e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT, telecoms and contact centres, has developed an online IT skills management service.

Called the SFIA Profiler, it is based on the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and aims to provide a description of the skills required by IT professionals, including descriptions of what should be expected at different levels of expertise.

The profile covers 78 skills, at up to seven levels and is designed to help identify skills gaps, create specific job roles for staff recruitment and appraisals, and inform targeted training solutions.

Terry Hook of e-skills UK said: "The service is a key component of a wider collaborative drive to provide SFIA as a skills benchmark for IT professionals across the UK, allowing employers to develop the skills of their employees in line with organisational and market need."

Valerie Mann, IT Resource Manager for Intelligent Finance said: "A skills management service that simplifies the assessment of IT professionals' competencies is just what UK businesses need. In addition, e-skills UK SFIA Profiler is easy to set up and administer, bringing high functionality within reach of organisations from small to large."

The availability of the SFIA Profiler follows the recent launch of e-skills UK's Sector Skills Agreement for IT (SSA for IT), a three-year action plan aimed at addressing IT skills gaps in the UK.

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