e-skills UK, the British Computer Society, the Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute for the Management of Information Systems have announced they will be working together to encourage the use of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) within organisations.

Operating as The SFIA Foundation, the four organisations will develop and promote the SFIA framework, which has been developed by e-skill UK with help from employers, industry trade associations, professional bodies, practitioners and the academic world, with the aim of establishing SFIA as the industry standard and drive IT skills development. SFIA enables employers of IT professionals to establish a framework for assessing the professional skills of their IT staff, can be used to identify the people with the rights skills for projects and assignments and provides a framework within which skills development and training can take place.

Ron McLaren, Operations Manager of the SFIA Foundation said: "This is a significant day for SFIA. Establishing the Foundation and forming a Steering Group of influential users gives new impetus to SFIA and will help us to get the message across to IT employers. Having the right skills framework is key to the development of their vital skills asset. It's a running-the-company issue, not just a training tool."