kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 16234-4:2020

e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT Professionals in all sectors - Part 4: Case Studies

This document provides a series of practical case studies supporting understanding, adoption and use of EN 16234 (all parts) e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT Professionals in all sectors which provides a common reference of 41 ICT professional competences as required and applied at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professional work environment, using a common language for competences, skills, knowledge and proficiency levels that can be understood across Europe.
This document supports Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders dealing with ICT Professional competences from multiple perspectives, in particular:
-   ICT service, demand and supply organisations;
-   ICT professionals, managers and human resource (HR) departments;
-   educational institutions, learning program and certification providers of all types including Vocational and Educational Training (VET), Higher Education (HE) and Continuous Professional Development (CPD);
-   social partners (trade unions and employer associations);
-   professional associations, accreditation, validation and assessment bodies;
-   market analysts and policy makers;
-   other organizations and stakeholders in public and private sectors across Europe,
to adopt, apply and use the framework in their environment.

e-Kompetenz Rahmenwerk (e-CF) - Ein gemeinsamer europäischer Rahmen für IKT-Fach- und Führungskräfte in allen Branchen - Teil 4: Fallstudien

Référentiel des e-Compétences - Référentiel européen commun pour les professionnels des technologies de l'information et de la communication dans tous les secteurs d'activité - Partie 4 : Études de cas

Krovni seznam e-usposobljenosti (e-CF) - Skupno evropsko okolje za strokovnjake na področju informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije v vseh sektorjih - 4. del: Študije primerov

Standards Content (sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 16234-4:2020
01-december-2020
Krovni seznam e-usposobljenosti (e-CF) - Skupno evropsko okolje za strokovnjake

na področju informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije v vseh sektorjih - 4. del:

Študije primerov
e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 4: Case Studies
e-Kompetenz Rahmenwerk (e-CF) - Ein gemeinsamer europäischer Rahmen für IKT-
Fach- und Führungskräfte in allen Branchen - Teil 4: Fallstudien

Référentiel des e-Compétences - Référentiel européen commun pour les professionnels

des technologies de l'information et de la communication dans tous les secteurs
d'activité - Partie 4 : Études de cas
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: FprCEN/TR 16234-4
ICS:
03.100.30 Vodenje ljudi Management of human
resources
35.020 Informacijska tehnika in Information technology (IT) in
tehnologija na splošno general
kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 16234-4:2020 en,fr,de

2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 16234-4:2020
FINAL DRAFT
TECHNICAL REPORT
FprCEN/TR 16234-4
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
October 2020
ICS 35.020 Will supersede CWA 16234-4:2014
English Version
e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European
Framework for ICT Professionals in all sectors - Part 4:
Case Studies

Référentiel des e-Compétences - Référentiel européen e-Kompetenz Rahmenwerk (e-CF) - Ein gemeinsamer

commun pour les professionnels des technologies de europäischer Rahmen für IKT-Fach- und

l'information et de la communication dans tous les Führungskräfte in allen Branchen - Teil 4: Fallstudien

secteurs d'activité - Partie 4 : Études de cas

This draft Technical Report is submitted to CEN members for Vote. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC

428.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,

Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and

United Kingdom.

Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are

aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a Technical Report. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without

notice and shall not be referred to as a Technical Report.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels

© 2020 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. FprCEN/TR 16234-4:2020 E

worldwide for CEN national Members.
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Content Page

European foreword ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 5

1 Scope .......................................................................................................................................................... 7

2 Normative references .......................................................................................................................... 7

3 Terms and definitions ......................................................................................................................... 8

4 Executive overview .............................................................................................................................. 8

4.1 e-CF overview: structure, content ................................................................................................... 8

4.2 Overview of e-CF case studies provided by this document .................................................. 11

5 Case studies: e-CF for multiple application across a variety of target groups .............. 15

5.1 Case Study A: Skill-UP: Please, mind the gap. e-CF and ICT Professional Role Mapping

to accelerate company transformation ....................................................................................... 15

5.1.1 About Nexi and the Italian market ............................................................................................... 15

5.1.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles usage ................................................................................... 16

5.1.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 17

5.1.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 18

5.2 Case Study B: Educating the European ICT Professionals of the Future – an e-CF

compliant curriculum........................................................................................................................ 18

5.2.1 About HU University of Applied Sciences (HU) and the Master of Informatics

(MSc.) ....................................................................................................................................................... 19

5.2.2 e-CF usage .............................................................................................................................................. 19

5.2.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 22

5.2.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 22

5.3 Case Study C: Teaching students human resource practices in the ICT profession as a

component of an Informatics services management course – example of a hiring

process .................................................................................................................................................... 22

5.3.1 About FOI ............................................................................................................................................... 23

5.3.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles Usage ................................................................................... 23

5.3.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 25

5.3.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 25

5.4 Case Study D: Implementation of Software Engineering Competence Remote
Evaluation for Master Program Graduate” – e-CF based Learning Outcome usage for

Improving the Quality and Relevance of Higher Education ................................................ 26

5.4.1 About TTI and the Latvian ICT market ........................................................................................ 26

5.4.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles usage ................................................................................... 26

5.4.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 27

5.4.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 28

5.5 Case Study E: ICT profile review process in the context of the German dual Vocational

Training System – use of the e-CF.................................................................................................. 28

5.5.1 About the Germany Vocational Education System .................................................................. 28

5.5.2 e-CF Usage .............................................................................................................................................. 29

5.5.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 31

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5.5.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 32

5.6 Case Study F: Making a role profile of an early adopter of Blockchain using the e-CF

standard ................................................................................................................................................. 32

5.6.1 About the Dutch Blockchain Coalition (DBC) ........................................................................... 32

5.6.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles usage: result of the study ............................................ 33

5.6.3 Facing Challenges ............................................................................................................................... 36

5.6.4 Added Value in Summary................................................................................................................. 36

5.7 Case Study G: UWV From Data services towards Data Science ........................................... 36

5.7.1 About UWV and the use of data ..................................................................................................... 37

5.7.2 Facing challenges by e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles usage ......................................... 38

5.7.3 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 41

5.8 Case Study H: National approach to systematic multi-stakeholder engagement for ICT

education – using e-CF as a common language ........................................................................ 41

5.8.1 About the Estonian Association of Information Technology and

Telecommunication ........................................................................................................................... 41

5.8.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles usage ................................................................................... 41

5.8.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 42

5.8.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 43

5.9 Case Study I: Using the e-CF to develop a certification framework and spin-off

curricula and VET programmes .................................................................................................... 44

5.9.1 About Promanad and the SPIH project ....................................................................................... 44

5.9.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles usage ................................................................................... 45

5.9.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 47

5.9.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 48

5.10 Case Study J: VIVAT – Aligning IT Professional Resources to the Company Strategy . 49

5.10.1 About VIVAT and its business ........................................................................................................ 49

5.10.2 e-CF usage .............................................................................................................................................. 49

5.10.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 51

5.10.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 51

5.11 Case Study K: e-CF in support of cultural change in a large ICT user organization .... 52

5.11.1 About REE and the digital transformation of the company ................................................. 52

5.11.2 e-CF and ICT Professional Profiles Usage ................................................................................... 52

5.11.3 Facing challenges ................................................................................................................................ 54

5.11.4 Added value in summary ................................................................................................................. 54

Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................... 56

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European foreword

This document (FprCEN/TR 16234-4:2020) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 428

“ICT Professionalism and digital competences”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.

This document is currently submitted to the vote.
This document will supersede CWA 16234-4:2014.

In comparison with the previous edition, the following technical modifications have been made:

• Development of new case studies in the light of the EN16234-1 revision and benefitting from multiple

e-CF user experiences gathered and application feedback received.

The EN 16234-1 (e-CF) for ICT professional competence being the main reference of this document

outlines the minimum requirements of competence (i.e. a threshold) in the work context. It includes

typical knowledge and skills examples that are not standardized but provided to support orientation and

understanding. When applying the EN 16234-1 (e-CF), this approach must be recognized to clearly

distinguish between which elements are mandatory and which are merely examples (represented by,

shall versus should/may/can, etc.).
This European standard is made up of four parts:
• EN 16234-1 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework. It provides the e-Competence Framework (e-CF)

published as a European Norm - EN.

• CEN/TR 16234-2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors - Part 2: User Guide. It provides the e-CF User guide published as a CEN

Technical Report (TR).

• CEN/TR 16234-3 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors - Part 3: Methodology. It provides the e-CF Methodology published as a

CEN Technical Report (TR).

• CEN/TR 16234-4 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors - Part 4: Case Studies. It provides a series of Case Studies illustrating e-CF

practical use from multiple ICT sector perspectives published as a CEN Technical Report (TR).

Part 1 is fully standalone, and part 2, 3 and 4 rely on part 1.
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Introduction

EN 16234 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT Professionals in

all sectors was established as a tool to support mutual understanding and provide transparency of

language through the articulation of competences required and deployed by Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) professionals.

To support users and guide developers of applications to EN 16234-1 (e-CF), the following narrative

provides an overview of the underpinning philosophy and principles adopted during the standard’s

construction and maintenance. Understanding these guiding principles is equally vital for applying the

standard in multiple environments concerned with ICT professionalism.
The Guiding Principles:

This standard is an enabler; it is designed to be a tool to empower users, not to restrict them. This

standard provides a structure and content for application by many types of users from organizations in

the private and public sector, ICT user or ICT supply organisations, educational institutions including

higher education and private certification providers, social partners and individuals. In this broad

application context, this standard is designed to support common understanding, not to mandate the use

of each and every word used within it.

This standard expresses ICT competence using the following definition: ‘Competence is a

demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attitudes for achieving observable results’. This

holistic concept directly relates to workplace activities and incorporates complex human attitudes and

resultant behaviours. Behaviour and attitude are important influences that facilitate successful

knowledge and skills application. Within each competence, embedded attitudes are reflected in

behaviour and enable the successful integration of knowledge and skills.

Competence is a durable concept and although technology, jobs, marketing terminology and

promotional concepts within the ICT environment change rapidly, this standard remains durable

requiring maintenance approximately every three years to maintain relevance.

A competence can be a component of a job role, but it cannot be used as a substitute for similarly

named job titles, for example; the competence, E.2. ‘Project and Portfolio Management’ does not

represent the complete content of a ‘Project Manager’s’ job role. Competences can be aggregated, as

required, to represent the essential content of a job role or profile. On the other hand, one single

competence may be assigned to a number of different job profiles.

Competence is not to be confused with process or technology concepts such as, ‘Cloud Computing’

or ‘Big Data’. These descriptions represent evolving technologies and in the context of this standard, they

may be integrated as knowledge and skills examples in Dimension 4.

This standard does not attempt to cover every possible competence deployed by an ICT

professional nor are the included competences necessarily unique to ICT. This standard articulates

competences associated with ICT professional roles including some that may be found in other

professions but are very important in an ICT context; examples include, C.4. ‘Problem Management’ or

E.3. ‘Risk Management’. However, to maintain an ICT focus, this standard avoids generic competences

such as ‘Communications’ or ‘General Management’. Although very applicable these generic competences

are comprehensively articulated in other structures. Selecting competences for inclusion within this

standard is therefore a pragmatic rather than an exhaustive process. The selection was based on

engagement with a broad cross-section of stakeholders who prioritize competence inclusion based upon

industry knowledge and experience.

This standard is structured across four dimensions. e-Competences in Dimensions 1 and 2 are

presented from the organizational perspective as opposed to an individual’s perspective. Dimension 3

defines e-Competence levels and relates to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), it is a bridge

between organizational and individual competences. Dimension 4 provides examples of knowledge and

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skills to the e-Competences in Dimension 2, they are not intended to be exhaustive but for inspiration and

orientation only.

This latest version of the standard incorporates a new element, transversal aspects; it recognizes

the relevance of a number of cross-cutting aspects that are important and provide additional generic ICT

related descriptors for successful application of e-CF competences in a workplace context. Examples of

transversal aspects identified for context-specific and flexible application within this standard are

Accessibility, Ethics and Security.

This standard has a sector specific relationship to the EQF; competence levels within this standard

provide a consistent and rational relationship to levels defined within the EQF. The relativity between

EQF learning levels and the e-competence work proficiency levels of this standard has been

systematically developed to enable consistent interpretation of the EQF in the ICT workplace

environment. It should be noted that an exact equivalency is not possible due to the different purposes

and contexts of EQF and e-CF but relevant relationship information is provided.

Continuity of this standard is imperative; following maintenance updates it is essential that users are

provided with a simple upgrade path. Users of this standard invest considerable time and resources to

align processes or procedures with it. Organisations deploying these downstream activities are reliant

upon this standard and need to be confident of the continued sustainability of their processes. Updates

of this standard need to recognize this requirement and provide for continuity, enabling use of the

existing version of the standard until it is convenient to upgrade to the latest version.

This standard is neutral; it does not follow the specific interests of a few major influencers, it is

developed and maintained through an EU-wide balanced multi-stakeholder agreement process, under

the umbrella of the European Committee for Standardization. This standard is a key component of the

European Digital Agenda for ICT Professionalism; it is designed for use by any organization or individual

engaged in ICT Human Resource planning and competence development.
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1 Scope

This document provides a series of practical case studies supporting understanding, adoption and use of

EN 16234 (all parts) e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors which provides a common reference of 41 ICT professional competences as

required and applied at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professional work

environment, using a common language for competences, skills, knowledge and proficiency levels that

can be understood across Europe.

This document supports Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders dealing with

ICT Professional competences from multiple perspectives, in particular:
— ICT service, demand and supply organisations;
— ICT professionals, managers and human resource (HR) departments;

— educational institutions, learning program and certification providers of all types including

Vocational and Educational Training (VET), Higher Education (HE) and Continuous Professional

Development (CPD);
— social partners (trade unions and employer associations);
— professional associations, accreditation, validation and assessment bodies;
— market analysts and policy makers;

— other organizations and stakeholders in public and private sectors across Europe,

to adopt, apply and use the framework in their environment.
2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content

constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For

undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) — A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors — Part 1: Framework

CEN/TR 16234-2:2021, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) — A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors — Part 3: User Guide

CEN/TR 16234-3:2021, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) — A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors — Part 3: Methodology

CWA 16458-1:2018, European ICT Professional Role Profiles — Part 1: 30 ICT profiles

CWA 16458-2:2018, European ICT Professional Role Profiles — Part 2: User Guide

CWA 16458-3:2018, European ICT Professional Role Profiles — Part 3: Methodology documentation

CWA 16458-4:2018, European ICT Professional Role Profiles — Part 4: Case studies
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3 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN 16234-1 apply.

ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:

• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
4 Executive overview
4.1 e-CF overview: structure, content

The EN 16234-1 (e-CF) is structured across four dimensions. The dimensions reflect areas of business

and human resource planning and incorporate job and work proficiency guidelines specified as follows.

EN 16234-1 (e-CF) incorporates a transversal component providing generic descriptors applicable to all

competences to support application of the e-CF in context.
Table 1 — The e-CF four dimensions and transversal aspects
Dimension 1: Derived from the ICT macro processes PLAN – BUILD – RUN – ENABLE –

5 e-Competence areas MANAGE. They provide the entry point to the e-Competences and reflect a

process perspective based upon the waterfall approach. However, the e-CF is

MAY APPLY equally relevant to the steps applied in agile process structures such as Agile/

DevOps lifecycles.

Dimension 2 41 e-Competences in total provide the EN 16234-1 (e-CF) references of ICT

41 e-Competences Professional competence as required and performed in ICT work context. Each

dimension 2 description contains a competence title and a generic competence
SHALL APPLY
description, defined from an organisational perspective.

Dimension 3 5 e-Competence proficiency levels characterized by increasing levels of context

5 e-CF proficiency complexity, autonomy, influence and typical behaviour. To each e-Competence,

levels specifically relevant proficiency levels are assigned. The dimension 3 level

descriptors provide the individual perspective of competence performance.
SHALL APPLY
Dimension 4 Examples of knowledge and skills relate to the e-Competences generic

knowledge and skills descriptions in Dimension 2. These examples are provided to add value to the

examples competence descriptor and are not intended to be exhaustive. They offer

inspiration and orientation for the identification of further specific knowledge

MAY APPLY and skills assignment according to contextual needs.

Transversal aspect components provide basic generic ICT related descriptors for successful application

of e-CF competences in a workplace context.
MAY APPLY

The four-dimensional structure of the e-CF offers comprehensive insight into the competences required

by organisations and executed by ICT professionals. The focus of the framework is to articulate the 41

competence descriptors found at the heart of the structure in dimension 2. This dimension, which is

complemented by the remaining three, provides a usual start point for initial understanding of the e-CF.

Figure 1 illustrates the content of a typical competence, A.2 Service Management, it shows how the central

dimension 2 provides the competence description and how this can be further articulated in dimension

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3, at different proficiency levels (level 3 and level 4 in this example). Furthermore, examples of knowledge

and skills listed in dimension 4, provide additional illumination of the core competence description from

dimension 2.
Figure 1 provides an example of e-Competence description in all four dimensions.
Figure 1 — EN 16234-1 (e-CF) e-Competence example A.2. Service Level Management

As stated above, 41 competences are defined by EN 16234-1:2019 (e-CF) and each are constructed in the

same way, from the 4 dimensions, described previously. Table 2 presents the entire compendium of

competences in a consolidated form. It demonstrates that although the format of each competence is

structured in a similar way, the number of applicable dimension 3 level descriptions varies according to

workplace relevance.
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Table 2 — EN 16234-1 (e-CF) table overview
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In addition, EN 16234-1 (e-CF) incorporates a transversal component which provides basic generic ICT

descriptors for successful application of e-CF competences in a workplace context.

Transversal aspects are represented by statements that complement the descriptors of dimension 2.

Figure 2 illustrates the seven transversal aspects which are applied to every competence either from the

standpoint of being ‘aware of’ or ‘behaving proactively’ according to context.
Figure 2 — Transversal Aspects
...