Common Career/Skills Framework

Version 1

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan

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)

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 peoples 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 Japans economy and the improvement of peoples 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.

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

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.

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.

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

Table 1

Human Resources Categories and Models Covered by the Common

Career/Skills Framework
Common Career/Skills Framework

Human

Human

Resources

Resources

Category

Model

Required Abilities or Skill Set

Role of Human Resources Model

Plays a leading

Market strategist: Analyzes and

Ability to discern changes in the business

role in

predicts trends in the company,

environment and visualize new business

increasing

business projects, products, and the

model strategies

business values

service markets to plan business

Ability to model and structure corporate

using IT.

strategies, including enterprise and

activities, including EA (Enterprise

sales strategies, and then checks

Architecture) and specific business processes

them against corporate

Knowledge of associated processes (e.g.

management policy to propose

how to control power plants)

solutions to the issues.

Knowledge of structuring a set of data

Business model strategist:

items at a certain corporation

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
Basic Strategy

Strategist

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.

Common Career/Skills Framework

Human

Human

Resources

Resources

Category

Model

Systems architect

Project manager

Required Abilities or Skill Set

Role of Human Resources Model

Designs

Defines the requirements necessary

<Development segment>

systems most

for construction of solution and

Knowledge of IT structural changes

appropriate for

development of embedded products

Knowledge and experience of specific

the business

based on the IT strategy to design

development models and techniques

strategies.

the architectures necessary for the

Ability to achieve the optimal combination

implementation.

of hardware, software, and network for a

Manages

As a responsible person of the

reliable system

system development project, plans

construction

the project and secures the required

under given

human and other resources to carry

constraint

out the project with responsibility

conditions (e.g.

for the budget, delivery time, and

quality, cost,

required quality.

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>

and delivery

Knowledge of individual risk factors and

time).

measures to address the risks factors

Solution
Technical
specialist

Responsible for

Designs and constructs the required

implementation

system applications as part of the

in the technical

designed architecture and

domains such

constructs an optimal system

as database,

infrastructure using specific

network.

technologies for networks,

databases, security, etc.

Maintaining

Provides highly safe and reliable

systems while

services by ensuring stable

continuously

operations of the constructed

securing high

systems and products and by

reliability.

minimizing damage in the event of

Service manager
a failure; verifies the required
functional requirements,
non-functional requirements,
reliability, and stability of the
constructed systems and products.

Cost analysis ability

Common Career/Skills Framework

Human

Human

Resources

Resources

Category

Model

Creation

Creator

Required Abilities or Skill Set

Roles of Human Resources Model

Brings about

Develops new programming

Vision of the direction of IT architecture

social/economic

languages, core technologies

revolution

innovation by

(including OSs), and new business

Ability to conceive meta-level IT concepts

creating new

models and proposes innovative,

including development languages,

core

highly potential solutions.

environments, and processes

technologies.

Knowledge of

basic core technologies of

OSs, databases, and networks

Other

(No description)

Educating

Develops IT human resources by

Knowledge of basic core technologies of

about Skill

educating and training IT human

OSs, databases, and networks and the

Standard for IT

resources in businesses and other

techniques required for education in

Professionals

organizations.

software engineering

(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
Level 7

Definition
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.

(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.

context mean the ability to apply knowledge to yield results.

The skills in this

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.

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

(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.
higher levels require more non-technical skills than technical skills.

The

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.

Common Career/Skills Framework

Basic
strategy

Strategist

Systems
architect

Solution

BOK (body of knowledge)

for the Common
Career/Skills Framework

Project
manager
Technical
specialist
Service
manager

Creation

Creator

Knowledge item /
skill item
Job
category

Knowledge item /
skill item
Job
category

Knowledge item /
skill item

Knowledge item /
skill item
Job
category

ITSS specific

Job
category

Knowledge item /
skill item

Knowledge item /
skill item
Job
category

UISS specific

Job
category

Knowledge item /
skill item
Job
category

Reference

ETSS specific
ETSS-ITSS
common

ITSS-UISS
common

ITSS
UISS

ETSS
Skill Standards

Figure 1

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

10

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.)

11

Skill Standard for IT

Professionals (ITSS)

Information Technology
Engineers Examination

Conformance

Reference

Users Information
Systems Skill
Standards
(UISS)

Common Career /
Skills Framework

Embedded Technology
Skill Standards
(ETSS)
Reference

Reference

Figure 2

Common Career/Skills Framework as a Reference Model

12

Table 3

Correspondence of the Job Categories between the Common Career/Skills

Framework and the Skill Standards

Common Career/Skills

Job Types Defined by the Skill Standards

Framework
Human

Human

Skill Standard

Embedded

Users Information

Resources

Resources

for IT

Technology Skill

Systems Skill

Category

Model

Professionals

Standards

Standards
Business strategist

Marketing
IS strategist

Basic strategy
Strategist

Sales

Product manager
Program manager

Consultant
IS analyst
Systems architect

IT architect

Systems architect

IS architect

Project manager
Bridge SE
Project manager

Project manager

Project management
Development process
improvement specialist
Domain specialist
Software engineer

Application designer

IT specialist
Development
Solution

Technical specialist

System designer

Application specialist
environment engineer
Software development
QA specialist
Test engineer

IS operation
IS administrator
Customer service
Service manager

(No description)

Security administrator

IT service management
IS staff
IS auditor
Creation

Creator

(No description)

Other

(No description)

Education

(No description)

13

(No description)

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.

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

14

Common
Career/Skills
Framework

Information System / Embedded System

Vender Side / User Side

Independent

Systems Architect
Examination

Project Manager
Examination

Network Specialist
Examination

Database Specialist
Examination

Embedded Systems
Specialist Examination

Information Security
Specialist Examination

IT Service Manager
Examination

Systems Auditor
Examination

Level 4

IT Strategist
Examination

Advanced (professional) examinations

(ST)

(SA)

(PM)

(NW)

(DB)

(ES)

(SC)

(SM)

(AU)

Level 3

Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination (AP)

Level 2

Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination (FE)

Level 1

IT Passport Examination (IP)

Figure 3

Correspondence between the Levels Defined by the Common Career/Skills

Framework and the New Information Technology Engineers Examination

15

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.

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

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

16

[Attachment 1]
Body of Knowledge (BOK)
Area Major Category
1

Basic

Middle Category
1 Basic theory

theory

Minor Category
1 Discrete
mathematics
2 Applied
mathematics
3 Theory of

Technology

information

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

binary number, radix, numeric representation, operational precision, set, Venn diagram,
logical operation, proposition
probability and statistics, numerical analysis, formula manipulation, graph theory, queueing
theory
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
5 Theory of

error detection/correction, and signal synchronization)

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

measurement and

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

control

characteristics

2 Algorithm and 1 Data structure

programming

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

2 Algorithm

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

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
5 Other languages

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

COBOL, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and other languages)
types of markup languages (HTML, XML, and others) and their characteristics, SDL
(Specification and Description Language), ADL (Architecture Description Language)

Computer
system

3 Computer

1 Processor

component

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
5 Input/output
device
4 System
component

1 System
configuration

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

conversion
types of input/output devices and their characteristics, input device, output device, display,
auxiliary storage and storage media, communication controller, drive, imaging device
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 system performance index, system performance characteristics and evaluation, significance
indexes

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

17

Area Major Category

Middle Category

Minor Category
2 Middleware

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

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
6 Hardware

1 Hardware

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

LAMP/LAPP; use/application, considerations (safety, defects, etc.), and trends of OSS
electric/electronic circuit, machine/control, logic design, components along with elements
and implementation, semiconductor element, system LSI, SoC (System On a Chip), power
consumption

Technology 7 Human
element

interface

1 Human interface
technology
2 Interface design

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

feature extraction, learning function, interactive system, usability
form design, screen design, code design, Web design, human-centered design, universal
design

8 Multimedia

1 Multimedia
technology
2 Multimedia
application

9 Database

1 Database

authoring environment, sound processing, static image processing, video processing, media
integration, compression/decompression, MPEG
AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), CG (Computer Graphics), media
application
types of databases and characteristics, database models, DBMS

architecture
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
5 Database

exclusive control, recovery processing, transaction management, database performance

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

application
10 Network

1 Network
architecture
2 Data
communication

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

technology, computation relating to line, packet switched network
transmission methods and line, internetworking device, digital service unit, OSI model,
media access control (MAC), data link control, routing control, flow control

and control
3 Communications

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

protocol
4 Network
management
5 Network

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

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

application

18

Area Major Category

Middle Category
11 Security

Minor Category
1 Information
security

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

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

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

security

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

management

regulations for corporate activities

3 Security

evaluation method, assurance level, ISO/IEC 15408

technology
evaluation
4 Information
security measures
5 Security

human security measures, technical security measures (measures against cracking, viruses,
and others), physical security measures
secure OS, application security, secure programming

implementation
technology
4

Develop-

12 System

1 System

system requirements definition (function, performance, requirements of business

ment

development

requirements

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

technology

technology

definition

requirements evaluation

2 Systems

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

architecture

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

design

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

architecture evaluation

3 Software
requirements

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

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

definition
4 Software

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

architecture

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

design and

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

software detailed

design, module design, design pattern

design
5 Software coding
and testing
6 Software
integration and

software coding, coding convention, code review, debugging, test method, test preparation
(test environment, test data, and others), test implementation, test result evaluation
test planning, test preparation (test environment, test data, and others), test implementation,
test result evaluation

software
qualification tests
7 System integration test planning, test preparation (test environment, test data, and others), test implementation,
and system

test result evaluation, tuning

qualification tests
8 Software

software installation planning and implementation

installation
9 Software
acceptance

acceptance review and test, delivery and acceptance of software products, user manual,
education/training

19

Area Major Category

Middle Category

Minor Category
10 Software

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

forms and significance of software maintenance

maintenance
13 Software

1 Development

development

process and

management

methods

techniques

2 Intellectual

software development methods, process maturity level, software life cycle process (SLPC),
software reuse, structured method, formal method, reverse engineering, mashup

copyright management, patent management, storage management

property
application
management
3 Development
environment

development environment operation status management, development environment

construction, design data management, tool management, license management

management
4 Configuration
management and

establishment of configuration identification system, change control, configuration status

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

change control
5

Project
manage-

14 Project
management

1 Project integration develop project charter, develop preliminary project scope statement, develop project
management

ment

management plan, direct and manage project execution, monitor and control project work,
integrated change control, close project

2 Project scope

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

management
Management

3 Project time
management
4 Project cost

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

estimating, schedule development, schedule control
cost estimating, cost budgeting, const control

management
5 Project quality

quality planning, quality assurance, quality control

management
6 Project human
resources

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

management
7 Project
communications

communication planning, information distribution, performance reporting, stakeholder

management

management
8 Project risk
management
9 Project
procurement

risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk
analysis, risk response planning, risk monitoring and control
purchases/acquisitions planning, contracting plan, request seller responses, select sellers,
contract administration, contract closure

management
6

Service
manage-

15 Service
management

1 Service
management

ment

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 schedule design, system installation, system migration, operations support tool, monitoring
and tools
3 Service support

tool, diagnostic tool

service desk (help desk), incident management (fault management), problem management,
configuration management, change management, release management, risk management,
computer operations and management

20

Area Major Category

Middle Category

Minor Category
4 Service delivery

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

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

gap analysis, risk evaluation, requirements definition

management
foundation
6 Facility
management
16 System audit

1 System audit

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

maintenance of facilities and equipment
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

System

17 System

strategy

strategy

2 Internal control

internal control, IT governance, evaluation and improvement of compliance

1 Information

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

systems strategy

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,

Strategy

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

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

evaluation/verification, system disposal

evaluation
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

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

planning and

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

implementation

procurement risk analysis, internal and external manufacturing standards, software asset
management, software supply chain management

Business
strategy

19 Business
strategy

1 Business strategy
techniques

management

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)

21

Area Major Category

Middle Category

Minor Category
3

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

Business strategy

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

and

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

goal/evaluation

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

Business

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

management
system
Planning of

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

strategy

technology

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

management

development

industry-academia-government collaboration, standardization strategy

20 Technological

strategy
2

Technology

technology development investment planning, technology development site planning,

development plan

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

21 Business

Business system

industry

distribution information system, logistics information system, public information system,

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

Engineering

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

system

PDM, CAE

e-business

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

Consumer

AV appliances, household appliances, personal information equipment,

appliances

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

business use, consumer communications terminals

Industrial devices

communications facility equipment, transport/construction equipment, industrial

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

Corporate
and legal

22 Corporate

activities

affairs

Management &

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

organization

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

theory

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

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)

Accounting and

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

financial affairs

consolidation accounting, depreciation, breakeven point, financial indicator, cost, lease and
rental, cash planning and management, asset management

23 Legal affairs

Intellectual

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

property rights

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

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

22

Area Major Category

Middle Category

Minor Category

Examples of Acquired Knowledge

3 Laws on labor and Labor Standards Act, labor related laws and regulations, outsourcing agreements, software
transaction

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,

compliance, information disclosure, Telecommunications Business Law, network related

guidelines, and

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

engineer ethics

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

23