A PRAGMATIC
GUIDE TO
COMPETENCY
Tools, Frameworks and Assessment
Jon Holt and Simon A. Perry

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE
TO COMPETENCY

Tools, Frameworks and
Assessment

BCS THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE FOR IT
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F +44 (0) 1793 417 444 www.bcs.org/contactus A PRAGMATIC GUIDE
TO COMPETENCY

Tools, Frameworks and
Assessment
Jon Holt and Simon Perry

© 2011 Jon Holt and Simon Perry
The right of Jon Holt and Simon Perry to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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iv

This book is dedicated to Mike, my mentor, friend and paragon of competence
JDH
To Stu, Jo and Sue, probably the best siblings in the world
SAP

v

CONTENTS

List of figures and tables
Authors
Acknowledgements
Preface

ix xiii xiv xvi 1

INTRODUCTION
Competency assessment
People’s perceptions of their own competence
Competence versus capability
Competency frameworks
Evolution of competence over time
Assessment versus audit
Scope of this book
Conclusions
References

1
2
4
5
6
8
8
9
9
9

2

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS
Introduction
The UKSPEC
The INCOSE competencies framework
SFIA
The association of project management (APM)
The association of proposal management professionals
Choosing between frameworks
Conclusions
References

11
11
13
15
19
23
27
30
35
35

3

REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT
Introduction
Requirements for an assessment process
Introducing the universal competency assessment model (UCAM)
Self-assessment versus third-party assessment
Best practice
Bringing it all together – the UCAM meta-model
Conclusions
References

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40
41
52
56
56

vii

CONTENTS

4

THE UNIVERSAL COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT
MODEL (UCAM) PROCESSES
Introduction
The UCAM processes – an introduction
The framework definition process
The framework population process
The assessment set-up process
The assessment process
UCAM support processes
Using UCAM
Competency of assessors
Conclusions
References

57
57
58
63
68
76
82
91
95
98
101
102

5

CASE STUDIES
Introduction
Case study 1 – Generating a new framework
Case study 2 – Executing the assessments
Case study 3 – Educational framework
Conclusions
References

103
103
103
121
134
145
145

APPENDICES

147

APPENDIX A: A SEVEN VIEWS SUMMARY OF THE UCAM PROCESSES
Introduction
Overview of the seven views approach
The seven views of UCAM
References

149
149
149
152
163

APPENDIX B: SUMMARY OF NOTATION
Introduction
Class diagrams
Use case diagrams
Sequence diagrams
Activity diagrams
References

164
164
164
166
168
169
170

Index

viii

171

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 2.1
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3
Figure 2.4
Figure 2.5
Figure 3.1
Figure 3.2
Figure 3.3
Figure 3.4
Figure 3.5
Figure 3.6
Figure 3.7
Figure 3.8
Figure 4.1
Figure 4.2
Figure 4.3
Figure 4.4
Figure 4.5
Figure 4.6
Figure 4.7
Figure 4.8
Figure 4.9
Figure 4.10
Figure 4.11
Figure 4.12
Figure 4.13
Figure 4.14
Figure 4.15
Figure 4.16
Figure 4.17
Figure 4.18
Figure 4.19
Figure 4.20
Figure 4.21

Key concepts for UKSPEC
High-level view of the INCOSE competencies framework
SFIA framework ontology
The APM framework ontology
The APMP ontology
The ‘framework definition’ element of the meta-model
The ‘framework population’ key elements
Example ‘Generic Applicable Competency Set’
The Assessment set-up element
Example competency scope
The ‘Assessment’ element
Example competency profile
The UCAM meta-model
The UCAM Requirements
The UCAM Stakeholders
The UCAM Processes
Requirements for the Framework Definition process
The contents of the Framework Definition Process
Carrying out the Framework Definition process
Relationships between the artefacts of the Framework
Definition process
Requirements for the Framework Population process
The contents of the Framework Population process
Carrying out the Framework Population process
Relationships between the artefacts of the Framework
Population process
Example ‘Populated Applicable Competency Set’
Requirements for the Assessment Set-up process
The contents of the Assessment Set-up process
Carrying out the Assessment Set-up process
Relationships between the artefacts of the Assessment
Set-up process
Example ‘Competency Scope’
Requirements for the Assessment process
The contents of the Assessment process
Carrying out the Assessment process
Relationships between the artefacts of the Assessment process 13
16
21
24
28
42
44
47
49
50
51
53
54
59
60
62
63
64
65
67
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70
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77
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79
80
81
83
84
85
87

ix

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 4.22
Figure 4.23
Figure 4.24
Figure 4.25
Figure 4.26
Figure 4.27
Figure 4.28
Figure 4.29
Figure 5.1
Figure 5.2
Figure 5.3
Figure 5.4
Figure 5.5
Figure 5.6
Figure 5.7
Figure 5.8
Figure 5.9
Figure 5.10
Figure A.1
Figure A.2
Figure A.3
Figure A.4
Figure A.5
Figure A.6
Figure A.7
Figure A.8
Figure A.9
Figure A.10
Figure A.11
Figure A.12
Figure A.13
Figure A.14
Figure A.15
Figure A.16
Figure A.17
Figure A.18
Figure B.1
Figure B.2
Figure B.3
Figure B.4
Figure B.5
Figure B.6
Figure B.7
Figure B.8

x

Example ‘Competency Profile’
The Pre-assessment Processes
The Post-assessment Processes
Scenario showing process execution for self-assessment
Scenario showing process execution for recruitment
Scenario showing process execution for appraisals
Example Primary Assessor Competency Profile
Example Secondary Assessor Competency Profile
Structure of the competency framework
The Systems Knowledge competency type
The ‘Skill’ competency type for the company framework
The applicable competency set
The competency scope for the ‘requirements engineer’ role
The competency scope for the ‘development manager’ role
The competency scope for the ‘tutor’ role
The competency scope for the ‘graduate’ role
Assessment output (profile) for a defined role
Framework definition for the educational framework
The Seven Views and their relationships
The RV for the UCAM processes
The SV for the UCAM processes
The PSV for the UCAM processes
The PCV for the UCAM processes
Partial PCV for suggested Pre-assessment processes
Partial PCV for suggested Post-assessment processes
The PBV for the UCAM ‘Framework Definition’ process
The PBV for the UCAM ‘Framework Population’ process
The PBV for the UCAM ‘Assessment Set-up’ process
The PBV for the UCAM ‘Assessment’ process
The IV for the UCAM ‘Process Definition’ process
The IV for the UCAM ‘Framework Population’ process
The IV for the UCAM ‘Assessment Set-up’ process
The IV for the UCAM ‘Assessment’ process
Example PIV for UCAM processes showing process execution for self-assessment
Example PIV for UCAM processes showing process execution for recruitment
Example PIV for UCAM processes showing process execution for appraisals
Graphical symbols for elements in a class diagram
Example class diagram
Graphical symbols for elements in a use case diagram
Example use case diagram
Graphical symbols for elements in a sequence diagram
Example sequence diagram
Graphical symbols for elements in an activity diagram
Example activity diagram

89
92
93
95
96
97
99
100
105
108
111
124
125
126
128
129
132
135
150
152
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156
157
158
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160
160
161
161
162
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
168
169
170

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 2.1
Table 2.2
Table 2.3
Table 2.4
Table 3.1
Table 3.2
Table 3.3
Table 3.4
Table 4.1
Table 4.2
Table 4.3
Table 5.1
Table 5.2
Table 5.3
Table 5.4
Table 5.5
Table 5.6
Table 5.7
Table 5.8
Table 5.9

Summary of accreditation requirements for the APMP
Partial mapping between SFIA and UKSPEC
Partial mapping between APM and UKSPEC
Partial mapping between the INCOSE competencies framework and UKSPEC
Mapping between UCAM terms and other frameworks
Example rating scheme
Example of an ‘Indicator Result Set’
Suggested scope levels
Example of ‘Evidence Types’ and associated 'Timeliness'
Example ‘Rating Scheme’
Example of a completed ‘Record Sheet’ (partial) showing
‘Rating Scheme’
Basic definitions and mapping to UCAM
Definition of level 1 indicators for 'Systems Knowledge' competencies Definition of level 1 indicators for the 'Skill' competency types
Example of recording the results of an assessment
Applicable competency set for the educational framework
Assessment sheet for the 'Effort' competency area
Assessment sheet for the 'Behaviour' competency area
Assessment sheet for the 'Attitude' competency area
Typical profile for the educational framework

30
32
33
34
43
48
51
55
74
75
88
105
109
111
131
137
139
140
141
144

xi

AUTHORS

Dr Jon Holt is an international award-winning author and public speaker in the field of applied systems engineering and research. He has authored many books and papers on systems engineering. His books cover the application of UML and
SysML to systems engineering, process modelling, enterprise architectures and competency assessment.
Jon is active in the IET (the Institution of Engineering and Technology) via their
Professional Networks and in BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, as a member of the Learned Society. He is a Fellow of both the IET and BCS and is a Chartered
Engineer and Chartered IT Professional.
Jon was the founder-director of Brass Bullet Ltd, a systems engineering consultancy and training company for over 12 years, until it was acquired in
2009. He is currently the Global Head of Systems Engineering for Atego, the leading independent provider of tools and capability for systems engineering.
Simon Perry has worked as a software engineer, systems architect and systems engineer for over 20 years in a wide range of business areas including defence, finance, building construction, nuclear installations, utilities and transport.
Simon is a Principal Consultant at Atego where his role includes consulting, mentoring and the development and delivery of training courses. His main areas of work are concerned with the application of systems modeling to all aspects of systems engineering: process modeling, enterprise architectures and architectural frameworks, requirements engineering, capabilities and competencies.
Simon is a visiting lecturer at Warwick University where he teaches a software engineering course to third year students.
He is the co-author, with Jon Holt, of two other books on modeling and systems engineering. Simon is a member of a number of professional bodies: INCOSE, the IET and BCS. He regularly speaks at events organised by these bodies.

xiii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book
Edward Gibbon

As with all my work, none of it could be possible without the help of many people.
We had lots of help with carrying out the competency assessments, with many people being prepared to let them loose either on themselves or their staff. A big thanks to Alan in Cardiff and his staff who we assessed and subsequently published with – it was a pleasure to work with you! The usual suspects from
Aldermaston also deserve a lot of thanks, including Duncan, Jon, Nicky and
Keith. Extra thanks go to P3mby who, as usual, went the extra mile and produced some lovely additional work for us – if only they gave out Doctorates for spreadsheets! All the good folk at Abbey Wood should be thanked, including
Dave, all of his staff and the many assessees. In terms of helping us perform many, many assessments, special thanks go to Rick, Emma, Tony and Dave from
Shrivenham who helped us put the process through the wringer and refine it into what we have today. In terms of innovation, dedication and the sheer volume of work done to tailor the whole approach, we must thank Sylvia who did more for the process and its application than she could ever know. It’s Sylvia’s work that gave us the confidence that we could apply the approach in just about any area imaginable and for this, we take our collective hats off to you.
Thanks to all the good folk at the now-no-longer Brass Bullet Ltd and, more recently, all my new colleagues at Atego. Special thanks to Simon and Mikey B – I am blessed to still be working with both of them after all these years, and look forward to many more.
Of course, thanks as ever go to Mike and Sue. I continue to be inspired by both of them and have learned recently from Sue that ‘it’s never too late’ to keep striving for self-improvement in life.
Finally, all my love and thanks to my beautiful wife, Rebecca, my three (generally) wonderful children, Jude, Eliza and Roo, and my two cats Olive-the-Wondercat and Betty-Moose Davies.
Jon Holt, January 2011

xiv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As Jon has said, this book would not have been possible without the help of many people and organisations that worked with Jon and me to develop the UCAM and helped us clarify the approach. I therefore echo Jon’s thanks to them all. I would also like to extend my thanks to all those INCOSE members who helped develop the INCOSE Systems Engineering Competencies Framework, and in particular those that I had the pleasure to work with on the Phase 3 Working Group, particularly Simon, Richard, Sandra, David, Dez, Jocelyn, Shane and Ady.
Finally, I could not have written this book and kept my sanity without the love, encouragement and support of my wife Sally. She continues to inspire me every day, and is the only person I know who would put up with being woken by my enthusiastic bongo playing with such equanimity. Also, thanks to our feline alarm clock, Motley the cat, who never fails to wake me up at all the wrong times.
Simon Perry, January 2011

xv

PREFACE

Recent years have seen a significant increase in the use of personnel competency assessments within organisations. This trend derives from the understanding that a well-executed competency assessment programme can offer many and various benefits. A competency assessment programme, for example, can be used in the enhancement of:
‘best fit’ human resource allocation; professional development of employees; pay review processes; training requirements identification; customer assurance in tendering; ability to realize organisational capability.
If however a competency assessment programme is not well executed, if its implementation is ad hoc, then, like all powerful tools in ill-prepared hands, it can cause immense damage and all the areas of potential benefit could actually be adversely affected in the process.
Competency is a measure of an individual’s ability in terms of their knowledge, skills and behaviour to perform a given role. Competency assessment in an organisation, if carried out correctly, will be key to the organisation’s overall capability improvement and will lead to improved customer confidence. To be correct a competency assessment process must be: repeatable, so that comparison of results can be made; measurable, in measures that are documented, known and understood; based on best practice, traceable to standards and frameworks; transferable between frameworks, as an assessment process limited to a single framework will have limited application; tailorable, so that it can be modified for different organisations or for different sections within a single organisation.

xvi

PREFACE

This book defines an approach and a set of processes for competency assessment that satisfy these criteria – a set of powerful tools that can be used by an organisation to consolidate its competency assessment work into a coherent approach, allowing assessments against competencies from multiple frameworks to be undertaken. xvii

1

INTRODUCTION

The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it
Laurence J Peter

In order to succeed in any business, conventional wisdom tells us that we need three things: people, process and products. We need people with the right skills to do their jobs properly, we need processes in place in order to realise and demonstrate our capabilities and we need the right products, or tools, to allow us to do our jobs properly. This book is about people. In particular, this book is about demonstrating how professional we are as people and about inspiring confidence in those around us.
Confidence is a commodity that is none too easy to quantify, yet one that drives a lot of what we do in everyday life. Whenever we buy a product or service, we need to have confidence that it will do its job properly. Whenever we deal with a person on an individual level, it is important that we have confidence in them – likewise, it is also important that others have confidence in us. In order to inspire confidence, it is essential that we can demonstrate our own professionalism, which comes down to our individual competence. This competence may take many forms, for example, technical knowledge, qualifications, presentation skills, peer recognition, social skills and so on. But what are these competences and how do we demonstrate them to other people? This books aims to cover exactly that – how to decide what competencies are relevant and how to demonstrate our own, or assess others’, competencies.
There is, undoubtedly, an overhead in implementing the kind of robust, repeatable and rigorous approach to competency assessment described in this book. So why bother? Why is demonstrating professionalism and inspiring confidence so important if it adds to an organisation’s overheads? The simple answer is another question: what is the cost of failure if you don’t demonstrate professionalism and inspire confidence?
It is very easy for projects to go wrong. When projects do go wrong and result in disasters or failures, then they will inevitably become big news. When projects go well, on the other hand, they are ignored. The reality of this unfortunate state of affairs is that clients’ confidence is damaged and the whole issue of professionalism is brought into question.
This can have a serious impact on an organisation, with a direct loss of income resulting from failure, a drop in share prices and, perhaps more importantly, damage to an organisation’s reputation that can take years to restore, all being possible outcomes for the organisation. Witness, for example, the massive cost,

1

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

drop in share value and damage to reputation of BP resulting from the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill in 2010. It is estimated that the spill will cost the company
$40 billion. Following the spill, it was reported that BP’s shares had fallen by
35 per cent resulting in a $60 billion loss in market value and that there had been a 10 to 40 per cent drop in petrol sales in the USA.
Being able to demonstrate professionalism and inspire confidence can help to avoid such costly failure. It can also be an important differentiator that can help to distinguish one organisation from another and can, perhaps, make the difference between winning and losing a contract.
Before we go further, it is important that there are some clear definitions for the key terms that will be used throughout this book. The terms used are very similar and, therefore, it is crucial that they are defined at this point and that the subtle differences in meaning are pointed out. The terms used in this book are taken from the Cambridge English dictionary and are: competence – the ability to do something well; competency – an important skill that is needed to do a job.
The key difference here is that ‘competence’ reflects the total ability of the individual, whereas a ‘competency’ is a single skill; (hopefully) one of many that the individual will hold. The sum of an individual’s competencies will make up their competence and it is these individual competencies that are assessed to provide an overall indication of competence.
COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT
In order to demonstrate competence, there must be some way to qualify and measure it, and this is where competency assessment comes in. Competency assessment may take many forms, from filling in a simple form to in-depth psychological analysis, and any, or all, of these techniques may be valid where appropriate. This book proposes a process-based approach to competency assessment known as the Universal Competency Assessment Model that is intended to be as flexible and scalable as possible.
There are several reasons why someone may want to carry out a competency assessment: To inspire customer confidence and provide a competitive edge. This was alluded to in the previous section, but what this comes down to is our own credibility, and the confidence that this will inspire in others. When someone makes a choice between a number of people to do something, it is the one who inspires the most confidence who will usually be chosen. One initial argument against this statement is that cost will often have an impact, as some people will always go for the cheapest option but, to counter this, people will also pay more for someone in whom they have confidence. Therefore, on a purely financial level, demonstrating competence is one way to charge
2

INTRODUCTION

more for a person and can be used to help strengthen a business case for someone to pay more money.
As part of an individual’s career development, at a professional or personal level. At a professional level this may include being formally recognised by our peers or by a professional body. For example, achieving ‘chartered’ status is seen as a goal in many industries and will often be accompanied by a right to practise in a particular field. Indeed, in many areas, a certain level of formal competence is necessary in order to work. On a personal level, many people are interested in planning their career paths and setting themselves individual goals. This may be, for example, obtaining chartered status or gaining a new position in an organisation. Again, competency assessment can be used as a valuable tool when developing a career plan or carrying out
Continued Professional Development (CPD).
As part of a recruitment process. Many organisations are finding that recruiting people on the basis of a CV (resumé) or a single interview is simply not good enough. It is all too easy to be impressed by someone’s CV or the way that they perform at an interview, only to be let down when they actually start the work. Many organisations now use competency assessment not just as an added measure but as a major part of the actual recruitment process itself. We are living in an increasingly litigious world and it is very difficult to remove someone from a company without long and costly lawsuits (which can put a small company out of business) so it becomes even more important that we recruit the right people in the first instance.
As part of an organisation’s appraisal process. Most companies carry out some sort of appraisal on a regular basis. For example, it may be that each person in a company is assessed on an annual basis to see if they are performing properly. Competency assessment can be a very powerful tool in such cases, as it allows competencies that people possess to be compared directly to the competencies required for their post. It is a very useful mechanism to have a competency set (known as a ‘competency scope’) defined for different positions in the business, as it is then possible to compare people’s actual competencies
(known as a ‘competency profile’) with the competency scope to assess suitability. By comparing several of these competency profiles, it is also possible to see how a person’s competence has evolved over time and how quickly. This can give an excellent indication of the ability and willingness of a person to learn and take on new tasks. Such competency assessments are being used widely for appraisal and even, in some cases, being tied directly into pay reviews. To identify training requirements from the point of view of a person or business unit. It is essential that people have the right competencies for their job and when gaps have been identified through assessment, this can be used as an excellent guide in those areas for which training is required. This can be done at a personal level for personal development or may be done as part of a team or business unit effort.
To identify training requirements from a trainer’s point of view. Competency frameworks and competency assessments are big news for training providers – or should be. By understanding those areas in which people require competence
3

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

and how they will be assessed, it is possible to create new courses and tailor existing courses towards delivering these competencies. A good training course should map onto established and recognised competency frameworks so that the people buying the training know exactly what they are getting and can map it directly onto their business plans. This not only provides a better service, but also provides another good reason why someone should choose you as a trainer over your competitors.
These are not the only reasons why competency assessment is so important, but it should provide an indication of some of the main reasons why we need to understand and be able to demonstrate competence.
When considering the whole idea of competency assessment, it is essential that you consider why you want to do it in the first place, and what you want to achieve. In the world of engineering, this is known as establishing the requirements for a system or project and it is very important that this is not taken lightly, as too many people will blindly apply competency assessment to their work and not understand why. Unsurprisingly, these are often the same people that cannot see the point of competency assessment and see it as an unnecessary overhead. PEOPLE’S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR OWN COMPETENCE
Every person has their own opinion of how competent they are in a particular area, regardless of how competent they actually are. In their fascinating paper on people’s own views of themselves, Kruger and Dunning (1999) ran a series of four trials where they asked a sample of people to judge how competent they saw themselves being. The results of this work were quite surprising as it demonstrated that incompetent people tend to see themselves as more competent than they actually are, whereas more competent people tend to see themselves as less competent than they actually are. The authors summed this up quite nicely by stating people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.
This is very important as it means that the incompetent will rate themselves higher, whereas competent people will rate themselves lower. One of the dangers here is that two people may each rate themselves and come to the same conclusion – that they hold a certain level of competence. The truth may be, however, that they are both at opposite ends of the competence spectrum, but that people may think that they are the same.
This can have a direct impact on an organisation, since it means that less competent people can be undertaking work for which they are not competent,

4

INTRODUCTION

possibly leading to work that is not fit for purpose and which costs the organisation both time and money to put right and, perhaps more importantly, adversely affects their reputation. Conversely, the more competent person may be given work that is below their level of competency. This also constrains the performance of an organisation, since it is not making the best use of that person.
This is a crucial reason why there is such a need for a pragmatic approach to competency assessment that can minimise the chance of these errors occurring.
The assessments should be as objective as possible and, of course, the competency of the assessors themselves should be brought into question.
One of the conclusions made by the authors of this excellent paper is that incompetent people have no idea how incompetent they are, a conclusion that has been backed up by many previous studies referenced in the paper. The use of competency assessment, with a good, simple visual output may go some way to convincing incompetent people that they do not hold the lofty levels of competence that they believe that they do.
COMPETENCE VERSUS CAPABILITY
There is often some confusion between the terms ‘capability’ and ‘competence’ as they are inherently very closely related to each other. However, there are subtle differences between the two, so, for the purposes of this book, the definitions will be as follows:
Capability describes the ability of an organisation or organisational unit.
Competence describes the ability of an individual to do something.
When we talk about capability in the sense defined here, we are talking about the ability to deliver a product or service. This ability is demonstrated through the use of effective processes. Indeed, when it comes to assessing capability, the established approach is to assess the process which provides an indication of the capability and its maturity. Examples of such capability determination include: the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) (and its family) and Software
Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (SPICE).
Capability has been an increasingly important subject over the last 10 years or so as many large project tenders are now awarded on the basis of capability. For example, as part of a tender, bidders will be asked not only to provide an overview of their solution but also will be asked to demonstrate that they have the capability to deliver that solution. One of the problems associated with such an approach is that capability can be demonstrated in an organisation, but in order to realise that capability, it is necessary to have staff with appropriate competence. Many large organisations will bid for projects without having enough staff to carry out the work and will then recruit new staff once they have won the contract.
In many cases, this will involve employing people, known as contractors, on a contractual basis. Many contractors, as is the nature of the job, will change employers and projects, depending on where their skills are required. As a
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A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

consequence of this, it is not unusual to find the same people working on different contracts depending on who has won what. This has the potential to have a very negative impact on a project as, in some cases, new contracts come up as the company responsible for delivering the previous contract has not done its job properly and will not be awarded another contract. If the people who have performed so badly on one contract then change employers and switch to the new project, has any benefit whatsoever been achieved?
As a result of this type of activity happening time and time again, companies are coming around to realising that not only is the capability important, but also the competencies of the staff needed to realise that capability.
It is possible to draw up a simple equation to represent this relationship – before immediately switching off at the very thought of an equation, please bear in mind that this is about as mathematically challenging as this book will get.
Confidence = capability + competence
In order to inspire confidence, we need to demonstrate both the capability
(ability of the business) and the competence (ability of the individuals). This demonstration is crucial in order to inspire confidence. It is no good simply having ways to define and measure capability and competence if they are never applied; confidence comes from the active demonstration of both capability and competence. When we need to demonstrate capability, we need best-practice models against which to compare our processes, usually in the form of standards. When we need to demonstrate competence, we also need best-practice models, which are usually in the form of competency frameworks.
COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS
A competency framework describes a set of competencies (the ‘things’ that are measured to demonstrate competence) that are applicable to a particular field.
Every industry has some sort of competency framework, as do many organisations. These frameworks should be viewed as standards and, just like any other standard, they may exist at many levels, including:
Generic frameworks, which may apply internationally and apply to a particular discipline.
Industry-specific frameworks. Some industries have their own frameworks that are usually owned by relevant professional bodies or industrial organisations. Examples of these include, among others, Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) for the IT industry and Association of Proposal
Management Professionals (APMP) for the bidding industry.
Organisation-specific frameworks. Many companies, particularly large ones, have their own competency framework that is geared towards their
6

INTRODUCTION

particular organisation. These frameworks are often held and managed by the human resources centre but in many cases, as is increasingly becoming the case, a dedicated role or department may be allocated specifically to address all matters relating to competency and competency assessment.
Regulatory or legally required frameworks. Some industries have their own competency frameworks that actually become mandated as part of a certification scheme. For example, the railway industry in the UK has such a scheme for railway signalling. The Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) operates a competence certification scheme, known as the ‘IRSE Licensing
Scheme’. To quote from their official website, the main aim of the scheme is to provide assurance about the competence of individuals to carry out technical safety-critical or safety-related work on signalling and railway telecommunications equipment and systems. It provides a cross industry accepted benchmark of competence for personnel carrying out a range of activities from maintenance through design, installation, testing, project engineering and senior technical management. The railway signalling industry is by no means unique and there are equivalent schemes in other industries, such as the nuclear and aerospace industries. Technique or technology-based frameworks. Some specific techniques have their own competence programmes that demonstrate an individual’s knowledge and skills for that technique. For example, the Unified Modelling
Language (UML) is a visual modelling language that is used extensively in the worlds of software and systems engineering. The language itself is specified in a standard that is managed and configured by a standards body known as the Object Management Group (OMG) in the USA. The management group operates a scheme known as the ‘OMG Certified UML Professional’, or
OCUP, that is a ‘rigorous, comprehensive, and fair test of a person’s knowledge of OMG’s specifications for unified modeling language’ (OCUP).
A number of frameworks will be discussed later in this book, but for now consider the question of which framework is the right one for you. This is a question that is not quite so easily answered. For example, you may work in the Information
Technology (IT) industry and use the SFIA framework as a basis for assessments.
However, this framework is aimed mainly at the technical aspects of IT and not so much at the management side, so it may be that it is desirable also to look at the Association of Project Management (APM) framework also. Now consider the scenario where you may also be involved with bidding for IT projects, in which case another framework, such as APMP may also be of interest. What if there is also an in-house framework that needs to be used?
The point here is that each framework will have its own strengths and weaknesses, which is only natural and is certainly not intended to be a criticism of any particular framework. As a consequence of this, it is often required to mix-andmatch between different frameworks in order to get the most appropriate parts of each and combine them into a single framework. However, this is far easier said
7

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

than done and the issue of trying to use more than one framework is a very challenging and complex one.
The same problem occurs when one wants to create a new framework for a different industry. The last thing that the world needs is yet more frameworks, so, again, the idea of cherry-picking different parts from different frameworks is a very attractive one. This is one of the areas that this book will address.
EVOLUTION OF COMPETENCE OVER TIME
One of the most common misconceptions concerning competence is that the goal is to hold the highest competence possible and that an individual’s competence should constantly increase as their career progresses. This is complete fallacy.
The goal is to hold the appropriate competence for whatever role is being played.
As an individual’s career progresses, their role will, quite naturally, evolve. For example, someone may start their career as a technician and then move into a more senior technical role, then progress (or regress) to management, before ending up at board level in an organisation. The point here is that the competence for that person is not increasing all the time, but the role that they play is changing and, hence, the set of competencies that define their competence will change over time. It is important that the person holds the right competence for each role at each point in their career. This phenomenon will be referred to as ‘competence evolution’ and will become very important when competency profiles are discussed later in this book.
ASSESSMENT VERSUS AUDIT
When we talk about demonstrating competence, we inevitably use the phrase
‘competency assessment’. This is no accident and it is very important that the term ‘assessment’ rather than ‘audit’ is used.
When the term ‘audit’ is used, it implies that there will be a binary outcome or, to put it another way, a ‘pass or fail’ outcome. A typical audit will identify a number of areas that are of interest, compare it to a standard and identify a set of nonconformances (usually major and minor). The result of such an audit will be a straight pass or fail, as a set of non-conformances will be provided.
When the term ‘assessment’ is used, it implies that there will be a graduated outcome that will provide an indication of a level of achievement in a particular area. The result of an assessment will typically be a profile that will show how mature a person (in the case of competency) or organisation (in the case of capability) is in a specific area. One of the major goals of an assessment approach is to provide a mechanism for self-improvement, and a profile, rather than a pass-or-fail output, is far more useful for this. This is a very simplified definition of an audit, but it is not within the scope of this book to argue the pros and cons of audits versus assessments, but it is useful to understand, at a high level, the differences between the two.

8

INTRODUCTION

SCOPE OF THIS BOOK
This book is aimed at people who have an interest in understanding and defining competency frameworks. It is also aimed at people who may be interested in carrying out competency assessment, whether it is for self-assessment or third-party assessment. The book will show how a number of these frameworks work and how they can be understood and analysed. A process will also be introduced and described that can be used to assess competency using any framework. A number of real-world case studies will be described that show a number of different ways in which the processes and approach in this book can be applied in reality.
CONCLUSIONS
There is a need for inspiring confidence in the people with whom we deal, whether they are clients or fellow workers. In order to inspire confidence, we need to demonstrate our professionalism at an organisational and personal level. At an organisational level, we need to demonstrate capability and at a personal level, we need to demonstrate competence.
In order to demonstrate competence, there is a need for competency assessment that can be applied in a flexible and scalable manner. We demonstrate competency according to established and recognised norms, usually in the form of single, or a set of, competency frameworks. When using multiple frameworks, it is desirable to mix and match between them in order to ensure that the resultant framework is a good fit for our original requirements.
REFERENCES
Cambridge English Dictionary (CED)
Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (SPICE). See ISO
15504 – Software process assessment suite of documents, parts 1 to 7 www.iso.org
(Accessed February 2011).
Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) suite of documents, including:
(2006) ‘CMMI for Development, Version 1.2’ (pdf). CMMI-DEV (Version 1.2,
August 2006). Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/06tr008.cfm (Accessed February
2011).
(2007) ‘CMMI for Acquisition, Version 1.2’ (pdf). CMMI-ACQ (Version 1.2, November
2007). Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. www.sei.cmu. edu/library/abstracts/reports/07tr017.cfm (Accessed February 2011).
(2007) ‘CMMI for Services, Version 1.2’ (pdf). CMMI-SVC (Version 1.2, February
2009). Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. www.sei.cmu. edu/library/abstracts/reports/09tr001.cfm (Accessed February 2011).

9

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

Institution for Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) www.irse.org/Licensing.html
(Accessed February 2011).
Kruger, J. and Dunning, D. (1999) Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognising one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessment. J Pers. Soc.
Psychol. Dec. 77 (6): 1121–1134.
Object Management Group (OCUP): www.omg.org/uml-certification/ (Accessed
February 2011).

10

2

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

Force has no place where there is need of skill
Herodotus

INTRODUCTION
This chapter looks at some of the many competency frameworks that exist in the real world. A small sample of these frameworks will be chosen and investigated in more detail. The main aim behind this exercise is to show the different structures of the frameworks and to discuss how each one achieves its stated objectives.
There are two broad categories of frameworks that will be considered here, which are:
Public-domain frameworks. These public domain frameworks are typically geared towards a specific industry or profession and are often managed and controlled by professional bodies or industry groups. Indeed, as will be discussed later in this book, one of the main uses for competency frameworks and competency assessment is for continued professional development, so it is natural that the professional bodies take a leading role in such matters.
Private or in-house frameworks. These are typically geared specifically towards a particular organisation or company and are usually proprietary. As they are owned by their relevant organisations, these tend not to be available for the general public and tend to be used exclusively for in-house activities, such as staff appraisals, tendering, and so on.
For the purposes of this chapter, the focus will be solely on the public-domain frameworks and will not cover private frameworks at all. Having said that, the same concepts that are identified and discussed for public frameworks are equally applicable to private frameworks.
The sample of frameworks has been chosen to provide a wide spread of interest across a number of disciplines and, in particular, will include:
UKSPEC, the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence.
The UKSPEC is the cornerstone of all technical competences in the UK.
The UKSPEC is used as the basis for professional accreditation, such as
Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Chartered IT Professional (CITP), and all
UK professional bodies use it as part of their professional assessment. The
UKSPEC is owned and managed by the Engineering Council (see UKSPEC for more details);

11

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

SFIA. The acronymically challenged framework known as SFIA (pronounced
‘Sophia’) is a framework that is geared towards the skills required for the effective implementation and use of Information Systems (ISs) making use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The SFIA framework maps directly back to the UKSPEC and is owned and managed by the SFIA
Foundation (see SFIA for more details);
INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering competencies framework, is an international body that is committed to furthering the discipline of systems engineering. They have produced a competency framework that maps back to the UKSPEC and covers various cross-cutting concepts associated with systems engineering. Please note that the term ‘systems engineering’ is the engineering definition of the term, rather than the IT definition of the term. The INCOSE framework is owned and managed by
INCOSE (see INCOSE for more details);
APM, the Association for Project Management Body of Knowledge. The APM framework forms the heart of the APM assessment and accreditation and is aimed specifically at the discipline of project management for all industries.
The APM Body of Knowledge is owned and managed by the APM (see APM for more details);
APMP, the Association of Proposal Management Professionals framework.
The APMP (not to be confused with APM) framework is aimed specifically at proposal and bid management within an organisation and identifies a number of skills required for such activities. The APMP framework is owned and managed by the APMP (see APMP for more details).
These particular frameworks were chosen as they represent a broad spread of interest and will hopefully provide, at a minimum, one that is directly related to most readers’ professions. The idea here is to show that the techniques introduced and discussed in this book can be used for any framework and are not just limited to technical skills, but can be applied across the wider business.
In order to understand each framework and to get it into a format that can be compared and contrasted, each of the frameworks has been modelled in order to identify areas of complexity, aid understanding and help to communicate the different key concepts. The approach taken was the ‘seven views’ approach (Holt
2009) and uses the UML as its modelling notation. It should be stressed, however, before the readers of this book collectively snap it shut in disgust, that this is not a modelling book and it is not intended to provide a treatise on the pros and cons of modelling and its various notations. Please be assured that the modelling utilised in this book is used purely as a tool and will be kept to an absolute minimum. The main use of the modelling in this chapter is to provide a brief, high-level ontology for each of the frameworks, so that the concepts may be compared and contrasted. These ontologies will also be used as a basis for abstracting a common ontology in the next chapter. Each ontology simply identifies the main concepts and terminology that is used in each framework and relates them together in the form of diagrams.
12

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

THE UKSPEC
Introduction
It was stated earlier that the UKSPEC is the cornerstone of all technical competences in the UK. The UKSPEC is used as the basis for professional accreditation, such as CEng and CITP, and all UK professional bodies use it as part of their professional assessment. It is essential, therefore, that the
UKSPEC is understood before any other framework is looked at. To put matters bluntly, if a framework does not map onto the concepts in the UKSPEC, then it will not be recognised at a professional level.
The UKSPEC ontology
The UKSPEC, just like all the other frameworks, can be distilled down to a simple diagram that encapsulates all the main concepts, the terminology used and the relationships between them. In other words, it has a simple ontology. Figure 2.1 Key concepts for UKSPEC
Generic
Competency

Competency

5

defines standard of

1

Threshold

1
1..*

1..*

Skill

Knowledge

B: Application

C: Provide
Leadership

Engineering
Technician

Chartered
Engineer

1..*
Understanding

A: Education, Training and Experience

E: Demonstrate
Personal Commitment

Incorporated
Engineer

D: Demonstrate
Interpersonal Skills

The diagram in Figure 2.1 shows the key concepts and terminology for the
UKSPEC. It can be seen that ‘Competency’ is made up of the following concepts:
‘Knowledge’, which refers to having domain knowledge in a particular discipline or application area. For example, a university degree in engineering will provide a basic knowledge of engineering (the discipline) while experience in industry would also provide knowledge of the field (domain knowledge).
‘Skill’, which refers to the techniques, tools, methodologies and approaches that are employed in order to implement the knowledge. The skill depends upon having the knowledge in the first instance and really makes the knowledge useful, rather than knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
‘Understanding’, which refers to the ability to be able to apply the right knowledge and skills at the right time and to understand the implications for such use. This is the really difficult aspect of competence to get right. It involves understanding why the knowledge and skills have been employed and what benefits have been realised in doing so.
13

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

Competency may be thought of as existing in five ‘Generic competency’ categories, which are:
1. ‘A: Education, training and experience’. This includes formal education, industrial training, work experience, and so on.
2. ‘B: Application’. This includes being able to apply, or having experience of applying the different skills and knowledge for particular application areas.
3. ‘C: Provide leadership’. It is important that an individual is able to lead teams or other individuals where necessary, which is reflected here.
4. ‘D: Demonstrate interpersonal skills’. This includes what is often referred to as ‘soft skills’ such as verbal and non-verbal communication, abstract things, and so on.
5. ‘E: Demonstrate personal commitment’. This includes embracing CPD, involvement with professional bodes and industrial groups, publishing, promoting engineering, and so on.
These competencies are held at a particular level or ‘Threshold’ and, currently, there are three levels of recognition within the Engineering Council UK (ECUK):
1. Engineering Technician (EngTech). The EngTech qualification defines the competence and commitment required before an individual can call themselves an engineering technician. The UKSPEC defines an engineering technician as someone who is concerned with applying proven techniques and procedures to the solution of practical engineering problems. They carry supervisory or technical responsibility, and are competent to exercise creative aptitudes and skills within defined fields of technology. Professional Engineering Technicians contribute to the design, development, manufacture, commissioning, decommissioning, operation or maintenance of products, equipment, processes or services. Professional Engineering
Technicians are required to apply safe systems of working.
2. Incorporated Engineer (IEng). The IEng qualification defines the competence and commitment required before an individual can call themselves an incorporated engineer. The UKSPEC defines an incorporated engineer as someone who can maintain and manage applications of current and developing technology, and may undertake engineering design, development, manufacture, construction and operation. Incorporated Engineers are variously engaged in technical and commercial management and possess effective interpersonal skills.
3. Chartered Engineer (CEng). The CEng qualification defines the competence and commitment required before an individual can call themselves a chartered engineer. The UKSPEC defines a chartered engineer as someone who is
14

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

characterized by their ability to develop appropriate solutions to engineering problems, using new or existing technologies, through innovation, creativity and change. They might develop and apply new technologies, promote advanced designs and design methods, introduce new and more efficient production techniques, marketing and construction concepts, or pioneer new engineering services and management methods. Chartered Engineers are variously engaged in technical and commercial leadership and possess effective interpersonal skills.
The high-level concepts contained within the UKSPEC form a common pattern throughout many other frameworks and this provides the starting point for mapping and compliance between frameworks.
Discussion on the UKSPEC
The UKSPEC is, by design, a very high-level document, being as it is the benchmark for demonstrating competence. As it is such a high-level document, the descriptions for each of the generic competencies is also at a very high level.
It is due to the high-level nature of the descriptions that it is impossible to be assessed directly against the UKSPEC as such, as each of the descriptions is open to different interpretations. Therefore, it is necessary to have a specialised interpretation of the UKSPEC for specific industries or disciplines that is, effectively, where the rest of the frameworks described in this chapter come in.
Each of the following frameworks may be thought of as a specialised filter that may be applied to the generic UKSPEC to provide a bespoke interpretation of its requirements. THE INCOSE COMPETENCIES FRAMEWORK
Background
INCOSE is an international industrial body that was set up to further the aims of systems engineering. It is not the role of this book to enter into the great ‘what is a systems engineer’ debate, but it is probably a good idea to provide a very brief overview of exactly what is meant by the terms ‘systems engineering’ and ‘systems engineer’. The discipline of systems engineering is concerned with the interdisciplinary practices and principles that enable the realisation of successful systems. By the term ‘system’ here, we mean: physical systems, electronic systems, software systems, people systems, political systems, environmental systems, and so on and, indeed, any combination of these systems. The role of a systems engineer, therefore, is to enable the development of such systems. The role of a systems engineer is not to maintain PCs. Unfortunately, the term ‘systems engineer’ is shared by people who enable systems engineering and maintainers of PCs. Although both types are people essential in today’s society, in the context of this book, we always mean the former, rather than the latter. INCOSE is concerned with the former, rather than the latter and if you are curious as to what makes a good systems engineer, then the INCOSE systems engineering competencies framework is a good place to start.
15

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

The INCOSE framework ontology
The focus of the framework is concerned with the concept of ‘Systems Engineering
Ability’ which is described in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2 High-level view of the INCOSE competencies framework
Theme

Systems Engineering Ability
1

1

3

1..*

Competency
1

1..*
Basic Skills and
Behaviour

1..*
Supporting Technique

1

is held at

1

1..*
Domain Knowledge

Level

1..*
Indicator

Awareness

Practitioner

Supervised Practitioner

Expert

The INCOSE competencies framework has a concept of ‘Systems engineering ability’ that may be broken down into four main areas:
Supporting Technique. A supporting technique is a specific technique that is used to support the main competencies, for example: failure analysis, decision analysis, the use of specific notations and languages, and so on. These techniques are very important but are not much value by themselves as it is when they are used to support and enable competencies that they start to add true benefits. These supporting techniques tend to be of a more technical nature and, therefore, easier to teach and measure. Due to the sheer number of these different techniques, the
INCOSE framework does not go into any detail in this area, but simply provides a checklist to which one may want to refer when considering such techniques.

16

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

Basic Skills and Behaviour. These represent the soft skills that are required in order to be a systems engineer, including skills such as: abstract thinking and communication (verbal/non-verbal, listening, writing, and so on). These softer skills tend to be less easy to teach or, indeed, to measure and can often rely on the objectivity of an assessor. Again, the INCOSE framework does not enter into much detail in this area and only provides a simple list of suggested areas that may be considered.
Domain Knowledge. This knowledge is related directly to the domain in which the person is working. As systems engineering is a multi-disciplinary subject, it can cover, potentially, any domain. As the scope of ‘any domain’ is so wide, it is not covered in any detail in this framework.
Competency. So far, the INCOSE framework has managed to sidestep all three of the areas covered, but the focus of the framework is very much on what is referred to as ‘Competency’, which refers to the core skills required for a systems engineer. These will be discussed in more detail in the remainder of this section.
The basic mapping between what is presented here and what exists in the
UKSPEC seems relatively straightforward, but there is a potential ambiguity.
The basic mapping is as follows:
Both INCOSE concepts of ‘Supporting Technique’ and ‘Basic Skill and
Behaviour’ map onto the UKSPEC concept of ‘Skill’.
The INCOSE concept of ‘Domain Knowledge’ maps onto the UKSPEC concept of ‘Knowledge’.
The INCOSE concept of ‘Competency’ maps onto the UKSPEC concept of
‘Understanding’.
The INCOSE concept of ‘Systems Engineering Ability’ maps onto the
UKSPEC concept of ‘Competency’.
The ambiguity should be quite clear from this mapping – the term ‘Competency’ has a different meaning in each of the frameworks. This is quite an important concept when considering competency assessment, so, when using the INCOSE framework, it is always worth having this ambiguity in mind.
The basic hierarchy of these competencies can be seen on the left-hand side of the diagram, which states that one or more ‘Competency’ is part of one of three types of ‘Theme’. Each ‘Competency’ is made up of one or more ‘Indicator(s)’. It is worth looking at each of these concepts in a little more detail.
The concept of a ‘Theme’ is really just a broad categorisation of competencies.
The three themes that exist are:
‘Systems Thinking’, which is concerned with high-level, generic concepts associated with systems engineering. This theme covers the following competencies: ‘Systems Concepts’, ‘Enterprise and Technical Environment’ and ‘Super System Capability Issues’;
17

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

‘Systems Engineering Management’, which covers the aspects of management that are applicable to systems engineering. This theme covers the following competencies: ‘Concurrent Engineering’, ‘Enterprise Integration’, ‘Integration of Specialisms’, ‘Life-cycle Process Definition’ and ‘Planning, Monitoring and
Control’;
‘Holistic Life-cycle View’, which covers the competencies that one may expect to see associated with the various best-practice systems engineering processes. This theme covers the following competencies: ‘Determine and Manage Stakeholder Requirements’, ‘System Design’ (that contains a further nine variations on systems design), ‘Integration and Verification’,
‘Validation’ and ‘Transition to operation’.
Each of these competencies that have been identified in the previous list may be held at a particular level of competency. The INCOSE framework identifies four levels of competency:
1. ‘Awareness’. The awareness level indicates that the person is able to understand basic concepts, to understand how the system fits into their enterprise and to be able to ask relevant questions associated with each competency. It may be that the person has no actual experience of the competency but does display some theoretical knowledge and understanding of it.
2. ‘Supervised practitioner’. An individual who has competencies held at the supervised practitioner level will have some real experience of the competency.
They will be able to display true understanding through the application of systems techniques and concepts as part of their work.
3. ‘Practitioner’. An individual who has competencies held at the practitioner level will provide guidance and lead activity in this area. They will be able to supervise people at lower levels of competency and may very well lead teams or groups of people.
4. ‘Expert’. The expert level represents those rare individuals who truly lead the field in a particular area. They are able to display their experience by defining best-practice, policy or process within an organisation or industry.
Each of the competencies that have been identified may be held at any of these four levels. At each of the levels and for each competency, there are a number of indicators defined, and it is these indicators that are actually assessed. Each indicator is a simple statement of what must be demonstrated to contribute towards meeting a competency. The indicator should be measurable in some accepted form.
Discussion
The INCOSE framework is the most immature of all the frameworks presented here. This is by no means intended to be a derogatory use of the term ‘immature’, but is simply intended to reflect the fact that the framework itself is relatively new and has not been through many iterations. Indeed, when compared to a framework like SFIA, the INCOSE framework is positively embryonic, but this is no bad thing. The INCOSE framework is simple and easy enough to understand and focuses on a specific aspect of competency, the systems engineering competencies, rather than trying to be a master of all disciplines, which is to be applauded.
18

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

With regard to the mechanics of the framework, there is a good example of a point that will be discussed later in the book, that of meeting lower levels.
For example, at first glance, one would expect that if an individual attains the ‘Practitioner’ level for a competency, then surely they must also hold the
‘Supervised Practitioner’ level? This is logical and makes perfect sense, but is this the case here? Certainly there is nothing in the framework to state this explicitly and it will form a discussion point later in this book.
Also, because of the relatively few iterations that have been completed of the
INCOSE framework, there are some areas, quite naturally, that are covered in more detail than others. For example, the ‘System Design: Concept Generation’ competency, at the ‘Supervised Practitioner’ level has single indicator defined.
This means that a person will either pass or fail here and there is no room for argument. Take, on the other hand, the ‘Determine and Manage Stakeholder
Requirements’ competency held at the same level – it has eight indicators defined, meaning that it may be possible to demonstrate seven out of eight indicators potentially to achieve a pass at this level. This can become quite a concern when trying to achieve consistency of results of an assessment. Returning to the point of the immaturity of the framework, however, these are all issues that can be sorted out quite simply in subsequent releases of the framework.
In terms of assessment of the INCOSE framework, there is a set of guidelines for assessment. However these are really a more detailed description of each of the indicators rather than an assessment mechanism as such. Also related to this is the Certified Systems Engineering Practitioner (CSEP) scheme (see CSEP) that has several levels of certification: entry level (Associate Systems Engineering
Professional), foundation level (Certified Systems Engineering Professional) and senior level (Expert Systems Engineering Professional). There is also currently one extension to this which covers the USA Department of Defense Acquisition.
In order to become certified, it is necessary to apply, pay a fee, sit an exam (at some levels) and attend an interview (at some levels). It should be borne in mind, however, that this is not a competency assessment as such but a certification, so the result will be a pass or fail, rather than a graded profile.
SFIA
Background
The SFIA is a framework used predominantly in the IT industry and which identifies the skills required to develop effective ISs and makes use of ICT.
The framework itself is owned, managed and configured by the SFIA Foundation, which is made up of the following members: the British Computer Society (BCS), the ‘Chartered Institute for IT’ (see BCS);
E-skills UK, the sector skills council for business and information technology
(see ESKILLS); the Institution for Engineering and Technology (IET), one of the world’s largest professional societies (see IET);
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A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

the Institute for Management of Information Systems (IMIS), an international professional body associated with IT management (see IMIS); the IT Service Management Forum (ITSMF), a truly independent worldwide forum for IT management professionals (see ITSMF).
The framework has an intended audience of:
IT professionals and their managers. This includes anybody associated with
IT, whether it is providing a product or service operating these IT systems.
Notice here that it is assumed that IT managers have a technical background and actually understand what IT is. This is reflected in some of the other stakeholders who are specifically defined as having a non-technical background.
Human resource managers. This includes anybody involved in recruitment, placement of people in different jobs, competency definition and assessment and so on. Notice that there is no specific requirement here for any particular technical or domain knowledge.
Non-technical managers. These managers may be people who are involved with management but who do not have a technical or IT background. Of course, there will be a different skillset required for the different types of manager, so it is important that they can be differentiated.
Internal staff-training personnel and people interested in CPD. It may be perceived here that there is an overlap with HR managers, which may very well be the case. However, there is a strong requirement for a CPD role that is not connected to HR in many organisations. It is increasingly common to find specific departments with their own drivers for competence and competency assessment that are part of a technical department, rather than being seen as remote and inside the HR department.
People working in professional bodies. It may seem very obvious, but people who work in professional bodies have a strong requirement for understanding what competence is and how it can be measured. Bearing in mind that one of the main requirements for any professional body is providing a mechanism for CPD, then the definition and use of frameworks is a no-brainer.
Lecturers, trainers and people involved with developing curricula for education. In order to demonstrate effective courses and training resources, it is essential that they meet the needs of the industry. By having a good understanding of the SFIA framework, it is possible to map the key course aspects to the framework, hence ensuring that the training satisfies the requirements of the framework.
Government personnel. In order to achieve any sort of consistency across the public sector, it is crucial that the government, and its employees, share the same vision of what skills are needed by staff.
People working in IT service organisations. It is not just the people providing the IT infrastructure and applications, but also the associated services that make up the IT industry as a whole. It is important, therefore, that all aspects of the IT industry can be represented by the framework.
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COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

With this in mind, it is now time to look at the key concepts and terminology that are used in the SFIA framework, by considering the SFIA ontology.
The SFIA ontology
The framework itself is made up of a two-dimensional matrix that is described in
Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3 SFIA framework ontology
SFIA Framework

1 provides

1

Model
1
1
Matrix

1
1
Level of
Responsibility

1
Skillset
1

1

1..*
Category
1..*
1

Level

1..*

1

Subcategory

Level of Competence

1
1..*
Skill

1..*

is issued at

It can be seen here that the ‘SFIA Framework’ provides a ‘Model’ that is made up of a single ‘Matrix’. This is made up of two main elements that are the ‘Skillset’ and the ‘Level of Responsibility’. The ‘Skillset’ here refers to the broad categorisation of all IT skills that is made up of a number of ‘Category(ies)’. Each ‘Category’ is made up of one or more ‘Subcategory(ies)’, each of which is made up of one or more ‘Skill(s)’. This basic structural hierarchy provides the two levels of categorisation (excluding the highest level, ‘Skillset’ which encompasses everything) and the actual skills themselves, which are the elements that are actually assessed. Each skill has a four-letter abbreviation that provides a unique identifier.
The other dimension of the matrix is the ‘Level of Responsibility’ that is made up of one or more ‘Level(s)’. In SFIA there are seven levels that exist and it is this level that relates to the actual skill that is being assessed. The level at
21

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

which a particular skill is held is the ‘Level of Competence’ for an individual in that area. The categories that make up the skillset are: the ‘Strategy and Planning’ category, which is made up of: information strategy, advice and guidance, business/IS strategy and planning, and technical strategy and planning; the ‘Development’ category, which is made up of: systems development, human factors, and installation and integration; the ‘Business change’ category, which is made up of: business change management and relationship management. the ‘Service provision’ category, which is made up of: infrastructure, operation and user support; the ‘Procurement and management support’ category, which is made up of: supply management, quality and resource management; the ‘Ancillary skills’ category, which is made up of: education and training, and sales and marketing.
In terms of the levels, they are defined under the four attributes of: autonomy, influence, complexity and business skills. Each level has, basically, four main headings that are used to define each attribute and the combination of these four descriptions provides the overall description for the level. These levels may be broadly described as follows:
1. ‘Follow’. A person with a skill held at level 1 is expected to be supervised most of the time and seek advice often. They are not expected to make any significant decisions, but will possess a basic knowledge of the skill.
2. ‘Assist’. A person with a skill held at level 2 is expected to work under minor supervision and to only seek advice where necessary. They are expected to begin to use their judgement in making minor decisions.
3. ‘Apply’. A person with a skill held at level 3 is expected to work under general supervision and will be able to make a decision as to when and where advice should be sought.
4. ‘Enable’. A person with a skill held at level 4 will work only under general direction and will have a clear set of responsibilities. They will also plan their own work and follow processes.
5. ‘Ensure, advise’. A person with a skill held at level 5 will work under a very broad direction but will hold full responsibility and accountability in a specific area of work. They will also set their own work goals, plans and objectives and delegate assignments.
6. ‘Initiate, influence’. A person with a skill held at level 6 will have defined responsibility and accountability for a significant area of work. They are also accountable for decisions made by themselves and others below them.
7. ‘Set strategy’. A person with a skill held at level 7 will have significant responsibility and authority and will be involved in defining policy. They will also be accountable for the decisions of any people working as their subordinates.
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COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

These levels can be used as a basis for mapping onto an organisation’s specific framework where necessary or may be used as stand-alone definitions.
Discussion
One of the immediate observations that strikes many people is the sheer size of the SFIA framework. There are almost 80 skills held at seven levels, which is visualised via a large chart. At first, this can be quite intimidating, but it should be noted that it is the complexity of an entity rather than its size that makes something difficult to understand and, despite its size, SFIA is well structured and defined and deceptively easy to follow.
There are seven levels of responsibility here – most other frameworks only have four or five. This is not a problem and, indeed, it is easier to map to fewer levels than it is to map to more levels (i.e. mapping from seven levels to four is less complex than mapping four levels to seven). The sheer number of levels can put some people off the framework.
The skills themselves and the categorisations shown are really for illustration only. It is made quite clear that it is the actual skills themselves that are important rather than how they are categorised. Indeed, people are encouraged to define their own structure of classification and not just to use SFIA in an off-theshelf manner.
Like many of these frameworks, the emphasis is largely focused on the technical skills rather than the soft or human skills that may be required for a person. This is a problem that is common to many of the frameworks, but it should be borne in mind that a boundary must be put onto a framework somewhere and this boundary is quite clear in SFIA.
With the number of skills that are identified here, there are some surprising omissions from the technical areas described. One specific area that may be a cause for concern is the area of requirements engineering that is not really addressed in the framework.
The SFIA framework is very mature and has a large and formal process of continuous improvement, dedicated conferences and a massive uptake of its use in the IT industry. In terms of assessment, individuals can become SFIA-accredited consultants; this involves an assessment fee and attending a course to become a listed consultant. This only means that the assessed person is recognised as being able to give advice on SFIA skill areas, so it is not an assessment mechanism as such.
THE ASSOCIATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT (APM)
Background
The APM is the largest independent professional body for management in
Europe, whose mission is to ‘develop and promote the professional disciplines of project and programme management for the public benefit’.
23

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

The knowledge and experience of its extensive membership is captured in the
‘Body of Knowledge’ that forms the cornerstone of competency assessment and demonstration for project and programme managers. The target audience for the
APM is project and programme managers, although it can be and is used extensively by other roles and organisations.
The APM ontology
The concept of APM competency in the APM relies on two main elements – the
‘Framework’ and the ‘Body of Knowledge’ which can be seen in the following diagram. Figure 2.4 The APM framework ontology uses 1

Framework

1

Body of Knowledge
1

1

7

4
Point

Section
1

1..*

3 Learn and
Develop

1 Review

Topic
1

4 Assess
Achievement

2 Plan

1..*
Activity

1 has

increases knowledge of

1

{CPD Point Value = CPD
Rating x Your Value}

APM Rating

1

*

Your Value

CPD Point Value

Figure 2.4 shows the APM ontology and it can be seen that the ‘Framework’ uses the ‘Body of Knowledge’. The ‘Framework’ is made up of four ‘Points’, each of which has a number of questions or pieces of advice associated with it that the person must address. These are described as follows:
‘1 Review’ refers to an individual’s ability to look at their own abilities and ask four questions: ‘what skills do I have?’, ‘what have I achieved?’, ‘what have I learned?’ and ‘how appropriate are my skills to my current work situation?’ The answers to these questions are recorded in the individual’s

24

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

personal record. It is suggested that an initial self-assessment is used to generate these answers.
‘2 Plan’ refers to an individual’s ability to plan how to get from where they are to where the want to be. The questions that need to be answered are: ‘what gaps are there in my current knowledge and skills?’, ‘what can I do to fill these gaps?’, ‘where do I want to be in five years time?’ and ‘what do I need to do to achieve this and who can help me?’ The answers to these questions are recorded in the individual’s personal development plan, where their objectives are listed in relation to these questions.
‘3 Learn and Develop’ refers to an individual’s ability to execute this plan and to capture any relevant information. The advice that is offered here is: ‘keep a record of everything you have achieved’, ‘we are all different, you may learn in a different way to your colleagues’, ‘there will be opportunities to learn and develop that aren’t in your original plan’.
Rather than questions, these are pieces of advice that should be followed at all times. In fairness, they are good, solid, common-sense ideas that should be reflected in all aspects of CPD, not just limited to management frameworks. ‘4 Assess Achievement’ refers to an individual’s ability to understand what has been achieved and how it helps. The questions that must be answered are: ‘what have I learnt?’, ‘how does this help me now?’, ‘how might it help me in the future?’ and ‘do I need anything to enhance this learning?’ The answers to these questions are recorded in the individual’s development record, which can then be used as a basis for generating CVs, used in interviews, or wherever else is deemed appropriate.
Each of these points is executed as part of an ongoing cycle and in the order shown above. This may be thought of as being like a continuous professional development iteration that is executed time and time again throughout the life cycle of an individual’s career.
The basis of all the questions that are asked here is that a set of skills must be identified by the individual, and this is where the ‘Body of Knowledge’ comes in. The
‘Body of Knowledge’ itself is made up of seven ‘Section(s)’ each of which is made up of one or more ‘Topic(s)’. These sections and their associated topics may be further described as follows (Note, these sections and topics are omitted from the diagram for the sake of clarity. For a full description of these sections and topics, see SFIA.):
The ‘1 – Project management in context’ section is made up of the following topics: ‘1.1 Project management’, ‘1.2 Programme management’, ‘1.3
Portfolio management’, ‘1.4 Project context’, ‘1.5 Project sponsorship’ and
‘1.6 Project office’.
The ‘2 – Planning the strategy’ section is made up of the following topics:
‘2.1 Project success and benefits management’, ‘2.2 Stakeholder management’,
‘2.3 Value management’, ‘2.4 Project management plan’, ‘2.5 Project risk management’, ‘2.6 Project quality management’ and ‘2.7 Health, safety and environmental management’.

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A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

The ‘3 – Executing the strategy’ section is made up of the following topics:
‘3.1 Scope management’, ‘3.2 Scheduling’, ‘3.3 Resource management’, ‘3.4
Budgeting and cost management’, ‘3.5 Change control’, ‘3.6 Earned value management’, ‘3.7 Information management’, ‘ 3.8 Issue management’.
The ‘4 – Techniques’ section is made up of the following topics: ‘4.1
Requirements management’, ‘4.2 Development’, ‘4.3 Estimating’, ‘4.4
Technology management’, ‘4.5 Value engineering’, ‘4.6 Modelling and testing’ and ‘4.7 Configuration management’.
The ‘5 – Business and commercial’ section is made up of the following topics:
‘5.1 Business case’, ‘5.2 Marketing and sales’, ‘5.3 Project financing and funding’, ‘5.4 Procurement’ and ‘5.5 Legal awareness’.
The ‘6 – Organisation and governance’ section is made up of the following topics: ‘6.1 Project life cycles’, ‘6.2 Concept’, ‘6.3 Definition’, ‘6.4
Implementation’, ‘6.5 Handover and closeout’, ‘6.6 Project reviews’,
‘6.7 Organisation structure’, ‘6.8 Organisational roles’, ‘6.9 Methods and procedures’ and ‘6.10 Governance of project management’.
The ‘7 – People and the profession’ section is made up of the following topics: ‘7.1 Communication’, ‘7.2 Teamwork’, ‘7.3 Leadership’, ‘7.4 Conflict management’, ‘7.5 Negotiation’, ‘7.6 Human resources management’,
‘7.7 Behavioural characteristics’, ‘7.8 Learning and development’,
‘7.9 Professionalism and ethics’.
Each of these topics will have a number of activities associated with it that help to increase the knowledge of a particular topic. These activities include: workbased on-the-job training, informal CPD, formal events and qualifications (not shown on the diagram for the sake of clarity). Each of these activities is given an
‘APM Rating’ which may be 1, 2, 3, or 5 (no ‘4’) that provides a weighting for making the calculation to derive the ‘CPD points value’. The individual then decides how valuable the information that has been learned is, by defining the
‘Your Value’ on a scale of 2 to 10 where ‘2’ is considered to be of ‘little value’ and
‘10’ is considered to be of ‘high value’. These two values – the ‘APM Rating’ and the ‘Your Value’ – are then multiplied to provide the ‘CPD Points Value’, which may then be used to provide evidence of competency.
Discussion
The APM framework is particularly interesting as it relies, to quite a large extent, on continuous self-assessment. As part of this assessment, the individual can actually put values onto how valuable the new skills are and use these to show potential employers, professional bodies (for professional qualifications, such as
Chartered Project Manager) and for internal company assessments.
It is important when applying these techniques in the APM framework that they are based on realistic estimates of how valuable things are for an individual. Part of the danger of such a numbered scheme is that it is open to abuse. It would be hoped that within a professional discipline, this would not occur, but there is always a need for validating assessments and claims made based on self-assessments.

26

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

There may be nothing sinister about somebody over-estimating their own values because, as discussed previously in this book, incompetent people tend to overestimate their own competence.
Accreditation
There is a formal accreditation scheme in place that allows people to be trained and assessed to a number of levels. These are:
1. ‘APM introductory certificate in project management’, which is an entrylevel qualification that covers the basics of project management and requires the candidate to sit an exam;
2. ‘APM practitioner qualification’, which assesses an individual to demonstrate their practical experience in assisting in the management of projects, and requires the candidate to sit an exam;
3. ‘APM certified project manager’, which is a formal three-stage process leading to full formal recognition as a certified project manager. This level is really what the focus of this book is about – full competency assessment, rather than sitting an exam and gaining a qualification.
In order to gain these qualifications, it is essential that any training provided is recognised by the APM under their ‘accredited provider’ scheme.
THE ASSOCIATION OF PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS
Background
The APMP is the professional body that defines and supports best practice in the areas of bids, proposals and business acquisition. The APMP has defined a set of competencies that are required in order to become a proposal management professional. The APMP ontology
The APMP ontology describes a multi-level hierarchy that can be seen in
Figure 2.5.
It can be seen from Figure 2.5 that the ‘APMP Framework’ is made up of six
‘Syllabus Group(s)’, each of which is made up of one or more ‘Syllabus Area(s)’, each of which is made up of one or more ‘Competence(s)’. The syllabus groups and their associated syllabus areas are described as follows:
1. The ‘Information Research and Management’ syllabus group is made up of the following syllabus areas: ‘Information Gathering’ and ‘Knowledge
Management’.
2. The ‘Planning’ syllabus group is made up of the following single syllabus area: ‘Schedule Development’.

27

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

3. The ‘Development’ syllabus group is made up of the following syllabus areas: ‘Opportunity Qualification’, ‘Winning Price Development’, ‘Teaming
Identification’, ‘Proposal Strategy Development’, ‘Executive Summary
Development’, ‘Storyboard Development’, ‘Requirements Identification’,
‘Compliance Checklist Development’ and ‘Outline Development’.
4. The ‘Management’ syllabus group is made up of the following syllabus areas:
‘Storyboard Review Management’, ‘Kick-off Meeting Management’, ‘Review
Management’, ‘Proposal Risk Management’, Proposal Progress reporting’,
‘Final Document Review Management’, ‘Production Management’, ‘Lessons
Learnt Analysis and Management’ and ‘Proposal Process Management’.
5. The ‘Sales Orientation’ syllabus group is made up of the following syllabus areas: ‘Customer Interface Management’, ‘Capture Plan Development’,
‘Winning Strategy Development’, ‘Negotiation Planning’ and ‘Sales
Participation’.
Figure 2.5 The APMP ontology
APMP Framework
1
6
Syllabus Group
1
1..*
Syllabus Area
1
1..*

1

Competence

is held at

1

Level

1

1
Syllabus Reference

1
Description

Foundation

Professional
Practitioner

28

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

6. The ‘Behaviour and Attitude’ syllabus group is made up of the following syllabus areas: ‘Communication and Persuasiveness’, ‘Quality Orientation’,
‘Building Strategic Relationships and a Successful Team’ and ‘Decision
Making and Delegating Responsibility’.
Each of these syllabus areas has a number of competencies defined in a simple table format with a ‘Syllabus Reference’ and ‘Description’. Each of these competencies may be held at one of three ‘Level(s)’, as follows:
1. The APMP ‘Foundation’ level indicates that an individual can act as part of a proposal or bid team. They will be able to follow processes and use tools as well as understanding the basic principles and approaches to work.
2. The APMP ‘Practitioner’ level indicates that an individual can run and manage a bid or proposal within an organisation. This includes being able to tailor any approach to a specific project, for instance to address the needs and problems of a customer response.
3. The APMP ‘Professional’ level indicates that an individual can drive the continuous improvement of the proposal or bid management processes within an organisation.
The APMP framework also includes a simple process that may be followed to achieve professional accreditation.
Discussion
The APMP is one of the lesser-known, but arguably more mature organisations.
It holds a number of high-quality events, has an extensive and impressive membership (and list of sponsors) and has developed a rigid process for accreditation. This process is very good, but some argue that putting a definitive requirement on the number of years’ experience required can be off-putting to some people, particularly high-flyers who consider themselves to be on a fast-track to accreditation.
The APMP also fills a gap that is not covered in any detail by any of the other frameworks mentioned here. The whole area of proposal management is one that is often overlooked but is, arguably, one of the most important aspects of the business to get right. After all, if an organisation does not win any bids, then it will have a severely restricted income.
Accreditation
The APMP specifies a formal process of examination, self-assessment and interview that allows a candidate to pass through the three levels of competence to full, recognised professional status. The actual process and its requirements are summarised very neatly in Table 2.1, taken from the
APMP website (see APMP).

29

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

Table 2.1 Summary of accreditation requirements for the APMP
Foundation

Practitioner

Professional

Referee required

Yes

Yes

Yes

Number of years prior experience required 1

3

7

Tests

Basic knowledge of best practice

Application of best practice

Advocacy of best practice Type of assessment required Multiple choice examination Online selfassessment

Reference, presentation and interview

Continuing education unit required per two-year period

20

40

40

The APMP also offers two levels of membership, which are ‘Member’ and ‘Fellow’, each of which comes with its own set of designations.
CHOOSING BETWEEN FRAMEWORKS
Introduction
When it comes to choosing between frameworks, then the scope of each and their intended audience becomes very important. This can lead to problems, however, as it is very rare that a single person will have their entire skillset chosen by a single framework. For example, imagine an individual who works in the proposal management department of an organisation and spends their working life preparing proposals. The obvious choice for this candidate is the APMP framework that is geared solely towards this type of person. However, now consider that this person works in the systems engineering industry, then surely the INCOSE framework would also be of interest to them. There is a need, therefore, to be able to map between these frameworks and to provide a mechanism to mix and match skills from different sources to generate a more complete scope (assessment input) and, hence, profile (assessment output).
One way to address this is to look for a common reference that can be used as a starting point for mapping between the various competency frameworks. In the frameworks that have been considered in this book, there is a convenient framework onto which all of the others map that provides a ready-made starting point for this exercise. The UKSPEC forms the benchmark for professional recognition for all of the frameworks here and is, therefore, the ideal candidate for this mapping.
30

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

Mappings
In order to map between the competency frameworks, therefore, it is necessary to map each one individually onto the UKSPEC and this can then be used as an interface to map between the frameworks. For the purposes of this book, a full mapping is not feasible in terms of the number of pages (and trees) that would be required to print this information. Therefore, a partial mapping will be shown between some of UKSPEC and some of three of the frameworks. The scope of this mapping exercise will be limited to:
One set of generic competencies – ‘A: education, training and experience’.
These are the first ones in the framework and are chosen for no other reason than convenience.
The first 10 skills or competencies from each of the chosen frameworks. These were, again, chosen as the first ones in the framework and the number of 10 was arrived at purely to keep the tables readable.
The frameworks considered, which will be: SFIA, APM and the INCOSE competencies framework. Again, these were chosen arbitrarily and with a firm eye on the number of pages that would be required to reprint any more mappings. With this scope in mind, the mappings are as shown in the following Tables 2.2,
2.3 and 2.4.
Table 2.2 shows the partial mapping between SFIA and the UKSPEC. Notice how, with this scope, there is only a single mapping shown. This is not necessarily a poor reflection on SFIA but, rather, shows where the focus of the two frameworks overlaps. Table 2.3 shows the partial mapping between the APM and the UKSPEC. Notice that there are more mappings here compared to those shown in the SFIA table but, again, this does not necessarily reflect the frameworks as a whole, just the scopes that were chosen here.
Table 2.4 shows the mapping between the INCOSE competencies framework and the UKSPEC. Again, there are a number of mappings here, but nowhere near a complete set.
Discussion
In order to demonstrate how these tables may be used in reality, imagine that a simple scope (input for an assessment) is set to being the UKSPEC generic competencies shown here (the ‘A’ competencies shown on the vertical axis on the tables). In order to demonstrate each generic competency, we will be looking for a specific interpretation of that competency in a source framework, hence the use of the tables.
Tables 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 each provide a different set of mappings. One immediate thing that stands out is where there is a lack of mappings. This can lead to a number of possible conclusions:
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A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

BURM – Business Risk Management

BPTS – Business Process Testing

BPRE – Business Process Improvement

BENM – Benefits Management

AVMT – Availability Management

ASUP – Application Support

ASMG – Asset Management

ARCH – Systems Architecture

ANAL – Business Analysis

ACMG – Account Management

Table 2.2 Partial mapping between SFIA and UKSPEC

A1.1: Awareness of Personal
Knowledge and Skills
A1.2: Enhancement of Technical
Skills
A1.3: Enhancement of Knowledge
A2.1: Stakeholder Requirements
A2.2: Marketing Strategy
A2.3: Opportunity Exploitation
A2.4: Application Promotion
A2.5: IPR Awareness
A2.6: Continuous Improvement

X

There is no mapping, because there is an omission from the source framework.
This is possible but not very likely, bearing in mind the maturity of the frameworks and the amount of work and effort that has gone into producing them.
There is no mapping, because the mapping is outside the scope of the source framework. This is possible and far more likely. As was discussed previously, each framework has a boundary that falls in a different place and it is, therefore, natural that there will be areas, in many cases large areas, where the mapping will not exist. This is particularly true when one bears in mind that the UKSPEC applies to the whole of engineering and science, whereas each framework only represents a subset of this.
32

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

There is no mapping because there is some misunderstanding about what exactly is meant in one or more of the source frameworks. This is also possible and, unfortunately, in some cases, all too true. This may be because the framework is poorly written, but, in most cases, this will be because the person reading the framework does not hold an appropriate level of competence to understand matters fully.
The next aspect of the mappings to consider is where mappings exist for more than one framework. For example, consider the mapping between: Table 2.3:
‘A2.2: Marketing Strategy’ – ‘CC01 – Project Sponsorship’, and Table 2.4: ‘A2.2:
Marketing Strategy’ – ‘Enterprise Integration’. The fact that there is a common mapping between the two tables means that there is some relationship between

X

A1.2: Enhancement of Technical
Skills

X

A1.3: Enhancement of Knowledge

CC01 – Project Sponsorship

X

BC09 – Professionalism and Ethics

BC08 – Learning and Development

BC06 – Human Resource Management

BC05 – Negotiation

BC04 – Conflict Management

BC03 – Leadership

BC07 – Behavioural Characteristics

A1.1: Awareness of Personal
Knowledge and Skills

BC02 – Teamwork

BC01 – Communication

Table 2.3 Partial mapping between APM and UKSPEC

X

A2.1: Stakeholder Requirements
A2.2: Marketing Strategy

X

A2.3: Opportunity Exploitation
A2.4: Application Promotion
A2.5: IPR Awareness
A2.6: Continuous Improvement

X
33

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

Integration of Specialisms

Holistic Life-cycle View

Functional analysis

Enterprise Integration

Determining And Manage Stakeholder
Requirements
Enterprise and Technology Environment

Design For …

Concurrent Engineering

Concept Generation

Architectural Design

Table 2.4 Partial mapping between the INCOSE competencies framework and
UKSPEC

A1.1: Awareness of Personal
Knowledge and Skills
A1.2: Enhancement of Technical
Skills
A1.3: Enhancement of Knowledge
A2.1: Stakeholder Requirements

X

A2.2: Marketing Strategy
A2.3: Opportunity Exploitation

X
X

A2.4: Application Promotion
A2.5: IPR Awareness

X

A2.6: Continuous Improvement

the mappings, but does not in any way mean that the two represent the same thing. To emphasise this, by cross-correlating between these two tables, it is possible to deduce that:
1. ‘CC01 – Project Sponsorship’ from APM and ‘Enterprise Integration’ from
INCOSE are related;
2. ‘CC01 – Project Sponsorship’ from APM and ‘Enterprise Integration’ from
INCOSE are not necessarily the same thing.
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COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

These mappings will only ever be able to show up potential similarities by identifying relationships through the mappings. In order to understand wherever these two skills represent the same thing, then it is essential that a competent person makes a judgement call as to whether they are the same and, if they are not, why not and how they do relate.
There are two conclusions that can be made based on this mapping:
1. If the skills are not the same, then which one is more appropriate for the scope that we are assessing against? It may be that both are required, but it is important that an informed decision is made.
2. If the skills are the same, then we can assume that we can demonstrate meeting both competencies at once, hence saving time and effort.
There are clearly many gaps in the mapping, as seen from these tables, but it has to be borne in mind that this is a very incomplete set of mappings and there are many more columns in the actual tables that do provide a lot more coverage of the UKSPEC generic competencies.
CONCLUSIONS
This chapter has introduced a number of competency frameworks that are used in a number of different industries. Each of these frameworks has a different scope, purpose and audience. Each of these frameworks is also recognised in its own particular field of interest and can be used, to different extents, as part of continuous professional development.
No single framework will provide all relevant skills for a single person, therefore, in many cases, it may be desirable to choose different skills from different frameworks and to map them together. An example of this was shown using the
UKSPEC but, in reality, any source framework could be used or, indeed, a generic framework could be generated to perform this mapping – in fact, this is exactly what is done in the next chapter, where frameworks are mapped onto a generic framework to be used as a basis for competency assessment.
Now that frameworks have been introduced and discussed, it is time to look at how the information gathered from each framework can be used to generate a set of requirements that is needed to perform assessments against any framework.
REFERENCES
Framework information sources
APM www.apm.org.uk/ (Accessed February 2011). The APM website contains a lot of high-level information about the framework and how to go about accreditation. There are overviews of the Body of Knowledge available for free download, but the full information set is only available to purchase.
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A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY

APMP www.apmp.org/ (Accessed February 2011). The APMP website contains a lot of high-level information about the framework and how to go about accreditation. There are overviews of the framework available for free download, but the full information set is only available to purchase.
INCOSE www.incose.org/ProductsPubs/products/competenciesframework.aspx
(Accessed February 2011). The INCOSE website contains information on all aspects of systems engineering and a high-level description of the framework. In order to download the framework, it is necessary to be a member of INCOSE or contact them directly.
SFIA www.sfia.org.uk/ (Accessed February 2011). This is the website for the SFIA
Foundation and contains a colossal amount of information about SFIA. This includes an excellent download section with the specifications, summary booklets and a very useful, if somewhat large, wall chart.
UKSPEC www.engc.org.uk/professional-qualifications/standards/uk-spec
(Accessed February 2011). This is the website for the Engineering Council and provides a wealth of information on CPD generally and free downloads of the
UKSPEC documentation set.
Other organisations
BCS www.bcs.org/ (Accessed February 2011). The BCS – the Chartered Institute for IT (formerly known as the British Computer Society)
CSEP www.incose.org/educationcareers/certification/ (Accessed February 2011).
The Certified Systems Engineering Professional scheme.
ESKILLS www.e-skills.com/ (Accessed February 2011). The eSkills Council
IET www.theiet.org/ (Accessed February 2011). The Institution of Engineering and Technology
IMIS www.imis.org.uk/ (Accessed February 2011). The Institute for
Management of Information Systems
ITSMF www.itsmf.co.uk/ (Accessed February 2011). The IT Service Management
Forum
Useful books
Holt, J. (2009) A pragmatic guide to business process modelling, second edition.
BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, Swindon.

36

INDEX

accreditation see professional accreditation acquisitions see bids and acquisitions
APM see Association for Project
Management
APMP see Association of Proposal
Management Professionals appraisal see performance appraisal assessees 60 assessment process 90, 130 pre-assessment preparation 92,
97
assessment see competency assessment assessment architect 61, 66 assessment definer 61, 78 assessment tailor 61, 70–71 assessors assessment process 84–86,
89–90, 130 competency of 38, 40, 55, 90,
98–101, 130 primary assessor ’s competency profile 98–99, 100–101, 130 recording of evidence 99–100,
130–132
role 61 secondary assessor ’s competency profile 99–101 training 40–41
The Association for Project
Management (APM) accreditation scheme 27
Framework and Body of
Knowledge 12, 23–27 mapping between UKSPEC and
APM frameworks 33 website resource 35
The Association of Proposal
Management Professionals
(APMP) 6, 12, 27–30 accreditation scheme 29–30 website resource 36 audit distinct from assessment 8
BCS, the Chartered Institute for
IT 19, 36 best practice in competency assessment 38, 39, 41–52 bids and acquisitions
Association of Proposal
Management Professionals
(APMP) 6, 12, 27–30

British Computer Society (BCS, the
Chartered Institute for IT) 19, 36 business process modelling see modelling business processes capability Capability Maturity Model
Integrated (CMMI) 5, 39, 107 definition 5 distinct from competence 5–6
Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination
(SPICE) 5, 39, 107
Capability Maturity Model
Integrated (CMMI) 5, 39, 107 website resources 9 case studies assessments, execution of
121–134
educational framework 134–144 generating new frameworks
103–121, 134–144
Certified Systems Engineering
Practitioner (CSEP) scheme 19, 36
Chartered Institute for IT (BCS)
19, 36
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model
Integrated) 5, 39, 107 website resources 9 competence definition 2, 5 distinct from capability 5–6 distinct from competency 2 person’s perception of own 4–5,
27, 40 competence evolution 8 competency assessors 38, 40, 55, 90, 98–101,
130
definition 2 distinct from competence 2 competency assessment assessment element in the meta-model 50–52 assessment set-up element in the meta-model 49–50 assessors, competence of 38, 40,
55, 90, 98–101, 130 best practice approach 38, 39,
41–52
case study of execution using
INCOSE framework 121–134 distinct from audit 8

educational framework case study 134–144 evidence type, defining in framework 45–47, 70–71, 72,
74–75, 76 framework definition element of the meta-model 41–44 framework population element in the meta-model 44–49 measurability 38, 39 process automation and tools
54–55
rating scheme 47–49, 71, 75, 76,
88
recommendations for success
89–90
repeatable process 37–38, 39 requirements of the process
37–38
self-assessment versus third-party assessment 40–41 tailorable process 38, 39 time and cost 40 tools 54–55 transferable results 38, 39 uses 2–4 see also Universal Competence
Assessment Model (UCAM) competency frameworks 6–8,
11–36
Association for Project
Management (APM) 12, 23–27
Association of Proposal
Management Professionals
(APMP) 6, 12, 27–30 best practice (meta-model) 41–52 case studies on generating new frameworks 103–121, 134–144 choosing between frameworks
30–35
educational case study 134–144
International Council on Systems
Engineering (INCOSE) 12,
15–19
mapping between APM framework and UKSPEC 31, 33 mapping between INCOSE framework and UKSPEC 17,
31, 34–35 mapping between SFIA and
UKSPEC 31–33 mapping between UCAM terms and other frameworks 43–44

171

Skills Framework for the
Information Age (SFIA) 6, 12,
19–23
UK Standard for Professional
Engineering Competence
(UKSPEC) 11, 13–15, 30–35 website resources 9, 35–36 see also Universal Competence
Assessment Model (UCAM) competency profile 52–53, 71, 86–89 assessors 98–101 case study of an engineering company 132–133 competency scope 49–50, 78–82,
86–88
assessors 55 case study of an engineering company 125–129 continued professional development
(CPD) 3
Association for Project
Management (APM) 23–27 pre-assessment planning 92 self-assessment using UCAM
95–96
Skills Framework for the
Information Age (SFIA) 20
UK Standard for Professional
Engineering Competence
(UKSPEC) 11, 13–15
CSEP (Certified Systems
Engineering Practitioner) scheme 19, 36 customer stakeholder 60
E-skills UK 19, 36 educational framework case study
134–144
engineering competency frameworks see International
Council on Systems Engineering
(INCOSE) competency framework;
UK Standard for Professional
Engineering Competence
(UKSPEC)
external stakeholder 61 frameworks see competency frameworks human resources management see recruitment assessment
IET (Institution for Engineering and Technology) 19, 36
IMIS (Institute for Management of
Information Systems) 20, 36
INCOSE see International Council on Systems Engineering information technology see IT
Institute for Management of
Information Systems (IMIS) 20, 36
Institution for Engineering and
Technology (IET) 19, 36
International Council on Systems
Engineering (INCOSE) competency framework 12,
15–19
case study using 121–134 evidence type 47 feedback on use of 133–134 mapping between UKSPEC and
INCOSE 17, 31, 34–35 website resource 36

172

ISO 15288 – systems engineering life-cycle processes 43
IT (information technology)
IT Service Management Forum
(ITSMF) 20, 36
Skills Framework for the
Information Age (SFIA) 12,
19–23
Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination
(SPICE) 5, 39, 107 management, project see project management modelling business processes
57–58, 68
‘seven views’ approach 12, 58, 68,
149–163
performance appraisal 3 using UCAM 97–98 personal training analysis 3, 94 using UCAM 95–96
PRINCE II 2009 – projects in a controlled environment 43 process modelling see modelling business processes professional accreditation
Association for Project
Management (APM) 12, 27
Association of Proposal
Management Professionals
(APMP) 29–30
SFIA-accredited consultant 23
UK Standard for Professional
Engineering Competence
(UKSPEC) 11, 13–15,
30–35
project management
Association for Project
Management (APM)
Framework and Body of
Knowledge 12, 23–27 post-assessment process 94 promotion opportunity pre-assessment process 92–93 public sector competency framework 20 recruitment assessment 3 identifying future needs post-assessment 94 job description pre-assessment process 92
Skills Framework for the
Information Age (SFIA) 20 using UCAM 96–98 reviewer of assessment 61, 66, 72,
79, 81 school children’s performance case study 134–144 self-assessment Association for Project
Management (APM) framework 26–27
Association of Proposal
Management Professionals
(APMP) accreditation scheme
29–30
CPD planning 92 using UCAM 95–96 versus third-party assessment
40–41

Skills Framework for the
Information Age (SFIA) 6, 12,
19–23
mapping between UKSPEC and
SFIA 31–33 website resource 36
Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination
(SPICE) 5, 39, 107 staff appraisals see performance appraisal stakeholders in a competency assessment 59–61 standards see competency frameworks supplier stakeholder 61 systems engineering case study using INCOSE framework mapped onto the UCAM meta-model
121–134
Certified Systems Engineering
Practitioner (CSEP) scheme
19, 36
International Council on Systems
Engineering (INCOSE) competency framework 12,
15–19
Systems Modelling Language
(SysML) 68 tenders supported by competency assessment 94 tools assessment 54–55 process automation 54 training assessors 40–41
Association for Project
Management (APM) accreditation scheme 27
Association of Proposal
Management Professionals
(APMP) accreditation scheme
29–30
competency assessment as guide to 3–4, 94
Skills Framework for the
Information Age (SFIA) 20
UCAM see Universal Competence
Assessment Model
UK Standard for Professional
Engineering Competence
(UKSPEC) 11, 13–15 benchmark framework
30–35
mapping between APM framework and UKSPEC
31, 33 mapping between INCOSE framework and UKSPEC 17,
31, 34–35 mapping between SFIA and
UKSPEC 31–33 terminology 13 website resource 36
Unified Modelling Language
(UML) 7, 58, 68 activity diagrams 169–170 class diagrams 164–165 notation 12, 58, 164–170 sequence diagrams 168 use case diagrams 166–167

Universal Competence Assessment
Model (UCAM) 2, 39 appraisals using 97–98 assessment process 62–63,
82–91, 129–132, 143–144 assessment set-up process
62–63, 76–82, 124–129, 138–143 best practice approach 39,
41–52
case studies on generating new frameworks 103–121, 134–144 case study using INCOSE framework mapped onto the
UCAM meta-model 121–134 educational framework case study 134–144

framework definition process
62–68, 104–118, 121–122,
135–137
framework population process
62–63, 68–76, 118–121,
122–124, 137–138 mapping between UCAM terms and other frameworks 43–44 measurability 39 the meta-model 41, 52–55, 91 post-assessment process 93–95 pre-assessment process 91–93,
130
recruitment assessment
96–98
repeatable process 39

requirements 58–59 scenarios for use of 95–98 self-assessment using 95–96
‘seven views’ approach to modelling processes 58, 68,
149–163
stakeholders 59–61 support processes 91–95 tailorable process 39 tailoring 91 transferable results 39
Unified Modelling Language
(UML) notation 12, 58, 68,
164–170
website resources 9, 35–36

173

A PRAGMATIC GUIDE TO COMPETENCY
Tools, Frameworks and Assessment
Jon Holt and Simon A. Perry
Competency is the ability of an individual to perform their working activities. Many organisations are able to demonstrate capability (i.e. that adequate processes are in place) but struggle to demonstrate that they have the appropriate competent staff to carry out these processes.
Successful companies have a strong link between capability and competence. Indeed, competency may be thought of as an enabler of capability.
This book takes a pragmatic approach to assessing competency against various frameworks either individually or in a mix-and-match fashion and introduces one such assessment process, the Universal Competency
Assessment Model (UCAM).
Essential reading for IT managers and directors, team leaders, consultants and managers in technical businesses.
• A complete set of techniques for competency assessment and definition
• Introduces the Universal Competency Assessment
Model, an assessment method independent of framework or industry
• Covers creating and tailoring competency frameworks
• Includes industry case studies

A competent workforce is essential for the success of any business.
The future performance of your organisation or team will depend on assessing individual skills and on matching competence to wider capabilities.
The techniques demonstrated in this book form an invaluable guide for IT professionals, managers and consultants in technical businesses.

About the Authors
Jon Holt is the Global Head of Systems Engineering at
Atego. He is a Fellow of both BCS and the IET and is an award-winning author and public speaker specialising in all aspects of systems modelling, including process, architecture and competency modelling.
Simon A. Perry is a Principal Consultant at Atego and is a member of BCS and the IET. He works on the application of systems modelling to process modelling, enterprise architectures, requirements engineering, capabilities and competencies.
Management