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Press / 2003 / 25^th June

British Army Uses InfoBasis ESI v. 3.6 as SFIA Platform

The British Army decided to make InfoBasis Enterprise Skills Infrastructure v. 3.6 (ESI) available over RLI, its internal network, in early June. The trial is part of the Army’s growing commitment to the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), the UK’s skills dictionary for ICT professionals.

“This deployment marks an important next stage in our use of SFIA,” said Major Colin Code of D Info (A)’s Human Resources cell. “The Defence training review of March 2001 mandated the use of SFIA throughout Defence, and D Info (A) is championing its adoption within the Army. We’ve found the InfoBasis ESI invaluable in this regard. Using it, we can assess the training gap between a person and their post and set personal development plans that work both for the individual and for the Army.”

The eventual aim, said Major Colin Code, will be to deploy a tool that is the basis for an accredited Continued Professional Development (CPD) scheme to furnish an electronic portfolio of skills which can be ‘carried’ by the user anywhere within the Army. “This should demonstrate out commitment to our staff and promote retention,” added Colin Code.

“The Army noted the benefits of SFIA as early as 2000,” added InfoBasis CEO Ashley Wheaton, “but to realise these benefits, they needed a powerful, proven application that enabled users to access the framework in an easily intelligible way. That’s where InfoBasis came in. We’ve been involved in this SFIA implementation since September 2002, and have been very impressed with the commitment of the MOD to a well-implemented skills audit for Information Services professionals.”

“SFIA is gaining momentum as an industry standard for describing skills and identifying skills development needs. At e-skills UK we are delighted that the MOD’s early recognition of the benefits of SFIA has begun to be realised as tools like InfoBasis ESI become available,” said Terry Watts, Chief Operations Officer of e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for the UK’s IT sector.

Ron McLaren, Operations Manager of the SFIA Foundation, added: “We are particularly delighted to welcome the Army as users of The Skills Framework for the Information Age; their huge experience in the development of people is well known. Their choice of InfoBasis ESI, founded on SFIA, should convey a strong message to other employers of IT personnel about the strength of this standards-based approach.”