summary, an international profession requires three major elements:

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•

a common language for describing professional skills and competences;

•

a standard means of measurement for professional skills and competences; and

•

a mechanism for independent recognition and quality assurance of those professional skills and competences.

ICT professional certification will contribute to these developments, and should be seen as an essential element in the establishment of ICT internationally as a professional discipline. Quality standards The project team discovered that Quality standards and accreditation are among the most important aspects of a harmonised European approach to certification. The harmonisation process should review existing quality approaches, and record their scope and objectives, and how they are applied. Normative documents should be collected and aggregated into a comprehensive knowledge base that categorises and aligns the available information in the different areas of activity. To meet the needs of ICT professionalism and the standards required by the business community, continuous professional development must be facilitated. Individuals must be able to combine certifications from different suppliers, and to complement existing qualifications with new ones. This will work only if quality assurance processes are transparent. Today, different ICT certification schemes emphasise quality assurance in different ways. Harmonisation needs to address quality at three levels: •

organisational;

•

awarding body; and

•

training delivery.

The harmonisation process should examine these three levels as a priority, and adopt agreed quality approaches in the field of education and training. Transparency and visibility As the market for training becomes more learner-centred, with the requirement for more varied and flexible learning opportunities, the contents of certification programmes must be made more transparent. Industry stakeholders endorse a coherent system in which public qualifications and vendor certifications are mutually recognised, and which supports individual professional development. An important step in this direction is the forthcoming European e-Competence Framework, currently under development by the CEN/ISSS Workshop in ICT Skills. The ability to combine learning content, modules and examinations according to the individual’s preferences demands a common language, coherence and alignment of standards (such as the award of credits for learning time), and the opening up of systems to make them more transparent and their content more visible to learners and courseware developers. Individuals should be able to acquire relevant competences,

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knowledge and skills in whatever way suits them best, and to have them certified independent of how they were acquired. Customers such as public organisations are increasingly interested in vendorindependent certification, as long as the products combine vendor-specific content with vendor-neutral content and, increasingly, business and soft skills. Emerging European Frameworks The emergence of European frameworks such as the EQF (European Qualifications Framework) and ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) means that the harmonised certification system should be aligned with these frameworks. Continuous professional development of ICT professionals in a harmonised system will require common agreed reference points, a system for awarding credits for learning modules and achievements, and agreed accreditation procedures with strict objectivity and broadly recognised quality standards. To integrate different programmes from different providers, there is a need for agreed principles, concepts, tools and methodologies. Harmonisation will depend on establishing an agreed framework for recognising, integrating and combining content from different certification providers. Network of Interest The Harmonise project has succeeded in establishing a network of interest and links with the major ICT vendors. This has already raised awareness among stakeholders and promoted the need for harmonisation of ICT professional certification. The project established links to other projects and existing European groups working in related areas that had the potential to support the work of the project. It participated actively in a number of European working groups, such as the CEN/ISSS Workshop on ICT-Skills, and the European e-Skills Forum and its current follow-up activities, as well as liaising with the e-Skills Competence Consortium. The aim was to influence ongoing developments, to inform stakeholders and the expert community about the project and its potential outcome, and to acquire inputs needed for the performance of the project’s tasks. This network of interest will be used to sustain the work of the project and to implement the required changes in the area of ICT professional certification. Quality Management Board and Working Group The Harmonise working group, which includes invited field experts with the necessary experience and background, reviewed and analysed the studies of the four specific areas continuously as they developed. In addition, the project was monitored and supported by a quality management board, also consisting of field experts with the required professional background. The project management board reviewed internal and external documents at regular intervals, as well as all deliverables produced by the project according to the project plan.

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1. Introduction 1.1 Background To develop professionalism in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), certification of skills has become essential. Unfortunately, however, there is no general agreement about what is meant by ICT certification – the term can be interpreted in various ways depending on the context and background. In the broadest sense, certification involves formally assessing that the candidate’s knowledge and/or skills in relation to a subject are in conformance with a predetermined standard. In a narrower sense, it is the end point of a learning process with an accreditation system that formally validates the candidate’s ability to perform a set of activities in the workplace to the required standards. The Harmonise project concentrates on the certification of ICT professionals. The approach is market driven, as it is perceived as an appropriate way to identify adequate and sustainable solutions, overcome existing barriers, and solve underlying problems. This requires analysis of both the labour market and the certification market. Underlying problems with these markets are dealt with in later sections of this report. Identifying the most influential factors affecting existing approaches and the harmonisation of certification offerings may result in possible solutions. This project attempted to define pivotal elements of a possible European framework of ICT certifications which could be broadly endorsed and supported by stakeholders. Given the limited time and resources for this challenging endeavour, we are only proposing general concepts and basic pillars on which this framework could be built. Since the 1990s, ICT certifications have been established as an integral part of the education and training landscape. These are mainly driven by the major ICT vendors, as an important component of their market and customer support. We estimate that 7.2 million professional certifications have been issued by twelve leading ICT certification providers since the 1990s.

1.2 Approach The research focused on four thematic areas: •

First, the general context of the ICT professional labour market was analysed to explore the links between the ICT professional labour market and the ICT professional certification market. The sources of supply and demand in the market were analysed, and projections on future levels of demand and supply of labour were collated and considered.

•

Second, ICT certifications systems were analysed to determine their fundamental elements – what they offer, what value they offer, and what they do not. In this regard, certification providers stress that the ’inappropriate or mistaken use of certifications can lead to unintended outcomes that put both the certification

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provider and the user in jeopardy’ (CompTIA, 2004). ICT certifications offer particular value if used properly and in the right context. However, this requires transparency about content, objectives, applied procedures and quality. One prevailing goal of education and training policies, and of the industry, is preparing individuals for the workplace and boosting the performance of IT professionals. Hence, a proper analysis is needed to discuss the relationship between ICT certification and formal education and performance in the workplace. •

Third, the ICT certification landscape is explored with the aim of investigating the nature and differences of offerings currently available on the market.

•

Finally, developing a common framework requires addressing specific aspects of quality. The fourth strand of our analysis explores the benefits and role of ICT certification.

The findings from these four research themes were used to consider the desirability, shape and benefits of any harmonised certification scheme.

1.3 ICT Certifications and IT Professionalism The ICT profession is a comparatively new occupation that cannot rely on tradition in the same way as other disciplines, such as law, mechanical engineering, or medicine. There are different perceptions of what the ICT profession is, and there is no common understanding and agreement regarding a shared body of knowledge. ICT has always been subject to continuous advancement and change. Due to the constant introduction of new products and processes, the shortening technology lifecycles and newly emerging trends, IT professionalism undergoes constant change and requires regular updating of acquired knowledge, skills and competence. ICT certifications appear to provide an answer to these constant changes by offering a flexible, learner-centred infrastructure and a competence-oriented qualification system. It is not surprising that most successful certifications (measured in terms of earning capacity) are specialist certifications oriented towards the actual needs of the industry (for example, security specialists, network designers, system integrators, and database administrators). Certification appears to offer an alternative approach to the area of IT professionalism, in the sense of ‘non-formal’ or ‘not the formal, traditional educational system’. Many institutions offer certification programmes ranging from entry level, to advanced and specialist level. A common approach is to offer a qualification for a specific occupational role or a specific technology field. Most systems certify the acquisition of the hands-on expertise needed in the workplace, and may be specific to particular IT solutions, products or technologies. Hughes (2006) argues that a common framework of IT competences within a qualifications structure is a prerequisite of the professional environment. He favours an output-based approach to competence that he defines as ‘the ability to perform a set of activities in the workplace to the standards required in employment’ (Hughes, 2006). He

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also highlights the need to define a Core Body of Knowledge which all ICT professionals must have to ensure that they can work effectively with other colleagues. Moreover, he argues that an open structure is required which offers a variety of entry points into the profession, and intermediate or sub-qualifications to support all career stages of ICT professionals. Certifications seem to offer the flexibility required to enter the profession by confirming acquired and demonstrated knowledge, and skills and competences, regardless of a candidate’s educational qualifications, or where and how they were obtained. They seem to be an attractive way for individuals to enter the IT profession and an important supplement to traditional entry routes. They offer an “opportunity-to-learn” and are a constituent element of lifelong learning, and are essential for the development of the knowledge society.

1.4 Economic contribution of ICT Professional Skills ‘The increased use of Information and Communications Technology has had a radical impact on the way we live – nowhere more so than in our enterprises. We talk about a new ‘e-Economy’, encompassing all the different ways that the new technology affects how we earn and spend money and organise business.’ (Eurostat, 2006). ‘Analyses of the relationship between ICT and economic growth have identified at least three ways by which ICT can have effects on economic growth: production of ICT, investment in ICT and use of ICT.’ (EC, 2006). These three factors are interrelated and should not be looked at separately. The use of ICT requires the availability of basic and advanced user skills. Production and investment in ICT require professional skills that enable the manufacture or adaptation of ICT solutions to meet actual needs. The ICT services industry also contributes a significant proportion to the actual growth rates in the EU ICT Activity Index (ICT, 2007). ICT has become an important element in the working lives of many European citizens. This has resulted in a continuous growth in “… demand for ICT-related skills, both in terms of the ICT professionals who design, build and maintain products and systems, and of the (very much larger numbers of) ICT users. Consequently, concerns about the supply of these skills have become of considerable interest to policy makers – a smoothly operating ICT jobs market is felt likely to increase effective ICT use and so to increase industrial efficiency and economic gains.” (Rand, 2005, p.1). This underlines the important role and influence that e-skills have on innovation and enterprise policy. Without any doubt, supply and demand will continue to influence European policy. This is backed up by the eSCC (eSkills Certification Consortium: http://www.e-scc.org) who state that ‘as the global economy becomes increasingly ICTembedded, the competitiveness of the European economy in turn becomes more reliant on the availability of professional eSkills’. Thus, it is not surprising that a significant

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number of studies have been recently published about ICT skills, which address specific problems and issues in the context of ICT adoption and deployment in the industry.8 The situation of ICT skills supply in Europe has improved considerably. However the provision of highly skilled professionals has remained an important focus for education and training policies. Hence, a fruitful and continuous dialogue between stakeholders of both sides of education and employment, or demand and supply is essential. As there were economic problems in the ICT sector during previous years, expectations about future gaps, shortages, and mismatches have stayed high, and the supply of properly qualified personnel has been perceived to be lagging behind actual demand. “Nonetheless, despite widely predicted shortages of e-Skills, private sector certification and training continues to occupy an entirely separate domain from public sector education policy. The result is that available resources and expertise are not being productively used to confront this major economic issue. The eSCC has been set up to address this disconnect. By working with policymakers, industry and other stakeholders eSCC aims to develop a framework promoting the accreditation and/or endorsement of industry and other non-formal certified training schemes and certification by public bodies” (http://www.e-scc.org). Up to 2005, labour market developments were raising concerns about a further decline of ICT industry. It had been predicted that growth would continue to decrease and possibly even become negative. However, recent developments have been much more positive, and the prosperous development of the ICT industry have proven these initial concerns to be incorrect. The growth rates in the end of 2005 and beginning of 2006 were the highest in five years (ICT, 2007, p.7). In the beginning of 2006 the ICT Activity Index for manufacturing, reached its highest growth rate in five years. This was mainly due to increasing production and exports. The ICT industry (services and manufacturing) has benefited from these developments and is comparable with the ICT user industry in different sectors. The labour market for ICT professionals is explored further in Section 3. The demand for ICT professional certification is strongly influenced by developments in the ICT professional labour market. A market driven approach needs to look at the value of ICT certification offerings compared to employer preference when selecting and recruiting ICT professionals, thus their value will be created from an employers perspective. The individuals’ perspective of seeking opportunities to learn, should also be kept in mind. Perceived values of certifications rely significantly on their conformity to quality standards and normative documents. Section 6 overviews and analyses the area of quality standards in this context.

8

In the context of this study the term e-skills is perceived as a much broader concept than ICT skills, encompassing more than just technical skills related to ICT tools and applications. Currently, no commonly adopted definition of ICT skills exists. However, the picture of ICT skills is sharpening due to ongoing efforts of the e-skills community. The term is explained in more detail later on in this report (see section 4.7.2, p. 66).

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1.5 Knowledge Economy and Information Society As human resources are to be viewed as one of the EU’s main competitive assets (ICT, 2007), education and training initiatives have become central to the Lisbon objectives of creating a dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy. The European e-Skills Conference 20069 identified different strands for further research. In general, there is a broad consensus amongst stakeholders that the prosperous growth and development of Europe’s economy, requires the improvement of e-skills to be an important strategic aim. Stakeholders in Europe are currently discussing solutions to achieve flexibility and better availability of e-skills in Europe. The availability of knowledge, skills and competence at the practitioner level is a particularly important issue to be addressed. Possible solutions include promoting ICT practitioner education through raising awareness of performance standards already existing and recognised by industry - namely industry-based ICT certifications. Industry and educational bodies have recently started an intense dialogue on how to achieve better alignment of courses and content of both systems. Solutions to fix the identified problem, are centred around the lack of a common language to communicate with. Therefore, there is a huge potential to combine industry-based ICT curricula and certifications into formal education systems (http://www.e-scc.org). This has already been attempted by the Career Space Consortium (http://www.careerspace.com) and the CEN/ISSS Workshop on ICT Skills, in its first phase of work10. Approaches to credit transfer e.g. ECVET (European Credit Transfer for Vocational Education and Training)11, ECTS (European Credit Transfer System)12 and Europass13 are another strand for further research. These approaches may support the transferability and recognition of learning achievements and acquired knowledge, and skills and competence of both systems. The credit transfer initiative shows genuine potential to overcome the boundaries between various credentialing systems in Europe. A further strand to be researched is the development of new e-competence curriculum guidelines and standards to implement; mutual recognition of training; transparency of qualifications; and credit transfer between formal, non-formal and industry-based education and training. There is a broadening consensus amongst stakeholders for the need to develop and establish European quality criteria for e-skills training and certifications (see European e-Skills Conference 200614). This focus of the survey is presented in later sections. Harmonising the certifications of ICT professional skills is an ambitious task and is far from easy, as the complex domain of ICT professional skills involves different 9 10 11 12 13 14

See http://eskills.cedefop.europa.eu/conference2006/ [last visit on 03 April 2007]. See http://www.cen.eu/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/wsict-skills.asp [last visit on 03 April 2007]. See http://www.ecvet.net/c.php/ecvet/en/en_index.rsys and http://www.ecvetconnexion.com/ [last visit on 03 April 2007]. See http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/socrates/ects/index_en.html [last visit on 03 April 2007]. See http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/ [last visit on 03 April 2007]. See http://eskills.cedefop.europa.eu/conference2006/ [retrieved on 03 April 2007].

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stakeholders from different backgrounds. During recent years a huge sub-industry has emerged around commercial training and certification of ICT professionals, with the main players being educational institutions, national regulatory bodies, professional associations and above all, the ICT industry itself.

1.6 The Certification Jungle The certification market in Europe and beyond is characterised by the proliferation of certifications that have come and gone over the past ten years. For the individual, choosing a certification path can be difficult and bewildering. When considering specialised certifications, one of the most challenging decisions a candidate makes is whether to get vendor-neutral certifications in general technologies, or vendor-specific certifications in key vendor products. The difficulty of this decision provides an insight into the certification market. Recent estimates show there are more than 850 certifications and more than 200 certification programmes. This turns the certification landscape into a “jungle” (Tittel, 2006), (Povalej and Weiß, 2007b) and makes it difficult for individuals and employers to get a good overview of it. Microsoft reports that about 3.2 million certifications of their Microsoft Certified Professional program have been issued since its launch 13 years ago. The following table provides an overview of some of the certifications issued by leading certification providers. The information is largely drawn from the providers’ website or through communication with staff or customer support representatives for each company.

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Cisco Microsoft IBM HP (at least) Oracle Novell SAP SUN ISEB (at least) CompTIA CISSP EXIN ISACA

No. of Certifications Issued 600,000 3,200,000

Up to 2007 1993 - 2007

800,000

1993 - 2007

130,000 350,000 Unknown 185,000 456,000 220,000 800,000 50,000 350,000 56,000 7,197,000

Year

Up to 2006 N/A Mid 90's - 2007 up to 07/07 1999 - 2007 1989 - 2007 Up to 2007 1978- 2007

Source Cisco Customer Support Personal Communication Professional Certification Program from IBM HP Website N/A SAP Website SUN customer support BCS personal communication Personal Communication ISC2 Website EXIN Website ISACA Website

Figure 1-1: Number of Certifications issued by leading providers These figures are likely to be the tip of the iceberg, and they highlight the need for shared and agreed “standards” to ensure quality preparation and testing procedures, and to help identify what each certification is intended to certify.15 The results of the Harmonise market study are presented in later sections, as it is hard to argue the eminent relevance of ICT certifications without concrete market figures. It must be noted that it is difficult to obtain concrete numbers of how many ICT certifications have been issued as there is no central registry. Among the most prominent certification providers are ICT vendors e.g. Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, IBM, Sun, Novell, Adobe, etc. They offer industry or product-related certifications, e.g. Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), or Adobe Certified Expert (ACE). Certifications have also been developed by the open source community e.g. by Red Hat (Red Hat Certified Engineer and Technician) and credentials granted by the Linux Professional Institute (e.g. Senior Level Administration (LPIC-3). As well as this, certifications are issued by organisations, and professional or industry associations, such as the IEEE Computer Society, CompTIA, CEPIS, etc. Increasingly, certifications are granted on a national level by multi-stakeholder consortia - led by national governmental bodies and their agencies e.g. AITTS by CertIT in Germany. This information provides us with clear indication of a credentialing system which operates globally and independently from national authorities and formal education 15

See IEEE 2006: Certification; http://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/ [retrieved on 03 April 2007].

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systems. The strong link between IT professionalism and certifications is explored further in later sections of this report. In a survey conducted by this project, 200 widely applied certification systems in the respondent countries were named. This underlines the importance of establishing shared and common quality standards in Europe.

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2. Objectives and Methodology 2.1 Aims of the Project In the previous section the reader has become acquainted with the broader context and general background of ICT skills certification for ICT professionals. The pivotal issue of this initiative has been defined as follows: Review of certification schemes for ICT professional qualifications to achieve greater harmonisation across Europe and beyond The Harmonise Project, through its consortium of nine partners from the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS - http://www.cepis.org) completions this reference bases research project over a 36 month period ending in September 2007. Issues that needed to be addressed were: •

Clarification about the general need for harmonisation in the market, and

•

proposing concrete measures and possible ways to achieve convergence of existing approaches to ICT skills certification.

This report looks at the current market situation of ICT skills certifications for ICT professionals. As well as a review of existing reference material, data was collected by means of a questionnaire. High-level experts throughout Europe were queried about the situation in their countries, and members of CEPIS created a significant portion of the sample. Empirical analysis of the data was completed, and conclusions were drawn on how to achieve harmonisation, and better transparency and compatibility of ICT qualifications in Europe. Subsequently, the question was raised of how to achieve greater harmonisation of ICT professional qualifications across Europe and beyond. The work had a clear focus on ICT certification systems as well as non-formal credentialing systems. To contribute to harmonisation, the project’s aim has been to prepare options for achieving greater transparency within the European Union. To help to achieve this aim, the project sought to clarify the feasibility of a widely acceptable European approach to qualification and certification for ICT professionals. A possible solution should draw and build on the successful experience of the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) in the end-user e-skills domain.

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2.2 Starting Point At the starting point of the project, the current situation was analysed. The project team assembled a comprehensive knowledge base to help stakeholders, employers and individuals improve their understanding of what is available. The analysis revealed that ICT certification systems and the respective market is far more complex than originally assumed at the project planning stage. The ongoing deployment of EUCIP, and the newly developed vendor-independent certification programme from CEPIS, delivered hands-on experiences of the ICT education and training market. Any concrete measures or recommendations on how to achieve better harmonisation require identification and analysis of the various factors that influence future developments in the market. Although listing and comparing the available titles, content and schemes of ICT certification systems is an important task, it is not enough as it merely underlines the difficulty of mapping existing offerings. Firstly, the ICT education and training market is local and the boundaries of this market are typically drawn by national qualification systems and differences in culture and attitudes. National markets differ significantly: some of them are open, others are closed, some of them are more mature than others, and some have explicit regulations, established structures and formal rules (often presented through a national qualification framework). Secondly in contrast, credentialing systems that go beyond the reach of national qualification systems have evolved since the 1990s. They offer recognised global ICT skill and performance standards for ICT professionals. Unfortunately, only a limited amount of information is available about these systems, which creates a limited understanding about composition, functioning and contents. The market leaders are prominent ICT vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Sun, IBM, etc. Their offerings are alternative and flexible entry points to the ICT profession through non-Governmental credentialing systems. Industry-related certification acts globally and autonomously from any influence of national authorities and governmental bodies. Thirdly, the labour market itself defines the actual value and appeal of alternative qualification offerings. In this regard quality measures and applied quality standards seem likely to have a strong influence. Although, Adelman (2000) made a significant first attempt to explore the value of ICT certification systems and compared them with the traditional education system, we still know little about the ICT skills certification systems and how they operate. Consequently, a goal has been set to collect studies, reports, promotion material, etc about ICT certification systems, and to condense it into reference material for decision makers and stakeholders. Given that this is a highly complex area, and motivated by CompTIA (2004), it was decided to clarify how certifications may effectively support an individual’s growth as an ICT professional. This required analysing reference material in four thematic areas (see next section). The four areas have helped to structure and categorise the reference

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material that was collected and assessed. In the following section, these four areas and related survey activities are explained in more detail.

2.3 The Four Themes Figure 2-1 shows the themes addressed by the project: •

ICT Professional Labour Market

•

ICT Skills Certification System

•

ICT Skills Certification Market

•

ICT Professional Certification Quality

Labour

Certification

Market

System

Certification

Certification

Market

Quality

Figure 2-1: Overview Themes of HARMONISE

2.3.1 ICT Professional Labour Market As the labour market is the main parent market driving the certification market, this theme involved assessing the market situation by scrutinising the demand and supply of labour in the ICT professional (or practitioner) market. Many authors argue that job advertisements and job vacancies for ICT professionals provide a good insight about the recruitment preferences of employers. ICT certifications are primarily chosen on the basis of their appeal, which is measured predominantly on the expected return of investment for a candidate (typically an increase in a candidate’s salary). Demand is often estimated by analysing the number of job vacancies for relevant occupations over a specific period for a specific country (e.g. by systematically reviewing and counting newspaper articles or analysing web-based job databases). Job vacancies can provide a crude measure of new demand, however they may not take into account labour market dynamics (RAND, 2005). The goal has been to assemble empirical data provided at national and European level, with additional market studies identified by project partners.

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It is important to mention that the Harmonise approach strives to clarify existing realities of the labour market. The aim has been to focus only on qualitative aspects, by analysing job advertisements with regard to time, effort and available resources. Objectives: • •

Theme 1: Labour Market

State-of-play in demand and supply

•

Foresights scenarios (CEPIS, 2007)

•

Demand and Supply (Rand Europe, 2005)

Linkage to ICT skills certification programmes

•

CEPIS labour market study (CEPIS, 2002)

•

IDC Figures

•

Recruitment practices

•

Market figures and studies

•

Recruitment adverts

•

Job advertisements/ recruitment preferences

•

Future scenarios

•

Overview of other reference material

Figure 2-2: Labour Market In support of this first theme, two surveys were conducted (in addition to the primary survey of expert opinion): •

27 employers from five countries were interviewed on their recruitment preferences

•

Recruitment advertisements for 119 positions from the same five countries were examined

The surveys were focussed on learning about recruitment realities, and answering the following questions: •

What are the identifiable recruiting preferences of employers?

•

What is the role and influence of qualifications?

The results of the surveys are presented in section 3.16

2.3.2 ICT Skills Certification System This theme covers the identifiable elements and underlying concepts of ICT skills certification systems. This involved analysing the various models, concepts, methods and systems available in the market. In addition, summarising the relevant history and the reviewing the underlying assumptions of the systems. The goal of this theme was to produce a conceptual model of ICT skills certification based on an in-depth analysis of systems on the market. In particular, this theme focuses on the underlying job profiles, definitions of requirements, applied methods for formal definitions of performance requirements and actual contents (e.g. described by knowledge, skills and competencies (KSC).

16

See pp. 27. For the summary report of this analysis task (see annex 12.5, pp. 253).

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The foundation of this analysis has been the 2005 Cedefop study (Cedefop, 2005). In order to explore how possible future partnerships may operate, it is crucial to deconstruct certification systems into their fundamental elements (CompTIA, 2004). Objectives: •

Conceptual Model of ICT certification systems

•

Glossary of Terms

•

Relevant reference material in form of reports, studies, research papers, brochures, presentation slides, statistics etc.

Theme 2: Certification System •

Model of ICT skills certification (Cedefop/CEPIS (2005), CompTIA (2004), Adelman (2000)

•

CEPIS workshop proceedings 2003-2005

•

Concepts and methods, systems

•

Terms of reference (produced glossary)

•

Reference model of certification

•

Taxonomy of certification

•

Recognition of learning outcomes

•

Overview of reference material (e.g. EAC Projects)

Figure 2-3: Certification System A conceptual model of certification systems serves to explain the basic elements and underlying concepts as well as any interdependencies. Analysis revealed that the modules definition (defining requirements of certification and performance standards) as well as assessment and certification, have to be addressed by appropriate quality assurance measures. These elements should be subject to respective accreditation measures. Accreditation measures should apply shared common reference models of ICT certification.

2.3.3 ICT Skills Certification Market The goal of this theme is to look at the situation in the ICT certification market. Besides the review of existing reference material, data was collected by means of a questionnaire (see annex 12.417). 55 high-level experts throughout Europe were queried about the situation in their countries. These experts were contacted mainly through CEPIS’s european wider network of informatics professionals/ Empirical data has been analysed to draw conclusions about how to achieve harmonisation with better transparency and compatibility of ICT qualifications in Europe.

17

See pp. 238.

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Objectives: •

•

•

General observations: Provide evidence of the multitude of e-skills certification offerings on the market

Theme 3: Certification Market •

General observations

•

Initiatives

•

Standards

•

Market figures (study results)

Initiatives: Identify and name relevant and most influential initiatives on national, European level

•

Results Cedefop/CEPIS (2004)

•

Results EITO study (AICA, 2006)

•

Comparison of ICT worker profiles (eCCO project)

Standards: to be identified on basis of the survey questionnaire

•

Overview of reference material (e.g. EAC projects)

•

List of e-Skills certification programmes

•

(ICT professionals)

Figure 2-4: Certification Market

2.3.4 ICT Professional Certification Quality This fourth theme determines the core elements to be addressed by different measures of quality assurance, and assesses the conformity to the relevant standards. The applied methods and definitions, which are often specified by national ICT skills and qualification frameworks (in relation to performance requirements and proficiency levels of the underlying profiles), are of utmost importance for the comparison and analysis of different certification schemes. They are the key to improved mutual understanding and to the necessary identification of equivalent qualifications (as valued by candidates) in the different national systems. Objectives: • •

Quality standards and normative documents To assess approaches to quality assurance in ICT vendor certification systems

Theme 4: Certification Quality •

Why (Quality) Standards?

•

Overview initiatives, state-of-play

•

Comparability, transparency, transferability

•

Concepts and methods, systems

Recognition of Qualifications: http://www.enic-naric.net

•

Accreditation

•

•

Application (study results)

To collect reference material

•

Overview of reference material (e.g. EAC projects)

•

Figure 2-5: Certification Quality

2.4 Analysis and Synthesis A complete picture of the factors driving and influencing the developments on the ICT certification landscape was assembled, based on the findings from the four themes. A market driven approach was chosen to achieve a deeper understanding of the field.

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Options for harmonisation were analysed, obstacles were considered, and ways to overcome them proposed. In order to determine success factors for the complex professional market and its wellestablished products, the success of ECDL was analysed, Concrete recommendations are proposed on how to achieve better transparency and comparability of ICT skills certification systems in Europe and beyond.

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3. ICT Professional Labour Market 3.1 Introduction – Value of Certification This section examines the behaviour of the primary labour market for ICT professionals . It is this market which drives the need for certification. Demand for ICT professional certifications exists in the labour market for ICT professionals, and to a degree in the product market too. The assumption made by those who invest in training and assessment for such certifications, whether for themselves or for their employees, is that there will be a genuine return on that investment, in terms of greater competence in some aspect of ICT professional work, or greater sales of their products or services. Some of those who invest in acquiring these certifications will be seeking work for the first time as ICT professionals, and plan to get a job by virtue of that qualification. The level of the investment made, particularly by an unemployed person, can be significant in in terms of time and money. This makes the value of the certification very important for recruiting employers. Evidence of the value (Pardo-Fox 2003,4 and “Redmondmag” 2006) in terms of the effect on salary levels, suggests that it can vary considerably between employers, and that overall employer valuation is probably waning. It is also to be expected that the situation varies between EU Member States and between the USA and Europe. Research conducted by this project indicates that such a value is relatively low (see annex 12.518), at least outside the ICT industry itself. While there will always be an intrinsic value of a certification to the person who has achieved it, its financial value to that person will depend on the value attributed by his/her employer (or customer, for self employed ICT professionals). In principle, this could manifest itself by a salary premium for those who possess certain qualifications, or speed/ease of gaining (re-)employment. Indeed, the websites of many of the certification vendors contain evidence of salary premiums, which are typically 5% to 15% for the certification holder. However, the primary context in which employers’ valuations manifest themselves is during the recruitment process. This is where certifications can play a role as the differentiator between two or more plausible candidates. Where there are two applicants with broadly equivalent capabilities, a recruiting employer might be expected to choose an applicant with a particularly relevant certification over one without. Generally, the value attributed to a certification in the labour market will change over time, and it will shift depending on whether the labour market is “tight” (with demand for ICT professional skills exceeding supply), or “loose” (where the reverse is true). If demand exceeds supply (which is often the case), the “acceptance levels” of recruiting candidates will naturally fall. This situation was particularly evident at the end of the last decade, when employers were recruiting relatively unskilled people for ICT professional 18

See pp. 253.

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work. Thus, the value attributed will generally be lower in these conditions than when there are no skill shortages, or limited skill shortages. Greater “power” then lies with the employer, who – with an excess of applicants - can demand higher capabilities in the candidates. These “higher capabilities” can include more qualifications. The value of the certification as a differentiator, plays a role where there is a choice between a number of applicants, but falls away where there is only one or none (a significant shortage)! Empirical data elaborating on these general economic principles was gathered during the project. Each partner carried out surveys of recruitment practices and the specifications of job vacancy adverts in their own country. The result of this work is summarised in annex 12.519. The main conclusion when looking at candidate capabilities, is that recruiting employers place a low priority on qualifications, compared to direct experience in the role being recruited for and understanding of/familiarity with the software platform being operated by the employer. These are the highest priorities. One specific area where certifications have special value is within the channel partners of the major ICT vendors. The primary vendor has sufficient market power within their distribution network (distributors, dealers, wholesalers, retailers, value-added-resellers, agents), to insist that a certain proportion of channel partners staff are certified in the primary vendors products. Thus, there is a compelling business and marketing reason for the uptake of such certifications. It is believed that this accounts for a good proportion of the take-up of vendor certificates. It also explains their narrow subject domains and brand specificity. However, unfortunately there were no such employers in our survey sample.

3.2 The ICT Professional Labour Market in Europe Since the early days of significant computing (around 40 years), the demand for skilled ICT professionals has generally exceeded the supply . As the power of each new wave of ICTs created strong market growth and demand for skills, the traditional labour market supply channels, in particular Tertiary/Higher Education courses in ICTs, were repeatedly struggling to catch up. But the growth has not always been steady. Periods of very strong growth (sometimes annual increases of more than 15-20% of employed ICT Professionals) were often followed by set-backs resulting from recession and loss of business confidence, creating a drop in demand. Figure 3-1 shows the growth of ICT Professional numbers for the UK (the largest market in Europe) over four decades.

19

See pp. 253.

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Estimates of numbers of IT Practitioners employed in the United Kingdom from mid-1960s (Source: UK Labour Force Survey, with various adjustments) 1,000,000 900,000

Numbers in employment

800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 64/1

67/1

70/1

73/1

76/1

79/1

82/1

85/1

88/1

91/1

94/1

97/1

00/1

03/1

06/1

Year/Quarter

Figure 3-1: IT Practitioners in the UK from mid-1960s There seem to have been peaks every 9-10 years. These swings in activity are considerably larger than in other labour markets, and have posed problems for the smooth development of the ICT industry and use of ICT in User sectors. Periods of strong growth resulted in significant skill shortages (particularly towards the end of the cycle), and easing periods resulted in shake-outs and redundancies. As is evident, the final years in the last century had the greatest surge. The scale of challenge for traditional ICT professional supply channels, can be shown by looking at the demand and supply in the United Kingdom from 1998. At the end of that year, there were 120,000 more ICT professionals in employment in the UK than there were at the beginning of the year (ITNTO/AISS, 1999). The three main reasons why, are well documented: •

the work undertaken in both private and public sectors to tackle the risks associated with the millennium date-change problem (“Y2K”),

•

the effort needed to make financial systems ready for the introduction of Eurotrading (even in countries that did not join the Euro-zone), and

•

the dot.com boom at the time.

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Long-term data from other European countries is not easily available, and where it is there are statistical problems of definition and comparability. These are explained in sections 3.420 and 3.521. Despite such difficulties, the recent CEPIS study “Thinking Ahead on e-Skills for the ICT Industry in Europe” (CEPIS, 2006) has published employment data for 18 EU countries in its annex E. Data from other, smaller countries was statistically unreliable. A representative selection from four countries follows - Denmark, Germany, Spain and Hungary. But, it must be emphasised that this data refers to the ICT industry, i.e. including other supply-side occupations but excluding ICT occupations in other sectors, and is thus not comparable with the UK data above. Denmark: Employment Levels in Software & IT Services Sector (NACE 72) (Source: Eurostat Holdings of Danish LFS data) 70

Total in Employment (000s)

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year IT Practitioners (ISCO 213+312)

20 21

Other Occupations

Total Employment

See pp. 34. See pp. 35.

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Germany: Employment Levels in Software & IT Services Sector (NACE 72) (Source: Eurostat Holdings of German LFS Data) 600


500

400

300

200

100

0 1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005


Other Occupations

Total Employment

Spain: Employment Levels in Software & IT Services Sector (NACE 72) (Source: Eurostat Holdings of Spanish LFS data) 200 180


160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005


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Total Employment


Hungary: Employment Levels in Software and IT Services Sector (NACE 72) (Source: Eurostat Holdings of Hungarian LFS data - some statistical issues with 1996-1998 data) 45

40

Total in Employment ('000s)

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005


Other Occupations

Total Employment

Figure 3-2: Employment in the ICT Industry – Denmark, Germany, Spain, Hungary In 2001/2, an earlier CEPIS study was carried out (CEPIS, 2002) which gathered data from the Eurostat holdings of Member State “Labour Force Surveys”, on IT Practitioner employment within the European Union as a whole. This focussed on “Computing Professionals” (ISCO 213). Figure 3-3 (from CEPIS, 2002) shows the growth of Computing Professionals in the EU during the 1990s.

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Development of Computing Professional employment (EU-15) (Source: Eurostat holdings of Member State LFSs - ISCO 213) 1,600,000

Numbers in employment in ISCO 213

1,400,000

1,200,000

1,000,000

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

Q 2

Q 1

Q 4

Q 19 2 99 Q 3

Q 1

Q 4

Q 19 2 98 Q 3

Q 1

Q 4

Q 19 2 97 Q 3

Q 1

Q 4

Q 19 2 96 Q 3

Q 1

Q 4

Q 19 2 95 Q 3

Q 1

0

Year/Quarter

Figure 3-3: Computing Professional in EU15 (ISCO 213)

3.3 Sources of Supply In contrast with the increase of 120,000 ICT professionals in 1998, the number of graduates emerging from ICT courses in UK universities during 1998 was 10,000. Only 6,000 of which, chose to work as ICT professionals. This loss was counterbalanced by the significant number (~5,000) of graduates of other courses (history, english, mathematics, accountancy) who were recruited for such work. This detail is of little consequence, when one realises that of the 120,000 new ICT professionals at the end of 1998, nearly 110,000 did not come directly from ICT courses! Thus, the contribution of a direct “linear” supply flow through traditional Tertiary Education courses was small. While the scale of “mismatch” in this example is extreme, and some of the recruits could have graduated from ICT courses in earlier years, the key conclusion is that the “linear supply model” which is generally assumed for established professions, is certainly not in place for the ICT Profession. With a few exceptions, the supply of new ICT professionals comes from a wide range of sources. In some Member States, “new graduates from ICT Higher Education courses” is the dominant source, but by no means the only one (CEPIS, 2007).

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The main sources of new supply are: •

Graduates of Higher Education (HE) informatics/computing courses, entering into the labour market

•

Existing employees being “trained up” by their employer to become ICT practitioners

•

“Occupational transfers” entering ICT practitioner work via conversion learning from other kinds of work;

•

Graduates from non-informatics HE courses;

•

New market entrants with ICT knowledge from other parts of the formal education system (e.g. from secondary, vocational, or even general education courses);

•

New ICT practitioners entering ICT companies from outside the EU, through inward-migration;

•

ICT practitioners re-entering the labour market (e.g. from unemployment or career-breaks).

The ICT professional labour market is by no means simple in its characteristics and behaviour, and any serious study of the overall position of ICT professional certifications needs to bear this in mind.

3.4 Defining the ICT Professional Market Over recent years, much work has been done to clarify the nature of the different functions, roles, and specific “occupations” within the ICT profession. Significant outcomes, at EU Member State level are: •

the CIGREF nomenclature in France

•

the structure of the Advanced IT Training System (AITTS) in Germany, and

•

the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) in the UK.

Related developments also exist in a number of other Member States. In addition, following the initial work of the Career-Space consortium (Career-Space, 2001), interested stakeholders led by CEDEFOP and CEPIS, have been developing specifications for CEN Workshop Agreements (CWAs), to reach an agreed set of profiles that would represent the planned European e-Competence Framework. Of particular interest in this CEN/ISSS Workshop are the first two phases: •

Phase 1 (2002-3): Establishing an initial profile set for ICT Practitioners (based on the Career-Space ICT Industry Consortium “generic job profiles”), and some

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broad principles for Tertiary Education curriculum development (resulting in publication of CWAs 1492522 and 1500522). •

Phase 2 (2004-5): A deeper, broader analysis of the current position, an initial interpretation of the proposed European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for ICT Practitioner Work, and elaboration on the nature of a European Meta-Framework – a framework for assessing existing ICT Practitioner Skills Frameworks (this was reported in CWA 1551522).

The European Certification of Informatics Professionals (EUCIP) development, led by the European Computer Driving Licence Foundation and CEPIS, is also bringing an important new framework to the European level. 21 EUCIP Profiles have been developed to acknowledge how the various EUCIP certifications contribute to the underpinning knowledge and understanding of some of the more important ICT Professional roles.23 In addition, a number of the major ICT players (particularly in the ICT Supply industry) have developed their own frameworks for ICT professional competencies.

3.5 Measuring the ICT Professional Market To clarify the structure and nature of the labour market for ICT Professionals in the EU, in a consistent and comparable way, it is necessary to gain agreement of occupational structures (or occupational profiles), and gather labour market data for these. This may be possible with the planned European e-Competence Framework, but at this stage comprehensive, consistent labour market information is only available using two occupations in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), which is nearly 20 years old. The two relevant occupations are Computing Professionals and Computer Associate Professionals. The specifications of these ISCO codes are: •

Computing Professionals (ISCO 213) “conduct research, plan, develop and improve computer based information systems, software and related concepts, develop principles and operational methods as well as to maintain ... systems ... ensuring integrity and security of data”.

•

Computer Associate Professionals (ISCO 312) “provide assistance to users …, control and operate computers and peripheral equipment and carry out limited programming tasks connected with the installation and maintenance of computer hardware and software”.

In spite of the considerable limitations of this categorisation, we can gain a basic understanding of the structure of the ICT Professional labour market by examining the data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EULFS) for these two occupational groups. Figure 3-4 shows increasing employment levels in these two categories, and the

22 23

For more information, visit: http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/cwa/ict-skills.asp See http://www.eucip.org/index.jsp?b=0-104&pID=390&nID=412

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sum of the two for the EU-15 (a good proxy for the numbers of core, technical IT Practitioners), over recent years. Recent trends in EU-15 employment levels of Computing Professionals and Computer Associate Professionals (Source Eurostat Holdings of Member States LFS Data early year estimates interpolated for some countries) 3,500,000

Computing Professionals (ISCO 213)

Employment levels as shown (for EU-15)

Computer Associate Professionals (ISCO 312)

3,000,000

(Core Technical) IT Professionals (ISCOs 213+312)

2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 1995 Q2 1996 Q2 1997 Q2 1998 Q2 1999 Q2 2000 Q2 2001 Q2 2002 Q2 2003 Q2 2004 Q2 2005 Q2

Year/Quarter

Figure 3-4: IT Practitioner employment in EU-15 Of course the disaggregation of these two occupational categories is insufficient to clarify the different sets of Knowledge, Skills and Competencies required of ICT Professionals, and therefore, the requirements for relevant certifications. What is needed is an agreed occupational (or skills/competence) framework, recognising the range of different ICT Professional roles in the marketplace. Unfortunately, gaining agreement on such a classification framework is particularly difficult, because of the rate of innovation and resulting way in which ICT work is organised and understood.

3.6 Development of Demand over recent years Figure 3-4 shows that from the early days of computing to the turn of the century, EU employment levels grew steadily. However, in addition to the steady growth this development also had a cyclical effect in the early 1980s and early 1990s, with pauses in the growth pattern arising from the loss of economic growth and confidence in European economies. While there is a wide range of factors that can impact on the development of ICT activity and demand for ICT professionals, only a small number are dominant (this is explained

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further in section 3.924). Over the last three decades, it is believed that the major drivers of ICT Professional demand are economic and investment climate, and the rate of ICT innovation. More recently, the level of outsourcing and off-shoring may have had an impact. The most significant pause in an otherwise strong, clear pattern of growth, was following the “bursting of the dot.com bubble”. Interestingly the timing of this varied between Member States, but ICT professional employment levels generally lagged by about a year behind the assumed peaking of ICT activity.

3.7 Response of the Supply Channels As indicated in section 3.325, there are seven sources of supply of “new” ICT professionals. This is ignoring the inevitable labour market churn which occurs, but which makes no real net change to the ICT professional workforce. The “supply dynamics” associated with these “supply channels” – i.e. the nature and speed of inflows - vary considerably. While each will involve an element of delay, these delays are different in nature. For example: •

IT professionals from other sectors, and those re-entering the work-force can move into companies relatively quickly – there is generally no element of (re-) training necessary, simply movement through the recruitment process;

•

The up-skilling of existing employees from lower-level occupations will generally take weeks;

•

The conversion learning through for those migrating from other occupations will take months;

•

The flows of inward-migrant ICT Practitioners will involve delays to conform with Visa/Work Permit processes (significant numbers of weeks);

•

The flows of “fresh graduates” (whether from informatics courses or not), generally takes place once a year – and a certain level of induction training will be necessary.

It is therefore inevitable that supply will lag behind demand in this labour market. The University sector in particular can take many years to respond to market changes, because course curricula and examinations have to be changed. Most significantly it is very likely that the level of supply has been more a shortage of quality supply rather than a shortage of numbers. Enterprises have needed to progress imperative work, and have generally (with notable exceptions in some Member States) recruited people without the full underlying technical expertise and have trained them up.

24 25

See page 39. See page 33.

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3.8 The Nature of shortages Few employers have not complained about skill shortages and the difficulty of finding and successfully recruiting high quality talent, given the many attractive opportunities available. Enterprises in most economic sectors, particularly at times of strong growth, have been unable to quickly or easily find the “good” people they seek, have complained about perceived problems associated with the most obvious source of supply (young people coming through the formal education system), and have sent signals to governments urging them to “do something about it”. Most EU Member State governments now have elements of skills policy in place, and have tried a range of different approaches and initiatives to increasing skills supply - not all of which have been successful. How then, should governments respond to the reported concerns of supply shortages within different labour markets? Even though the problem of perceived skill shortages can emerge in a wide range of sectors, public policy would generally tend to view certain types of work or certain sectors as being more (strategically) important for the national economy. ICT, its all-pervasiveness and its ability to have a positive impact on productivity, is certainly one of those sectors. Indeed ICT skills (or e-skills) policy programmes exist in most, if not all Member States, however they tend to focus on ICT user skills to enable the population to participate in the knowledge economy, and in particular to access the increasing numbers of public services delivered by egovernment. The question of labour market shortages in ICT professional skills is a different matter, and – as with other aspects of policy-making – there is growing interest in evidencebased policy development, and the question of possible market failure. Thus, in response to concerns raised about ICT professional skill shortages, the question is quickly asked: what is the nature and scale of such shortages? The reality is that it is very difficult to provide unequivocal hard evidence of skill shortages. Generally agreed, the most meaningful measure of labour market shortages are responses to employer surveys about hard-to-fill-vacancies. But, skill shortages are only one of the possible causes of vacancies, with other causes arising from perceived attractiveness of the vacancy offer in the market-place. For example, a lack of applicants for a particular job in a particular enterprise would not be surprising if the salary offer was low, and/or if the physical context of the work were un-appealing. In such a situation, an excess of hard-to-fill-vacancies would not necessarily arise from an absence of good people looking for work. Finally, employers will claim there are skills shortages when they often mean skills gaps – i.e. their existing IT staff are deficient in some aspects. For example, if Microsoft introduces a new operating system (e.g. Vista) and an organisation adopts it, there is an immediate need for (but lack of) Vista skills in that organisation. Employers then tell researchers “We have a skills shortage”. The press and the government react about IT skills shortages, which they mis-interpret to mean that there are not enough IT professionals. The number of unemployed IT professionals provides some evidence that there is no shortage of people in IT – just skills gaps.

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This emphasises the need for caution when assessing assertions of shortages and published data from apparent respectable sources, for policy purposes.

3.9 Forecasting future demand It is not surprising that if assessing current skill shortages is difficult, assessing future skill shortages is even more difficult. Much has been written about attempts to assess future skill needs, and recent efforts at the European level are slowly beginning to tackle the considerable diversity of data across the Union, to develop consistent estimates of future sectoral and occupational employment levels for Europe. Specifically, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) has been gathering skills forecasting experience from Member States since 2001. With the collaboration of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, this led to the convening of two international conferences on the Early Identification of skill needs in Europe, in Berlin (May 2002) and Thessaloniki (May 2003). The growing interest of those involved in such work led to the establishment of Skillsnet in 2004, a Cedefop-supported international network on early identification of skill needs. Since establishment, the Skillsnet community has strengthened its commitment to the development of a European framework for skills forecasting, and met in Paphos, Cyprus (October 2005) and at the University of Warwick, UK (November 2006) to progress this further. More substantial funding for this work is likely to be forthcoming. Recent studies were reviewed for the recent CEPIS Foresight Scenarios study for the European Commission “Thinking Ahead on e-Skills for the ICT Industry in Europe” (CEPIS, 2006), which provided quantitative forecasts of e-skills. In particular, the approach used in the following studies was considered in some detail: Studies forecasting ICT Industry employment/skills levels for Europe: •

the 2001 Study for the Finnish Electrical by Abo Academy (SET/ÅA, 2001)

Studies forecasting ICT practitioner employment levels for Europe: •

the 2001 IBM/Career Space forecast (Western Europe) (Career-Space, 2001);

•

the 2002 IDC Study for CompTIA/VUE (Western Europe) (IDC, 2002);

•

the 2003 BIAT/Cedefop study (EU-15) (Petersen, W. and Wehmeyer, C. (2003);

•

the 2005 IDC White Paper on Networking skills for CISCO (EU-25) (IDC, 2005);

Figure 3-5 and Figure 3-6 show the forecasts from these studies, compared to “what actually happened” in the labour market, for ICT Industry employment levels, and ICT Practitioners across the whole economy, respectively. It should be noted that ICT Industry is the supply side only (and includes non-ICT jobs), and is not those working as ICT professionals in other sectors. Where there is a pair of close adjacent lines, the lower line referring to EU-15, the higher referring to EU-25, it can be seen that the difference is not substantial. On the first graph (the ICT Industry), it can be seen that even the “bust” forecast was wildly optimistic, even though hardware and electronics employment are added in.

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12,000,000

Data from Previous Published Forecasts for Employment in European I(C)T Industry (all occupations) showing 'actual' employment levels from relevant EU Labour Force Survey data as reference (sources and scope as shown) ÅA/SET (2001): ICT Employment Scenarios 2010 - 'Boom' (EU-15 ICT Industry all occupations)

ÅA/SET (2001): ICT Employment Scenarios 2010 - 'U.S. Recession' (EU-15 ICT Industry - all occupations)

10,000,000

EULFS EU-15 employment in S/W & IT Services (NACE 72) 8,000,000

EULFS EU-25 employment in S/W & IT Services (NACE 72) (assuming constant ratio to EU-15 levels to 2005) 6,000,000 EULFS EU-15 employment in Broad Electronics Production (NACE 30+32)

EULFS EU-25 employment in Broad Electronics Production (NACE 30+32) (assuming constant ratio to EU-15 levels to 2005)

4,000,000

EULFS EU-15 employment in H/W+S/W+IT Services (NACE 30+32+72)

2,000,000

EULFS EU-25 employment in H/W+S/W+IT Services (NACE 30+32+72) (assuming constant ratio to EU-15 levels to 2005) 0 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Year

Figure 3-5: Comparison of Actuals against Forecasts – ICT Industry On the second graph, the Cedefop forecast accurately predicted the rate of growth, but at around a million people too high, whilst the IDC forecast was many millions too high. The CISCO forecast refers to networking skills only, and no “actual” data is available.

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Data from relevant Previous Published Forecasts for I(C)T Practitioner Employment in Europe (all sectors) (sources and scope as shown) 14,000,000 IDC/CompTIA/VUE White Paper 2002 ('Western Europe' - ICT Practitioners all sectors) (Supply figures)

12,000,000 BIAT/CEDEFOP 2004 (EU15 - IT Practitioners all sectors, based on EULFS & ISCO) (CAGR 3.25%, delivering published 2010 estimate)

10,000,000

IDC/CISCO White Paper 2005 (Networking Skills in Europe): Total Networking Skills - EU-25 (Supply figures)

8,000,000

IDC/CISCO White Paper 2005 (Networking Skills in Europe): Advanced Technology Skills - EU-25 (Supply figures)

6,000,000

EULFS EU-15 IT Practitioners in all sectors (measured using ISCO 213+312)

4,000,000

2,000,000

EULFS EU-25 IT Practitioners in all sectors (measured using ISCO 213+312) (assuming constant ratio to EU-15 to 2005)

0 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Year

Figure 3-6: Comparison of Actuals against Forecasts – ICT Practitioners A study published by the European Commission in 2005 (Rand, 2005) examined the situation of ICT Skills supply and demand in Europe. The results provided evidence that there were no significant shortages of ICT Professional skills within the EU at that time. A more recent study by IDC on behalf of Cisco (listed above) provides evidence of reemerging skills shortages for some specialised ICT professional occupations. (IDC, 2005) But shortages of ICT skills are still being reported and predicted. An even more recent study by BITKOM revealed that out of the 279 ICT company CEOs in Germany that were surveyed, 60 per cent of the expect that actual or future shortages of skilled ICT personnel are going to hamper their actual or planned business activities and development (BITKOM, 2006). This is supported by prevailing findings of other studies e.g. the ICT activity index 2006 (ICT, 2007).

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3.10 Determinants of forthcoming demand As with other areas of policy-making and planning, what is sought is clarification of the key drivers of demand, to enable an understanding of what will drive future developments. The CEPIS “Foresight Scenarios” project concluded that the number of factors likely to make a major impact on demand for ICT professionals is small. That project, proceeding in parallel with this Harmonise project, researched e-skills Foresight Scenarios for the ICT Industry in Europe, on behalf of the European Commission (DG Enterprise & Industry). This was a major piece of original research which involved inter alia, the identification of significant number (some 90) of Change Drivers, and independent trends that might have an influence on the supply and/or demand of e-skills in the future. However, as well as examining the impact of these on the supply and demand of the three types of e-skills defined by the European e-Skills Forum, the study found that three core-drivers were likely to have the most impact on future demand for ICT Professional skills for the ICT (supply) industry. These are the general economic and investment climate, the rate of ICT innovation, and the rate of off-shoring of ICT Professional work beyond the EU. The study explored six scenarios in detail, with different combinations of high and low values of those three core-drivers, as shown in Figure 3-7: Scenario A: Renaissance B: Steady Climb C: Global D: Fight back E: Dark Days F: Decline

Pace of Technological change Rapid Moderate Rapid Rapid Moderate Moderate

Economic Climate

Pace of Off-shoring

Positive Positive Positive Turbulence Turbulence Turbulence

Moderate Moderate High Moderate Moderate High

Figure 3-7: Defined and explored six scenarios A simple but effective mathematical model (partly based on using the level of software investment as an indicator to show strong correlation to employment levels) was developed by the Foresight Scenarios project to explore the qualitative development of employment levels under those six scenarios, with the outcomes shown in Figure 3-8. Details of the model are described in a technical annex to the CEPIS Foresight Scenarios project.

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Employment in EU-15 Software and IT Services Sector under the six Scenarios

Total Software & IT Services Sector Employment levels (EU-15)

4,000,000

3,500,000

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

'Renaissance'

'Steady Climb'

'Global'

'Fight Back'

'Dark Days'

'Decline'

0 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Year

Decline

Overall

Dark Days

High

Fight back

Medium

Supply of Skills within EU Demand for Skills within EU ICT Industry Supply of Skills within EU Demand for Skills within EU ICT Industry Supply of Skills within EU Demand for Skills within EU ICT Industry Supply of Skills within EU Demand for Skills within EU ICT Industry

Global

Low

State of Skills within European Union (ICT Industry)

Steady Climb

ICT practitioner Skill level

Renaissance

Figure 3-8: Employment under six scenarios

+

+

+

-

-

-

+

+

+

+

+

-

+

+

+

+

-

-

++

+

++

+

+

+

+

-

+

-

-

-

++

+

+

++

+

+

+

+

+

-

-

-

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+

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+

+

+

Figure 3-9: Quantitative implications of the scenarios

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Figure 3-9 shows the quantitative implications of the six scenarios, in terms of the likely impact on supply and demand for three broad levels of ICT practitioners within the ICT industry. A – sign indicates a decline or no change, + indicates a slow increase, and ++ a rapid increase. Figure 3-10 shows the quantitative implications of the six scenario projections, in terms of estimating the possible supply-demand imbalances in 2010 and 2015. It is important to remember that these estimates relate to IT Practitioner levels for the ICT Industry. The figures for ICT Practitioners across the whole economy would be correspondingly higher. 2010 Labour Market Imbalance Estimates Scenario A: Scen. B: Scen. C: Scen. D: Renaissance Steady Global Fight Climb back

Scen. E: Dark Days

Scen. F: Decline

Demand:

250,000

205,000

204,000

178,000

139,000

101,000

Supply:

180,000

175,000

178,000

178,000

139,000

102,000

Surplus +/ Shortage -

-70,000

-30,000

-26,000

0

0

1,000

Scen. D: Fight back

Scen. E: Dark Days

Scen. F: Decline

2015 Labour Market Imbalance Estimates Scenario A: Renaissance

Scen. B: Steady Climb

Scen. C: Global

Demand:

243,000

188,500

129,800

150,000

111,000

38,000

Supply:

192,000

186,000

131,300

120,000

90,000

30,000

Surplus +/ Shortage -

-51,000

-2,500

1,500

-30,000

-21,000

-8,000

Figure 3-10: Scenario Projections for 2010 and 2015 This figure shows that for most scenarios, there is an excess of demand over supply, and even on the worst scenarios, there is only a small supply surplus. The e-skills Foresight Scenarios study report contains a wide range of additional analysis, as well as a number of conclusions and recommendations which have implications for the Industry and Policy, and for future work. These include: 1) Further elaboration of the scenarios developed in the CEPIS study in workshops and dissemination of the understanding generated, for both ICT Industry and ICT User organisations. 2) Creating a greater awareness, understanding, and acceptance of the threats and opportunities arising from globalisation of ICT activity growth;

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3) Promotion of improved understanding for both the Industry and public policy of the real, quantitative position of e-skills in Europe; 4) More serious collaboration between the ICT Industry and policy-makers on the impacts of the cyclical effects of the ICT market on e-skills supply and demand; 5) Improving existing EU-level data collection of e-skills, and meaningful benchmarking against the e-skills position in competitor economies; 6) Examining the quality aspects of skill shortages more closely, and recognising the need to track skills excellence, in addition to overall skills volumes; 7) Exploration of innovative mechanisms for addressing university-industry mismatches, 8) Joint action to counteract negative signals about ICT practitioner work.

3.11 Recruitment behaviour of employers The HARMONISE project conducted primary research into employers recruitment preferences and practices. Interviews with 27 employers were supported by a study of advertisements for 119 positions, across five European countries. The findings of this research are presented in annex 12.526. Another study based on interviews with 35 large employers across 10 countries, also supports these findings (Capra and Marinoni, 2006). The findings from these studies are remarkably consistent across employers and across countries (as well as between the three surveys). They are strongly suggestive of market place realities. 1) Regarding the different capabilities of applicants, it is probably fair to rank employers’ overall preferences in order of importance: a) Work Experience (in the role being recruited for in particular), b) Non-technical skills (relevant social skills), c) Formal Qualifications (degrees/diplomas are important, but do not have to be exclusively in Informatics/Computing), d) Vendor Certifications, but mainly where customers were looking for this from their suppliers’ staff or they are associated with specific areas (QA and security were mentioned), e) Vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certifications (these had the lowest perceived value). 2) Employers’ perceptions of recruitment behaviour in their sector were that ICT Professional certifications were of minor importance; 3) It was rare that employers “recognised” external ICT Practitioner certifications (in respect of greater status or rewards); 26

See pp. 253.

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4) Not a single respondent acknowledged use of any standard ICT Practitioner skill/ competence framework (like SFIA, AITTS, etc.); 5) EUCIP was comparatively unknown to employers, except in Estonia and (particularly) Italy; 6) The Knowledge, Skills and Competencies of applicants were assessed in a number of different ways. Staged interviews, accompanied with other tests (either job specific – e.g. getting applicants to develop a small website – or more general psychometric) were also used in some cases. The important provision in section 3.127 must also be remembered, which is where the primary vendor imposes the need for certification within the ICT vendor channel partners. Unfortunately, there were no representatives of this sub-sector in our sample.

3.12 Conclusions for the future of ICT Professional Certifications The secondary market of training and assessing ICT Professionals for relevant certifications, arises from the recruitment of these Professionals through the primary labour market. In general, the greater the excess of demand over supply, the less value employers are likely to place on applicants with qualifications. Whereas when the labour market is easier, discrimination between candidates will need to be more serious, which creates a (comparatively) higher value of certifications. It is notable that, although Figure 3-10 suggests that most of the scenarios involve some kind of shortage, the levels of shortage are considerably lower than predicted in previous forecasts. Certainly if the three core-drivers conspired – for example, with a strong overall growth in off-shoring to economies beyond the EU – the serious shortages experienced at the end of the 1990s would be unlikely to be repeated. In that situation, the supply available to employers would grow, and factors that enabled them to discriminate in their recruitment selection processes - for example, the possession of relevant certifications - would begin to assume more importance. More fundamentally, the future development of ICT Professional Certifications will depend on how employers’ preferences will change in the future. Significant increases in demand for such certifications cannot be expected without significant changes in employers’ attitudes. Such a change could in principle, come about in different ways, but it is difficult to see how much change will occur through the existing market mechanisms. The recruitment survey discussed in the preceding section demonstrated that professional certifications are relatively low in most employers’ recruitment preferences. A very substantial change in employers’ recruitment behaviour would be necessary to achieve widespread recognition and adoption of (harmonised) professional certifications. It might be that a new and respected certification scheme resulting from this

27

See page 27.

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HARMONISE project (cross-domain and cross-brand), could achieve credibility, critical mass, and eventually market traction. As IT projects get larger, more expensive, and have higher risk (particularly in the public sector), the demand for increased professionalism in ICT work could grow, in response to public, business, media pressure, or even Government intervention. There are already hopeful signs of such professionalism beginning to emerge in some EU markets. Certification would have a place in such developments. While a “top down” (regulatory) approach might have some success, it is not clear whether sufficient political will exists to try to introduce regulation into this marketplace, either at the national or at the EU level. A consenting multi-stakeholder approach, involving the ICT industry and including the whole-hearted support of the major vendors, is much more likely to be successful. Key Messages of this section: •

The value of certification varies greatly, depending on the state of the labour market at any time

•

The ICT labour market in Europe has grown strongly over 40 years, punctuated by sharp declines every 8 to 10 years

•

There are many sources of supply, each showing a time lag in responding to demand

•

There are difficulties of definition and measurement, however there are attempts in progress to remedy them

•

The major factors driving demand are: -

The general business economic and investment climate

-

The pace of innovation in ICT

-

The rate of off-shoring

•

There have been long periods, occasionally severe, of skills shortages, with difficulties in measurement, and shortages are often confused with skills gaps

•

Previous studies of future demand have proved unreliable, all seriously overestimating demand

•

A recent CEPIS study of six future scenarios predicts an excess of demand over supply on most scenarios, but with shortages considerably lower than other forecasts

•

The Harmonise survey of recruitment practice showed little employer enthusiasm towards certifications

•

A new harmonised certification scheme responding to market demand for increased professionalism in ICT, cross-domain and cross-brand, might succeed if it gains support from the major vendors.

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4. The System of ICT Skills Certification “Investigating how transparency, comparability, transferability and recognition of competencies and/or qualifications, between different countries and at different levels, could be promoted by developing reference levels, common principles for certification, and common measures, including a credit transfer system for vocational education and training.”28 In the previous section we looked at the ICT professional labour market. The aim was to explore the nature of this market and to clarify realities that need to be considered before looking at the ICT certification market in more detail (see next section 529). Great efforts have been made to clarify the nature of different functions, roles, and specific occupations, over recent years. Various supply channels of ICT professionals exist today, and they vary considerably in their reaction time to serve demand and resolve emerging skills gaps and shortages. New job profiles (and occupations) originate from the enormous pace of technological change and innovations, and shortening of product lifecycles. This section further analyses certification systems for ICT professionals, while focussing on existing offerings and arrangements. Achieving greater transparency, comparability, transferability and recognition of competencies and qualifications, presumes a deeper understanding of these systems. The aim is to examine and describe the structure and fundamental elements of ICT certification systems. We get acquainted with the basic architecture, modes, procedures and principles which characterise the current systems. The preceding aim is to gain a better understanding of how these systems operate. Insights about these new credentialing systems, from some referred studies, are valuable but certainly not satisfactory because they are either not up to date or do not clarify in required detail and objectivity, what certifications actually are, and what they are able (or unable) to deliver. Existing reference material was analysed and included in our analysis when appropriate. Noticeably, only a small amount of work has been done so far to address the issue of harmonisation. And until recently, only a small number of research studies have addressed the role of ICT professional certification in the given context. Remarkable work has been done by CompTIA (2004) and Adelman (2000). Their studies describe the phenomenon of ICT professional certification. While Adelman (2000) argues the need to be aware of newly emerging systems and creating “parallel universes”, CompTIA (2004) discusses how to overcome existing communication malfunctions in education and industry, through an overarching 28

29

The Copenhagen Declaration: http://ec.europa.eu/education/copenhagen/copenahagen_declaration_en.pdf [last visited 19 July 2007]. See pp. 81. Next section 5 looks into the nature of these changes and resulting dynamics in the ICT field which explain further the supposed role and origin of ICT professional certification.

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framework and common language. These are all issues and problems which clearly state the need to achieve convergence of existing approaches. The study points out activity areas and suggests possible ways to achieve harmonisation (at least to a certain extent) in this area. Hence, subsequent analysis is an important step to prepare the ground for harmonisation of ICT professional certifications and the resulting tasks and challenges. In order to exploit mutual benefit, today’s proliferation of offerings requires agreement on “reference models”, founded on common principles and agreed procedures. Consequently, we will look at available models and specific activity areas which need to be addressed with a harmonisation approach. This analysis is complemented by available quality standards and their potential to contribute to the future harmonisation process of ICT professional certifications (in section 630).

4.1 Relevance and Value of ICT Professional Certifications The reduction of the life-cycle of an individuals’ knowledge and skills is an important force driving the growing demand for continuous learning and related qualification and training courses (Cedefop, 2005, pp.3). ICT professional certifications offer a means to realising continuous professional development and the up-skilling of workers. As they are independent from national authorities and qualification systems, they are able to react faster to demand than the educational system, and they have answers to some of the questions the traditional systems don’t. Certifications can be useful to implement incompany training. Also to allow the (re-)entering of ICT professionals from other sectors or specialisation into new fields which have become attractive as they offer better prospectives to develop one’s career in ICT. Most field experts see the pertinent value of certifications in product-specific knowledge and skills, demanded by a company or their clients. The current growth in the demand of ICT professionals with competencies in programming, developing, administering and customising ERP31-Systems of the software vendor SAP, may serve as an example. Certifications are becoming attractive as they formally validate ICT vendor product competence, and mastery of software solutions/technology platforms in the workplace. ICT professionals can regularly update relevant knowledge and skills through certifications. Although ICT professional certifications serve to formally acknowledge a candidate’s learning achievements, the perceived value is often discussed controversially. Our analysis showed that industry certifications are comparatively “low on the lists of things employers are looking for” when recruiting ICT professionals. We conclude that the challenge for those seeking to increase their “value” is to find ways to change employer behaviour.

30 31

See pp. 112. ERP = Enterprise Resource Planning.

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To date, certifications do not seem to form a significant part of the recruitment requirement. Of course this conclusion needs to be clarified in more detail through targeted research activities in the future. Interestingly, analysis of job advertisements also supported the finding that certifications are not at top of employers selection criteria when hiring ICT professionals. However, certifications which seem to have relevance for employers, tend to be product-focused or vendor-specific, and are generally issued by the most prominent ICT vendors. Our assumption is that due to better marketing, these certifications are better known to ICT professionals. And, as they are based on popular ICT products which employers or customers are familiar with, they know what they can expect to get from ICT professionals with the relevant certifications. More details of the analysis and results are presented in annex 12.532. There has been an impressive rate of growth of the ICT professional certification market, especially since 2000. The numbers of issued certifications (particularly those from major ICT vendors) can be seen as a clear indication of increasing relevance and attractiveness of ICT professional certifications. This is due to developments mentioned above and of course the significant marketing efforts and campaigns of major ICT vendors (for whom ICT professional certification constitutes a compelling business). The impacts of these developments on higher education (one of the major supply channels of ICT professionals) has created debates in this area. For example, Adelman (2000) states that we need to care about these “[…] non-formal, global systems of learning opportunities, assessment, and certification”. The author argues that they longer ought to be ignored in institutional, state or system planning because a significant magnitude has been reached; he compared this evolving credentialing system (nonformal system) to traditional higher education (formal system), aiming to identify similarities and dissimilarities. For industry associations, vendors, and employers of ICT professionals, the values of credentialing systems (according to Adelman, 2000) lie in: •

guaranteed currency of knowledge,

•

intellectual and skills leadership of certified employees,

•

less down-time and greater efficiency, particularly in a rapidly-changing technological environment, and

•

where applicable, staff interactions with other parts of the industry through the ICT professional skills certification “guild”, hence greater organizational knowledge.

Furthermore, certification of persons as a concept appears to be a appropriate way to increase the mobility of the ICT workforce in Europe. From this perspective, certification programmes are competing for being part of the body of knowledge and for becoming an integral part of an individual’s professional development and career path. If there is greater awareness about ICT certifications amongst employers, particularly with regard

32

See pp. 253.

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to trust and real value delivery, and there is broader recognition through employers of “valid” ICT qualifications, ICT certifications promise an increase in the employability of individuals. Neither condition has yet been realised today.

4.2 ICT Professional Certifications Striving for Broader Recognition In general, non-formal ICT certifications claim to be broadly recognised by industry (eSCC, 2004). At the same time, ICT professional certifications are not clearly linked and classified by agreed ICT qualifications and ICT skills frameworks. The “value” of certification systems and their association to ICT professionalism needs to be explored further. A multitude of offerings and products exist and a proliferation of job titles and roles can be observed (as substantiated in subsequent section 533). The certification market is difficult to overview due to the significant variety and diversity of ICT professional certification products and offerings on the market. This is obviously one reason why certification of ICT practitioners possesses a mixed reputation, and in some cases has resulted in devaluation for employers and other people in the technology field. For ICT vendors, the broader goal of ICT professional certification is a necessary and important goal to be attained. Broader recognition requires higher awareness and transparency, as well as better visibility of what is available. Awareness includes gaining (public) recognition, by demonstrating to employers and academia that ICT professional certifications are a “valid” ICT qualification. An appropriate way to achieve transparency is to agree on “meta” and/or “reference models” that are founded on common principles and agreed procedures. Achievement of broader recognition of ICT certifications seems to rely primarily on the availability of “reference” or “standard” profiles or definitions, for job roles or performance requirements. This particular aspect of harmonisation is developed later on in this section. To define job requirements and to compare different certifications, a common language is required at the outset. Ongoing developments are concentrating on the analysis of certification schemes and job profiles (Petersen et al., 2004) which build a basis on which to develop and deliver specific training solutions for candidates (e.g. see the list of ICT Professional certifications (Harmonise, 2006) as well as section 5). However, relevant information is usually not easy to access and is treated as “hidden treasure” by many certification programmes. So, we are sailing the “red ocean”, not the “blue ocean”!34 Hence, it is important to identify options of how to exploit the mutual benefit of ICT professional certifications.

33 34

See pp. 81. Blue Ocean Strategy provides a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant. Based on book "Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant" of Kim and Mauborgne presenting a proven analytical framework and the tools for successfully creating and capturing blue oceans. See http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/ [last vested 20 July 2007].

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Certifications offer alternative ways to approach the area of ICT professionalism (Fernández-Sanz, Garcia-García, Weiß, 2007). ICT certifications offer “opportunities-tolearn” and can contribute to a larger transition process towards individualised learning paths. These learning paths or opportunities preferably ought to be linked to an overarching qualifications structure or framework, which is broadly recognised by employers and ICT professionals in Europe or beyond (Povalej and Weiß, 2007a and 2007e), (Petersen et al., 2004). The tolerated “mystification” of some ICT professional certification programmes can be identified as one of the pivotal problems that needs to be solved in order to achieve harmonisation. Emerging myths are generally stimulated through marketing campaigns of products. Better transparency of certification content and requirements through an open access policy appears to be counter-productive, as it contributes to the “demystification” of popular ICT certification programmes.

4.3 Brief Glimpse at the ICT Certification Market Although there are existing market studies which address ICT certification, there are not many, and they generally do not have up-to-date market figures (if they have them at all) They are sponsored by ICT vendors or industry, creating questionable objectivity and neutrality. Due to the innovation speed, and rapid change of offerings on the certification market we decided to conduct our own research of the ICT professional market, to achieve a reasonable empirical base for planning the harmonisation approach. There are no authoritative figures published for example, enrolments, issued ICT certifications etc, which substantiate the relevance of ICT certifications as adequate entry points to ICT professionalism. And, until recently, there has been no central registry or information source (besides TechCareer Compass35 of CompTIA and some non-official certification shopping sites that accumulate various offerings36). Information is highly fragmented and has to be obtained directly from certification providers or various information sources (e.g. journals). The data has not been collected in a rigorous scientific manner, and is more often marketing oriented or vendor-dependent. Actual figures of certification enrolments (see also Figure 1-137) seem to underline the importance of these credentialing systems: Microsoft for example, reports about 3,2 million certifications of their popular Microsoft Certified Professional program since its launch 13 years ago. Figures of other vendors e.g. Cisco (600,000 professionals to October 2005), Oracle (350,000 professionals to December 2006), and Sun (456,000 participants) show that this is only part of the total (Povalej and Weiß, 2007c). For individuals, it is difficult to get an overview of the current market and to choose the right credentialing system. To find the right product for themselves, they need to plough through the numerous interest, salary and popularity surveys. In parallel, paying 35 36 37

See http://tcc.comptia.org/ [last visited 20 July 2007]. See list of resources/ reference material available of Harmonise Project: http://www.cepisharmonise.org/php/index.php?id=13 [last visited 20 July 2007]. See page 18.

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attention to job advertisements to determine the contextual value offered through ICT certification programmes, is also relevant. Analysing job advertisements shows where there is a demand gap of qualified ICT professionals on the labour market (Tittel, 2006). As already mentioned an analysis of job advertisements has been conducted by this project, with the results of this survey described in annex 12.538. A regularly updated top ten list of industry-based ICT certifications is published by Certification Magazine (Ed Tittel, 2006). If the current ICT certification market is analysed, six main categories/groups of ICT certification systems can be identified. ICT certifications are offered through: 1) ICT vendors (industry or product-related certifications), 2) vendor-neutral organisations 3) vendor-independent organisations 4) vendor collaborative associations 5) professional associations, and last but not least, 6) government agencies. With regard to the following criteria, certification offerings can be grouped into three major catagories (see Figure 4-1)39:

38 39 40

•

First criterion is the status and sponsorship of the organisation offering the certification;

•

Second criterion is a focus on technology or specific products/ solutions;

•

Third criterion is coverage/ proportion of declarative and procedural knowledge with regard to role-specific task proficiency (see Figure 4-1340 for a matrix of performance components as signals of performance).

See pp. 253. See as well section 10, pp. 194. See page 77.

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Criteria Certification Offering

Organisation Status & Sponsorship

Focus on Technology or Specific Products/ Solutions

Product Related?

Vendor Specific e.g. Microsoft

Vendor Sponsors

Close link to ICT vendor product/solutions

Vendor Neutral e.g CompTIA Vendor Independent e.g. IEEE, EUCIP

Industry Assoc. / Collaborative vendor sponsorship Vendor Independent Org. / Professional Association (Financially Independent)

Coverage of Knowledge (Role Specific Task Proficiency)

Declarative Knowledge

Procedural Knowledge

Yes

No

Yes

Different product related technologies

Yes

Yes

Yes

Vendor neutral technologies (Technologically Independent)

Not Necessarily

Yes

Yes

Figure 4-1: Characteristics of Certification Offerings ICT vendor specific (or dependent) certifications are those strictly related to the ICT vendor’s product characteristics and performances (hardware, basic software, application software). Vendor-specific ICT certification programmes are offered by nearly every ICT vendor, not only by big market players such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Novell, etc. ICT vendor neutral certifications are those related to a homoegeneous cluster of ICT products with comparable characteristics and performances. This encompasses certifications offered by vendors but is not strictly dependent on a specific (software) platform. Characteristics are: •

coverage of different product-related technologies/products/concepts

•

a vendor-neutral body of knowledge and syllabus

•

a focus on both procedural and declarative knowledge (rather than productrelated knowledge)

•

selection by the candidate of degree of specialisation on vendor-specific products and related knowledge/skills).

Certifications of this type are typcially sponsored through collaborative vendor sponsorship and are available from industry associations for example, CompTIA. ICT vendor independent certifications are those related to the activity on ICT products, such as EUCIP, EXIN, etc. Characteristics are: •

coverage of different vendor-neutral technologies/products/concepts

•

a vendor-neutral body of knowledge and syllabus,

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•

a focus on procedural and declarative knowledge - not necessarily productrelated, but it can be if the candidate prefers specialising in product-specific skills (however there is no principle need to do so, and alternatives do exist).

This type of certification also compares to qualifications offered through educational bodies and vendor-independent sponsorship. Vendor-independent certification programmes are offered mainly through vendor-independent organisations (for example, institutions, academies) and/or professional associations such as ICCP (http://www.iccp.org/), SANS (http://www.sans.org/), IEEE (http://www.ieee.org/), etc. For example, it includes EUCIP developed by CEPIS, AITTS in Germany or Certified Software Development Professional by IEEE. Characteristics of certification offerings are closely linked to products and solutions of ICT vendors, vendor-specific sponsorship, the vendor-specific body of knowledge and a product-oriented syllabus (with a focus on specific products/solutions/concepts, and on procedural knowledge). The market of ICT certifications is looked at in more detail in the next section. Readers who are particularly interested in the market of ICT professional certification should continue directly to section 541.

4.4 Analysis of ICT Professional Certifications An important goal towards harmonisation is the achievement of a better understanding of the certification models, procedures and principles amongst stakeholders. Although most people in the ICT field know about ICT professional certifications, the knowledge and general understanding of how these systems operate is rather generic and astonishingly low. Our aim is to define and describe the fundamental elements of ICT certification systems. The definitions and explanations of what should be understood about ICT certifications by ICT professionals (or more generally, persons) vary. In the scope of this report we refer to the definition of certification from Dixon and Beier (CEN, 2006): Definition of certification Certification often means the awarding of a certificate, or other testimonial, that formally recognizes and records success in the assessment of Knowledge, Skills and/or Competencies, as the final step in the completion of a Qualification. However, it is also used, in particular in relation to ICT Practitioner occupations, to mean the Qualification as a whole. It is important to be aware of these two (“narrow” and “broad”) meanings of Certification.

41

See page 81.

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Another definition can be found in (Tissot, 2004): “Certification is the process of formally validating knowledge, know-how and/or skills and competencies acquired by an individual, following a standard assessment procedure. Certificates or diplomas are issued by accredited awarding bodies”. In general, ICT professional certifications are seen as a credential - the result of an objective assessment procedure run by an approved third party, in which an individual meets the performance specifications delineated in job profiles which are recognised by industry stakeholders (CEPIS, 2004), (Cedefop, 2006)42. We argue that generic ICT skills profiles (also referred to as “reference profiles”) are a fundamental element of ICT skills frameworks (and an important building block of workoriented qualification frameworks). However, there is an absence of appropriate documentation, guidelines and descriptive material. Only few publications exist today that can be perceived as “objective” and approaching the topic in a neutral “scientific” way. Recognisable reference material and attempts are (Adelman, 2000), (CompTIA, 2004), (Petersen et al., 2004), (ISO/IEC 17024, 2003), (Cedefop, 2006). Analysing web sites of certification programmes generally results in a list of respective certification titles43 (which are of perceived relevance by a candidate) and related exams that need to be passed before permission can be granted to participate in the final assessment and certification process. Certification or job titles mostly refer to the “definition” element and exams to the “diagnostic test, training and test” element shown in Figure 4-744. However, there are additional elements (or modules) which need to be regarded as parts of a fully-fledged certification system. Next, we will look at the components and general architecture of ICT certification systems.45

4.5 Components of ICT Certification Systems A certification system summarises the set of procedures and resources for carrying out the certification process of a certification programme, which leads to the issue of a certificate of competence by the certifying body (ISO/IEC 17024, 2003) (see Figure 4-2). A certification system normally follows specific policies supporting quality and market recognition. These policies include the operation of specific procedures by the required resources. In contrast to other types of conformity assessment bodies, such as management system certification/registration bodies, one of the characteristic functions of a personnel certification body, is to conduct an assessment which uses objective 42 43 44 45

See also section 10: Glossary, pp. 194. See “List of Certifications” of Harmonise Project: http://www.cepisharmonise.org/php/index.php?id=53 [last visited 20 July 2007]. See page 62. For clarification of terms used here, please see also the definition of terms in the glossary (section 10, pp. 194).

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criteria for competence and scoring. It is recognised that such an assessment, if well planned and structured by the certification body, can substantially serve to ensure impartiality of operations and reduce the risk of a conflict of interest (ISO/IEC 17024, 2003). In addition, the organisation itself shall operate a management system which is documented, covers all the requirements of an International Standard e.g. ISO/IEC 17024 (ISO/IEC 17024, 2003), and ensures the effective application of these requirements. In addition, the management system should include arrangements for product development, stakeholder involvement, and quality assurance (Weiß, Stucky, Dolan, Bumann, 2005).

resources and procedures to run certification process a (=certification system a) certification process a activity 1a

activity 2a

activity 3a

certificate a

certification body

requirements for certificate a (=certification scheme a) requirements for certificate b (=certification scheme b) certificate b activity 1b

activity 2b

activity 3b

certification process b resources and procedures to run certification process b (=certification system b)

Figure 4-2: Typical Composition of ICT Certification Programmes (Cedefop, 2006, p.25)

4.5.1 Certification Programme and Certification Body A certification programme specifies certification requirements related to selected categories of persons, to which the same particular procedures, standards and rules apply. Many certification programmes are initiated in the form of job profiles which provide a required skill set, for example, for a specific professional occupation in ICT. Certification consists of a certificate as a credential, a certification body, requirements of skills defined in profiles, and accompanying policies e.g. security, confidentiality, impartiality and fairness. The certification process is part of a certification programme and includes such activities as development, maintenance, decision and use of certificates, etc.

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Certification of persons is one means of providing evidence that the certified person meets the requirements of the certification scheme. Confidence in the respective certification programmes ought to be achieved by an internationally accepted process of assessment, subsequent surveillance and periodic re-assessment of the competence of certified persons. In response to the ever increasing velocity of technological innovation and growing specialisation of personnel, the development of new certification programmes for persons may compensate for variations in education and training, and thus facilitate the global job market. If commonly accepted and agreed occupational frameworks are used to develop certification programmes, it is a precondition that comparability and transferability are achieved. This constitutes an important step towards harmonisation of ICT professional certifications.

4.5.2 Fundamental Principles and Tasks The certification body shall appoint a scheme committee (ISO/IEC 17024, 2003), to be responsible for the development and maintenance of the certification programme, for each type of certification being considered. The scheme committee shall fairly and equitably represent the interests of all parties significantly concerned with the certification programme, without any particular bias. Where a certification programme is developed by organisations other than the certification body, the respective developer of the programme shall adhere to the same principles. In summary, it is important to keep in mind when developing certification programmes, that commonly accepted occupational/ qualification frameworks are used. For definition of requirements for ICT skills profiles, accepted ICT skills frameworks ought to be used. Both concepts are pivotal elements linking the four thematic areas of this study of work.

4.6 Architecture of ICT Certification Systems The ICT skills certification model allows in principle, two career paths. The typical path is to enter at base (or core) level and either climb up the certification ladder, or follow a given certification path with increasing work experience, hands-on expertise, knowledge and skills. Alternatively, the opportunity exists for a candidate to use ICT certification as a “door opener” to step into the ICT profession as a lateral entry. Certification ought to offer flexible entry points to the IT profession at all levels. Most ICT certification models follow a widespread pyramidal structure distinguishing three expertise (or qualification) levels: entry (base), intermediate (mid), advanced (high). Systems provide individuals with multiple points of entry and are in general based on so-called “certification ladders”. The number of certified professionals decreases as the expertise level increases (Tittel, 2004a), (eSCC, 2004, p.22). A certification ladder consists of a sequence of individual certifications starting with relatively simple requirements and lightweight credentials. The model steadily advances to more complex requirements and advanced credentials. Certification ladders offer good career guidance, allowing individuals to plan their professional self-development. Obviously, such programmes tend to bind individuals to a specific programme. It appears that the intention is to make it easy for individuals to step on the ladder to reach

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the first levels, and to climb to higher rungs (levels) of the (job) ladder, the requirements are more challenging (Tittel, 2004a). In this way, individuals are able to develop their own career. The combination of credentials offers professional development for the individual and often – at least in the view of certification vendors - holds the key to interesting, long-lived careers and lucrative consulting opportunities. It is important to mention that this contradicts the results from our own research, namely the employer interviews and analysis of job advertisements.46 The pyramid model is generally applied to all programmes, whether vendor-specific, vendor-neutral or vendor-independent. These programmes are not only multi-tiered, but they also offer separate tracks, each with its own tiers and thus separate sets of credentials (e.g. Microsoft). Other companies, e.g. Novell and Cisco, keep the same names of credentials in separate tracks (Tittel, 2004a). This already indicates a resulting difficulty to navigate even within the boundaries of certification systems. The architecture of programmes follows either a hierarchical structure (specifying certification paths or tracks; see Figure 4-3) or a modular structure (describing respective training or learning modules that ought to be passed to prepare for a specific certification; a good example are IBM certifications; see Figure 4-4 and Figure 4-547). Level 3

Certificate

Level 2

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

….

Level 1

Figure 4-3: Programme Composition: Certification Path

Figure 4-4: Programme Composition: Modular Structure

In linear architecture, certificates are passed through one after another (e.g. first beginner, second advancer, third professional). In modular architecture, the certificate consists of different modules, which have to be passed to get the final certification. The modules can be independent from each other and they have equal weighting among themselves, provided the modules are on the same level to get a certification. This is comparable with elective subjects at universities to get the final degree (bachelor or master). Some programmes mix up both structures to a “hybrid” architecture (examples are Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle certifications). CompTIA does not organise its certifications explicitly according to paths or modules. Modular structure is used solely for A+ and HTI+ certification. 46 47

See annex 12.5, pp. 253. Source: http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=96 [last visited 11 January 2007].

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Figure 4-5: Example Modular Structure: Oracle E-Business Suite 11i Financial Consultant Vendor-specific and vendor-independent programmes differ by cost of entry, which is generally higher for the latter. Due to the dynamics of labour markets (CEPIS, 2002, p.22) and the responsibilities, functions and infrastructure of an organisation, someone at one company can have a drastically different skill set than someone in a similar role at another company (Bean, 2004). Individuals generally lack the provision of guidance and pathways for lateral entries to plan their career and step into the ICT labour market. There is a need to develop a common set of standards (body of knowledge) to define the role and agree to a set of skills or competencies to which these certifications lead. In Figure 4-6 the identified connections between several certification components (certification vendor, certification partner, ICT course participant, etc) are shown. Example: ICT certification vendor Microsoft defines and gives many ICT courses e.g. “Analysing Requirements and Defining Solution Architectures”, “Managing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Environment”, “Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0”, etc. In turn, CompTIA is offering the same ICT courses in its vendor-neutral certification programmes e.g. CompTIA A+ or Network+. CompTIA acts in this case as an accredited certification partner of Microsoft which offers similar or identical ICT courses.

Figure 4-7 depicts a conceptual model of the learning and certification system. The model ought to be perceived as a simplified reflection of reality. We see it as an appropriate way to approach a complex area such as ICT professional certification, through simplifying, identifying and structuring sub-systems and their core elements. The arrows symbolise and indicate strong dependencies and influences between the component parts (CEPIS, 2004), (Cedefop, 2006). The chart further illustrates the resulting complexity arising from dependencies and assignment of duties and responsibilities to various stakeholders.

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In reality, the elements shown can be combined in different qualification and training facilities, depending on legal and national situations, e.g. regulations, industry requirements, market conditions etc. The model is framed by work experience and education. ICT professionals typically start their career with formal education. After receiving credentials from formal education, an individual normally starts his/her professional career with training on the job. However, a direct step into the job and occupational role is also conceivable by acquiring job-specific knowledge and skills primarily by practice. The latter scenario places emphasis on the importance of non-formal and informal learning (Weiß and Povalej, 2006). ICT Certification Vendor

accredits

Certification Partners

accredits, defines, offers

ICT Courses

ICT Exams

ICT Certs

A

Ex.A

Cert.A

C

Ex.C

Cert. C

D

Ex.D

E

Ex.E

B

Cert. D.E

F

takes part

ICT Course Participant

Figure 4-6: Identified Connections between Certification Components The basis on which to provide specific training for individuals is the definition of requirements associated with occupational roles, to derive and develop relevant training programmes. In this context, diagnostic testing provides a test environment which is open and based on no supervision or strict regulations. Diagnostic tests aim to offer a voluntary evaluation of a candidate to assess their current status of knowledge and skills. Diagnostic and final testing both rely on the job definition and qualification requirements as a prerequisite. The final testing is optional for individuals to formally verify, and publicly recognise the fulfilment of a required qualification. Certifications are credentials which result from this voluntary evaluation process. Issued certifications are either lifelong or have to be renewed when expired.

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work experience certification test training diagnostic test definition education

Figure 4-7: Learning and certification: acquiring of relevant qualification (Cedefop, 2006, p.21) The extra dimension is work experience, which is continuously gathered by the individual during the working process, informal learning and continuous professional development. Testing and certification are strictly differentiated. Testing is the assessment of a person who meets the defined requirements imposed by a specific qualification. The requirements are predefined by job profiles. Testing can be part of conformity assessment or evaluations (examination) within a certification system, but does not have to refer to an existing norm or standards; whereas certification must be impartial and consequently be independent of training providers and test centres. Therefore, it has to be decoupled from the requirement to attend training courses (IT Sector Committee, 2004). Training programmes should build e-skills. Certification programmes should guarantee skill levels; and it should be noted that the learning process does not have to be completed by certification. Nor should certification require attendance on a particular training programme. The evaluation and hence examination by a certification system is optional and voluntary for individuals. Diagnostic testing assesses the training needs of an individual. This form of test determines the candidates degree of knowledge and skills. In addition, training providers offer counselling interviews to recommend training courses or identify and agree upon learning objectives. Therefore, in the integrated learning process this activity refers to the process step “assess” (see Figure 4-1048). Next, we will explain in more detail the elements which build the model shown in Figure 4-7.

48

See page 68.

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4.7 Definition A central element of training and learning is predefined skill requirements. Typically skill requirements are expressed and stored by means of ICT skills or job profiles. The modelling of respective profiles therefore, needs to be seen as a core element when analysing ICT professional certification programmes. This area of definition is closely linked to occupational classification systems such as ISCO-8849 already presented in section 350. In addition to occupational classification systems, various ICT skills frameworks and qualification frameworks commonly exist at a national level. Petersen et al. (2004) established a comprehensive knowledge-base of existing classifications of ICT practitioner work and ICT qualifications. The authors analysed the interaction of ICT work and employment, and ICT education and training (Figure 4-8). Bearing in mind the harmonisation of ICT professional certification in Europe, the “[…] matching of ICT qualifications with ICT skill profiles at different levels is a vital process” (Petersen et al., 2004). In regards to harmonisation, the results of this study imply that in terms of European transparency, all the different certification and training systems in Europe need a common reference to which they can appraise and evaluate their certification programme (firstly by analysing the definition of ICT skills requirements expressed in ICT skills or job profiles) offers and curricula. “Generic ICT skills profiles constituting the skills framework therefore provide the fundamental reference, beside other criteria, for the determination and description of adequate ICT qualifications” (Petersen et al., 2004).

Figure 4-8 Interaction of ICT work and employment and ICT education and training (Petersen et al., 2004) Typically the interaction of ICT work and ICT education makes it necessary to identify and describe developments in the ICT business and work areas, against the background of different ICT market segments, and relate them to ICT practitioner skills and skill 49

50

International Standard Classification of Occupations - an International Labour Organization (ILO) classification structure. There is an updated version of the structure being prepared for release by 2008. See pp. 27.

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needs on the one hand, as well as ICT qualification profiles and programmes on the other (Petersen et al., 2004). “[…] Skill needs of companies of the ICT sector and ICT user sectors are an important basis for the ICT qualification and training supply, both quantitatively and qualitatively at all skill levels, independent of each European education system. From a separate perspective, the ICT education and training supply has influence on ICT work and skills development, which means that education has an important role to play in supporting companies using developing technology and competencies” (Petersen et al., 2004). A recent attempt to bridge the worlds of ICT work and ICT education was made by the CEN/ISSS Workshop on ICT Skills. The results are documented in the CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA 15515) “European ICT Skills Meta-Framework - State-of-the-Art review, clarification of the realities, and recommendations for next steps” (CEN, 2006). Although this theme is not developed further here, we have pointed out the relevance and the close link to profiles and requirements as part of certification systems; which we will now explore further. Certifications are based on definitions of skill requirements which are based on skills standards and frameworks (eSCC, 2004, p.18). These definitions provide performance specifications that identify the knowledge and skills an individual needs to succeed in the workplace. They define what a person must know and be capable of doing, in order to successfully perform the roles related to a specific job. In this context, the challenge is to assess the relevant qualifications required by a specific work process, in order to derive from this the qualification required by ICT professionals (Mattauch and Caumanns, 2003, p.36) which can be broken down into knowledge, skills, and competencies. This procedure allows job profiles to be transferred into concrete and well-defined learning objectives. The availability and knowledge of learning objectives are helpful for informal learning (self-directed learning processes) and thus lifelong learning. Definitions of requirements have to be synchronised with certification programmes at regular intervals. As already mentioned, certification programmes provide specific certification requirements, related to specific categories of persons to which the same standards, rules and procedures apply (Facklam, 2004). Certification programmes should not be confused with, and are not necessarily the same as definitions e.g. job profiles. Definitions are ideally provided by organisations independent from certifications. The defined job profiles by the Career Space Consortium51 serve as an example. Professional profiles constitute an integral part of a national or European-wide ICT Career Portal, which serves as central reference point and information system for those seeking information about ICT career opportunities. The profiling for different skill levels in terms of "ICT skills profiles" can firstly be understood as a standardised definition and

51

Career Space is a consortium of eleven major information and communications technology (ICT) companies as BT, Cisco Systems, IBM Europe, Intel, Microsoft Europe, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Philips Semiconductors, Siemens AG, Telefonica S.A. and Thales plus EICTA, the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Industry Technology Association.

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qualitative description of the current ICT skill needs and job profiles (Weiß, Povalej, Stucky, 2005). Secondly, because these occupational ICT skills standards ought to correspond with and decrease the mismatch of existing ICT qualifications, the results of the profiling process can be understood as one important precondition and reference for the development of a common European “Framework of ICT qualifications” (Petersen at al., 2004). ICT professional certifications would then have respective reference points to achieve better transparency and harmonisation of offerings in the long run.

4.7.1 Qualification Qualification is the demonstration of personal attributes, education, training and/or work experience (ISO/IEC 17024, 2003).52 Qualification is shown in the form of credentials (e.g. certificates or degrees) or other evidence linked to the delivery and assessment of training received. Qualification is the outcome of specific training, education, or work experience and shows a significant interdependency with the personal attributes of an individual. Qualification summarises knowledge, skills, and capabilities which are required by specific activities of a job or daily life. From an employer’s point of view, the notion is associated with effectiveness of an individual in the work process. From an individual’s point of view, qualification is a precondition for successful occupation and job fulfilment, because the status of development influences his/her market opportunities and thus his/her labour market value. The achievement of key qualifications is directly connected to the compliance of specific occupational and academic requirements (Schaub, 2000, p.448). The work of Petersen et al. (2004) led to a definition and classification of ICT qualifications, in the systems of vocational education and training (VET), higher education (HE) and continuing vocational training (CVT). “One of the major contributions of the transactional EUQuaSIT work is the comprehensive analysis, documentation, comparison and evaluation of national ICT qualification profiles and programmes at all VET and HE qualification levels […]” in the five European partner countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania) (Petersen et al. (2004).53 CEN (2006) sees the connection of certification and qualification as follows. “Certification often means the awarding of a certificate, or other testimonial, that formally recognizes and records success in the assessment of Knowledge, Skills and/or Competencies, as the final step in the completion of a Qualification. However, it is also used, in particular in relation to ICT Practitioner occupations, to mean the Qualification as a whole. It is important to be aware of these two (‘narrow’ and ‘broad’) meanings of Certification” (CEN, 2006).

52 53

See also section 10: Glossary, pp. 194. See data base of ICT qualifications of project EUQuaSIT: http://www.biat.uniflensburg.de/euquasit/Outcomes/wp-1/left-frame.htm [last visited 19 July 2007].

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4.7.2 ICT Practitioner, End-User and e-Business Skills Skills and Competencies are powerful and relatively complex concepts “[…] central to the subject of the CWA, and undoubtedly viewed with different nuances in different (stakeholder) communities and between some Member States. Depending on the usage made in different communities, the meaning of the two terms can be relatively close or importantly different” CEN (2006). A detailed analysis of their meaning across Europe is provided by CEN (2006).54 The term e-skills includes ICT Professional or Practitioner Skills, ICT End-User Skills and e-Leadership or e-Business Skills (ESF, 2004), (Petersen et al, 2004), (CEN, 2006). The concept of ICT Professional Skills is favoured in this section (as throughout the whole report). In general, the term “skills” is used as the set of requirements needed by employers, from those who are capable of satisfactorily fulfilling an occupational role (Stucky, Dixon, Bumann, Oberweis, 2003). ICT practitioner skills comprise the capabilities required for specifying, designing, developing, installing, operating, supporting, maintaining, managing, evaluating and researching ICT systems, for the benefit of others. ICT end-user skills include the capabilities required for effective use by the individual user of ICT systems and devices, for whatever purpose. ICT end-users use systems as tools in support of their own work which, in most cases is not ICT. End-user skills cover basic digital- (or ICT-) literacy, the utilisation of common (“generic”) software tools in an office environment, and the use of specialised tools supporting major business functions within a large number of “user sectors”. The third category to be distinguished is e-business skills. This category of skills summarises the capabilities needed to exploit the strategic opportunities provided by ICT (in particular, the Internet) for specific industry or societal sectors. e-Business skills are strategic and innovation-management skills, not technology-management skills, which are part of ICT Practitioner skills. e-Business skills contain elements of both ICT practitioner and end-user skills, but in addition they contain a significant element of generic (non-sector specific) non-ICT skills (see Figure 4-9). Thus, the distinction between the categories is not strict, which leads to a degree of overlap between the categories. In literature, the definition of skills categories is not consistent, which creates a controversial discussion around a variety of existing definitions. Consequently, this report does not intend to enter into this discussion. An attempt was made by CEPIS (2006) to find the right compromise with regard to granularity, based on the material and literature available (CEPIS, 2003), (eSCC, 2004, p21ff), (ESF, 2004, pp.4), (Petersen et al., 2004, pp.51), (Castelli, 2004, pp.36), (Spöttl, 2004, pp.67). The usage of the levels A, B, C, D is not binding, but it is a straightforward approach of applying four vertical categories, to investigate ICT certifications indicated on survey questionnaires.

54

See also section 10: Glossary, pp. 194.

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In contrast, the SFIA model uses seven different levels of skills which were considered to be too explicit for this survey task. CEPIS (2003) suggests five levels: IT awareness, IT literacy, expert user, professional entry and professional. The new European Qualifications Framework (EQF) uses eight levels, and in due course all national and sectoral frameworks will be expected to align to the EQF. For the European eCompetence Framework, seven levels have been favoured by the CEN/ISSS Workshop.

•

A: Basic level (assistant),

•

B: Core level (technician),

•

C: Advanced level (specialist),

•

D: Expert level (professional).

Figure 4-9: e-skills by categories (Cedefop, 2006, p. 31)

4.8 Individual Learning Paths and Training Process ICT professional certifications issue credentials that should be thought of as new ways to approach the area of ICT professionalism through work-oriented hands-on ICT qualifications - as an alternative to those issued by the formal educational system. In Figure 4-755 the learning and training process has been illustrated as being closely linked to certification programmes. Figure 4-10 illustrates the integrated learning process as part of the subsystem “learning process” with diagnostic test, training and test modules. Of course, it is impossible to cover the area of “education and training” and display a comprehensive elaboration of the different views and controversial discussions here. The area of learning and testing is simply too complex and contributions too manifold that it would justify its own essay. However, we see a need to present some key messages and basics to enable the reader to better understand the following subjects: acquisition of skills, respective modes of delivery and the relevant activities of the training process. ICT certification programmes ought to be conceived as part of an observable transition process towards individualised learning paths. This shift towards individualised learning has created attractive market niches. The subsequent section 5 deals with this matter further.

55

See page 62.

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In this regard, the concept of certification is growing in importance as a means of assessing an individual’s informal learning outcome, to produce evidence of individual’s achievements in lifelong learning. Individuals acquire relevant knowledge and skills by undertaking learning and training activities, and assessment is used to verify that they have achieved defined individual competencies. Individuals are increasingly confronted with an ever growing demand from industry and society for continuous self-directed learning (Behrmann, and Schwarz, 2003) and informal learning. As a result, the number of training programmes is steadily increasing and access to and provision of learning content is improving. Learning content has to be continuously adapted to changing requirements by employers and individuals (Mattauch and Caumanns, 2003, p.33) (also see Figure 4-10). The process steps “learn”, “reinforce” and “support”, build the “training” module. Knowledge and skills are acquired by learning methods which are supported by learning content and media. Individuals secure their knowledge and skills through learning material and the repetition of learning content to meet the defined learning objectives. The training provider offers support to students in the form of a help desk or moderated practice sessions to answer questions on the learning content. The last activity in the sequence shown is to validate if the learning objectives have been met by the student, based on the learning outcome (“validate”). The learning outcome and candidate’s competence is measured by one or more assessments. These may be written examinations, web-based, oral, practical or observational. Testing is offered by test centres which could be part of a training centre. The effectiveness of the learning process is influenced by the following dimensions (Smith, 2005): training and motivation, quality of the trainers, quality and relevance of materials and reinforcement of learning. test training

Integrated Learning Process diagnostic test

training

test

diagnostic test

assess

learn

reinforce

support

validate

Figure 4-10: Learning process by modules and process steps (Cedefop, 2006, p.33)

4.8.1 Learning Methods and Styles (Formal, Non-Formal, and Informal Learning) Literature offers a multitude of contributions in the form of learning models, styles, etc. Thus this report does not intend to repeat the available material. As ICT certification aims to assess a person’s fulfilment of predefined requirements (Facklam, 2004), learning methods and styles have a significant influence if these requirements are to be

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met. A good introduction and overview of fundamental learning methods which the report mainly refers is provided (Smith, 2005) at Figure 4-11. Formal learning stands for “traditional” learning environments, the hierarchically structured chronological learning system (education, academic studies, a variety of specialised programmes and institutions for full-time technical and professional training) (Smith, 2005). Learning takes place in the form of physical, face-to-face, teacher-centred classroom training (instructor-led training). Non-formal learning is learner-centred and provides learners with more flexibility. It includes any organised educational activity outside the established formal system. The education provided is in the interests of the learners, and the curriculum planning is preferably bottom-up and undertaken by the learners themselves. Examples of nonformal programmes are common, and almost all employer-led and state-provided training falls into this category. Informal learning is a truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires attitudes, values, skills and knowledge, from daily experience and influences, by training environment and training resources (public courseware, training material, library, books, mass media, etc.) in the individual’s environment. Non-formal and informal learning are more difficult to distinguish. Generally, the delimitation of informal and non-formal is difficult and not strict. Often the lines between the distinct ways of learning are blurred and the categories overlap. Nevertheless, we make an attempt to point out the differences, as shown in Figure 4-11. Formal education is linked with schools and training institutions; non-formal with community groups and other organisations; and informal covers what is left, e.g. interactions with friends, family and work colleagues or communities of practice. Informal learning is defined as “learning which takes place in the work context, relates to an individual’s performance in their job and/ or their employability, and which is not formally organised into a programme or curriculum by the employer. It may be recognised by the different parties involved, and may or may not be specifically encouraged” (Smith, 2005). Other definitions emphasise learning that takes place outside a dedicated learning environment, non course-based learning activities, (which might include discussion, talks or presentations, information, advice and guidance) which are provided or facilitated in response to expressed interests and needs. This encompasses planned and structured learning, based on identified interests and needs, which is delivered in flexible and informal ways, in informal community settings. Another way of viewing informal learning is that it is simply implicit learning (Smith, 2005) with the learning result being the acquisition of tacit knowledge (“that which we know but can not tell”). Informal learning is linked to situational learning. Learning in this sense is understood as being internal, or “within the soul” of individuals (Smith, 2005). Educators that largely work around conversation can be seen as informal; those working through set curricula are formal.

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purposes

timing content

delivery system

control curriculum formation

56

Formal long-term & generally credential-based

Non-formal short-term & specific, non-credential based

long-cycle/ preparatory/ full-time standardised/ inputcentred Academic

individualised/ outputcentred individualised/ output centred practical

entry requirements determine clientele institution-based, isolated from environment rigidly structured, teacher-centred and resource intensive external/ hierarchical

clientele determine entry requirements environment-based, community-related

top-down set curriculum

flexible, learner centred and resource saving self-governing/ democratic blended: top-down or bottom-up negotiated curriculum

informal situated learning, specific, activity- and experience-based individualised individualised, contextualised practical, tacit knowledge individual interests and needs community-related, work context, collaborative, collegial flexible, informal ways, non-course based self-directed bottom-up no curriculum, conversation based, interest and needs

Figure 4-11: Ideal type models of formal, non-formal and informal education (Cedefop, 2006, p.35)

4.8.2 Test Certifications provide formal documentation to show that an individual has met predefined performance specifications. Having successfully passed the required assessment(s), the individual receives a credential. Assessment or testing is an important part of the certification process. Testing is a means of providing information about an individual’s standing with respect to a specific set of knowledge, skills, and competence, as defined by a specific job profile or occupational role (eSCC, 2004, p.18). For this reason, testing is a critical task that strongly influences the degree of recognition by relevant stakeholders. Accordingly to eSCC “assessments must be reliable, valid, objective, unbiased, and criterion-referenced” (eSCC, 2004, p.18). One added benefit of a good test is the straightforward nature of the training and learning content which the test covers. If the test measures knowledge, then accompanying books and manuals should be helpful in preparing for the test. If the test measures specific job skills, then on-the-job experience, working with simulations and gathering of other types of experience will be the most effective way to prepare (Foster, 2004). Psychometrics is the science that underlies testing. 56

Distinction of formal and non-formal is partly taken from (Smith, 2005).

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Question quantity and question quality are two very important aspects of testing work. If a certification test is bad, it is most likely because of a problem in one or both of these aspects. Diagnostic tests are important for individuals prior to the final exam and for the preparation of a specific certification scheme. Recognition of the issued credential depends on the anticipated quality of the final examination tests by the community (Stevens, Sandro, 2004). ICT professional certification providers make great efforts to educate programme participants about the importance of security issues. The aim is to prevent test cheating and exam piracy. Therefore, certification providers create strong policies for nondisclosure of confidential test information, testing retakes and certification revocation. An example of diagnostic testing is Microsoft’s skill assessment program. Certification providers normally tend to increase the certification programme’s value by making sure that the right individuals get certified and that the test content is not compromised (Stevens, Sandro, 2004). Hence, certification bodies typically conduct data analysis of exam results and develop strategies for minimising programme risks through better test security practices. Albeit, communities of learners are an important means for individuals to prepare for certification. Providers monitor the activities of Internet communities e.g. by combing the Internet to identify test brain-dump sites (Stevens, Sandro, 2004). Good test content consists of questions which reasonably measure the appropriate knowledge, skills, or competence of an individual. The questions are the primary test to capture what the candidate knows, or is able to do in conformity with the chosen certification scheme. Unfortunately, many examinations fail to measure the abilities they claim to test (Foster, 2004). In ICT certification, which is heavily dependent on job skills, the tests tend to use questions that measure memorised information, asking for facts and definitions rather than a demonstration of skills. Thus, some tests appear to be irrelevant and overpriced. Even when the test questions are good, there still needs to be a sufficient quantity to get a reliable score. Just asking a person one question, even if it’s an excellent question, is inadequate. A test needs roughly between 50 and 70 questions to produce a good score (Foster, 2004). With too many questions, money and time are wasted (Foster, 2004). In practice, tests are centrally operated by the certification provider or an accredited test provider57. They are formed from a test base of possible questions and topics to be queried. Alternatively, tests consist of a document review produced by the candidate and/or an oral examination (interview) based on this documentation (Behrmann, and Schwarz, 2003, p.244). Before a candidate is able to sit an examination, it has to be checked that they meet the requirements for admission to the certification scheme. The test typically combines testing methods shown in Figure 4-12 A good overview of evaluation methods in selfdirected learning environments is given by Behrmann, and Schwarz (2003, p.231-257). 57

Well known test providers are: Pearson VUE: http://www.vue.com/ and Thomson and Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ [last visited 20 July 2007].

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test

web-based

Oral

written

document analysis

observation

assess skills, knowledge

interview, interaction, personal attributes

skills and knowledge

project, processorientation, situative

content

50-70 questions, multiplechoice, test base

questions learning material, set curriculum, knowledge

outcome project, working process, skills

delivery system

audit, educator

paper, review

audit, experiment

control

Internet, standardised, test centres central

open and closed questions, case studies, multiplechoice paper

competence, experience, tacit knowledge, learner centred competence, behaviour, skills

Central

central

decentral

response

synchronous

synchronous

system

formal and non-formal most common approach for many certifications especially to assess basics; e.g. vendorcertificates, EUCIP, etc.

formal, nonformal higher education, university, vocational training, certifications e.g. German AITTS, EUCIP for elective and/or advanced level certifications

asynchronous formal learning higher education, university, vocational training; more and more common for certifications at advanced or specialist level.

asynchronous formal, nonformal realised by certification program-mes e.g. AITTS (assessment of project documentation)

decentral, self-directed asynchronous non-formal informal typically applied in vocational training courses or programmes; partly in some highly specialised ICT professional certifications

criterion objective purpose

example

Figure 4-12: Overview of test methods (Cedefop, 2006, p.39)

4.8.3 Education and work experience Education and work experience are the two fundamental ingredients in the model introduced to structure ICT certification (shown in Figure 4-7, p. 62). Becoming an ICT professional requires both learning know-how and know-what (eSCC, 2004, p.47), as well as continuous professional development. Required education and work experience are defined and documented in specific job profiles or occupational roles. This activity refers to the “definition” module of the aforementioned model. Furthermore, education and work experience are the foundation on which to develop training courses and content.

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4.8.4 Education Education lays the foundation and is responsible for the initial transfer of core knowledge and basic understanding (know-how) of ICT workers. Typically, this is the first step of an ICT workers career path. Education teaches concepts, theories, problem solving capabilities and constitutes the pre-requisite to be trained on specific job requirements. Credentials in the form of degrees obtained by students are widely recognised and typically valid for a lifetime. Usually ICT workers obtain their first qualification with relevance for employment, through a traditional linear education and training.

4.8.5 Work Experience After entering into the ICT profession, the core knowledge and skills gained are continuously expanded (eSCC, 2004, p.48). Through fulfilment of occupational roles, individuals gain work experience and competencies and preferably gain and expand their knowledge and skills. Work experience is continuously gained in the daily working process, and also by informal learning and continuous professional development. Without doubt, evidence of relevant work experience is important for the individuals’ current and future employability (eSCC, 2004, p.48ff.). If a candidate has a required qualification for a specific job, it does not necessarily imply that he possesses the required competencies to fulfil his professional role. Therefore recent, relevant and extensive hands-on experience of an ICT professional is the top hiring criteria of employers, followed by non-technical skills and applicable formal qualifications (or education) as a means of growing and expanding his/her knowledge and skills. This is followed by vendor certifications (if requested by customers and are associated with specific areas) and vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certifications (which are the lowest perceived value to employers). After having explained the elements of the learning and certification model, we now present a derived taxonomy to classify and group available certification systems according to specific criteria.

4.9 Taxonomy Within the Harmonise project (2007 a) a list of ICT certifications (2007 b) was compiled with as many certifications as possible, to create an appropriate empirical base for the analysis. The awarding of certifications enables KSC and qualifications to be standardised according to the working requirements of companies and organisations in that area. However, as there are many certifications on the market, it is a real certification jungle out there (Povalej and Weiß, 2007 b). This list of ICT certifications (HARMONISE, 2007 b) has been the starting point of an in-depth analysis of available certification systems. Povalej and Weiß (2007 c) identified ten criteria that allow for the categorisation and comparison of systems on the market (a taxonomy): 1) Type of Product provides a classification of the operating field of the certificate supplier.

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2) Technology is useful for classifying certificates and certification paths of technology, which is taught in the training course. This can be further differentiated into hardware, middleware and software areas. However, some suppliers can not be grouped exactly. 3) Target Group differentiation is very important. Often there are three target groups in a working area: beginners, advancers and professionals or specialists. These are also different phases of a certification path; the exceptions are certificates for specialists, because usually beginners are not allowed to take part in such a training course. 4) Requirements and/or Entry Level are formal preconditions (e.g. to have already acquired the beginners certificate before starting with a training course for advancers in a working area) as well as informal preconditions (e.g. to have some years of work experience in a working area) which are considered necessary before being accepted to participate in a training course. 5) Structure of the certification ladder or certification path is closely linked with the target group. For the main part there are two characteristics: a linear architecture and a modular architecture. 6) Learning Support and/or Preparation are the ways offered by a certification supplier, to prepare for examination: classroom, eLearning systems like virtual classroom, online tests or online courses, special literature and learning materials etc. 7) Certification Process means the organisation of the complete certification, the processes and/or activities behind certification and the responsibilities, etc. The accreditation of a certification is very important. The quality of the training courses and of the associated certification has to be guaranteed. There are different opportunities for examination: written (e.g. multiple choice, drag and drop, problem solving scenarios) or practical (e.g. build and configure a special hardware network). 8) Job Titles describe title, name of credential and associated qualification. There are often different job titles for similar certifications. 9) Documentation and Background Information are very important and are often part of the certification suppliers marketing strategy. The potential customer should have access to all necessary resources and information about the certification product, ideally on the homepage of the certification suppliers web site. They should have documentation (information packages, content) guidance (study guides, study and training material) and transparency (certification ladders and paths, best practices). 10) Market Volume describes the demand of a certification. This includes success, number of enrolments, visibility, and appeal. Povalej and Weiß (2007 c) apply these criteria to classify the offers of some well known certification suppliers (such as CompTIA Certifications, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, HP, EUCIP).

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As well as applying the taxonomy, we can achieve greater transparency by using performance standards to classify and compare various offerings. The central aim is to catalyse the convergence of existing approaches by agreeing on a set of principles and procedures of certification, and by establishing a shared body of knowledge and recognised performance standards (for ICT professionals) in Europe.

4.10 Performance Standards for ICT Professionalism Job profiles are a fundamental component of ICT professional certification systems. ICT certifications attest to an individual’s mastery of a specific ICT job role by validating their conformity with industry performance standards. Performance standards are therefore a central concept in the harmonisation of certifications. Presumably, they are an adequate way of clarifying what is actually delivered by ICT certifications and what is not (Povalej and Weiß, 2007 b). The concept of performance standards is now examined more closely. ICT skills needs are defined and expressed in job profiles, with descriptors that refer to a specific ICT Skills Framework. Petersen at al. (2004) states that generating generic European ICT skills profiles (“reference profiles”) ought to be closely linked to respective ICT qualifications. Standards for ICT professionalism and related qualifications could then be described through meaningful and broadly recognised ICT professional certifications. In an ideal world, ICT professional occupation areas and ICT skill profiles should correspond to ICT education and training fields, as well as to ICT qualifications (Vocational Education and Training (VET), Higher Education (HE)) (Petersen et al., 2004). Industry-based certification systems promise widely accepted performance standards across industries, to support individuals to define their professional career paths in ICT. Although, these systems operate globally, they have not relied hitherto on a common framework which arranges certifications with a common structure for the development, description, and systematisation of relationships between certification programmes. Presumably this can be regarded as the major inhibitor for broader application of industry-based certifications, as tool to systematise and organise qualifications and related job profiles in the industry. It seems that this debate should not be viewed separately from the debate on European ICT qualifications and European ICT skills framework. “In terms of European transparency, all the different qualification and training systems in Europe (and therefore the study and training suppliers) need a reference to which they can appraise and evaluate their qualification programme offers and curricula. The generic58 ICT skills profiles constituting the skills framework therefore provide the fundamental reference, beside other criteria, for the determination and description of adequate ICT qualifications” (Petersen et al., 2004).

58

We see that “reference” in this context can be applied synonymously.

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What is needed and demanded by the industry is an open system, which allows the IT profession to be approached at distinct levels, through flexible entry points. The availability of such an overarching framework can thus be regarded as a prerequisite for the broadly endorsed creation of a shared body of knowledge of ICT professionalism in Europe. In particular, it would support a coherent European-wide development of learning opportunities, through developing adequate learning offerings (based on industry-based skill/ performance standards and a shared body of knowledge). Currently, a project team supported by experts of some of the leading national ICT skills frameworks (SFIA UK59, CIGREF60, AITTS61, etc.) agrees on the elementary structure of a European e-Competence Framework within the phase of the CEN/ISSS62 Workshop on ICT Skills. As postulated by EUQuaSIT (Petersen et al., 2004), after successful project completion, a common framework can be expected which should be used to organise and classify ICT certifications according to a coherent structure (e.g. by creating “reference” job titles or generic ICT skills profiles). Consequently, the workshop preparing an activity which aims to gain the support of the leading stakeholders of industry-based ICT certifications, to achieve better transparency about what is available on the market. According to Campbell (1990) eight major performance components can be distinguished (CompTIA, 2004, p.97). The first column in Figure 4-13 shows four major performance signals, and the eight components are sub-divided in two categories: declarative and procedural knowledge (motivation is not shown, however it is a major determinant of performance) (CompTIA, 2004, p.97). Figure 4-13 points out that neither the formal nor the non-formal education and training systems, are able to deliver all the required components. Scope and reach of ICT certifications are clearly oriented towards role-specific task proficiency (Povalej and Weiß, 2007 b).

59 60

61 62

SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age): see http://www.sfia.org.uk/ [last visited 19 July 2007]. CIGREF (To promote uses of information system as a factor of value creation and sources of innovation for the company): see http://cigref.typepad.fr/cigref_accueil/ [last visited 19 July 2007]. AITTS (Advanced IT Training System) – APO: see http://www.apo-it.de/ [last visited 19 July 2007]. CEN/ISSS provides market players with a comprehensive and integrated range of standardization services and products, in order to contribute to the success of the Information Society in Europe; see http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/wsict-skills.asp [last visited 19 July 2007].

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Signals of Performance

Rolespecific task proficiency

Non rolespecific task proficiency

Written and oral communication

Demonstrating effort

Maintaining personal discipline

Facilitating peer and team performance

Supervision

Management and administration

DK

DK

DK

DK

DK

DK

DK

DK

PK

PK

PK

PK

PK

PK

PK

relevant work experience relevant educational degree vendorspecific certifications vendorneutral certifications Note: DK = Declarative Knowledge; PK = Procedural Knowledge

Figure 4-13: Performance Components as a Function of Signals of Performance (CompTIA, 2004, pp. 97) ICT job or professional profiles need to cover the skills requirements of ICT professionals. A precondition is that performance standards are expressed as concrete ICT skills requirements. Profiles should preferably be based on a common structure and use common reference points to describe performance of a concrete job role. Structure and reference points should be defined through a recognised and comprehensive ICT skills framework, which covers skills specialisation and levels (Weiß, Povalej, Stucky, 2005). Job profiles describe measurable requirements (preferably through learning outcomes) which could be assessed within a certification process. However “[…] description and delimitation of work and skill requirements in a "profiling process" (clustering) is a big challenge, especially in highly dynamic business and work areas such as ICT” (Petersen et al., 2004). Agreed performance standards necessitate an architecture which identifies three types of knowledge, skills and competencies: (1) academic knowledge and skills, (2) employability knowledge and skills, (3) specific occupational and technical knowledge and skills needed for work (CompTIA, 2004, p.103). Hence, there seems to be a need to develop a common language for an information exchange between formal and nonformal systems, e.g. for describing critical work functions, etc. (Povalej and Weiß, 2007 b). Consequently, strong efforts are currently being made to develop a common language and framework which specifies skill requirements relevant for job roles and/or occupations in ICT, in a coherent way (CEN/ISSS, 2007). Stucky (2004) complains that industry-based certification systems do not adequately address all required components for ICT proficiency, namely declarative knowledge, experience, and tool “know how”. However, actual offerings often focus solely on application oriented training of “know how” and forget the “know what” and “know why”. ICT proficiency requires that candidates are adequately trained with declarative

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PK

knowledge and understanding of underlying theoretical concepts. Otherwise once knowledge, skills and competence are acquired, they quickly become obsolete due to shortening technology life cycles of products (Povalej and Weiß, 2007 b). As previously stated, industry certifications are comparatively `low on the list of things employers are looking for´ when recruiting ICT professionals (Povalej and Weiß, 2007 b). This creates a challenge for those seeking to increase the value of certification, to find ways to change employer behaviour (Dixon, 2007). A solution is a performancebased framework that shifts the focus from job titles (CompTIA, 2004, p.102) to performance components and signals.

4.11 Summary and Conclusion The section examined ICT professional certification systems from different views and perspectives. ICT professional certification systems have been discussed in connection with standards of ICT professionalism. We argued that harmonisation requires better transparency of what is available on the certification market. ICT certifications are part of a prevailing transition process towards lifelong learning and related individual learning paths. Most ICT certification systems operate globally and are independent from national authorities (especially vendor-sponsored certifications) which makes them attractive as the global performance standard for the ICT industry. At the same time, ICT professional certifications are not clearly linked and classified by agreed ICT qualifications and ICT skills frameworks. This might explain why they are rated as being of low value by employers (especially with regard to the recruitment process of ICT professionals). ICT certification systems of ICT professionals were analysed in greater detail. The architecture has been explained through fundamental components and structure. A conceptual model has been introduced describing the distinct areas and modules to be considered for a sound analysis. A taxonomy has been proposed to categorise and group ICT professional certifications according to the derived criteria. ICT skills or job profiles have been identified as a pivotal concept to overcome the existing boundaries of ICT work and education because they are a concept known in both systems. This is even though they are used for different purposes and have varying objectives. We pointed out that a key precondition for harmonisation is the creation of generic ICT skills profiles based on a common language which describes work and skill requirements in a respective “profiling process” (clustering of skill sets into qualification units). Common language necessitates the use of a common structure and common reference points, preferably defined by a European ICT skills/competence framework. ICT professional certifications offer performance signals for role specific task proficiency and acquired declarative and procedural knowledge. We argued that performance standards are an adequate way to capture the offered “value” of ICT certifications and to better understand the relationship between ICT certifications and formal ICT qualifications. Certification providers themselves stress that “inappropriate or mistaken use of certifications can lead to unintended outcomes”. ICT certifications have to be conceived as integral part of a body of knowledge of ICT professionalism. ICT

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certifications have answers to some of the problems that the formal education system does not. They offer open, flexible entry points to the ICT profession and can serve as global, industry-oriented performance standards. An important aim towards achieving harmonisation is gaining a better understanding amongst stakeholders about (meta) model or architecture and principles and procedures of certification. Knowledge of how these systems operate is rather generic and astonishingly low. Information about ICT certification is highly distributed and has to be obtained from various certification providers or various information sources. Desired information about certification needs to be made openly accessible. This would require a clear shift from the marketing/business oriented behaviour of providers, to customeroriented services for learners and employers; which would admittedly lead to a “demystification” of some programmes. Today, ICT skill profiles and certification content are often safeguarded as “hidden treasures” by many certification programmes. For that reason, ICT certification is real business in terms of markets, products and competition and we are not sailing the “blue ocean”! The project consortium propose the use of EUCIP professional IT Profiles as an initial step towards harmonisation of IT certification. These profiles are based on a body of acknowledges which recognised formal and informal qualifications and experience of IT Professionals. ICT certification providers should make their systems more transparent and available to employers. Transparency and harmonisation could lead to new markets it but requires enhanced dialogue, generic ICT skills profiles and the right climate (in the sense of a “blue ocean strategy”). Some experts talk about this in the context of “mutual zones of trust” however, our performance standards example has shown that there is space for co-existence. Stakeholders and providers of certification should contribute actively to this harmonisation process by “opening” their systems and making them more transparent. The concept of performance standards as well as the soon to be available European eCompetence Framework being developed by CEN/ISSS, appear to be appropriate means to arrive at common solutions in the near future. Recognised European career or learning paths may ease navigation through the current “jungle” of ICT certification. This also requires an analysis of the current market of ICT certification (see section 5). Key Messages of this section: 1) Stakeholders and providers of certification should contribute actively to the harmonisation process by “opening” their systems and making them more transparent 2) A comprehensive knowledge base needs to be created, of how these systems operate and common principles need to be agreed upon 3) ICT certifications need broader recognition and higher awareness 4) ICT certifications have to be conceived as an integral part of a body of knowledge of ICT professionalism 5) There needs to be a shift from marketing/business oriented provider behaviour, to customer-oriented services for learners and employers

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6) ICT skills or job profiles have been identified as a pivotal concept to overcome existing boundaries. The EUCIP Professional Profiles for IT are outlined in Annex 12.13 7) Common language necessitates the use of a common structure and common reference points, preferably defined by a European ICT skills/competence framework 8) The right climate needs to be created in the sense of a “blue ocean strategy”

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5. The Market of ICT Skills Certification 5.1 Introduction Information and Communication Technology and its applications are diffusing at both an organisational level (companies and public authority organisations) and at a family and individual level. ICT end-users and ICT providers need specialists who are able to plan, develop and manage ICT Systems at work and also to understand, build and manage the new ICT related business. To manage the ICT Systems Life Cycle, different level of skills are required and it is common to discover a skills mismatch, or gaps at an individual or organisational level. Training and/or work experience can fill these gaps. If training is completed with exams which validate what has been learned (we call this exam a certification), we can say that the certification guarantees the acquired skills, and that competence is acknowledged by the market. The aim of this section is to analyse the ICT Certification Market, and to create a theoretical models which help to understand how the market functions. The configuration, the characteristics and the size of the ICT Skill Certification Market, can be defined as “the totality of potential and actual clients who share a specific need that could be satisfied by a defined service/product (Kotler, 2002)”. This depends on four main factors: 1) The evolution of Digital Technology based products and services 2) The evolution of the ICT offering by vendors 3) The evolution of the “go to market” model of technology products/services 4) The evolution of the ICT client needs

5.1.1 The evolution of Digital Technology based products and services For the evolution of ICT technology, changes relate to 3 phenomena: •

the expansion of digital products for a consumer market, which is developing at a rate twice that of the business market. New Digital Products and related services, partially substitute existing products based on obsolete technologies, with products based on new digital technology that allow the consumer to hear music, see films, produce photos, communicate, and play. This introduces new consumer models which are centred on individual mobility and information, and on emerging communication, information and security needs at domestic level.

•

the availability and expansion of new Business Value Added Services (BVAS) based on IP Networks, PC Mobile and Smart Phone. These allow the development of process innovation (SFA/video CRM, SCM, Portals, learning) and product/service innovation (teleticketing, smart cards, telepayment, e-Car, eShop, telemedicine) in enterprises and public authorities.

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•

the development of new Digital Content broadcasting on Digital TV.

New Digital Products, Services and Content highlight two important market consequences: •

The extension of the product and service range, including the substitution of non Digital products and services that offer more user functions than the old products/services.

•

The huge extension of the individual and professional client base which, due to the digitalization of communication and personal services, is pushed towards new Digital Technology products through the concept of “mobility”.

The evolution of digital products, services and content not only affect the business market, but also the competencies which the skills certification market of specialists needs to design, realize, distribute, install, deliver and maintain these products, services and content. This market works in parallel with the distribution channels, and the innovation of business processes and digital/digital-embedded products and services. “Digital-embedded product and services”, are non-digital products and services which can be innovated by substituting part or all of an old technology with new digital technology, like photo cameras, high fi, telephones, TV, etc. Or, they can be innovated by the introduction of some digital components (for instance, RFID or other types of sensors) to add new digital functions, or possibility to have remote control or security improvements on material and immaterial products.

5.1.2 The evolution of vendor ICT offerings Technology innovation, market competition and digital literacy push the evolution of vendor offerings, which forces further integration of different technology markets. For example: •

Telecommunications (TLC) apparatus and services will remain the most important technology market in terms of value (technology will allow fixed and mobile communications, of voice, static and dynamic images, test, graphic etc.) The integration of TLC with other segments through “embedded” technology, will allow the development of new services and products for both the consumer and the business market;

•

Information Technology (IT) products and services, in combination with consumer electronics, will create the ability to obtain new devices for Web access for special services, and will continue to allow data, images, graphics, voice processing, and storage and retrieval. The integration of IT and TLC will allow development of the Net Centric approach for large infrastructures of processing and communication;

•

Consumer Electronics (CE) in combination with TLC will offer a wider range of digital products like a new web phone, intelligent terminals and appliances;

•

Office Products (OP) will reduce their presence in the market but in combination with IT will offer a number of Multifunctional products for the retail market, like the all-in-one printer-scanner-copier- fax;

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•

Broadcasting (B) in combination with IT and TLC will allow the realisation of new Digital TV and IP TV;

•

Media & Contents (M&C) in combination with TLC and B will allow the realisation of New Media and will increase the types of Value Added Services (VAS);

As a result of these changes, it is reasonable to foresee new companies entering the market and a lot of mergers & acquisitions, which will lead to a changing geography of the Digital Offering.

5.1.3 The evolution of the “go to market” model of technology products/services The term “go to market model” refers to the way product and services are supported, sold and delivered to the final client (B2B or B2C). The success of the evolution of the go to market model of Digital Technology based Products and Services depends on two important factors: •

Intensive and successful use of “distribution leverage”, to support the delivery of millions of product pieces to the right clients at competitive prices.

•

The availability of new integrated services for people/families, referred to as Individual Digital Systems (IDS), which centre on the integration of the cellular phone, portable PC and Internet, and Domestic Digital System (DDS). These are centred on the integration of the fixed phone and familiar PC and Internet.

The emerging importance of the Distribution Channels of hardware products, software products and services, has encompassed a variety of players within the traditional structure of an IT distribution channel, for example: •

Vendors: are the companies that innovate, produce and distribute their product and services to the main local markets in the world. They mainly use an indirect channel approach for distribution, apart from a selected number of very large, multinational clients who can be served directly through their own commercial resources.

•

Distributors: are the companies who, after an exclusive contract for the specific geographical area, assume the responsibility of each significant local market to represent and serve the local market through a variety of Third Parties. To obtain significant business results, a distributor has to invest in the “localisation” of the products and services which the local market has. Localisation consists of translating the documentation and the user interface into the local language, adapting the offering to local rules and legislation.

•

Third Parties: are the companies with different specialisations that are an effective contact with the clients of the local market; they have to specialise their offering of products and services for their clients, as classified in two segments: -

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Consumer: this segment includes families and very small companies (SOHO, under 10 employees) and is served by specialised third parties like Large Organised Retailers (LOR), Large Specialised Retailers (LSR) and Dealer chains. These types of third parties are “box movers”, who are interested in standardising their offering as much as possible to reduce commercial and assistance costs;

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-

Business: this segment includes Small/Medium Companies and Public Administrations (SME, up to 500 employees), and Large Companies and Public Administrations. They are served by third parties who can add value for their client with special solutions or applications. Third parties include VAR (Value Added Reseller), Corporate Reseller and System Integrator.

Along with the IT distribution channel, specialised roles and professions to sell, install and maintain all types of IT Systems have emerged for businesses and individuals. To represent what happened to the distribution of ICT Technologies in previous years, we present a complex new model relating to Customers and Third Parties who are in the market because of IT and TLC integration. This is represented in Figure 5-1.

Figure 5-1: Customers and Third Parties in the IT and TLC Market (Source: SIRMI) The convergence of information and communication technologies, and the emerging set of digital technology based products and services, also drives us towards a more complex and integrated distribution channel, representing the “go to market” model of Digital Technologies. This is shown in Figure 5-2.

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Figure 5-2: The go to market model of Digital Technologies (Source: SIRMI) In the “go to market” model, it is important to emphasise that a few multinational vendors distribute their products and services to the local markets (mainly single national countries with important potential or a group of countries) through a very sophisticated Chain of distributors. This includes a huge number of local third parties who have different specialisations, and whose large professional staff assist millions of clients.

5.1.4 The delineation of the analysis to B2B Certification Market To reduce the complexity of the Certification Market analysis, we have focussed on the ICT Certification Market (Professional Profile) for the B-to-B segment, represented in Figure 5-3. The ICT User Certification Market has completely different characteristics, for instance: •

The ICT Professional Profiles are related to the competencies of the ICT Specialists in respect of ICT Life Cycle Systems, whereas ICT User competencies are related to NON ICT Professional Profiles;

•

ICT Users who have a NON ICT profession, account for at least 50% of the total population of a country, compared with ICT Specialists who represent around 45% of the working population;

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•

Finally, organisational strategies strongly influence the required competencies to plan, build and operate the ICT system at work, whereas ICT user competencies are less important at working level and more important at a social level.

We have to distinguish in which sense the B2B Certification Market is the key market. Although individuals are the beneficiaries of certification, it is often the employer who organises and pays for the training and qualification process. These costs are justified by the increment of the specialist’s competencies and performance. The employer will also pay the certification fee if it is considered to be of recognised value, by a client or the market. This means that in the ICT Specialists “universe”, an important percentage would be trained during their working life, but only a reduced part of this percentage will also be certified (it is difficult to give figures on this assumption). ICT Cert Market (Professional Profile)

ICT Cert Market (User Profiles)

B-to-B Market B-to-C Market

Figure 5-3: ICT Certification Market

Figure 5-4: Delineation of the Certification Market area of analysis

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If we consider the total cost of ICT professional development for the employer, we have to include, after the basic education cost (not charged to the company), the cost of recruiting and introduction into the company, the cost of periodical technical and behavioural training and updating, the cost of the correct allocation in the organisation and in the projects, and the cost of certification, if that is the case. But in both cases (certification paid by the employers or by the employee) this amount is quite insignificant in respect to Training costs for example. These considerations make it clear as to why the B2B market is driving the Certification Market. This delineation is represented in Figure 5-4.

5.1.5 The evolution of the ICT client’s needs In parallel with the expansion and complexity of Distribution Channels, there is a similar expansion of the ICT Certifications Market. This is due to the evolution of ICT client needs, including the offering of Digital Technologies, from vendors to third parties of distribution channels, and the demand market including all types of business clients. We have a potential ICT certification market in Europe of hundred and thousands of vendors and third parties, and many millions of business clients.

Figure 5-5: ICT Skills Classifications To continue modelling the ICT client’s needs, we have to adopt one definition of ICT Certification Offerings. We will refer to the classification emerged through the Harmonise project, limiting it to 3 main types of Certifications: •

vendor dependent: ICT vendor dependent certifications relate to ICT Vendor's product characteristics and performances (hardware, basic software, application software) for instance, those related to products of Microsoft, IBM, Novell, etc.

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•

vendor neutral: ICT vendor neutral certifications are those related to a homogeneous cluster of ICT products with comparable characteristics and performances. This encompasses certifications offered by vendors but is not strictly dependent one a specific (software) platform. Examples of vendor neutral certifications are those offered by Industry or Professional Associations like CompTIA, ISCET, SPA, etc.

•

vendor independent: ICT vendor independent certifications relate to the activity of ICT products, for instance EUCIP, EXIN, PMI (USA/WW), IWA, etc.

To focus the analysis of ICT Certification Client Needs, where “certification clients” are specialists at work in both supply and demand segments, we adopt the following qualitative representation.

5.2 Analysing the Market using the 6 “O” Methodology The analysis of the ICT professional certification market will use the 6 “O” methodology63, which is based on the following factors: 1) Offering: all the products and services which follow the market needs. 2) Occupant: all the subjects (companies and customers) who express a request which can be fulfilled by the “offering” and which create a market. 3) Occasion: the moment in which the customers put the buying process into action, occasions are strongly influenced by the recurrence of purchasing. 4) Organisation: this term assembles the different actors which participate in the buying process. 5) Objectives: Goals and motivations which advance the purchase action. 6) Operations: the operational ways through which purchasing is carried out. It is assumed that there will be economic agreements between the customer and the supplier in the ICT Certification Market, as indicated in Kotler’s (2002) statement, that “the exchange is the act of obtaining an intended product by someone who offers something in return”. The ICT Certification Market will be defined through three different sectors:

63

•

Vendor: The sector of ICT manufacturers, services and content production companies that operate at a global level

•

Third Parties: The sector of companies that operate at a regional or multiregional level, inside of which we have identified distribution channels with a complex range of specialisations

•

Clients: The sector of non-ICT companies and public authorities, as end-users.

The 6 “O” methodology is commonly used by MIP-School of Management of Politecnico di Milano to guide the definition of new markets.

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5.2.1 Offer of certification ICT skills certification assesses the ability to install, customise, put into action and optimise the performance of an IT platform, as well as the ability to diagnose and solve problems. The companies providing ICT products and services (vendors) try to meet the requirements of two different kinds of entities: •

•

The companies which are part of the vendors distribution chain, and are the final suppliers for the non-ICT companies. This kind of company (third party) needs: -

to make it clear to all their customers, that their staff and services are professional.

-

to be assured that the high level personnel responsible for developing their business, will be interested in being kept up-to-date and in maintaining the relationship with existing and potential customers.

The non-ICT companies and Public Administrations, need to ensure that the platform provider’s staff who are responsible for giving technical assistance, will be trained and up-to-date.

Vendor-specific and vendor-neutral certifications are generally more interesting for third party personnel who work in the distribution channels. The end user in the non-ICT company will be interested in these certifications, if they decide not to outsource the technical assistance services of the platforms they use in their organisations. Non-ICT public authorities and companies are interested in vendor-independent skills certifications. In particular, the theoretical, methodological and practical skills necessary to plan, build and operate every kind of IT platform - which will be bought, installed and used in the organisation itself. These kind of skills are independent from the specific characteristics of the IT platforms available on the market. The given delimitation can clarify two important issues: •

the ability to diagnose and solve malfunctions of a specific IT platform installed by the company, is less efficient;

•

the theoretical issues on which the platform has been planned and built could be better understood. Additionally, both methodologies of analysing and planning new technological solutions are more appropriate for a single business client’s needs, and the methodologies which make it easier to solve selection and evalation problems of new IT platforms, could be made available.

This kind of certification can only be provided by an actor who is not a vendor or third party. This actor will be able to maintain and keep up-to-date with the necessary skills to plan, build and operate new technological innovations which different suppliers make available on the market. Vendor-independent certifications are interesting, in principle, for end-user company personnel.

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5.2.2 Occupants of the certification market The market occupants are the: Supply side: all the vendors and third party specialists who intermediate the hardware, software and services along the distribution channel, which have to be applied to the ICT systems of the end-user clients (business, domestic, individuals). In other words, the personnel appointed to the direct and indirect distribution channels: •

Direct Channel: Beside the supplier’s salesmen who offer platforms to large clients, there are the third parties specialists (software house, system integrator and VAR-Value Added Reseller) who are responsible for helping to develop projects which are directly ordered by the supplier-manufacturer.

•

Indirect channel: In this channel the third party is required to look after market autonomy of small and very small companies and public organisations (SOHO, SME, Large). The marketing definition states it is a “long” channel in which there are two types of mediators: a single distributor for every country, and a large number of third parties who are seen as “the effective supplier” by the small and very small customers. This category of specialists includes small software houses, system integrators, small VARs, informatics dealers, installers, phone shops and so on. For example, in Italy there are about 80,000 companies and 550,000 personnel employed in the supply side (Aitech-Assinform-the ICT Industry Association, 2005).

End-User Side: IT specialists who mostly work in non-IT companies and public organisations. Their task is to select and install the best mix of technological components available in the market. High level vendor specialists who work as analysts, planners and project leaders in strict relation to end-users, may also be interested in this kind of certification.

5.2.3 Occasions of purchasing in the certification market Supply side: clients (vendors and third parties) start the buying process in two particular situations: •

Vendor exigencies: the certifications are about their technological platforms and it is reasonable to expect that for every significant innovation, it will be necessary to either update certifications already released or release new certifications in substitution of the ones already available. In some circumstances the distributor must update his specialists, and the specialists of his clients;

•

Distributor and third party requirements, regarding the service volume of their market. The number of certified specialists is determined by the number and complexity of installations.

End-user side: the purchasing of this kind of certification is strictly linked to the exigencies of meeting the skills required by the clients strategic plan. This is a typical situation for non-IT companies or non-IT public authorities.

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5.2.4 Organisation The actors who participate in the certification purchasing process are: •

Vendor-dependent and vendor-neutral certifications: the actors involved are IT specialists who work with non-IT business clients and are generally part of the technical direction of a Business Unit. They have the technical and commercial responsibility of Business Units and decide how many and which specialists must acquire a certification.

•

Vendor-independent certifications: the typical actors involved are IT specialists who work in the IS Function of a non-ICT company, and who refer to the IS Manager. The IS Manager is responsible, together with the HR Manager, for deciding how many and which specialists must acquire a certification.

5.2.5 Objectives Referring to section 464: it is thought that certifications are one of the qualifications that employers request when hiring ICT professionals, although their value can vary depending on the state of the labour market at the time. The level of interest is differentiated by the specific needs of an employer: •

For the vendor, the scope of introducing a vendor-dependent and vendor-neutral certification is the need to follow the selling, installation and maintenance of a technological platform with high level professional services. This need is the same for the third parties involved in managing the local market.

•

For non-IT companies and Public Authorities, the scope of introducing vendorneutral and vendor-independent certifications is the need to guarantee the development of skills to enhance the innovation of non-IT products and services, and the automation of organisational processes. There is only interest for vendor-dependent certifications when the installation and maintenance of the technological platforms in the company/public authority is entrusted to internal specialists and not to external third parties.

5.2.6 Operations The same happens for different types of employers: in fact operative modalities by which the different types of certifications could be bought are:

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•

Vendor-dependent and vendor-neutral certifications: the purchasing is done directly by the third party, inside the distribution channel. The certification supplier is the provider of the technological platforms, the training programmes they update their own internal specialists with, and the certifications which assess the results of the training processes.

•

Vendor-independent certifications: the purchasing is done directly by the non-ICT company/organisation for an independent third party, a supplier of neither

See pp. 48.

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platforms or training programmes. The certification can be delivered by the certification authority, or by the supplier of the training process, but it must be under the supervision of the certification authority. The results of the above analysis can be summarised in Figure 5-6: ICT Vendor

ICT Third party Software System house Integrator vendorvendorvendor neutral dependent dependent certification certification certification ICT Specialists of hardware, software and services in charge to sell, add value, install and maintain New release of hardware, software and services offering

offering

occupants occasion

organisation objectives

operations

ICT specialists who work in contact with Non-IT business clients and part of Business Units Sell, install and maintain technological platform with high level of service

Self application

Purchasing from vendor

ICT Final client vendor neutral and vendor independent certification ICT Specialist in the IS Function Plan to adopt or maintain specific platforms ICT specialists in the IS Function Guarantee the development and maintenance of non ICT product and ICT process innovation Purchasing from an independent third party

Figure 5-6: Mapping of ICT Certification Market Characteristics

5.2.7 The Basket of Product Attributes After the analysis of the clients needs, we can analyse the way that the basket of certification product attributes helps to identify the importance of the product, and how it will change in the different segments identified. As the vendor-dependent certification is marketed and sold by the vendor, the certification is only one of the post sell services, as shown in Figure 5-7. From the vendor point of view, this means that the certification is important but is mainly used to support the main product (the platform). In this regard, it is reasonable to interpret the role of the certification as a marketing leverage whose real objective is to enhance the loyalty and retention of the distribution and third parties in different countries or territories.

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Figure 5-7: Basket of Attributes – Technology platform sold by a vendor On the other hand, the vendor-independent certification is marketed and sold by an independent entity. In this case the certification is the core product and inside the basket of attributes, we can consider training services to be more important, which includes the functionalities of the technological platforms, but not the actual platforms themselves.

Figure 5-8: Basket of Attributes – Certification as product sold by an independent body Having completed the theoretical analysis of ICT Certification Market client needs and product attributes, we can move forward to the interpretation of the data in Appendix 3, which is dedicated to the Harmonise Knowledge Base.

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5.3 The characteristics of the real ICT Certification Market We can use the Theoretical Model of the Certification Market to analyse the Real Certification Market in two segments: “per Type of Products” and “per Type of Clients”.

5.3.1 The per Type of Products Segmentation The complete List of Certifications in annex 12.10.165, including those quoted in the Harmonise Survey or identified through other sources, shows that four main types of Certification Suppliers are operating in the market: •

The Technology Vendors: the main suppliers of platform technologies like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SUN, Novell, etc.;

•

Various types of Industry Associations (including some vendors which focus on representing their associates in the worldwide market): the most important player here is CompTIA;

•

Professional Associations (including Certification Suppliers generated by Associated Professionals): this includes first level associations like ASQ or EXIN or IWA and second level associations like CEPIS (Association of Associations)

•

ICT Training suppliers, who also offers certifications

Through ICT Certification Market analysis, it also emerged that there is a new type of supplier: Brainbench, a Specialised Trader that sells ICT Competence Assessments of all types (up to 531 type of assessments!). Brainbench started in the USA six years ago and claims to have delivered 6 million assessments (including those delivered in Europe). This specialised trader does not sell Certifications as defined in section 5, instead they deliver exams on a self assessment basis, without any supervision! Having launched an interesting new type of service on the market to prepare ICT specialists for the more important certification procedures, we will not compare its data to those of the other four types of suppliers. The ICT Certifications Market appears to have the following structure (see annex 12.10.166, Figure 5-9): Type of suppliers Operators vs Product Technology Vendors Industry Associations Professional Associations IT Training Totals

Cert Suppliers 35 6 18 3 62

56% 10% 29% 5% 100%

Cert Products 362 51 142 62 617

59% 8% 23% 10% 100%

Figure 5-9: ICT Certification Market Structure

65 66


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It is quite evident that the Certification Market’s main interest is Technology Vendors. There are a total of 62 Certification Suppliers that deliver 617 different types of certifications. 56% of Certification suppliers are Technology Vendors, who supply 59% of the total types of Certifications. Professional Associations are also increasing their interest, which is indicated by their contribution of 29% of the total Certification Suppliers, and selling 23% of the certifications offered. We have to expect that this share will increase in the near future. The object of Certification is based on certification types, not on Certification delivered, and shows that 62% (383 out of 617) of the Certifications relate to product competence. If we consider the interest of each segment of suppliers, there is significant diversification. For instance the Industry and Professional Associations are mainly concerned with Professional Competence, with 94% and 99% of contributions in this segment respectively. An example is the Industry Association Bitkom in Germany, who launched an ICT Profile’s Portfolio through APO-AITTS with Professional Competence as the main objective. (Figure 5-10) Type of suppliers Operators vs Product

ICT Product Competence

Technology Vendors Industry Associations Professional Associations IT Training Totals

356 3 1 23 383

98% 6% 1% 37% 62%

ICT Professional Competence 6 2% 48 94% 141 99% 39 63% 234 38%

Figure 5-10: Segmentation by Certification Type IT Training suppliers however, are interested in commercialising both types of competencies. It is clear that companies with this specialisation should also cover the Product Competence (37%), which represents an interesting segment of the market. Further analysis of product segmentation has been made, based on supplier interest. Technology Vendors offer 99% (358) of Vendor dependent Certifications, Industry Associations offer 71% (36) of Vendor Independent (mainly APO-AITTS) and 29% of Vendor Neutral Certifications; Professional Associations offer 98% (139) of Vendor Independent Certifications, and IT Training suppliers offer 61% of Vendor Independent Certifications, and also 29% of Vendor Dependent Certifications. (Figure 5-11) Type of suppliers Interests of Suppliers Technology Vendors Industry Associations Professional Associations IT Training Totals

Cert Vendor dependent 358 99% 0 0% 1 1% 18 29% 377 61%

Cert Vendor Neutral 3 1% 15 29% 2 1% 6 10% 26 4%

Cert Vendor independent 1 36 139 38 214

0% 71% 98% 61% 35%

Figure 5-11: Segmentation by Certification Type (Supplier Interest)

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Product based segmentation is completed by analysing the certification price for customers. The following table shows the prices of all certification types, based on automated exams (a limitation of the main data source -Prometric). They range from €150-220, with a slight increase of price for Technology Vendors (€144) and Professional Associations (€186). The highest price is for Industry Associations (€221), as these suppliers consider their products to have a higher market value (Figure 5-12). Type of suppliers Technology Vendors Industry Associations Professional Associations IT Training

Average Prices (€) 144 221 186 157

Figure 5-12: Average Certification Retail Prices The last useful type of analysis would be on the types of examination methods (Self assessment, supervised automated evaluation, Oral examination, Blended examination) and the differences in complexity levels. However, we were unable to obtain any data in this subject area.

5.3.2 The per Type of Clients Segmentation If we apply all the considerations from section 6.1, it seems reasonable that the segmentation of the ICT Certification Market per Type of Clients will produce the following Figure 5-13 Types of operators Types of clients Technology Vendors Industry Associations Professional Associations IT Training

ICT Vendor

ICT Third party ICT Final client Software System house Integrator 358types of Vendor Dependent Cert+4 15 types of Vendor Neutral+36 of Vendor Independent Certification 3+139 types of Vendor Independent Certification 62, as the total of all types of Certifications

Figure 5-13: ICT Certification Market segmentation per Type of Clients Multinational Technology Vendors would be mainly interested in supplying their certifications to their own specialists (within different countries), and to software houses and system integrators that are involved in the localisation and personalisation of technology platforms, apparatuses and software applications for their clients. Third party specialists should be continuously updated on the latest product innovations to be able to support local clients. For the vendors, the main objective of certification is the retention of third parties who are being targeted by competitors, instead of third party management employers for whom the vendor certification is like a grant of the professionalism of his employees. For the ICT Final Clients, vendor dependent certifications could only be important if the company or public authority organisation is already managing the total Information System Life Cycle by himself. Otherwise, if some

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of the IS Life Cycle Management is outsourced to ICT service supliers (partly due to concerns about new application development), and only the main side of operations are managed internally, specialist certification needs are focused on both process and skill, and are preferably vendor-independent.

5.4 Considerations on localisation and some other product characteristics A further point to analyse, even if only done at a qualitative level, is the importance of localisation. The marketing definition of localisation states that if the same product is to be offered in different countries, there needs to be certain types of modifications to the product. Not in terms of core functions, but at least in terms of packaging, promotion and prices. The same concept applies to the ICT certification market. This appears to be very important if we analyse the answers of Harmonise respondents to the question “which certifications you know are applied in your country”. Localisation Analysis

Number of Localisations Available

30 24

25 21

20 15 11

10

8

7 5

5

3 1

4

3 1

4

1

1

2

Vendor

Industry Association (IA)

BRAINBENCH

SFIA/ISEB

ISACA (CISA - CISM)

CEPIS-EUCIP

Exin

CISSP

Comptia

APO/AITTS

SAP

Oracle

Novell

Microsoft

IBM

HP

Cisco

0

Professional Association (PA)

Vendor Name & Type

Figure 5-14: ICT Certification Localisation Analysis Figure 5-14 presents the results of this analysis. The coverage of the most quoted ICT Certifications is largely insufficient, but it is quite evident that Cisco and Microsoft have the highest ranking in the 30 European countries. This is understandable due to the high effort of localisation they have done. The importance of localisation is easier to understand: ICT specialists, who share a good understanding of the English language compared to other people in the same country, have difficulties understanding and participating in training if trainers do not teach in the local language with some translated

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texts. It is also difficult to participate in the exams if they are not supported by the local language. Further analysis on a limited list of certifications could be interesting, to determine more precise indications for the evolution of the Certification Market. A small list of Certification Products emerge from the Certification List, which presents a very high level of specialisation. The PMI and IPMA offerings included in this group are, specific to the Project Management competence Certifications, the ISACA offering is specific to the auditing competencies, and the IWA and CIW offerings are specific to the Web application competencies. This level of specialisation could be explained by two possible situations: 1) when an expert started launching those certifications, he/she was not aware of the presence of other bodies involved in the same type of certifications but in a wider body of competencies; 2) an adequate level of specialisation needs emerged which required an in-depth response in terms of competencies. Another group of Certification Products has been developed to build up a very wide body of competencies, including a variety of Competencies and Professional Profiles. If we consider that 10 or more Certification Products could be solid indications of the importance of a specific body of competencies, we can list in this group the most important vendors; CISCO, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SUN, BMC, Sybase, Zavata. The importance of this is related to the high number of third parties that are interested in contributing to both their own business and to the vendor they represent. The development of the ICT Certification vendor dependent segment, will only be restricted in non-english language territories by a limited investment in localisation. Also emerging, are very important bodies representing the interests of Industry Associations, for example APO-AITTS, or the interests of Professional Associations like Edexcell, Exin, SFIA-ISEB and EUCIP. The interests of APO-AITTS are important because they are sponsored both by the German Government and the German Industry Association. With this level of support it is obvious that they are trying to cover all the possible needs of Industry, Educational and Governmental Institutions. In addition, the competencies and profiles of ICT Specialists are considered for both sides: ICT vendor and NON ICT organisations or enterprises. The possibility to develop the APO ICT Certification outside Germanlanguage territories will also be limited by the localisation investment, Certification Body is consolidated and diffused in Germany. A similar situation is that of SFIA-ISEB. In this case the main sponsor is the UK Government, with a strong involvement from the British Computer Society (BCS). The SFIA-ISEB Certifications67 are very well accepted and diffused in English-language territories. Exin is a private non-profit organisation which was launched in Holland 30 years ago. Its ITIL methodological body is centred on the ICT process for effective service in ICT based operations. They have obtained significant success, and have diffused their

67

See http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/sfiaiseb.pdf [last visit on 30 September 2007].

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approach in more than 20 countries, in each one strong localisation has been required and realised. EUCIP is a new and different initiative developed by CEPIS over the last 4 years. By using the ECDL Foundation network of Licensees, it is now been promoted and supported in Italy, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Greece and Estonia, with a number of new countries due to commence in 2008 The complete set of 21 EUCIP Professional Profiles was formally launched in March 2007 and now EUCIP refers to the complete EUCIP offering which consists of EUCIP Core, EUCIP Professional (21 EUCIP Professional Profiles) and the EUCIP IT Administrator certification. (details of the profiles can be seen in annex 12.13. The characteristics of EUCIP are the following: •

EUCIP has been conceived as a European level reference framework, and is the result of the combination of previous experiences. Therefore, thanks to the explicit and carefully evaluated references to other existing systems, EUCIP is currently the only significant example of a non self-referring analysis. EUCIP propose 21 ICT Professional Profiles, grouping 2,000 knowledge objects in 135 subcategories and 18 main categories;

•

having been conceived primarily as a practical system for individual certification of professional ICT competencies, EUCIP is suited for mediating between models which analyse ICT competencies and training of individuals, regardless of whether they are institutional (schools, universities, etc.), provided by companies or commercial organisations, or relevant to professional improvement;

•

the EUCIP programme is developed in cooperation with major ICT companies, but CEPIS – a non-profit organization – guarantees total independence from strong economic interests (which would be unacceptable as they’re so closely related to the training/education services field);

•

EUCIP promotes an open, collaborative model, using an “inclusive” concept which aims at valuing the role of the numerous subjects (vendors first of all) operating autonomously in the field of training and education, and in the definition of ICT certifications. As well as collaboration with commercial companies and organisations, the EUCIP model also tends to involve editors, universities, schools and public and private training centres.

•

EUCIP can be promoted and supported with a strong level of localisation.

The EUCIP reference framework has been completed with a set of tools and services, conceived to enhance the professionalism of the ICT specialist. The portfolio of services includes tools for assessing competencies (similar to Brainbench), for analysing the gap between available competencies and standard competencies, for planning training projects and for evaluating the results of the training path in relation to certification objectives. The services portfolio also includes (or will include) glossaries, dictionaries, practical guides, information and whatever else is required to allow users to access the services on a self-service basis via the Web. The services also meet the demands of 4 specific needs:

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•

information: by offering access to an online library of articles, documents, bibliographies and linkographies for the various areas of the ICT job market;

•

market value: a list of average wages in the current market conditions is available, for each profile in the standard reference model;

•

visibility: the public Register of certified personnel is available, allowing individuals to gain recognition in the market;

•

discussion groups: numerous discussion forums – generally one for each profile – are available to enable users to exchange experiences, problems and solutions within the community of a specific professional profile.

5.5 Quantitative analysis of Certification Market For Quantitative analysis of the Certification Market, we can refer to the Harmonise Study results and to data gathered from other studies. The most important result from the Harmonise Study, in terms of Quantitative analysis of the ICT Certification Market, is represented in Figure 1-168. This collection of Market data (carried out as part of the Harmonise research in July 2007) provides the most up-to-date figures available. It was impossible to gather data from all the Certification Suppliers quoted in the following figure, but the data gathered is very important as it suggests that there are almost 7 million ICT Professional Skills Certifications delivered worldwide.

68

See page 18.

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Figure 5-15: The ICT Certification Market in Europe

This data does not allow us to estimate what percentage of the total delivered Certifications is related to Europe. We can only say that out of the 62 different Certification Suppliers, only 14 suppliers are quoted in be Europe, promoting a total of 358 Certifications. The suppliers quoted to be in Europe are indicated at Figure 5-15. This can be considered as a first attempt to evaluate the concentration of the Certification Market. Obviously only data on effectively delivered Certifications could indicate market share and concentration. Preliminary considerations on the Certification Market Data can be carried out using the Harmonise (2007) and Adelman (2000) data represented in Figure 6-12. The Adelman study is the first known study and it provides a good insight into the emerging Certification Market. Microsoft is the vendor that started activity within the Certification Market, using it for marketing leverage to penetrate and consolidate its presence in the third parties channel. This was shortly after the initial strategic decision, shared with IBM, to launch DOS as the first Operating System unbundled with hardware. This strategy adopted by Microsoft, explains why Microsoft Certification share is over 50% of the 1.9 million Certifications delivered world-wide, up to the year 2000. At the same time some other vendors like Novell (560,000 Certifications delivered) were present in the market, and the first Industry Association (CompTIA) had delivered 165,000 Certifications on neutral platforms. Professional Associations like NACSE and ICCCP had just entered into the market with 68,000 Certifications delivered. A break down of Europe’s Certification Market was not available. Total Issued 1999-2000

Certifications Certified Information Professional (CISSP)

Systems

Security

Microsoft (total) Cisco

1,047,652 CCIE

4,996

Other Cisco

30,000

Total Cisco

34,996

Novell

563,300

Oracle (total)

24,000

Citrix

8,000

Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) Institute for Certification Professionals (ICCP)

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1,500

of

Computing

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165,600 50,000


National Association of Systems Engineers (NACSE)

Communciation

18,000

Other vendors (Baan, Sybase, SAP, Adobe etc.)

43,778

Total

1,956,826

Figure 5-16: ICT Skills Certification Market Worldwide (Adelman, 2000) More interesting analysis emerges from the comparison of data gathered by Adelman and Harmonise, which was grouped using the market model adopted in this chapter. Figure 5-17 show the results of this grouping. New Grouping of Cert Suppliers, upon the proposed Market Modelling 1999-2000

Market share 1999-2000

present (Jul 2007)

Market share Jul 2007

Vendor (V) Cisco-CCIE-others Microsoft

34,996

600,000

1,047,652

3,200,000

IBM

800,000

Novell

563,300

Oracle

24,000

350,000

HP

130,000

SAP

185,000

SUN

456,000

Others (Citrix, Baan, Sybase, Adobe, etc.) Total Vendor’s Certification Delivered

51,778 1,721,726

88%

Average growth V Certification

5,721,000

79%

232%

Industry Association (IA) CompTIA

165,600

800,000

Others IA Total IA Certification Delivered

165,600

8%

Average growth IA Certification

800,000

11%

383%

Professional Associations (PA) CISSP

1,500

50,000

ISEB

220,000

EXIN

350,000

ISACA

56,000

Others PA (ICCP, NACSE, etc.)

68,000

Total PA Certifications Delivered

69,500

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4%

676,000

9%


Average growth PA Certification Total Certifications Delivered

873% 1,956,826

Average growth Total Certification

100%

7,197,000

100%

268%

Figure 5-17: New grouping of Certification Suppliers (using proposed Market Modelling) Even considering that the data available is incomplete, the increase of the Certification Market in the 3 segments, is very evident: •

the Vendors Certification Group (certifications delivered in total from the launch up to the date of analysis) has around 6 million (Jul 2007) compared with 1.9 million (end of 2000), a 232% increase in 6 years

•

the Industry Associations (CompTIA mainly) Certification Group has at the same date 0.8 million compared with 0.165 million (2000), a 383% increase

•

the Professional Associations Certification Group has, in comparable terms, was 0.68 million, a 873% increase.

From this brief analysis, there is no doubt that the Certification Market is growing at a substantial rate (+268% in total) and the market share of Certifications through Professional Associations has increased from 4% (2000) to 9% (2007). However, there is no breakdown available for Europe’s Certification Market. Some other reflections, can be extracted from the analysis in the EITO-Fondazione Politecnico Study, published in 2005. The aim of the EITO Report was to provide an overview of certification diffusion in Europe, taking into account both the supply and the demand of certifications and qualification programmes. With regard to demand, the focus was on a sample of roughly 40 large end-user companies in major European countries. With regard to supply, only five (5) main suppliers were considered. The limits of the research are important from the quantitative point of view and the results need to be treated with caution. Indications from the qualitative demand point of view are quite convergent with the results of Harmonise Project (reported in chapter 4 and 5): •

there is a theory to calculate the Certification Penetration in the European Market: from EITO, it is possible to count almost 0.9 million ICT Professional certifications issued in Europe, at the end of 2004;

•

according to estimates, out of the number of ICT practitioners in Europe (4.5-4.6 million), made by Petersen et al. (CEDEFOP, 2004), the penetration of certifications issued up to 2004, is about 20%;

•

a strong variation in the diffusion of certifications emerges from different European countries. This variation requires a more in-depth analysis, but some proposed reasons for this are: -

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different local ICT labour market conditions,

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-

different relationships between social parties,

-

laws and regulations on quality assurance of formal processes, to ICT data security, etc.

-

the role of local ICT associations which can act as “evangelists” to promote certifications;

-

different recruitement regulations which regulate the local labour markets.

It is clear that an important effort needs to be made in the future, to launch some systematic monitoring of the ICT Skill Certification Market, involving all Vendors, Industry and Professional Associations. In fact, in the context of a product life cycle, the ICT Skill Certification Market is entering the maturity phase with a growing level of competition, and the need for all players to better understand the real behaviour of this market. In regards to having quantitative data on the Certification Market, what has emerged from recent and previous publications (Adelman, EITO, Harmonise), is that it is quite difficult to obtain market data. That is the reason why we do not agree with the statement of Adelman (2000), that “most (though not all) vendors and industry associations are pleased to provide the information when asked directly”. Market research experience in other sectors shows that only when the market has reached a certain level of maturity and real competition has begun, can the suppliers (in this case the certification suppliers) become available to communicate and update their market data to a third specialised party (for example, a qualified research agency). This because in the presence of increasing competition, the leaders need to periodically control their share and penetration. On the other hand, only when the penetration of a certain product type reaches a significant level, does it become reasonable to analyse the market demand. This resistance to gather market data encounters two difficulties: •

from the suppliers, in the absence of real market competition, there is no interest for the vendor dependent certification segment to update and communicate their market data;

•

from the final clients, the vendor independent certification segment is so dispersed that it is practically impossible to produce (at reasonable costs) a picture of certification demand.

If we apply the concept of Product Life Cycle (see Figure 5-18) to the ICT Certification Market, we can say that: •

The ICT Certfication Market is still in the emerging phase, whereas growth rates like those indicated are specific for the introduction and growth phases. Only Microsoft Certification supply is probably entering in the Maturity phase

•

What is indicated in Figure 5-18 is only qualitative, but it helps to have a shared perception of ICT Certification Market maturity. It is only possible to get a clear indication of the way the market is developing if we analyse the Certification Products of each Certification Supplier separately and within the segment in which it has been classified.

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Quantity/ Value

Introduction

Growth

Maturity

Decline

ICT Vendor Dependent Certification ICT Vendor Neutral Certification ICT Vendor Independent Certification

Time

Figure 5-18: The ICT Cert Life Cycle

5.6 The future of the ICT Certification Market We will try to answer the following questions: •

Which are the specific complexities of the ICT Certification Market?

•

What do we have to expect for the evolution of this market and the diffusion of ICT Certification?

•

What do we need to harmonise this market?

The specific complexity of the ICT Certification Market We began the ICT Certification Market analysis by considering the main factors influencing the evolution of the ICT Certification Market, and we have arrived at the following conclusions: 1) the dynamics of technology evolution and innovation, by Product/Service Vendors, require a strong policy of third party retention through the application of Vendor Dependent Certifications. These types of Certifications have to be considered primarily as a marketing lever to maintain the distribution channels which sell and install the new technological platforms, rather than a segment of a free Certification Market. This explains why we have 35 Vendors operating at a worldwide level, offering 362 certifications which are mainly products (356 out of 362); 2) on the other hand, the evolution of Distribution channels is moving towards multiplying Certification Vendor Neutral types. 6 Industry Associations offer 51 types of Certifications, 94% of which are oriented to sustain professional content which is valid for platform and vendor groups. Vendor Neutral Certifications really

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express the emergence of a market which is constituted of third parties. As soon as Digital Technologies saturate the B2B and B2C markets at an investment and annual cost level, vendors not only have to defend their acquired third parties, but they also have to try and capture pieces of competitor’s third party networks; 3) finally, the dynamics of Final ICT Business and Consumer Clients, is moving towards multiplying Certification Vendor Independent types. This is the most important point of the analysis. There are already 6 Industry Associations, 18 Professional Associations and 3 IT Training Suppliers, offering 213 Vendor Independent Certifications, mainly oriented to professional contents (94% for IA, 99% for PA and 63% for IT Training Suppliers). The offer from Brainbench, shows that some new services could be introduced to the Certification Market. For example, the work EUCIP is currently doing with its assessment service (available in Italy), to supply to each specialist with its own position in the competence market. The Certification Market does not yet show a consolidated level of concentration. The qualitative analysis on types of ICT Certifications gives some indication, but only a quantitative, complete analysis will allow us to understand if Microsoft will remain the unique leader in terms of Issued Certifications, and if and when new leaders will arise for example in the Vendor Independent Certification segment. If we consider again the ICT Certification Segmentation Market per type of client in Europe, we obtain what is represented in Figure 5-19: Types of operators Types of clients Technology Vendors Industry Associations Professional Associations IT Training

ICT Vendor

ICT Third party ICT Final client Software System house Integrator 234 types of Vendor Dependent Cert 41 types of Vendor Neutral Cert 83 types of Vendor Independent Cert 0 offering by IT Training Suppliers

Figure 5-19: ICT Certification Market segmented per Type of Clients in Europe The above figure shows that only 358 out of 617 Certifications are perceived to be present in Europe. Of those, 234 are oriented to vendor’s operations and third parties, 41 are oriented to both third parties and final clients and 83 types are oriented to final clients and system integrators. With the above mentioned considerations what Figure 5-20 illustrates is more evident.In the ICT Certification Market it is useful to consider 3 types of clients: 1) Vendor and specialised third parties: mainly interested in ICT Vendor Dependent Certifications; 2) Third parties in contact with small and medium final NON ICT clients: mainly interested in ICT Vendor Neutral Certifications; 3) Medium and large final NON ICT clients: mainly interested in ICT Vendor Independent Certifications.

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Figure 5-20: The distribution of ICT Certification Product per type of clients Expectations for ICT Certification Market evolution and diffusion Considering the conclusions of section 3, we agree that in general, the greater the excess demand over supply, the less value that is likely to be placed on Certifications held by applicant (and vice versa), the more serious the discrimination between candidates will need to be, and so the (comparatively) higher the value of certifications. But we have to consider two completely different situations. On one hand we have the ICT Certification Market segment constituted by third parties acting at country level, and on the other hand we have the final NON ICT B2B Market, asking for Vendor Independent Certification. When the EITO Study talks about a certain level of penetration, we can assume that this penetration is related to the third party population, as the penetration in the user market is presumably very low. These situations are represented in Figure 5-21.

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Current penetration at country level (esteem)

Main Offering

Main Contents

Main Clients

Localisation Importance

ICT Vendor Dependent Certification

Product Competence

Third party totalities

High

20%

ICT Vendor Neutral Certification

Product and Professional at operational level

System & Service Integrators + NON ICT B2B Client’s Operations

Very High

5%

ICT Vendor Independent Certification

Professional at Plan and Build Level

NON ICT B2B Client’s Build and Plan

Absolutely necessary

1%

Figure 5-21: ICT Certification Market characteristics In that situation, the possession of relevant Vendor Dependent Certifications by third party employers, which enabled them to discriminate in their recruitment selection processes, would assume more importance. The same thing will happen for HR Managers and IS Managers of large and medium ICT user organisations, whose interest in certified employees will also grow more and more with the increase in design complexity of new ICT systems, or for complex ICT systems to be operated. Significant increases in demand for such certifications cannot be expected without significant changes in employers’ attitudes. In principle, such changes could occur in different ways, but it is difficult to see how much change might occur through existing market mechanisms. As IT projects get larger and risks get higher (especially in the public sector) it might be more expensive, and the demand for increased professionalism in ICT work will grow in response to public, business and media pressure, or even Government intervention. While a “top down” (regulatory) approach might have some success, it is not clear whether sufficient political will exists to try and introduce regulation into this marketplace, either at national or EU level. The need to harmonise the ICT Certification Market Analysis revealed that ICT certification systems and their respective market is far more complex than expected. Six years after the assessment by Adelman, there are 62 Certification Suppliers instead of 15 and 617 Certifications instead of 3 dozen (at the end of 2007). It is evident that any concrete measures and recommendations of how to achieve better harmonisation, first require the identification and analysis of the various factors influencing future developments of the ICT Certification Market. The following actions have to be done: •

In-depth analysis of the content and schemes of ICT certification systems. For instance, to better understand how “competencies are grouped to define the professional profiles” (if they are the object of Certification, and ICT process

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orientation), it would be necessary to analyse the granularity level of each offering; •

From the experience of EUCIP design and realisation, it can be very useful to have a common reference standard to analyse the ICT education and training market at the same level at which we analyse the Certification System, i.e. at a local level.

As the Localisation Analysis shows, national markets differ significantly. Some of them are open and others are closed, some of them are more mature than others and some have explicit regulations, established structures and formal rules (often presented through a national qualification framework). We have to choose the national level or the regional level for small countries, and completely analyse the local markets, not only in qualitative ways but also with quantitative results and localisation activities.

5.7 Summary and conclusions The section examined the ICT Professional certification market, with the aim of introducing a model to adequately interpret and segment the market. After exploring the evolution of technology and the ICT go-to-market model, important factors which emerged were the growth of the ICT Certification Market and the different characteristics of the four Certification Market segments. Over the last 6 years, the ICT Certification Market issued around 5 million certificates69 with an increment of 268%. Today, 35 Technology Vendors worldwide supply 59% of the available types of certifications, and 79% of the total volume issued. This segment is by far the most developed and most important, and as vendor’s leverage the market to improve the retention of their third parties, it has to be considered further. In addition to the technology vendor share, 6 Industry Associations supply 8% of the available types of certifications, and 11% of the total volume issued. 18 Professional Associations are also starting to introduce Independent Certifications and supply 9% of the total volume issued. Harmonisation of vendor dependent and vendor independent certifications is a must for ICT vendors, vendor’s third parties, the independent software and service industry, as well as Non-ICT companies and Public Administrations. The need for harmonisation emerges from the current confusion or certification jungle that exists in the ICT Professional certification market. The EUCIP Standard can be considered as the first concrete attempt to harmonise the European certification market. Introduced recently by CEPIS/ECDL Foundation, EUCIP ICT profiles are built up with transparent rules of 3,000 named knowledge objects (called syllabus), grouped in 155 categories and 18 areas, to design 21 ICT Professional 69

The total headcounts of most popular industry-based ICT professional certifications is estimated to 7.2 million; see Figure 1-1 page 18.

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Profiles. EUCIP represents an interesting prospect for harmonisation as it introduces the concept that all certifications (proposed by vendors or independent bodies) can be recognised and proposed to be evaluated on a shared credits system, in the Certification Portfolio. Key Messages of this section: •

Evolution of digital products, services and content affect the competencies needed to plan, build and operate information systems during their life cycle;

•

We have focused on the main needs of competence-based certification: -

Technology platform vendors worldwide, whose interest is to retain their third parties through which product and services are delivered to business clients or final customers of any industry sector and size

-

ICT professional vendors and third parties whose main competence is on functional technology use and characteristics and the preference is for Vendor Dependent Certifications

-

third party systems present their most skilled professional resources to innovate business processes, and digital and digital-embedded products and services, for their prospects and desired clients. Their preference is for Vendor Neutral Certifications;

-

ICT professionals and managers of non-ICT organisations who are involved in planning, building and operating ICT innovations for their organisations. Their preference is for Vendor Independent Certifications;

•

Certifications have been mapped and analysed on these three needs from a qualitative and a quantitative point of view. This analysis suggested that vendor specific certifications have the highest share of the market by far, but vendor independent certifications are increasing their presence in the market. The analysis identified four types of certification suppliers: vendors, industry associations, professional associations and training suppliers;

•

The certification market seems to be in the beginning phase of its life cycle, at least for independent certifications. Training suppliers are forseen as an important growth in terms of volumes for professional associations;

•

As a result of the proliferation of certifications, harmonisation needs seem to be quite explicit. 62 certification suppliers deliver 617 types of certifications, which have delivered a total of around 5 million certifications in the last 6 years. Brainbench, an American trader of on-line self assessment services claims to have released 6 million self assessments!!

•

Microsoft is the certification market leader (more in the vendor dependent segment), in terms of volume, and IBM, Cisco, SUN and Oracle are other important players. CompTIA is the leader in the Vendor Neutral segment and important independent certifications in Europe are ISEB/SFIA (UK) and EXIN/ITIL (many European Countries);

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•

Among other marketing efforts, one reason which can explain the high volumes of certifications issued by the market leaders, is the effort of localisation, i.e. the effort to adapt each set of training and certification products to local rules, starting with material translation to the local language;

•

New Independent Certification products of high interest, are the CEPIS/ECDL Foundation proposed EUCIP Standard, as a first attempt to introduce mutual recognition of credits to create a potentially harmonised system.

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6. ICT Professional Certification Quality Standards 6.1 Introduction The number of certifications available for ICT professionals is increasing and the situation has turned into a “certification jungle” (see section 1.670). It can be assumed that the number of quality assurance measures applied by the different ICT professional certification providers is as great as the number of available certificates. According to the description of ICT professional certification systems in section 4.671, policies for quality assurance are an integral part of these systems. Therefore, defining the standards for quality assurance certification processes and their intended outcomes, should be a necessity for comparing these systems. Applying quality assurance measurements can be seen as crucial for the harmonisation of different ICT professional certifications across Europe. Please indicate your preference for what should be included in the scope of a possible European framework for ICT Practitioner Skills Certification?

learning material, content

quality standards and accrediation

certification scheme (job profiles, requirements, etc. )

certification process

63,6% 18,2%

training offered

learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, wider competences)

23,6%

9,1%

concept of validation, expiration

0,0%

32,7% 47,3%

10,9%

3,6%

85,5% neutral

23,6%

7,3% 0,0% 9,1% 1,8% 7,3% 0,0%

disagree

67,3%

agree 90,9%

87,3%

90,9%

0,0% 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0 60,0 70,0 80,0 90,0 100, % % % % % % % % % 0%

Figure 6-1: Preferences for a Possible European Framework The Harmonise Survey of Certification Systems for ICT Professionals in Europe, revealed that “quality standards and accreditation” are seen to be the most relevant 70 71

See pp. 17. See page 58.

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criteria to be included in the scope of a European framework for ICT professional certifications. More than 90% of respondents agreed to include these criteria. This indicates the importance of quality related aspects for ICT professional certifications in Europe (Figure 6-1).72 A universal definition of quality (lat.: qualitas = character, attribute, condition) cannot easily be found in literature. Often, quality is described from different perspectives and the concept is therefore defined by different criteria. The following definition is used by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and is centred upon the subjectivity of this term: “Quality: A subjective term for which each person has his or her own definition. In technical usage, quality can have two meanings: 1. the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. 2. a product or service free of deficiencies.” (ASQ Glossary, n.d., para. 4) This subjectivity is also reflected by Ehlers (2002) in an article about the quality for elearning. Three different dimensions have to be considered with regard to the concept of quality in the educational sector (Figure 6-2).

different perspectives/ actors

Q

different understandings of quality

different qualities

Figure 6-2: Dimensions of quality (Ehlers; 2002, p. 4; translated into English) Firstly, the different understandings of quality are: 1) predefined quality standards are greatly exceeded 2) absence of any imperfection 3) usefulness 4) price-performance ratio, cost-benefit ratio 5) individual development in a learning process is co-produced by learners and educational supply. Secondly, different perspectives of quality in the educational sector are important. Actors (e.g. teaching staff, learners) have different interests and this results in the existence of a huge variety of quality criteria.

72

See annex 12.4, Figure 12-6, p.244.

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Thirdly, quality is related to different processes resulting in different qualities (e.g. input, process and output quality) as described in section 6.2.373). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has defined several quality standards (see section 6.2.274) which can be applied to the economic sector as well as to the service sector. However, the measurement of the quality of service has to consider the immateriality of its products (Kamiske and Brauer, 1999). In the educational sector especially, the quality of the learning process is determined by the interaction between teachers and learners (Conrad, 2004). Educational activities cannot be easily observed and there is a huge variety of quality criteria in this sector. Furthermore, the responsibility for the quality of education is not only placed upon educational institutions but on the participants and learners as well (Reich, 2004). To measure the quality of certifications for ICT professionals, several related aspects have to be taken into consideration. Quality management systems of the whole organisation are important, as different tools and strategies of these systems (e.g. Quality Management Board, Benchmarking) might affect the certification process. In addition, quality assurance criteria, standards, approaches and measurements which focus on concrete aspects of the certification process (e.g. learning process, return on investment, testing methodology, learning materials, customer satisfaction) have to be considered. In a broader view, there should also be a focus on whole ICT skills certification systems, with concrete learning processes being a constituent part of these systems. Quality assurance procedures are integrated into these systems and certification processes (see section 4.675).

6.2 Quality assurance, measurement and framework 6.2.1 Quality Criteria Several criteria are important for the quality of ICT professional certifications. For example, the ratio of certification costs to quality should be considered. There are differences in the cost of different certificates and courses (Adelman, 2000) as well as increasing costs for certificates on higher levels of ICT “certification ladders” (see section 4.676). This criterion is also important as there is a discussion about the value of vendorspecific product certification for ICT professionals. ICT vendor companies are reproached for opting for returns from course fees and update-courses which certificate owners often have to attend after two years, if they want to keep a valid certificate. Additionally, unauthorised certificates are also available on the market (“Produktzertifizierungen”, 2002). Customer orientation is another criterion which is relevant for the quality of ICT professional certification processes. For example, to receive the eduQUA quality

73 74 75 76

See pp. 118. See pp. 116 See pp. 58. See pp. 58.

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certificate for further education institutions, (annex 12.12.277) educational services have to be provided according to customer needs. This means that all information has to be presented in a transparent way (Pawlowski, 2002). eduQUA is a Swiss quality certificate for further education institutions, which are assessed by documenting quality achievement for the following six criteria (eduQUA, 2004): 1) supply of further education in relation to customer demand and requirements 2) sustainable learning success for all participants 3) transparent presentation of available educational offers and central pedagogical themes 4) service provisions according to customer orientation, ecological aspects, efficiency and effectiveness 5) trainers’ commitment and how up-to-date their skills, methodology, and didactic approaches are 6) awareness of quality assurance and development In the introduction of this report (section 1 78) it was stated that certification of persons results from the process of training and assessing an individual in certain aspects (e.g. ICT skills) according to predefined standards. However, the learning and training processes are an integral part of the certification systems and, certification does not have be the end of the learning process (sections 4.679, 4.880). For this reason, relevant criteria for the learning process itself, might also influence the quality of ICT professional certifications. Several factors influence this process and should be considered for the harmonisation of ICT professional certifications (Figure 6-3). The interoperability, portability and reusability of learning objects, for learning technologies (especially in the field of computer supported learning) is supported by the definition of several standards (see section 6.2.281, IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee). It is necessary for learners and teachers to have access to a variety of different learning resources, which can result in the complication of interoperability and portability of learning objects. In different learning environments the learning content differs in its representation and granularity, and often meta-data about the context of its use is not available. Also, data about the learners cannot be easily transferred between different learning systems. Improving this aspect could be helpful for supporting learners to continue education in different educational settings. To facilitate the re-use of learning materials in different learning environments, didactic teaching approaches should also be formalised. This is relevant for evaluating and assessing learners’ performance and success. According to different testing procedures in different

77

See pp. 226. See pp. Error! Bookmark not defined.. 79 See pp. 58. 80 See pp. 67. 81 See page 116. 78

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educational environments, the learners’ results cannot be compared (Pawlowski and Adelsberger, 2001). Organisation

N o r m s

Content

Technologies

learning environment, resources

author systems, tools, networks, applications

C u l t u r e

learning process

Methods

Actors

didactics, evaluation, assessment

learners, teachers

Legal System

Figure 6-3: Influencing factors [on the learning process] (Pawlowski and Adelsberger, 2001, p. 60, translated into English) The importance of testing and assessing, addressed in section 4.8.282, points out that voluntary examination processes are important aspects within a certification system. The quality of examination procedures is important for the recognising issued credentials by relevant stakeholders (Tittel, 2004). According to Graham-Brown (1991, as cited in Smith 2005) effectiveness of learning processes among other things is determined by the quality of training staff and materials.

6.2.2 Quality Standards A general definition of standards, which also can be applied for quality assurance standards, is provided by the British Standards Institution (BSI): “[…] a standard is an agreed, repeatable way of doing something. It is a published document that contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, guideline, or definition. Standards help to make life simpler and to increase the reliability and the effectiveness of many goods and services we use.” (“What is a standard?”, n.d., para. 1) Further descriptions about the provision of quality standards and their function in

82

See page 70.

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certification systems, are given by Cedefop (2006, p. 41): “Quality standards are provided by independent standardisation bodies and sector associations documented in the form of normative documents. De facto standards are offered by public and/or private industry initiatives and are achieved through a broad acceptance by the stakeholders in a specific sector/field. Quality standards are to be distinguished concerning the subjects covered e.g. process, method and content. […]. In an ideal case, applied quality standards should be the basis for the recognition of the certification bodies and their certification schemes, in order to promote acceptance at national and international level. One straightforward approach to harmonise e-skills certifications is to assess underlying systems for developing and maintaining certification schemes for persons. This will likely establish the environment for mutual recognition and the global exchange of personnel. Quality management in further education and vocational training focuses, in particular, on quality concerning organisation, learning infrastructure, training and teaching, and last but not least the process of learning itself. Primarily, the certification body has to develop its own quality policy, implemented by means of quality models or concepts. In addition, certification bodies should derive a related mission statement to be followed by all persons involved (Ehses and Zech, 2002).” Quality policy development by certification bodies, should be considered with the static nature of quality standards. Conti (1993) states that quality standards are mostly static and that it often takes several years to revise existing standards. Meanwhile, it is possible that market demands surpass the existing definitions of quality standards. The European Quality Observatory (EQO) study about e-learning quality, found that certain requirements for the successful implementation of quality standards, can be deduced. For example, the participation of all groups (e.g. learners and teaching personnel) in the standardisation process, is necessary to ensure acceptance of any standard. Furthermore, the standard itself should demand the participation of all groups to address the quality aspects on all levels. The standardisation process should therefore be transparent, and the standard itself should contain transparency criteria for the products and services it refers to. A certain openness of standards is also important to allow the expansion of existing standards, if necessary. Adaptations to the special requirements of each stakeholder should be possible, taking into account not only single criteria but all processes, services, strategies, etc. It is obvious that a standard has to define methods and tools for measuring these criteria. With the large number of quality standards already existing, harmonising these standards requires their integration into an overall quality standard (Ehlers, Goertz, Hildebrand and Pawlowski, 2005). In general, quality standards are set for quality management processes of a certain product (e.g. ICT certificates) – and not for the product itself. Compliance of quality management processes within predefined standards is measured through internal processes and self-assessment, as well as through external audits. Precise and challenging formulation of each standard is necessary to motivate peoples’ efforts towards their fulfilment (Böttcher, 2006). The following list contains a collection of relevant quality standards for quality management systems (QMS), education and learning processes, and the design and development of learning technologies. These

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standards should be considered as reference material for setting up quality assurance processes for ICT professional certification harmonisation. Details about each standard are provided in annex 12.12.183. Standard for quality management systems and methods within an organisation: •

EN ISO 9000ff./ EN ISO 9001: 2000: Quality Management Systems

Standards for certification and learning process: •

EN ISO/IEC 17024: Conformity assessment – General Requirements for Bodies operating Certification of Persons

•

ISO/IEC 19796-1 Quality Standard for Learning, Education, and Training

•

ISO 10015:1999: Quality management – Guidelines for training

Standards for learning technologies: •

IEEE Learning Technology Standard Committee (LTSC)

•

IMS Global Learning Consortium Standards

•

SCORM – Shareable Content Objects Reference Model

•

ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36: Standards for: Information Technology, Learning, Education, and Training (ITLET)

•

ProCert Labs: The Quality Assurance Standard for Curriculum Alignment

6.2.3 Approaches to Quality Assurance The majority of quality assurance approaches are based on evaluation processes. The aim is to analyse, assess and describe methods and activities with regard to their efficiency and effectiveness. Not only the activities, but also the planning of the activities should be assessed in advance (Friedrich et al., 1997). Differentiation can be made between internal evaluation (self evaluation) and external evaluation. Evaluation based on internal self assessment is often accused of not being neutral towards the evaluation objectives. External evaluation on the other hand provides a neutral assessment of methods and activities. Evaluation approaches can be of a formative or summative nature. Formative evaluation is continuous data collection and feedback throughout the implementation process of certain activities, whereas summative evaluation is the data collection and assessment of results after an activity has been finished (Wottawa and Thierau, 1998). According to Friedrich et al. (1997) the evaluation of educational activities has to focus on three dimensions: acceptance by learners, process of learning and transfer of knowledge. Depending on the evaluation objectives, the assessment should focus on the different extents of these dimensions. However, the sequence of analysing the learners’ acceptance, the learning processes and the knowledge transfer, should not be altered as each is a precondition for the following one.

83

See pp. 293.

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ICT professional certification can be seen as an educational process which is subject to evaluation and quality assurance. Analysing the certification process in its organisational context is also relevant for the quality assurance of ICT professional certifications. In this regard, quality assurance approaches which affect the whole organisation are relevant for the certification process. A collection of examples of quality assurance approaches is provided in annex 12.12.284 (e.g. European Foundation of Quality Management, Total Quality Management, Lernerorientierte Qualitätssicherung in der Weiterbildung, eduQUA). In April 2006, a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA 15533, 2006) explicitly considered the classification of quality approaches in e-learning, based on meta-data from different elearning settings. By designing a conceptual framework, the application of quality approaches for each e-learning setting should be improved. A model was developed within the scope of the EQO – European Quality Observatory project (founded by EFQEL85). The aim was to support decision makers, developers, providers, trainers and learners in all aspects of e-learning quality development. This is necessary, as several questions have to be raised before applying a quality assurance approach in e-learning: “Which quality approach is appropriate for an organization in a specific context? Should a facility be certified according to EN ISO 9000:2005? Should author guidelines be used? Should checklists be developed? How do quality approaches have to be adapted to take into account specific needs and requirements (e.g. national laws, learning habits, learning culture)? And above all: What experience has been gained in applying the different quality approaches?” (CWA 15533, 2006, p. 7) It is not possible to identify one quality approach which perfectly fits all requirements. However, the proposed model provides support to choose one of the many available approaches by considering the organisational context, visions of quality, learning processes, resources and context, tools already available, impact of results and needs of stakeholders. Meta-data for describing existing quality approaches is derived from these aspects. Adopting this meta-data will enhance the harmonisation of e-learning quality approaches (CWA 15533, 2006). According to Böttcher (2006) and Ehlers (2002), quality assurance of further education differentiates between three kinds of quality: input, process, and output quality:

84 85

•

Input quality refers to the quality of personal preconditions and qualifications, and materials and technical set-ups relevant for the fabrication of a product, or the provision of a service. With regard to educational processes (e.g. ICT professional certifications) these preconditions have to be met in advance of a course, to assure high quality of the service. Examples of such criteria are: strategy and concept of a course, qualification of teaching staff, information materials for learners and premises.

•

Process quality refers to the quality of the production process and the learning process. In the learning process, the interaction between learners, the learning

See pp. 300. The European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning.

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environment, the content and the learning objectives are important. During the learning process, organisational and technical issues and the didactical concept have to be considered. According to EN ISO 9000ff, process oriented quality is the core element of quality management (see section 6.2.286). •

Outcome quality refers to the quality of the results of a production process or service. In an educational setting, the criteria for measuring outcome quality are satisfaction of participants, learning outcome or applicability of the acquired skills.

According to Faulstich, Gnahs and Sauter (2003), there are four major approaches to quality assurance that relate to the different qualities mentioned above. The input and output oriented approaches (which are no longer popular in the educational sector) and the process and demand oriented approaches replaced former approaches: •

Input oriented approach: criteria for the measurement of quality were defined and controlled in advance of educational processes, e.g. qualification of teaching staff, methods, and technical conditions. This approach does not take educational processes and results into account.

•

Output oriented approach: Quality assurance by measuring outputs focuses mainly on test results, certification of learners and learner satisfaction.

•

Process oriented approach: Quality management systems (QMS) which were successful in business-to-business relations, were adopted for the educational sector (e.g. EN ISO 9001:2000ff.; European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The educational process was subject to quality assurance and the objectives and quality criteria were defined by the educational institutions. Quality assurance in accordance with international standards, became very important. Process oriented quality assurance approaches were aligned with the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept (see below).

•

Customer protection and demand oriented approach: In education, customer protection is closely linked with quality assurance. However, as the education market financed by individuals is rather small, customer protection and demand orientation are often not considered.

6.2.4 Institutions for Quality Accreditation The purpose of accreditation and the responsibilities of accreditation bodies has been described by Cedefop (2006) as follows: “The purpose of accreditation is to assess if a certification system is in conformity to a predefined set of requirements or standards e.g. EN ISO/IEC 17024. Inspection bodies are in charge of accreditation. Figure 6-4 maps the aforementioned learning system to existing roles and organisations involved. Thereby, the delineation is not presumed to be strict, for example the training provider and test centre in practice might belong to the same organisation. However, to put accreditation bodies in place is an important 86

See pp. 116.

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prerequisite for mutual recognition of e-skills certification by stakeholders in the sector or industry branch. The accreditation task can be assigned to certification providers or to independent third parties. Certification bodies are primarily in charge of approving whether specific training courses fulfil requirements imposed by the certification scheme.” (p. 42)

Figure 6-4: Subject of accreditation activities by e-skills certification bodies (Cedefop, 2006, p. 42) “Certification bodies typically require training providers to ensure that candidates who successfully complete their courses to prepare for examination will have met learning objectives relevant to the knowledge and skills prescribed in the certification scheme. Besides, it is in the interest of accreditation bodies to ensure that a systematic process is utilised to determine the knowledge, skills, and competencies of persons running through a certification programme (IAF, 2004, p. 13) The accreditation process can address training providers, coaches, test centres and, of course, certification providers and bodies themselves. Accreditation can be enlarged to aim at the general recognition of certification systems. Thereby, the availability of a widely accepted norm or standard is one important prerequisite. In conclusion, within an e-skills certification system, the assessment of conformity with specific standards or quality criteria is the subject of accreditation. Further, the object of inspection is primarily the training and evaluation system including diagnostic and final testing. Accreditation also covers assessing conformity with policies e.g. security requirements, code of conduct for candidates, etc.” (pp. 42-43) Accreditation includes inspecting the way the e-skills certification body is organised, concerning their fulfilment of predefined requirements and conformity with quality directives or mission statements (Ehses and Zech, 2002). Appropriate quality management procedures for e-skills certifications, address three main activity areas (see Figure 6-5) which go beyond the organisational structures and boundaries of the certification body: 1) examination and testing, 2) training provisions, and 3) definition of requirements. Primarily, the certification system is the subject of inspection. Thus, inspection bodies assess the conformity of the modules, the certification and the test. The certification system relies on the proper definition of specific job or occupational requirements, which the candidate has to fulfil.

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Figure 6-5: Achieving mutual recognition of e-skills certification systems (Cedefop, 2006, p.43) “These are the areas to be primarily assessed by accreditation. The quality of learning material, learning and testing infrastructure, etc., subject matter of training and diagnostic testing, are to be considered by adequate quality measures and related policy. This is of growing importance within learner-centred programmes and informal learning environments (Ehses and Zech, 2002).” (p.43) National quality assurance institutions operate in several countries, and in most countries national accreditation institutions can be found. For example, the Deutscher Akkreditierungsrat (DAR) in Germany – including several member institutions – is responsible for accreditation activities with several standardisation approaches. With regard to ICT professional certifications, the DAR has accredited the Cert-IT GMBH, approving its conformity with the EN ISO/IEC 17024 standard for the 29 different IT professional certificates offered. Such national accreditation institutions operate in several countries for example, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) in Great Britain, the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB) in Ireland, the Organisation belge d’Accréditation (BELAC) in Belgium, the Österreichischer Akkreditierungsrat (ÖAR) in Austria and the Sistema Nazionale per l'Accreditamento degli Organismi di Certificazione e Ispezione (SINCERT) in Italy. Several of these institutions are integrated into the European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA). This is a non-profit institution composed from a network of national accreditation agencies, to ensure there is transparency and mutual recognition of the members’ accreditation activities, and interpretation of the applied standards.

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6.2.5 European Frameworks and Initiatives for Quality Assurance The European Qualifications Framework (EQF; shortly introduced in section 3.487 and 4.7.288) does not focus specifically on the quality of ICT professional certifications, instead “it allows education and training providers to compare the profile and content of their own offerings to those of other providers and thus also is an important precondition for quality assurance in education and training” (Commission of the European Communities, 2006, p. 3). Furthermore, “it is recommended that Member States use the EQF as a reference tool to compare qualification levels used in different qualifications systems, relate their qualifications systems to the EQF by linking qualification levels to the corresponding EQF levels and, where appropriate, develop a national qualifications framework” (Commission of the European Communities, 2006, p. 8). At this point, the planned European e-Competence Framework (see section 4.1089), with a focus on ICT professional certifications, also has to be considered. The establishment of the EQF is aligned with the Lisbon strategy: “The Union must become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” (European Council, Lisbon, March 2000; as cited in “Education”, 2007, para. 1). To reach this objective, changes need to be made in the education and training systems of the member states. One of the objectives in this process is the improvement of quality and effectiveness of education and training in Europe (“Education”, 2007). The “objective of making Europe's education and training systems a world quality reference by 2010” (European Commission, 2002, p.1) was also specified by the Barcelona European Council in 2002. In this context, the ENIC-NACIC Network plays an important role in the implementation of the Lisbon strategy. Espcially, the European Network of Information Centres (ENIC Network) – made up of national information centres of the member states – which has responsibility for supporting the Lisbon Recognition Convention, aimed at recognition of professional qualifications at a European level. For vocational education and training (VET), this objective is addressed in the Copenhagen process. In the scope of this process, the European Commission (2005) proposed a Common Quality Assurance Framework (CQAF) for VET in Europe. “This is a common reference framework designed to support the development and reform of the quality of VET at systems and providers levels, while fully respecting the responsibility and autonomy of Member States to develop their own quality assurance (QA) systems” (European Commission, 2005, p. 3). A network of European bodies for quality assurance has been established on a voluntary basis. The CQAF provides a model for quality assurance which refers, on a national level and on the VET provider level, to four core elements of quality assurance: planning, implementation, evaluation & assessment, and review (feedback procedures). Additionally, one element fuses all four elements together: the applied methodology. A set of quality criteria was defined for each element, taking into account the variety of existing quality approaches in European countries and in VET providers (European Commission, 2005). 87 88 89

See pp. 34. See pp. 66. See pp. 75.

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With regard to quality assurance in e-learning and distance learning, the European Foundation for Quality in eLearning (EFQUEL) was founded by the European Institute for eLearning, the European Schoolnet, FIM Newlearning, the MENON Network, the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany and the University of Reading/UK. Its aim is to establish a network for experts and users to exchange experiences about e-learning quality, and to provide other services such as a quality wiki or access to a database of quality assurance approaches for vocational training (established by the EQO – European Quality Observatory which is run by EFQEL). Although the European Organisation for Quality (EOQ) is focussed on general quality management, and has no specific focus on education and certification, it deserves a mention. The EOQ was established in 1956 and “contributes to the development of European Organizations and enterprises through the application of quality and change management concepts and techniques in their broadest sense.” (“EOQ Charter”, n.d. para. 1). EOQ provides a network for non-profit quality institutions in Europe, including national European quality organisations.

6.3 Quality Assurance for Vendor-specific Certification Vendor-specific ICT professional certifications are closely related to the ICT vendor’s product characteristics and performances (hardware, basic software, application software) for example, those related to products of Microsoft, IBM, Novell, etc. (see the glossary in section 1090). However, Adelman (2000) reports several examples where vendor-specific ICT professional certifications are developed in collaboration with industry associations and where it is becoming more common to combine certifications from different vendors. Additionally, cross-vendor recognition, among vendors and industry associations, of ICT professional certifications is increasing. In regards to quality assurance of certification programmes “the cross-vendor recognized examinations are a prelude to the adoption of industry-wide certification standards and accreditation, for, as one training Website noted, ‘certification has gone to new heights in confusion’” (Adelman, 2000, p. 24). In the scope of the HARMONISE project, a qualitative survey was conducted to clarify the issue of quality assurance in vendor-specific certifications. The aim was to acquire information from ICT vendor company experts, about their quality assurance processes for ICT professional certifications and the importance of these processes for harmonisation activities. In general, the experts were very questioning about the European harmonisation approach, and it was a great chance to get an opinion from people directly involved in business of ICT professional certifications.

90

See pp. 194.

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6.3.1 Methodology for Vendor-specific ICT Professional Certification Processes Three qualitative telephone interviews have been conducted with four ICT professional certification experts from ICT vendor companies: Cisco, Microsoft and SAP. Each interview lasted about 30 minutes. •

Cisco (Spain and Mexico):

Interviewees:

Antonio Hererra, Networking Academy Operations Manager for the European Market (EMEA) + Latin America Cindy Hoffmann, Manager of the business aspects of the certification programme, the exam administration, and the dataflow in the certification management system

Cisco has more than 47,000 employees worldwide (http://www.cisco.com). In the Cisco Networking Academy Program (a global opportunity to pursue IT curricula through online instructor-led training and hands-on lab exercises) students are supported to gain professional ICT skills for job roles which require the design, build and maintenance of computer networks. 13 general certificates (about routing & switching, design, security, etc), and 35 Specialist Certifications are available. Since 1997, over 1.6 Million students were enrolled in over 10,000 Networking Academies, in more than 160 countries. The certificates are internationally recognised. •

Microsoft (Germany):

Interviewee:

Jürgen Nilgen, Business Development Manager, Microsoft Learning EMEA

Microsoft employs more than 76,000 people in over 100 countries (http://www.microsoft.com). Microsoft Learning offers three newly developed certification series (Technology Series, Professional Series and Architect Series). 10 certifications for ICT professionals – including several specialised certificates for different job roles (e.g. business IT skill, professional IT skills, IT development skills) – are provided in the first two series. Additionally, the Microsoft Certified Architect Programme was built by and developed for industry architects. One certificate for trainers who intend to deliver Microsoft training courses is provided. All certificates are international and provided in about 130 countries. In 13 years of certification – between 1993 and 2006 – 3.2 million Microsoft certifications were granted. •

SAP (Austria):

Interviewee:

Mag. Thomas Friedlmayer, Director SAP Education Austria

Basic information was provided by: Sue Martin / Global Certification Portfolio Manager The number of SAP employees worldwide is 39,355 (http://www.sap.com). The business division of SAP Education, introduced its certification programme in the mid-nineties with a 100% market share for SAP certifications. Currently, it offers about 120 certifications (this is being streamlined to about 40 certifications). The current re-alignment of the certification system focuses on a career-enhancing three-level certification programme for ICT professionals. Additionally, the programme is being expanded to meet the needs of customers and end users as well. Since its beginning of the certification programme, there are over 30,000 individuals certified annually, which results in more than 185,000 people worldwide owning at least one of the internationally recognised SAP certifications.

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The telephone interview questions (see annex 12.2.391 for the interview guideline) addressed three issues: 7) General information about the companies ICT professional certifications 8) Information about quality assurance of the companies ICT professional certifications 9) Personal estimation/opinion certifications

about

harmonisation

of

ICT

professional

The interview guidelines were sent to the interviewees in advance of the phone call, to help with their preparation for the interview. This approach proved to be sensible because in all companies, responsibility for ICT professional certifications and related quality assurance were carried out by different people within the company. The interviewees therefore, had to collect information from other people before the interview, and as all the companies operate globally, this included contact with people in the USA. However for several reasons, most of the vendor companies contacted for the interview, could not find a person to answer the questions. People did not want to assume responsibility as they only knew about either ICT professional certifications or quality assurance. They were not allowed to give the interview due to internal regulations from their public relations department; people could not afford time during their daily business.

6.3.2 Results and Conclusion: Vendor-specific ICT Certification Processes The qualitative telephone interviews structured according to seven questions, which were derived from the responses to the first two issues of the interview guideline (for a detailed presentation of the responses sorted by company see annex 12.12.392). The respondents’ personal estimations about harmonisation is also presented, as they are highly valuable for the identification of criteria which could influence European harmonisation activities. ICT professional certifications and related quality assurance •

Development of courseware and learning materials

Cisco and Microsoft provided detailed information about their processes of courseware and learning material development. They have several review and feedback processes for testing the course content and courseware to assure its quality. Both companies mentioned cooperation with subject matter experts, in order to match the certification content to its target group. All three companies reported that job task analysis and psychometric standards served as a basis for content and exam development. In all three companies the focus has shifted from knowledge-based certification processes to performance-based certification. Cisco advised that nothing is asked in exams, which was not taught during the courses, SAP advised that their Master Level exams require 91 92


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expert knowledge which cannot be taught in courses and has to be acquired through work experience in the field. •

Certification System/ Acceptance of certifications provided by other companies

The certification systems of all three companies align to the career paths of ICT professionals, by providing several certification levels and frameworks for specialisation. Cisco and Microsoft certification levels are sequential, as some higher level certifications require certification pre-requisites from lower levels. SAP certification levels are also sequential however, if ICT professionals apply for the Master Level they are not required to have certificates from lower levels (but it is recommended). The acceptance of ICT professional certifications provided by other vendor companies or industry associations is still being discussed. Cisco and Microsoft reported that they accept them in some cases for example, CompTIA certificates. Both Microsoft and SAP advised they accept certification from non-ICT areas (for example, trainer certificates, project management certificates) as they complementat their ICT-specific courses. •

Localisation of certificates

All three companies stated that translation is important for localisation in order to provide certification internationally. Adaptations to the content are made if necessary (for example, for local norms and regulations). However, generally all three companies aim for unified certification processes, which are applicable to all international contexts and environments. •

Initiatives and frameworks

Cisco and Microsoft are both working to integrate their certification systems into the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the European e-Competence Framework. However, this is an ongoing process, as these frameworks have not yet been implemented in Europe,. SAP advised that aligning with international standards is more important than with European standards, because of the globalisation trend in ICT professional certification. •

Testing procedures

External exam providers (Pearson VUE or Thomsom Prometric) are engaged by all companies to ensure they are legally defensible, have psychometric soundness, and are reliable and valid testing procedures. They provide access to the examination materials of each vendor company. Cheating is prevented by strict control processes. SAP exams can also be taken in national SAP Education centres. •

Training centres/ training providers

Training for vendor-specific certifications is provided in authorised training centres (Cisco Authorized Learning Partners, MS Certified Partner for Learning Solutions, SAP Education Centres). Some quality criteria (for example, staff qualifications, technical equipment) have to be met by these test centres. Additionally, online training is provided to give participants the option of self-directed learning and preparation for the examinations.

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•

Quality assurance of ICT professional certifications

In all three companies, US quality standards (for example, ANSI and PTA) are important for quality assurance. Only Microsoft mentioned efforts for becoming EN/ISO 17024 certified. Different quality criteria were discussed. For example, Cisco referred to the content development process (including reviewing content and error checking), whereas Microsoft referred to customer satisfaction as most relevant for quality assurance. Common criteria for all three companies were: legal defensibility, psychometric soundness of certifications and reliability and validity of examination processes. Internal quality assurance processes are based on academic and industry standards. Personal estimation and opinion about harmonising ICT professional certifications •

Cisco

According to Antonio Herrera, harmonisation projects make a lot of sense. When combined with other existing frameworks (for example, the European e-Competence Framework), harmonisation will support ICT industry certifications to become a valid element of European education systems. Quality assurance will be a very important element in the harmonisation process, as European authorities will only grant official recognition to certifications which comply with their requirements. There is value in vendor-neutral offerings, if they cover aspects which vendor-specific certificates do not. However, if vendor-neutral offerings coincide with vendor-specific offerings, they will have less significance and the market will dictate which offering is better. Additionally, it is unreasonable not to mention the vendor-specific characteristics and functions of a product, because the market would need an educated expert e.g. one specific router. It could make sense in certain environments (for example, governmental) but generally, if certificates are too neutral, they are less relevant for specific and high specialising ICT professionals. Therefore, vendor-neutral certification will have to be complemented by vendor-specific certification. •

Microsoft

Jürgen Nilgen sees certification as still underestimated in German speaking countries. Vendor-certification is an acceptable qualification, because it has improved the integration of practical exercises into exams and can complement apprenticeships in the technology field. Harmonisation of certification should be an aim however, all vendors would need to make more of an effort to achieve it. MS staff are already working in different groups on this topic. A critical point in the harmonisation process is the lack of transparency of quality criteria and quality assurance measurements, for other vendors certifications. As a result, MS product development does not accept other certificates implicitly. In the long-term, the aim is for greater acceptance of other certificates (vendor-specific and vendor-neutral). However, due to the restructure of the MS certification, this is a currently a challenge. New adopted certificates need a time to market and regional adoption varies. Existing certification structures are consistently altered and adapted for harmonising with other certificates. These processes are strongly related to the activities of key persons who have an open-minded attitude towards third party providers. There is an increasing

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awareness that cooperation with other providers could improve the quality of their own certificates, and from an economic point of view, mutual acceptance would support the uptake of MS courses by individual learners. In conclusion, Jürgen Nilgen says “currently the harmonisation of certification is a challenge for all parties involved but Microsoft is for sure open toward cooperation regarding this important topic!” •

SAP

Sue Martin (with the full agreement of Thomas Friedlmayer) thinks that European harmonisation of ICT certification is a great goal – but it is not enough as certification standards have to be global. A 2006 study from the International Data Cooperation (IDC) concluded that the general trend in certification is towards globalisation of resources which diminishes the importance of European certification standards. Quality assurance has to be an essential element of any IT certification program. Without quality, consistency, reliability and validity the certification is of no value to its target audience and dies a natural death in the market. Benchmarking is the necessary step to the development and adherence to any quality standard, so it must be treating with improtance. Vendor neutral-certifications (CompTIA or ECDL) are of great value, especially for end users, as a “CV builder”. SAP is looking at integrating the certifications of other vendorneutral certifications (e.g. from PMI) into certification structures to cover areas which are not seen as SAP core competencies. The integration of vendor-specific and vendorneutral certification has the potential to be of interest for SAP in certain areas. The challenge would be to close the gap between SAP certifications, which have historically been aimed at ICT professionals (e.g. for software implementation and administration), and the end user (the target audience of the majority of European vendor-neutral certifications).

6.3.3 Summary and Conclusion The responses from Cisco, Microsoft and SAP have highlighted important aspects of ICT professional certifications and related quality assurance and harmonisation processes. However, as the majority of vendor companies did not respond to the interview, it is not hard to judge whether the seven questioned aspects would be important for all vendors. Therefore, generalising the results is not sensible. The aim of the interviews was to collect information about quality assurance for ICT Professional certifications, in ICT vendor companies. Although all responsive companies have comparable quality criteria for their certification processes (for example, customer satisfaction; legal defensibility, reliability and validity; psychometric standards; correctness and localisation of content/job task analysis; training centres), the focus on these criteria varies. A similarity between testing procedures was noticed, as all three companies use either Pearson VUE or Thomson Prometric as exam providers. Additionally, legal defensibility and alignment with psychometric standards seem to be important for quality assurance of ICT professional certifications, because all respondents referred to these aspects several times during the interviews. In general, vendor companies establish internal quality assurance processes (e.g. review processes for exam development, internal process monitoring) and combine them with industry based quality assurance approaches. It should be noted that these quality assurance

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approaches (e.g. ANSI, ATP, NOCA) have a US alignment rather than a European alignment. The respondents value the quality of certification systems very highly, and as a precondition for successful market placement of vendor certificates. However, in regards to harmonising ICT professional certifications, there are challenges in validating other companies’ certification processes due to a lack of transparency on quality assurance processes. Quality assurance is only one aspect in the scope of harmonising ICT professional certifications, and several other aspects were identified through the interviews. In particular, acceptance of certifications provided by other ICT vendor companies or industry associations and adherence to certain qualification frameworks and initiatives, should be considered. Although all interviewees mentioned the acceptance of other ICT vendor-specific and vendor-neutral certificates in their certification systems, there are differences regarding the advancement of integration processes. Integration is an important aspect however, it has to be considered on a case-by-case basis, as either other vendor certificates are seen as competitors (Cisco) or the quality of the certificates cannot easily be assessed (Cisco, Microsoft). Nevertheless, there is value in integrating ICT certificates from other providers, because it allows the companies to cover areas separate to their own core competencies. Vendor-neutral offerings were seen as particulary valuable as a complement to vendor-specific certifications, or as important for ICT professionals CVs. Cisco hinted that vendor-neutral offerings make sense, provided that they do not coincide with vendor-specific offerings – otherwise the existence of those certificates will be dependent on market demand. Cisco and Microsoft are working to integrate their certification systems to align with European frameworks (e.g. EQF). However it was mentioned that it does not make sense to integrate certification systems before the frameworks have been implemented themselves. Additionally, SAP advised that although European harmonisation of ICT professional certifications is a great goal, there is a clear trend towards globalisation, so instead SAP focuses on adhering to international standards (which cover the European standards).

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6.4 Quality Assurance Certifications 6.4.1 Methodology: Schemes

for

Vendor-independent

Vendor-independent

and

and

Vendor-neutral

Vendor-neutral

Certification

To supplement the telephone interview data (see section 6.393), further information about quality assurance in vendor-independent and vendor-neutral ICT professional certifications was collected from the harmonisation project consortium. Partners from each country (Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland and Italy) were asked to provide relevant information (see annex 12.194). The research focussed on the following items: •

Quality criteria

•

Quality standards

•

Quality assurance approaches

•

Quality assurance measurements

•

Institutes for quality assurance and accreditation

•

Legal frameworks and initiatives

The results provide an overview of important aspects in the harmonisation process of ICT professional certifications in Europe. The list of aspects is not exhaustive, as the respondents’ descriptions differed in their focus and level of detail provided. Therefore, when “In the country XY…” is mentioned, this refers to answers provided by the respondent from this country, and should not be seen as a general comment. However, the different focuses illustrate the variety of qualify assurance factors in vendorindependent ICT professional certifications in Europe. Quality aspects of two prominent international certification providers are presented as an example at the end of this section: EUCIP (vendor-independent) and CompTIA (vendor-neutral).

6.4.2 Results: Vendor-independent and Vendor-neutral Certifications •

Provision of vendor-independent ICT professional certifications

National computer societies have an important role as providers of vendor-independent certifications, either by directly providing certificates or by managing the provision of certificates by accredited institutions. ECDL (and other locally developed end-user certifications) are widely promoted by the respondents, but several developments in the area of ICT professional skills are also evident. In Austria, the main supplier of vendorindependent certifications is the Österreichische Computer Gesellschaft (OCG) which provides certificates targeted at ICT professionals. The British Computer Society (BCS), a respected professional body with Royal Charter, provides quality assurance processes 93 94


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for ISEB (Information System Examination Board), which is part of the BCS. ISEB provide and deliver a series of exams for ICT professionals. In Ireland, the Irish Computer Society (ICS) has established a non-profit division for skills and certification: ICS Skills. Through its network of over 1,000 training centres, it accredits and manages a number of proprietary professional certified programmes, including EUCIP. EUCIP is also promoted by the Associazione Italiana per l'Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico (AICA) in Italy, and experts from the German Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI) are currently assessing the prospects of implementing EUCIP in Germany. Local education authorities (often accredited by the computer societies) also offer vendor-independent certificates. In Germany, the Cert-IT GmbH is a leading company of ICT professional certifications. It offers certificates for 29 IT specialist profiles. The certificates are not currently accepted by university bodies but Cert-IT is working on establishing internationally valid, registered academic graduations. In Austria, the Volkshochschulen (VHS, adult education centres), Wirtschaftsförderungsinstitute (WIFI, institutes for promotion of economy) and the Berufsförderungsinstitut (BFI, vocational training institute) provide several vendor-independent certificates. In Ireland, the Further Education Training and Awards Council (FETAC) provides programmes for vendorindependent certification. In the UK, the Qualification & Curriculum Authority (QCA, SQA in Scotland) manages vocational qualifications and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) assess skills, competencies and knowledge people have of certain job requirements for example, in the area of ICT. Recommendations for external quality control of assessment processes and approval of assessment centres, are provided by awarding bodies accredited by the QCA. •

Quality criteria

The consortium responses showed that a huge variety of quality criteria exist for vendorindependent certifications. However in most countries, certain quality criteria are regarded as more important, independent of the quality standards and approaches which are applied. Test centre and testing procedures quality In Austria, OCG test centres are audited on their infrastructure, technical equipment, premises, organisation of courses, sustainability, business plans and marketing strategies. In the UK, health and safety aspects of the educational premises were mentioned as a quality criteria. In Estonia, the testing methodology has to be able to draw conclusions about the learners’ knowledge and capabilities. In Italy, an important issue for AICA is preventing intentional or unintentional favouring of candidates by imposing sanctions on test centres. To identify such test centres unannounced audits are conducted during the test sessions. The German Dienstleistungsgesellschaft für Informatik mbH (DLGI) and ICS Skills in Ireland also audit test centres to ensure the predefined quality standards are implemented.

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Quality of teaching staff This criterion is linked to the quality of the test centres. The experience and quality of training staff is important in the UK, Ireland as well as Austria, and they all demand special one-day training sessions from their teaching staff. The ICS Skills training programme outlines, among other items, the procedures for course delivery, testing and record keeping within the centre. Trainers are strongly encouraged to obtain Certified Training Professional (CTP) status. Quality of learning materials and learning processes In Austria, the OCG learning materials are approved according to their coherence with the syllabus. To assure the content quality of the materials and courses, the OCG collaborates with universities and ICT experts. In Germany, the quality of learning technologies and materials is defined by standards such as the IEEE Learning Technology Standard Committee, the IMS Reusable Definition of Competency or Educational Objective Specification, the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36: Standards for Information Technology for Learing, Education, and Training (ITLET) and the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (see section 6.2.295). ICS Skills in Ireland and AICA in Italy have implemented courseware approval processes. Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction is considered to be one of the most important quality criteria in professional certification. In Italy, AICA conducts periodic customer satisfaction surveys through direct candidate interviews and they also plan to implement a more general way to collect regular feedback from customers. In Ireland, ICS Skills employs customer satisfaction surveys and in Estonia and the UK, they rated this criterion as very important for quality assurance. In Austria, the OCG measures customer satisfaction on two levels: they consider the people studying towards certification, and the test centres themselves. Online surveys and feedback surveys are organised to assess customer satisfaction. •

Quality standards and approaches

Quality assurance is often based on quality standards from EN ISO 9000ff. (see section 6.2.295). The OCG applies a comprehensive quality assurance system for all available certificates. This process-oriented quality management system meets the requirements of EN ISO 9001:2000 for ECDL and OCG certificates. The WIFI and BFI also implemented quality assurance based on EN ISO 9001:2000. The EN ISO 9000ff. family is also quite common in the United Kingdom (UK) and is applied by AICA. Investor in People (IiP) is a national UK assessment scheme for people related processes and it is not IT specific. It focusses on improving institution success and performance by managing and developing people working in the institutions. Quality criteria applied to institutions are: job descriptions, formal appraisals, objectives, training plans and regular reviews.

95

See pp. 116.

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The process and system-oriented approach of the EN ISO/IEC 17024 standard (see section 6.2.296) is also important for vendor-independent certifications. In Estonia and Germany it is the most important quality standard. The German Cert-IT GmbH certificates refer to this standard and the German Association for Accreditation GmbH (TGA) uses it when approving personnel certification institutions. In Italy, AICA is considering an application for EN ISO/IEC 17024 certification. As well as these international standards, national and even individual concepts of quality assurance are applied in institutions for vendor-independent certifications. The Austrian Volkshochschulen decided to implement the German ArtSet Quality assurance model (“Netzwerk Qualitätssicherung, n.d.; see annex 12.1297) which had positive effects because of its supporting network structure and the assistance provided by ArtSet (Heilinger, n.d.). Apart from the above mentioned institutions, in Germany they do not explicitly refer to a formal quality standard for ICT professional certification. To assess the quality of certification products and services, they generally apply individual criteria. In this context, the establishment of a quality management board (QMB) within the certification body is a good mechanism. Quality assurance approaches in the UK are a mixture of self-assessment questionnaires, supplemented with reviews. The current emphasis is on continuous improvement and training providers are expected to have their own quality assurance processes, which include internal reviews and improvement plans. ICS Skills and FETAC in Ireland have also developed programme-specific quality standards and they apply internal quality approval standards. In Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy, quality assurance of vendor-independent ICT professional certifications is also influenced by quality regulations from the ECDL foundation, and EUCIP. •

Institutions for quality assurance and accreditation

In most countries, national computer societies are responsible for the accreditation of ICT professional certification test centres and the approval of teaching materials. Also, the German Association for Accreditation GmbH (TGA) is responsible for accreditation of personnel certifications, according to international norms (e.g. EN ISO/IEC 17024). In the UK, the accreditation structure is quite complex and training institutions must seek accreditation (including an inspection) from a handful of accreditation bodies. Accreditations have a fixed term, and must be renewed periodically. Even where ISO standards or IiP are not completely followed, training providers, assessment centres and certification bodies will generally have quite formal internal processes. Double-marking, external examiners, external verification and sample audits are used. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is a UK government agency, responsible for funding all public training for over 16-year-olds, Further Education (FE) and adult education (excluding Higher Education). It is the principal source of funding for all FE colleges in England. It administers central IT systems, which include individual learner figures, and individual training provider figures, in an attempt to monitor all learning. It will only fund approved courses leading to approved qualifications at approved training centres. Qualifications 96 97


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are approved by the QCA, which defines curricula for schools and Further Education colleges. Training providers are approved by the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI, now part of Ofsted – Office for Standards in Education). Therefore, LSC, QCA and ALI are a powerful trinity, controlling all publicly funded learning in England. There are equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. •

Initiatives and legal frameworks

Professional councils in Estonia supervise the public certification process in relevant professions. “A professional council is a body of co-operation consisting of the representatives of employees, employers and professional associations of the corresponding area of activity and the representatives of the state” (Riigikogu, 2000, §5/1). “The objective of the activities of professional councils is the development of professional standards necessary for meeting the needs of labour market and the implementation and updating of the system of professional qualifications” (Riigikogu, 2000, § 6/1). For a certification to be acknowledged by the state, it has to follow the Professions Act, introduced on 19 January 2000 (Riigikogu, 2000). Under these regulations, the Estonian Qualification Authority became institutionalised, and rules for quality examination boards and commissions were developed (see http://www.kutsekoda.ee). The German Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs) has provided a regulation for accreditation of vocational education institutions the Anerkennungs- und Zulassungsverordnung für Weiterbildung (AZWV). The Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) is the central organisation for accreditation and provides a list of private, acceptable accreditation agencies. These agencies are responsible for accreditating further vocational education institutions. A core element of the regulation is the demand for a quality management system in these agencies. Its implementation and application should support continuing quality assurance in further vocational education (“Verordnung”, 2004). In the UK, several statutory bodies for personnel certification were established through an Act of Parliament. These bodies – ALI, LSC, QCA and Ofsted – are powerful, authoritative bodies, with large staff. Some of them operate throughout the UK, and some only in England, with equivalent bodies in the other three countries. There are no statutory bodies for non-publicly funded training. The QCA established the UK National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and accredits several awarding bodies responsible for quality assurance for other vendor-neutral qualification schemes, e.g. those for NVQs. The Irish National Framework for Qualifications (NFQ), established by the National Qualifications Authority (NQAI), complies with a number of European certification frameworks. It also specifies standards for FETAC, which itself has a role in ensuring that content and learning outcomes for courses remain current and relevant. Ireland also has a recognised qualifications alignment agreement with the UK.

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6.4.3 European Certification of Informatics Professionals (EUCIP) The European Certification of Informatics Professionals (EUCIP) qualification scheme is a standardised, vendor-independent qualification acrss Europe, for ICT professionals (see sections 5.498, 7.499). Currently, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Norway, and Spain are EUCIP partners. Operated from the ECDL Foundation headquarters in Dublin, EUCIP influences quality assurance approaches for vendor-independent certifications in its partner countries. There are implications for learning provider quality and examination centres for in these countries, as the certification is standardised across Europe and accreditation by EUCIP (or other authorised institutions) is a precondition to become a learning provider or examination centre (see http://www.eucip.com). The quality of the EUCIP programme can be largely validated by the value that the partner countries attribute to the certification. The EUCIP certification is recognised on NQF’s in the UK and Ireland and by governments in Spain, Italy and Estonia. EUCIP follows the quality standards as set out by the ECDL Foundation which applies EN ISO 9001: 2000. The validity of this certificate is maintained through ongoing control audits. EUCIP applies quality assurance through customer feedback, for example feedback from test centres and students, to ensure continuous improvement of the system. This feedback is logged on the ECDL Foundation internal “Item Response Website” and is reviewed at periodic EUCIP working group meetings and during upgrades of syllabuses and test versions. The ECDL Foundation adopts a process oriented approach to quality assurance. Processes are in place for the technical development of all programmes offered by the ECDL Foundation. This includes the development of syllabuses, test blueprints and tests. In addition, processes are in place for approving new courseware and automated testing systems. The EN ISO/IEC 17024 standard is implemented by some of the EUCIP Licensees (partners that run and administer EUCIP certificates in their countries). The ECDL Foundation has developed its own quality standards which all EUCIP Licensees are contractually obliged to follow. Adherence to these standards is monitored through regular audits of the Licensees by the ECDL Foundation, and of the test centres by the Licensees. A quality assurance committee meets quarterly to review the audit reports and to discuss other quality related topics. At a national level, the Licensees may also require their test centres to meet additional quality criteria. In some countries standards requested by government departments or agencies are used as the requirements to become a test centre. A core level certification for ICT professionals was established, within the EUCIP scheme, gearing towards a certification in one of 21 Elective Profiles (each with a different professional focus). In addition, a certification in an IT Administration Profile is also available (EUCIP, 2007). During the initial development of the EUCIP programme, quality assurance was overseen by a QMB of experts across Europe. However, since the ECDL Foundation took over responsibility for EUCIP, this board has been split into

98 99


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two groups: an Expert Working Group to overview the technical development of the product and a Strategic Working Group to provide strategic direction. In Norway, all products related to the quality assurance of vendor-neutral ICT professional certifications, are covered by EUCIP. However, in several countries additional quality assurance approaches for vendor-independent certifications are applied (see section 6.4.2100). Thomas Michel (managing director of DLGI) and Kurt Scherübel (product development manager at CDI training provider; “EUCIPZertifizierung”, 2002) expressed concerns about overlaps with existing certification schemes. The ECDL Foundation supports any National Licensee applications to include EUCIP certifications on national frameworks or other suitable initiatives. National Licensees must also adhere to directives issued from their national qualifications bodies and other related organisations with responsibility for further and higher education.

6.4.4 Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) For 25 years, CompTIA has provided internationally accepted vendor-neutral ICT professional certifications. The following aspects about CompTIA quality assurance are from the homepage of this industry association (http://www.comptia.org). CompTIA offers certification through learning providers, which apply to become member of the CompTIA Learning Alliance (CLA). Certain CompTIA quality requirements – including certified training personnel and customer service policies – have to be met to become a member of the CLA (CompTIA Learning Alliance, 2007). Learning providers in the CLA must use learning material from the CompTIA Authorised Quality Curiculum (CAQC). However, they can voluntarily submit their own material through a review process according to the CAQC quality standards. Authorised industry experts are responsible for the quality review and authorised providers must display the CAQC quality logo on their material. This logo makes it easy for learners to identify learning materials which meet the CompTIA quality criteria. A tool is provided to estimate the return on investment (RoI) of a CompTIA certification, for training providers and organisations who employ CompTIA certified ICT professionals. A CompTIA survey has revealed positive effects of CompTIA certifications in terms of reduced staff costs and downtime, and increased customer satisfaction (“Information for Employers”, n.d.).

6.5 Quality Assurance Certifications

in

the

Harmonisation

of

ICT

Professional

The results from the Harmonise Survey of Certification Systems for ICT Professionals in Europe (see annex 12.4101) show that quality standards and accreditation are the preferred aspects to be included in the scope of a possible European framework for ICT 100 101


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professional certifications. Earlier in this section, Figure 6-1102 showed that more than 90% of the interviewees agree to the inclusion of these aspects. Quality assurance critera should be taken into consideration for ICT professional certification harmonisation, as there are likely to be as many existing quality assurance approaches as there are available ICT professional certificates. Defining quality, especially in the education and services field, is rather challenging (see section 6.1). Of course, some of the quality criteria and approaches which are important for ICT professional certification, could be adapted to the European level easier than others. For example, standards for course costs are not as difficult to define as standards for the learning process and its content quality. However, costs are always related to an outcome (see section 6.2.1103) which in the case of ICT professional certification is also not easy to determine. Standardisation activities aimed at improving the quality of ICT professional certifications, should be carefully planned. Successful implementation of quality standards, requires commitment from all relevant parties within an organisation. Those parties may have different ideas and aspirations regarding the standardisation process and the standards to be applied. Therefore, transparent and flexible standards are needed and to enable the expansion of existing standards, a certain flexibility is required (see section 6.2.2104). However, what is relevant at an organisational level should also be considered at a European level, where an even larger number of stakeholders have to commit to the standardisation processes in order to achieve harmonisation of ICT professional certifications. The descriptions of quality assurance criteria in this section, show that harmonisation activities for ICT professional certification schemes have to address quality assurance aspects on three levels. 1) organisational level: implementation of quality assurance approaches in the organisational structure of a certification body Harmonisation of quality assurance activities, which relate to approaches such as TQM or EFQM (see section 6.2.3105, annex 12.12106), has to be carefully considered at the European level as these approaches are tailored to the specific needs of each organisation. Quality standards like those specified by EN ISO 9000 ff. are relevant in this context. Additionally, the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and the Common Quality Assurance Framework (see section 6.2.5107) provide structures which could be linked to quality assurance activities in ICT professional certification, and standardised across different organisations.

102

See page 112. See pp. 114. 104 See pp. 116. 105 See pp. 118. 106 See pp. 293. 107 See pp. 123. 103

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2) awarding body level: implementation of quality standards for certified people in the awarding body The exchange of certified ICT professionals between different countries, can only be accomplished by harmonising the development and maintenance of certification systems. By applying the EN ISO/IEC 17024 (see section 6.2.2108) to certification bodies, a standardised procedure for certifying people can be used and the certification processes will become consistent, reliable and comparable between different certification bodies (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004; Facklam, 2002). “In either case, this International Standard [EN ISO/IEC 17024] should be the basis for the recognition of the certification bodies and their certification schemes, in order to facilitate their acceptance at the national and international levels. Only the harmonization of the system for developing and maintaining certification schemes for persons can establish the environment for mutual recognition and the global exchange of personnel.” (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004, p. V) 3) training level: implementation of quality standards for the educational process At the training level, standardisation activities are important for the learning process, the tools, methods and materials applied in the process and the testing procedures. In regards to e-learning materials and content and the application of learning technologies, standardisation could be achieved by using existing standards such as LOM, IMS, SCORM (see section 6.2.2108). According to Pawlowski and Adelsberger (2001) the European Committee for Standardisation/ Information Society Standardisation System (CEN/ISSS) analyses existing learning technology standards (see section 6.2.2108) to provide recommendations for the development of European norms for learning technologies (for example, meta-data, legal issues, learner profiles and distributed learning). As well as norms, the CEN/ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop discussed quality norms for assessing learning resources. Testing procedures should be standardised as they are an important part of certification processes and have a high impact on certificate acceptance by employers and other providers (see section 4.8.2109). Existing standards (e.g. IMS Question & Test Interoperability, see annex 12.12110) address this issue. Mulkey (2001) points out the importance of vendor-neutral certification in the examination process. Vendor-neutral certificates, such as CompTIA’s A+, could be seen as the basic certificate for entering ICT professions. Eventually, vendor-specific certificates could lead to specialised ICT professional profiles. This is comparable with studying medicine, as after all students have taken the general examinations, they take up a residency for a specific medical field. As stated above, for successful implementation of standardisation and harmonisation activities, it is necessary to incorporate the views of stakeholders . Telephone interviews with ICT vendor company experts about the current situation, revealed that the three 108

See pp. 116. See pp. 70. 110 See pp. 293. 109

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theory-based levels of quality assurance generate certain practical challenges. At an organisational level, companies’ quality assurance approaches include carefully defined internal quality processes for ICT professional certifications, which cannot easily be standardised between different companies. Furthermore, the alignment to European frameworks (e.g. EQF) is currently difficult, because these frameworks are not yet implemented. Additionally, a possible alignment with international standards is more reasonable due to the increasing globalisation of ICT professional certifications. This is also relevant on the awarding body level, as applying US standards is necessary for companies operating in the US and internationally. The quality standards of legal defensibility, and psychometric soundness of examination procedures, seem to be crucial for ICT professional certifications. It is not conclusive if the EN/ISO 17024 norm is relevant for the awarding bodies of ICT vendor companies, because it was only named by one company (out of three). On the training level, internal quality assurance and review processes for the development of learning materials and courseware, might be as important as the standards for learning technology. The standardisation of testing procedures is also an important part of the harmonisation process of ICT professional certifications. This raises a question about how the level of cooperation among different exam delivery providers or own test centres could determine the acceptance of certificates from other providers. Certificates from other providers, especially vendorneutral and vendor-independent certifications, can complement vendor-specific certifications. Nevertheless, transparency of quality assurance processes is pre-requisite for the integration of these certifications in ICT vendor certification systems. Achieving transparency of quality assurance measures for vendor-independent and vendor-neutral ICT professional certifications is another challenge, because the data (see section 6.4111) shows that on national level, numerous providers (excluding computer societies) are responsible for delivering these certifications. The focus on quality criteria for different aspects of the certification systems (e.g. testing procedures, teaching staff, learning materials and processes, customer satisfaction) and the application of quality standards and quality assurance approaches, is different for providers within and between countries. The same applies for accreditation measures and existing legal regulations and initiatives of each country. The vendor-independent certification scheme EUCIP could serve as an example for quality assurance at the organisational, awarding body and training level (see section 6.4.3112). The EN ISO 9001: 2000 standard is implemented at an organisational level by the ECDL Foundation. EN ISO/IEC 17024 is the standard for quality assurance on the awarding body level, which is applied by some of the EUCIP Licensees. The process oriented quality assurance approach of the EUCIP programme also affects the training level with regards to the development of syllabuses, testing systems and courseware. However, it can be concluded that this ICT professional certification scheme, as well as any other, can only be successfully implemented if it provides high-quality, transparent certifications which complement vendor-specific certifications .

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Key Messages of this section: •

Quality standards and accreditation are the most preferred criteria, and should be included in the scope of a European framework for ICT professional certifications.

•

There are likely to be as many existing quality assurance approaches as there are available ICT professional certificates.

•

In the education and service field, quality is difficult to define therefore, adapting existing quality standards when harmonising ICT professional certifications should be carefully investigated.

•

The successful implementation of quality standards requires commitment from all parties involved, especially on a European level.

•

Transparent and flexible standards are needed to enable the expansion of existing standards.

•

Quality assurance aspects have to be addressed on three levels; EUCIP could serve as an example : -

organisational level (e.g., EN ISO 9000 ff.)

-

awarding body level (e.g., EN ISO/IEC 17024)

-

training level (e.g., LOM, IMS; SCORM, testing procedures, and learning technology).

•

Quality assurance is valued by ICT vendors as it is a very important aspect for harmonisation of ICT professional certifications.

•

Certification providers (vendor-specific, vendor-neutral and vendor-independent) have different focuses for quality assurance of ICT professional certifications. Therefore, harmonisation activities on the three levels mentioned above, are challenging.

•

The mutual acceptance of ICT professional certifications among providers, depends on the transparency of quality and how they complement their own certificates.

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7. Synthesis of Findings “[…] We are living in a world where technology is changing by an order of magnitude every ten years. Similarly, people typically work for many companies throughout their careers. We live in a dynamic world. A focus on process provides the infrastructure necessary to deal with an everchanging world, and to maximize the productivity of personnel and the use of technology to be more competitive”113. The section summarises and reflects on the key findings of the four thematic research areas. Its main goal is to assess key findings with respect to their overall relevance and the impact they are likely to have on the harmonisation process. Factors are evaluated in relation to their potential to influence future developments, and both the challenges that face us and opportunities they present are discussed. An attempt is also made to group together key findings in ways that will help the development of the planning process. The proposed roadmap towards harmonisation of ICT certification is a synthesis of the main findings, and this is presented before the recommendations in section 8. The roadmap describes possible options and their implications, as well as future trends and prospects. And from this analysis we see various scenarios that might lead the way towards harmonised ICT certification schemes. At the end of this section we present the principles upon which a business case for harmonisation (using the EUCIP model as an example). The goal here is to outline briefly the aspects of the EUCIP business model that are relevant to harmonisation and to highlight the ways in which EUCIP’s solutions might be useful, both from a technical and a business point of view in initiating the first steps with Multistakeholders in moving towards harmonising the IT certification market.

7.1 Key Findings This section reviews key findings in relation to each of the four thematic areas – as derived from the conclusions to chapters 3 4, 5 and 6. Figure 7-2 displays a brief summary of the key messages of each thematic area. As shown in each area, information has been collected, aggregated and where possible proposed solutions to the future harmonisation of ICT professional certification have been considered. In Figure 7-3 the key findings listed at the end of each section are shown. Each key finding embodies a challenge and/or influencing factor in the planning of the harmonisation process.

113

Source: Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, 2006; http://www.sei.cmu.edu [last visited 28 August 2007].

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7.1.1 Research Goals Section 2114 outlined how Harmonise reviewed certification schemes for ICT professional qualifications across Europe and beyond. The project sought: •

To clarify ideas on the need for harmonisation in the market, and

•

To identify the concrete measures that could bring about harmonisation in approaches to ICT skills certification.

In doing this, the project looked at the ICT professional labour market, at the system of ICT skills certification, and at relevant/applied quality standards for ICT professional certification. Information was gathered by review and analysis of reference material in the four thematic areas, and through empirical research – this included employer interviews, reviews of job advertisements, standardised interviews with certification experts, and research on prevailing preferences and attitudes in different countries).115 The Project’s aim has been to prepare the way for concerted actions from stakeholders and to prepare options for achieving greater transparency in qualifications within the European Union. In general, the need for harmonisation of ICT professional certification must be detached from any specific programme or type of certification system as well as from existing business interests. As we have noted in section 5116, certification and related services constitute a sizable and profitable business for the ICT industry. And for that reason, a harmonisation approach must take business interests and market forces into account.

7.1.2 Needs for Harmonisation and Possible Ways Forward Although global standards are necessary for the achievement of harmonisation in certification, ICT education and training remains rooted in its local or national qualification system with respect to culture and attitudes, as well as its level of development, regulations, structures and formal rules. Any attempt at harmonisation in Europe must deal with the national characteristics of markets and take a partnership approach that is respectful of local differences. There is also a need for a common language to facilitate the flow of information between industry and education / training and to provide a framework for reference.117 Harmonisation of certification ought to strive for a learner-centred accreditation system that is transparent with regard to content, technologies, methods and actors. Such a system ought to offer clear guidance and recognition of learning (whether formal, nonformal or informal) and for acquired knowledge, skills and competencies. ICT professional work requires varying sets of competence for specific roles and functions. As shown in Figure 4-7118 definitions of certification requirements encompass 114

See pp. 20. See section 2.1, p. 20. 116 See p. 81. 117 See section 4.7, pp. 63 and (eSCC, 2004), p. 109. 118 See p. 62. 115

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both basic education requirements and specific elements of work experience. The latter relates to performance standards of ICT professional work and reminds us that certain types of certification are quite narrow in their scope (see Figure 4-13119). ICT professionalism is a strategic goal that requires the cooperation of all actors. ICT professionalism requires an agreed and broadly accepted body of knowledge, which in turn requires the harmonisation of certificates from different providers and programmes. The scope of a future European framework for ICT professional certification should incorporate transparent, flexible and open (quality) standards,120 and these should be applied to the training and to the awarding body at organisational level. Testing procedures should be also part of future harmonisation activities – where testing procedures are open and transparent, they are much more likely to be accepted hy other providers. (Weiß, Stucky, Dolan, Bumann, 2005). European harmonisation of ICT professional certifications needs to take wider global standards into account. The integration and acceptance of other certifications brings considerable value as it allows for the combination of vendor-specific, vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certifications in line with the ICT professional body of knowledge. Leading providers of certification are already working to align their systems to European frameworks – see, for example, the European e-Competence Framework currently being developed by CEN/ISSS). Reference profiles can also help to cross-reference different certification schemes and programmes. The vision is to develop a new harmonised certification scheme that is cross-domain and cross-brand, that can respond to market demand for increased professionalism in ICT, and can harness the support of the major ICT vendors. In doing so, it presents “win-win” situation to industry, practitioners, ICT vendors as well as to ICT professional institutions. Harmonisation activities need to be carefully planned. Successful implementation of (quality) standards requires commitment from everybody involved, and it is necessary to take the viewpoints of stakeholders into account. With regard to organisation, we envisage a “round table” for initial information exchange and to steer concerted measures. In the four thematic areas we have already elaborated issues that need to be addressed in the future harmonisation process.

7.1.3 Four Pillars to a European Approach to Harmonisation Based on the results of our analysis, we conclude that a European approach to harmonised certification needs to be built on the following four pillars: 1. Clarification of the role and general needs of ICT professionalism and related standards -

119 120

with the aim “[…] to create an international IT profession driving a vastly improved capability to exploit fully the potential of ICT” (Hughes and Thompson, 2007).

See p. 77. See Figure 6-1, p. 112.

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-

creating a body of knowledge as part of a “ICT profession infrastructure”121 with guiding principles for certifications; certification ought to be conceived as being part of the body of knowledge.

2. A multi-stakeholder approach and partnerships -

led by professional associations, industry assocations, leading ICT vendors, and supported by governmental bodies and social partners

-

with a two level approach in response to local and global specifics and market characteristics

-

taking an “umbrella” approach that allows the co-existence and crossreferencing of different certification systems (“reference framework”) and creates an environment of mutual benefit (“mutual zones of trust”)

3. A set or list of recommended / agreed quality standards and common principles and quality measures as well as related services -

described and systemised within a quality framework; quality and harmonisation are given high priority by certification providers

-

creating a comprehensive knowledge base relating to ICT certification principles (concepts, methods and applications) and to what is already on the market (list of certifications, classification and selection criteria); offering people the ability to access required education, training, assessment and certification.

-

that underpin agreement on the common procedures and principles of how systems ought to operate

4. Greater visibility and transparency of ICT professional certifications

121

-

requiring the collaboration of major ICT providers

-

inventivised to create zones of trust in the market space to the benefit of ICT professional certification

-

preparing the ground for a harmonised certification scheme, cross-domain and cross-brand, responding to market demand for increased professionalism in ICT, harnessing support from the major ICT vendors

-

assembling different concepts and methods to facilitate integration and acceptance of other certifications

-

providing a framework for recognition, integration and combination of content from different certification providers

-

agreeing on methods and applications to allow for combinations of content from different certification providers

See Figure 7-4, p.154.

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-

providing integration services, tools and methods – for example, accreditation for exams or modules

Later on, we shall further elaborate on these four pillars and shall regard them as the basic essentials of how to induce and to plan the future harmonisation process and related activities. The key findings listed in Figure 7-3 are used to derive concrete measures and to consider how the harmonisation process can be implemented based on the four pillars (Figure 7-1).

Visibility

Quality Standards

Multi-Stakeholder Approach

ICT Professionalism

Harmonisation

Figure 7-1: Identified Basic Pillars of the Harmonisation Process Figure 7-2 presents an overview of the key findings and messages. The goal here is to present information on the various factors and drivers that define the environment ICT certification. Section 5 already provided answers to the following main questions: •

Which are the specific complexities of the ICT certification market?

•

What can we expect of the evolution of this market and the diffusion of ICT certification?

•

What do we need to do to harmonise the market?

These pivotal questions need to be discussed in the context of taking a market marketdriven approach rather than a top-down or regulatory approach towards harmonisation. Such an approach is more likely to reflect the actual needs and prevailing complexity of the ICT certification market. In the following we recap on the main findings and messages affecting the conception of a possible harmonisation approach.

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ICT Professional Labour Market - Theme 1 -

System of ICT Skills Certification - Theme 2 -

Market of ICT Skills Certification - Theme 3 -

- labour market complex in characteristics and behaviour and adduces indicative value from certifications - professional certifications low in employers’ recruitment preferences - seven supply channels with time lag in responding to demand - In some cases there are no shortage of people in IT - just skills gaps - forecast future excess of demand over supply - ICT professionalism requires support from major vendors - ICT professional work requires varying sets of competence for specific roles and functions - multi-stakeholder approach involving ICT industry with support of major vendors

- create a knowledge base about certification systems, concepts, methods and applications - create right climate - agree on common procedures and principles, on how systems ought to operate - define and explore elements and constituent parts of certification systems - common language to define certification profiles (requirements and definitions) - specific areas or subsystems to be addressed to achieve harmonisation - areas to apply quality measures - taxonomy to classify systems - concept of performance components and signals - glossary and reference of terms - relationship between ICT certifications and ICT qualifications - role of ICT professionalism

- results of qualitative and quantitative analysis of certification market - configuration, characteristics and size of the ICT certification market - comprehensive knowledge base about what is currently available in the market (list of certifications and classification of products) - positioning of certification by exploring its origin and objectives, business models - main offering of ICT certifications - types of certifications (by product and by professional competence) - go-to-market models, distribution channels - vendor-dependent certifications dominate the current market - vendor-dependent certifications have advanced and are entering growth phase - vendor-independent certifications are not yet fully developed or not yet mature - different levels of skills to manage complete ICT systems life cycle

Figure 7-2: Discussion of key findings

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ICT Professional Certification Quality Standards - Theme 4 - applied and available quality standards in education and training - describe existing approaches to quality assurance - list of quality standards - delimit areas of activity addressed / covered by existing quality standards - opinions of certification experts concerning future harmonisation - blueprint to develop a quality framework - accreditation plays pivotal role towards achieving transparency and implementing quality standards - empirical results concerning possible European framework - influencing factors/ aspects to be considered: content, technologies, methods and actors - often different paradigms - requirements for successful implementation of quality standards - issues in the harmonisation process - input, process and output quality - open standards and systems required - quality and harmonisation has priority for certification providers

ICT Professional Labour Market - Theme 1 -

System of ICT Skills Certification - Theme 2 -

Market of ICT Skills Certification - Theme 3 -

L1

The value of certification varies greatly, depending on the state of the labour market at any time

S1

Stakeholders and providers of certification should contribute actively to this harmonisation process by “opening” their systems and making them more transparent

M1

Evolution of digital products, services and content affects the competences needed to plan, build and operate information systems along their life cycle

L2

The ICT labour market in Europe has grown strongly over 40 years, punctuated by sharp declines every 8 to 10 years

S2

Creating a comprehensive knowledge base of how these systems operate and agree on common principles

M2

L3

There are many sources of supply, each showing a time lag in responding to demand

S3

Broader recognition and higher awareness for ICT certification

M3

The main needs of competence certifications focused on (1) technology, platform vendors, (2) third party systems, (3) ICT professionals and managers of non-ICT organisations Vendor specific certification has higher share of the market by far, but vendorindependent certifications are increasing their presence in the market. Four types of certification supplier: vendors, industry associations, professional associations, training suppliers

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ICT Professional Certification Quality Standards - Theme 4 Q1 Quality standards and accreditation are among the most preferred elements for inclusion in the scope of a possible European framework for ICT professional certification. Q2 The number of existing quality assurance approaches is as numerous as the number of available ICT professional certificates. Q3

Quality is rather difficult to define in the field of education and service, and the adaptation of quality standards for harmonising ICT professional certificates should be carefully examined.

L4

L5

L6

There are difficulties of definition and measurement, with various attempts under way to remedy these. The major factors driving demand are: - The general business economic and investment climate - The pace of innovation in ICT - The rate of off-shoring There have been long periods of skills shortages, occasionally severe, with difficulties in measurement, with shortages often confused with skills gaps

S4

ICT certifications have to be conceived as an integral part of a possible body of knowledge of ICT professionalism

M4

Certification market seems to be in the beginning phase of its life cycle (independent certifications); an important growth in volume is foreseen for professional associations and training suppliers

Q4

The successful implementation of quality standards requires commitment from all parties involved within an organisation, but also on a European level.

S5

Shift from marketing / business-oriented behaviour of providers to customer-oriented services for learners and employers

M5

Q5

Transparent and flexible standards are needed and to enable the expansion of existing standards a certain openness of these standards is required.

Previous studies of future demand have proved unreliable, all seriously overestimating demand

S6

ICT skills or job profiles have been identified as a pivotal concept to be implemented to overcome existing boundaries

M6

Harmonisation needs are quite explicit as a result of the proliferation of certifications: 62 certification suppliers deliver 617 types of certification which have delivered a total of around 5 million certifications in the last 6 years. Brainbench, an American trader of online self-assessment services claim to have released 6 million self-assessments Microsoft is by far the leader in the certification market (in volume); IBM, Cisco, SUN and Oracle are other important players; CompTIA is the leader in the Vendor Neutral segment; important independent certifications in Europe are ISEB/SFIA in UK and EXIN/ITIL

Q6

Quality assurance aspects have to be addressed on three level: a) organisational (e.g., EN ISO 9000 ff.) b) awarding body (e.g., EN ISO/IEC 17024) c) training level (e.g., LOM, IMS; SCORM).

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L7

A recent CEPIS study of six future scenarios predicts an excess of demand over supply on most scenarios, but with shortages considerably lower than in other forecasts

S7

Common language necessitates the use of a common structure and common reference points preferably defined by a European ICT skills / competence framework

M7

L8

The Harmonise survey of recruitment practice showed little employer enthusiasm for certifications with relevant work experience and nontechnical skills ranking highest with employers

S8

Creation of the right climate in the sense of a “blue ocean strategy”

M8

L9

A new harmonised certification scheme, cross-domain and cross-brand, responding to market demand for increased professionalism in ICT, might succeed, if it harnesses support from the major vendors

One reason for the high proportion of of certifications delivered by market leaders is the effort on localisation, i.e. the effort to adapt each set of training and certification products to local rules, starting with material translation in the local language Among the new Independent Certification products of high interest, is the CEPIS/ECDL Foundation proposed EUCIP Standard, as a first attempt to introduce mutual credits recognition to build up a potentially harmonised system

Quality assurance is valued by ICT vendors as a very important element in the harmonisation of ICT professional certification.

Q8

Certification providers (vendor-specific, vendorneutral and vendorindependent) each have a different focusi on quality assurance relating to ICT professional certification. Harmonisation activities for these three is therefore very challenging. The mutual acceptance of ICT professional certifications among providers depends on the transparency of their quality and their relevance in complementing each other’s certificates.

Q9

Figure 7-3: Overview key findings of thematic area

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7.2 Challenges and Opportunities In the previous section, we discussed key findings in the four thematic areas with regard to a possible harmonisation framework. We looked at the complexity of the ICT certification market, and pointed out ongoing trends in its evolution. Additionally we reflected about the real needs to harmonise the market,and we posed key questions linked to these issues: Why harmonisation? for whom? and how? In this section, we move on to discuss the challenges and opportunities that we shall meet on the way towards harmonisation, and also some potential threats and risks. In all of this, ICT professionals and ICT professional associations have a pivotal role to play in helping us to arrive at a shared understanding, to break down obstacles and to promote standards and harmonisation of ICT certifications. Beyond that, ICT professional associations ensure access to a considerable number of potential “customers” – their members, which in turn supports the need to establish required (professional) standards. Defining the body of knowledge collectively held by ICT professionals requires broad support from stakeholders. ICT professionalism (understood as the availability of broadly recognised professional standards122) is predicated on the establishment of known professional standards, and it has a fundamental contribution to make towards harmonisation. Apart from qualifications, skills and competence frameworks, a body of professional knowledge is a fundamental part of the ICT professional infrastructure (see Figure 7-4). In chapter 5 we discussed the need to harmonise the certification market. As we have seen, the certification market is led by products from the major ICT vendors. These are companies who operate in the commercial world and whose main interest is in maximising revenues. Consequently, a sustainable approach to harmonisation must first of all identify common goals that the major vendors can share in a non-competitive way for their mutual benefit. Even so, any ICT certification programme that is offerered must be based on a sound business model, create sufficient revenue, and be robust enough to face competition in the market. According to our findings, competition on the certification market follows competition of ICT products and services on the market. Let us look at the actual market of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) as an example. Although the market is dominated and controlled by the major ERP vendors SAP123 and Oracle124 which hold the biggest market shares, there are still niches for many smaller business solutions. Individual tailored software products co-exist to the standard software solutions offered by the market leaders, and such niche products are often developed by small and mediumsized ICT vendor companies offering better services and maintenance. Actually, major ERP vendors have discovered increasing interest in this market segment, as their 122

Hughes and Thompson, 2007 See http://www.sap.com [last visited 06 September 2007]. 124 See http://www.oracle.com [last visited 06 September 2007]. 123

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traditional markets among multinational companies has stagnated. This example also explains why there are so many different certifications in the market. In the following sections we look at the four basic pillars of the harmonisation process: •

ICT Professonalism;

•

MultiStakeholder approach;

•

Quality Standards; and

•

Visibility and transparency.

As already discussed, we prefer to follow a market-driven approach to harmonisation, but this does need to be from direct business interests. We need to create a climate in which stakeholders can come together in ‘zones of trust’ and work for their mutual benefit to establish a recognised ICT profession.

7.2.1 ICT Professionalism As already pointed out ICT professionalism ought to be seen as the most important factor that can lead the way towards harmonisation of ICT certification. Hughes and Thompson (2007) describe the fundamentals of ICT professionalism as developed in the UK and the new IFIP125 programme, which is designed to establish a global IT profession with clear, consistent and internationally recognised standards and qualifications for ICT practitioners. The discussion of harmonisation of ICT professional certification requires looking at the broader context of the ICT profession. There is an ongoing discussion relating to the availability of performance and occupational standards for ICT practitioners. A lack of professional standards is often referred to in the context of software failures and the inevitable pressure to reduce risk and the cost of failure which follows them.126 Knight (2005) points out that many engineers lack adequate education and are not imbued with the kind of comprehensive professional culture that leads to each software engineer taking responsibility when dealing with software as an entitity and when working with other software engineers as professionals. So, it’s not just a question of education, but of professionalism. He demands that professional societies enforce standards of care and monitoring in the area of software development. And he also suggests that government regulation and insurance requirements should be considered. Those issues all relate to ICT professionalism and associated professional standards. The professional community needs to ensure that professionals at all levels in traditional or newly emerging fields or disciplines have a comprehensive understanding of the issues surrounding a specific profession or occupation.127 Certification is part of the

125

International Federation for Information Processing: http://www.ifip.org [last visited 24 August 2007]. 126 See (Hughes and Thompson, 2007), (Knight, 2005), (Welch, 2007). 127 Based on Knight (2005).

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training landscape and can be used to align and improve the workforce preparation system (Lueders, 2007). Professional associations have realised the importance of this problem and have established task forces and other programmes. For example, IFIP has launched a programme that aims to build the international IT profession. In the meantime, a task force has been established by IFIP that determined a “…lack of clarity around international professional skills and qualifications and worldwide mobility of IT professionals” (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). So, any endeavour towards harmonisation of ICT certification needs to be aware of and link to this newly launched international initiative. In what follows we shall cite the initial ideas and preliminary findings as well as exploring what is meant by ICT Professionalism. Figure 7-4 shows the essential characteristics and scope of the ICT profession, and it illustrates the findings of extensive research that attempted to define professionalism in ICT, as carried out in the UK by the BCS128. This research analysed the scope of the new profession in terms of practitioner competencies.It also looked at how we might learn from the experience of older professions and disciplines (such as medicine, law and accountancy) in building a new profession. (Hughes and Thompson, 2007) ICT professionalism needs to be built on clearly defined standards. Figure 7-4 shows three fundamental parts required to build the ICT profession: 1) Infrastructure; 2) Governance and administration; and 3) Required standards. We now need an infrastructure that can encompass elements such as frameworks to provide common reference points, models for the identification of skills needs (qualification and skills/competence frameworks129), and definition of scope of the ICT profession and its associated specialist disciplines. Another important element is the Body of Knowledge which must be considered not only in relation to the establishment of ICT professionalism but also in the context of harmonisation of ICT professional certification. The Body of Knowledge provides the guiding principles on which certification must be based, and is the foundation for training course materials and for the planning and design of exams (Welch, 2007).

128 129

British Computer Society: http://www.bcs.org [last visited 24 August 2007]. See section 4.7, pp. 63.

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In relation to governance and administration, the tasks run from the delivery of development services and support processes to admission processes and the establishment of an appropriate governance structure. All stakeholders, led by professional associations and major ICT vendors need to work towards defining standards and making the administration arrangements as well as contributing products and services to the professional infrastructure (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). Chartered IT Professionals Qualified IT Professional IT Students & Trainees

Qualifications Framework

Development Services

CPD

Skills & Competence Framework

Disciplinary & Support Processes

Competence

Specialist Disciplines

CPD Process

Skills

Body of Knowledge

Admission Process

Academic

Scope

Governance Structure

Ethical & Behavioural

Infrastructure

Governance & Administration

Required Standards

Figure 7-4: Scope and Principles of ICT Professionalism (Hughes and Thompson, 2007) As a third pillar ICT professionalism requires clearly defined and broadly recognised standards. “The progressive attainment of professional ethos necessitates a hierarchy of standards and qualifications to acknowledge progress and achievement and to set public expectations.” (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). Standards encompass educational and industry-oriented performance standards. These, in turn, are best expressed as competence and skills standards in a common language. Standards are also required in the areas of professional ethics and behaviour, perhaps expressed as a code of conduct that every ICT professional would be committed to recognising. The essential elements of professionalism are three-fold (Hughes and Thompson, 2007): 1) Competence; 2) Integrity, responsibility and accountability, and

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3) Recognition. Competence encompasses “[…] the demonstration of relevant, up-to-date skills and capabilities appropriate to a particular task or role with practical experience to complement theoretical knowledge” (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). This also includes necessary soft skills such as inter-personal and communication skills as well as an understanding of the business domain. We also argued that performance components are a central concept in the harmonisation of certification130. The concept of competence-based Professional Profiles can be used to define and exchange information about different professional standards. A profile is a description of the competence required to operate a process or a service, or to work in a defined role, within a working team or a project. The use of profiles enables an organisation to see explicitly what its know-how needs are. In its most commonly used form, the competence based profile is defined with reference to an organisational position or role, and without reference to any individual person who might occupy that role currently or in the future.131

A technical competence dictionary The dictionary offers the common language to identify all the competencies the organization needs.

eCCO System

A set of profiles based on technical competence The profile declare the expected knowhow, i.e. the competencies needed for a role, a professional family (the ICT professionalism), the process on which apply those competencies, the function and the team.

Figure 7-5: Competence-based Professional Profiles (Source: Bellini, R.; AICA/EUCIP Italy) To manage competence-based Professional Profiles an organisation needs to define both competences and profiles. This can be done through an infrastructure consisting of a technical competence dictionary and a set of profiles based on technical competence

130 131

See section 4.10, pp. 75. See section 10: Glossary, pp. 194.

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(see Figure 7-5). The figure shows the funcionality and service offered through the eCCO-System.132 Integrity, responsibility and accountability refer to people taking personal responsibility for decisions they take and work they do. Becoming a professional requires commitment to a published code of conduct defined by ICT professional institutions or the professional community. Recognition refers to the fact that ICT professionalism requires a commitment to work in the best interests of society and an awareness of the profession’s wider obligations and responsibilities (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). Every professional ought to contribute to the profession by taking on the responsibilities and obligations that membership of the profession imply and by actively contributing to the development of the profession and its regulation. “To achieve recognition, IT professionals will require an accredited combination of education and experience, as well as undertaking Continuing Professional Development (CDP) and committing themselves to a Code of Ethics”.133 Huges and Thompson (2007) argue that to build the ICT profession a “[…] fundamentally new vision is required to establish ICT professionalism. The vision needs the respect and commitment of various stakeholders”. ICT professionalism needs to react to actual shifts and new demands affecting the profile of the ICT profession (such as the growing importance of business skills) as well as newly emerging technology trends and shortening technology life cycles. ICT professionalism needs to be built on greater personal responsibility and accountability of its practitioners; and this in turn requires regular recertification and benchmarking against relevant professional standards as defined by the professional community. Most importantly, the ICT profession must be built according to common and agreed principles, and to achieve this, it may be necessary to consult with established professional institutions in disiciplines such as medicine and law. According to Hughes and Thompson (2007), to building an international recognised profession requires three major elements to be put in place: •

a common language within which to describe professional skills and competencies;

•

a standard means of measurement for professional skills and competencies; and

132

eCCO is a system developed by Politechnico di Milano together with AICA and EUCIP Italy. The tool is fundamental part of the Italian ICT Career Portal launched in Italy in 2007; see http://domino.aicanet.it/ [last visited 07 September 2007]. See ICT Competencies and Learning Developments: the eCCO Portal in Italy: Bellini, Locatelli, Marinoni, CEPIS workshop at the eChallenges 2006 conference in Barcelona, Spain; http://www.aicanet.it/convegni/ITC_Competencies_Learning_Developments_eCCO.pdf [last visit 07 September 2007]. 133 Basie von Solms, IFIP President-Elect, cited according to (Hughes and Thompson, 2007).

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•

a mechanism for the independent recognition and assurance of quality of those professional skills and competencies.

ICT professional certification has a contribution to make to these developments and ought to be seen as integral to the establishment of international professionalism. However, it does require agreement on common principles and standards in order to arrive at a common understanding – ICT professionalism ought lead the way. A round table of stakeholders should start now to agree definitions and requirements so that we can achieve such an understanding. The issues that need to be addressed at this level include the scope of the profession, the common body of knowledge, a definition of the profession and professionalism, and a glossary of terms (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). After these have been clarified, stakeholders should then address the establishment and harmonisation of national standards and international benchmarks. Agreement on the common principles of ICT professional certification is essential.

7.2.2 Multi-Stakeholder Approach Because of the nature and difficulty of the task, the harmonisation of ICT professional certification requires a multi-stakeholder partnership, and this approach constitutes the second pillar in our harmonisation framework. The results presented in previous chapters make it clear that this is a complex area, and that harmonisation demands the involvement and commitment of a variety of actors, each of whom may have different interests.134 Certification and training occupy separate domains. Industry stakeholders such as e-SCC (e-Skills Competencies Consortium) complain about an observable disconnect between public education and industry training and demand measures to build bridges between industry and education to avoid the creation of a “parallel universe” as mentioned by Adelman (2000) (Lueders, 2007). Currently stakeholders are searching for consensus on how to respond to technological and societal changes (Lueders, 2007), and Figure 7-4 clearly underlines the necessity for stakeholders to cooperate in order to arrive at common goals. With the support of public stakeholders (such as the European Commission), various working groups have been have been established to address specific areas – these include the European e-Skills Forum (and its current follow-up activities), the IFIP Task Force on ICT professionalism, the CEN/ISSS WS ICT Skills, the Working Group on Skills and Employability, and the European Alliance on Skills and Employability.135 The goal is to bring all stakeholders together in a round-table setting so that agreed solutions can be arrived at. In Chapter 6136 we emphasised the positive signals of clear interest and willingness of ICT certification providers to harmonise ICT professional certification and the efforts that are being made by leading ICT vendors. The ICT

134

See Section 4.6, pp. 58. See as well the Harmonise Knowledge-Base and collected reference material in the annex 12 and at the project’s homepage http://www.cepis-harmonise.org 136 See pp. 112. 135

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industry, governmental bodies and opinion-leading bodies observe with bewildering and consternation the actual array of available industry certifications (Lueders, 2007) The harmonisation of ICT professional certification requires the building of consensus around a set of international and localised national standards to support ICT professionalism. Not all standards will be of interest to the private sector, but the objectives of building the international ICT profession and the achievement of international standards for the ICT profession ought to be of interest to all stakeholders. The concept of multi-stakeholder partnership is an essential pillar of the harmonisation process. It builds on the idea that the business sector can increase the available resources by complementing, supplementing and extending the services provided by the public sector (Lueders, 2007). It also brings into play the combined strengths and resources of different players. Based on our survey results the preferred approach would be one led by professional associations and/or instutions, industry assocations and leading ICT vendors, and supported by governmental bodies and social partners at different levels. We recommend a two level approach that takes into account the local and global market conditions. A sustainable solution to harmonise ICT professional certification needs to be based on an “umbrella” approach that allows the coexistence and cross-referencing of different certification systems (within a “reference framework”) and creates “mutual zones of trust” for the benefit of all stakeholders.

7.2.3 Quality Standards Quality standards represnent the third pillar supporting the harmonisation process. In Chapter 6137 we already reviewed the area of quality standards for ICT professional certification in some detail, pointing out, in particular, that there are no coherent or universally accepted definitions of the terms “quality” or “quality standard”. According to our research results, quality standards and accreditation are among the most preferred elements for inclusion in a European approach to certification. Currently, there are as many quality standards as there are certification schemes, with very wide divergence in terms of what they cover, what relationship they have to “official” quality standards, and so on. We make the case that harmonisation of quality standards is a priority for both certification providers and for ICT. What is lacking is a common and agreed quality framework; and, for that reason, the harmonisation process ought to build a common base to describe and clarify existing quality approaches. Normative documents should be collected and aggregated into a comprehensive knowledge base that categorises and aligns the available information in the different areas of activity. The Harmonise project has assembled a comprehensive knowledge base that can help stakeholders, employers and individuals to better understand what certification is is 137

See pp. 112.

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currently available, as well as details of ICT certification principles. The project has also prepared a number of options for achieving greater transparency within the EU, and has analysed the feasibility of establishing a widely accepted common European approach to qualification and certification of ICT professionals. The harmonisation process needs to address the issue of quality assurance at three levels:138 •

At organisational level;

•

At awarding body level; and

•

At training level.

For this reason, one priority of harmonisation activities in the near future ought to be an examination of how to adopt quality approaches in the field of education and training. And in section 6.2139 we looked at the measurement of quality assurance, and at initiatives and frameworks that might be of relevance. The positions and interests of all stakeholders must be taken into account, and the commitment of all parties will be required to arrive at sustainable solutions. The collected reference material will make it easier to arrive at a set of definitions and to work towards a consistent base of common understanding. Quality standards need to be transparent, flexible and open to continous development and expansion. They can then contribute to the development of an effective profession (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). Accreditation is an important means of implementing quality standards, achieving greater transparency of ICT professional certification, and (in the longer term) awarding recognised international practitioner qualifications that meet international standards. Accreditation includes the inspection of organisations and/or certification products as well as related services to confirm that they meet predefined requirements and conform to quality directives and/or mission statements. Figure 6-4140 and Figure 6-5141 showed the primary areas to be assessed by accreditation. From an internal perspective the subject of accreditation activities should be the training subsystem (testing and learning material). From an external perspective, the certification system is primarily the subject of inspection covers the organisational level and the awarding body level. Hughes and Thompson (2007) mention that accreditation of professional institutions should be by reference to international benchmarks, and these were also mentioned in interview by certification experts as necessary to the development of and adherence to quality standards. Multi-stakeholder partnerships and “round tables” between stakeholder are ways in which the quality standards strand of the harmonisation process can be addressed at national and European level.

138

See section 6.5, pp. 137. See pp. 114. 140 See page 121. 141 See page 122. 139

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7.2.4 Visibility and Transparency Harmonisation in the certification of ICT professionals means that stakeholders must be willing to work together to discuss how the harmonisation of systems can be achieved. Transparency and broader recognition of ICT professional certification forms an important goal of the harmonisation endeavour. Subsidiary objectives in this area include agreement on the scope and principles of the harmonisation process, creation of a shared body of knowledge, and arrival at a set of globally endorsed (voluntary) certification standards. This means that harmonisation must be based on a common understanding of the requirements for future solutions, and on agreement on the meaning of defined terms. Once that is done, attention can move on to the more complex issues and problems that need to be addressed. Our research showed that the certification market is difficult to overview. While ICTvendor-specific certifications seem to have developed further and are entering the growth phase142, vendor-independent offerings still seem to be in the introduction phase of their life cycle. The pivotal question to be answered here is why the market leaders (including ICT vendors such as Microsoft and Cisco) would be willing to join forces with their competitors and with providers of vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certification? Firstly, there is a common interest across all providers of certification to achieve broader recognition and higher awareness of ICT certification. While ICT vendors rely on the demand created by companies of their own distribution channels, vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certifications find it more difficult to acquire market share. Nevertheless, led by the pace of technology change, the the ICT certification market is itself very dynamic. While ICT professionalism ought to be the uncontestable long-term objective driving the harmonisation process, the network of relationships among ICT certifications is apparently the key to success in the short-term. Our research showed that there is general interest and willingness to cooperate for the following reasons.

142

•

Employers tend to pay little attention to ICT professional certifications. This needs to be examined in more detail as it strongly influences the demand side and the interest of ICT practitioners in obtaining certification. We have made the case that certification itself should be less of a priority than the need to establish ICT professionalism and international professional standards.

•

The proliferation of certifications: 62 certification suppliers deliver 617 types of certification,giving a total of around 5 million certifications in the last 6 years. This proliferation is counter-productive to the achievement of global, international standards for the ICT profession. Furthermore, it makes it difficult for employers to take the ICT profession seriously as one that adheres to clearly-defined, international standards.

See Figure 5-18, page 105.

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•

The value of certification varies greatly and is significantly determined by the actual state of the ICT labour market. So, there is a common interest among all stakeholders for better control on future developments and for better forecasts of market demand and supply.

•

A sustainable localisation strategy is critical to success for many ICT professional certifications; but it can require considerable resources to adapt each set of training to local rules (such as a national qualification framework) and perhaps to to translate into local languages. Such effort falls to the individual provider.

•

From our interviews with certification experts it seems there is considerable value in integrating ICT certificates from different providers, because it allows companies to cover areas other than their core competencies. Vendor-neutral offerings were seen as a particularly valuable complement to vendor-specific certification, and as an important element in the curriculum vitae and continuous professional development (CPD) of an ICT professional.

•

Customers such as public organisations are increasingly interested in vendorindependent certification as long as products combine this with vendor-specific and vendor-neutral content – and, increasingly, with business and soft-skills.

•

The emergence in Europe of frameworks such as the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) requires the alignment of certification systems (including training modules, exams, and recognition of third party certifications) to these frameworks.

•

Opportunities to learn are of the utmost importance for the CPD of ICT professionals. And making these available requires a set of common agreed reference points, a system for awarding credit points to learning modules and achievements, and agreed accreditation procedures that adhere strictly to recognised quality standards.

Our research showed that there is obviously interest from industry in a harmonised certification scheme that is cross-domain and cross-brand, that can respond to market demand for increased professionalism in ICT, and can harness support from the major ICT vendors. Harmonisation is not just a European issue, and most companies are interested in adhering to international standards, which ought to encompass European standards. In order to implement and realise the integration of content from various programmes and providers, there is a requirement to have appropriate concepts, tools and methodologies in place. Consequently, the harmonisation process requires agreement in principle on how content from different providers and systems can be combined and integrated into new products and services. The main challenge facing a harmonised certification scheme is the development of an agreed framework that is cross-domain and cross-brand, that can provide solutions that facilitate collaboration and integration, and that incorporates agreed principles for evaluating and accepting content from different providers. Such a framework must be based on international and European standards, must use a common language for the exchange of information between various stakeholders and for the definition of European

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reference profiles of ICT professional certifications – EQF and ECTS as well as clearly defined (quality) standards for the ICT profession. Preferably, stakeholders should agree on common principles, and provide mutual accreditation for learning achievements, exams or modules. See the EUCIP Business Case on page 169 for an example of such a model.

7.3 Proposed Roadmap towards Harmonisation ICT professionalism is a desirable high-level objective and there is broad consensus within the ICT professional community that it is an attractive initiative and one that promises substantial benefits to the industry. An established ICT profession would be seen as a highly desirable career option and be very attractive to a wide spectrum of people (see Hughes and Thompson, 2007). However, ICT professionalism does require stakeholders to make a positive commitment to support the harmonisation process and related measures. The current starting point for the harmonisation process is the “red ocean” which is characterised by market competition, defined business interests and approach that looks for clear benefits to justify any investment.143 The annual cost of software failures is estimated at US$140.5 billion144. “The Standish Group’s CHAOS Report, a widely respected survey of software projects in industry and government, estimated that, in the year 2004, only 29% of software projects in large enterprises succeeded (i.e., produced acceptable results that were delivered close to ontime and on-budget). 53% were ‘challenged’ (significantly over budget and schedule), and 18% failed to deliver any usable result. The projects that are in trouble have an average budget overrun of 56%. This represents a serious and chronic risk-control problem”145. Clearly, ICT failures have an enormous impact on our economy, and this needs to be addressed. Real business improvements can be achieved by focusing on three critical dimensions: people, procedures and methods, and tools and equipment.146 Stakeholders need to realise that staff qualified in ICT represent a key to success, while more effective and motivated staff leads to improved project success rates with stronger innovation capability (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). We stressed the importance of following a market-driven approach and seeking the full support of the major ICT vendors and of ICT professional associations in the shaping of the measures to come.

143

See http://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/ [last vested 20 July 2007]. Source (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). 145 Masticola (2007): A Simple Estimate of the Cost of Software Project Failures and the Breakeven Effectiveness of Project Risk Management; ICSEW, IEEE 2007. 146 Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI): Adapting CMMI for Acquisition Organizations: A Preliminary Report. CMU/SEI-2006-SR-005, Dodson et al., June 2006, http://www.sei.cmu.edu/pub/documents/06.reports/pdf/06sr005.pdf [last visited 28 August 2007]. 144

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7.3.1 Milestones and Necessary Steps Figure 7-6 illustrates the key elements of a possible roadmap toward harmonisation of ICT certification. This incorporates a framework of harmonisation which can be used as a planning tool in shaping future targeted actions and measures. Objectives

Measures

clarity

Transparency and broader recognition

Step 5

ICT Professionalism

Global Certification Standards And Processes

Step 4

Common Body of Knowledge

Code of Conduct

Collaborative Certification

Reference Framework

Accreditation ICT Career Portal

Step 3

Scope and Principles Definition and Requirements

Step 2

Step 1 Common understanding

Analysis of Reference models Analysis of ICT Generic ICT certifications Skills Profiles European e-Competence Framework

Common standards Incentives

Round table

Infrastructure, governance and administration, required standards

confusion

Figure 7-6: Roadmap towards Harmonisation Later on we we describe the elements of the roadmap in more detail and propose a model with distinct vertical and horizontal levels, basd on the model proposed by Hughes and Thompson (2007). We have identified ICT professionalism as one fundamental part of the harmonisation framework so it stands on top of the roadmap’s pyramidal model which outlines the evolutionary path through the roadmap’s five steps. The roadmap describes objectives and measures to reach the goal of harmonisation of ICT professional certification. On the left side of the figure the objectives are derived “top-down” with the intention of creating the right climate for harmonisation; while on the right side measures are outlined following a “bottom-up” approach with the current competitive environment seen as the starting point. In the middle the figure illustrates the different steps to be taken and describes the milestones to be met on the way towards harmonisation. Reflecting on our key findings and the results yielded in the four research areas, it is clear that certification of ICT professionals has to been seen as being part of a wider issue of establishing recognised international standards for the ICT profession. For that reason, concentrating on certification issues alone will not deliver sustainable results. ICT professionalism differentiates the higher goal to be reached and drives the harmonisation process.

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Certification of ICT professionals comes to the fore in relation to the three major elements that are necessary to the achievement of an international ICT profession (see Figure 7-1)147: •

a common language to describe professional skills and competencies;

•

standard measurements for professional skills and competencies; and

•

a mechanism for independent recognition and assurance of quality of professional skills and competencies.

The first step in the roadmap aims to reach a common understanding and to agree initially on definitions and requirements so that we have a consistent reference base. Having agreed that, we can turn to more complex issues and problems. For this step, stakeholders needs to join a round table so that information can be exchanged freely, particularly between industry and education. As the round table is the first step of our roadmap we will get back to its set up and structure in more detail later on in Section 7.3.4. Round Table. Transparency and broader recognition of ICT professional certification forms another important goal of the harmonisation endeavour. Additional objectives derived from this include agreement on the scope and principles of the harmonisation process, creation of a body of knowledge, and arrival at certification standards and processes at a global level. Step two in the roadmap involves the analysis of reference models. At this step, stakeholders and certification providers must open up their systems for analysis so that we make a comprehensive knowledge base available to the round table members. The declared aim must be agreement on common procedures and principles. Additional measures here include the provision of incentives to investment in the harmonisation process. Step three requires agreement on clearly defined standards that collectively become a reference framework for ICT professional certification.148 This also lays the foundations for the establishment of career portal(s) at a European and/or national level. At step four, we move to the issue of collaborative certification. This relates to the the fourth pillar of the harmonisation process building. The main challenge here is to provide solutions that facilitate the integration of content from different certification systems and programmes. This requires agreement on principles for accreditation and acceptance of third-party content – using, for example, approaches such as the ECTS to award credits to qualification units or learning achievements.

147 148

See p. 146. The areas to be addressed by a reference framework have already been described in section 4.6 (see pp. 58).

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7.3.2 Umbrella Approach We have already described in detail the four pillars that support the harmonisation process. In Figure 7-7 we introduce three vertical levels or rungs to be climbed and how we might achieve harmonisation in the targeted area.

Definitions & Requirements

Visibility

National Standards Stage 2

Quality Standards

Stage 3


International Standards

ICT Professionalism

Harmonisation

Stage 1

Figure 7-7: Umbrella Approach to Harmonisation The harmonisation of ICT professional certification requires agreement on a set of international and national (or local) standards supporting ICT professionalism. The three levels respond to the needs of both local and global market characteristics. In doing so, it reflects the need for a sustainable approach to harmonisation which ought to be based on an “umbrella” approach and not on a top-down regulatory approach. The figure illustrates that the harmonisation process requires reflection on the results of our research and the points made concerning the four pillars of the harmonisation process.

7.3.3 Maturity Model of the ICT Profession Finally, we get back again to ICT professionalism and a model as proposed by Hughes and Thompson (2007) with five maturity levels for ICT Professionalism (see Figure 7-8). The current state of development is estimated at being between level 1 and 2. The “statutory” level requires state recognition, which would be out of scope for ICT professionals. The goal to be attained in the near future is the recognition of ICT professionals through professional associations/ institutions (Professional Community), which requires climbing to rung 4. We find the model useful as it illustrates the actual stage of development of the ICT profession. The aim of the authors is to describe five maturity levels and to provide clear guidance on how to build a profession in the manner of older professions such as medicine, law, and so on.

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Developing Levels

Statutory

5

Public

4

Governed

3

Qualified

2

Organized

1

ICT Professionalism

Established Levels

Figure 7-8: Derived CMM for ICT Professionalism (based on Hughes and Thompson, 2007) The current level of maturity of the ICT profession is estimated to be between level one and level two. The declared goal needs to be to climb to level four (“public“). Arriving at level five “statutory” is not seen as necessary for ICT professionals, as the scope of the profession does not include performing sovereign tasks.

7.3.4 Round Table Figure 7-9 shows possible contributors and stakeholders who might participate in the round table. Based on our results we believe that professional associations, industrial ICT associations and major ICT vendors will have to take the lead. The harmonisation of ICT professional certification requires a multi-stakeholder approach and partnership. We make the case that the area addressed is complex and that tasks along the “value chain” are distributed to various stakeholders who often have very different interests. Such complexity requires stakeholders to exchange information on a regular basis and to cooperate on developing common solutions.

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Professional Associations/ Institutions

European Institutions

Certification Providers

Standardisation Bodies

Multinational NON-ICT Enterprise Associations

Visibility

Quality Standards

ICT Vendors


ICT Professionalism

Harmonisation

Social Partners

Multinational ICT Vendor Associations

Multinational Publishers

Learning Providers & Test Centres Academia

Figure 7-9: Potential Contributors to the Round Table As well as being organised internationally, we propose that round tables also be organised at national level to take account of local market characteristics. The priority of the round table has to be to build frameworks within individual national bodies and at the same time develop incrementally towards consistent, recognised international standards (Hughes and Thompson, 2007). The participants of the round table at the national level differ from those at the European or international level. Figure 7-10 displays identified contributors to the round table at the national level. At this level, a multi-stakeholder partnership aims at developing the ICT profession according to the specific needs of the national market. The analysis of the ICT certification market showed that markets differ significantly in various ways including their maturing and accessibility.

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National Professional Associations National Universities

National Labour Offering & Demand

National Vocational Training

Istituzioni Europee

National Round Table

National Labour Representatives

National Industry Associations National Public Administration

National Certification Bodies

Figure 7-10: Round Table at the National Level (Source: Bellini, R. for AICA/ EUCIP) The round table can also be organised according to working areas. Figure 7-11 shows working areas relating to the harmonisation of ICT professional certification. For each of these working areas we have identified some key topics and issues to be addressed. However, this list is not comprehensive and needs to be extended or adapted to the needs and preferences of the participating stakeholders.

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ICT Market Review

Labour Market Education and Training Market ICT Certification Market Primarily: Supply and Demand Overviews

Stakeholder National and International Level Governments Industries Potential Customers Deliver Requirements and Issues

Common Standards

Accreditation Certification System / Process Common Language Generic ICT Profiles ICT Certifications Quality Standards etc.

Knowledge Base

Concepts, Methods, Tools European Standard Profiles ICT Certifications ICT Market Reviews ICT Trainings further IS etc.

HR Services

Career Portal

Analyse your KSC Estimate your market value Identify your KSC gap Obtain trainings to close KSC gap and suggestions to receive certification further services

Using as Knowledge Database Caring Relationships Offering the defined (Web) Services and Market Reviews etc.

Round Table Experts and Specialists in ICT Certifications and/or ICT Trainings Delegates of major ICT Certification and/or ICT Trainings Vendors

Body of Knowledge Levels, e.g. Core and Professional ICT Trainings Hierarchical or modular structure

Potential Customers They have Education and Working Experience. They want to improve oneself and after that to be recognised as ICT Professional.

Figure 7-11: Working areas of Harmonisation Figure 7-12 shows some of the possible tasks that the round table might take on, and reflects the view of human resource (HR) services to be integrated into a planned national or European career portal. We envisage that the knowledge base will be a fundamental part of a European Career Portal.

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Market

Stakeholder Supply and Demand

Tasks of Round Table

(Web) Services

Round Table

Customer 1 to n

Estimate your market value Identify KSC gap to reach stand. Profile Obtain trainings to close KSC gap Obtain suggestions to receive certification

Career Portal

Defining Body of Knowledge

Building up Knowledge Base

Defining Common Standards

Drawing up Market Reviews

Analyse KSC concerning standardised Profile

Partner 1 to m

etc.

further services

Figure 7-12: Possible Tasks of the Round Table

7.4 EUCIP Business Case CEPIS developed a framework in order to create the EUCIP (European Certificate for Informatics Professionals) Certification. This framework incorporates modules from a variety of sources and also copes with existing Industry Certifications. Through key findings and insights gained in previous sections of this report, we can derive concrete measures and strategic (business) objectives. EUCIP can play an active role in this and the business model should draw from new market opportunities created through harmonisation. EUCIP can be successfully implemented if it contributes to ICT professionalism, by delivering flexible certifications which integrate the content of third-party offerings and which combine vendor-specific and vendor-neutral offerings to form a transparent, high quality qualification offering. The challenge is to create and capture new demand through creating innovation value. The resulting key questions should be: creating innovation value for whom and how? Who will be potential customers and why? What do customers (really) want and need? And why should they be willing to pay for it?

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Beyond this, EUCIP needs to create its own uncontested market space in the sense of a “blue ocean strategy” (Kim and Mauborgne, 2005) to exploit mutual benefits. Thus the challenge and opportunities lie in creating new market demand. Currently EUCIP is sailing the “red ocean”, which – based on key findings from the four thematic areas – cannot be expected to lead to sustainable revenue and exploitation of existing market demand in Europe and beyond. In terms of innovation value and proposition value to customers, value-added services should be developed, for example: •

EUCIP as a means of trans-European mobility services

•

Creating and exploiting the European-wide Body of Knowledge of ICT professionals

•

Accreditation services (independent bodies to assign credit points to modules/ exams of “third party” certifications, etc.)

Partners of EUCIP are critical to the success of EUCIP. The main groups of partners are Licensees (National EUCIP Operator), Learning Providers and Test Centres. The strengths of EUCIP are: •

an open model which allows the integration of ICT vendor offerings

•

reference profiles which could be elaborated on through “generic ICT skills job profiles” and serve as reference points for other job profiles

•

EUCIP needs to become an integral part of an ICT professionalism strategy

•

EUCIP should contribute to the proposed body of knowledge

Several studies show that future demand of ICT professionals in Europe will increase. This development in the labour market offers several opportunities for the success of the EUCIP concept. United societies have recognised (through knowledge of the ICT literacy national markets) that there is a strong demand for the services EUCIP offers. This has led to the development of the EUCIP certification and services and for bringing the product to the market. The main aim for EUCIP is to become the referenced certification scheme for both experienced professionals and lateral entries. The most likely way to achieve this is to gain support from associations and ICT vendors, and to be encouraged by qualified learning providers. The provision of an internationally recognised qualification for students, will bring acclaim to those learning providers who rise to the challenge. But there are further reasons which support the extensive adoption and the success of EUCIP: •

EUCIP requires a pan-European approach and network which is not easily attainable for others. The EUCIP network gets this through the co-operation and synergy of the joint societies, each representing a unique network within their countries. This unique network encompasses the ICT producers and vendors, ICT users in the public and private sectors, Government and the general public.

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Supported by the joint societies, EUCIP will reach the European-wide acceptance, which is necessary. •

The support of the European Union reinforces the international image of EUCIP, and increases the prestige of the product. EUCIP has recently been selected as an example of best practice for a Multistakeholder Partnership for eSkills in Europe in a commission funded report for DG Enterprise and Industry.

•

It is conceivable that EUCIP will continue to receive public support, both in terms of funding and endorsement. This will lend an “official stamp” to the project, gaining strong credibility in the market.

•

The most obvious opportunity is the existing skills gap. Though the labour market is currently weak, qualified ICT-professionals are still able to find a job. If companies have to cut their expenses, those without qualification are the first to be fired. In this context, a EUCIP certification could contribute to job safety. Furthermore, a job applicant with certified qualifications has a better chance in the labour market, than a job applicant without.

•

The low perception of certification value from employers/advertisers suggests that the “certification jungle” is hampering certification value in the labour market

•

Potential candidates find it hard to choose a suitable certification as they are faced with choices of vendor specific, independent, neutral.

•

Harmonisation would level the playing field as all certifications could have a central recognised solution.

•

Increased interest from employers via Harmonisation could create increased demand.

•

Beyond that, harmonisation would create a European certification community and introduce the possibility of further collaboration amongst vendors to improve ICT professional skills levels.

•

Harmonisation could introduce more opportunities for candidates at all levels and, with commission/industry/government backing, could make the ICT industry more available for potential employees through funding and clarity of certification offerings.

•

Harmonisation could ensure that relevant quality solutions are consistently applied across certifications

•

ISO/IEC 17024 is seen to be very important and should be integrated within existing quality assurance approaches and linked to qualification frameworks

7.4.1 EUCIP Product EUCIP (European Certification of Informatics Professionals) is a pan-European qualification scheme for people entering the ICT Profession and also for people who are in the ICT Profession and want to further their professional development. Similar to ECDL, EUCIP is vendor neutral, and provides three certification options for candidates namely, EUCIP Core, EUCIP Professional and EUCIP IT Administrator. The

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certifications can be treated as separate offerings (EUCIP Core and EUCIP IT Administrator). Or, they can be combined to allow a candidate to reach the EUCIP Professional level, or to enable existing ICT professionals to raise their market value by documenting their competencies and skill sets for employers or prospective employers. The progression options for the certifications are outlined in the diagram below. More information on EUCIP is available.149

Route 4 Candidate completes EUCIP Professional following EUCIP Core

EUCIP Professional

EUCIP IT Administrator

Route 2

(Elective Level)

Candidate completes IT Administrator only

Route 3 Candidate completes EUCIP Professional following EUCIP Core

EUCIP Core Route 1 Candidate completes EUCIP Core only

Figure 7-13: Progression options through EUCIP Certification

7.4.2 EUCIP Certification Offerings EUCIP Core covers a broad range of core ICT knowledge topics, relevant to all ICT practitioners. As the syllabus offers a solid base in key ICT areas, it acts as an ideal foundation qualification for a range of ICT jobs across all sectors.

149

•

EUCIP Core is divided into three modules: A: Plan, B: Build, C: Operate

•

Training materials have been developed by EUCIP learning providers.

See http://www.eucip.com [last visit 26 July 2007].

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•

Candidates must pass a 60 minute test in each of the three modules to obtain the EUCIP Core Level certificate.

EUCIP Professional allows Candidates to specialise in a particular role and EUCIP Core is a pre-requisite for EUCIP Professional. EUCIP Professional provides: •

A choice of certification for different EUCIP job profiles within ICT (“EUCIP Elective Profiles”).

•

A choice of accredited learning elements (“EUCIP Elective Modules”).

•

A professional qualification which recognises that the Candidate can perform effectively and consistently in their field.

•

A way to build up to a recognised EUCIP elective job certification.

EUCIP Professional is assessed through an evaluation of a Candidate’s “portfolio” (work experience, education experience, completion of Accredited Learning Modules), compliance with the chosen EUCIP profile, as well as an oral examination carried out by an examination board. EUCIP ICT Administrator is a stand alone certification programme which certifies practical and theoretical knowledge of a computer technician. It covers PC Hardware, Operating Systems, LAN and Network Services, Expert Network Use and Security. •

The pass mark in Module 1 is 60% and in Modules 2 – 5 the pass mark is 70%.

Training and testing for all EUCIP certifications is provided by accredited Learning Providers with a proven track record in delivering high quality programmes.

7.4.3 Benefits of EUCIP The main advantage of EUCIP compared to other technical ICT certifications, is that it is a true pan-European qualification. EUCIP holders can be assured that their ICT competence is accepted and valued across Europe by all industry stakeholders including corporations, government and public organisations. The EUCIP certification programme is distinguished by the following characteristics: •

European Qualification: EUCIP is a European qualification sponsored and guaranteed by CEPIS (Council of European Professional Informatics Societies).

•

Flexibility: Candidates are offered a flexible delivery and examination approach:

•

-

Tuition can be classroom-based instruction and workshops, or online learning.

-

A range of learning materials is available, which includes CD ROMs, books, assignment workbooks, sample solutions etc.

Full Professional Recognition: It is not easy for many people working in the ICT industry to fulfil their ambitions and to progress from basic level qualifications to full professional certifications. EUCIP provides a non-traditional pathway for such practitioners, creating the bridge to full professional recognition.

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•

Breadth of applicability: Candidates from other disciplines may require ICT certification. Also, people who work in other specialised areas have an increasingly urgent need to gain ICT skills to understand and manage ICT projects in their organisations. The EUCIP certification provides an effective framework for the acquisition of these skills.

7.4.4 Business Objectives of EUCIP EUCIP offers a pan-European competence framework and certification scheme, combined with a group of timely and comprehensive services. This is in co-operation with leading learning providers, within a network of “Good Learning Practices”. The EUCIP offering will : 1) enhance the level of ICT practitioner competence in Europe 2) attract new practitioners to ICT fields. The EUCIP programme consists of three components: 1) Framework. The framework encompasses the content side of EUCIP, consisting of a syllabus, a certification scheme and a vocational roadmap (e.g. career path through the syllabus in order to become a Business Analyst) in the three knowledge areas: “Plan”, “Build” and “Operate”. There are two knowledge levels, the core level and the elective level. 2) Competency Services. Services include automated testing, educational and vocational guidance, learning tools and a collaborative network of learning providers. Services are implemented through web based delivery. 3) Distribution & Delivery Mechanism. To offer learning provisions (e.g. courses at tertiary level schools) and certification, EUCIP has a physical distribution mechanism through the existing ECDL Foundation Licensee network. The distributors (mainly learning providers) co-operate and collaborate in a webbased partner network, which forms the backbone of quality assurance and continuous product development. EUCIP provides benefits for both target groups in the market: students/companies and learning providers. Students can benefit from EUCIP through the following ways: •

The pan-European aspect of EUCIP provides students with standardised qualifications and offers the chance to work in ICT-jobs all through Europe.

•

EUCIP candidates can sit the tests independently of any formal or compulsory course of study. It is a certification of competence.

•

EUCIP offers a career path for ICT practitioners.

•

Learning materials, tests etc. can (mostly) be offered in their respective native language.

•

The main benefit is that a broad field of ICT knowledge is covered and it consists of all topics necessary to do a good job as an ICT-professional. Students will be

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specialised in their field of interest and have a solid basic education through studying the core level. Industry can benefit from EUCIP for three main reasons: •

All employers of informatics professionals and experts, would have a standard framework to categorise and assess the competence of current and potential employees, thus simplifying recruitment and appraisal of personnel;

•

The certification of employees could be used as a quality guarantee for customer services (only applicable to ICT services companies), or vice-versa as a guarantee when evaluating the quality of procured services (applicable to companies that outsource some ICT services);

•

Various ICT vendors which offer education and training in their own technologies, could include single modules or groups of modules in a comprehensive framework (in this sense, the major ICT companies can be also considered as a special category of learning providers).

Learning providers and test centres can also gain several benefits: •

The EUCIP programme provides a neatly packaged curriculum for any learning provider. The implementation is flexible for learning providers so they can offer training and testing or just testing, depending on the needs of any particular group of clients.

•

Because of the precision of the syllabus structure, and that no further links need to be established with other courses, it is possible for learning providers not traditionally involved in ICT training, to develop courses. The benefit of EUCIP for such learning providers is that it is a stand alone qualification.

The current debate about the demand for certified ICT practitioner skills, comprises of precisely what education, training, qualifications, competencies, and “skills”, practitioners actually need to perform cost-effectively in each occupational role. While the education “supply channels” still have an important role, the “supply model” into these occupations is not a simple linear one (ie. with a straightforward career path from ICT specialisation within education, or an ICT degree and career as an ICT professional). This is exactly where EUCIP has the potential to play a decisive role in harmonising existing ICT certification schemes. The role of EUCIP is to bridge the gap between the user and the professional and to provide a set of stepping stones, so that a person can use their European-wide accepted certification to gain entry level into ICT professional status, which will also improve the overall mobility of the European ICT workforce. The overall components of the EUCIP value chain are:

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Figure 7-14: EUCIP Value Chain The components of the value chain (listed below) include all operation aspects, whether central regional or local. The scale of operations will depend on market size and degree of penetration at any time. Sales and marketing. Proactive sales and marketing towards partners and distributors, for example, learning providers, learning service providers and test centres and account management. Coordination of central marketing campaigns aimed at student markets. Cross-market production of marketing material. Deployment and maintenance of the EUCIP web site. Product development. EUCIP will have to continuously evolve the product both in terms of content and delivery, e.g. adaptation of the syllabus to evolving standards and enhancement of testing mechanisms. External support. A high service level for both partners and end-users (students) is central to the loyalty of distributors and customers. External support will include ad-hoc support, e.g. advice and guidance towards existing students, information services, help desk and management of student requests. It is important to note that much of this support will be provided by the learning providers, although the ECDL Foundation will provide support to general queries received via the EUCIP website. Internal support. Internal support encompasses typical administrative functions such as secretarial work, ICT and accounting. The last part of this section presents a case study “EUCIP Software Developer”, which highlights opportunities (already available for EUCIP) to support employees through their development to ICT professionalism. The following description is a short extract of the internal AICA working paper “Recommendations for the career of a EUCIP Software Developer”.

7.4.5 User Case “EUCIP Software Developer” The AICA ICT Workforce Space offers various services “[…] presented in the form of an analysis of the Gap Assessment in relation to a standard set of profiles, is intended to

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provide a solution to these problems by integrating various elements in a flexible and adaptable way”150. 1) How can Hugo, a Software Developer, measure his skill misalignment? Levels of competencies must be measured through a European Standard. It is quite evident that it is best to improve the self perception of acquired competencies through benchmarking against Standard Profiles which are recognised by the labour market. The results of this highlight the gap between skills they posses and skills required by the EUCIP standard Elective Profile. This gap is described by a report in which the level of the skills required by the standard profiles is clearly marked (skill levels which exceed the standard, skill levels which correspond to the standard, skill levels which are less then the standard: and which competencies have to be improved to correspond to an EUCIP Elective Software Developer). 2) How is Hugo’s salary positioned against what the labour market recognises for a comparable level of experience and employer type? Now you can verify if your salary is aligned with the main average of the ICT sector. For each of the 21 EUCIP standard profiles, a benchmark of their respective salary is offered, on the basis of variables like sex, age, profession, company dimension, company sector. Therefore, you have to enter all your personal data into the system for example, your position in the company, main responsibilities and activities of your job. The job description is useful to identify a standard level of competencies, skills, experiences and responsibilities related to your job. In addition, there is the defined description of the relevant EUCIP standard profile. Deeper analysis supplies more detailed information regarding the geographical area, the companies industry sector and its dimension. 3) Where, and in which sectors, are Hugo’s colleagues most concentrated, in Italy? You can also check where your professional profile is concentrated in the market and you can analyse how the different professional profiles are distributed within the market, the territories and the companies. 4) Where can Hugo complete his training to improve his competencies of the EUCIP Proximity Profile of Software Developer? An important function of the ICT Workforce space is that you can find all the necessary information to see what you need to learn to improve your selected EUCIP Software Developer standard profile. After identifying the EUCIP elective categories to study in depth (see “point 1”), it is now necessary to identify which training module can fill the gaps of the competence blocks (defined by the elective categories). 5) How can Hugo reach certification? The EUCIP professional certifications are released by AICA’s Competence Centres. If you want to reach the EUCIP Software Developer Elective Profile Certification, you have 150

Roberto Bellini, Paolo Locatelli, Clementina Marinoni: ICT Competencies and Learning Developments: the eCCO Portal in Italy, eChallenges 2006.

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go to the nearest Competence Centre. They will provide the necessary support to take the EUCIP certification exam. The certification procedure requires the following steps (more details can be found in the above mentioned AICA working paper): •

Assessing the EUCIP Elective questionnaire.

•

Using the EUCIP Elective questionnaire to calculate the number of EUCIP points the attendant has.

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Calculating the number of points necessary to be admitted to the examination for the target Elective Profile certification.

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Identifying how to close the gap in points (and skills).

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Realisation of the candidate’s portfolio.

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Delivery of the candidate’s portfolio to AICA.

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Oral examination.

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Overall evaluation.

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8. Recommendations The aim of this section is to derive and substantiate strategies and recommendations based on the research results. However, first we will highlight and repeat some important observations made in this report (also see Figure 7-3151 and Figure 7-2152):

151 152

•

Harmonisation is understood as the achievement of broader recognition and transparency of ICT professional certifications, higher awareness of what is available and the mutual benefits of a consistent international ICT profession, which is based on clearly defined standards.

•

Harmonisation of vendor dependent and vendor independent certifications is a must for ICT vendors, vendor’s third parties, the independent software and service industry, as well as non-ICT companies and Public Administrations. The need for harmonisation emerges from the current confusion or “certification jungle” which exists in the ICT Professional certification market.

•

The evolution of digital products, services and content affect not only the business market, but also the types of competencies required to design, realise, distribute, install, deliver and maintain the skills of the certification market of specialists who work in the distribution channels, the innovation of business processes and in digital and digital-embedded products and services.

•

Main buyers of ICT certification products and services are often companies who are part of the vendors distribution chain.

•

The B2B market is driving the certification market.

•

The end-user ICT certification market has different characteristics in comparision to the B2B market.

•

Distribution channels of hardware products, software products and services are becoming more important. The traditional structure of IT distribution channels involves a variety of actors, namely vendors, distributors and third parties. The latter can be categorised into business and consumer.

•

There is capacity to implement new ideas of complementary certification products and services, which meet recognised ICT professionalism standards.

•

There are likely to be as many existing quality standards as there are available ICT professional certificates.

•

The concept of performance standards (components and indications) for example, the European e-Competence Framework currently being developed by CEN/ISSS, appears to be appropriate way of arriving at shared solutions in the

See page 150. See page 147.

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future. Performance standards allow us to classify products and to prevent duplication of content in certifications. •

ICT professional associations should take the lead in conjunction with leading ICT vendors and industry associations.

•

Vendor-specific and vendor-neutral certifications are generally more interesting for third party personnel who work in the distribution channels.

•

Non-ICT companies and the public sector and are interested in vendorindependent certifications.

•

Stakeholders and certification providers should actively contribute to the harmonisation process by “opening” their systems with the aim of identifying common themes or basic pillars of the aspired Body of Knowledge of ICT professionals.

•

Stakeholders need to join a round table to form partnerships and to achieve an exchange of knowledge and information, especially between professional associations, industry and educational institutions.

•

Better flexiblity of what is available and ability to combine different “modules” and “training content” according to personal needs and interests, would lead to endorsed “opportunities-to-learn” and reaction to skills gaps by complementing various offerings.

Harmonisation of certification is part of a broader issue/ problem The first step in achieving harmonisation is to look at the competitive market environment with the ICT vendors (Microsoft is market leader) as they have the biggest market shares and volumes. The key findings from our four research areas, clearly showed that certification of ICT professionals has to be seen as part of a broader issue, namely the establishment of recognised standards for the international ICT profession. Concentrating on certification only would fail to deliver sustainable results. The goal of ICT professionalism is far more important, and should drive the harmonisation process. A common language for the international ICT profession would allow for better communication between industry and education thus, avoiding the creation of “parallel universes”. Currently, there is an observable disconnect between public education and industry training. Harmonisation requires a multi-stakeholder partnership due to the given nature and difficulty of the task. Support initiatives working toward ICT Professionalism Harmonisation of ICT professional certification must be seen in the broader context of ICT professionalism. ICT professional associations play a pivotal role in setting, developing and promoting standards in ICT certification – their desire to develop ICT as a professional discipline is the single most important driver of harmonisation. Participation by the ICT professional associations in the harmonisation endeavour will ensure that it is effective – the members of these associations are the potential users

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and beneficiaries of the standards that will emerge from the process. It is important, therefore, that ICT professionalism be seen as the foundation of the harmonisation effort, and that broadly recognised professional standards be seen as an essential requirement for professionalism. ICT professionalism also requires a shared body of knowledge, and establishing such a body of knowledge requires the broad support of all stakeholders. An international profession requires three major elements: •

a common language for describing professional skills and competencies

•

a standard means of measurement for professional skills and competencies

•

a mechanism for independent recognition and quality assurance of those professional skills and competencies.

ICT professional certification will contribute to these developments and should be seen as an essential element in the establishment of ICT internationally as a professional discipline. Link to professional associations and existing initiatives We recommend that the first stage of the harmonisation process is aligned with existing working groups and task forces. These include initiatives by professional associations such as IFIP and CEPIS. They have already launched programmes and activities beyond Europe and are working towards an international ICT profession. Further initiatives are the CEN/ISSS workshop on ICT Skills, Eurepean Projects (such as ICTLane, etc.), IFIP “Professionalism” Task Force, e-Skills Competencies Consortium, etc. Create a Body of Knowledge Another important element is the Body of Knowledge which should be discussed in the context of establishing ICT as a profession and harmonisation of ICT professional certifications. The Body of Knowledge provides the guiding principles which certification should be based upon and the foundation for creating courseware and exams. It will: •

encompass ICT certification principles (concepts, methods and applications)

•

provide greater transparency of the current market (list of certifications, classification and selection criteria, and navigation);

•

offer people the ability to access education, training, assessments, and certifications.

Create the “right” environmental climate for exploiting mutual benefit Harmonisation is a complex matter that demands the involvement and commitment of a variety of actors, each of whom may have different interests. Certification and training occupy separate domains. Industry stakeholders, such as e-SCC (the e-Skills Competences Consortium), complain that there is an observable disconnect between

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public education and the training needs of industry; they demand measures to build bridges between industry and education to avoid the creation of a ‘parallel universe’. Although the Harmonisation process can not be separated from concrete business interests and market influences, mutual zones of trust are required to arrive at common solutions and to exploit mutual benefit. As already stated, we will use a market-driven approach for harmonisation. The right harmonisation climate can be created through mutual zones of trust, where the exploitation of mutual benefit will be central in bringing all stakeholders together in a “round table”. The “round table” could begin with an initial information/knowledge exchange to drive agreed harmonisation measures. The round table should elaborate on the four identified pillars of the proposed certification approach, and regard them as essential to educe and plan the harmonisation process. In order to achieve a consistent base and a common understandings, members should agree on definitions and requirements. The round table needs to address: scope of the ICT profession, a common body of knowledge, definition of profession and professionalism and glossary of terms. Furthermore, the round table needs to carefully standardisation activities with the aim of improving ICT professional certification quality. Reflect on and investigate how to achieve a substantial change in employers’ recruitment behaviour Employers tend to place a low emphasis on ICT professional certifications. As this strongly influences the demand for certifications and the interest of ICT practitioners in certifications, this needs to be looked at in further detail. We have argued that certification should not be given priority, instead we need to establish ICT professionalism and international professional standards. A substantial change in employers’ recruitment behaviour might be achieved through broader recognition, awareness of existing certifications and better knowledge about how certification systems operate, what they offer and what they deliver. In the longer term this is expected to create a greater acceptance of (harmonised) professional certifications. Significant increases in the demand for ICT professional certifications relies on signficant changes in employers’ attitudes. Such changes could occur in different ways, but it is difficult to see how much change will occur through the existing market mechanisms. ICT certifications promise an increase in employability of individuals. However, this is only achievable if employers have a greater awareness about ICT certifications, particularly in regards to trust and real value delivery, and if employers broadly recognise “valid” ICT qualifications. ICT Professional Associations should take the lead Our survey results suggest the preferred approach is led by professional associations and/or instutions, industry assocations, leading ICT vendors, and supported through governmental bodies and social partners at different levels. We recommend a two level

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approach that takes into account the local and global characteristics of the markets. ICT professional associations have access to a large number of potential “customers” and their members support the establishment of professional standards. We have identified ICT professionalism as a fundamental part of the harmonisation process. ICT professionalism requires the availability of broadly recognised professional standards support from major ICT vendors. “Think global but act local” Although global standards are demanded and are a prerequisite to achieving harmonisation of certification, the ICT education and training market is local and typically defined through national (qualification) systems. Any solution for harmonisation in Europe needs to incorporate national market characteristics and needs, to establish necessary partnerships of mutual benefit for ICT professional certifications. Harmonisation needs to follow an “umbrella” approach Evidence shows the certification market is led by products of major ICT vendors, whose main interest is to create higher revenues. Consequently, a sustainable solution to the harmonisation of ICT professional certification must be based on an umbrella approach which allows different certification systems to co-exist and to be cross-referenced in a reference framework. The harmonisation initiative needs to build frameworks within which individual national bodies can develop the ICT profession according to their preferences and needs and which will eventually lead to international standards. Harmonisation process needs to be build on four basic pillars and foundations The proposed harmonisation approach needs to be built on the following pillars: ICT professionalism, a multi-stakeholder approach, quality standards and visibility/ transparency. We strived for answers to the following key questions: Why harmonisation? For whom? and How? An important project outcome is the roadmap towards harmonisation of ICT professional certifications and recommendations about the measures to get there. Provide incentives for stakeholders The concept of multi-stakeholder partnerships supports the harmonisation process. The idea is that the business sector can complement and extend the services provided by the public sector, by increasing available resources. Another advantage of these partnerships is that they can use and combine the strengths and resources of different actors. Pivotal questions which need to be answered are: •

Why market leaders (such as ICT vendors Microsoft, Cisco, etc.) would be willing to join forces with their “competitors”?

•

Why providers of vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certification?

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Harmonisation should strive for a learner-centred credentialing system Harmonisation of certification should strive for a learner-centred credentialing system, with transparent content, technologies, methodologies and actors. This system should offer clear guidance and recognition of learning (whether formal, non-formal or informal), and acquired knowledge, skills and competencies. ICT professional certifications seem to significantly contribute to the increasing mobility of the ICT workforce in Europe. In this regard, certification programmes are competing to be included in the international ICT professional body of knowledge and should be considered as an integral part of an individual’s professional development plan and career path. “Keep it simple” Avoid over-prescription in this area as it could cause the major ICT vendors and industry to abandon this initiative and leave the round table. We recommend to use adequate incentives and to create a “win-win” situation. This requires further market analysis to identify and assess certification models and concepts. A common (knowledge) base should be built which describes and clarifies existing approaches One difficulty in achieving harmonisation, particulary in the area of ICT professional certification, is the small amount of existing knowledge about how these systems operate, what they offer and what they actually deliver. This report provides answers to these questions by explaining the wider context of ICT professional certifications and the influencing factors for future development. It also describes the origin of these systems and how they are built. The project has assembled a comprehensive knowledge base to help stakeholders, employers and individuals gain a better understanding of what is available. Normative documents need to be collected and aggregated to form a common knowledge base which categorises and aligns available information to the different activity areas. The knowledge base will offer information about what is available on the market and will provide reference models and guiding principles. Need for a common language The need for a common language forms part of a reference framework which allows the flow of information between industry and education and training. Competence-based Professional Profiles define and exchange information about respective professional standards. To manage competence-based Professional Profiles an organisation needs to have both competencies and profiles. Accordingly two fundamental elements are

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needed to set up the infrastructure: a technical competence dictionary and a set of profiles based on technical competence (see Figure 7-5153). Need for transparent and flexible (quality) standards To meet the needs of ICT professionalism and the standards required by the business community, continuous professional development must be facilitated. Individuals must be able to combine certifications from different suppliers, and to complement existing qualifications with new ones. This will only work if quality assurance processes are transparent. Quality standards (valued by certification providers and ICT vendors) are an important aspect of a harmonised approach to certification. There is not currently an agreed quality framework. The harmonisation process needs to include a common base which describes and clarifies existing quality approaches. Normative documents should be collected and aggregated into a comprehensive knowledge base which categorises and aligns the available information in the different areas of activity. The harmonisation process should review existing quality approaches, and record their scope and objectives, and how they are applied. Transparent and flexible quality standards are among the most important aspects of a harmonised European framework for ICT professional certification. Quality standards need to be applied to the organisation, the awarding body and training levels. Future harmonisation activities should investigate testing procedures, because the unacceptance of other providers certifications may be due to the lack of transparent testing procedures. Accreditation as an important means to implement quality standards Accreditation is an important means to implement quality standards and to achieve better transparency/visibility of ICT professional certifications. In the long term, accreditation will serve to award recognised international practitioner qualifications which meet international standards. From an internal perspective, the training subsystem (testing and learning material) should be assessed by accreditation. From an external perspective, the certification system (including the organisation, awarding body and training level) should be assessed by accreditation. The integration and acceptance of other certifications offers significant value Customers such as public organisations are increasingly interested in vendorindependent certification, provided that the products combine vendor-specific content with vendor-neutral content and increasingly, business and soft-skills.

153

See pp. 155

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The need for global standards has to be kept in mind when developing the European harmonisation process. Integrating and accepting other certifications is valuable as it allows for the ability to combine vendor-specific, vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certifications - in alignment with the ICT professional body of knowledge. Leading certification providers are already starting to align their systems with the European frameworks (for example, the European e-Competence Framework currently being developed by CEN/ISSS). “Reference profiles” can further leverage the integration process, by providing a reference framework to allow the cross-reference of different certification schemes and programme content. In response to market demand for increased professionalism in ICT, the possible vision cound be to develop a new harmonised certification scheme (cross-domain and crossbrand), to harness support from the major ICT vendors and to offer a “win-win”-situation to industry, practitioners, ICT vendors and ICT professional institutions. The ability to combine learning content, modules and examinations according to the individual’s preferences demands a common language, coherence and alignment of standards (such as awarding credits for learning time), and the opening up of systems to make them more transparent and their content more visible to learners and courseware developers. To integrate different programmes from different providers, there is a need for agreed principles, concepts, tools and methodologies. Market-driven and/or –oriented approach instead of top-down regulatory approach To carefully plan concrete measures for harmonisation, we will use a market-driven approach and will seek the full support of the major ICT vendors and ICT professional associations, before implementing the agreed principles and standards. The Harmonise project has suceeded in establishing a network of interest and links with to the major ICT vendors. This has already raised awareness among stakeholders and promoted the need for harmonisation of ICT professional certification. The aim is to influence ongoing developments on the market. Harmonisation activities need to be carefully planned Harmonisation activities need to be carefully planned. Successful implementation of quality standards requires commitment from all involved and affected parties. It is necessary to incorporate stakeholder views to achieve successful implementation of harmonisation activities. A “round table” will be established to initiate the harmonisation process, to complete an information exchange and to decide upon agreed activities. All stakeholders should be invited to join this round table, and should meet sitting on a regular basis to discuss future direction. The Harmonise project has produced a comprehensive knowledge base to help to define and clarify requirements and objectives. Round table objectives are to agree on the scope and principles of the harmonisation process, to discuss the need for harmonisaiton (what, where, for whom, how and why?), to create a body of knowledge and to arrive at certification standards and processes at a global level.

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9. Conclusions and Outlook We have discussed the wider context of ICT professional qualifications and we have focused on the need for harmonising ICT Professional qualifications and offerings across Europe and beyond. We attempted to gain a deeper understanding of the ICT Professional certification environment and explored future developments in the area by differentiating between four thematic areas, namely the ICT Professional Labour Market, ICT Skills Certification System, ICT Skills Certification Market and ICT Professional Certification Quality. The Harmonisation project aimed to support greater transparency of certification schemes and to drive the harmonisation of vocational learning and qualification schemes for ICT professionals at the European Union level. Currently, there is confusion about available programmes and products in the ICT Professional certification market. The project concentrated on certification arrangements, related training offerings and career development services offered to ICT professionals in Europe and beyond. We found that the certification market is difficult to overview and have provided evidence of the proliferation of systems on the current market. The aim of investigating the ICT professional certification market was to introduce a model which could adequately interpret and segment the market. ICT vendor-specific or vendor-dependent certifications showed the highest maturity in comparison with alternative certification offerings such as vendor-neutral and vendorindependent certifications. Vendor-independent offerings are still in the beginning phase of their lifecycle. There is an observable shift towards profile-based certifications instead of product-based certifications. One reason for this shift is that profile-based certifications support vendor-neutrality more, because they are not focused on, or bound to specific products and technology platforms of an ICT vendor. Therefore, profile-based certifications are primarily used by vendor-independent certification vendors. Future developments will depend on changing employers’ attitudes towards ICT Professional Certifications The recruitment survey discussed in Section 3154 showed that professional certifications are relatively low in most employers’ recruitment preferences. A very substantial change in employers’ recruitment behaviour would be necessary to achieve widespread recognition and adoption of harmonised professional certifications. Further examination and research is required in order to be able to substantiate these findings through a broader empirical base. Significant increases in demand for such certifications cannot be expected without significant changes in employers’ attitudes. Such a change could occur through many different ways, but it is difficult to see the rate of change through the existing market mechanisms. To a great extent, market competition of ICT professional certifications is educed through the ICT products market and related service offerings which are tailored to support the products and solutions of ICT vendors. Hence, the proliferation of offerings and the 154

See pp. 27.

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multitude of certification programmes, result from the variety of ICT products and niche markets, which offer compelling business opportunities (especially for SMEs to tailor individual products and proprietary offerings for specific customer groups). Harmonising vendor dependent and vendor independent certifications, is a must for ICT vendors, third parties, the independent software and service industry, as well as non-ICT companies and Public Administrations. This need merges from the confusion (certification jungle) which currently exists in the ICT Professional certification market. Although the need to harmonise ICT professional certifications can be reasonably argued, many experts in the field had doubts that there will be (or possibly can be) enough willingness and commitment from stakeholders to support harmonisation through the proposed framework, and to take the steps to achieve harmonisation. The harmonisation process requires certification providers to make their systems flexible and to agree on common modes, procedures and principles of certification. Feedback received from field experts and regular interactions with the “e-Skills Community” through conference sessions, workshops and the working group maintained by the Harmonise project, supports this idea. During the course of the project, we realised that certification was part of a wider issue of developing ICT professionalism in Europe and beyond. Creating a body of knowledge is an important concept for the establishment of ICT professionalism in Europe, and for harmonisation. ICT professional certifications have the potential to make a valuable contribution to the establishment of such a body of knowledge, and to support the professional development of ICT practitioners, in adherence with global standards. When planning measures to achieve harmonisation, it important to understand and consider the complexities of the ICT professional certification market. One particular aim of this project was to identify and analyse influencing factors which were driving future development on the market. We received positive indications from stakeholders, especially ICT vendors, to discuss the possibility of a harmonisation approach and to promote professional standards in the ICT area. This willingness is an important factor in the collaboration of a harmonisation scheme. Broader recognition of ICT professional certifications is an important goal for ICT vendors. Broader recognition requires higher awareness and transparency of what is available. The harmonisation process will facilitate this broader recognition and awareness. It constitutes common goals and motivations, which are able to reconcile conflicting interests and encourage major certification providers to join forces in order to progress the mutual benefits of ICT professional certifications. Estimates of costs incurred due to software and system failures, highlights the global dimension of the problem and emphasises the impact and damage it causes to the economy. This damage is often caused through inadequate performance of ICT practitioners, because they lack adequate qualifications and training in their specialised fields. Employers and ICT practitioners have begun to understand the importance of adequate training and regular updating of knowledge, skills and competencies. It is not a question of willingness but rather a lack of adequate learning opportunities which are aligned with industry needs and requirements. Appropriate incentives would encourage individuals and employers to attend training and to formally validate, on a regular basis, that their

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performance (as well as knowledge, skills and competencies) conforms with pre-defined global performance standards. ICT certifications are part of a prevailing transition process of lifelong learning and individual learning paths. Most ICT certification systems operate globally and independently from national authorities (especially vendor-sponsored certifications), which makes them attractive to be used as global performance standards for the ICT industry. ICT certifications can provide answers to some of the problems that formal education systems cannot, as they offer flexible entry points to the ICT profession and can serve as global, industry-oriented performance standards. Certification providers themselves stress that the “inappropriate or mistaken use of certifications can lead to unintended outcomes”. ICT certifications have to be perceived as an integral part of a body of knowledge of ICT professionalism. At the same time, ICT certifications are not transparent or classifiable in the sense of clear reference to ICT qualifications which are defined by agreed ICT qualification and ICT skills frameworks. This might explain the comparably low value that employers place on them (especially in regards to recruiting ICT professionals). ICT professional certifications can support the ongoing professional development of ICT practioners. If they are based on common principles, procedures and international standards, they can also make an important contribution to the establishment of ICT professionalism. Harmonisation supports this establishment, and needs to address a lack of evidence for employers to prove that the ICT profession is a serious profession, which adheres to high principles and clearly defined, international standards. ICT professional certifications offer a way for employers to validate a candidate’s competence and can therefore, have a signficant role in achieving better employability in Europe. In the short term, ICT professional certifications can respond to emerging skill shortages and gaps. We argued the difficulty to overview the various offerings on the market. Not only is it difficult to get a comprehensive overview of the various market offerings, it is also difficult to understand and assess what the many ICT professional certification offerings deliver. ICT professional certification is a compelling business opportunity for ICT vendors however, market competition prevents providers from opening up their systems to support higher transparency of what is available. Nevertheless, ICT providers are beginning to realise that recognition of ICT professional certifications requires this. The success of the harmonisation endeavour largely relies on an “umbrella approach” to allow the different certification systems to co-exist and to avoid market mechanisms and forces being restrained and suspended. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are the only way to overcome existing barriers and to ensure that solutions meet professional standards and do not fall short of expectations. While a “top down” (regulatory) approach might have had some success, it is not clear whether there is sufficient political will to introduce regulation into the market, either at the national or EU level. A consenting multi-stakeholder approach, which involves the ICT industry and has support from the major vendors, is much more likely to be successful. We have staated that harmonisation efforts need to be concentrated at two levels: global and national. National markets have different specifications and requirements. The harmonisation approach is based on four pillars (ICT professionalism, multi-stakeholder partnership,

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quality standards and transparency) in a supporting framework, to achieve national solutions and to achieve adherence to international standards and procedures. At the national level, it is particulary important to involve the national public authorities at an early stage in order to integrate their views when planning the harmonisation process. We recommend following a market-driven approach instead of a top-down approach in this planning process. ICT professional associations together with ICT assocations and major ICT vendors have an important role to play. ICT professional associations should take an active role to lead the ICT professional community. The harmonisation process requires the establishment of “zones of trust” within the market, which do not suspend existing market mechanisms and competition, but which allow mutual benefits of ICT professional certification to be exploited. The harmonisation initiative has to establish links to existing initiatives and working groups in the field. Examples are the CEN/ISSS Workshop on ICT skills, the European e-Skills Forum, IFIP and CEPIS who aim to establish an international and recognised ICT profession, and the strong interest of the e-Competence Consortium (e-SCC) who aims to strengthen employabililty in the European ICT field. Overcoming and eliminating “parallel universes” also need to be considered in the harmonisation process. The CEN/ISSS Workshop on ICT Skills, is using the European Qualification Framework as a common factor of existing systems, to develop a European e-Competence Framework. This is an important advancement towards harmonisation as it provides the common language, basic structure, levels and general descriptors to be applied and referenced by skills and competence frameworks. The credit transfer system, especially the ECVET (European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training) is likely to make a significant contribution to achieve better transparency, compatibility and comparability of ICT practitioner qualifications in Europe and beyond. Quality standards and accreditation are among the most important aspects of a harmonised European approach to certification. Quality and harmonisation are a priority for certification providers and are also valued by ICT vendors as an important aspect for harmonising ICT professional certification. Currently, we only know a small amount about ICT skills certification systems and how they (ideally should) operate, and more analysis of the most recognised systems on the market, needs to be completed in order to gain more knowledge. Standardisation activities to improve the quality of ICT professional certifications should be carefully planned. To successfully implement quality standards, commitment is required from all involved parties within an organisation. As these parties may have different ideas about the standardisation process and activities, transparent and flexible standards are needed. To enable the expansion of existing standards, a certain openness of these standards is also required. Testing procedures should be standardised as they are an important part of certification processes which have a high impact on the acceptance of certificates by employers and other providers. At an organisational level, companies’ quality assurance approaches may include carefully defined internal quality processes for ICT professional certification, which

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cannot easily be standardised between different companies. Furthermore, the alignment to European frameworks (e.g. EQF) is currently difficult, because these frameworks are not yet implemented. Additionally, aligning to international standards may be more reasonable, due to increasing globalisation of ICT professional certifications. This is also important at the awarding body level, where the applying US standards is necessary for companies operating in the US and internationally. Quality standards of legal defensibility and psychometric soundness of examination procedures, seem to be crucial in ICT professional certification. It cannot be concluded how relevant the EN/ISO 17024 norm is for the awarding bodies of ICT vendor companies, as it was only named by one company (out of three). Achieving transparency of quality assurance measures for vendor-independent and vendor-neutral ICT professional certifications is another challenge, because the data shows that on a national level (excluding computer societies), numerous providers are responsible for the delivery of these certifications. The focus on relevant quality criteria for different parts of certification systems (e.g. testing procedures, teaching staff, learning materials and processes, customer satisfaction) and applying quality standards and quality assurance approaches, is different for providers within and between countries. The same applies for accreditation measures and the existing legal regulations and initiatives of each country. Establishing a round table constitutes an important first step to achieve sustainable solutions in near future. Harmonisation is an important goal to be attained and should be supported by the whole ICT community. The Harmonise project and their research results, need to be part of ongoing developments for ICT professionalism. The e-skills agenda of the European Commission defines the need to provide a perspective of future developments. In this sense, harmonising ICT professional certifications must be seen as part of a wider issue to promote competitiveness, employability and workforce development, reduce e-skills gaps and be in a better position to address global competitive challenges. The European Commission aims to overcome existing barriers and to improve cooperation between the public and private sectors on a long-term basis, in order to ensure a seamless framework which links basic e-skills training, vocational and higher education and professional development. Finally, future developments have to contribute “[…] to promote the professionalism, the image and attractiveness of ICT jobs and careers and to foster better work, employment conditions and perspectives are an important goal to be attained in the future.”155 The Harmonise project has contributed to these developments by developing a knoweldge base and proposing a harmonisation framework to find solutions for a the harmonisation of ICT professional certifications. Establishing ICT professionialism is an important goal and should lead us in the right direction. The Harmonise project is 155

E-SKILLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: FOSTERING COMPETITIVENESS, GROWTH AND JOBS Brussels, 7.9.2007 COM(2007) 496 final. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1286&format=HTML&aged=0 &language=EN&guiLanguage=en [last visit 12 September 2007].

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committed to contribute to support the e-skills agenda. Without doubt, the future direction is difficult. We need to see harmonisation as a continuous process which balances the various interests and expectations of stakeholders. Our challenge now, is to validate the practicablity of the harmonisation approach and to transform the results and theoretical aspects gathered in the knowledge base, into a real possibility. Regardless, the knowledge base enough comprehensive information to create a detailed picture of the ICT professional certification landscape. This will assist decision makers and stakeholders to derive and agree on concrete measures for future solutions.

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10. Glossary Following is a list of the core terms used throughout this report and their interpretation. Alternative interpretations are also listed, when available. Core Term Accreditation

Interpretation The act of granting credit or recognition that an organisation or person has met all the formal requirements of a specific programme of activity, e.g. a subject area or particular course.

Source

Assessment

The act of measuring a person’s fulfilment of the course requirements, to determine certification. Assessment can be by written, oral, or online examination, interview, project work, employer’s appraisal, or other means.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E) with amendments

Awarding body

A formally approved institution (usually through legislation, Government or Government agency), which manages qualification systems and issues certifications. They might also accredit training and assessment centres.

Candidate

An applicant who has fulfilled any specified prerequisites, to allow their participation in the certification process.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E)

Cedefop

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, based in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Cedefop

CEPIS

The Council of European Professional Informatics Societies – A non-profit organisation seeking to improve and promote a high standard of Informatics Professionals in recognition of the impact that Informatics has on employment, business and society.

CEPIS

Certificate/ Diploma

An official document, issued by an awarding body, which records the achievements of an individual following a standard assessment procedure.

Certification

Certification often means the awarding of a certificate, or other testimonial, to formally recognise and record

Terminology of vocational training policy: A multilingual glossary for an enlarged Europe Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Tissot (2004) (CEN, 2006) CEN/ISSS CWA:

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Core Term

Interpretation success in the assessment of Knowledge, Skills and/or Competencies. This is the final stage of the Qualification process. However, it is also used, in ICT Practitioner occupations, to mean the qualification in its entirety. It is important to be aware of these two (“narrow” and “broad”) meanings of Certification.

Source Dixon/Beier Alternative Interpretations: ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E) Terminology of vocational training policy: A multilingual glossary for an enlarged Europe Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004: Philippe Tissot ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG20 2005-2-21

Certification Body/ Awarding body

A certification body must define, develop, and maintain the methods and mechanisms (certification schemes) to be used to assess candidate competency.

Certification Process

All activities through which a certification body can establish that a person has fulfilled specific competence requirements, including: application, evaluation, certification decision, surveillance and certification renewal and certificate and logo/mark usage.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E)

Certification Scheme

Specific certification requirements related to specified categories of persons to which the same particular standards and rules, and the same procedures apply.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E)

Certification System

Set of procedures and resources for carrying out the certification process of a certification scheme, including maintenance, which results in the issuing of compentence certificates. The ability to apply knowledge, know-how and skills in a habitual or changing situation.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E)

Competence

Competence is KO put into action in specific contexts of activity (Cx) di, KO + AV + Cx, that is, to be able to do something in a given context.

Cedefop Glossary: Tissot (2004) ECCO/EUCIP Italy

Alternative Interpretations: ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E) EQF(EN); Brussels,

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Core Term

Interpretation

Source 8.7.2005 SEC(2005) 957

Competence Framework

A framework for structuring, organising and managing organisational competence and related competencebased Professional Profiles, to highlight the defined and relationship between competencies and profiles.

Competence based Profile

Two types of competencies are used to describe a profile Technical Competencies + Behavioural Competencies = ---------------------------------a competence based profile

ECCO/EUCIP Italy

To manage competence based profiles, an organisation needs both competencies and profiles. Credit points

Credit points are allocated to qualifications and to the qualification units. They are one of the tools designed to facilitate the implementation of ECVET at a national and European level. And, they are used by authorities, VET providers, competent bodies and learners, to support arrangements for accumulating recognition of learning outcomes towards a qualification and for transnational mobility. A set of actions followed when setting up a training course: it includes defining training goals, content, methods (including assessment) and material, as well as arrangements for training teachers and trainers.

REPORT 2005 OF THE CREDIT TRANSFER TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP; 28/06/2005

e-Business skills

Capabilities which exploit ICT opportunities, notably the Internet, to ensure that organisations are more efficient and effective, to explore opportunities for new ways to conduct business and organisational processes, and to establish new businesses. eBusiness skills are strategic and related to innovationmanagement, rather than technology-management, skills – which are part of ICT practitioner skills.

European e-skills Forum (2004)

European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET)

The ECVET is a system for accumulating and transfering credit points in vocational education and training to enable learning success, gained through vocational education and training across “system borders”, to be documented and certified.

http://www.ecvet.net/

Curriculum

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Cedefop Glossary: Tissot (2004)

Alternative Interpretations: Cedefop Glossary: Tissot, 2004 REPORT 2005 OF THE CREDIT TRANSFER TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP;

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Core Term

Interpretation

Source 28/06/2005

European Qualifications Framework (EQF) Examination

A new 8 level scheme which all European national qualifications are expected to adopt or correspond with. Examination is the assessment part, which measures a candidate’s competence by one or more methods such as written, oral, practical and observational tests.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E)

Examiner

A person with relevant technical and personal qualifications, who conducts and/or scores an examination.

ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E)

Framework

A framework is set of assumptions, concepts, conditions, methods, preconditions, values and practices, which constitute a way of viewing reality through a structure. For example, by making blueprints available within certain contexts like ICT development or building projects. Collectively, it refers to all nationally registered qualifications and their associated unit standards, the relationship between them, and the quality assurance processes which accredit the learning process and determine vocational qualification equivalences.

GSQF

Further Education (FE)

A tier of formal education, which is above school level but below degree level, for students aged 16+ including adults. It is usually provided by public colleges.

Harmonisation

Harmonisation is the achievement of broader recognition and transparency of ICT professional certification and the promotion of the mutual benefits which arise from a consistent international ICT profession, based on clearly defined standards.

Higher Education (HE)

The top tier of formal education, which leads to academic degrees and is usually provided at recognised universities.

ICT

Information and Communication Technology which supports the electronic input, storage, retrieval, processing, transmission and dissemination of information.

Cedefop (2003)

ICT practitioner skills

The capabilities required for researching, developing and designing, managing, producing, consulting, marketing, selling, integrating, installing and administrating, maintaining and supporting and service of ICT systems.


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Core Term

Interpretation

Source

ICT Practitioner/ ICT Professional ICT user skills

A person working on ICT tasks, using ICT practitioner / ICT professional skills. Not an ICT user. The capabilities required for effective individual application of ICT systems and devices. ICT users apply systems as tools in support of their own work, which is, in most cases, not ICT. User skills cover the utilisation of common generic software tools and specialised tools supporting business functions within non-ICT industries (sectors).

Information Technology (IT)

The study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware.

Job Profiles

Written requirements of primary job duties, key responsibilities, necessary KSC and qualification, education, experiences, proficiencies, talent, personal characteristics which are sought in a candidate. They belong to certain working areas and are subdivided into components which exist of objects like KSC including the belonging level. There are required and acquired ones. A job profile is a set of competencies related to key performances and expected results.

Knowledge

The result of an interaction between intelligence (capacity to learn) and situation (opportunity to learn), which is more socially-constructed than intelligence. Knowledge includes underpinning theory and concepts, as well as tacit knowledge gained through the experience of performing certain tasks. Understanding refers to more holistic knowledge of processes and contexts, and may be distinguished as know-why, as opposed know-what. knowledge = know-how, know-what and know-why

Knowledge Object (KO)

KO is a “small enough”, self-contained set of knowledge (of specific areas of analysis, targets, objectives, etc.)

Learning

A cumulative process where individuals gradually assimilate increasingly complex and abstract entities (concepts, categories, and patterns of behaviour or models) and acquire skills and/or wider competencies.

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ECCO/EUCIP Italy

Cedefop 2005, Winterton et al. (Report 26 January 2005) Alternative Interpretations: Cedefop Glossary: Tissot, 2004

ECCO/ EUCIP Italy ECCO/ EUCIP Italy EQF(EN); Brussels, 8.7.2005 SEC(2005) 957


Core Term

Interpretation This process takes place informally, for example through leisure activities, and in formal learning settings which include the workplace.

Source

Learning Outcomes

The set of knowledge, skills and/or competencies which an individual has acquired and/or is able to demonstrate after the completion of a learning process. Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to do at the end of a period of learning. A set of observable behaviours producing an objective result.

EQF(EN); Brussels, 8.7.2005 SEC(2005) 957

Performance

ECCO/EUCIP Italy

Professional Profiles

A description of the competence required to operate on a process, on a service or for a definite role, inside a Direction or a Function, a working team or a project . It shows explicitly as possible which type of know how an organisation has in terms of competence. In its most simple form, a professional profile is defined by referencing an organisational position or role. The professional profile of a role has to be established without any reference to anyone who had occupied that role or any future candidates for the role.

ECCO/EUCIP Italy

Qualification

A qualification is achieved when an awarding body determines that an individual’s learning has reached a specified standard of knowledge, skills and wider competencies. The standard of learning outcomes is confirmed through assessment processes or successful completion of a course of study. Learning and assessment for a qualification can take place through a programme of study and/or work place experience. A qualification confers official recognition of labour market value and of further education and training. A qualification can be a legal entitlement to practice a trade.

EQF(EN); Brussels, 8.7.2005 SEC(2005) 957

Qualification Framework

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A framework for developing and classifying qualifications according to a set of criteria for levels of achieved learning. This set of criteria may be implicit in the qualifications descriptors themselves or explicit in the form of a set of level descriptors. The framework scope may be a comprehensive set of all learning achievements and pathways, or it may be confined to a particular sector, for example initial education, adult education and training, or an occupational area. Some frameworks may have more design elements and a tighter structure than others, and some may have a legal basis whereas others represent a consensus of stakeholder views. However, all qualification

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Alternative Interpretations: ISO/IEC 17024:2003(E) Cedefop Glossary: Tissot, 2004 CEN/ISSS CWA: Dixon/Beier: 2005 EQF(EN); Brussels, 8.7.2005 SEC(2005) 957


Core Term

Interpretation frameworks establish a basis for improving the quality, accessibility, linkages and public or labour market qualification recognition nationally and internationally.

Source

Registration

All activities related to the registration of an organisation or person. These activities determine whether they meet all the relevant clauses of the specified standard for granting registration, and whether they are effectively implemented. They include: documentation review, audit, preparation and consideration of the audit report, and other relevant activities to provide sufficient information to allow a decision to be made as to whether registration shall be granted.

IAF Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC Guide 62:1996

Short courses

Short-term targeted training which is typically provided following initial vocational training. It is aimed at supplementing, improving or updating knowledge, skills and/or competencies that were acquired during previous training.

Skills

Acquired content, which is activated through related professional training. In this context, capabilities are the physical or psychological attributes of an individual, to be applied in activity-related approaches Skill = KO put into action, KO + Action Verb (AV)

Schaub (2000, p.206) Alternative Interpretations: Cedefop Glossary: Tissot, 2004 ECCO/EUCIP Italy CEN/ISSS CWA: Dixon/Beier (2005)

Skills/ Competence Framework

Skills (or competence) frameworks show the structure of labour market demand (employers’ skill and competence needs). They are a classification scheme of the different jobs in a labour market, usually divided into categories and levels.

Syllabus

Many people still equate a curriculum with a syllabus. However, syllabuses are concerned with content and tend to follow the traditional textbook approach of an “order of contents”, or a pattern prescribed by a “logical” approach to the subject, or shape of a course. Although there are various ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice, we understand syllabus in relation to a curriculum, as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.

Smith (2005)

Units

A unit constitutes part of a qualification (certificate, diploma etc). It can be the smallest part of the qualification being evaluated, validated and/or certified. A unit can be specific to a single qualification or common to several qualifications.

Vendor

ICT vendor independent certifications are those related

REPORT 2005 OF THE CREDIT TRANSFER TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP; 28/06/2005 See section 5.1.5, pp.

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Core Term Independent Certification

Interpretation to the activity on ICT products, such as EUCIP, EXIN, etc. Characteristics are: - coverage of different vendor-neutral technologies/ products/ concepts: - a vendor-neutral body of knowledge and syllabus, - a focus on declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge - not necessarily product-related but it can be if the candidate prefers specialising in productspecific skills (however, there is no principle need to do so and alternatives do exist).

Source 87 and section 4.3, Figure 4-1, pp. 54.

Furthermore this type of certification is characterised through comparablibility to qualifications offered from educational bodies and vendor-independent sponsorship. Vendor Neutral Certification

ICT vendor neutral certifications are those related to a homogeneous cluster of ICT products with comparable characteristics and performances. This encompasses certifications offered by vendors but is not strictly dependent on a specific (software) platform.

See section 5.1.5, pp. 87 and section 4.3, Figure 4-1, pp. 54.

Characteristics are: - coverage of different product-related technologies/ products/concepts - a vendor-neutral body of knowledge and syllabus - a focus on both procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge (rather than product-related knowledge), candidate selects degree of specialisation on vendor-specific products and related knowledge/ skills). Certifications of this type are typcially sponsored through collaborative vendor sponsorship and are available from by industry or professional associations such as CompTIA, ISCET, SPA, etc. Vendor Specific Certification

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ICT vendor specific (or dependent) certifications are those strictly related to the ICT vendor’s product characteristics and performances (hardware, basic software, application software), such as those related to products of Microsoft, IBM, Novell, etc. Characteristics are: - close linkage to products and solutions of ICT vendors - vendor-specific sponsorship - a vendor-specific body of knowledge and productoriented syllabus - a focus on specific products/ solutions/ concepts, and procedural knowledge).

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See section 5.1.5, pp. 87 and section 4.3, Figure 4-1, pp. 54.


Core Term

Interpretation

Verification

Processes to confirm the validity of an assessment, for example by a second assessment, external review, or sample audit.

Vocational Education & Training (VET)

Education and training which aims to equip people with skills and competencies that can be used on the labour market.

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Source

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CEDEFOP (Philippe Tissot), Terminology of vocational training policy. A multilingual glossary for an enlarged Europe, Luxembourg 2004


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Lueders, H. (2007): E-Skills Competencies in Europe: A partnership to deliver sustainable value; UPGRADE, Vol. VII, issue no. 3 (June 2007): "ICT Certifications for Informatics Professionals". Marianne Kolding and Vladimír Kroa (2005) Networking Skills in Europe: Will an Increasing Shortage Hamper Competitiveness in the Global Market?. An IDC White Paper. Cisco Systems, September 2005. Marinoni, C. (2005). eCCOSystem: Towards a Shared Model from Job Profiles to Competencies. Retrieved April 2, 2007 from http://eskills.cedefop.eu.int/eChallenges2005/6_Marinoni_e2005.pdf Masie Center eLearning Consortium (2003, November). Making Sense of Learning Spezifications & Standards: A Decision Maker’s Guide to their Adoption. 2nd Edition. Retrieved March 10, 2007 from http://www.masie.com/standards/s3_2nd_edition.pdf. Mattauch and Caumanns (2003) Walter Mattauch, Jörg Caumanns (Hrsg.). Innovationen der IT-Weiterbildung. Bertelsmann Verlag, Bielefeld. ISBN 3-7639-3077-9. 2003. MetaObjectFacility (MOF) (2002). Specification. Version 1.4, April 2002. Retrieved May 23, 2007 from http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/formal/mof.htm Michael L. Nelson, David Rice (2001) Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges CCSC: Southeastern Conference, Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges JCSC 17, 2 (December 2001), ACM Digital Libarary, pages: 136 - 136. Mulkey, J. (2001). Is Vendor-neutral Certification Good Enough? Certification Magazine, August 2001, Retrieved June 14, 2007 from http://www.certmag.com/issues/aug01/dept_guested.cfm. Muramatsu, B. (2007, last revised April 1). About the LTSC. Standards Development Process. Retrieved April 5, 2007 from http://ltsc.ed.usu.edu/about. National Vocational Qualifications. http://www.qca.org.uk/610.html. Netzwerk Qualitätssicherung. http://www.vhs.or.at/99.

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12. Annex 12.1 Acknowledgements Partners CEPIS

Julian Seymour Francois-Philippe Draguet

Institute for Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods at the University of Karlsruhe (AIFB)

Wolffried Stucky Peter Weiß Roman Povalej

Institute for Future Studies (IFS) / Verein fuer Neues Lehren und Lernen

Kathrin Helling Christian Petter Klaus Reich Fritz Scheuermann

Associazione Italiana per l’Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico (AICA)

Roberto Bellini

British Computer Society (BCS)

Marta Jacyniuk

Carlo Tiberti

Matthew Dixon John O’Sullivan Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI)

Peter Federer Cornelia Winter

John von Neumann Computer Society (NJSZT)

István Alföldi

Estonian Information Technology Society (EITS)

Jaan Oruaas

European Certification of Informatics Professionals (EUCIP)

Neil Farren

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Quality Management Board Giovanna Sissa (AICA) David Pardo (BCS) Peeter Normak (EITS) András Benczúr (NJSZT) Andreas Oberweis (GI) Interviewees Antonio Herrea (Cisco): Cindy Hoffmann (Cisco) Jürgen Nilgen (Microsoft) Thomas Friedlmayer (SAP) Sue Martin (SAP) Contributions to section 6.4156 “Quality Assurance in Vendor-independent and Vendorneutral Certification” were made by the following persons: Project partners: Istvan Alföldy (NJSZT) Roberto Bellini (AICA), Neil Farren (ECDL Foundation), Peter Federer (GI), Kathrin Helling (IFS), Jaan Oruaas (EITS), John O’Sullivan (BCS), Peter Weiß (AIFB), Cornelia Winter (GI) Other contact persons: Renny B. Amundsen (EUCIP), Nicola O’Riordan (ECDL Foundation), Mary Cleary (ICS Skills), Thomas Geretschläger (OCG)

156

See page 131.

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12.2 Research Methods The following section contains the research methods used in the collection of data for the Harmonise Final Report, including:

•

Survey Template - Certification Systems for ICT Practitioners in Europe

•

Job Advertisement Template (Including Employer Interviews)

•

QA Interviews Template

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12.2.1 Survey Template

Survey Certification Systems for ICT Practitioners in Europe Conducted by

HARMONISE Project

http://www.cepis-harmonise.org

HARMONISE is a project of

Council of European Professional Informatics Societies Co-funded by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, within the LEONARDO DA VINCI Programme

July 2006

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Dear Expert, A range of Certification programmes and systems are known throughout the ICT practitioner/ user community as important for getting into the information technology field and building a solid professional career. CEPIS is studying and comparing existing approaches to ICT Skills Certification at a European and International level. The European Commission funded HARMONISE Project is working to establish comparable data on various approaches to ICT qualification and certification, and on ICT learning systems, around the EU. The project aims to elaborate recommendations for the stakeholders by collecting and examining available reference material concerning the potential of applying and implementing standards in order to support the convergence of existing approaches to ICT Skills Certification in Europe and beyond. In the long run the project intends to contribute to developments towards possible harmonisation in the field of ICT qualifications for ICT practitioners in the context of lifelong learning. HARMONISE is reviewing existing qualification and certification schemes in the context of learning provision that leads to certification, as well as clarifying the underlying profiles, terminology and curricula. The project’s aims involve clarifying existing arrangements to support greater transparency, and influencing the harmonisation of vocational learning and qualification schemes for ICT Practitioners at the European Union level. Having assembled a comprehensive knowledge base in this area that can help stakeholders, employers and individuals better understand what is available, HARMONISE will prepare options for improving transparency within the EU and will elaborate ways of clarifying the feasibility of possible European approaches to qualification and certification for ICT Practitioners which can draw and build on the successful experience of the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). Please visit http://www.cepis-harmonise.org for further information. The completion of the questionnaire will require about 20-30 minutes: this contribution will help us to improve the transparency and effectiveness of the ICT Practitioner market-place within the European Union. Thank you for your support in advance. Sincerely yours, The HARMONISE Project Team

Signed by Julian Seymour, General Manager, CEPIS

Please return the filled in questionnaire to

Deadline: 31 October 2006

CEPIS Office attn. Mr. Draguet by email: [email protected] or via FAX: ++ 32 2 6463032

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Definition of Concepts1 Certification:2 The process of formally validating knowledge, know-how and/or skills and competences acquired by an individual, following a standard assessment procedure. Certificates or diplomas are issued by accredited awarding bodies.

Certification System: Set of procedures and resources for carrying out the certification process as per a certification scheme, leading to the issue of a certificate of competence including maintenance.

Certification Scheme: Specific certification requirements related to specified categories of persons to which the same particular standards and rules, and the same procedures apply.

Certification Process: All activities by which a certification body establishes that a person fulfils

specified competence requirements, including application, evaluation, decision on certification, surveillance and recertification, use of certificates and logos/marks.

Competence: Demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and/or skills and, where relevant,

demonstrated personal attributes, as defined in the certification scheme. Ability to apply knowledge, know-how and skills in an habitual or changing situation.

e-Business skills: The capabilities needed to exploit opportunities provided by ICT, notably the

Internet, to ensure more efficient and effective performance of different types of organisations, to explore possibilities for new ways of conducting business and organisational processes, and to establish new businesses.

e-Skills/ ICT Skills: The term “e-Skills” is often used as the encompassing concept of all skills

related to ICTactivities. This concept, however, is not uniformly applied or understood. E-Skills are defined in different ways across different studies. Most often, e-Skills are interpreted more directly as (synonymous with) ICT Skills.3

ICT Practitioners: ICT Practitioners possess the capabilities required for specifying, designing, developing, installing, operating, supporting, maintaining, managing, evaluating and researching ICT systems, for the benefit of others.4 ICT Practitioners include both professional ICT (“Informatics”) and non-professional ICT workers.

ICT Practitioner Skills: the capabilities required for researching, developing and designing, managing, the producing, consulting, marketing and selling, the integrating, installing and administrating, the maintaining, supporting and service of ICT systems.

Qualification: A qualification is achieved when a competent body determines that an individual's

learning has reached a specified standard of knowledge, skills and wider competences. The standard of learning outcomes is confirmed by means of an assessment process or the successful completion of a course of study. Learning and assessment for a qualification can take place through a programme of study and/or work place experience. A qualification confers official recognition of value in the labour market and in further education and training. A qualification can be a legal entitlement to practice a trade.5

Quality Standards: Quality standards are provided in formal way by independent standardisation

bodies and sector associations documented in form of normative doucments. De facto standards are offered by public and/or private initiatives and are achieved through a broad acceptance by the actors in a specific sector/field. Quality standards can be distinguished concerning their focus e.g. on process, method, content.

1 Mainly based on ISO/IEC 17024 “Standard for the certification of persons” and the CEPIS survey “I.T.

Practitioner Skills in Europe”. The term eSkills is defined according to a definition by the European eSkills Forum.

2 Cedefop 2004: Terminology of vocational training policy: A multilingual glossary for an enlarged Europe

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004: Philippe Tissot. 3

RAND Europe 2005: Demand and Supply of e-Skills in Europe; Report for EC DG ENTR.

4 CEPIS Report „IT Practitioner Skills in Europe“, page 95f. Definition according to the eSkills Forum, May 2004. 5

EQF European Qualification Framework, EQF(EN); Brussels, 8.7.2005, SEC(2005) 957.

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Details on Respondent and Organisation The information given on this page will be kept strictly confidential and is processed anonymously throughout the survey and analysis task. We kindly ask you to provide us with the required information in the table below. The fields indicated by a (*) are obligatory fields – we need this information for the statistical analysis of responses. Details of Respondent (*) Position within organisation Email1 Name of organisation

Details of Organisation (*) Type of organisation

( ) certifying body

( ) test center

( ) training provider

( ) ICT vendor

( ) education

( ) government

( ) ICT (supplier) company

( ) ICT (end-)user organization

( ) other _______________________ (*) Status of organisation

( ) industry/private

( ) public

( ) government

Other _______________________________

(*) Business Sector (if applicable, e.g. IT, Manufacturing, etc.)

(*) What is Your Place of Residence? ( ) Old EU Member States

( ) New EU Member States

( ) Associated countries

( ) Other

(*) Please indicate your membership in relevant working group(s)/ association(s) on an international/ European or national level related to ICT Skills certification? ( ) European eSkills Forum (Virtual Community) ( ) Uni Europa

( ) CEN ISSS WS ICT

( ) EICTA

( ) The e-Skills Certification Consortium (eSCC)

( ) Other(s): ______________

The following questions relate to the recognition of ICT Skills Certification at the European level. The questions should be answered concerning ICT Skills Certification for ICT Practitioners. Please answer the questions purely on the basis of your experience, best practice and knowledge.

1 Only fill in if you wish to receive in the future information concerning the results of the survey and the project.

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Existing Recognised ICT Skills Certification Systems in Your Country The following questions investigate the importance and future role of ICT Skills Certification on a European level. The questions should be answered concerning ICT Skills Certification at all levels and over all categories of e-Skills. Please answer the questions purely on the basis of your experience, best practice and knowledge. Q1 In your country, is the achievement of vocational qualification (e.g. certificate, diploma) a precondition for ICT practitioners for employment in a relevant job? [your comments]

YES

NO

Q2 From your experience, what are the existing preferences (and criteria) applied by employers in assessing the required capabilities of candidates for a specific job (role)? -2

-1

0

+1

+2 n.r.

Formal qualifications (e.g. higher education) ICT vendor certifications ICT vendor neutral certifications ICT vendor independent certifications Work experience Personal skills Social skills Others: _____________________ [your comments]

Q3 Which ICT Skills Certification Systems for ICT Practitioners are widely applied in your country? Please include up to five (5) of the most important or recognised systems. A. Please fill in the name of the most widely recognised e-Skills certification system for ICT Practitioners in your country and name the certifying body if you are aware of it. B. Please indicate the degree of market recognition per certification system in your country in the labour market (i.e. by – recruiting - employers). C. Please categorise if you can the geographical scope of recognition: i.e. regional, national, European, International.

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A •

•

Name of certification system Name of certifying body

B

C

Degree of market recognition in your country?

Level of recognition

4 5

1

International

3

0

Europe

2

-1

national

regional

-2

1

2

1) 2) 1) 2) 1) 2) 1) 2) 1) 2)

Q4 Please classify each certification system(s) by the following additional dimensions. Multiple answers are possible. If you do not know the answer please leave the table blank and/or provide a comment (optional). ICT SKILL LEVELS

No. ICT Skills Certification System (see Q3)

1 2 3 4 5 At which level of ICT Practitioner Skills (qualification) does the system offer certification? In brackets related qualification levels are indicated:

LEVEL 1

Basic level (assistant)

LEVEL 2

LEVEL 3

Core level (technician) Advanced/ Elective level (specialist)

LEVEL 4

Expert level (professional)

[e.g. not to my knowledge] Comments (optional)

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Please continue with further characterising the systems using the following criteria: CRITERION

No. of ICT Skills Certification System of Q3

1

2

3

4

5

What is the geographic coverage of the system? Regional National European International Other, please specify: _______ Comments (optional) [e.g. not to my knowledge]

Select the type of certifying body/ institution issuing certificates or diplomas Software Vendor/ Enterprise Social Partner’s Committee Officially Recognised School/ University Professional or Employer’s Association Governmental Institution Other, please specify: _____________ Comments (optional) [e.g. not to my knowledge]

How do you describe the available degree of standardisation? Industry standard (e.g. de facto, or proprietary standard) Formal standard (e.g. ISO/IEC ) Not to my knowledge None Other, please specify: _______ Comments (optional)

How do you describe the outcome of the ICT Skills Certification System? Vendor-independent Vendor-neutral Vendor-specific Private/Industry Public Other, please specify: _______ Certificate Diploma Other, please specify: _______ Comments (optional)

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Q5 Which system could serve as appropriate basis towards the development of a European (quality) standard of ICT Skills Certification? None

[Please fill in the name of the system]

Additional comments (optional)

ICT Practitioner Skills Certification Systems in Europe Q6 Shown below are a number of possible bases for ICT Practitioner Certification Systems. Please indicate, for each, your preference for its desirability as a basis for a possible future European-wide harmonisation framework.

-2

-1

0

+1

+2

n.r.

1

Pure formal system linked to public education and training qualifications [Examples, comments]: 2 Self-controlled company or industry based system [Examples, comments]: 3 System directly linked to ICT vendors [Examples, comments]: 4 System linked to a vendor neutral organisation [Examples, comments]: 5 System linked to a vendor independent organisation Other system, if yes which one? [Examples, comments]:

Q7 Please indicate your preference for what should be included in the scope of a possible European framework for ICT Practitioner Skills Certification?

-2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

-1

0

+1

+2

n.r.

certification process certification scheme (job profiles, requirements, etc. ) quality standards and accrediation learning material, content learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, wider competences) training offered concept of validation, expiration other, please comment:

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Q8 Who should take the lead in work towards improving comparability of ICT Practitioner Skills certification systems within Europe? ICT vendor/industry governmental/public bodies industry associations educational bodies training providers

certifying body ICT practitioners Professional associations social partners other(s): [Please specify]

[your comments]

Feedback [your comments]

If you are interested, we will send you (by request) the results of our survey via email. In this case please indicate your email-address in the corresponding field on page 4. Thank you for your patience and for answering our questionnaire! The HARMONISE Project Team

Please return the questionnaire to

Deadline: 31 October 2006

CEPIS Office attn. Mr. Draguet by email:

[email protected]

or via FAX: ++ 32 2 6463032

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12.2.2 Job Advertisements Templates

HARMONISE Project

WP 3

Measurement

Area 1a:

Job Advertisements Individual Report and Questionnaire for Interviews with Employers

Date: Organisation: Author: ---------------------------------------------page change---------------------------------------------

Executive Summary This document summarises the results of the analysis of job advertisements and the interviews of employers concerning their recruiting preferences.

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Questionnaire All these questions below refer to the recruitment and assessment of the fulfilment of job requirements in your company concerning the selection of a potential candidate for the role as ICT practitioner.

-2

-1

0

+1

+2 n.r.

Q1 In your company what are the existing preferences and applied criteria to assess if a potential candidate fulfils the requirements for a specific job role as ICT practitioner? Formal qualifications (e.g. degree higher education: diploma degree, bachelor, master, PhD, etc.) ICT vendor certifications (e.g. Microsoft, Cisco, HP, Oracle, etc…) ICT vendor neutral certifications (e.g. CompTIA) ICT vendor independent certifications (e.g. EUCIP, AITTS, etc.) Work experience Personal skills Social Skills Others: ____________________________ [your comments]

Q2 How would you rate the general relevance of ICT certifications for the selection process of candidates in your company’s industry branch? Q3 Which ICT certifications a potential candidate might possess are recognised by your company? Q4 Does your company use a standardised ICT Skills/ Competence Framework (e.g. SFIA, etc.) to specify job roles and job requirements in your company? Q5 Do you know the EUCIP Programme (European Certification of Informatics Professionals) of CEPIS (Council of European Informatics Societies)? Q6 How does your company judge a candidate possesses the right level of knowledge, skills and competences required by a specific job role as ICT practitioner?

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Results In this section please summarise and comment the results of the interviews with employers for each question. Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

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Appendix – List of Employers 1) Name Company/ Organisation: Size: (no. of employees) SME: yes/no Department: Position: Date: Industry Branche: 2) Name Company/ Organisation: Size: (no. of employees) SME: yes/no Department: Position: Date: Industry Branche: 3) Name Company/ Organisation: Size: (no. of employees) SME: yes/no Department: Position: Date: Industry Branche: 4) Name Company/ Organisation: Size: (no. of employees) SME: yes/no Department: Position: Date: Industry Branche: 5) Name Company/ Organisation: Size: (no. of employees) SME: yes/no Department: Position: Date: Industry Branche:

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HARMONISE Project

WP 3

Measurement

Area 1a:

Job Advertisements Individual Report

Date: Organisation: Author: ---------------------------------------------page change---------------------------------------------

Executive Summary This document summarises the results of the analysis of job advertisements and the interviews of employers concerning their recruiting preferences.

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Overview Reference Material Please complete and fill in the table below: No. Job Role Name

Description (Relevance for HARMONISE project; contribution to the project)

Publication Date

Source (e.g. Web Reference, etc.)

1 2 3

Description/ Comments

Feb 2006

News paper, Internet, etc…

Software Developer

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Analysis Please summarise and write down the results of the analysis of the collection of reference material. What is required from the candidate? No. Formal Qualification

Work Experience

e-Skills Certificates

Personal Attributes, Abilities, Skills

Social Skills

1 2 3 4 5

---------------------------------------------page change---------------------------------------------

Comments Here you can write down your remarks and your comments concerning the analysis task. ---------------------------------------------page change---------------------------------------------

Appendix – Job Advertisements (in English)

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Others

12.2.3 QA Interviews Interview Guideline Telephone-Interview with Vendor-Specific ICT Professional Certification Providers

General Information •

Company

•

Name of Interviewee

•

Role within Organisation

•

Number of Employees

•

Country

Information about ICT Professional Certification in the Company •

ICT processional certificates offered by the company (which, how many, target group, level of training, market share/ growth rate)?

•

Scope of application of ICT professional certificates (national, European, international)? Any Problems? (e.g. language, validity, cultural)

•

Application of certification system (= set of procedures for carrying out certification processes) -

e.g. objectives, specifications

-

philosophy: (why certification systems?)

-

knowledge-based vs. performance-based certification, training & testing

-

“certification ladder” (sequencing of different certifications, educational requirements, work experience, diagnostic test)

-

costs, requirements

-

learning materials, curriculum design

•

Who is responsible for ICT professional certification (internal/external, training centres/ providers, etc.)?

•

European Qualification Framework, national/ sectoral frameworks: How is the certification process integrated in such frameworks?

Information about Quality Assurance (related to ICT Professional Certification) •

How is quality defined in the company?

•

Which status does quality have in the organisation (with regard to ICT professional certification)?

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•

What are the reasons for use/non-use of quality assurance approaches in the company (in relation to ICT professional certification)?

•

From where do you retrieve information/ support for the implementation of quality approaches?

•

What measures are taken by the organisation to assure quality of their certifications?

•

-

Application of ISO Standards (which?)

-

Approaches to Quality Assurance (input/output/process-orientation; TQM, EFQM, quality awards, own quality approaches)

-

Legal frameworks/ initiatives: Which terms of reference are of importance?

In which way are quality assurance measures applied in the organisation? -

Which are relevant quality criteria for ICT professional certification in the company?

-

Are their special instruments/tools/methods for quality assurance (e.g. self assessment, QMS)?

-

What influence does the organisation’s quality management system have on the overall quality of the ICT professional certification?

-

In which way is quality assurance integrated in the company’s certification system?

-

How important is the learning process itself (e.g. content, resources & materials, methods, learning technology, learners & trainers, testing) for the quality assurance of ICT professional certification?

-

How is the quality of training centres/ providers, etc. assured?

-

Who is responsible for controlling/assuring quality levels (e.g. with regard to qualification frameworks?)

Your estimation/ opinion about harmonisation of ICT professional certification: •

Harmonisation of ICT professional certification in Europe?

•

What influence does quality assurance have for harmonisation of ICT professional certification?

•

How do you view vendor-neutral offerings of ICT professional certification?

•

How could vendor-specific offerings be integrated into/ combined with vendorneutral offerings?

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12.3 Harmonise Survey Methodology Information We have made some comments about the objectives of the statistical analysis and research methodology of the questionnaires, in this section. The aim of the first questionnaire was to gain a wide assessment of ICT skills certifications systems in Europe, by gathering the opinions of high-level experts. The aim of the second questionnaire was to gain a better understanding of market realities by seeking employers’ appraisals of ICT certifications, and gathering opinions about their relevance and appeal in recruitment processes. This was done through structured interviews with employers. It was agreed that this was important for the Harmonise project, in order to clarify current labour market realities. The employer interviews were supplemented with job advertisement analysis, to provide indications about what the labour market is actually demanding. Results from the employer analysis are presented in annex 12.5157. Objectives

The key questions and objectives of the questionnaire were:

157

•

What ICT skills certification systems already exist and are widely applied in European countries?

•

What are the characteristics and the nature of widely applied systems?

•

What are the next steps to achieve the convergence of existing modes and systems?

•

In what ways can widely applied systems contribute to harmonisation?

•

Where are the identifiable contributions towards European standards?

•

What are the respondent preferences for specific types of ICT skills certification systems?

•

Clarification of recruitment preferences and labour market recognition of ICT skills certification in Europe.

•

Are there any significant regional and national differences on the ICT skills certification market?

See pp. 253.

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Target Group

The questionnaire targeted high-level experts in ICT training and certification, who have profound knowledge and expertise in Skills Certification Systems. The experts needed to have a solid overview of the market and in-depth knowledge of what is widely applied in their countries. Preferably, they came from an educational body/system or had been actively involved in the business of certification or training. Answers were to be based solely on available expertise, best practice and knowledge. Applied Methodology

The applied (statistical) methodology is proven and has been applied in research projects before. The questionnaire was based on a five-point scale and the statements/ questions were formulated to be positioned on the scale. State-of-the-art statistical methods were applied to summarise the collection of data (descriptive statistics). In addition, data patterns were analysed with methods that allowed us to draw inferences about the process or population being studied. However, this was dependent on the quality and degree of representation that could be reached within the sample. The questionnaire was based on a derived model, built on assumptions and hypotheses of a thorough and in-depth analysis of state-of-the-art material, by the community. This material was complemented with information and documents about ICT Skills Certification Systems and standardisation issues. The analysis evaluated whether the theoretical model (component parts of ICT Skills Certification Systems) and the assumptions made were in alignment with the real world (scope of a European framework and existing preferences in the countries). The quality of analysis however, heavily relied on the quality and size of the collected sample data. Observable deviations between model and real world provided the appropriate basis to derive concrete recommendations. Issues were identified to be discussed by experts of the “e-Skills Community”. The questionnaire intended to measure observable, central tendencies in the population – but not in a representative way. This would require more resources, a different design and a larger scale for the study. Section Descriptions of the Questionnaire

Details on Respondent and Organisation

This part of the questionnaire assesses respondent and organisation details. This information is useful for the following analysis of respondent origin and validation of responses. It is required for making comments regarding quality of answers (primary position, involvement in working groups, organisation).

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Existing Recognised ICT Skills Certification Systems in Your Country

The first two questions in this section assess the role of ICT Skills Certification during the recruitment process, the level of importance employers place on certification and evidence of competencies and qualifications in ICT. The aim is to investigate the importance and future role of ICT Skills Certification on a European level. The third question collects names of widely applied systems in the respondent’s country. These results formed a list to allow for analysis of what systems are known and are currently widely applied. Question four allows us to characterise the widely applied systems in the respondent’s countries. The goal is to describe and assess what is available in each country, using concrete dimensions. This will allow us to identify which reference systems and models should be looked into further. Hence, this should be followed by an in-depth analysis of the systems which show potential to be used as a reference model. The general structure of a model (or meta-model approach or view) has already been considered (see the “HARMONISE reference model” of ICT Skills Certification). The development of a model requires a thorough understanding of the interdependencies of system elements and national distinctions. Question five queries the availability of standardisation amongst the set of named certification systems. This allows us to derive a recommendation about applicable standards and which ones could build an appropriate basis for an ICT skills certifications framework in Europe. ICT Professionals Skills Certification Systems in Europe

This part encompasses three questions: •

Respondent preference for system type and desirability as a basis for a possible future European-wide harmonisation framework.

•

Respondent preference for the scope of a possible European framework for ICT professional (practitioner) skills certification

•

Respondent preference for the type of organisations to take the lead in improving comparability of ICT professional skills certification systems. This is an important question in order to provide recommendations about required future partnerships and to decide on future collective actions.

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12.4 Survey of Certification Systems for ICT Professionals in Europe

12.4.1 Introduction This survey was undertaken between 2005 and 2007 by the Harmonise project consortium. Some of the survey results have already been included into current projects and initiatives, namely the CEN/ISSS Workshop on ICT Skills (phase 3) and the European e-Skills Forum and its follow-up activities for example, the European e-Skills Conference 2006. This annex presents and discusses the results from thorough empirical analysis. ICT (Information and Communication Technology) certifications have become an integral part of the education and training landscape in Europe and beyond. The most prominent certifications are industry-based and originate from the United States. They are offered through ICT vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, etc. As well as industry-based or product-oriented credentialing systems, a variety of alternative products and offerings are existing on the market. Some prestigious ICT certifications for IT professionals are offered through vendorneutral or vendor-independent professional associations such as IEEE Computer Society158, CEPIS159, ACM160, CompTIA161 and others. So there is a variety of offerings and products actually existing on the market. As a consequence, it is difficult to get an overview and to capture what is available. Some basic terms and concepts need to be explained initially in order to understand the role and overall context in which ICT certifications are offered. Without doubt, the biggest contingent of candidates to become IT professionals (or ICT practitioners) are produced by formal higher education systems such as public or private academies, universities and public educational bodies. These systems are traditionally governed or accredited by national ministries and/or authorities. Typically, the reach of these systems is limited to the respective national borders which are difficult to overcome. However, strong endeavours are currently being made to overcome the boundaries drawn by national qualification systems. National qualification frameworks (NQF) are a central element of national systems. They strive for enhanced flexibility and transferability of qualifications, and provide structures for the development, description and systematization of qualification relationships - ideally through a single set of descriptors and levels (Hanf and Hippach-Schneider, 2005). Correspondingly, NQF arrange all of a country’s formally recognised qualifications in a clearly defined structure. “In this context, qualifications are understood as sets of certified or documented skills - with no regard given to the respective learning path”

158

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., http://www.ieee.org The Council of the European Professional Informatics Societies, http://www.cepis.org 160 The Association for Computing Machinery, http://www.acm.org 161 The Computing Technology Industry Association, http://www.comptia.org 159

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(Hanf and Hippach-Schneider, 2005). Examples of certification systems can be found in Ireland, England, Australia, Germany, etc. Companies need to respond to the shortening of technology life-cycles in ICT and the accompanying obsolescence of their employees relevant knowledge, skills and competencies (KSC). Hence, flexibility and agility is required from companies, the ICT workforce, and the labour market itself. Therefore, it is important that certification evolves in response to changing market and technology needs, and develops clearer value propositions for employers. More than ever, qualified people with the right ICT skills are needed. The availability of ICT skills could be seen as the key to success given the huge potential of ICT. As well as this, there is a need for industry to enhance productivity and to reinforce human resources within companies, in order to stay competitive and to drive new market opportunities. Another crucial task for industry is to develop respective performance standards to allocate the right people with required ICT skills and to align them to the right projects, jobs and tasks. If certifications are broadly recognised and transparent to employers, they offer such performance standards. Certification of people as a concept appears to be an appropriate way to increase ICT workforce mobility in Europe. From another perspective, certification programmes might become an integral part of an individual’s professional development. In general, certification increases the employability of individuals, provided that awarded credentials are recognised by employers as valid qualifications. This survey activity strives to gain further insights and better understanding of the different points mentioned above. Achievement of vocational training a precondition for employment

The following investigates the importance and future role of ICT skills certification at a European level. Respondents were asked to answer questions about ICT skills certification at all professional levels and over all respective ICT skills categories. They were asked to answer the questions purely on the basis of their experience, best practice and knowledge. The majority of respondents (58.2 %) indicated that the achievement of vocational qualification (e.g. certificate or diploma) is a precondition for ICT professionals (or practitioners) for employment in a relevant job. However, a significant number of respondents (36.4 %) thought that it is not and 5.5 % of respondents had a neutral position (see Figure 12-1).

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In your country, is the achievement of vocational qualification (e.g. certificate, diploma) a precondition for ICT practitioners for employment in a relevant job? 70,0% 60,0%

58,2%

50,0%

36,4%

40,0% 30,0% 20,0%

5,5%

10,0% 0,0%

yes

no

neutral

Figure 12-1: Achievement of vocational qualification as precondition for employment in a relevant job

Respondents were also asked what existing preferences (and criteria) employers use to assess the capabilities of candidates for a specific job role (see Figure 12-2). There is a broad consensus amongst respondents that prior employer preferences are: work experience (98.2%), formal qualifications (96.4%) and personal skills (85.5%), ICT vendor certifications (76.4%) and social skills (70.9%). ICT vendor independent certifications (56.4%) and ICT vendor neutral certifications (54.4%) are respectable however, a significant number of respondents had a neutral position for these preferences (20% for ICT vendor independent certifications and 30.9% for ICT vendor neutral certifications). Not all respondents seem to be convinced about ICT certifications as evidence of required capabilities and competence for a specific job role. It is apparent, that whether the formal nor the non-formal education and training systems are able to deliver all required components (Weiß and Povalej, 2007). Accordingly, agreed performance standards necessitate an architecture which identifies three types of knowledge, skills and competencies: (1) academic knowledge and skills, (2) employability knowledge and skills and (3) specific occupational and technical knowledge and skills needed for work (CompTIA, 2004, p. 103). The relevance of ICT vendor certifications is plausible. Role-specific task proficiency is a performance component which requires declarative and procedural knowledge about ICT products and solutions (CompTIA, 2004, pp. 97). Vendor-specific certifications are likely conceived to deliver demanded procedural knowledge. Other components that serve as performance indicators are non role-specific task proficiency, written and oral communication, demonstrated effort, personal discipline, facilitation of peer and team performance and last but not least management and administration. The complete

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picture of ICT proficiency can only be drawn if all performance indicators are considered (CompTIA, 2004, pp. 97), (Povalej and Weiß, 2007b), (Hughes, 2006). From your experience, what are the existing preferences (and criteria) applied by employers in assessing the required capabilities of candidates for a specific job (role)? 12,7% 14,5%

Social skills

Personal skills

Work experience

85,5%

0,0% 0,0%

98,2%

ICT vendor independent certifications

9,1%

ICT vendor neutral certifications

5,5%

neutral

20,0%

disagree

56,4%

agree

30,9%

7,3%

ICT vendor certifications Formal qualifications (e.g. higher education)

70,9%

5,5% 7,3%

54,5% 14,5% 76,4%

1,8% 1,8%

0,0%

10,0%

96,4% 20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0% 100,0%

Figure 12-2: Preferences and criteria applied by employers in assessing candidates’ capabilities for a specific job

Widely applied ICT certification systems in countries

Respondents were asked to name up to five of the most important or recognised credential issuing systems in their countries. They named the most widely recognised ICT skills certification systems for ICT professionals in their country and the certifying body (if known). The respondents also advised the level of market recognition (by recruiting employers) for each certification system in their country. Finally, they were asked to categorise the geographical scope of recognition for example, regional, national, European, International. Altogether 212 certification systems were named as widely applied in their countries. Accordingly, a list of the named systems has been produced (see Figure 12-3). Respondents were also asked to categorise each of the named systems by applying a set of criteria. The results show that the most widely applied systems in respondents’ countries are formal education (40) and vocational education/training (11). Unsurprisingly, they play a central role in these countries. This is likely to be due to existing NQF which create mutual zones of trust and aim for a high standard of qualifications. Interestingly, 35 respondents named Microsoft as a widely applied system in their countries, followed by the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) (34) and Cisco (24). The graph

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illustrates the diversity of systems in Europe. It has to be mentioned that from a statistical point of view, the results are not representative. Nevertheless, through the excellent European coverage and high quality of responses, the results underline the actual proliferation of ICT certification systems. Widely applied ICT skills certification systems for ICT professionals in respondents' countries 45

40

40

35

35 30

34

24

25 20

16

15 10

11 7

6

4

5

German AITTS

Others

CompTIA

ISACA

Oracle

CISSP

ISEB (BCS)

SAP

Novell

EXIN

IBM

HP

Brainbench

3

Vocational education/ training

1

Formal education

4

EUCIP

3

ECDL

3

Microsoft

1

Cisco

1

4

Industry/ vendor certificate

0

0

8

7

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Figure 12-3: Widely applied ICT skills certification systems

According to the survey results, industry-based (vendor-neutral and vendor-specific) systems play an important role and are widely applied across Europe. Hence, further analysis has been completed on the industry-based systems which were named in the sample. The result of this analysis is shown in Figure 12-4.

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Widely applied industry-based ICT certifications in respondents' countries 40

35

35 30

24

25 20 15 10

8

7

7

4

5

1

4

3

1

1

3

ot he rs

Br ai nb en ch

H P

IB M

N ov el l

SA P

SP C IS

ra cle O

IS AC A

IA Co m pT

icr M

Ci s

co

os of t

0

Figure 12-4: Widely applied ICT certifications – industry based systems

Possible future European-wide harmonisation framework

For each ICT professional certification system, respondents were asked to prioritise their desirability preference for it to be the basis for a possible future European-wide harmonisation framework (see Figure 12-5). Results show a strong consensus among the experts (76.4% agreed, 1.8% disagreed, 18.2% were neutral) that systems which are linked to a vendor independent organisation are a desirable basis for such a framework. 61.8% agreed that formal systems linked to public education and training qualifications and 58.2% agreed that systems linked to a vendor neutral organisations should also be considered as an appropriate basis. There was significant disagreement (36.4% disagreed) concerning “systems directly linked to ICT vendors” and “self-controlled company or industry-based systems” (34.5% disagreed). These findings should be considered with regards to a possible future European-wide harmonisation framework.

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Preference of respondents for possible basis for ICT Professionals Certification Systems and its desirability as a basis for a possible future European-wide harmonisation framework 120,0% 100,0% 14,5%

18,2%

80,0%

36,4%

20,0%

21,8%

27,3%

1,8% neutral

10,9%

60,0%

disagree agree

40,0%

36,4%

34,5%

76,4%

61,8%

58,2%

20,0% 25,5%

21,8%

7,3%

0,0% Pure formal system linked to public education and training qualifications

Self-controlled company or industry based system

System directly linked to ICT vendors

System linked to System linked to a vendor neutral a vendor organisation independent organisation

0,0%

0,0% Other system, if yes which one?

Figure 12-5: Preferences for a possible European-wide harmonisation framework

Respondents also indicated their preferences for what should be included in the scope of possible European framework for ICT professionals (or practitioners) skills certification (see Figure 12-6). Please indicate your preference for what should be included in the scope of a possible European framework for ICT Practitioner Skills Certification?

concept of validation, expiration

training offered

learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, wider competences)

learning material, content

quality standards and accrediation

certification scheme (job profiles, requirements, etc. )

certification process

23,6%

9,1%

63,6% 18,2%

0,0%

32,7% 47,3%

10,9%

3,6%

85,5% neutral

23,6%

7,3% 0,0% 9,1% 1,8% 7,3% 0,0%

disagree

67,3%

agree 90,9%

87,3%

90,9%

0,0% 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0 60,0 70,0 80,0 90,0 100, % % % % % % % % % 0%

Figure 12-6: Preferences for Possible European Framework

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Improving Comparability of ICT professional skills certification systems

Regarding a possible future European-wide harmonisation framework, respondents were asked to indicate their preferences concerning who should take the lead to improve the comparability of ICT professional skills certification systems within Europe. Figure 12-7 shows the results of this analysis. The majority of respondents (76.4%) thought that professional associations should take the lead (see Figure 12-7). A significant distance behind were governmental/public bodies (34.5%), educational bodies (29.1%) certifying bodies (29.1%), industry associations (25.5%) and ICT vendor/industry (23.6%). These bodies/associations are encouraged to build partnerships to improve transparency and comparability of issued credentials by non-formal systems (Stucky, 2004). This seems to be the key to broader recognition of non-formal credentialing systems and consequently, better career guidance and information for workers (Stucky, 2004). Obviously, none of the partners seem to be able to go for the leveraging of ICT certifications all alone. Professional associations, together with industry and academia, should take the lead and start a dialogue about how to improve the integration of industry performance standards into university curricula and courses. Industry-based training systems should explore how performance components offered by the formal-system could be integrated into their training programmes and certification offerings. To foster ICT proficiency and to create flexible and innovative credentialing systems, the best of the “two worlds”, could be combined (formal and non-formal ICT education and training, learnercentred/competence-oriented and long-term oriented study). The central aim is to create the “right” conditions to attract talented people through career guidance, information and highlighting the flexible entry points into the IT labour market. Industry-based ICT skills certification systems are likely to play an important role in attaining this, but they need to be more transparent and comparable.

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Who should take the lead in work towards improving comparability of ICT Professional Skills certification systems within Europe? 23,6%

ICT vendor/industry

34,5%

governmental/public bodies 25,5%

industry associations

29,1%

educational bodies 18,2%

training providers certifying body

29,1% 20,0%

ICT practitioners

76,4%

Professional associations social partners other(s)

9,1% 1,8%

0,0%

10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0% 70,0% 80,0% 90,0%

Figure 12-7: Improving Comparability of ICT Professional Skills

12.4.2 Survey Methodology The survey consisted of a standardised questionnaire, stakeholders. As it primarily addressed high level experts in members of the European e-Skills Forum, CEN/ISSS ICT societies and other groupings and working groups (in the field worker certification) in Europe.

which addressed the Europe, it was sent to Skills, CEPIS member of qualification and ICT

The questionnaire investigated: • • • •

.

The possible basis for broadly recognised ICT professional certification systems in Europe. The scope of a possible European Framework for ICT professional skills certification. The nature and type of widely applied ICT certification systems in the surveyed countries. Who should take the lead in work towards improving comparability of ICT professional skills certification systems in Europe.

12.4.3 Description Structure of Survey Sample Respondents are categorised by place of residence (Figure 12-8), position in the organisation, type of organisation, membership in working group(s)/association(s) and status of the organisation. Additionally, respondents position in their affiliated organisation is shown.

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Respondents by Place of Residence 70,0%

60,0%

50,9% 50,0%

43,6%

40,0%

30,0%

20,0%

10,0%

3,6%

0,0%

0,0%

Old EU Member States

New EU Member States

Candidate Countries

1,8%

Other EEA

Other

Figure 12-8: Respondents by place of residence

Respondents were asked which type of organisation they represented. Multiple answers were allowed, and the results are presented in the figure below (see Figure 12-9). Respondents by Type of Organisation (multiple answers possible) 35,0%

30,0%

25,0%

22,2%

22,2%

20,0%

15,0%

13,9%

10,0%

13,9%

6,9%

8,3%

6,9% 4,2%

5,0%

1,4% 0,0%

certifying body

test center

training provider

ICT vendor

education

government

ICT (supplier) company

ICT (end)user organization

other

Figure 12-9: Type of organisation

Respondents were asked what position they held in their organisation (Figure 12-10 below). The analysis shows that the respondents were primarily high level experts.

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Respondent by position in organisation

Consultant/ Strategist/ Expert; 12,2%; 12%

Other; 6,1%; 6%

Director/ Managing Director/ Managing Board; 40,8%; 42%

Unit Management/Head of Department; 8,2%; 8%

General Manager/ Secretary; 4,1%; 4%

Professor, Associated Professor; 16,3%; 16% Chairman, President; 10,2%; 10%

Project Management; 2,0%; 2%

Figure 12-10: Position in Organisation

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Position in organisation Director/ Managing Director/ Managing Board General Manager/ Secretary Project Management Chairman, President Professor, Associated Professor Unit Management/Head of Department Consultant/ Strategist/ Expert Other Total

22 3 1 5 8 4 8 4 55

40,0% 5,5% 1,8% 9,1% 14,5% 7,3% 14,5% 7,3% 100,0%

Figure 12-11: Respondents by Position in Organisation

Figure 12-12 and Figure 12-13 describe the European coverage (from the survey sample) of the certification systems for ICT professionals in Europe. There was a reasonable response (62%) from 21 countries out of 34. Figure 12-14 shows the European coverage in more detail. European Coverage of Survey Sample 3

Other EEA countries

5

0

Candidate Countries

2 covered # countries 9

New Member States

12

7

Member States

15 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Figure 12-12: European Coverage

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European Coverage # countries Member States 15 New Member States 12 Candidate Countries 2 Other EEA countries 5 34

covered % 9 60% 9

75%

0

0%

3 21

60% 62%

Figure 12-13: European Coverage

Member States BE 0 DK 1 DE 0 GR 5 ES 0 FR 0 IE 1 IT 0 LU 1 NL 1 AT 3 PT 5 FI 1 SE 0 UK 6 55 24

New Member States Candidate Countries CZ 1 TR 0 EE 5 HR 0 CY 0 LV 3 LT 5 HU 5 MT 3 PL 2 SI 0 SK 1 BG 3 RO 0

Other EEA Countries IS 0 LI 0 NO 1 CH 1

OT 1

28

0

3

Figure 12-14: Number of Respondents by Country

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Survey: Responses 2006/07 60 5253

50

49 48

40

42 43

30

1 1

6 22

5

4 111 1

26 .1 0. 06

33 1

1

1

1

11

3

1

2

26 .0 3. 07

2

26 .0 2. 07

1

5

26 .0 1. 07

12 1

26 .1 2. 06

9

26 .0 8. 06

26 .0 7. 06

4 3 21 1

78

26 .0 9. 06

10

24 22

26 .1 1. 06

11

20 19 16 12 13

20

26 .0 6. 06

40 41

39 3738 36 35

34 30

0

55

Figure 12-15: Responses Timeline

Another important aspect is the categorisation of respondents according to membership of working groups. The questionnaire included six working groups at European level and offered the opportunity for respondents to indicate additional working groups. Figure 12-16 displays the result of this analysis. Respondents by membership in relevant working group(s)/ association(s)

4; 8%

0; 0% 2; 4% 2; 4% 1; 2% European eSkills Forum (Virtual Community) CEN ISSS WS ICT Skills EICTA UniEuropa

25; 51%

eSCC Other(s) None (excl. other)

15; 31%

Figure 12-16: Respondents by Membership

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12.4.4 Country Codes The table below (Figure 12-17) shows the country codes that were used in Figure 12-14 to indicate the country of origin of the survey respondents. European Union (Member States) 1 AT AUSTRIA 2 BE BELGIUM 3 DK DENMARK 4 DE GERMANY 5 ES SPAIN 6 FI FINLAND 7 FR FRANCE 8 GR GREECE 9 IE IRELAND 10 IT ITALY 11 LU LUXEMBOURG 12 NL NETHERLANDS 13 PT PORTUGAL 14 SE SWEDEN 15 UK UNITED KINGDOM

Candidate Countries 1 TR TURKEY 2 HR CROATIA Other EEA countries 1 IS ICELAND 2 LI LIECHTENSTEIN 3 NO NORWAY Other 1 OT

OTHER

European Union (New Member States) 1 CY CYPRUS 2 CZ CZECH REPUBLIC 3 EE ESTONIA 4 HU HUNGARY 5 LV LATVIA 6 LT LITHUANIA 7 MT MALTA 8 PL POLAND 9 SK SLOVAKIA 10 SI SLOVENIA 11 BG BULGARIA 12 RO ROMANIA

Figure 12-17: Country Codes

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12.5 Harmonise Recruitment Survey Summary of Findings from Harmonise project review of the Recruitment of ICT Professionals

In the early stages of the Harmonise project, concern was raised about the value attributed to ICT Professional certifications. In a preliminary analysis of “applicant requirements” in online job advertisements from Italy, Germany and Austria, there was not a noticeable mention of certifications. Therefore, it was agreed that partners would complete two pieces of empirical research associated with their national ICT Professional labour markets: •

interviews with a small number of employers of ICT Professionals, about their recruiting practices, and

•

analysis of ICT Professionals job advertisements.

In addition, the project drew on the relevant findings of the recent Milan Polytechnic survey for the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO). The findings of this research are presented in Figure 12-18 and Figure 12-19. It was recognised from the outset that these “surveys” have a small sample size, and may not be statistically reliable, but that the results would nevertheless be worth exploring. In fact, the results from these surveys are remarkably consistent with other studies. Because of the consistent results across employers and across countries (as well as between the two surveys), the findings are strongly suggestive of market place realities. The main findings from the employer interviews (Figure 12-18) can be summarised, as follows: 1) In terms of the relative importance of applicants different capabilities, it is probably fair to rank employers’ overall preferences, as: a) Work experience (in particular in the role being recruited for) b) Non-technical skills (social skills of particular importance), c) Formal qualifications (degrees/diplomas are important, but not exclusively in Informatics/Computing), d) Vendor certifications, but mainly where either a) customers were looking for this from their suppliers’ staff or b) they are associated with specific areas (QA and security were mentioned), e) Vendor-neutral and vendor-independent certifications (these were of the lowest perceived value); 2) Employers’ general perceptions of recruitment behaviour in their sector, were that ICT Professional certifications were of minor importance; 3) It was rare that employers “recognised” external ICT Practitioner certifications (in respect of greater status or rewards);

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4) Not a single respondent acknowledged the use of any “standard ICT Practitioner skill/competence framework” (like SFIA, AITTS, etc.); 5) EUCIP was comparatively unknown to employers, except in Estonia and (particularly) Italy; 6) The Knowledge, Skills and Competencies of applicants were assessed in a number of different ways. Staged interviews accompanied with other tests (either job specific – e.g. getting applicants to develop a small website – or more general e.g. psychometric) were also used in some cases. One Pitfall of responding to employer priorities

Although this analysis of employers’ priorities does not contain implications for how learning provisions should change, it is worth reflecting on the natural emphasis of assessing applicants’ capabilities. It is likely that some of the qualities sought by employers are things that many applicants do not have, while some capabilities needed are things that were not included in the list presented to employers - things which can be “taken for granted”. Probably the most significant example of this is the fact that many employers attribute a comparatively high value to non-technical skills, in particular communication and team-work. Highly technical people are often much less proficient at communicating/working in teams. And, it is generally accepted that many ICT Professionals, in particular those coming directly from graduating in Informatics/Computing courses, have strong “techie” characteristics – great interest in technology, but considerably less interest in the human interaction challenges of ICT, and often weakness in or absence of communication and team-work skills. The implication of this is that generally employers will not mention the qualities that are available in most applicants. This may seem both obvious and of limited importance. However, it is relevant in relation to the possible adjustment/refining of learning provision curricula, in particular HE informatics/computing courses, in response to employer need. This is because of the realities of time constraints on courses. In principle, it would be possible to increase the curriculum time allocated to – for example – the development of “softer skills”, but that additional time would mean correspondingly less time for covering areas of the current curriculum for example, aspects of basic technical education, which employers currently take for granted, and would not wish to lose. As can be seen, the analysis of the Job Adverts (Figure 12-19) strongly supports the findings of the employer interviews. Finally, key messages from the study of the European Certifications and Qualification Programmes Market in the ICT User Sector (Capra and Marinoni, 2006162, based on interviews with 35 large European user organisations, in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, UK, and Scandinavia) are consistent with these findings. Specifically, the Executive Summary confirms that: “despite the wide range of (ICT Professional) 162

Capra, C. and Marinoni, C.: “The European Certification and Qualification Programmes Market in the ICT User Sector”: Fondazione Politechnico di Milano Report (unpublished, 2006).

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qualifications (available), companies often prefer to rely on internal qualifications and training programmes, and do not seek (universally acknowledged) certifications”.

The “bottom line” of this analysis, which could be considered relatively robust, is that currently Industry certifications are comparatively “low on the lists of things employers are looking for” when recruiting ICT Professionals. In this respect, the challenge for those seeking to increase the attributed value is to find ways in which employer behaviour can be changed. Getting employers to “change their values” is not a trivial task, and it probably needs to begin with a discussion with (a significant sample of) employers of what it would take for them to attribute greater value to ICT professional certifications, and focusing future development work on the challenges that emerge from that discussion. Whatever mobility problems there might be for ICT practitioners across Europe seeking work in other countries, possible barriers certainly do not arise from problems with employers rejecting applicants because they lack understanding of the candidate’s credentials, as certifications (with the limited exception of degrees (although not Informatics degrees)) form no part of the recruitment requirement. Thus “having a qualification/certification not understood by employers” cannot play any significant role as a barrier to mobility. While there remain various barriers to mobility generally (for example, adjusting to different cultures, customs, languages, handling interactions with “officialdom” - social security differences, challenges to mobility of pension arrangements), these are not specifically related to the ICT professional labour market. Through comparison with many, this labour market is indeed an international one.

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Employer Interview information Austria

Employers interviewed: Sector/approx. # employees/approx. # ICT Professionals

1) Education and IT service organisation/2 0/? 2) ICT company (software/web development & support)/?/? 3) Data processing company/430/ ?

Estonia

Germany

1) ICT Company/1 4/? 2) ICT Company/9 4/? 3) ICT Company (ERP consulting)/ 50/?

4) ICT company (Web design/custom ised IT solutions)/?/?

1) Software Engineering co./10+30 freelancers/~8 2) Design & Web application company/2 + 8 freelancers/2 3) ICT: consulting and recruiting company/20/~16 4) ICT: consulting and recruiting company/5/~4 5) ICT: Software Product Development/30/~2 5 6) ICT: Software Product Development/50/~4 0

5) Web design & internet service/3 (+freelancers)

7) ICT: Project & Service solutions/>3,000/~2 ,500

Italy

United Kingdom

1) ICT Company (Software Environment integration and distributed applications)/160 /? 2) ICT Company (polytechnic spin-off)/60/? 3) ICT Company (‘Business Solution Aggregator’)/>10 00/? 4) Finance Company (Bank)/33,500/1 000 5) Engineering Manufacture/4,5 00/?

1) A very large, diverse university in West London/100 0/? 2) A small/mediu m software house/60/? 3) 4) A small, specialised ICT consultancy/ 10/?

8) ICT: Tools/?/? 9) ICT: project & service solutions/>3000/~2, 500 10) ICT: ‘Software House’/>20/~16 The results concerning the preferences and criteria applied for selection of ICT Professionals were very similar between interviews:

Summary

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•

Highest preference (+2): Work Experience, Personal and Social skills;

•

Next: Formal Education qualifications and ICT Vendor certifications (1/+1), and

•

Lowest preference: ICT Vendor neutral and vendor independent certifications (-1)

The employers prefer to recruit ICT practitioners who have work experience, especially in the role being recruited for. Formal qualifications and vendor certifications are more sought after than vendor neutral or independent ones.

Industry certifications are not valued so highly: Work experience and non-technical skills are felt important. Vendor certifications of interest in specific cases.

Final Version 1.1

The (interview) results clearly show that employers don’t attribute much importance to informatics certifications, when assessing applicants. Industry certifications are occasionally of interest in QA and/or security contexts.

In general, higher education and social skills were strongly favoured by the employers, with little or no interest in industry certifications.


Q1: For your company/organisation preferences and criteria applied for (recruitment) applicant requirements: Importance of:

(broad/approx. average)





-2 not important , -1, 0 (neutral), +1, +2 (very important)





Neutral/Important - Formal Qualifications (e.g. HE)

(degree - where required - does not have to be in Informatics)

Neutral/very important Important

Not important (-1) ICT certifications

Not important (-2/-1)

Not important (or neutral)

Neutral

Neutral (+)


Not important (or neutral)

Neutral

Important

Important/Very Important

Important/very important

Important (+1)

Important

- ICT vendor neutral certifications

Unimportant (-1)

Neutral (+)

ICT independent certifications

Unimportant (-1)

- Work Experience

(in absence of W.E., applicant needs to be able to learn fast)

Good Degrees sought, but do not have to be in Computing Important

(except in specific situations (+1))

Important//Very Important



Neutral/important

vendor

vendor

Diploma, but not necessarily in Informatics


(except where customer asks for it)

- Personal skills



Very important


Very important

- Social skills


Neutral (+)

Very important


Very important






+ examples

+ examples

+ examples

+ examples

+ examples

Q2: How would you rate the general

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relevance of ICT certifications for the selection process of candidates in your industry/sector?

Q3: Which ICT certifications that a potential candidate might possess are recognised by your company/organisation?

Q4: Does your company/organisation use a standardised ICT Skills/ Competence Framework (e.g. SFIA, etc.) to specify job roles and job requirements in your company? Q5: Do you know the EUCIP Programme (European Certification of Informatics Professionals) of CEPIS (Council of European Professional Informatics Societies)? Q6: How does your company/organisation judge whether a candidate possesses the right level of knowledge, skills and competencies required by a specific job role as ICT practitioner? (examples from responses)

(unimportant to neutral)

(none really)

Neutral (+)

“EU Engineering”; Microsoft Business Solution and Development Tools certifications

Limited

Generally more interested in applicant as a whole, but

Limited, but in specialist areas – e.g. security & QA

(apparently none)

certification interest can depend on the candidate (e.g. specific requirements, say in process/best practice, e.g. CMMI/ITIL)

Fairly low (-1/+1 on scale)

Mentions of Microsoft (CNE)/Cisco, Oracle DBA

(ECDL mentioned positively)

No No

No

No

No

(but some – larger ICT companies have some kind of framework of their own)

Yes (1 of 5 employers had heard of EUCIP)

Yes

No

(some have awareness and some use EUCIP)

No

Staged interviews. Job interviews followed by test days

(-)

Staged interviews/ group assessments

(“Knowledge can be assessed through formal qualifications and relevant experience; social skills assessed through interviews”)

(small) Task simulation + interview – some psychometric testing

Figure 12-18: Employer Interview information

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ICT Professional Job Advert information Austria (March, 06)

(January, 2006)

Source: Newspapers and Internet

Source: internet

•

•

•

Adverts reviewed

Software Engineer .net-surrounding (webforms & Avalon and/or SQL-server backend) Senior Database developer (HR) SAP Consultant (HR)

•

Software Expert for Service Management

•

in

Senior Web application Engineer (m/w)*

•

•

Vacancies involved

Estonia

System Engineer for System- and Servicemanagement IT Business Consultant (Infrastructure)

•

Internet Specialist

•

IT Manager

•

Software Developer

•

Software Developer

•

Consultant SAP Technologies

•

Customer Engineer

• •

•

Graphic Designer – client application Senior software developer/softwar e development lead Software analyst in quality assurance

EDV (DP) Assistant

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Software Developer

•

Traffic Engineer

•

SQL Support Specialist

• Infrastructure Project Managers

•

Junior Software Developer

•

Advisory Support Engineer

•

Hardware Development Manager

• Security Consultant

•

Project Manager

• Lead QA analyst

•

Networking System Expert

•

Architect/Evangelist (!)

•

Consultant Infra

• Middleware technical analyst

•

Sales Engineer

• End-to-end Enterprise Architect

•

Pre/Post Sales Engineer

• Technical Architect

•

Senior Statistical Programmer

• Automated Test Specialists

•

User Experience Designer

•

Axapta Engineer

• Consulting analyst

•

Telecom/Network field application engineer

• Enterprise IT architecture & Comms. Network senior consultant

•

CRM Engineer – support specialist

•

Function Testing Engineer

• Development Analyst Programmer

•

Oracle Web Application Server specialist

• IT Service Delivery manager

•

Software Developer

•

UI designer – Skype payments

•

Junior Developer/ Research

UI Design Project Manager

•

S/W Development Manager

•

IT Specialist – second line support

•

Operations Director – Russia and Related Countries

•

Software Engineer

•

Support Engineer

•

Sales Manager Technical Analyst DHL graduate – CIS (Graduate Recruitment Programme/DHLGRAD)

•

• Configurators

•

Consultant Application Development

Tester – linux desktop skype

•

S/W Developer for IP Sec in NGTA

•

•

Software Developer

•

Database Developer

Software Developer

Perl Developer

PLM Software Developer/Consult ant

•

•

•

•

Project Development Leader

C++ developer

•

•

AIX specialist

•

IT Manager

•

Operations Analyst

•

Project Manager – Mechanical/Electri cal

•

IT Operations

• Business Analysts

•

Linux UI developer

UI designer, on a mobile

(February, 2007) Source: “Computing”

Software Developer

•

•

United Kingdom

•

•

Senior consultants/ ERP consultant

.net solutions and support

Certain adverts excluded*

Software Engineer

•

•

Source: Websites of Newspaper & a recruitment agency

Test Engineer

•

Security Engineer

Source: Internet

•

Software Developer/Java

•

Italy (May – August 2006)

•

•

•

Germany (December, 2005)

•

Software Developer

•

Software Developer

•

Software Developer

•

IT-specialist

•

Software quality Engineer

•

Software Developer

•

Software Developer

•

Software Developer

•

Junior Consultant C/S

•

Software Developer

_____________________ ________ * adverts a) with product name (e.g. Oracle), b) specifying managerial posts, and c) with ‘no training on-the-job’

Final Version 1.1

•

RM&D Central System Support

• Project Leaders/managers • Senior SAP ISU/SD consultant

• Project Planner • Senior Operations Analyst • Change Management Analyst • Infrastructure solutions architect • Database Admin team leader • Oracle DBA

• Test Analysts

• Test Managers • Technical consulting analyst

• Computing Engineer • Local ICT Network manager

• Web systems architect • Senior web architect • Senior web producer • Web producer


•

IT Programme Manager

•

Java Developer

Analyst – Windows Server

specified excluded

•

Project Manager SAP (Logistics area)

• Senior Web developer • Web developer

LAN/WAN System Manager ____________________ _________

•

* many adverts include m/w in the vacancy title, encouraging both male and female applicants…

• Formal degrees (required in 11 out of 25 adverts) seem to be less important than professional practice (experience: explicitly required #years often specified - in 22 adverts)

Summary of findings

• The adverts generally specify the precise (software) environment in which practical experience is sought • English is generally required • Teamwork is generally a top priority, followed by communication skills • Customer-orientation and flexibility to travel also mentioned

• Professional experience is valued most highly, with professional skills and knowledge thereafter • No requirement of formal education achievements/ qualifications is mentioned in 90% of the advertisements • No certificates/certificatio ns – either vendorindependent or vendor-specific - are mentioned in the adverts • Language and communication skills are often mentioned

Applicant requirements (inc. Qualifications/Certifications ) stated in the adverts included:

•

Degree in Informatics (4/18 adverts)

•

Unspecified university degree (9/18)

Informatics certifications do not seem to be highly considered (valued) in … recruitment and selection of applicants for ICT Professional work (with the apparent exception of vacancies related to information security(?))

•

Five of the 32 adverts specified a degree, and two (from the same employer) were more specific (“degree in computer science, engineering or physical sciences”)

•

There was no requirement for membership of a Professional Body

•

The greatest importance is attributed to the (previous) work experience of applicants. Work experience is generally linked to technical skills and the technology (s/w environment)

•

The great majority of the adverts had very specific requirements, involving expertise on particular software platforms, and generally in a sector. Often the s/w expertise requirement was specified to individual s/w releases/versions

Behavioural aspects of skills do not seem to be highly valued

•

•

s/w development methodologies were often specified

•

There was no mention of any specific ICT certifications or qualifications (!), although a certification in (use of) the s/w environment(s) specified would presumably have been an advantage.

•

• Expertise in named

s/w products/environment s (12/18)

• Expertise in specific (s/w development) methodologies (12/18)

•

MCSE mentioned in one advert, otherwise no explicit mention of ICT certifications.

• Almost no Industry certifications mentioned (only: ‘ITIL’, ‘Cisco education’)

Figure 12-19: ICT Professional Job Advert information

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12.6 Overview Reference Material In this section we overview the reference material on our web site. The Harmonise project is a reference material project, aimed at getting comparable data on ICT vocational training systems, various approaches for ICT qualification and ICT certification in the participating countries. Recommendations have been made to work towards the convergence of existing ICT professional certification approaches in Europe and beyond. These have been elaborated further, by gathering and analysing reference material about applying and implementing (quality) standards. The long term goal of the project is to contribute to the development of harmonisation of ICT qualifications for ICT practitioners. The project team produced quantitative and qualitative information, analyses and recommendations about how to implement quality standards and harmonisation. The collection and analysis of reference material has been categorised and assessed in four thematic areas. The results of this analysis are presented in separate sections of the report (sections 3163 to 6164).165 Additional information and reference material is accessible on the project web site (http://www.cepis-harmonise-org).

12.7 List of ICT Certifications This section describes the reference material available on the project’s website (http://www.cepis-harmonise.org). Reference material includes weblinks to important initiatives and projects, a list of ICT professional certifications and information about the Harmonise Project such as a project summary and a contact details. The list of ICT skills certifications, shows the diversity of offerings existing on the training and certification market. The list is from desktop research, which overviewed available ICT skills certifications for ICT professionals. The focus is clearly set on industry-based systems, which encompass vendor-specific (for example, professional certifications offered by companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Oracle, HP, etc.) and vendor-neutral (for example, professional certifications offered by CompTIA). The list is not comprehensive, but it does demonstrate the difficulty of overviewing ICT skills professional certification market offerings.

163

See pp. 27. See pp. 112. 165 See as well section 2, pp. 20. 164

Page 261 of 366

Final Version 1.1


Figure 12-20: List of ICT Certifications

12.8 Project Website The website provides the project description, the context, the objectives and the outcome of the project. In addition, a list of past events is available which might help to identify important events for similar projects and to plan follow-up activities for harmonisation. The project also will publish the executive summary and additional material produced during the course of the project. It is envisaged that the final report will be available to download, perhaps requesting a simple registration beforehand in order to follow up and contact interested parties and stakeholders. The web site also has an internal area which is only accessible for project team members and the quality management board. This section contains approved deliverables and reports, information for project co-ordination and management such as work plans, project schedules, questionnaires, a description of harmonise approach, administrative forms and reporting templates.

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This information was evaluated and moved to the public section where appropriate. After the project finishes, confidential and internal project information will be removed from the internal section of the web site.

12.8.1 Project Information Package

•

HARMONISE_Description

•

Harmonise_Contact_Form.zip

12.8.2 Important Policies, Initiatives and Projects •

Cedefop Virtual Communities http://communities.trainingvillage.gr/

•

European e-Skills Forum http://eskills.cedefop.eu.int/

•

CEN/ISSS Workshop ICT Skills http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/w sict-skills.asp

•

European Qualifications Framework http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/educ/eqf/index_en.html

•

European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training http://www.vet-research.net/

•

i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/i2010/index_en.htm

•

A skilled European workforce for the knowledge-based economy http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/ecowor/employ/index_en.htm

•

Education and Training for the Knowledge Society http://eacea.cec.eu.int/static/index.htm

•

eLearning http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/elearning/index_en.html

•

Education, Audiovisual, & Culture Executive Agency http://eacea.cec.eu.int/static/index.htm

•

elearningeuropa.info http://www.elearningeuropa.info/

•

ACM Career Resource Centre http://campus.acm.org/crc/

•

ACM Education http://www.acm.org/education/

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•

IEEE Certification http://www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs/menuitem.c5efb9b8ade9096b8a9ca01 08bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=ieeecs_level1&path=ieeecs/education/certification &file=index.xml&xsl=generic.xsl&

•

e-Skills Competence Consortium (eSCC) http://www.e-scc.org/

•

CompTIA http://www.comptia.org/

•

Tech Career Compass http://tcc.comptia.org/

•

Microsoft Learning http://www.microsoft.com/learning/

•

IBM Education http://www03.ibm.com/industries/education/index.jsphttp://www.cisco.com/web/learning/ind ex.html

•

Cisco Academy http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/index.html

•

Oracle University http://education.oracle.com/

•

Certiport http://www.certiport.com/

•

OECD ICT Skills and Employment http://www.oecd.org/sti/ICT-employment

•

The National Association of Communication Systems Engineers http://www.nacse.com/

•

Linux Professional Institute http://www.lpi.org/

•

XML Certification Program: XML Master http://www.xmlmaster.org/en/

•

Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Certification&Template=/ContentMa nagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=19934

•

CISSP Certification http://www.cissps.com/

12.8.3 International Standards •

IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee http://ieeeltsc.org/

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•

IMS Reusable Definition of Competency or Educational Objective Specification http://www.imsglobal.org/competencies/index.html

•

ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36: Standards for ITLET http://jtc1sc36.org/

•

Software Engineering Body of Knowledge http://www.swebok.org/

•

ACM Curricula Recommendations http://www.acm.org/education/curricula.html

•

Conformity assessment -- General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CombinedQueryResult.CombinedQueryResult?queryStr ing=17024

12.8.4 Projects and Issues •

ICT-Lane http://www.ict-lane.eu

•

Whizlabs - Success, certified! http://www.whizlabs.com/index.html

•

Embedding ICT/Multimedia Standardisation Initiatives into European Vocational Training Development Strategies http://www.embedding-standards.com/

•

Certification Magazine http://www.certmag.com/

•

Europrofiles http://www.ifoa.it/europrofiles/English/home.htm

•

e-Skills Foresight Scenarios http://www.eskills-foresight.com/

•

ReferNet is a European network established by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP). http://www.refernet.de/en/index.htm

•

ProCert Labs, The Quality Assurance Standard For Curriculum Alignment http://www.procertmag.com/labs_quicklinks/ql_programs.cfm

•

Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals http://www.iccp.org/iccpnew/index.html

•

Enterprise Architecture Certification http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/EA_Certification.htm

•

StudyExam4Less http://www.studyexam4less.com/

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Final Version 1.1


•

Jidaw Systems Limited (Jidaw) http://www.jidaw.com/

•

Information Systems Security Association http://www.issa.org/Resources/Industry-Certifications.html

•

Prometric http://www.register.prometric.com/Exam.asp

•

Why XML certification matters http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/feature/7240

•

CertCities http://www.certcities.com/

•

Professional Certification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_certification

•

GoCertify http://www.gocertify.com/

12.8.5 Conferences and Events •

European e-Skills Conference 2006 http://eskills.cedefop.europa.eu/conference2006/index.asp

•

Online Educa Berlin 2007 http://www.online-educa.com/

•

eChallenges Conference http://www.echallenges.org

•

European Distance and E-Learning Network http://www.eden-online.org/eden.php

•

Ministerial Conference “ICT for an Inclusive Society” in Riga http://europa.eu.int/information_society/events/ict_riga_2006/index_en.htm

•

EU Presidency e-Learning Conference 2006 in Helsinki http://www.elearning2006.fi/

12.9 Wiki At the beginning of the project, an initial knowledge base was developed, which contained valuable information and provided an excellent starting point to explore the area of ICT professional certification and its wider context. The most relevant Wiki material (see http://harmonise.futurestudies.org/) was selected and added to the public resources list of the project website.

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Final Version 1.1


Figure 12-21: Harmonise Reference Material: Wiki

12.9.1 Internal Section •

Overview of internal resources:

•

Project Management Board (PMB)

•

Quality Management Board

•

PMB Meeting Documents

•

Project Documents

•

Survey Documents

•

Calendar

•

WIKI

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Final Version 1.1


12.10 Harmonise Knowledge Base

12.10.1

Analysis of certification market

Introduction

Analysis has been completed to help to understand the direction of the certifications market. The data that was analysed, was extracted mainly from the Prometric Service - a specialized certification operator whose main business is automatic exams. Original sources have also been used to compare what was in Prometric, for example, the Brainbench certifications, SFIA/ISEB, EUCIP, etc. We have analysed the totality of the certification products available in the Harmonise database, adopting the following classifications: 1) classification of type of operators delivering certification products: a) ICT Vendors b) ICT Industry Associations c) ICT Professional Associations d) ICT Training 2) classification of the main “object” of the certification a) ICT product competence b) ICT professional competence 3) classification of the nature of the certification in respect to the operator interested in this type of activity a) vendor-dependent b) vendor-neutral c) vendor-independent We also tried to capture the price of the various certifications, but only limited data was available. The complete certification list is detailed in the following pages. Certifications considered to be local or out of scope of the market analysis, are presented below (Figure 12-22).

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Final Version 1.1


CERTIFICATIONS NOT INCLUDED IN THE MARKET ANALYSIS OF ICT PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS Name of Certifying body

Name of Certification System

Details

web address

Estonian Information Technology Society (EITS)

Professional Standards

national standard

http://www.eits.ee/english/

Consortium IT-Card

IT-Card (Bulgaria)

for ICT users

http://www.itcard.org/English version/index.htm

ISZ

national certification Germany

http://www.ewima-isz.de/front_content.php

I-CH

Swiss informatics training

https://www.i-ch.ch/prf_dat/index.cfm?l=i

Portuguese Government

DCBTI (Diploma de Comnpetencias Basicas em Tecnologias da Informacao)

national

http://www.osic.umic.pt/outras_areas/noticia_ficha.aspx?id=67

OPENGROUP

TOGAF, SIF, WAP, ..

certify only process qualitative standards

http://www.opengroup.org/certification/

OCR

iPRO

UK certification Body

http://www.ocr.org.uk/aboutus/aboutocr.html

OM-Ungary

OKJ

National Institute of Vocational and Adult Education,

https://www.nive.hu/english_version/index.php

Project Management, not valid for ICT

http://www.tpgacademy.com/

referred to Project Management

http://www.prince2.org.uk/web/site/home/home.asp

TPG Academy Rovsing Management

PRINCE 2

Figure 12-22

Page 269 of 366

Final Version 1.1


The structure of the ICT Skills Certification Market World Wide is as follows (Figure 12-23 and Figure 12-24): type of certification entity

n°

cert n°

Vendor (V) 3Com Adaptec Adobe ALCATEL BMC Callware Check Point Cisco Citrix

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

4 1 3 3 10 1 3 12 5

4 1 3 3 10 1 3 12 5

4 1 3 3 10 1 3 12 5

111.0 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

EMC Filenet GUPTA HP IBM Jboss Mercury Microsoft Nortel Novell Oracle ParcPlace PCDOCS Pine Mountain Red Hat Rockwell SAIR SAP SAS SCO Serena SUN SYBASE Symantec Sysoft Zavata

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

6 3 1 11 166 5 1 13 7 7 21 2 6 3 6 1 5 4 5 3 1 12 10 4 6 11

6 3 1 11 164 5 1 12 7 7 21 2 6 3 6 1 5 4 5 3

6 3 1 11 166 5 1 13 7 7 21 2 6 3 6 1 5 4 5 2

174.0 n.a. n.a. 105.0 117,0-186,0 n.a. n.a. 140.0 144.0 143.0 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 113.0 n.a. n.a. 210.0 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Hardware, software, applications

sub total 1

35

362

56.5%

58.7%

cert/sup

ICT competence on product

ICT professional competence

2

1

Final Version 1.1

vendor neutral

12 10 4 4 11 10.3

2

vendor independent

1

1

1 12 10 4 4 11

2

356

6

358

3

1

98%

2%

98.9%

0.8%

0.3%

Figure 12-23

Page 270 of 366

vendor dependent


price

143.7

type of certification entity

n°

cert n°

Industry Association (IA) APO/AITTS Comptia DSDM ISCET Linux Prof Institute SPA

1 1 1 1 1 1

29 12 3 3 3 1

6 9.7%

51 8.3%

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

5 1 1 8 12 8

sub total 2

Professional Association (PA) apm CIPS CISSP CIW Edexcel Exin CEPIS-EUCIP Vocational-IT Administrator Core Elective ICCP ICM IEEE IFPUG IPMA IWA ISACA NACSE PMI QA SFIA/ISEB sub total 3

ICT Training (T) Cognos Learning Tree International NCC Education sub total 4

total

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 1 21 7 1 1 4 4 6 2 5 2 3 49

18 29.0%

142 23.0%

1 1 1

12 45 5

3 4.8%

62 10.0%

62 100%

617 100%

Trader Specialised in selling ICT Slills self assessment BRAINBENCH B-DB Development & Administration B-Desktop Publishing Software B-Electronics B-Enterprise Resource Planning B-Programming and Development B-Systems and Network Administrations B-Technical Support B-Technology Concepts B-Telecommunications B-Web Development and Administration

cert/sup

531 100.0%


8.5

3 6%

48 94%

1

5 1 1 8 12 7

29

3 3 1 0 0.0%

15 29.4%

36 70.6% 5 1 1 8 12 7

1

1 1 21 7 1 1 4 4 6 2 5 2 3 49 7.9

vendor independent

12 3

1

2

price n.a. 172,0-270,0 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 221.0 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 130.0 n.a. 140,0-185,0

1 1 21 7 1 1 4 4 4 2 5 2 3 49

250.0 200.0 tbd n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

1 1%

141 99%

1 0.7%

2 1.4%

139 97.9%

185.6

23

12 22 5

18

6

12 21 5

157.0 n.a. n.a.

20.7

23 37%

39 63%

18 29.0%

6 9.7%

38 61.3%

157.0

10.0

383 62%

234 38%

377 61.1%

26 4.2%

214 34.7%

41 18

4

41 18

4

4

531.0

4

16 160 68 15 1 3 75

27 27 4 27 16 25

16 160 68 15 1 3 75

7 10 3 5 8 8

20 17 1 22 8 17

397 75%

134 25%

397 75%

45 8%

89 17%

Figure 12-24

Final Version 1.1

vendor neutral

3

1148

Page 271 of 366

vendor dependent

29 12 3 3

45 18 4 16 187 95 19 28 19 100 1 100.0%



49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95

The structure of the ICT Skills Certification Market (EUROPE) is as follows (Figure 12-25): ICT Certification perceived in Europe through Harmonise Survey type of certification entity

n°

cert n°

Vendor (V) Cisco HP IBM Microsoft Novell Oracle SAP

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

12 11 166 13 7 21 4

Hardware,software,applications

sub total 1

Industry Association (IA) APO/AITTS Comptia sub total 2

Professional Association (PA) CISSP Exin CEPIS-EUCIP Vocational-IT Administrator Core Elective ISACA SFIA/ISEB sub total 3

7

234

50.0%

65.4%

1 1

29 12

2

41

14.3%

11.5%

1 1 1

1 8 1 1 21 2 49

1 1 5

83

35.7%

23.2%

cert/ sup


12 11 164 12 7 21 4 33.4


vendor dependent

2 1

231

3

234

0

0

1%

100.0%

0.0%

0.0%

29 12

0

41

0

12

29

0%

100%

0.0%

29.3%

70.7%

1 7 1 1 21 2 49

price

n.a. 105.0 117,0-186,0 140.0 143.0 n.a. n.a.

99%

1

16.6

vendor independent

12 11 166 13 7 21 4

29 12 20.5

vendor neutral

1

134.3

n.a. 172,0-270,0 221.0

1 7 1 1 21 2 49

n.a. n.a. 140,0-185,0 250.0 200.0 tbd n.a. n.a. 204.2

1

82

1

0

82

1%

99%

1.2%

0.0%

98.8%

ICT Training (T) sub total 4

total

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.0%

0.0%

0%

0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

14

358

100%

100%

25.6

232

126

235

12

111

65%

35%

65.6%

3.4%

31.0%

Figure 12-25

Page 272 of 366

Final Version 1.1


0.0

12.11 Market Analysis 12.11.1

Complete and detailed list of certifications List of Certifications Marketed in European Countries V=Vendor; IA=Industry Association; PA=Professional Association; T=ICT Training; ST=Specialised Trader Name of enterprise/organisation - name of certification ICT certification Details ICT competence ICT professional on product competence

4

V

1

V

3

V

5

29

V

PA

IA

Page 273 of 366

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

3Com Certified Enterprise LAN Expert

x

x

€111.00

Certified WAN Expert

x

x

€111.00

Certified IP Telephony Expert

x

x

€111.00

Certified Wireless Expert

x

x

€111.00

x

x

n.a.

ACE (Adobe Certified Expert)

x

x

n.a.

ACI (Adobe Certified Instructor)

x

x

n.a.

ACTP (Adobe Certified Training Provider)

x

x

n.a.

Alcatel Certified Switch Expert (ACSE)

x

x

n.a.

Alcatel Certified Switch Specialist (ACSS)

x

x

n.a.

Alcatel Certified Switch Professional (ACSP)

x

x

n.a.

Adaptec ACSP Adaptec Certified Storage Professional

3

vendor dependent

Adobe

ALCATEL

apm (Assoc. For Project Management) Introductory Certificate

x

x

n.a.

APMP

x

x

n.a.

Practitioner Qualification

x

x

n.a.

CPM: Certificated Project Manager

x

x

n.a.

Risk certificates

x

x

n.a.

Software Developer

x

x

n.a.

Database Developer

x

x

n.a.

IT Systems Analyst

x

x

n.a.

IT Systems Developer

x

x

n.a.

User Interface Developer

x

x

n.a.

Multimedia Developer

x

x

n.a.

IT Project Coordinator

x

x

n.a.

IT Configuration Coordinator

x

x

n.a.

IT Quality Management Coordinator

x

x

n.a.

IT Test Coordinator

x

x

n.a.

IT Technical Writer

x

x

n.a.

Business Systems Advisor

x

x

n.a.

E-Marketing Developer

x

x

n.a.

APO/AITTS

Final Version 1.1


Name of enterprise/organisation - name of certification

ICT certification Details ICT competence on product


vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Comments

APO/AITTS (Continued)

531

ST

x

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

IT Security Coordinator

x

x

n.a.

Network Developer

x

x

n.a.

Component Developer

x

x

n.a.

Industrial IT Systems Technician

x

x

n.a.

Security Technician

x

x

n.a.

Network Administrator

x

x

n.a.

IT Systems Administrator

x

x

n.a.

Database Administrator

x

x

n.a.

Web Administrator

x

x

n.a.

Business Systems Administrator

x

x

n.a.

IT Services Advisor

x

x

n.a.

IT Trainer

x

x

n.a.

IT Product Coordinator

x

x

n.a.

IT Sales Advisor

x

x

n.a.

45

Database Development and Administration (2 subcategories)

41

18

Desktop Publishing Software

18

4

Electronics

4

41

4

€49.95

18

€49.95

4

4

16

Programming and Development (4 subcategories)

160

27

160

7

20

95

Systems and Network Administrations (4 subcategories)

68

27

68

10

17

19

Technical Support

15

4

15

3

1

€49.95

28

Technology Concepts

1

27

1

5

22

€49.95

19

Telecommunications

3

16

3

8

8

€49.95

Web Development and Administration (3 subcategories)

75

25

75

8

17

100 V

V

€49.95 €49.95

BMC Remedy Customer Service and Support 5.x: Approved Consultant Certification

x

x

n.a.

Magic Service Desk Approved Consultant Certification

x

x

n.a.

Marimba Approved Consultant Certification

x

x

n.a.

Remedy Approved Consultant Certification (RAC)

x

x

n.a.

Remedy Approved Technical Support

x

x

n.a.

Remedy Skilled Professional Program

x

x

n.a.

BMC Service Desk Express Consultant Roadmap

x

x

n.a.

BMC Software Certified Engineer (BMCS-CE) - CONTROL-M for Distributed Systems

x

x

n.a.

BMCS-CE - PATROL Central Architecture

x

x

n.a.

BMC Software Certified Engineer (BMCS-CE) - PATROL Performance Assurance

x

x

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

Callaware Certified Network Telephony Engineer (CNTE)

Page 274 of 366

16

€49.95

Enterprise Resource Planning

187

1

x

Knowledge Management Systems Developer

BRAINBENCH

16

10

E-Logistic Developer

Final Version 1.1


After deep analysis, Brainbench is not considered to be “Certification” as it is not compliant with Certification procedures. Brainbench offers ASSESSMENT without any proctor doing CONTROL; this explain also the policy of FLAT&LOW PRICES



3

1

V

PA

1

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vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

x

x

n.a.

Certified Security Expert NGX (CCSE NGX)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Security Expert NGX (Accelerated CCSE NGX)

x

x

n.a.

CIPS (Canadian Information Processing Society) x

x

n.a.

CISCO Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA)

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP)

x

x

n.a.

CCVP

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) - Security

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) - Service Provider

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) - Storage Networking

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) - Voice

x

x

n.a.

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) - Routing & Switching

x

x

n.a.

CISSP Certified Information System Security Professional

5

vendor dependent

Check Point Soft. Technology Certified Security Administrator NGX (CCSA NGX)

ISP (Information Systems Professional} 12


x

x

n.a.

Citrix Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA)

x

x

n.a.

Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA)

x

x

n.a.

Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA)

x

x

n.a.

Citrix Certified Sales Professional (CCSP)

x

x

n.a.

Citrix Certified Instructor (CCI)

x

x

n.a.

CIW (Certified Internet Web Prof. Program) CIW Associate

x

x

€ 130.00

CIW Professional

x

x

€ 130.00

Master CIW Designer

x

x

€ 130.00

Master CIW Administrator

x

x

€ 130.00

Master CIW Web Site Manager

x

x

€ 130.00

Master CIW Enterprise Developer

x

x

€ 130.00

CIW Security Analyst

x

x

€ 130.00

CIW Web Developer

x

x

€ 130.00

Cognos Access Manager Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos Controller Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos Finance Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos Metrics Manager Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos Planning 7.3 Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos ReportNet Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos Visualizer Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

DecisionStream Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Impromptu Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Impromptu Web Reports Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

PowerPlay Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos Upfront Professional Certification

x

x

€ 157.00

Cognos (Training Services)

Final Version 1.1




12

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12

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IA

PA

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vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

CompTIA CompTIA A+® Certification

x

x

€ 172.00

CompTIA RFID+ Certification

x

x

€ 270.00

CompTIA HTI+™ Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

CompTIA e-Biz+™ Certification

x

x

€ 270.00

CompTIA CTT+™ Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

CompTIA CDIA+ (Certified Document Imaging Architech)

x

x

€ 270.00

CompTIA Linux+™ Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

CompTIA i-Net+® Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

CompTIA Project+ Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

CompTIA Network+® Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

CompTIA Security+™ Certification

x

x

€ 270.00

CompTIA Server+™ Certification

x

x

€ 248.00

DSDM Practitioner Certificate

x

x

n.a.

DSDM Project Manager certificate

x

x

n.a.

DSDM Trainer Certification.

x

x

n.a.

DSDM (Software Consortium)

EDEXCEL GCSE in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

GCSE in Applied Information & Communication Technology (Double Award)

x

x

n.a.

GCSE (Short Course) in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

AS GCE in ICT

x

x

n.a.

Advanced GCE in ICT

x

x

n.a.

Foundation GNVQ in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

Intermediate GNVQ in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Subsidiary VCE in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

Advanced VCE in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

Advanced VCE (Double Award) in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

Entry level Certificate in Information & Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

IGCSE in Information and Communication Technology

x

x

n.a.

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PA

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vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

EMC EMC Proven Professional Storage Technologist

x

x

€ 174.00

EMC Proven Professional Storage Administrator

x

x

€ 174.00

EMC Proven Professional Technology Architect

x

x

€ 174.00

EMC Proven Professional Customer Engineer

x

x

€ 174.00

EMC Proven Professional Implementation Engineer

x

x

€ 174.00

EMC Proven Professional Product/Technology - Specific Certification

x

x

€ 174.00

EUCIP EUCIP Core

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP IT Administrator

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP IS Manager

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP IS Auditor

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Enterprise Solutions Consultant

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Business Analyst

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Logistics and Automation Consultant

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Sales and Automation Consultant

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Client Manager

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP IS Project Manager

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP IT Systems Architect

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP IS Analyst

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Web & Multimedia Master

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Systems Integration & Testing Engineer

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Software Developer

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Database Manager

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP X-Systems Engineer

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Telecommunications Architect

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Network Architect

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Security Adviser

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Network Manager

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Data Center and Configuration Manager

x

x

n.a.

EUCIP Help Desk Supervisor

x

x

n.a.

Final Version 1.1




8

PA

1

V

11

V

vendor independent

price

x

x

€140.00

Practitioner Certificate in IT Service Management (ITIL Practitioner)

x

x

€185.00

Manager Certificate in IT Service Management (ITIL Service Management)

x

X

€185.00

Foundation Certificate in Application Management (ASL Foundation)

x

X

€140.00

Foundation Certificate in Dynamic Systems Development (DSDM Foundation)

x

x

€140.00

Foundation Certificate in Capability Maturity Model (CMM Foundation)

x

x

x

x x

n.a. €140.00

x

€170.00

FileNet FileNet Certified Professional (FCP) (Certified Developer)

x

x

n.a.

FileNet Certified Professional (FCP) (Certified Technical Support)

x

x

n.a.

FileNet Certified Professional (FCP) (Certified Administrator)

x

x

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

HP Accredited Sales Consultant

x

x

€105.00

HP Accredited Sales Professional

x

x

€105.00

HP Accredited Presales Consultant

x

x

€105.00

HP Accredited Presales Professional

x

x

€105.00

HP Master Accredited Systems Engineer

x

x

€105.00

HP Accredited Systems Engineer

x

x

€105.00

HP Accredited Integration Specialist

x

x

€105.00

HP Accredited Platform Specialist

x

x

€105.00

HP Certified Systems Engineer

x

x

€105.00

HP Certified Systems Administrator

x

x

€105.00

HP Certified Systems Developer

x

x

€105.00

GUPTA GUPTA Certified Professional n either SQLBase or Team Developer

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Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management (ITIL Foundation)

Foundation Certificate in ISPL Procurement Management (ISPL Foundation) V

vendor dependent

EXIN

Essentials Certificate in Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF Essentials)

3


HP

Final Version 1.1




166

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vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

IBM Advanced Database Administrator-DB2 UDB V8 for Linux UNIX and Windows

x

x

€ 147.00

Advanced Database Administrator-DB2 9 for Linux UNIX and Windows

x

x

€ 147.00

Application Developer - DB2 Universal Database V8.1 Family

x

x

€ 147.00

Application Developer - DB2 9

x

x

€ 147.00

Database Administrator - DB2 9 DBA for Linux UNIX and Windows

x

x

€ 118.00

Database Administrator - DB2 Universal Database V8.1 for Linux UNIX and Windows

x

x

n.a.

Database Administrator - DB2 Universal Database V8.1 for zOS

x

x

€ 147.00

Database Administrator - DB2 9 DBA for zOS

x

x

€ 147.00

Database Associate - DB2 9 Fundamentals

x

x

€ 118.00

Database Associate - DB2 Universal Database V8.1 Family

x

x

€ 147.00

Instructor - DB2 Administration V8

x

x

n.a.

Solution Designer - DB2 Business Intelligence V8

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Designer - DB2 Data Warehouse Edition V9.1

x

x

€ 118.00

Solution Developer - IBM Alphabox

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Designer - DB2 Content Manager V8.3

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Expert - DB2 Content Manager OnDemand iSeries

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Expert - IBM Content Management - OnDemand

x

x

€ 147.00

System Administrator - Document Manager

x

x

n.a.

Solution Developer - WebSphere IIS DataStage Enterprise Edition V7.5

x

x

n.a.

Solution Developer - WebSphere IIsS Quality Stage V7.5

x

x

n.a.

Solutions Expert - Informix 4GL Developer

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - Informix Dynamic Server V7 System Administrator

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - Informix Dynamic Server V9 System Administrator

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - Red Brick Warehouse System Administrator

x

x

€ 147.00

System Administrator - System Administration for IBM Informix Dynamic Server V10

x

x

€ 147.00

System Administrator - Informix Dynamic Server V11

x

x

€ 147.00

Dynamic Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

Enterprise Content Management

Information Integration

Informix

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vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

IBM (Continued) U2 Solutions Expert - U2 Family Application Development

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - U2 Unidata V5.2 Administrator for UNIX and Windows

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - U2 UnidataV6.1 Administration

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - U2 UniVerse V10.1 Administration

x

x

€ 147.00

Solutions Expert - U2 UniVerse V9.6 Administration for UNIX and Windows

x

x

€ 147.00

Application Developer - Developing with IBM Enterprise PL/I

x

x

€ 186.00

Application Developer - Programming with IBM Enterprise PL/I

x

x

€ 186.00

Administrator - Rational ClearCase UNIX v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Administrator - Rational ClearCase Windows v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Administrator - Rational ClearQuest v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Administrator - Rational UCM Fundamentals v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Advanced Application Developer - Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software v6

x

x

n.a.

Application Developer - Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software v 6.0

x

x

n.a.

Associate Developer - Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software v 6.0

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - Rational Portfolio Manager

x

x

€ 150.00

Instructor - Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software v6.0 Application Development

x

x

n.a.

Solution Designer - Rational Manual Tester

x

x

€ 156.00

Solution Designer - Rational Software Tester

x

x

n.a.

Solution Designer - IBM Rational Unified Process v7.0

x

x

€ 150.00

Solution Designer - Rational Functional Tester for Java

x

x

€ 159.00

Solution Designer - Rational Performance Tester

x

x

€ 159.27

Solution Developer - Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software v6.0

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Rational Object Oriented Analysis and Design v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Specialist - Rational Requirements Management w/Use Cases v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Specialist - Rational Test Management and Robot v2002

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Rational Test Management and XDE Tester v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Specialist - Rational Unified Process v2003

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Rational XDE J2EE v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Specialist - Rational XDE.NET v2003

x

x

€ 150.00

Information Management Content Mgmtscovery Technical Sales Profesisonal (v1) IBM Lotus PL/I

IBM Rational

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vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

IBM (Continued) IBM Tivoli Software

Page 281 of 366

Advanced Deployment Professional - Tivoli Enterprise Management Solutions 2006

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Deployment Professional - Tivoli Provisioning Management Solutions 2006

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Deployment Professional - Tivoli Security Management Solutions 2006

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Deployment Professional - Tivoli Storage Management Solutions 2006

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Access Manager for e-business v6.0

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Composite Application Manager for WebSphere v6.0

x

x

€ 137.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Configuration Manager v4.2.2.

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Enterprise Console v3.9

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Federated Identity Manager v6.1

x

x

€ 147.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Identity Manager v4.6

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli License Manager v2.1

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Monitoring v5.1.2

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Monitoring v6.1

x

x

€ 140.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Netcool Core v1.0

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - Tivoli NetView v7.1.4

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli SAN Manager v1.3

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Storage Manager v 5.3

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Storage Manager v 5.4

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Workload Scheduler v 8.3

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - TotalStorage Productivity Center v 3.1

x

x

€ 137.00

Deployment Professional - WebSphere Studio Application Monitoring v 3.2

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Maximo v 5

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Maximo v 6 EAM

x

x

€ 171.00

Deployment Professional - Maximo v 6 ITSM

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Netcool Core v 2.0

x

x

n.a.

Deployment Professional - Tivoli Provisioning Manager v 5.1

x

x

€ 171.00

Operator - Tivoli Storage Manager v 5.3 & v 5.4

x

x

€ 171.00

Solution Advisor - Tivoli OnDemand Automation

x

x

n.a.

Solution Advisor - Tivoli Security 2007

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Tivoli Identity Manager EXPRESS 2006

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Tivoli Monitoring Express v 6.1

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Tivoli Provisioning Manager Express v 4.1 Software Distribution

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - Tivoli Storage Manager Express v 5.3.7

x

x

€ 137.00

Storage Administrator - Tivoli Storage Administrator

x

x

n.a.

Final Version 1.1





vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

IBM (Continued) IBM WebSphere Application Servers / Distributed Application and Web Servers Advanced System Administrator - WebSphere App Server v 5.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Instructor - WebSphere Application Server Network Development v 6.0 System Administration

x

x

€ 147.00

Instructor - WebSphere Application Server v 5.0 System Administration

x

x

€ 147.00

System Administrator - WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment v 6.0

x

x

€ 147.00

System Administrator - WebSphere Application Server v 5.0

x

x

System Administrator - WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment v 6.1

x

x

€ 171.00

Solution Designer - WebSphere MQ v 6.0

x

x

n.a.

Solution Developer - WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances, Firmware v 3.6.0

x

x

n.a.

Solution Developer - WebSphere Message Broker v 6.0

x

x

n.a.

Administrator for SOA Solutions - WebSphere Process Server v6.0

x

x

n.a.

Business Process Analyst - WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced v 6.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Deployment Professional - WebSphere InterChange Server v 4.3 and Toolset

x

x

€ 147.00

Deployment Professional - WebSphere Process Server v 6.0

x

x

n.a.

Solution Developer - WebSphere Integration Developer v 6.01

x

x

n.a.

Application Developer - WebSphere Commerce v 6.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Deployment Professional - WebSphere Commerce v 5.6

x

x

€ 147.00

System Administrator - WebSphere Commerce v 6.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Associate Developer - WebSphere Studio v 5.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Enterprise Developer - IBM webSphere Studio v 5.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Instructor - webSphere Studio v 5.0 Application Development

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Developer - Web Services Development with WebSphere Studio v 5.1

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Developer - WebSphere Studio v 5.0

x

x

€ 147.00

Solution Developer - Web Svcs Dev with IBM Rational App Dev for WS Sftw v 6.0.x

x

x

Business Integration / Application Connectivity (MOM)

Business Integration / Process Integration

Commerce / Web Commerce

Software Development / Design and construction

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vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

IBM (Continued) IBM Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) SOA Solution Designer

x

x

n.a.

SOA Associate

x

x

n.a.

x

x

€ 117.00

Advanced Technical Expert - System i Solutions

x

x

Specialist - eServer i54 iSeries Domino Technical Solution v 5R3

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - eServer i5 iSeries Multiple System Technical Solutions v 5R3

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - eServer i5 iSEries RPG ILE Programmer

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - eServer i5 iSeries Single System Administration v 5RE

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - eServer i5 iSeries WebSphere Technical Solutions v 5R3

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - iSeries Solutions Sales eServer i5 and i5/OS v 5R3

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - iSEries System Command Operations v 5R2

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - System i Technical Solutions - Design (Including i5/OS v 5R4)

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - System Integration with BladeCenter and System x v1

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - System i IT Simplification: Linux Technical v 5R4

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - System i Technical Solutions - Windows Linux and AIX 5L Solution Sales v 1

x

x

€ 117.00

Systems Expert - eServers i5 iSEries Domino Solution Salòes v5R3

x

x

€ 186.00

Systems Expert - eServers i5 iSeries LPAR Technical Solutions v 5R3

x

x

€ 186.00

Systems Expert - eServers i5 i Series WebSphere Solution Sales v 5R3

x

x

n.a.

Systems Expert - System i IT Simplification - Windows Linux and AIX 5L Solutions Sales v 1

x

x

€ 186.00

Systems Expert - System i Collaboration Sales v 1

x

x

n.a.

Systems Expert - System i Technical Design and Implementation (including i5/OS v 5R4)

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Technical Expert - IBM System p5 2006

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - eServer p5 and pSeries Administrator and Support for AIX 5L v 5.3

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - eServer p5 Solutions Sales

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - IBM System p Solution Sales v 5.3

x

x

n.a.

System p Technical Sales Support

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - AIX Basic Operations v 5

x

x

€ 186.00

Systems Expert - eServer p5 and pSeries enterprise Technical Support AIX 5L v5.3

x

x

n.a.

Systems Expert - IBM System p5 Virtualization Technical Support

x

x

€ 186.00

Systems Expert - pSeries HACMP for AIX 5L

x

x

n.a.

XML Solution Developer - XML 1.1 and Related Technologies Hardware IBM System i

IBM System p

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vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

IBM (continued) IBM System z Specialist - System z Sales v 2

x

x

€ 186.00

Specialist - System z Technical Support v 2

x

x

€ 186.00

Advanced Technical Expert - System Storage 2007

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - IBM TotalStorage Networking and Virtualization Architecture Version 2

x

x

€ 117.00

Specialist - Open Systems Storage Solutions version 5

x

x

€ 147.00

Specialist - High End Tape Solutions version 4

x

x

€ 147.00

Specialist - IBM Storage Sales version 8

x

x

€ 147.00

Advanced Technical Expert - eServer BladeCenter (2006)

x

x

€ 147.00

Advanced Technical Expert - eServer xSeries High Performance Servers (2006)

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - IBM BladeCenter

x

x

€ 147.00

Specialist - System x High Performance Servers

x

x

€ 147.00

Specialist - System x Technical

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - System x Windows 2000/2003

x

x

€ 147.00

Specialist - System x sales v 4

x

x

€ 147.00

Systems Expert - IBM Blade Center

x

x

€ 147.00

Systems Expert - System x High Performance Servers

x

x

n.a.

Systems Expert - Systems x Windows 2000/2003

x

x

n.a.

Other IBM System Storage and TotalStorage

IBM System x

n.a.

Advanced Manufacturing Science Specialist - Advanced Manufacturing Science

x

€ 147.00

Innovation enabled by On Demand Business

x x

x

€ 147.00

Certification for On Demand Business - Solution Advisor v 2

x

x

€ 147.00

x

x

€ 147.00

x

x

n.a.

Specialist - retail Store Technical Solutions

x

x

€ 117.00

Specialist - Retail Store Solution Sales

x

x

€ 117.00

Certification for On Demand Business- Solution Designer v 2 IBM Infrastructure Systems Architect Infrastructure Systems Architect Retail Store Solutions

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7

PA

1

PA

1

PA

4

PA

6

4

2

PA

PA

PA

Page 285 of 366

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Certified Business Intelligence Professional

x

x

n.a.

Certified Data Management Professional

x

x

n.a.

Certified Computing Professional (CCP)

x

x

n.a.

Associate Computing Professional (ACP)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Data Processor (CDP)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Systems Professional (CSP)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Computer Programmer (CCP)

x

x

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

CERTIFIED FUNCTION POINT SPECIALIST (CFPS) CERTIFICATION

x

x

n.a.

SOFTWARE MEASUREMENT SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION PROGRA

x

x

n.a.

TRAINING MATERIALS CERTIFCATION

x

x

n.a.

SOFTWARE CERTIFCATION

x

x

n.a.

ASSOCIATE-LEVEL CET

x

x

n.a.

JOURNEYMAN-LEVEL CET

x

x

n.a.

NASTeC Certification

x

x

n.a.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

Institute for Configuration Management (ICM) CMII Certification

IA

vendor dependent

ICCP-Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals

Certified Software Development Professional

3


International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG)

International Society of Certified Electronics Technicians (ISCET)

International Webmasters Association Web Technologies Certificate

x

x

Web Programming Certificate

x

x

n.a.

Web Graphics and Multimedia Certificate

x

x

n.a.

Web Business Certificate

x

x

n.a.

IWA SKILLS CERTIFICATES (diverse)

x

x

n.a.

IWA Webmaster Certification

x

x

n.a.

Certified Project Director

x

x

Certified Senior Project Manager

x

x

Certified Project Manager

x

x

Certified Project Manager Associate

x

x

CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor)

x

x

n.a.

CISM (Certified Information Security Manager)

x

x

n.a.

n.a.

IPMA (International Project Management Association)

ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association)

Final Version 1.1




5

45

V

T

vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Jboss (Open Source Middleware Software) Certified JBoss Developer

x

x

n.a.

Certified JBoss Web Developer

x

x

n.a.

Certified JBoss Administrator

x

x

n.a.

Certified JEMS Middleware Expert

x

x

n.a.

Certified JEMS Master Architect

x

x

n.a.

Learning Tree International Project Management Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Project Management Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Microsoft Project certified Professional

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x

x

n.a.

Leadership Skills Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Performance Management and Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Communication Skills Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Business Effectivness Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Presentation Skills Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Change Management Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Strategic Business Management Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Analysis and Decision Making Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Business Analysis Ertified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Windows Desktop Support and Troubleshooting Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Windows Server 2003 Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Windows Server 2003 Security Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Windows OS advanced Administration Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Exchange Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

SQL Server 2005 DBA Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

SQL Server 2000 DBA Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

SQL Server Application Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Microsoft Access Certified Professional

x

x

Visual Basic 2005 Application Development Certified Professional

x

C# Application Development Certified Professional

x

Final Version 1.1


n.a. x

n.a. x

n.a.




vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Learning Tree International (Continued) .NET Web Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

.NET Enterprise Application Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Web Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

XML Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle 10g DBA Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle 10g Application Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle 9i Application Development Certified Professional

x

x

Java Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Java Web Development Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Java EE Development Certified Professional

x

x x

x

n.a.

Enterprise and Web Security Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Networking Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Wi-Fi Networks Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

x

PC Service and Support Certified Professional

IA

n.a.

Network Security Certified Professional

Cisco Networks Certified Professional

3

n.a.

x

n.a.

x

x

UNIX Systems Administration Certified Professional

x

x

Linux Certified Professional

x

x

n.a. n.a. n.a.

Software Engineering Project Management Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Software Engineering Process Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

System Analysis and Design Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Object-Oriented Software Engineering Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Linux Professional Institute For LINUX the classification inside the vendor neutral/vendor independent categories is ambiguous

1

V

Junior Level Administration (LPIC-1)

x

x

n.a.

Intermediate Level Administration (LPIC-2)

x

x

n.a.

Senior Level Administration (LPIC-3)

x

x

n.a.

Mercury Certified Product Consultant (CPC)

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x

Final Version 1.1

x


n.a.



13

V


vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Microsoft -offers 102 exams combined in 13 classes/more in deep analysis to distinguish Each title indicate a group of exams for the same subject. To obtain a single certification 1 or more exams are needed: the average is 2 exams. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)

x

x

140,0

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Architect

5

5

PA

T

x

Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST)

x

x

140,0

The Microsoft Certified Learning Consultant (MCLC)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Trainer

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)

x

x

140,0

Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)

x

x

140,0

National Association of Communications Systems Engineers (NACSE) NACSE Business Skills for IT Professionals

x

x

n.a.

NACSE Certified Programming

x

x

n.a.

NACSE Certified Web Master

x

x

n.a.

Telecommunication Certification 2006

x

x

n.a.

NRP/DNA NACSE Registered Professional Data Networking Architect

x

x

n.a.

International Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies

x

x

n.a.

International Diploma in Computer Studies

x

x

n.a.

PgD in Strategic Business IT awarded by NCC Education

x

x

n.a.

BSc Hons Degree in Computing & Internet Systems

x

x

n.a.

BSc Hons Degree in Computing & Internet Systems

x

x

n.a.

NCC (National Computing Center) Education

with London Metropolitan University

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7

21

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V

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vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Nortel NCA - Nortel Certified Architect

x

x

€ 144.00

Design Expert (NCDE)

x

x

€ 144.00

Support Expert (NCSE)

x

x

€ 144.00

Design Specialist (NCDS)

x

x

€ 144.00

Support Specialist (NCSS)

x

x

€ 144.00

Technology Expert (NCTE)

x

x

€ 144.00

Technology Specialist (NCTS)

x

x

€ 144.00

Novell Certified Linux Professional

x

x

€ 143.00

Novell Certified Linux Engineer 9

x

x

€ 143.00

Certified Novell Administrator

x

x

€ 143.00

Certified Novell Engineer

x

x

€ 143.00

Master Certified Novell Engineer

x

x

€ 143.00

Certified Novell Instructor

x

x

€ 143.00

Novell Authorized Instructor

x

x

€ 143.00

Oracle Database 10g Administrator Certified Associate

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Database 10g Administrator Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Special Accreditation: Oracle Database 10g

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Database 10g Administrator Certified Master

x

x

n.a.

Oracle9i Database Administrator Certified Associate

x

x

n.a.

Oracle9i Database Administrator Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Special Accreditation: Managing Oracle9i on Linux

x

x

n.a.

Oracle9i Database Administrator Certified Master

x

x

n.a.

Oracle PL/SQL Developer Certified Associate

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Forms Developer Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Internet Application Developer Rel. 6i Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator: Certified Associate

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator: Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Application Server 9i Web Administrator Certified Associate

x

x

n.a.

Siebel 7.7 Certified Consultant

x

x

€ 153.00

Siebel 7.7 Certified Business Analyst

x

x

€ 153.00

Siebel 7.7 Certified Server Architect

x

x

€ 153.00

Siebel 7.7 Certified Data Warehouse Developer

x

x

€ 153.00

Siebel 7.7 Certified Application Developer

x

x

€ 153.00

Siebel CRM OnDemand Administrator Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Oracle Internet Application Developer Rel. 6i Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Novell

Oracle

Final Version 1.1




2

6

3

2

3

6

V

V

V

PA

PA

V

1

V

5

V

vendor dependent

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

ParcPlace-Digitalk (Object oriented application development) Certified Smalltalk Developer

x

x

n.a.

Certified Senior Smalltalk Developer

x

x

n.a.

Certified Hummingbird Professional (Hummingbird DM)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Hummingbird Professional (Hummingbird RM)

x

x

n.a.

Hummingbird Professional (Hummingbird Collaboration)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Hummingbird Professional (Hummingbird BI)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Hummingbird Professional (DOCS Open)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Hummingbird Professional (DOCS RM)

x

x

n.a.

Certified NetAnalyst (Level I - Cross Technology)

x

x

n.a.

Certified NetAnalyst (Level II - Architect)

x

x

n.a.

Certified NetAnalyst (Level III - Elite)

x

x

n.a.

PCDOCS / Hummingbird (Enterprise Content Mngmnt)

Pine Mountain Group, Inc. /

Project Management Institute(PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP®)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Software Tester (CSTE)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Software Project Manager (CSPM)

x

x

n.a.

Quality Assurance Institute (QAI)

Red Hat Software Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT)

x

x

n.a.

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

x

x

n.a.

Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA)

x

x

n.a.

Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform (Exam 310-025)

x

x

n.a.

Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform, JDK 1.1 (Exam 310-022)

x

x

n.a.

Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS)

x

x

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

Rockwell Software Rockwell Automation Certified Professional

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SAIR (Linux services and training) Linux Certified Administrator

x

x

n.a.

Linux Certified Engineer

x

x

n.a.

Linux Accredited Center for Education

x

x

n.a.

Master Linux Certified Engineer

x

x

n.a.

Linux Certified Professional

x

x

n.a.

Final Version 1.1




4

5

3

1

V

V

V

V

PA

1

IA

12

V

vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

Solution consultant certification

x

x

n.a.

Technology consultant certification

x

x

n.a.

Development consultant certification

x

x

n.a.

SAP user certification

x

x

n.a.

SAS Certified Base Programmer Credential

x

x

113,0

SAS Certified Advanced Programmer Credential

x

x

113,0

SAS Certified webAF Developer: Server-side Credential

x

x

113,0

SAS Certified Warehouse Development Specialist Credential

x

x

113,0

SAS Certified Warehouse Architect Credential

x

x

113,0

Certified System Administrator (CSA)

x

x

n.a.

Advanced Certified Engineer (ACE

x

x

Master ACE

x

SAS

Santa Cruz Operation (SCO)

n.a. x

n.a.

Serena x

x

n.a.

49

49

n.a.

x

x

n.a.

SFIA/ISEB see annex Software Publishers Association (SPA) / SIIA Certified Software Manager (CSM)

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SAP

ITIL Foundations Certification 49


Sun Sun Certified Associate for the Java Platform, Standard Edition, Exam Version 1.0 (CX-310-019)

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Developer for the Java 2 Platform

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Business Component Developer for the Java 2 Platform

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Developer for Java Web Services

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer for the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified System Administration for the Solaris Operating System

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Engineer for Sun ONE Directory Server 5.x (CX-310-560)

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Web Component Developer for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Network Administration for the Solaris Operating System

x

x

€ 210.00

Sun Certified Security Administration for the Solaris Operating System

x

x

€ 210.00

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4

6

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V

V

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vendor neutral

vendor independent

price

SYBASE VERITAS Certified Designer

x

x

n.a.

ASE Administrator professional Certification

x

x

n.a.

ASE SQL Developer Associate Certification

x

x

n.a.

ASE SQL Developer professional Certification

x

x

n.a.

Sybase IQ (Version 12.6) Administrator Professional

x

x

n.a.

PowerBuilder Developer Professional Certification

x

x

n.a.

XML Certification

x

x

n.a.

Sun J2SE Programmer Certification

x

x

n.a.

Replication Server Administrator Professional Certification

x

x

n.a.

Adaptive Server Anywhere Professional Certification

x

x

n.a.

Symantec Certified Technical Specialist

x

x

n.a.

VERITAS Certified Designer

x

x

n.a.

VERITAS Certified Administrator

x

x

n.a.

VERITAS Certified in Implementation

x

x

n.a.

Certified Internet Developer

x

x

n.a.

Certified Webmaster & eCommerce Architect

x

x

n.a.

Certified eBusiness Professional (CEP)

x

x

Symantec

Sysoft

n.a.

HIPAA Awareness Certification

x

x

n.a.

Certified eHealth Professional (CEP)

x

x

n.a.

SIP Level 2 11


x

x

n.a.

Certified Help Desk Director™ (CHDD)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Help Desk Manager™ (CHDM)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Help Desk Professional™ (CHDP)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Field Support Technician™

x

x

n.a.

Certified Knowledge Management(CKM)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Instructor™ (CI)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Instructor Workshop™

x

x

n.a.

Certified Team Lead™ (CTL)

x

x

n.a.

Enterprise MBA for Technology Leaders™

x

x

n.a.

Certified Call Center Manager ™ (CCCM)

x

x

n.a.

Certified Call Center Professional™ (CCCP)

x

x

n.a.

ZAVATA

Final Version 1.1


12.12 Quality Standards 12.12.1

Description of Quality Standards

Standard for quality management systems (QMS) and methods within an organisation: EN ISO 9000ff./ EN ISO 9001: 2000: Quality Management Systems

The EN ISO 9000 standard for quality management systems (QMS) was defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987. After several revisions it has become a process oriented quality standard which incorporates working processes, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement process (CIP). Several organisational level objectives have to be defined for quality measurement of quality (Wuppertaler Kreis e.V./ CERTQUA, 2002). “ISO 9000:2005 describes fundamentals of quality management systems, which form the subject of the ISO 9000 family, and defines related terms” (“ISO 9000: 2005”, n.d.). Additionally, the ISO 9001: 2000 standard defines generic requirements for QMS “applicable to all organizations, regardless of type, size, and product provided” (“ISO 9001: 2000”, n.d.) The revised EN ISO 9000: 2000ff. quality standards are based on eight principles. The description of these principles is cited from “ISO 9000” (n.d.). •

Principle 1 - Customer focus Organisations depend on their customers and they should understand current and future customer needs, meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.

•

Principle 2 - Leadership Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organisation. They should create and maintain an internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organisation’s objectives.

•

Principle 3 - Involvement of people People at all levels are the essence of an organisation and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organisation’s benefit.

•

Principle 4 - Process approach A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process.

•

Principle 5 - System approach to management Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system, contributes to the organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives.

•

Principle 6 - Continual improvement Continual improvement of the organisation’s overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organisation.

•

Principle 7 - Factual approach to decision making Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information.

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•

Principle 8 - Mutually beneficial supplier relationships An organisation and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value.

Implementing QMS which incorporate these principles, will lead to several benefits for the organisation. For example, customer and supplier relations will be improved, people will be motivated and committed towards the organisations objectives, and more efficient use of resources can be expected. Furthermore, an organisation can learn from past experiences of decision making processes (“ISO 9000”, n.d.). The EN ISO 9000ff. standards do not specify concrete quality criteria. Each organisation has to define its own quality criteria and related objectives. Methods for measurement of quality need to be defined. For example, a criterion for the quality of an educational process, could be the participants’ satisfaction. To measure this criterion, the participants could be asked to assess the course with a questionnaire. For an objective, the organisation has to specify an outcome of this measurement activity for example, what proportion of the participants have to provide a positive rating of the questionnaire items (Wuppertaler Kreis e.V./ CERTQUA, 2002). This procedure requires the development of an organisations quality policies and objectives, in advance of the quality assessment. Therefore, the following activities are necessary: •

development of a quality strategy, including objectives and requirements of the products and the QMS

•

quality control through monitoring processes, quality assurance through documentation of all processes

•

quality improvement through identification of structural weakness.

Internal and external audits assure the implementation of EN ISO 9000ff. standards in an organisation (Scheiber, 1999). As the implementation of EN ISO 9000ff. standards requires the development of specific quality criteria for each organisation, these standards can be easily adopted and modified to be implemented in service sector organisations, for example, institutions providing ICT professional certification. Standards for certification and learning process EN ISO/IEC 17024: Conformity assessment — General Requirements for Bodies operating Certification of Persons

“Certification of persons is one means of providing assurance that the certified person meets the requirements of the certification scheme” (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004 p. V). It is possible to select a person with a qualification tailored to the requirements of specific tasks (Facklam, 2002), for example, ICT professional certification. Certification systems follow certain policies, including quality recognition. In this context, objective competence criteria for certification of persons should be applied, and the implementation of a management system which refers to international standards such as

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EN ISO/IEC 17024 (formerly EN 45013), is recommended. This standard for certification of persons sets out the requirements for the certification system, programme, and process (see section 4.5). Therefore, the standard specifies the terms and references for the requirements of the certification body, including its organisational structure, its management system and actions for developing and maintaining a certification scheme. Each certification body should establish a recording system to demonstrate that the certification process follows the requirements. All information obtained in the certification process has to be treated confidentially. Additionally, certain requirements for the employees and examiners of the certification body are defined through their competencies and qualifications. For the certification process itself the application modalities of persons aspiring certification, evaluation and surveillance procedure are specified. Furthermore, at the end of the certification process, the decision about certification should be based on information gathered during the certification process. Persons from the certification body who participated in the certification and examination processes should not be responsible for this decision (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004). •

The certification body should have a documented structure which safeguards impartiality, including provisions to ensure the impartiality of the certification body operations. This structure will enable all parties significantly concerned in the policy and principle development of content and certification system functioning to participate, without any particular party predominating. (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004, p.3)

•

The imposed requirements are seen as general requirements for bodies operating certification schemes, and therefore may have to be supplemented in response to additional market needs (for example, supply or demand, or specific regulations and government requirements), (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004). If certification bodies decide to subcontract certification work (for example, examination, testing) to an external body or person, a properly documented agreement is recommended which includes confidentiality provisions and prevention of a conflict of interest. Decision of certification shall not be subcontracted under any circumstances. In general, the assessment of conformity to an object of interest with specific obligatory or voluntary standards, is subject to accreditation. (Cedefop, 2006, p. 41)

The exchange of certified persons between different countries, can only be realised through harmonising certification systems for the development and maintenance of certification schemes. By applying the EN ISO/IEC 17024 in certification bodies, a standardised procedure for certifying persons can be granted and the certification processes will be consistent, reliable and comparable among different certification bodies (ISO/IEC 17024, 2004; Facklam, 2002). ISO/IEC 19796-1 Quality Standard for Learning, Education, and Training

The objective of this standard, published in October 2005, is not to provide another quality framework but to provide a framework for describing existing quality approaches for training, education and learning. The aim is to reduce confusion about the scope, objectives and methods of existing quality approaches for e-learning, by providing a harmonised standard: the Reference Framework for the Description of Quality

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Approaches (RFDQ). This is a process-model for describing, comparing and harmonising process-oriented quality approaches. The process model is divided into seven parts, which guide the development of learning scenarios (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36, 2004, 2006): •

Needs Analysis: Identification and description of the requirements, demands and constraints of an educational project

•

Framework Analysis: Identification of the framework and the context of an educational process

•

Conception/Design: Conception and design of an educational process

•

Development/Production: Realisation of concepts

•

Implementation: Description of the implementation of technological components

•

Learning Process: Realisation and use of the learning process

(ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36, 2006, pp. 4-5, taken from table 1: Process Model of ISO/IEC 19796-1) The European Quality Observatory (EQO) survey, indicated a huge difference in the application of existing external quality approaches and standards for e-learning (e.g. EFQM, EN ISO 9000ff, SCORM) in different European countries. Anglo-Saxon, Benelux and German-speaking countries, apply quality approaches to a wider range of e-learning products than new EU member states (respondents expressed a lack of information about this subject). Although the application of quality approaches differs strongly between all European countries, there is some agreement about the importance of education and training quality which verifies the necessity to exchange experiences between countries. From the ISO/IEC 19796-1, standard requirements for standardisation activities can be deduced, however as this norm is merely a framework, can only be a guideline for developing, extending and combining quality approaches. It does not provide concrete methods and tools for quality certification (Ehlers et al., 2005; ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36, 2006). Three additional parts will be developed for this standard (ISO/IEC 19796-2, 3, and 4). And, the second part will provide the possibility for certification of organisations, products and services: •

Part 2: "Quality Model” will harmonise the aspects and requirements of quality systems and will provide direction for all stakeholders. It will not enforce any particular requirements to be implemented but will instead, focus on their effects. The model will be adaptable for certain community requirements.

•

Part 3: "Reference Methods and Metrics” will harmonise formats for describing quality management and assurance methods and metrics. It will provide a collection of reference methods that can be used to manage and assure quality in different contexts. This part will provide a further collection of reference metrics and indicators that can be used to measure quality of processes, products, components and services.

•

Part 4: "Best Practice and Implementation Guide“ will provide harmonised criteria for identifying best practice and guidelines for adaptating, implementing and

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using this multi-part standard. It will also contain a rich set of best practice examples (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36, 2006, p. 6). ISO 10015:1999: Quality management – Guidelines for training

One issue about the quality of training, concerns the benefits and return on investment (RoI) of training activities (see chapter 7.2.1). The ISO 10015:1999 standard addresses this issue by ensuring training quality and providing tools for measuring effectiveness. This is an important aspect, as many employers do not see the value of human resource investment, unless they can see some positive effects for example, working processes and services provided (Yui and Saner, 2005). Obviously, measuring RoI of training activities is not easy. However, results from a survey conducted by Bassi, Ludwig, Murrer and Van Buren (2000, as cited in Yui and Saner, 2005) provide evidence of positive effects from training on organisational performance (given that the organisation performs training management activities, including a vision, strategy expertise and management tools). According to Yui and Saner (2005) any tool to ensure RoI of training, should focus on the learning process and the interaction between organisation objectives and training objectives. ISO 10015:1999 fulfils these requirements including the link between employees’ skills and competencies and organisational performance. Of course, training activities have to be tailored to employee needs as effectively and efficiently as possible. Standards for learning technologies

As well as quality standards for education and certification processes, specific standards for learning technologies are available. According to the Masie Center eLerning Consortium (2003), standardisation of learning technologies has six major objectives: Interoperability, Reuseability, Manageability, Accessibility, Durability and Scalability. IEEE Learning Technology Standard Committee (LTSC)

The IEEE Learning Technology Standard Committee is leading the development of learning technology standards. The main objective is to define technical standards and guidelines for learning software components, tools and methods in order to improve the development, implementation and interoperability of learning systems (Pawloski and Adelsberger, 2001). Several standards related to learning technologies are available at the LTSC website. Three of them are described below: Learning Object Meta Data (LOM) “This standard will specify the syntax and semantics of Learning Object Metadata, defined as the attributes required to fully/adequately describe a Learning Object. Learning Objects are defined here as any entity, digital or non-digital, which can be used, re-used or referenced during technology supported learning” (Dray, 2005b, para. 1). Learning objects will be described with a minimal set of attributes (for example, type of object, author, teaching style, prerequisites) which will allow for the management, location and evaluation of learning objects (Dray, 2005b).

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Computer Managed Instruction (CMI) Several tools and authoring systems are used to develop computer-based training (CBT) lessons. The CMI standard supports the interoperability of different lessons in a single course, by defining a set of standardised CMI and CBT functions. This would reduce the costs of CBT as standardised content descriptions and course sequences can be reused. This standard also addresses the analysis of students’ performance data across different courses (Dray, 2005a). Standard for Information Technology – Public and Private Information (PAPI) for Learners This standard was initiated by an LTSC working group in 1997. However, from 2001 the development of this standard was continued in working group 3 “Participant Information” of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 (http://jtc1sc36.org/, see below). The standard aims at supporting the exchange of learner data between different learning systems, incorporating the learners’ knowledge and abilities. Learner centred education should be supported by providing learning system developers with standards for producing personalised learning environments and materials (“LTSC PAPI – Overview”, n.d.). The LTSC standards are developed according to a four-step formalised process. Firstly, new standardisation projects are proposed and initiated by existing working groups or external groups. Once approved by the LTSC, the working groups develop the standards. Secondly, draft versions of the standards are prepared. Thirdly, the draft standards have to pass another approval process by the LTSC. And lastly, once approved, the standards have to be maintained by the working group members (Muramatsu, 2007). IMS Global Learning Consortium Standards

IMS Global Learning Consortium standards and specifications are aligned to the LTSC standards. However, they are more practical and they focus on implementation processes as organisations, research institutions and standardisation initiatives (e.g. LTSC) are integrated in the development process (Pawlowski and Adelsberger, 2001). These different members collaborate to “develop and promote the adoption of open technical specifications for interoperable learning technology. Several IMS specifications have become worldwide de facto standards for delivering learning products and services” (“About IMS”, n.d., para. 1). For ICT professional certifications using computer supported learning, several standards could be important for example, IMS Learning Design Specification, IMS Learner Information Package Specification, IMS Question & Test Interoperability Specification, IMS Reusable Definition of Competency or Educational Objective Specification. The IMS Learning Design Information Model integrates existing IMS specifications with the Educational Modelling Language (EML; http://eml.ou.nl) which was developed by the Open University of the Netherlands. The advantage of this approach is the possibility of reducing the existing vocabulary by using a meta-language and integrating different learning approaches. This includes methods of blended learning as offline learning materials (books) and activities (excursions) can also be digitally defined as learning activities by adding instructions and support mechanisms. The extensive description of learning scenarios with XML is possible, including roles,

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group definitions, learning objectives and conditions of the learning environment. The IMS Learning Design Information Model can be implemented in three consecutive steps, with the last two steps an extension of the first step (IMS Global Learning Consortium, 2003). SCORM – Shareable Content Objects Reference Model

The SCORM (Shareable Content Objects Reference Model) standards have been developed by the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, in regards to interoperability, accessibility and reusability of learning content. “SCORM is a collection of standards and specifications adapted from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive suite of e-learning capabilities that enable interoperability, accessibility and reusability of Web-based learning content” (ADL, 2007, para. 1). The SCORM reference model determines learning content by providing standard practices for labelling, storing and presenting content in eLearning environments. Three models are described within the scope of SCORM: Content Aggregation Model (CAM), Run-Time Environment (RTE) and Sequencing & Navigation (ADL Technical Team, 2006): 1) The Content Aggregation Model (CAM) is a description of how to aggregate reusable content into larger entities (content packaging), and how to exchange content between different learning systems and present them in predefined sequences. Learning resources meta-data is described according to the LOM and IMS standards (see above) and follows a structure of nine criteria. 2) The Run-Time Environment (RTE) Data Model (based on Java Script) ensures that learning content is launched, information about learners’ experiences with the content is exchanged and there are communication processes between content objects and the Learning Management System (LMS). These processes are standardised by an Application Programming Interface (API). As a result, LMSs and Shareable Content Objects (SCOs) have to meet special requirements. A Run-Time Environment Data Model specifies which information (for example, learners’ scores, personnel data) is passed at which point in the learning process. 3) The Sequencing & Navigation model specifies how content objects could be sequenced and structured according to the learners needs. Navigation events initiated by the learners or the LMS and sequencing rules defined by content developers, specify the branching and flow of content objects. Providing content based on learners preferences and knowledge, is based on the communication between the content and the LMS, and is enabled by the RTE. According to Pawlowski and Adelsberger (2001), the European Committee for Standardization/Information Society Standardization System (CEN/ISSS) relies on the above mentioned learning technology standards, for recommendations about the development of European norms for learning technologies. As well as considering these norms (meta-data, legal issues, learner profiles and distributed learning), the CEN/ISSS Learning Technologies Workshop discussed quality norms for learning resources assessment.

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All the learning technologies standards described above are based on the Dublin Core standards (Pawlowski and Adelsberger, 2001). “The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative [DCMI] is an open organization engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models” (DCMI, 2007, para. 1). Processes of retrieving, sharing and managing information are supported. ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36: Standards for: Information Technology, Learning, Education, and Training (ITLET)

Within the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and its subcommittees (SC), several working groups (WG) are concerned with information technology standardisation. SC36 works on standards for ITLET and SC36/WG 3, works on standards for Public and Private Information (PAPI) for learners. WG 5 “Quality Assurance and Descriptive Frameworks” is important for quality aspects. “The SC36/WG5 work programme addresses: describing and characterizing processes, components, and attributes related to the quality and architecture of IT-supported environments in the field of learning, education, and training” (“About SC36/WG5”, 2005, para. 1). To avoid an overlap of work, the SC36 does not develop standards for learning objects and content. If necessary, references to existing standards will be included in the standard development processes. ProCert Labs: The Quality Assurance Standard for Curriculum Alignment

According to the ProCert Labs website (http://www.procertmag.com) this international company charges a fee to give courseware and curriculum product providers the opportunity to test the alignment of their products with professional exams objectives. Objectivity of the testing process is very important. The testing methodology is built from standardised processes, and the results of the test are reported to courseware vendors in a confidential report: 1) Exam Objectives Correlation: Course content and exam objectives are matched by the ProCert Lab reviewers to ensure that the course covers the designed certification objectives. 2) Instructional Design Integrity: The ProCert Lab reviewers hold a degree in Instructional Design and they examine the organisation and conceptualisation of the courses based on Instructional Design principles. 3) Benchmark Comparison: The confidential report also includes benchmark results for comparable courseware products. Fourteen criteria for effective courseware are applied in this benchmark (for example, relation to exam objectives, specification of prerequisites, description of target audience, assessment methodology, etc.)

12.12.2

Examples of Quality Assurance Approaches

Total Quality Management and EFQM quality assurance approaches, both address the whole organisation, including personnel certification offerings within the organisational

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structure. For independent institutions with an educational purpose, specific quality approaches are available (such as, ArtSet, LQW and eduQUA). These approaches mainly focus on the quality assurance of general vocational education however, ICT professional certification is included in this scope.

•

Total Quality Management

The Total Quality Management (TQM) approach incorporates aspects of the whole organisation, and for this reason exceeds the EN ISO 9000: 2000ff. standards. All relevant activities are recorded, monitored, organised and controlled with the aim of gaining sustainable and continuous quality for the whole system. Stakeholder and society interests should be incorporated and all processes, including the results, should be considered for quality management. This means that quality has to be thought of as not only with regard to products and services provided by an organisation, but also with regard to the concerns of employees of an organisation, its environment and society. Competition with other organisations (for example, quality awards) is promoted within the TQM concept, in order to motivate quality efforts (Krems, 2004). According to the EN ISO 8402 standard, TQM requires the commitment and assistance of all the members of an organisation. Long-lasting customer satisfaction as well as added value for organisation and society members are constituent elements of TQM (Krems, 2004). Stark (1998, para. 5) provided an overview about important aspects of TQM: “Important aspects of TQM include customer-driven quality, top management leadership and commitment, continuous improvement, fast response, actions based on facts, employee participation, and a TQM culture”.

•

European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM)

EFQM developed an approach for implementing TQM in organisations. In 1988, 14 European organisations founded the EFQM. Currently, more than 800 partners support EFQMs mission to encourage excellence in European organisations, by incorporating management and leadership strategies with people, partners, processes and resources of an organisation. Therefore, the EFQM Excellence Model for assessing sustainable and excellent performance in organisations, was proposed and was based on nine criteria: Leadership, People, Policy and Strategy, Partnership and Resources, Processes, People Results, Customer Results, Society Results, and Key Performance Results. Innovation and learning positively influence the criteria and this assists in high performance and excellent results (EFQM, 1999-2003b). The EFQM Excellence Model can be regarded as a TQM approach because of the integration of eight fundamental TQM concepts. Namely, activities that focus on result orientation, customers, leadership and constancy of purpose, management by processes and facts, development and involvement of people, continuous learning, innovation and improvement, development of partnerships and corporate social responsibility, are associated with TQM approaches (EFQM, 1999-2003a, b).

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•

Lernerorientierte Qualitätssicherung in der Weiterbildung (LQW)

LQW is a model developed by the German institution ArtSet Forschung, Bildung, Beratung GmbH (see http://www.artset-lqw.de), for learner-oriented quality assurance in further education. The LQW model provides several materials and guidelines to support quality assurance for educational institutions who choose to apply the model. The materials focus on different quality related aspects such as, supply and demand of educational offerings, evaluation of learning processes, customer relations, staff and management. Educational institutions should create opportunities for learners to educate themselves. The quality assurance measurements of LQW support this aim through organisational learning and development processes. The focus is on the learning process and the learners. This is important as learners are responsible for their own educational success and educational institutions can improve their provision of educational opportunities. Furthermore, the development of a supporting network infrastructure gives participating institutions the possibility to assist each other in quality assurance questions in further education.

•

eduQUA – Swiss Quality Certificate for Further Education Institutions

The eduQUA certificate for further education institutions is a “best practice” example of quality assurance and could therefore have quality assurance implications in other European countries. Currently, the certificate is available in Switzerland only. Further education institutions can only receive the certificate if they meet a minimum standard of predefined quality requirements. The eduQUA approach can be described as process oriented (see chapter 7.2.3). The assessment process consists of the following components: design and development of educational supply, implementation of educational offers, analysis of the implementation process, and reflection of educational supply. Documenting all four quality steps for the educational institution is a core element of the certification process. The six quality criteria described in chapter 7.2.1 are the basis for the assessment. The quality certificate has a validity of three years however, institutions are audited each year (eduQUA, 2004).

12.12.3 Detailed Certification

responses:

Quality

Assurance

for

Vendor-specific

ICT professional certification and related quality assurance •

Development of courseware and learning materials

Cisco: An internal department is responsible for developing exam questions and defining certification guidelines. All courseware goes through review processes to ensure the content is correct. Beta content is developed and initially tested in a feedback process with Subject Matter Experts (SuMaExs) – a group of practitioners who are performing the same job role that the courseware provides training for. All the content is mapped to the exams, ie. the exams do not include content that was not taught in the course. The quality control process of the courseware and materials includes checking for grammatical errors, typos, correct page numbering, and consistent Cisco layout. Psychometric benchmarks ensure the legal defensibility of the exams. The learning

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materials include a lot of simulations which provide learners with the opportunity to solve network installation problems in simulated office environments, from their desk . Microsoft: MS Learning project groups define the learning objectives based on the MS products and in cooperation with the Exam Delivery Providers (EDP). To ensure the validity and reliability of the certification exams (for organisations), Microsoft uses external subject matter experts (SuMaEx) to define important topics for different job roles. Additionally, a rigorous exam-development process is used, including job analysis, and item development in several review and testing phases. The quality of exams is also ensured through psychometric item analysis, candidate feedback, and continuous review of exam content. Through the Unified Skills Domain definition, it is ensured that learning materials and exams are based on the same skills definition. The MS Official Curriculum is developed and quality controlled in cooperation with external service providers. SAP: Certification programme responsibility, including the development of the SAP Certification Software and certification content, is carried by the Global Education Portfolio Management (a division of SAP Education). The development processes are based on psychometric standards. •

Certification system / Acceptance of certification provided by other companies

Cisco: Cisco offers three certification levels: Associate, Professional and Expert. These can be matched to specific job roles through different certification tracks. Certain Cisco certificates build upon each other, for example, people need to have an active CCNA in order to be awarded CCNP. However, people could participate in CCNP courses without a CCNA, just for the purpose of learning. In the case of the CUDS, a basic certificate from Microsoft is requirement for certification. Although, there are discussions about blending other certifications, it is still an isolated case. Two reasons for this were stated by Cindy Hoffmann: Firstly, “it is an administrative nightmare, trying to validate another company’s validity” and secondly, other certificates (e.g. CompTIA’s Network+) are seen as competitors. However, the topic is still being discussed and CompTIA’s Network+ or Juniper certificates could serve as requirements for Cisco professional level certification. Microsoft: The newly developed generation of MS certification consists of three series (with four credentials) and targets the validation of core technical, professional and architectural skills. Most certificates require the completion of several exams. For example, the MCSA requires 3 core exams and 1 elective exam (which could be substituted by a CompTIA certificate). In general, accepting certifications from other providers is a controversial topic, because the quality of those certificates is not easy to assess. However, MS accepts some CompTIA certificates (such as CompTIA Security+) and there are regional examples where certificates from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) and certain vocational qualifications in the IT field are accepted. Currently, a harmonisation of the CertIT GmbH trainer certificate and the MS Certified Trainer (MCT) is being discussed because a large overlap between both certificates has been detected. SAP: Based on customer feedback, the certification system is currently being restructured to take existing SAP experience of ICT professionals into consideration for certification. This is done via an expansion of the programme to more career-enhancing multiple tiers of certification, determined thorough job task analysis. Three certification levels have been defined: Associate Level, Professional Level and Master Level. A

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certification on the Associate Level and Professional Level is not a precondition for the Master Level, but is recommended by SAP. The aim of the paradigm shift is to enable SAP partners and customers to use the certification more easily as a benchmark for recruitment, engagement and training. The major features of the re-structure are a shift from knowledge-based “product feature and function” related certifications to performance-based certifications, according to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Knowledge Recall, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation). Other certifications are accepted in some SAP certification tracks to cover areas which are not part of SAPs core competencies (for example, from the Project Management Institute, PMI). •

Localisation of certificates

Cisco: An adaptation of the courses and exams is currently provided for Japan only. However, Cisco intends to expand their localisation activities for the 10 most demanding countries, including China, Brazil and Portugal. At the moment, local authorised Cisco learning partners are allowed to translate the standardised content and courseware into their language, including adaptations to local legal norms and requirements. The only requirement for these “derivative works” is that the learning partners are not allowed to take anything out of the materials. Microsoft: All exams are offered worldwide and unitarily. If necessary, adaptations to local regulations (for example, hardware specifications) would be included in the exam development process. Most exams are available in English, German, French, and Japanese. The major product exams (Windows) are offered additionally in simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian, and Portuguese. SAP: SAP certifications are offered worldwide, primarily in English and German. However, some of the exams are translated into a total of 27 other languages, depending on the target audience and type of certification. The content of existing certifications (especially end user certification) is also localised (for example, legal regulations for accounting). Before implementation, the adapted certifications have to pass the SAP quality committees and meet SAP quality standards. •

Initiatives and Frameworks

Cisco: Cisco collaborates with government entities all over Europe however, this is not on EU level because the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and the European eCompetence Framework are still in preparation. In the future, Cisco hopes for a certain level of integration into those frameworks. Currently, there is still a lack of official recognition for the proposed learning, although it corresponds very highly with the official curricula for a teaching network and a need for integration has been identified. Nevertheless, integration does not make sense before the European frameworks are in place. Microsoft: The interviewee explained that within the MS Education business division (responsible for lesson plans, tutorials and in-depth Microsoft product resources for public education) a working group is involved with integrating MS certification into the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). As the interviewee is from another business division he could not provide further details.

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SAP: The SAP certification programme has a global orientation. Therefore, the focus on adherence to international test standards, such as those outlined by the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), is greater than on European Frameworks. It is essential for SAP to have a legally defensible and psychometrically valid certification programme in the US. When adhering to the rigorous US standards, SAP found itself well within the realms of European standards. •

Testing Procedures

Cisco: The examination is offered through Pearson VUE. People who take the exam have to have identification and it is ensured that people do not use supporting materials during the tests (for example, an iPod). However, there is a recognition that a lot of people do not participate in the exams and go to the courses just for informational reasons. Microsoft: The quality of testing procedures is a central topic in the certification process. Security controls (for example, control of identity card and mobile phones) are standard, and tests are downloaded for each individual from an item pool, resulting in different tests for students who sit the same exam. More frequently simulations and interactive exercises are used for testing candidate knowledge, which focus on knowledge application (instead of knowledge reproduction in multiple choice tests). This procedure also reduces the advantage of using illegal learning materials from the web, as learning by rote would no longer be sufficient for passing the tests. The EDP (Thomson Prometric) is responsible for exam implementation and psychometric testing of the content developed by MS Learning. To ensure quality the EDP must adhere to strict key performance indicators. SAP: The delivery of SAP certification exams is organised in the external test centres of Pearson VUE. This partner was chosen, due to its international reputation for exam delivery. Pearson VUE meets the quality requirements that SAP expects. For example, it provides access to the SAP Education Software and ensures that people have no opportunities to cheat. Exams are also delivered in the national SAP Education Centres by people with special authority (proctors). •

Training centres/ training providers

Cisco: Cisco cooperates with Authorized Learning Partners which have to prove that they comply with certain standards. Additionally, learning partners have to complete electronic evaluation at the end of each class and Cisco staff constantly monitor these scores. If a negative trend or weakness is detected, based on the students’ feedback, Cisco explores the reasons and gives feedback to the learning partners. Training staff have to acquire the CCSI certificate (Cisco Certified Solutions Instructor) and subsequent certification is required for each new class to prove teaching ability of the courseware and ability to answer students’ questions. Microsoft: To be assigned as a MS Certified Partner for Learning Solutions, a training centre has to meet several quality requirements for infrastructure, technical equipment, and qualification of training staff, etc. Trainers have to acquire the Microsoft Certified Trainer certificate (MCT) to prove their technical and didactical competencies. Didactical competencies could also be proved by local qualifications for example, teacher qualifications and IHK training certificates are accepted.

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SAP: SAP Education (Global Education Portfolio Management) is solely responsible for the certification programme. 77 SAP Education Centres worldwide, provide training for the certifications. People who want to register for a SAP exam are not obliged to participate in those courses, but they have the opportunity to acquire the relevant knowledge through autodidactic learning (SAP provides several online trainings) or they can rely on their work experience (some knowledge which is required for the Master Level exams can only be acquired through experience in the field). However, there are a few training curricula for certain certifications which require participation at courses. •

Quality assurance in the company (related to ICT professional certification)

Cisco: The definition of quality varies from group to group. A lot of groups go through ISO compliance (for example, manufacturing, technical response). For Cisco certification, standards proposed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI; a member of ISO) are applied. Examples of quality criteria for certification processes and exams are content review, checking for obvious errors, legal defensibility and psychometric benchmarks. Additionally, the exam group and the courseware development group have their own internal standards, which are based on academic standards for courseware development for example, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), psychometric benchmarks and the ADDIE-Model (Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate). Microsoft: Quality is defined by ensuring that Microsoft validates the skills required to be competent with a product or in a job role. Customer satisfaction is the most important quality criterion and is crucial to ensure that individuals become certified and have greater confidence in deploying MS products as a result. Additionally, legal defensibility and ANSI standards are relevant quality criteria. Currently, MS is in the process of becoming ANSI certified in order to meet the EN ISO/IEC 17024 requirements. Microsoft continually evaluates the quality of each certification exam administered, through its refresh and rebuild processes, and live items are analysed every year in order to ensure they are still valid and reliable. Exam satisfaction is measured within 30 days after exam delivery and programme satisfaction is assessed twice a year. The exam development team carries the responsibility for the quality of exams. SAP: The Global Education Portfolio Management is responsible for ensuring certification programme quality and it has clearly defined internal quality processes. It cooperates with internal QA teams and external experts (for example, psychometricians) and applies internal process monitoring tools. The internal quality approaches are based on US industry standards for IT certification (for example, the Association of Test Publishers, the National Organization for Competency Assurance), and are influenced by the organisations’ complete quality management system. The QA processes range from test creation to test delivery and through appeal processes. For example, the quality of training centres is assessed through its own evaluation methods and quality control processes (for example, customer forms). Reliability and validity are the most important quality criteria for SAP certification, in order to be a true benchmark, and to ensure the legal defensibility of the certification (for example, all exam participants have the same conditions irrespective of the date and place of exam delivery, and the results must be free from discrimination biases). Overall, the aim is to have a long-term certification programme which guarantees a certain consistency for the customers, and which allows

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certified people to have confidence in the value (market value and personal value) of their certification.

12.13 EUCIP Professional Profiles There are 21 EUCIP Professional Profiles. These can be viewed in detail at http://www.eucip.org/index.jsp?b=0-104&pID=390&nID=412 . The 21 profiles are lisest below. 3 full descriptions of selexted profiles are included below the list of 21 for reference.. The 21 profiles are 1) IS Analyst 2) Business Analyst 3) Software Developer 4) Network Manager 5) Enterprise Solutions Consultant 6) X-Systems Engineer 7) Database Manager 8) IS Project Manager 9) IS Manager 10) IS Auditor 11) Logistics & Automation Consultant 12) Sales & Application Consultant 13) Client Manager 14) IT Systems Architect 15) Web & Multimedia Master 16) Systems Integration & Testing Engineer 17) Telecommunications Architect 18) Security Adviser 19) Data Centre & Configuration Manager 20) Help Desk Supervisor 21) IT Trainer

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12.13.1.1

Software Developer

EUCIP Software Developer Elective Level Profile Specification

Version 2.4, February 2007 Short Description

A EUCIP Software Developer is expected to play a considerable technical role in information systems design and to be very effective in carrying out the creation and maintenance of complex software modules that typically need to be integrated into a wider information system. Different specialisations are possible, either in the field of applications and web services or in system-level software.

This profile requires a minimum work experience of 18 months in a compatible job role; if this requirement is not fulfilled, the candidate might be certified as an Associate Software Developer.

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Tasks Overview Defines detailed specifications and directly contributes to the efficient creation and/or modification of complex software systems using the proper standards and tools. Ensures that the results meet the requirements both in terms of high quality technical design and in terms of conformity with agreed functional specifications. Is informed about available standards, methods and tools that are relevant to the specific work environment: identifies advantages and disadvantages of each, and applies them in an intelligent and effective way in order to achieve well-engineered products which ensure the necessary attributes such as fitness for purpose, reliability, efficiency, security, safety, maintainability and cost effectiveness. Takes care of technical issues in software implementation projects and in the other stages of the life cycle for software development: investigation, analysis, specification, design, construction, testing, implementation and software maintenance. Ensures that adequate documentation is produced and maintained. Uses database management systems software and appropriate analysis tools to analyse database performance statistics and create reports on demand, including proposals for improvement and resolution of problems. Understands the main alternatives in configuring databases and can provide support during installation and upgrade of software servers and application tools, ensuring that version control procedures are observed, applying fixes, and maintaining supplier and user documentation. Addresses complex and non-standard situations, taking charge of technical responsibility for implementation stages of the life cycle for software development, by participating in investigation, analysis and specification, ranging from design, construction, testing, maintenance, upgrade and migration, and achieving a well engineered product. In case of a senior software developer leading a team, manages a group of technical staff, providing expertise in the selection, provision and use of architectures, software and facilities, taking full responsibility for the quality and timeliness of their work and ensuring effective utilisation of all assigned resources. Where there is special focus on web systems, selects appropriate tools, templates and standards to create advanced, well designed and engineered web pages with specified content and layout. Tests pages and corrects coding errors. Assists less experienced colleagues with difficult coding problems. Sets coding standards for the employing organisation, fully taking into account bandwidth and browser compatibility issues.

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Specifies appropriate web server hardware and network connectivity for small and medium sized information systems. Maintains familiarity with a substantial range of relevant web sites and participates in significant discussions on developments in web tools and technology. Uses the knowledge thus gained to advise clients/users of current/future trends, and to anticipate any necessary changes to standards in the employing organisation. Converts logical specifications into more detailed designs taking account of the technical and non-technical features and limitations of the target implementation environment. Interprets object/data models into appropriate DB schema within set constraints (e.g. consistency, security, ownership) and produces object database components as required. Constructs or modifies, tests and corrects large and/or complex component modules from specifications. Prepares and coordinates software module testing; identifies defects and causes of failure, and amends programs and system configuration until a fully positive outcome is achieved. Contributes to defining the software modules that comprise an integration build, ensuring that they meet the defined software test criteria and producing software builds for loading onto target hardware from software source code. Essential Behavioural Skills [ 1 ]166 The Software Developer role requires first of all a rational mental attitude capable of conceptual and analytical thinking, a high regard for detail and a persistent goal-oriented approach, leading to the result through structured solutions formulated in a flexible way. Another relevant set of skills is the ability to communicate and interact effectively (in both oral and written form) with colleagues and clients: this shall include a general organisational and cross-functional awareness, a good teamworking approach, efficiency in information acquisition, in as much as the ability to plan, organise, make technical decisions, provide directions and follow-up. 166

numbers in brackets represent EUCIP points

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Examples of possible courses include techniques for effective meetings, time management, teamworking.

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Detailed Skills Required Deep competence level [ 20 ] B3.01

Programming [ 4,5 ]

Use different programming design methods, such as Object-Oriented (OO) design, “top down” design, structured programming. Know how to use abstraction as a technique of problem-solving and design. Cope with the specific needs of legacy systems in program design. Use different data structures such as records, arrays, and linked lists. Decide when to use each one of the data structures above and related algorithms. Use some of the main types of programming languages (different generations, functional, procedural, OO-based) to compose new algorithms and functions or to modify existing programs. Interpret correctly syntax in programming languages. Choose between compiled and interpreted programming languages.

B1.07

Object oriented approach to systems development [ 1,5 ]

Appreciate Object Design approach. Appreciate the benefits of “objects” and subsequent re-use of software. Understand the use of objects and classes. Appreciate Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism and Messaging Concepts. Appreciate the use of Implementing and Testing Models in UML. Assist in identifying UML Classes. Use standard notation and conventions for Classes. Construct Class Diagrams (UML). Define Attributes, Associations, Operations and Methods for a Class. Make use of inheritance and aggregation hierarchies. Appreciate the differences between persistent and non-persistent Classes. Appreciate the differences between OO design and other programming design methods.

B1.08

Software engineering principles [ 1,5 ]

Understand roles of the software engineering process (project manager, software developer, maintenance staff, quality assurance and the user). Understand software development life cycle models and their applications.

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Understand and apply software development estimation techniques Understand and apply principles of software Project Management Understand Risk Management Understand Quality Assurance Understand Configuration Identification, Control and Auditing Understand Configuration Status Accounting Understand and apply Software Estimating Techniques and Metrics

B2.03

Working with databases [ 1,5 ]

Use SQL for: basic ‘select’ statements restricting and sorting data transforming data through single-row functions displaying data from multiple tables and views aggregating data using group functions extracting complex results through subqueries data manipulation (DML commands) Produce readable output through interactive SQL. Import and export data: methods include the bulk copy. Manage result sets by using cursors and SQL: considerations include locking models and appropriate usage. Extract data in XML format: considerations include output format and XML schema structure. Manage data manipulation by using stored procedures, transactions, triggers, userdefined functions, and views. Control data access by using stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions, and views. Define object-level security including column-level permissions by using GRANT, REVOKE, and DENY. Know how to use standard Database interfaces like ODBC, JDBC, etc.

B1.09 Computer Aided Software Engineering Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tools [ 1 ]

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(CASE)

and


Know when and how to use a CASE tool: top issues related to CASE tools adoption, CASE Tools for different platforms/languages. Work with the most used IDEs for Windows and Unix platforms. Integrate plug-ins in an IDE. Examples: Oracle Developer 2000, Rational ROSE, Select, Business Objects. Customise the build process in an IDE. Use the “Configuration Manager” (Debug/Build…). Integrate the IDE with a Version Control System. Example: CVS.

A6.02

Develop in a collaborative environment [ 1,5 ]

Use tools for team work in a collaborative environment. Cope with primary issues related to a team work. Manage Version Control, Technical Documents, and Distribution tools. Manage Build and Test. Use messaging tools such as IM, Mailing List, discussion boards. Facilitate a collaborative environment. Apply procedures for team work. Acknowledge the importance of an established set of documentation and coding standard. Exploit detailed knowledge and troubleshooting hints available through virtual communities of developers.

B3.02

Languages [ 4,5 ]

Write effective source code in a specific procedural programming language. Example: Basic, Pascal, C, Cobol, etc. Use a specific OO programming language. Example: C++, Java, Delphi, etc. Use a scripting language. Example: PERL, Python, Ruby, etc. Define the principles of Mark-up Languages. Use Extensible Mark-up Language (XML), use provided tools to execute XML-friendly database queries, employ XML technology in programs and applications, know XSLT and how to use it to transform a document.

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B3.03

Software development process [ 1,5 ]

Write documentation: proper formats, tools, internal documentation. Develop formal methods, use tools and environments for software engineering, recognise the role of programming paradigm and process maturity. Perform Rapid Prototyping. Perform testing/acceptance/deployment procedures: development of major UI components development of prototypes to explore any other system uncertainties like response time, scalability etc. Apply methods and techniques for planning and monitoring progress of projects. Examples: work breakdown structures, critical path analysis, conflict resolution. Correct course and control changes, according to the Change Control Process. Apply a proper coding process in a development environment aimed at a massively parallel execution, as well as for embedded systems, real time response systems and very high availability systems. Conduct acceptance testing. Identify milestones. Test functionality, system stress and load. Use commercial tools packages for various types of testing and bug tracking. Build an acceptance test. Support deployment and hand-over. Provide application and technical support.

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Designing and distributed and critical applications [ 1,5 ]

developing

B3.04

Choose the right level of transaction support. Plan and design for performance, maintainability, extensibility, availability, scalability, and reliability. Considerations include: number of transactions per time increment bandwidth capacity peak versus average usage requirements response-time expectations barriers to performance processes per server parallel execution maintenance expectations location and knowledge level of maintenance staff impact of third-party maintenance agreements hours of operation level of availability impact of downtime growth of the partners growth of the company volume of documents Design integration with existing applications. Derive the physical design. Install remote installations.

components:

considerations

include

attended

and

unattended

Troubleshoot failed installations. Identify situations for applying custom components. Monitor and optimise performance: tools include performance counters, Event Viewer, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Diagnose and resolve implementation errors.

B3.07

Build reports [ 1 ]

Administer server resources.

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Create high quality web reports. Use templates to create mailing labels and letters. Create and modify basic tabular reports. Build reports using XML. Add dynamic data to an HTML page. Identify the main components in a report document and how they are related. Publish a report on the web. Tune reports. Create other report styles such as break reports and matrix reports. Use report parameters and customise a runtime parameter form. Manage report templates. Create and embed a graph in a report. Identify standard report design styles and run existing reports to various output destinations. Incisive competence level [ 11 ] B3.06

Secure programming [ 1 ]

Understand and apply the principles of secure coding: Appropriate access control, Least privilege concept, Validation and control of input data, Buffer overflow concept. Understand secure programming issues: Socket security, RPC and DCOM security, Java applet and ActiveX control security, EJB and RMI. Minimise, isolate and simplify code running with raised privileges. Cope with main security issues related to code and data structures. Distrust all values external to the program (e.g. arguments, environment variables, etc.). Avoid use of any function that copies without checking buffer lengths. Avoid link with dynamic libraries, link statically. Avoid creation of temporary files in world-writable directories (e.g. /tmp). Recognise race conditions.

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Design the security infrastructure. Design the deployment architecture: considerations include security, performance, maintainability, extensibility, availability, scalability, and reliability. Monitor performance counters and event logs. Understand fundamentals of static analysis of source code. Define security code review processes. Define secure software deployment procedures.

C2.01

Operating Systems [ 2 ]

Differentiate between the most widespread operating systems: Linux/Unix Windows MacOS Install and upgrade the above OSs. Cope with OS conceptual problems: concurrency management, deadlock and starvation scheduling I/O operation and management file management systems user and access management Analyse network capabilities. Configure network interfaces. Configure various network protocols and services (including http, SMTP, POP, IMAP, DNS). Start and stop various network services. Publish resources on the network (e.g. shared printers and folders). Measure and monitor system load: CPU (both mono- and multi-processor) network memory and virtual memory storage processes and threads usage of shared resources

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Tune the system to reach required performances. Manage user accounts and groups and set up related security policies. Apply interoperability tips (file formats, available protocols, etc.). Set up systems to reach the required level of interoperability between heterogeneous OSs. Use performance boosting techniques as clustering. Setup clustering. Perform troubleshooting. Perform system recovery.

A3.03

Solution envisaging [ 1 ]

Envisage and develop a solution concept. Analyse the feasibility of the solution. Analyse and refine the scope of the solution project. Identify key project risks. Contribute to gathering and analysing business requirements. Create a conceptual model of business requirements or data requirements: methods include Object Role Modelling (ORM) and UML. Validate the conceptual design Create the logical design for the solution. Create the logical data model. Validate the proposed logical design. Write a clear specification document.

B1.12

Defining a solution architecture [ 1 ]

Gather and analyse: user requirements, operational requirements, system requirements for hardware, software, and network infrastructure. Transform requirements into functional specifications: considerations include performance, maintainability, extensibility, scalability, availability, deployability, security, and accessibility.

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Transform functional specifications into technical specifications: considerations include performance, maintainability, extensibility, scalability, availability, deployability, security, and accessibility. Select the appropriate technologies for the physical design of the solution. Create the physical design for: the solution, deployment, maintenance, the data model. Create specifications for auditing and logging. Validate the physical design.

A5.03

Project coordination [ 1 ]

Coordinate a software development project: planning, control, organisation, configuration management, version control, quality assurance, metrics. Establish standards applying to development documentation, coding, code review, UI, and testing. Establish processes: processes include reviewing development documentation, reviewing code, creating builds, tracking issues, managing source code, managing change, managing release, and establishing maintenance tasks. Contribute to establishing quality and performance metrics to evaluate project control and organisational performance. Report actual progress of activities against an agreed plan.

B1.06

Object oriented approach to systems analysis [ 1 ]

Act as an effective member of a team involved in analysis using an OO approach. Appreciate how the system design approach in the OO paradigm differs from other approaches. Use the main OO analysis modelling types and show how they relate to each other. Evaluate the benefits of the OO approach to analysis (business and systems). Appreciate the use of the OO Model types in UML. Use UML Analysis models. Perform Business domain modelling (in UML). Contribute to Activity Modelling (in UML). Create Use Cases in requirements gathering.

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Appreciate UML Dynamic Modelling techniques (e.g. STDs, Sequence and Collaboration diagrams). Appreciate UML Design and Architecture Modelling. Evaluate OO lifecycles, and development environments from the business view. B2.04 Designing and implementing with transactional support [ 1 ]

business

solutions

Analyse architecture requirements. Analyse security requirements. Analyse integration requirements. Analyse functional requirements. Develop an application made of Business Components. Implement Business Rules. Handle Exceptions and Errors. Create and manage Database Objects. Present business data. Create custom and dynamic queries. Leverage middle-tier validation. Handle Business Component Transactions. Package Business Services and Data Models. Extend and Substitute Business Components. Deploy Business Component Applications. Create JSP Clients for a Business Components Application. Refer to Best Practices. Perform system tuning for performance.

B2.02

Designing and implementing databases [ 1 ]

Choose among different types of database architecture (e.g. relational, hierarchical, matrix, object-oriented) suitable to application requirements. Exploit data abstraction: physical level, conceptual level and view level, object-based logical model, record-based logical model and physical data model. Apply the principles of object-based logical models: i.e. the entityrelationship model, the object-oriented model. Define entities: considerations include entity composition and normalisation. Design entity keys: considerations include FOREIGN KEY constraints, PRIMARY KEY constraints, and UNIQUE constraints.

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Design attribute domain integrity: considerations include CHECK constraints, data types, and nullability. Know how to use database design tools. Examples: Oracle Designer 2000, ERWin. Implement a physical database. Create and alter databases: considerations include file groups, file placement, growth strategy, and space requirements. Create and alter database objects: objects include constraints, indexes, stored procedures, tables, triggers, user-defined functions, and views. Define object-level security including column-level permission by using GRANT, REVOKE, and DENY Alter database objects to support replication and partitioned views. Troubleshoot failed object creation.

B4.02

Designing and developing web applications [ 1 ]

Choose platforms that support each programming language and environment. EITHER: Master servlets and JSPs, which are the most popular components of the J2EE standard and critical elements used by companies building e-commerce sites. Build web-based applications using Java servlets and Java Server Pages (JSP). Know the concepts and use of the servlet API, plus the productive development of applications through Java Server Pages. OR: Master COM/COM+/.NET and ASP. Build web-based applications using ASP or VBA in a .NET environment. Know the concepts and use of web services.

B4.03

Build internet applications [ 1 ]

Create form modules, including components for database interaction and GUI controls. Reuse objects and code. Choose appropriate data sources for data blocks. Ensure application security. Create and manage multiple-form Internet applications. Handle the notion of stateless connection and use of sessions.

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Annexes

EUCIP Points

Sample Learning Modules EUCIP CORE PLAN

X

EUCIP CORE BUILD

X

EUCIP CORE OPERATE

X

EUCIP IT ADMINISTRATOR 2.Operating Systems

A 4/4

Univ. SW Engineering

E 7/7

Univ. Operating Systems

A 4/4

Univ. IT Security

G 2/2

IBM Test 141: XML and Related Technologies

D 1/3

IBM Test 285: Developing with IBM WebSphere Studio v5

E 1/2

IBM Test 286: Application Development with WebSphere D 2/3 Studio v5 IBM Test 287: Enterprise Application Development with D 1/3 WebSphere Studio v5 IBM Test 486: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with C 6/6 E 1/7 UMLTest IBM Test 630: ClearCase for Windows

E 1/7

IBM AIX Admin

A 3/4

IBM LPI L1

A 2/4

Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) MS 70-300: Analyzing Requirements and Defining Solution E 7/7 Architectures for Microsoft .NET Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD*) MS 70–305: Developing and Implementing Web Applications with B 6/6 Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET OR 70–315: Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET MS 70–306: Developing and Implementing Windows-based C 6/6 Applications with MS Visual Basic .NET and MS Visual Studio .NET OR 70–316: Developing and Implementing Windows-based Applications with MS Visual C# .NET and MS Visual Studio .NET MS 70-310: Developing XML Web Services and Server D 3/3 Components with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework OR 70-320: Developing XML Web Services and Server

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Components with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework

MS 70–229: Designing and Implementing Databases with F 3/3 MS SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (or equivalent*) MS 70–330: Implementing Security for Applications with G 2/2 Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA*) MS 70–290: Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows A 4/4 Server 2003 Environment Poi nts

Sample Learning Modules Oracle Certif. DBA 1Z0-007: Introduction to Oracle9i SQL

F 1/3

1Z0-031: Oracle9i Database Administration Fundamentals I F 1/3 1Z0-042: Oracle Database 10g Administration I

F 2/3

Oracle Certif. Developer 1Z0-141: Oracle Applications

Build

Internet F 2/3

Sun Certif. System Administrator for the Solaris OS

A 4/4

Sun Certif. Developer for the Java2 Platform

C 2/6 D 1/3

Sun Certif. Enterprise Architect for J2EE

C 2/6 E 3/7

Sun Certif. Programmer for the Java2 Platform

B 3/6 C 2/6

Sun Certif. Web Component Developer for J2EE

D 3/3

Sun Certif. Business Component Developer for J2EE

F 1/3 G 1/2

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Forms

Developer

-

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External references to SFIA© version 3 by the SFIA Foundation

Skill 22: Programming/software development “The design, creation, testing and documenting of new and amended programs from supplied specifications in accordance with agreed standards.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 19: Systems design “The specification and design of information systems, their components and architecture to meet defined business needs.”

Levels 4 and 5 External references to AITTS by the German Arbeitsprozessorientierten Weiterbildung in der IT-Branche

Government

–

Profil 1.3: Software Developer (Softwareentwickler/in) “Software Developer konzipieren und implementieren einzelne Software-Bausteine [Komponenten und Module].”

External references to Nomenclature (club informatique des grandes entreprises françaises)

2005

by

CIGREF

Métier 4.2: Développeur “À la demande de la maîtrise d’œuvre, et sur la base des spécifications fonctionnelles émises par celle-ci, le développeur analyse, paramètre et code les composants logiciels applicatifs dans le respect des normes et procédures, ainsi que les évolutions souhaitées.”

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Business Analyst

EUCIP Business Analyst

Elective Level Profile Specification

Version 2.4, February 2007

Short Description

A EUCIP Business Analyst is expected to be very effective in understanding business cases, eliciting requirements, modelling business processes and identifying the appropriate type of ICT solutions. For this role, a high level professional attitude and the ability to communicate are as vital as a wide and thorough ICT competence.

This profile requires a minimum work experience of 60 months in a compatible job role; if this requirement is not fulfilled, the candidate might be certified as an Associate Business Analyst.

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Tasks Overview According to the scope of the tasks assigned by the management, identifies and envisions business improvement opportunities, presents project proposals and/or reviews them in terms of balance between benefits, costs and risks. Identifies the organisational structure, undertaking and supporting the business activities. Identifies cultural, organisational and business constraints affecting options for change, and supports the importance of corporate values and standards. Establishes an understanding of business aims and develops alternative processes to achieve them. Assesses the risks, costs and potential benefits of alternative business process designs. Directly contributes to innovation by participating in programmes and projects for the enhancement of information systems and organisational performance. Works within client organisation (either as an employee or as an external provider) to map out and streamline business processes, functions, procedures and workflows through consistent modelling techniques. Collects and formalises requirements expressed by managers, process owners and operational users of the information system, assesses the primary needs and evaluates the viability of possible improvements. Reports on alternative scenarios and on organisational and economic feasibility of various business cases. Produces high quality documents and written reports, describing organisational and/or technical topics in a clear and concise style. Communicates with ICT staff to assess the effectiveness of automated information flows, the efficiency of existing solutions (in terms of ICT equipment, processing and communication capacity, data structures, objects, algorithms, business logic, etc.) and the technical feasibility of proposed new solutions.

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Advises the organisation on the innovative use of ICT/IS for business information and process improvement, and highlights best practices in similar/relevant industries. Plans and manages effective communication sessions (i.e. various types of formal and informal meetings, training, presentations, demonstrations, brainstorming etc.) showing strong relational skills, goal-orientation, a problem solving attitude and a full mastery of business communication techniques. Assists clients/users in defining both service levels and acceptance tests for automated systems, and takes full responsibility for proper quality assessments. Essential Behavioural Skills [ 4 ]167 The Business Analyst role requires a good general knowledge, a strong will to learn, excellent oral and written expression, and a very wide range of more specific behavioural skills. Attention to the client, interaction, ability to collect information, plus keen organisational and commercial sensitivity are required to understand quickly the client’s needs. Strategic vision, analytical and synthetic intelligence, imagination and proactivity are required to formulate and validate solutions. A persistent goal-driven approach, flexibility, determination, planning and control aptitude, teambuilding and leadership are required to achieve actual results.

167


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Detailed Skills Required Deep competence level [ 16,5 ] A1.01

Business activity and business process modelling [ 2,5 ]

Understand the Rationale for Business Activity Modelling. Perform Internal Environment Analysis (e.g. MOST). Perform External Environment Analysis (e.g. PESTLE). Use SWOT Analysis. Perform Business Viewpoint Analysis. Define Business Activities for an organisation. Define CSFs and KPIs for a business change. Formalise Business Rules within an organisational unit. Define Information Support needed for the defined activities. Perform conflict resolution between perspectives. Create Rich Pictures to describe a business scenario. Utilise the Soft Systems Approach to developing an Information System. Evaluate alternative ways of modelling business processes; e.g. Data Flow Diagrams, Process Hierarchy Diagrams, Process Dependency, Event Models. Conform to the syntax of business process modelling. Document Information flows (sources, destinations).

A2.01

Information Systems in the business environment [ 1,5 ]

Explain the nature of Management Information in the planning and control of organisations. Define the strategic role of Information Systems (IS). Demonstrate a detailed understanding of common business functions. Describe why an IS Strategy is needed. Contribute to the development of an IS Strategy. Relate IS Strategy to Business Strategy.

A1.02

Requirements engineering [ 2 ]

Distinguish between Functional and Non-Functional requirements. Use What, Why, How questioning to elicit requirements. Differentiate between requirements and project constraints.

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Identify the Actors in the Requirements Management process: Domain Expert, End User, Requirements Engineer, and Developer. Perform requirements elicitation. Perform Problem and Business understanding activities. Understand the needs and constraints of stakeholders. Use Creative thinking and related techniques (e.g. interviews and scenarios, observation, prototyping, workshops, generic requirements for industry sector). Prioritise Requirements (e.g. 80/20, MoSCoW, Needs and Musts). Resolve overlapping requirements. Judge whether a problem is a cause or symptom. Resolve conflicting requirements. Reduce ambiguity of requirements . Ensure Testability of requirements. Support requirements validation via reviews and prototyping. Achieve Requirement Refinement. Manage the requirements definition process. Differentiate between stable and volatile requirements. Apply versioning principles to requirements documents. Establish traceability and ownership of requirements. Use CASE Tools for requirements management. Act as an effective member of a team involved in eliciting and recording user requirements for an Information System. Apply a range of elicitation techniques effectively.

A1.03

Organisational strategies and related IT system selection [ 1,5 ]

Classify organisations based on their type, internal structure, legal status etc. Evaluate the role IT plays in different types of organisation. Evaluate the impact of different organisational structures on the management of IT. Evaluate Corporate Mission Statements and their IT implications. Build a business plan for a particular organisation. Evaluate the major techniques for building a business strategy. Involve functional managers and key users to identify the key business needs

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Propose new technical & organizational tools to improve office automation and productivity (e-mail, document/content management, cooperative workflow with external partners) Identify IT solutions for factory automation Outline the IT needed to deliver a given business plan. Select a portfolio of computer support tools for management of an organisation. Contribute to an overall strategy for leveraging of organisational knowledge, memory and learning. Use well-known decision making and problem solving techniques. Select suitable Management Information Systems (MIS) software for an organisation. Evaluate the usefulness of different IT-based workflow systems. Compare the effectiveness of virtual team working and physically co-located team working. Establish a collaborative structure, using relevant technology. Evaluate implementations of collaborative technologies. Evaluate the link between an IT strategy and the business strategy. Design appropriate matches between organisational need and IT provision. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of MIS, On-line Transaction Processing (OLTP) and related system types. Contribute to the specification of a Data Warehousing system to support Business Intelligence (analytics) users.

A3.02

IT organisational structure and measuring business benefits [ 1,5 ]

Evaluate organisational structures for developing and maintaining Information Systems. Propose new IT professional skills to meet emerging business or technological requirements. Identify responsibilities to comply to emerging needs (e.g. Governance, Security, Media Convergence, Knowledge Management, etc.). Evaluate the “End User Computing” model of development. Evaluate the success of Human Resouce policies in terms of retention, professional development and recruitment of IS staff. Evaluate the effectiveness of Total Quality Management within an IT organisation. Propose risk management approaches to risk reduction in the area of quality of IT solutions. Implement standard approaches to monitoring and evaluation of IT investments. Use TCO as a mechanism for evaluating business benefits.

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Produce outline project plans and business cases (with costs). Apply stakeholder analysis to an organisational scenario. Produce an Economic Feasibility study for a business project. Validate (from the business perspective) a technical feasibility study for a project. Produce an Organisational Feasibility study for a business scenario. Produce a cost benefit analysis for a business scenario. Evaluate an approach used to judge the business value of information and IT. Produce a budget for a business scenario, showing typical operational and capital costs. Distinguish between tangible and intangible benefits from an IT system, giving examples of each type. Use ROI analysis to judge the effectiveness of an IT solution to a business problem. Compare and contrast the major methods for evaluation of IT investment. Apply standard approaches to benefits management.

A6.01

Managing business change [ 1,5 ]

Develop a communication plan to facilitate organizational changes Foster innovation by an appropriate evaluation system for IT staff Promote training to facilitate the change Identify organizational and technological drivers of resistance to change Understand human behaviour and its impact on business change Create a plan to overcome resistance to change from the business, including “selling” the benefits of new technology Make effective use of Audio-Visual tools in making the case for change within an organisation Explain to non-IT staff the role of IT in achieving corporate aims, and its place within the organisation Ensure that the case for change is presented effectively, using modern delivery techniques Evaluate the Impact of an IT solution on the Business, its Customers/Suppliers, Staff, Internal processes etc Select between Programmes and Projects for Business Change Organise the delivery of user training for both new business processes and the use of any underpinning ICT services Control the interfaces between Business Change projects and enabling IT projects Identify cultural, organisational and business constraints affecting options for change

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Establish an understanding of business aims and develop alternative processes to achieve them Assess the risks, costs and potential benefits of alternative business process designs.

A3.01

Accounting and financial management [ 2 ]

Use basic accounting concepts and terminology; e.g. capital, accounts, cash flow, financial cycle, profit/loss, balance sheet. Understand the need for management accounting. Appreciate differing types of cost and methods of costing. Understand the principles of budgeting. Measure Business Performance using well known approaches; e.g. turnover/profit, investment appraisal, key financial performance ratios (e.g. ROCE, liquidity).

New technology and the matching of these to business needs [ 4 ]

A4.01

opportunities

Analyse business processes and compare them against alternative solutions proposed by standard software packages (“best practice” approach). Evaluate various options for the “virtual organisation” within a business scenario. Establish a business case for moving from a “segregated” sales and marketing strategy to the “unique customer” approach in a given organisation. Produce a report on the effects of globalisation for an organisation. Evaluate the Internet as a tool for creating new opportunities for an organisation. Evaluate extranets as a tool for achieving efficiencies in customer/supplier interaction. Produce an impact analysis for an organisation related to the increased use of ebusiness mechanisms. Evaluate a project which used IT as the enabler for a significant business change. Produce a report documenting the major features of Customer Relationship Management tools. Compare the features offered by two major Supply Chain Management packages. Evaluate the case for using Enterprise Resource Planning tools for a given business scenario. Compare the strengths and weaknesses (from a business viewpoint) of developments in IT technical architectures (e.g. web based vs. “2 tier” client server). Evaluate the case for using Document Management systems.

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Incisive competence level [ 11,5 ] B2.01

Information modelling techniques and tools [ 1 ]

Investigate existing systems and define elements of logical data design for required systems. Contribute to schema definition for a given business scenario. Use both top-down and bottom-up modelling of data. Understand the concepts of entity relationship modelling. Use entity relationship modelling or class modelling to outline the information requirements of a new business system. Use recognised entity modelling techniques to construct a data model reflecting the business needs of an organisation. Contribute to data key identification and design. Assist in the creation of a Data Catalogue. Validate data models from a business processing perspective. Specify the requirements for security and integrity of data in a business scenario; requirements should cover integrity, loss of data consistency, logical errors, system errors, hardware failures, human error.

B1.01

System development lifecycles [ 1,5 ]

Understand the differences between Business Analysis, Systems Analysis and Systems Design. Investigate and document an existing system. Produce a requirements definition for a business system. Create Business System Options and present them to the business. Identify tasks/disciplines involved in management of systems development. Justify the use of a specific systems methodology. Use relevant (to Business and Systems Analysis) development techniques. Explain the lifecycle of a project to business users. Use formal approaches for ensuring best practice in the System Development process. Understand the rationale for a particular Systems Development (SD) method and where it is used. Appreciate the scope and limitations of SD method in the project lifecycle. Understand and work within a standard development framework (e.g. SSADM). Appreciate the need for specific techniques in the SD process.

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Evaluate the suitability of differing system development approaches for a particular project scenario. Harmonise roles and responsibilities of the various specialists in each of the main lifecycles for system development. Use well known approaches to providing detailed SD Lifecycle products, e.g. textual, diagrams, prototypes. Create different modelling views of a business system (e.g. static data, behaviour, user centred, process).

A4.02

Package selection and implementation lifecycle [ 1 ]

Define a framework for effective package selection. Identify, investigate and assess potential package suppliers. Evaluate a software package against defined requirements. Present recommendations concerning the “fit” of the software package to agreed functional and non-functional requirements. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the package approach. Evaluate the human, technical and financial implications of a decision to outsource development/buy a package solution. Apply a checklist of factors to a decision on in-house development vs. package procurement. Work within a framework for package selection. Understand the impact on package selection of Prototyping approaches. Acquire an understanding of the software package market in a particular business context. Produce a High Level Functional Model for a system. Contribute to identifying potential package suppliers. Contribute to the production of Invitations to Tender (ITTs) and questionnaires. Investigate suppliers. Assist in the creation of Supply Contracts and Support Agreements. Perform cost comparisons – purchase and support. Document the functional match of a package solution. Contribute to gap analysis for a package selection. Use a weighted scorecard approach to evaluation. Present the recommendation for a specific package solution. Assist in the implementation of packages.

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Liaise with procurement staff for package purchase. Define the modified business processes required in a package solution. Appreciate the issues with tailoring the package software. Contribute to long term supplier management. Appreciate the advantages/disadvantages of packages.

B1.02

User centred analysis and development [ 1 ]

Analyse and contribute to the design of Information Systems which reflect the way users wish to work to support their business. Perform user analysis and establish usability criteria, which can be used to measure the success of new systems. Model business tasks and use these models as a basis for prototyping and user interface design. Use User Analysis, Work Practice Models, Task Modelling, Job Design, or equivalent techniques. Appreciate the role of User Centred techniques in System Development. Perform Work Practice Modelling using concepts such as actor, task, business event, task scenario, user role, user class, user object, common subtask. Map Business Activities onto the organisational structure. Create required task models, plans and scenarios. Contribute to identifying and specifying task-supporting IT software functions.

B1.03

RAD approaches to the system development lifecycle [ 1 ]

Understand key features of Rapid Application Development (prototyping, iteration, incremental development/delivery, user involvement, empowerment, timeboxing, and prioritisation). Apply key principles and Critical Success Factors for RAD projects. Define the actors in a RAD project. Understand the SD Lifecycle for a RAD approach. Work within a standard RAD framework (e.g. DSDM). Evaluate Prototyping Approaches and Opportunities. Appreciate the different types/purposes of Prototyping. Perform business and IS Modelling in RAD projects. Use Facilitation skills and obtain consensus. Contribute to testing in RAD projects.

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Assist the Project Manager in managing RAD risks. Contribute to Estimating and Timeboxing Management in RAD. Define the principles, advantages and disadvantages of the RAD approach. Describe different approaches to prototyping and explain where each approach might be applied. Identify key factors in the success of a Facilitated Workshop. Describe a framework for managing a RAD team. Contribute effectively to a RAD team. Identify appropriate applications for the RAD approach within an organisation.

B3.05

Principles of testing [ 1,5 ]

Explain the principles of Testing. Maintain the importance of Testing in the Lifecycle. Understand Dynamic Test Techniques. Apply Test Management Standards. Use Static Testing Techniques. Understand core testing terminology (e.g. Expected Results, Expected Information). Appreciate the economics of Testing. Perform High Level Test Planning. Organise User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Ensure Functional and Non-Functional UAT is completed. Contribute to Dynamic Testing (Black Box). Contribute to Test Management (e.g. organisation, estimating, resourcing).

A5.02

Estimating for system development [ 1 ]

Use a variety of estimating approaches and apply them to a practical project. Understand the importance of estimating and measurement. Distinguish between top-down and bottom-up estimating. Contribute to “estimating by analogy”. Contribute to Delphi estimating. Contribute to estimating by the analysis percentage effort method. Appreciate the principles of Function Point Analysis (FPA). Contribute to FPA estimates by using formal counting rules.

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Assist in defining effort estimates and elapsed duration estimates. Appreciate the use of Line Count Cost Models. Contribute to building Work Breakdown structures and hence estimating for software development projects. Appreciate the impact of timeboxing and RAD on estimating. Evaluate the factors affecting productivity in IS development. Contribute to collecting and analysing project statistics/metrics. Contribute to the use of metrics to improve project estimation.

C7.01

IT service delivery [ 1 ]

Contribute to the creation, via cost-based negotiation, of Service Level Agreements by stating business quality requirements for the specified service. Contribute to the organisational Capacity Plan by eliciting predictions of service usage (both existing and planned). Contribute to the Business Continuity Plan for an organisation, by specifying threats to and the recovery needs of each service offered by the organisation to its customers. Evaluate risk reduction and contingency options prepared by Service Management staff within an organisation. Contribute to Continuous Service Improvement plans on behalf of the business. Evaluate the various options for Service Desk support suggested by IT Service Management. Ensure full support for new services is in place before system implementation is completed. Liaise with Service Management staff over the technical impact of requested business changes to existing services. Contribute to business impact analysis of all requests for change to a service. Assist the business in specifying requests for change to existing services (using ITIL© standards or equivalent).

Tools and techniques testing and implementation of IT systems [ 1 ] B1.04

for

development,

Use system development tools for business modelling, requirements management and acceptance testing. Use relevant tools for automated testing (e.g. CAST). Use tools to support systems implementation and testing (e.g. rollout tools). Use relevant tools to perform security code review.

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Take responsibility for "end user" training and support documentation. Collaborate with Service Management to establish a user support structure (e.g. IT Service Desk).

A5.01

Project Management essentials [ 1,5 ]

Define the role of the various specialists in a typical project organisation structure (e.g. Rational Unified Process, PRINCE2, etc.). Contribute to the IS project plan for a given business scenario. Contribute to risk analysis of a project proposal, concentrating on business risk. Use standard approaches to evaluate a project plan from the business viewpoint. Assist in defining the phases within a project and the role of the business analyst in those phases. Assist in the creation of constraints and the definition of milestones, checkpoints and reviews for a project. Define Corporate Standards for the documentation of business analysis deliverables in a project. Contribute to quality assurance processes within a project, from a business perspective.

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Annexes

EUCIP Points


X

EUCIP CORE BUILD

X

EUCIP CORE OPERATE

X

Dynamic System Development Method (by EXIN) DSDM Essentials

D 1/6

DSDM Practitioner

D 3/6

ITIL (by EXIN or ISEB) IT Service Mgmt. Foundations

B 3/10

Univ. Information Systems

D 3/6

Univ. E-business and IS Strategies

B 5/10

Univ. SW Engineering

D 3/6

Univ. Business Management

A 6/6

IBM Test 486: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with C 2/6 UMLTest IBM Test 638: Rational RequisitePro

C 2/6

IBM Test 639: Rational Unified Process

D 2/6

IBM Test 640: Test Management

D 2/6

IBM Test 705: DB2 v8 Business Intelligence Solutions

C 1/6

IBM Test 816: IBM Certified for On Demand business B 4/10 Solution Sales Sun Certif. Enterprise Architect for J2EE

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Skill 34: Business analysis “The methodical investigation, analysis, review and documentation of all or part of a business in terms of business functions and processes, the information used and the data on which the information is based. The definition of requirements for improving any aspect of the processes and systems and quantification of potential business benefits. The creation of viable specifications and acceptance criteria in preparation for the construction of information and communication systems.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 6: Business Process Improvement “The identification of new and alternative approaches to performing business activities. The analysis of business processes, including recognition of the potential for automation of the processes, assessment of the costs and potential benefits of the new approaches considered and, where appropriate, management of change and assistance with implementation.”

Level 5

Skill 2: Consultancy “The provision of advice, assistance and leadership in any area associated with the planning, procurement, provision, delivery, management, maintenance or effective use of information systems and their environments. The consultancy can deal with one specific aspect of IT and the business, or it can be wide ranging and address strategic business issues.”

Level 5

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External references to AITTS by the German Arbeitsprozessorientierten Weiterbildung in der IT-Branche

Government

–

Profil 3.1: Business Systems Advisor (Anwendungssystemberater/in) “Der Business Systems Advisor analysiert und optimiert in enger Kooperation mit dem IT Business Consultant Geschäftsprozesse. Dabei wirkt er an der Konzeption von geschäftsprozessunterstützenden Unternehmensanwendungen mit und begleitet den notwendigen Einführungsprozess der ausgewählten Unternehmens-anwendungen. Bei diesem Curriculum für die arbeitsprozessorientierte Weiterbildung zum Business Systems Advisor handelt es sich um ein Spezialistenprofil, dessen Tätigkeits- und Kompetenzfelder anhand eines Praxisprojekts in einem klein- und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU) erhoben wurden und das somit beispielhaft und repräsentativ für diese Unternehmensgröße sind. Daher wird an dieser Stelle explizit darauf hingewiesen, dass die Tätigkeits- und Kompetenzfelder sowie die zugehörigen Transferprozesse für den Business Systems Advisor in großen Unternehmen – mit entsprechend größeren Projektvolumina – von den nachfolgenden Beschreibungen im Detail abweichen können.”


2005

by

CIGREF

Métier 1.1: Consultant en systèmes d’information “Il anticipe et fait mûrir les nouveaux projets par une sensibilisation à l’apport des technologies nouvelles et une analyse prospective des processus métiers. Il assiste la maîtrise d’ouvrage pour la définition des besoins et des solutions à mettre en œuvre, dans un souci de meilleure intégration dans le système d’information d’entreprise.”

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IS Manager

EUCIP Information Systems Manager Elective Level Profile Specification

Version 2.4, February 2007 Short Description

An EUCIP Information Systems Manager is expected to have a broad competence both in ICT and in organisational issues related to an effective and efficient use of information in a business environment. Skills of planning and innovating must be combined with a steady serviceoriented approach and the ability to react and solve practical problems using available resources.

This profile requires a minimum work experience of 48 months in a compatible job role; if this requirement is not fulfilled, the candidate might be certified as an Associate Information Systems Manager .

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Tasks Overview Is in charge of the management and operation of Information Systems of an organization. Has the overall responsibility for New projects, Maintenance of existing systems, Operations of systems. Hence, works with more focused managers in charge, respectively,. of network, data centre, information projects, end user computing. Is able to work with business and IT consultants and with representatives of users on information requirements, development and operation. Has a clear understanding of the IT implications of business strategy issues and is aware of planning and management control techniques. Identifies legal, privacy, security and other regulatory impacts on information systems and is able, with the support of specific consultants, to undertake appropriate initiatives to comply with such regulations. Operates with change management actions to assure effectiveness of information systems projects. Working alone on moderately complex information systems, or with consultants on larger or more complex projects, defines systems architecture, identifies and selects appropriate application software platforms, assures appropriate user requirements , plans and assures systems test and operation documenting all work by required standards, methods and tools. Plays a leading role in scheduling information systems installation (software, hardware, network) interacting with all stakeholders to ensure that installation priorities are met and disruption to the organisation is minimised. Where the information systems are outsourced supports contract negotiation to provide the service level required, establishing problem resolution procedures and defining consequences of non-compliance. Interfaces with designers and planners from external suppliers and works within the team which administers the procurement of equipment, software, consulting services, and other services for information systems. Takes responsibility for planning installation and upgrade application software platforms and related software and hardware by working with the appropriate IT managers (data centre manager, network manager, information systems project manager etc.) Diagnoses and solves problems (e.g. poor performance) and faults (e.g. system failure) occurring in the operation, ensuring that account is taken of agreed levels of service and the needs for quality, security, availability and safety. Responds to enquiries by users, specialists or others and deals effectively with a broad range of problems of moderate complexity, ensuring that documentation of the supported systems and software is available and in an appropriate form. Maintains records to ensure that problems are managed in accordance with agreed standards and procedures.

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Evaluates design enhancements, capacity changes, contingency and recovery arrangements as required and is aware of operational requirements especially in terms of service levels, network availability, response times, security and repair times. Reviews costs against external providers, new developments and new services, initiating proposals to change network design where appropriate cost reductions and benefits can be achieved. Obtains and evaluates proposals from suppliers of equipment, software, and other network service providers. Knows systems analysis and software engineering techniques. Is aware of analysis standards that are relevant to the industry he works in (e.g. SCOR in Manufacturing Industry) . He/she understands business process analysis techniques. Maintains awareness of major advances in technologies and architectures for information systems such as SOA (Service Oriented Architecture), Web services and alike. Knows the major application platforms for Enterprise Systems, Customer Relationship Management and other that are relevant to the specific industry he works in. Monitors the alignment of information systems to best practices and technologies. Is able to understand the innovation potential of emerging technologies, architectures and platforms and, with the support of user representatives and / or consultants, to assess their business and technology impacts on the organization’s information systems. He/she uses planning, budgeting and control techniques. Specifically, is able to set expenditure objectives, control cost reduction initiatives and plan and manage the expenditure for the major missions of Information Systems, namely new projects, maintenance of existing systems, operations of systems (Data centre operation). Maintains awareness of the implication of relevant legislation or other external regulations which affect security within any defined scope of network services and activity.

Essential Behavioural Skills [ 4 ]168 The Information Systems Manager role requires initiative, flexibility and a rational mental attitude capable of conceptual and analytical thinking, even under stressful conditions: a persistent goal-oriented approach in a strategic perspective has to be combined with strong attention to detail.

168


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Another essential set of skills is the ability to communicate and interact effectively (in both oral and written form) with colleagues, users and managers: this should include a high organisational awareness, leadership in information acquisition, as much as the ability to plan, organise, make decisions, provide direction and follow-up. Furthermore the Information Manager should be able to build and maintain a good relationship with supplier of the wide variety of products he typically buys, namely consulting services, application software, and, in some cases, hardware, network and operational telecommunication services. For, supplier can be partners also in innovation. Finally he/she is able to assess, compare and select different technologies and products in respect to business needs. Detailed Skills Required Deep competence level [ 9 ]

A2. 02

Information Systems management [ 1,5 ]

Define and document the whole range of skills required in the Information Systems department. Plan and review the requirements of skill, plan education and professional development; also define the professional objective of each human resource in the Information Systems department. Monitor the potential of the major education course on Information Systems at undergraduate, postgraduate, master level. Define the documentation framework needed to manage and govern the systems in terms of business priorities, project portfolio, human resource & professional families, application & data model, architecture model, infrastructure model and expenditure model. Plan and review the internal web site of information systems. Define the communication plan with key user functions in terms of review of functional needs, of project progress and major functional milestones. Know negotiation techniques and negotiation metrics for ICT vendors. Identify and monitor strategic vendors for design platforms, application platforms, enterprise application integration, middleware and hardware; define a meeting plan in terms of strategic position, review of major announcements, performance analysis. Identify and monitor key vendors for systems integration, consulting and services; define positioning, share common performance objectives, review actual performance. Identify what business processes and/or products and / or services the organization can innovate and/or improve by IS solutions. Align IT scenario to the business needs.

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Identify IT representatives in Steering Committee and working team. Identify the competencies and the right cost of external suppliers. Identify the appropriate skills of the IT staff to be involved in the project.

A2. 01

Information Systems in the business environment [ 1,5 ]

Explain the nature of Management Information in the planning and control of organisations. Define the strategic role of Information Systems (IS). Demonstrate a detailed understanding of common business functions. Describe why an IS Strategy is needed. Contribute to the development of an IS Strategy. Relate IS Strategy to Business Strategy.

A6.01

Managing business change [ 1,5 ]

Develop a communication plan to facilitate organizational changes. Foster innovation by an appropriate evaluation system for IT staff. Promote training to facilitate the change. Identify organizational and technological drivers of resistance to change. Understand human behaviour and its impact on business change. Create a plan to overcome resistance to change from the business, including “selling” the benefits of new technology. Make effective use of Audio-Visual tools in making the case for change within an organisation. Explain to non-IT staff the role of IT in achieving corporate aims, and its place within the organisation. Ensure that the case for change is presented effectively, using modern delivery techniques. Evaluate the Impact of an IT solution on the Business, its Customers/Suppliers, Staff, Internal processes etc. Select between Programmes and Projects for Business Change. Organise the delivery of user training for both new business processes and the use of any underpinning ICT services. Control the interfaces between Business Change projects and enabling IT projects.

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Identify cultural, organisational and business constraints affecting options for change. Establish an understanding of business aims and develop alternative processes to achieve them. Assess the risks, costs and potential benefits of alternative business process designs.

A3.02

IT organisational structure and measuring business benefits [ 1,5 ]

Evaluate organisational structures for developing and maintaining Information Systems. Propose new IT professional skills to meet emerging business or technological requirements. Identify responsibilities to comply to emerging needs ( e.g. Governance, Security, Media Convergence, Knowledge management etc. ). Evaluate the “End User Computing” model of development. Evaluate the success of Human Resource policies in terms of retention, professional development and recruitment of IS staff. Evaluate the effectiveness of Total Quality Management within an IT organisation. Propose risk management approaches to risk reduction in the area of quality of IT solutions. Implement standard approaches to monitoring and evaluation of IT investments. Use TCO as a mechanism for evaluating business benefits. Produce outline project plans and business cases (with costs). Apply stakeholder analysis to an organisational scenario. Produce an Economic Feasibility study for a business project. Validate (from the business perspective) a technical feasibility study for a project. Produce an Organisational Feasibility study for a business scenario. Produce a cost benefit analysis for a business scenario. Evaluate an approach used to judge the business value of information and IT. Produce a budget for a business scenario, showing typical operational and capital costs. Distinguish between tangible and intangible benefits from an IT system, giving examples of each type. Use ROI analysis to judge the effectiveness of an IT solution to a business problem. Compare and contrast the major methods for evaluation of IT investment. Apply standard approaches to benefits management.

B1.14

System deployment methods [ 1,5 ]

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Organize the deployment of a system, i.e. the delivery of it to the users in the target client organisation. Control and understand the business application of artefacts resulting from software development. Organise deployment and product roll-out activities; including: Testing the software in its final operational environment (beta test), Packaging the software for delivery, Software distribution, Data population, both through new data entry activities and through migration from legacy system files or databases, Training the users. Support the client organisation in planning and acting the operational start-up of the new system. Organise and control initial support service provision during system start-up.

C7.02

Service management essentials [ 1,5 ]

Establish a proper Service Level Management process and explain its benefits for the organisation. Evaluate the main elements of a Service Level Agreement. Compare the uses and purposes of Service Level Agreements, underpinning contracts and Operational Level Agreements. Negotiate SLA (Service Level Agreement) with internal / external customers and suppliers. Identify roles / responsibilities in order to control the actual service level against SLA. Promote initiatives for customer satisfaction and benchmarking. Set up a proper policy for availability and capacity planning and for IT Service contingency planning. Design and assure automatic capture of information for SLA.

Incisive competence level [ 19 ] A1.01

Business activity and business process modelling [ 1,5 ]

Understand the Rationale for Business Activity Modelling. Perform Internal Environment Analysis (e.g. MOST).

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Perform External Environment Analysis (e.g. PESTLE). Use SWOT Analysis. Perform Business Viewpoint Analysis. Define Business Activities for an organisation. Define CSFs and KPIs for a business change. Formalise Business Rules within an organisational unit. Define Information Support needed for the defined activities. Perform conflict resolution between perspectives. Create Rich Pictures to describe a business scenario. Utilise the Soft Systems Approach to developing an Information System. Evaluate alternative ways of modelling business processes; e.g. Data Flow Diagrams, PHD, Process Dependency, Event Models. Conform to the syntax of business process modelling. Document Information flows (sources, destinations).

A1.03

Organisational strategies and related IT system selection [ 1 ]

Classify organisations based on their type, internal structure, legal status etc. Evaluate the role IT plays in different types of organisation. Evaluate the impact of different organisational structures on the management of IT. Evaluate Corporate Mission Statements and their IT implications. Build a business plan for a particular organisation. Evaluate the major techniques for building a business strategy. Involve functional managers and key users to identify the key business needs. Propose new technical & organizational tools to improve office automation and productivity ( e-mail, document/content management, cooperative workflow with external partners ). Identify IT solutions for factory automation, Outline the IT needed to deliver a given business plan. Select a portfolio of computer support tools for management of an organisation. Contribute to an overall strategy for leveraging of organisational knowledge, memory and learning. Use well-known decision making and problem solving techniques. Select suitable Management Information Systems (MIS) software for an organisation. Evaluate the usefulness of different IT-based workflow systems.

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Compare the effectiveness of virtual team working and physically co-located team working. Establish a collaborative structure, using relevant technology. Evaluate implementations of collaborative technologies. Evaluate the link between an IT strategy and the business strategy. Design appropriate matches between organisational need and IT provision. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of MIS, On-line Transaction Processing (OLTP) and related system types. Contribute to the specification of a Data Warehousing system to support Business Intelligence (analytics) users.

A3.01

Accounting and financial management [ 1 ]

Use basic accounting concepts and terminology; e.g. capital, accounts, cash flow, financial cycle, profit/loss, balance sheet. Understand the need for management accounting, reporting and financial management. Appreciate differing types of cost and methods of costing. Understand the principles of budgeting and management control. Calculate the requirements in terms of key resources, duration and distribution over time for a given business case. Calculate the necessary cost budgets in respect of a business plan. Understand the basics of cost allocation and variance analysis. Measure Business Performance using well known approaches; e.g. turnover/profit, investment appraisal, key financial performance ratios (e.g. ROCE, liquidity).

New technology and the matching of these to business needs [ 2 ]

A4.01

opportunities

Analyse business processes and compare them against alternative solutions proposed by standard software packages (“best practice” approach). Evaluate various options for the “virtual organisation” within a business scenario. Establish a business case for moving from a “segregated” sales and marketing strategy to the “unique customer” approach in a given organisation. Produce a report on the effects of globalisation for an organisation. Evaluate the Internet as a tool for creating new opportunities for an organisation. Evaluate extranets as a tool for achieving efficiencies in customer/supplier interaction.

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Produce an impact analysis for an organisation related to the increased use of ebusiness mechanisms. Evaluate a project which used IT as the enabler for a significant business change. Produce a report documenting the major features of Customer Relationship Management tools. Compare the features offered by two major Supply Chain Management packages. Evaluate the case for using Enterprise Resource Planning tools for a given business scenario. Compare the strengths and weaknesses (from a business viewpoint) of developments in IT technical architectures (e.g. web based vs. “2 tier” client server). Evaluate the case for using Document Management systems.

A5.01

Project Management essentials [ 1,5 ]

Define the role of the various specialists in a typical project organisation structure (e.g. according to PMI, IPMA, Rational Unified Process, PRINCE2). Contribute to the IS project plan for a given business scenario. Contribute to risk analysis of a project proposal, concentrating on business risk. Use standard approaches to evaluate a project plan from the business viewpoint. Assist in defining the phases within a project and the role of the business analyst in those phases. Assist in the creation of constraints and the definition of milestones, checkpoints and reviews for a project. Define Corporate Standards for the documentation of business analysis deliverables in a project. Contribute to quality assurance processes within a project, from a business perspective.

A7. 04

Managing business risk and IT security [ 1,5 ]

Specify the business need for recovery and back-up of data and for protection against viruses. Evaluate the need for encryption of data (at rest/in transit) in the light of network “threats” to data integrity. Evaluate the risks to the business caused by security threats to IS/IT. Contribute to a Security policy for (part of) a business organisation. Understand the key factors of IT security and know the main international standard regarding IT Governance (e.g. CobiT) and IT security (e.g. BS 7799).

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Develop a feasibility study to adopt an ISMS (Information Security Management System). Plan and install the installation of ISMS. Realise the ICT Risk management assessment in the Company. Propose the ICT organisation in the Company (IT security Directional Committee, identification of Information security Officer, etc), defining roles and skill of ICT professionals dedicated to ICT security. Define and assure the Guidelines of ICT Security policy in the Company, assuring the segregation of duties between operations and development, and classification of level of security for the different information type. Define and assure the Guidelines of Business Continuity solutions (Business Impact Analysis). Define and assure the technical architecture of ICT Disaster Recovery, considering the alternative options (on line updating, delayed updating, san and virtual architecture, etc). Define and assure the Guidelines for ICT Risk Management. Define a Company Policy for ICT users (authentication and authorisation), defining the techniques for the password utilisation (written password, smart card, token, biometrics, etc), in coherence with risk assessment. Define and assure the Guidelines for physical security (perimetrical security, access control, electric power for Computer room, Ups, etc). Define and assure the Guidelines for Applications and Infrastructure Change Management (design stage, test stage, production stage). Define and assure the Guidelines for Incident handling. Define and produce the ICT security reporting. Organise the Controls regarding ICT security. Plan and realise the selection of ICT security tools (antivirus, firewall, ips systems, etc). Promote and organise the Vulnerability Assessment. Promote the user training on ICT security. Work to realise project (documentation, organisation and technical solutions) requested by laws (e.g. Privacy, SOX, etc). Promote and develop projects on ICT security (e.g. Cryptography, etc).

A7. 05

Managing data protection [ 1,5 ]

Classify the security level of data. Define Data security requirements in IT projects. Organise and choose the automatic tools for the back up of system software, application software and data banks.

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Organise back up storing outside the company, selecting the most effective and efficient solution (e.g. Traditional shipment, Back up via Network etc). Protect data sent on network, using cryptography or tunnelling solutions. Organise system and application test, creating test files without using the official data of the Company (and protect critical data test). Understand the key factors of IT security and know the main international standard on IT Governance (e.g. CobiT) and IT security (e.g. BS 7799). Define rules for employees and external supplier to assure the confidentiality of information in data bases used in the current operations (guidelines, controls, responsibilities, etc).

B1. 15

Managing enterprise applications integration [ 1 ]

Explain the characteristics and typical features of enterprise application software in comparison with personal productivity software, system software and web services. Identify the actual and potential scope of each of the software applications that compose the Information System (IS) of the target organisation. Identify functional overlaps between applications, describe related inefficiencies and risks and propose effective solutions. Plan the EAI Project defining the technical and organisation impact in the Company Application. Select appropriate EAI tools. Promote training for IT staff to assure an appropriate level of competence.

B1.12

Defining a solution architecture [ 1 ]

Gather and analyse: user requirements, operational requirements, system requirements for hardware, software, and network infrastructure. Transform requirements into functional specifications: considerations include performance, maintainability, extensibility, scalability, availability, deployability, security, and accessibility. Transform functional specifications into technical specifications: considerations include performance, maintainability, extensibility, scalability, availability, deployability, security, and accessibility. Select the appropriate technologies for the physical design of the solution. Create the physical design for: the solution,

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deployment, maintenance, the data model. Create specifications for auditing and logging. Validate the physical design.

A2. 03

Business intelligence & data warehousing [ 1,5 ]

Identify candidate information for warehousing by using appropriate user needs analysis techniques (e.g. Dimensional Fact Model) at the appropriate level of aggregation (e.g. Business Entities). Define the overall architecture of the warehousing system in terms of sources, transformation, storage and distribution. Maintain awareness of the appropriate industry solutions and the main vendors in the Business Intelligence field. Plan and review Warehousing and Business Intelligence projects in terms of delivered information, information effectiveness, information quality. Present the value of business information management in increasing the visibility and exploitation of enterprise data. Explain the concepts of Data Base (DB), Data Warehouse (DW), data mart and the importance of dedicated systems for analytical purposes.

B3.05

Principles of testing [ 1,5 ]

Explain the principles of Testing. Maintain the importance of Testing in the Lifecycle. Understand Dynamic Test Techniques. Apply Test Management Standards. Use Static Testing Techniques. Understand core testing terminology (e.g. Expected Results, Expected Information). Appreciate the economics of Testing. Perform High Level Test Planning. Organise User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Ensure Functional and Non-Functional UAT is completed. Contribute to Dynamic Testing (Black Box). Contribute to Test Management (e.g. organisation, estimating, resourcing).

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C3. 09

Network essentials [ 1 ]

Evaluate the basic components of a network, such as server, client, NIC, protocols, Network Operating System (NOS), shared resources. Evaluate a Server, its requirements, and function. Also evaluate the basic server components. Build or order a server, dimensioning it to cover the network needs. Recognise “de facto” and “de jure” standards in data transmission: the TCP/IP suite, the OSI model, purpose of the layered reference model (principle of encapsulation and service access points in layer models), main standard organisations, such as CCITT, ITU-TS, IEEE, ISO and IAB and domains they are focusing on, aim of the different layers (physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation, and application), Voip architectures, Network Capacity planning (Speed, availability, Costs, security, etc), Cellular services technical architectures (GPS, UMTS, GRPS, etc), Wifi, Wmax solutions (Opportunities, Costs, security, etc), ICT convergence (Network, Media, etc). C4.02

World Wide Web [ 2 ]

Configure clients and support users in understanding: the definition of Universal Resource Locator (URL), the WWW as a client-server application, the role of the server, the role of the client and the configuration of its browser, the operations of HTTP and S-HTTP protocols, http content-type headers vs. MIME standard, the aim of main markup languages (HTML, SGML, XML, CSS, XSL) and style sheet, the concept of the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), the concept of an applet, cookies, their benefits and dangers. Perform main browser setup (proxy, plug-in, etc.).

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Install configure and manage a simple web service. Explain how to distinguish a secure connection from an insecure one and when it is necessary to use a secure transaction. Enable and disable cookies, ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript. Apply and support users in understanding the common rules of Netiquette. Verify and explain how to verify correct implementation of standards in web pages. Know the accessibility guidelines and the tools used to evaluate them. Know standard bodies such as W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).

C7.01

IT service delivery [ 1 ]

Contribute to the creation, via cost-based negotiation, of Service Level Agreements by stating business quality requirements for the specified service. Contribute to the organisational Capacity Plan by eliciting predictions of service usage (both existing and planned). Contribute to the Business Continuity Plan for an organisation, by specifying threats to and the recovery needs of each service offered by the organisation to its customers. Evaluate risk reduction and contingency options prepared by Service Management staff within an organisation. Contribute to Continuous Service Improvement plans on behalf of the business. Evaluate the various options for Service Desk support suggested by IT Service Management. Ensure full support for new services is in place before system implementation is completed. Liaise with Service Management staff over the technical impact of requested business changes to existing services. Contribute to business impact analysis of all requests for change to a service. Assist the business in specifying requests for change to existing services (using ITIL© standards or equivalent).

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Annexes

EUCIP Points


X

EUCIP CORE BUILD

X

EUCIP CORE OPERATE

X

Univ. Information Systems

C 4/5 D 2/8

Univ. E-business and IS Strategies

B 4/9

Univ. Business Management

A 4/6

ITIL (by EXIN or ISEB)

A 3/6

IT Service Mgmt. Foundations

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Skill 1: Information management “The overall management of information, as a fundamental business resource, to ensure that the information needs of the business are met. Encompasses development and promotion of the strategy and policies covering the design of information structures and taxonomies, the setting of policies for the sourcing and maintenance of the data content, the management and storage of electronic content and the analysis of information structure (including logical analysis of data and metadata). Includes overall responsibility for compliance with regulations, standards and codes of good practice relating to information and documentation records management, information assurance and data protection.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 7: Strategic application of information systems “The development or review of an information systems strategy to support an organisation’s business goals and the development of plans to drive forward and manage that strategy. Working with others to embed the strategic management of information systems as part of the management of the organisation.”

Level 5

Skill 8: Business risk management “The planning and implementation of organisation-wide processes and procedures for the management of operational risk.”

Level 5

Skill 9: Information security “The management of, and provision of expert advice on, the selection, design, justification, implementation and operation of information security controls and management strategies to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, availability, accountability and relevant compliance of information systems.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 10: Information assurance “The protection of systems and information in storage, processing, or transit from unauthorised access or modification. Denial of service to unauthorised users; or the provision of service to authorised users. Includes those measures necessary to detect, document and counter threats to the integrity of stored information, such as the application of firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS).”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 12: Emerging technology monitoring “The identification of new and emerging hardware, software and communication technologies, products, methods and techniques and the assessment of their relevance

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and potential value to the organisation. The promotion of emerging technology awareness among staff and business management.”

Level 5

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Skill 13: Continuity management “The provision of service continuity planning and support. This includes the identification of information systems that support critical business processes, the assessment of risks to those systems’ availability, integrity and confidentiality and the coordination of planning, designing, testing and maintenance procedures and contingency plans to address exposures and maintain agreed levels of continuity. This function should be performed as part of, or in close cooperation with, the function that plans business continuity for the whole organisation.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 16: Methods and tools “Ensuring that appropriate methods and tools for the planning, development, operation, management and maintenance of systems are adopted and used effectively throughout the organisation.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 39: Organisation design and implementation “The design of organisation structure, role profiles, culture, performance measurement, competencies and skills, to support strategies for change and for training to enable the change. Identification of key attributes of the culture and key principles and factors for addressing location strategy.”

Level 5

Skill 49: Financial management for IT “The overall financial management, control and stewardship of the IT assets and resources used in the provision of IT services, ensuring that all governance, legal and regulatory requirements are complied with.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 52: Management and operations “The management and operation of the IT infrastructure (typically hardware, software and communications) and the resources required to plan for, develop, deliver and support properly engineered IT services and products to meet the needs of a business. Includes preparation for new or changed services, management of the change process and maintenance of regulatory, legal and professional standards, management of performance of systems and services in relation to their contribution to business performance and management of bought-in services including, for example, public network, virtual private network and outsourced services.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 59: Procurement “The management of, or provision of advice on, the procurement of goods and services.”

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Skill 60: Supplier relationship management “On behalf of a client organisation, the sourcing and management of external suppliers to ensure successful delivery of products and services.”

Levels 4 and 5

Skill 67: Asset management “The management of the inventory of IT assets (hardware, software, network and user knowledge) held within an organisation, aiming to optimise the total cost of ownership, by minimising operating costs, improving investment decisions and capitalising on potential opportunities.”

Level 5

Skill 70: Professional development “The responsibility for facilitating the professional development of IT practitioners, including initiation, monitoring, review and validation of individual training and development plans in line with organisational or business requirements, counselling of participants in all relevant aspects of their professional development, identification of appropriate training/development resources, liaison with external training providers and evaluation of the benefits of professional development activities.”

Level 5

Skill 71: Resourcing “The management or provision of advice on any aspect of acquiring IT resources: internally or externally recruited practitioners, permanent or temporary, full time or part time, specialist or generalist, employees or consultants/contractors.”

Level 5

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External references to AITTS by the German Arbeitsprozessorientierten Weiterbildung in der IT-Branche

Government

–

Profil 5.2: IT Systems Administrator (IT-Systemadministrator/in) “IT Systems Administrator konfigurieren, betreiben, überwachen und pflegen vernetzte Systeme sowie System- und Anwendungssoftware.”

Profil 2.3: IT Quality Management (IT-Qualitätssicherungskoordinator/in)

Coordinator

“Quality Management Coordinator beraten bei der Erstellung von Qualitätsmanagementkonzepten und entsprechender Handbücher, setzen Qualitätsvorgaben für die Entwicklung, Installation und Nutzung komplexer IT-Systeme und Produkte um und kontrollieren die Einhaltung der Qualitätsvorgaben.”

Profil 2.2: IT (IT-Konfigurationskoordinator/in)

Configuration

Coordinator

“IT Configuration Coordinator organisieren das Konfigurationsund Changemanagement, indem sie Software-Entwicklungsprozesse und -ergebnisse strukturieren, verwalten und dokumentieren.”

Profil 5.5: Business (Anwendungssystemadministrator/in) “Business Systems Administrator Unternehmensanwendungen. ”

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Systems

konfigurieren,

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betreiben

Administrator und

pflegen



2005

by

CIGREF

Métier 6.1b: Responsable d’une entité informatique “Il dirige, anime, coordonne, et gère une entité informatique pour atteindre les objectifs fixés dans le cadre de la stratégie définie pour son entité. Il est force de proposition des grandes évolutions du SI dans le cadre de la stratégie déterminée par le responsable du management de la DSI. Il est le garant de prestations informatiques produites en qualité pour le coût optimum.” More in general, this profile relates to the whole family 6 “Administration et gestion de la DSI”

Métier 6.1: Responsable du management de la DSI “Garant de l’alignement du SI sur la stratégie de l’entreprise, il est responsable de la conception, de la mise en œuvre et du maintien en conditionnes opérationnelles du système d’information et de sa qualité. Il fixe et valide le grandes évolutions de l’informatique de l’entreprise. Il anticipe les évolutions nécessaires en fonction de la stratégie de l’entreprise et en maîtrise les coûts. Il évalue et préconise les investissements en fonction des sautes technologiques souhaitées. Il s’assure de l’efficacité et de la maîtrise des risques liés au système d’information.”

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