Common Career/Skills Framework Version 1 the core for the human resources development project by the...

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Common Career/Skills Framework Version 1 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan

Transcript of Common Career/Skills Framework Version 1 the core for the human resources development project by the...

Page 1: Common Career/Skills Framework Version 1 the core for the human resources development project by the report. 1 2 2. Objective of the Common Career/Skills Framework The common career/skills

Common Career/Skills Framework

Version 1

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan

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Contents

1. Background of the Common Carrier/Skills Framework ··························································· 1

2. Objective of the Common Career/Skills Framework ································································ 2

3. Structure of the Common Career/Skills Framework ································································· 3

(1) Career and level ······················································································································· 3

(2) Knowledge and skills ··············································································································· 8

(3) Body of knowledge (BOK) ······································································································ 9

4. Relationship between the Common Career/Skills Framework and

the Three Skill Standards ··········································································································· 11

5. Relationship between the Common Career/Skills Framework and

Information Technology Engineers Examination ···································································· 14

6. Future Courses of Action ············································································································ 16

[Attachment 1] ································································································································· 17

Body of Knowledge (BOK)

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1. Background of the Common Carrier/Skills Framework

Under the current circumstances where information technology (IT) is widely recognized in society as an infrastructure essential for economic activities and people’s lives, Japan faces an urgent issue — development of advanced IT human resources who will play a leading role in enhancing the international economic competitiveness of Japan and supporting the healthy development of social systems.

Advanced IT human resources are defined as people with sophisticated expertise in IT and other areas who can use that expertise in actual business situations to deliver creative business solutions to resolve issues, generate added value, and create business innovation. Such human resources are required to have deep insight and rich experience.

As the key people who will support Japan in the future, these human resources are required to lead Japan by demonstrating vision, motivating their team members, developing and guiding younger people, and promoting the potential exploitation of IT in the embedded software industry mainly in the IT service and manufacturing segments as well as general businesses with employees involved in IT toward the ultimate goal of contributing to the invigoration of Japan’s economy and the improvement of people’s lives.

In response to the awareness of this issue, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry set up in October 2006 the Human Resources Development Working Group under the Information Service and Software Subcommittee of the Information Economy Committee within the Industrial Structure Council. In July 2007, the working group drafted a report titled Toward Developing Advanced IT Human Resources.1 The report summarized Skill Standard for IT Professionals (ITSS), Embedded Technology Skill Standards (ETSS), and Users’ Information Systems Skill Standards (UISS) and defined the correspondence of these standards to the Information Technology Engineers Examination along with a statement that it was necessary to build an objective human resources development/assessment mechanism.

This document is designed to summarize the common career/skills framework considered as the core for the human resources development project by the report.

1 http://www.meti.go.jp/press/20070720006/03_houkokusho.pdf

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2. Objective of the Common Career/Skills Framework

The common career/skills framework is designed to develop and assess advanced IT human resources needed in these circumstances and summarizes the necessary human resources models along with the required skills and roles (contributions). The framework is intended to provide common models that can be referred to by the IT human resources assessment indicators, including the three skill standards — Skill Standard for IT Professionals, Embedded Technology Skill Standards, and Users’ Information Systems Skill Standards — and Information Technology Engineers Examination. The framework also aims to provide IT human resources with a framework that allows them to understand that even after a transfer to a different business domain or job, a different level and different skills/knowledge are required, and is also a help to provide the growth goal to achieve as professionals. In addition, the framework sets forth the objectives of sophisticating the human resources assessment mechanism, pressing ahead with practical education through collaboration between industries and universities, and promoting efforts to develop international human resources in order to allow assessment, development and mobilization of human resources across industry sectors, business categories, and international boundaries, thereby improving the quality of the advanced IT human resources in Japan and securing a sufficient quantity of people in foreign countries as well.

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3. Structure of the Common Career/Skills Framework

(1) Career and level

(a) Career The careers in the common career/skills framework cover three human resources categories along with the related subcategories and six human resources models.2

Human resources categories: (i) Basic strategy category human resources

Creating added value in management Planning basic strategies for resolving issues through IT

The appropriate human resources model is the Strategist. (ii) Solution category human resources

Implementing high-reliability systems and increasing productivity Designing and developing systems and controlling highly reliable, productive operations.

The appropriate human resources models are the Systems Architect, Service Manager, Project Manager, and Technical Specialist.

(iii) Creation category human resources Creating technological innovation Developing social and economic frontiers using new core technologies

The appropriate human resources model is the Creator.

2 Besides the six human resources models defined as job types, the Skill standard for IT professionals defines education jobs.

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Table 1 Human Resources Categories and Models Covered by the Common Career/Skills Framework

Common Career/Skills Framework

Human

Resources

Category

Human

Resources

Model

Role of Human Resources Model

Required Abilities or Skill Set

Basic Strategy Strategist

Plays a leading

role in

increasing

business values

using IT.

Market strategist: Analyzes and

predicts trends in the company,

business projects, products, and the

service markets to plan business

strategies, including enterprise and

sales strategies, and then checks

them against corporate

management policy to propose

solutions to the issues.

Business model strategist:

Proposes or develops IT utilization

strategies or proposes products that

make use of IT based on the

corporate business strategy and

defines the operational risks and

associated investment effect so that

the strategist can explain them to

management.

Business process strategist:

Optimizes specific business

processes.

Embedded product strategist:

Develops a strategy covering the

stages from strategy planning for a

certain product to IT-based

functional implementation,

maintenance, and disposal.

Control engineer at individual

processes:

Executes the design, construction,

and operation for controlling

processes using advanced IT skills.

♦ Ability to discern changes in the business

environment and visualize new business

model strategies

♦ Ability to model and structure corporate

activities, including EA (Enterprise

Architecture) and specific business processes

♦ Knowledge of associated processes (e.g.

how to control power plants)

♦ Knowledge of structuring a set of data

items at a certain corporation

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Common Career/Skills Framework

Human

Resources

Category

Human

Resources

Model

Role of Human Resources Model

Required Abilities or Skill Set

Solution

Systems architect

Designs

systems most

appropriate for

the business

strategies.

Defines the requirements necessary

for construction of solution and

development of embedded products

based on the IT strategy to design

the architectures necessary for the

implementation.

<Development segment>

♦ Knowledge of IT structural changes

♦ Knowledge and experience of specific

development models and techniques

♦ Ability to achieve the optimal combination

of hardware, software, and network for a

specific IT solution strategy

♦ Project management ability (ability to

mange resources allocation)

♦ Set of engineering abilities (for quotation,

quality, etc.)

♦ Communication ability

♦ Ability to globally procure IT resources

<Operation/audit segment>

♦ Knowledge of individual risk factors and

measures to address the risks factors

♦ Cost analysis ability

Project manager

Manages

reliable system

construction

under given

constraint

conditions (e.g.

quality, cost,

and delivery

time).

As a responsible person of the

system development project, plans

the project and secures the required

human and other resources to carry

out the project with responsibility

for the budget, delivery time, and

required quality.

Technical

specialist

Responsible for

implementation

in the technical

domains such

as database,

network.

Designs and constructs the required

system applications as part of the

designed architecture and

constructs an optimal system

infrastructure using specific

technologies for networks,

databases, security, etc.

Service manager

Maintaining

systems while

continuously

securing high

reliability.

Provides highly safe and reliable

services by ensuring stable

operations of the constructed

systems and products and by

minimizing damage in the event of

a failure; verifies the required

functional requirements,

non-functional requirements,

reliability, and stability of the

constructed systems and products.

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Common Career/Skills Framework

Human

Resources

Category

Human

Resources

Model

Roles of Human Resources Model

Required Abilities or Skill Set

Creation Creator

Brings about

social/economic

innovation by

creating new

core

technologies.

Develops new programming

languages, core technologies

(including OSs), and new business

models and proposes innovative,

highly potential solutions.

♦ Vision of the direction of IT architecture

revolution

♦ Ability to conceive meta-level IT concepts

including development languages,

environments, and processes

♦ Knowledge of basic core technologies of

OSs, databases, and networks

Other (No description)

Educating

about Skill

Standard for IT

Professionals

Develops IT human resources by

educating and training IT human

resources in businesses and other

organizations.

♦ Knowledge of basic core technologies of

OSs, databases, and networks and the

techniques required for education in

software engineering

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(b) Level definition The common career/skills framework defines seven levels (1 to 7) according to the levels of the abilities required for human resources and the roles (contributions) they should play.

Table 2 Levels defined by the Common Career/Skills Framework

Level Definition

Level 7 World-class, high-end player with advanced knowledge and skills:

Defined as human resources recognized throughout the world who have

experience and achievements in successfully leading development,

restructuring of business operations, and marketing of industry leading

services.

Level 6 Domestic-level, high-end player with advanced knowledge and skills:

Defined as human resources widely recognized inside and outside their

organizations who have professional experience and achievements not only

within their organizations but also in the industry.

Level 5 In-house, high-end player with advanced knowledge and skills:

Defined as professionals who have rich experience and achievements to lead

their organizations.

Level 4 Defined as professionals with advanced knowledge and skills who are able to

perform tasks and deliver work instructions based on experience and

achievements as well as to formulate the experience required for professionals

as formal knowledge to develop younger people.

Level 3 Defined as human resources with practical knowledge and skills who are able

to perform all required tasks on their own.

Level 2 Defined as human resources with basic knowledge and skills who are able to

perform tasks with a certain degree of difficulty or part of the required tasks

on their own.

Level 1 Defined as human resources with the minimum knowledge and skills required

for people involved in information technology who are able to perform tasks

under guidance.

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(c) Determining career levels based on the common career/skills framework (i) For Levels 1 to 3, persons passing the Information Technology Engineers Examination

corresponding to the respective levels may be considered to have satisfied the entry criteria3 for the appropriate levels and achieved required skills defined for each level.

(ii) For Level 4, besides the results of the Information Technology Engineers Examination, the professional background is checked and the person is interviewed to determine the experience and achievements based on the assessment criteria of each skill standard.

(iii) For Level 5 and higher, the experience and achievements, including contributions as professionals, are checked and peer reviews of a higher or the same level are performed to determine whether or not the person is qualified based on the assessment criteria of each skill standard.

(2) Knowledge and skills

Advanced IT human resources are required to have advanced skills. The skills in this context mean the ability to apply knowledge to yield results. Consequently, it is absolutely imperative to have knowledge about the appropriate area before acquiring skills.

(a) Knowledge The required knowledge is generally divided into the following three segments: (i) knowledge associated with technology, including computer languages, algorithms, and system design and development; (ii) knowledge associated with management, including development and operations; and (iii) knowledge associated with strategies, including business (industries) knowledge, products knowledge, knowledge of compliance and pertinent laws/regulations, and knowledge of business strategy. The knowledge can be acquired to a certain degree through learning, which will not, however, directly lead to skills that yield results. Knowledge is considered to be an element required to demonstrate the skills.

3 Criteria by which to judge whether human resources satisfy the requirements for the appropriate level

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(b) Skills On the other hand, skills are acquired through the use of knowledge and experience with actual projects. This means that skill acquisition requires participation in projects to accumulate hands-on experience. The required skills can be divided into two groups: technical skills and non-technical (human) skills, including the ability to manage teams and secure coordination between stakeholders, which are developed through experience. The higher levels require more non-technical skills than technical skills. It must be remembered, however, that in addition to non-technical skills, even higher-level human resources are required to continuously acquire knowledge and reinforce their skills through actual activities in consideration of changes in technology and the industrial structure.

(3) Body of knowledge (BOK)

The knowledge required for Levels 1 to 4 defined by the common career/skills framework has been organized as the BOK (Body Of Knowledge). This allows reference to what must be learned for each career defined by each skill standard through a common BOK as shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1 Structure of the Body of Knowledge and Skill Standards (Levels 1 to 4)

Common Career/Skills Framework

BOK (body of knowledge) for the Common

Career/Skills Framework

Skill Standards

Basic strategy

Solution

Creation

ETSS specific ETSS-ITSS

common

ITSS specific

ITSS-UISS common

UISS specific

ITSSUISS ETSS

Strategist

Systemsarchitect

Projectmanager

Technical specialist

Creator

Service manager

Reference

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4. Relationship between the Common Career/Skills Framework and the Three Skill Standards

Currently, the following three standards associated with information technology are available.

(1) Skill Standard for IT Professionals (ITSS)

The Skill Standard for IT Professionals is a navigation guide that defines and organizes the abilities required to provide various types of IT services. The valuable common framework for developing and training IT service professionals is designed for human resources in vendors, who mainly develop and provide systems.

(2) Embedded Technology Skill Standards (ETSS)

The Embedded Technology Skill Standards is a navigation guide for developing and making effective use of optimal human resources for embedded software development and is designed for human resources who develop embedded systems.

(3) Users’ Information Systems Skill Standards (UISS)

The Users’ Information Systems Skill Standards is a navigation guide that organizes the skills required at user corporations and organizations that employ information systems based on the software life cycle processes ranging from system planning and development to maintenance and operations. The UISS is designed for human resources involved in IT from the viewpoint of information system users.

Because of the different characteristics and different target human resources, the three skill standards have developed independently. Under these circumstances, the common career/skills framework has been designed as a reference model so that each skill standard can make reference to the careers and skills required by the other standards (Figure 2). Table 3 summarizes the correspondence between the job categories and human resources models defined by the skill standards and the human resources categories and models defined by the common career/skills framework. It is desirable that each skill standard should be applied according to their intended purpose with reference to knowledge items defined by the common career/skills framework. (For more detailed information, see each skill standard.)

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Figure 2 Common Career/Skills Framework as a Reference Model

Information Technology Engineers Examination

Conformance

Users’ Information Systems Skill

Standards (UISS)

Skill Standard for IT Professionals (ITSS)

Common Career / Skills Framework Embedded Technology

Skill Standards (ETSS)

Reference Reference

Reference

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Table 3 Correspondence of the Job Categories between the Common Career/Skills Framework and the Skill Standards

Common Career/Skills

Framework Job Types Defined by the Skill Standards

Human

Resources

Category

Human

Resources

Model

Skill Standard

for IT

Professionals

Embedded

Technology Skill

Standards

Users’ Information

Systems Skill

Standards

Basic strategy

Strategist

Marketing

Sales

Consultant

Product manager

Business strategist

IS strategist

Program manager

IS analyst

Solution

Systems architect IT architect Systems architect IS architect

Project manager Project management

Project manager

Bridge SE

Development process

improvement specialist

Project manager

Technical specialist

IT specialist

Application specialist

Software development

Domain specialist

Software engineer

Development

environment engineer

QA specialist

Test engineer

Application designer

System designer

Service manager Customer service

IT service management (No description)

IS operation

IS administrator

Security administrator

IS staff

IS auditor

Creation Creator (No description)

Other (No description) Education (No description) (No description)

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5. Relationship between the Common Career/Skills Framework and

Information Technology Engineers Examination

As a rule, the Information Technology Engineers Examination for April 2009 and afterwards4 are designed to conform to the common career/skills framework. (See Figure 3.)

(1) The examinations will be targeted for Levels 1 to 4 of the following five human resources models: strategist, systems architect, project manager, service manager, and technical specialist. (Human resources in creator category and those subject to ITSS education are excluded from the target of the examinations.)

(2) For Levels 1 to 3 defined by the common career/skills framework, common examinations for the five target human resources models will be established, which will serve as the entry criteria for the respective levels. Specifically, the examinations are the IT Passport Examination for Level 1, Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination for Level 2, and Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination for Level 3.

(3) The examinations for Level 4 will be collectively called advanced examinations. Specifically, they are the IT Strategist Examination for strategists, Systems Architect Examination for systems architects and some technical specialists, Project Manager Examination for project managers, and IT Service Manager Examination for service managers. For technical specialists, the examinations will be targeted for the specific technical areas as the Network Specialist Examination, Database Specialist Examination, and Embedded Systems Specialist Examination. In addition, the Information Security Specialist Examination and Systems Auditor Examination will be established for technical specialists and service managers, respectively. To obtain Level 4 engineer qualification, the candidate must pass the appropriate advanced examination, and the professional background and achievements must be checked and determined by the appropriate company or organization through an interview or similar process based on the assessment criteria defined by the skill standards. It should be noted that the Systems Auditor Examination will be continued as an independent advanced examination.

4 Pertinent material: http://www.jitec.ipa.go.jp/1_00topic/topic_20080422_shinshiken.html Explanation of the system: http://www.jitec.jp/1_00topic/topic_20071225_shinseido_4.pdf

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Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Common Career/SkillsFramework Vender Side / User Side

Information System / Embedded SystemIndependent

Advanced (professional) examinations

Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination (FE)

Syst

ems

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tor

Exam

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Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination (AP)

(DB) (SM)(SC)(ES)(NW)(PM)(SA)(ST) (AU)

Figure 3 Correspondence between the Levels Defined by the Common Career/Skills Framework and the New Information Technology Engineers Examination

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6. Future Courses of Action

(1) Revision of the common career/skills framework

It is anticipated that the skill standards will define new skills and knowledge items in response to the demands of the times. Based on the revisions to the skill standards, the body of knowledge (BOK) for the common career/skills framework will be appropriately revised according to advances in technology.

(2) Curriculum Standard J07

Correspondence between Curriculum Standard J07 in the Specialized Information Courses5 and the body of knowledge for the common career/skills framework will be reorganized to make a contribution to the promotion of communication between businesses and universities, and then to promote the development of advanced IT human resources.

5 Announced by Information Processing Society of Japan on March 13, 2008.

See http://www.ipsj.or.jp/12kyoiku/taikai70sympo/.

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[Attachment 1]

Body of Knowledge (BOK) Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

Tec

hnol

ogy

1 Basic

theory

1 Basic theory 1 Discrete

mathematics

binary number, radix, numeric representation, operational precision, set, Venn diagram,

logical operation, proposition

2 Applied

mathematics

probability and statistics, numerical analysis, formula manipulation, graph theory, queueing

theory

3 Theory of

information

coding theory, predicate logic, automaton, formal language, computational complexity,

artificial intelligence, knowledge engineering, learning theory, compiler theory, theories of

programming language/semantics

4 Theory of

communications

transmission theory (including transmission path, modulation/demodulation, multiplexing,

error detection/correction, and signal synchronization)

5 Theory of

measurement and

control

signal processing, feedback control, feedforward control, response characteristics, control

stability, various types of control, types of sensors and actuators along with their operating

characteristics

2 Algorithm and

programming

1 Data structure stack and queue, list, array, tree structure, binary tree

2 Algorithm sorting, merging, searching, recursion, string processing, understanding of flow charts,

design of algorithms

3 Programming programming based on existing languages (programming convention, program structure,

data type, grammatical notation)

4 Programming

languages

types and characteristics of programming languages (assembler language, C, C++,

COBOL, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and other languages)

5 Other languages types of markup languages (HTML, XML, and others) and their characteristics, SDL

(Specification and Description Language), ADL (Architecture Description Language)

2 Computer

system

3 Computer

component

1 Processor types, configurations/operating principles, interruption, performance and characteristics,

structure and method, instruction and addressing of computers/processors; RISC and CISC

2 Memory types and characteristics of memory, configuration and hierarchy of memory system

(cache, main memory, auxiliary storage, and others), access method, RAM file, capacity

and performance of memory, types and characteristics of storage media

3 Bus types and characteristics of bus, configurations of bus system, control methods for bus,

access modes for bus, capacities and performances of bus

4 Input/output

interface

input/output interface, device driver, synchronization with a device, analog-digital

conversion

5 Input/output

device

types of input/output devices and their characteristics, input device, output device, display,

auxiliary storage and storage media, communication controller, drive, imaging device

4 System

component

1 System

configuration

system processing mode, system usage, and system application areas, client/server system,

Web system, thin client system, fault tolerant system, NAS, SAN, P2P, high performance

computing (HPC), cluster

2 System evaluation

indexes

system performance index, system performance characteristics and evaluation, significance

and purpose of system reliability/cost efficiency, reliability calculation, reliability indicator,

reliability characteristics and evaluation, cost efficiency evaluation, capacity planning

5 Software 1 Operating system

(OS)

types and characteristics of OSs, functions of OSs, multiple programming, virtual memory,

job management, process/task management, data management, input/output management,

memory management, interruption

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Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

2 Middleware roles and functions of various types of middleware (APIs including OSs, libraries,

componentware, and shells), selection and use of middleware

3 File system types and characteristics of file systems, access methods, search methods, directory

management, backup methods, and file organization

4 Development

tools

design tool, construction tool, testing tool, language processing tools (compiler, interpreter,

linker, loader), CASE, emulator, simulator, in-circuit emulator (ICE), tool chain, integrated

development environment

5 Open source

software

types and characteristics of OSS; UNIX-family OSs; open source community;

LAMP/LAPP; use/application, considerations (safety, defects, etc.), and trends of OSS

6 Hardware 1 Hardware electric/electronic circuit, machine/control, logic design, components along with elements

and implementation, semiconductor element, system LSI, SoC (System On a Chip), power

consumption

3 Technology

element

7 Human

interface

1 Human interface

technology

information architecture, GUI, sound recognition, image recognition, video recognition,

feature extraction, learning function, interactive system, usability

2 Interface design form design, screen design, code design, Web design, human-centered design, universal

design

8 Multimedia 1 Multimedia

technology

authoring environment, sound processing, static image processing, video processing, media

integration, compression/decompression, MPEG

2 Multimedia

application

AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), CG (Computer Graphics), media

application

9 Database 1 Database

architecture

types of databases and characteristics, database models, DBMS

2 Database design data analysis, database logic design, data normalization, database performance design,

physical database design

3 Data manipulation database manipulation, languages for manipulating databases (SQL and others), relational

algebra

4 Transaction

processing

exclusive control, recovery processing, transaction management, database performance

improvement, data control

5 Database

application

data warehouse, data mining, distributed database, repository, metadata

10 Network 1 Network

architecture

types and characteristics of networks (WAN/LAN, wired/wireless, and others), Internet

technology, computation relating to line, packet switched network

2 Data

communication

and control

transmission methods and line, internetworking device, digital service unit, OSI model,

media access control (MAC), data link control, routing control, flow control

3 Communications

protocol

protocol and interface, TCP/IP, HDLC, CORBA, HTTP, DNS, SOAP, IPv6

4 Network

management

Network operations management (SNMP), fault management, performance management,

traffic monitoring

5 Network

application

Internet, intranet, extranet, mobile communication, network OS, communications service

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19

Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

11 Security 1 Information

security

encryption technology (public key, private key, DES, RSA, and others), authentication

technology (digital signature, message authentication, time authentication, and others), user

authentication (callback, ID/password, and others), biometric authentication technology,

public key infrastructure (PKI), governmental public key infrastructure (GPKI, bridge

certification authority, and others)

2 Information

security

management

overview of information assets and risks, types of risks, risk analysis and evaluation,

measures against risks, information security policy, ISMS, development of security

regulations for corporate activities

3 Security

technology

evaluation

evaluation method, assurance level, ISO/IEC 15408

4 Information

security measures

human security measures, technical security measures (measures against cracking, viruses,

and others), physical security measures

5 Security

implementation

technology

secure OS, application security, secure programming

4 Develop-

ment

technology

12 System

development

technology

1 System

requirements

definition

system requirements definition (function, performance, requirements of business

operations/organization and users, design requirements, qualification requirements), system

requirements evaluation

2 Systems

architecture

design

establishment of the architecture at the highest level of the system (functional partitioning

among hardware, software, and manual operations; hardware architecture; software

architecture, application architecture; database architecture; and others), systems

architecture evaluation

3 Software

requirements

definition

establishment of software requirements (functions, performance, interface, and others),

software requirements evaluation, hearing, use case, prototype, DFD, E-R diagram, UML

4 Software

architecture

design and

software detailed

design

design of software structure and components, interface design, software unit test design,

software integration test design, software quality, review, walkthrough, software design

evaluation, process-oriented design, data-oriented design, structured design, object-oriented

design, module design, design pattern

5 Software coding

and testing

software coding, coding convention, code review, debugging, test method, test preparation

(test environment, test data, and others), test implementation, test result evaluation

6 Software

integration and

software

qualification tests

test planning, test preparation (test environment, test data, and others), test implementation,

test result evaluation

7 System integration

and system

qualification tests

test planning, test preparation (test environment, test data, and others), test implementation,

test result evaluation, tuning

8 Software

installation

software installation planning and implementation

9 Software

acceptance

acceptance review and test, delivery and acceptance of software products, user manual,

education/training

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20

Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

10 Software

maintenance

forms and significance of software maintenance

13 Software

development

management

techniques

1 Development

process and

methods

software development methods, process maturity level, software life cycle process (SLPC),

software reuse, structured method, formal method, reverse engineering, mashup

2 Intellectual

property

application

management

copyright management, patent management, storage management

3 Development

environment

management

development environment operation status management, development environment

construction, design data management, tool management, license management

4 Configuration

management and

change control

establishment of configuration identification system, change control, configuration status

recording, item integrity assurance of items, release management and shipment

Man

agem

ent

5 Project

manage-

ment

14 Project

management

1 Project integration

management

develop project charter, develop preliminary project scope statement, develop project

management plan, direct and manage project execution, monitor and control project work,

integrated change control, close project

2 Project scope

management

scope planning, scope definition, create WBS, scope verification, scope control

3 Project time

management

activity definition, activity sequencing, activity resources estimating, activity duration

estimating, schedule development, schedule control

4 Project cost

management

cost estimating, cost budgeting, const control

5 Project quality

management

quality planning, quality assurance, quality control

6 Project human

resources

management

human resources planning, acquire project team, develop project team, manage project

team

7 Project

communications

management

communication planning, information distribution, performance reporting, stakeholder

management

8 Project risk

management

risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk

analysis, risk response planning, risk monitoring and control

9 Project

procurement

management

purchases/acquisitions planning, contracting plan, request seller responses, select sellers,

contract administration, contract closure

6 Service

manage-

ment

15 Service

management

1 Service

management

significance and purpose of service management, ITIL, role of system operations manager,

service level agreement (SLA), evaluation and verification of operations assessment

indicators, operation handover

2 Operations design

and tools

schedule design, system installation, system migration, operations support tool, monitoring

tool, diagnostic tool

3 Service support service desk (help desk), incident management (fault management), problem management,

configuration management, change management, release management, risk management,

computer operations and management

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21

Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

4 Service delivery system operations, service level management (SLM), capacity management, availability

management, IT service continuity management, user management, system resources

management, financial management for IT services, information asset management

5 Service

management

foundation

gap analysis, risk evaluation, requirements definition

6 Facility

management

equipment management (power, air conditioners, and others), facility management,

maintenance of facilities and equipment

16 System audit 1 System audit significance of purpose of system audits, tasks covered by system audits, system

auditability, system audit planning, system audit implementation (preliminary audit, main

audit, evaluation/conclusion), system audit reporting, system audit evaluation, system audit

standards, system audit techniques, audit evidence, audit documentation

2 Internal control internal control, IT governance, evaluation and improvement of compliance

Str

ateg

y

7 System

strategy

17 System

strategy

1 Information

systems strategy

significance and purpose of information systems strategy, total optimization policy, total

optimization planning, computerization promotion organization, computerization

investment planning, business model, business operations model, information system

model, enterprise architecture (EA) (business architecture, data architecture, application

architecture, technology architecture), program management, system owner, data owner,

process framework, control framework, quality control (quality control framework),

information systems strategy evaluation, information systems strategy execution

management)

2 Business process BPR, business operations analysis, business operations improvement, business operations

design, business process management (BPM), BPO, SFA

3 Solution business business operations system proposal, business operations package, problem solution

support, ASP, SOA, SaaS

4 System utilization

promotion and

evaluation

information literacy, data utilization, popularization/education, actual system usage

evaluation/verification, system disposal

18 System

planning

1 Computerization

planning

computerization initiative, basic computerization policy, total development schedule,

development project organization, staff training planning, development ROI (return on

investment), system life cycle, information system installation risk analysis

2 Requirements

definition

requirements analysis, user needs research, current state analysis, definition of

problems/issues, operational requirements definition, functional requirements definition,

non-functional requirements definition, verification of the requirements of stakeholders,

verification of the consistency with the system strategy

3 Procurement

planning and

implementation

things to be procured, procurement requirements, procurement conditions, request for

proposal (RFP), proposal evaluation criteria, quotation, proposal, procurement selection,

procurement risk analysis, internal and external manufacturing standards, software asset

management, software supply chain management

8 Business

strategy

19 Business

strategy

management

1 Business strategy

techniques

competition strategy, differentiation strategy, core competence, M&A, alliance, group

management, corporate philosophy, SWOT analysis, product portfolio management (PPM),

value chain analysis, growth matrix, outsourcing

2 Marketing marketing theory, marketing techniques, marketing analysis, lifetime value (LTV)

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Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

3 Business strategy

and

goal/evaluation

business strategy planning, business environment analysis, needs/wants analysis,

competitive analysis, strategy goal, CSF (Critical Success Factors), KPI (Key Performance

Indicator), KGI (Key Goal Indicator), balanced scorecard

4 Business

management

system

CRM, SCM, ERP, decision making support, knowledge management

20 Technological

strategy

management

1 Planning of

technology

development

strategy

product trend, technology trend, core technology, technology research, technology

acquisition, technology licensing, technical tie-up, management of technology (MOT),

industry-academia-government collaboration, standardization strategy

2 Technology

development plan

technology development investment planning, technology development site planning,

human resources planning, technology road map, product application road map, patent

acquisition road map

21 Business

industry

1 Business system distribution information system, logistics information system, public information system,

medical information system, financial information system, e-Government, POS system,

XBRL

2 Engineering

system

significance and purpose of engineering systems, production management system, MRP,

PDM, CAE

3 e-business EC (BtoB, BtoC, and others), electronic payment system, EDI, IC card/RFID application

system

4 Consumer

appliances

AV appliances, household appliances, personal information equipment,

education/entertainment equipment, computer peripherals/OA equipment, terminals for

business use, consumer communications terminals

5 Industrial devices communications facility equipment, transport/construction equipment, industrial

control/FA equipment/industrial devices, facility equipment, medical devices,

analytical/measurement devices

9 Corporate

and legal

affairs

22 Corporate

activities

1 Management &

organization

theory

business management, PDCA, management organization (divisional system, company

system, CIO, CEO, and others), corporate governance, CSR, IR, human resources (OJT,

management by objectives, case studies, discretionary labor system, and others), behavioral

science (leadership, communication, technical writing, presentations, negotiations,

motivation, and others), TQM, risk management, BCP, computer literacy

2 OR and IE linear programming (LP), inventory problem, PERT/CPM, game theory, analytical methods

(work analysis, PTS method, work sampling method, and others), inspection methods (OC

curve, sampling, simulation, and others), quality control techniques (seven QC tools, new

seven QC tools, and others)

3 Accounting and

financial affairs

financial accounting, management accounting, accounting standards, financial statements,

consolidation accounting, depreciation, breakeven point, financial indicator, cost, lease and

rental, cash planning and management, asset management

23 Legal affairs 1 Intellectual

property rights

Copyright Act, Industrial Property Law, Unfair Competition Prevention Act, license

agreement, OSS license (GPL, BSD, and other licenses)

2 Laws on security Act on the Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access, Act on the Limitation of

Liability for Damages of Specified Telecommunications Service Providers and the Right to

Demand Disclosure of Identification Information of the Senders

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23

Area Major Category Middle Category Minor Category Examples of Acquired Knowledge

3 Laws on labor and

transaction

Labor Standards Act, labor related laws and regulations, outsourcing agreements, software

agreements, nondisclosure agreements (NDA), Act against Delay in Payment of

Subcontract Proceeds, Etc. to Subcontractors, Act for Securing the Proper Operation of

Worker Dispatching Undertakings and Improved Working Conditions for Dispatched

Workers, civil law, commercial law

4 Other laws,

guidelines, and

engineer ethics

compliance, information disclosure, Telecommunications Business Law, network related

laws and regulations, Companies Act, Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, tax laws,

export-related laws and regulations, Act on the Protection of Personal Information, System

Management Standards, Standards for Measures against Unauthorized Computer Access,

Standards for Measures against Computer Viruses, Software Management Guidelines,

information ethics, engineer ethics, professionalism

5 Standardization roles of JIS, ISO, IEEE, and other associated organizations; standardization organization;

framework for international certification (accreditation body/certification body/inspection

body); various codes; JIS Q 15001; ISO 9000; ISO14000