Skills and Competencies attributes for the Software Technologies Inventory - Software Technologies Inventory and Attributes

Skills and Competencies attributes for the Software Technologies Inventory

(Chapter 26 of Software Technologies Inventory and Attributes)

Executive Summary: Chapter Overview

IF4IT

The Bottom Line

Skills and competencies attributes record what it takes to run each software technology and whether the enterprise actually has it. These are the attributes that expose a risk no technical assessment finds: a perfectly healthy technology that exactly one person knows how to operate is one resignation away from being unsupportable.

Core Concepts

Concept	Definition & Strategic Role
Required Skills	The competencies needed to operate, administer, and troubleshoot the technology.
Skill Availability	Whether those competencies exist within the enterprise, and at what depth.
Scarcity Risk	The exposure created when a technology depends on skills that are rare internally, rare in the market, or held by one person.

Quick Q&A

Question: Why record skills against a technology rather than against people?

Answer: Because the risk is a property of the technology. The people inventory records who has which skills; this records which technologies depend on skills the enterprise may not be able to replace, which is a different and more actionable question.

Skills and competencies attributes record what it takes to run each software technology, and whether the enterprise has it.

Attribute Name	Maturity	Description and Notes
Required Skills [Multi-Value]	Run	Description — The competencies needed to operate, administer, and troubleshoot the technology. Benefit(s) — Makes the human requirement of a technology explicit, which supports hiring, training, and sourcing decisions. Source — Manual. Notes — Record the skills the technology genuinely demands rather than a general technology-area label.
Internal Skill Availability	Run	Description — Whether the required competencies exist within the enterprise, and at what depth. Benefit(s) — Distinguishes a technology the enterprise can actually run from one it merely operates while the knowledge holds. Source — Manual or Derived. Examples — Deep, Adequate, Limited, None Notes — Derivable at Run maturity from the people and skills inventories where they exist.
Skill Scarcity Risk	Run	Description — The exposure created when the technology depends on scarce, concentrated, or externally unavailable skills. Benefit(s) — Surfaces a risk no technical assessment finds — a healthy technology that only one person can operate is one departure from unsupportable. Source — Manual or Calculated. Notes — Where a technology has a single subject matter expert and no successor, this attribute is where that shows up as a governed risk.
Training and Certification Requirements	Run	Description — Any training or certification required to operate or administer the technology. Benefit(s) — Captures a real cost and lead time of adoption that is routinely omitted from technology decisions. Source — Manual. Notes — Particularly relevant where vendor support entitlements depend on certified staff.

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