Licence types

The most common licence types are outlined below. Use this page as a guide, and check the SFIA Foundation website at https://sfia-online.org/en/licensing-sfia/choosing-a-licence for the definitive word on licencing.

Organisational or personal licence (free)

For internal use by a single organisation or use by a private individual.

This will cover the majority of non-commercial use cases.

Evaluation licence (free)

For evaluation purposes only

The terms broadly mirror the organisational licence. In practice there is little benefit to choosing an evaluation licence and the organisation or personal licence is recommended.

Mapping licence (paid)

Mapping qualifications and certifications to SFIA

Qualifications and Certifications are an important part of the industry. SFIA recognises the value of qualifications and certifications and provides a context for positioning them within the skills needed by industry and business.

Qualifications and certifications show that an individual has successfully completed some testing or assessment; whilst a great many of these require demonstration of textbook knowledge or recall of a particular subject area, some test understanding, and some confirm application of skills.

• The mapping of qualifications to SFIA communicates to potential applicants the usefulness and relevance of the qualification.
• The learning objectives can be matched to continual professional development (CPD) targets expressed in SFIA terms.
• The use of SFIA by awarding bodies, to establish whether an individual meets the required level, is also growing and is increasingly linked to demonstration of experience.

Ratecard licence (paid)

Using SFIA to sell or buy in services based on a rate card

A number of organisations make use of SFIA to determine the rate they will buy or sell their services at. A ratecard licence is needed to use SFIA in this way.

Consulting licence (paid)

SFIA accredited partners and SFIA accredited specialists providing consulting and/or services

Help in using SFIA is available from either SFIA Partner organisations or from individual SFIA specialists.

SFIA specialists consult as individuals; SFIA Partners are organisations that offer services using SFIA which may include SFIA consulting or SFIA related products or tools. SFIA Partners are required to have a number of accredited specialists as part of their team.

A list of accredited partners and specialists by country can be found on the SFIA Foundation website: https://sfia-online.org/en/get-help/partners.

Training licence (paid)

Accredited SFIA training

Accredited SFIA training is available from accredited training organisations. Accredited training organisations have their materials reviewed regularly, need to keep records and report training activity, as well as pay a per-participant fee to the SFIA Foundation.

The syllabus for each course is published on the SFIA website. This includes:

• SFIA Foundation level training - a brief introduction to SFIA
• SFIA Practitioner level training - suitable for those using SFIA within their organisation
• SFIA Consultant level training - intended to give a wider perspective of SFIA use and adoption
• SFIA Assessor training - specialist training for those who will be assessing skills and competencies of others

Product licence (paid)

Using SFIA in your application or tool

If you have a tool or application that makes use of SFIA content (even if this is not a paid tool) then the product licence is required. Royalties are due on fees charged to users of the product, including where these fees are bundled or discounted with other services.