This page contains the CDDaT skills framework as an a-z list.
Data strategy and data insights
Definition
The ability to systematically inspect, clean, transform, and interpret raw data to extract valuable insights, identify patterns, and make informed conclusions.
What this means for councils
Data analysis enables councils to apply visualisation techniques, analytical tools, and statistical methods, to uncover meaningful information which can support decision-making and problem solving.
It is closely related to data science, data visualisation, and numerical analysis: Data science involves the application of specific tools and techniques, such as machine learning, to enable data analysis on a much larger scale. Data visualisation involves the visual presentation of the results of data analysis. Numerical analysis specifically focuses on the use of mathematical methods to solve numerical problems, and is therefore a narrower form of data analysis.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to set the vision for the organisation’s use of data, through data design, to ensure that data is managed properly and meets the organisation’s needs.
What this means for councils
Data architecture enables councils to design and build data models to fulfil the strategic data needs of the organisation. Having well designed data models and metadata systems allows data to be easily accessible in a standardised format. This makes it easier for datasets to be shared or joined up across a council or with partner organisations.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to design, build, operationalise, secure and monitor data pipelines and data stores
What this means for councils
Data engineering enables councils to design and deliver technologies for efficiently gathering, processing, and delivering data, and make sure that they are properly integrated with the council’s systems for accessing and analysing data.
Effective data engineering involves working with the services or business areas which will eventually be using the data, to ensure that the technical solutions which are offered will enable services to use and present the data as needed. For example, effective data engineering can help to create a mechanism whereby information can be recorded once and then accessed via multiple different systems.
This skill is linked to data management, and both form important parts of the overall data lifecycle: data engineering creates the storage and delivery mechanisms (akin to library shelves), and data management ensures that data is effectively catalogued within that mechanism.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to assess the fairness, accountability, the law, moral dilemmas, and risks in the creation and use of technology and data products and policies, and produce recommendations accordingly.
What this means for councils
Data ethics enables councils to ensure that they are fair, transparent, and accountable in the way that they are using residents’ data or new tools or technologies. All uses of data have implications for an individual’s privacy, ownership, content, and security. Using an ethical framework for decision-making can therefore help to guide discussions about, for example, combining multiple sources of data about an individual to predict whether they are likely to need the council’s help in the future. Another example relates to the use of artificial intelligence to make automated decisions about service provision.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to develop and implement plans, policies, and practices that control, protect and optimise the value of data assets.
What this means for councils
Data management enables councils to catalogue their data assets, so that they can understand what data they hold, where each dataset can be found, and what can be learned from different datasets. This can help councils to maximise the value they get from their data.
Data management also enables a structured and consistent approach to storing and tagging data across the council, which means that data can be accessed, combined, analysed, and visualised more quickly and easily.
Overall, data management can make it easier for different services in councils to identify existing assets which might be useful for their service, and to work more effectively across services.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
SO5: Improve data-driven decision making
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to develop models and diagrams to represent and communicate data requirements and data assets.
What this means for councils
Data modelling supports activities such as helping organisations understand their data assets, developing software systems, and the relationships between real-world entities; data engineering, integration and interoperability; data retrieval; data governance and master data management.
There is a range of different types of data models. However they typically contain the same components - entities, relationships, attributes and domains. Data models are used to communicate different levels of detail conceptual, logical and physical.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to apply mathematics, statistics, data mining and predictive modelling techniques to gain insights, predict behaviours and generate value from data
What this means for councils
Data science involves the application of innovative tools and techniques to data analysis, including programming, artificial intelligence and machine learning. This can enable councils to analyse much larger datasets or a greater number of datasets, and to carry out more advanced analyses than would be possible with traditional analytical tools.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to facilitate understanding of data by displaying concepts, ideas, and facts using graphical representations.
What this means for councils
Data visualisation enables councils to make sense of insights from data, by displaying them in ways which are easy to understand and highlight the most relevant information – for example, graphs, charts, and tables. This is critical to enabling councils to easily make decisions which are based on evidence. Many councils deploy tools such as PowerBI and Tableau to support them with data visualisation.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to install, configure, monitor, maintain and improve the performance of databases and data stores.
What this means for councils
Database administration enables councils to maintain, secure, and operate databases, and ensure that data is correctly stored and retrieved. It enables councils to set up databases to serve their business needs, such as the production of performance statistics. Databases can be set up so that most of the processes are automated to reduce the effort required to keep the data up to date.
This skill is related to data engineering – data engineering enables the creation of databases, and database administration enables their maintenance and proper functioning.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to plan, implement and control the full life cycle management of structured information and records.
What this means for councils
“Information” refers to data which has been processed to make it meaningful, in order to support decision-making and understanding.
Information management enables councils to decide how to collect information which is relevant, correct, and shareable as needed; how to make information available as needed; how to ensure that information is used, so that it delivers value to the organisation; and how to dispose of information when it is no longer needed.
This skill is related to data management: data management involves organising and maintaining raw facts and figures, to ensure that the data held by councils is accurate, available, secure, and complete. Information management involves organising information so that it can be meaningful and useful.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to create, analyse, implement, test and improve algorithms for numerically solving mathematical problems.
What this means for councils
Numerical analysis involves using a range of mathematical techniques to assist with numerical analysis. This ensures that numerical data is accurately and appropriately analysed so that councils can use it for costing, forecasting or modelling purposes.
Coding and development
Definition
The ability to design, build and improve user experiences (e.g. websites and applications) that meet user needs.
What this means for councils
Frontend development enables a council to write its own coding that can be used to design software which meets user needs and creates meaningful interactions and relationships with users.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to develop systems that learn through experience, and by the use of data.
What this means for councils
Machine learning enables a council to teach machines how to perform a specific task and provide accurate results by learning patterns. This can help the council to, for example, conduct sophisticated analyses with large quantities of data in order to make decisions – e.g. using large health datasets to identify public health trends. This skill is closely related to data science, as machine learning is often applied in data science.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to develop software components to deliver value to stakeholders.
What this means for councils
Software development enables councils to build their own software, such as apps that can be used to automate processes or interactions with service users.
Understanding what the business needs from technology
Definition
The ability to forecast, plan and monitor the emergence and effective realisation of anticipated benefits from projects and programmes.
What this means for councils
Benefits management enables councils to obtain a clear understanding of the benefits which a new process, tool, or technology could bring, identify specific ways to measure those benefits, and understand whether the change has achieved those benefits.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to analyse and understand a business problem or opportunity and identify areas for improvement, explore feasible options, analyse the effects of change and define success measures.
What this means for councils
Business analysis enables councils to analyse their operations, needs, and challenges, in order to identify potential improvements and solutions. This could include the analysis of business processes – for example, the process of entering inspection data into a system – or business situations – for example, the impact of a change in the external environment.
This skill enables councils to:
- frame a business problem or opportunity, – for example, a data-entry process which is costly to deliver; a drop in profits
- identify the council or user wants to achieve through the activity – for example, quickly and easily making data accessible online; increasing profits
- Understand why the user or council is not currently meeting their goal
- Identify opportunities for improvements
Business analysis requires a good strategical or operational knowledge of the relevant business area or process.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement.
Definition
The ability to develop, produce and deliver regular and one-off management information to provide insights and aid decision-making.
What this means for councils
Business intelligence enables councils to make decisions on the basis of data insights. It involves understanding the question which needs to be answered, identifying datasets which could provide the answer, conducting data analysis on those datasets, and translating the results of analysis into answers which can be easily communicated to council stakeholders. Business intelligence can help to identify trends, highlight themes, carry out benchmarking.
Business intelligence is closely linked to both data analysis and data visualisation, and applies both of those skills to inform decision-making.
Definition
The ability to produce abstract or distilled representations of real-world or business situations.
What this means for councils
Business modelling enables councils to represent and visualise how a particular process, service, or business area operates, using diagrams and frameworks. It helps stakeholders understand processes, relationships, and dependencies within the organization. By creating a simplified and structured representation, business modelling facilitates analysis, decision-making, and the design of effective business strategies.
Definition
The ability to create new and potentially disruptive approaches to performing business activities.
What this means for councils
Business process improvement enables councils to streamline or re-design of business processes in ways which can improve effectiveness or efficiencies, either within a service or across multiple services.
It follows on from business analysis, which involves framing and understanding the problems caused by inefficient processes, and identifying opportunities for improvement.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to manage the day-to-day relationships with business stakeholders.
What this means for councils
Business relationship management enables effective collaboration between different parts of a council. It enables business areas to identify their respective and mutual objectives and ensure that solutions align with these objectives.
For example, to become more efficient and effective, council services need access to tools, technologies and processes which are fit-for-purpose, i.e. aligned with the service’s operational and strategic objectives.
Conversely, technical teams need the ability to identify the tools, technologies, and processes which could help services to achieve their objectives, and to identify any potential opportunities or risks arising for the wider business from new ways of working.
Business relationship management enables effective collaboration and strategic alignment between these two parts of the council.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to manage and control the operation of formal contracts for the supply of products and services throughout their lifecycle.
What this means for councils
Contract management enables councils to manage supplier contracts. It can help to ensure that councils will be able to deliver the necessary outcomes from the product or service that has been procured, and that suppliers continue to deliver their responsibilities as detailed in the contract.
For example, contracts with case management system suppliers might detail the respective responsibilities of councils and suppliers in maintaining the system. Effective contract management can help to ensure that responsibilities are as expected, and that suppliers continue to deliver these responsibilities.
Definition
The ability to identify and assess new and emerging technologies, products, services, methods and techniques.
What this means for councils
Emerging technology monitoring enables councils to track and identify new tools or technologies and assess the benefits for efficiency and effectiveness which these tools could bring to council services. This also requires the involvement of stakeholders with a good strategic and operational knowledge of those services. It is a key skill in, for example, the exploitation of Artificial Intelligence.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to identify, prioritise, incubate and exploit opportunities provided by information, communication and digital technologies.
What this means for councils
Innovation enables councils to identify ways to implement new and emerging technologies, products, services, methods and techniques in a way that allows the council to capture their benefits in practice.
It might include developing tools or processes to support innovation, facilitating stakeholders through the innovation process, and providing a framework for monitoring and assessing the innovation process.
It is closely related to emerging technology monitoring: innovation enables councils to prioritise and practically implement the tools identified through monitoring.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to develop performance measurement frameworks - goals, user needs and benefits - and analyse the performance of a service or product against these.
What this means for councils
Performance analysis enables councils to understand whether services or products are performing well against a set of indicators. It is a critical skill in delivering statutory data returns and other performance reporting. It is linked to data analysis.
Definition
The ability to systematically create new knowledge by data gathering, innovation, experimentation, evaluation and dissemination.
What this means for councils
Research enables councils to articulate questions relating to their residents, services, operations, or strategies, and to answer these questions via a variety of methods, such as surveys, interviews, data analysis, or observation.
It is related to “user research”, but addresses a wider range of topics and questions.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to manage, or provide advice on, the procurement or commissioning of products and services.
What this means for councils
Sourcing enables councils to carry out the procurement of tools, technologies, or services which could increase effectiveness or efficiency. It helps to:
- Ensure that the council’s needs in relation to the new product or service have been clearly articulated
- Identify a strategy for meeting these needs, including procurement or developing in-house
- Identify and select suppliers whose offer will meet these needs
- ensure that procurement is in line with regulations, legislation, and procedures.
Definition
The ability to influence stakeholder attitudes, decisions, and actions for mutual benefit.
What this means for councils
Stakeholder relationship management enables councils to take a systematic approach to identifying stakeholders, agreeing on mutually beneficial outcomes, establishing the relationship between stakeholders and their respective responsibilities, and ultimately getting commitment to action.
Definition
The ability to creating and maintaining a strategy to align organisational actions, plans and resources with business objectives
What this means for councils
Strategic planning enables councils to create a systematic approach to achieving their objectives, ensuring measurable progress and best use of resources within or across service areas.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to align the organisation’s supplier performance objectives and activities with sourcing strategies and plans, balancing costs, efficiencies and service quality.
What this means for councils
Supplier management helps to ensure that the solutions being delivered by suppliers are aligned with what council services need to solve problems or become more efficient and effective. It enables councils to become an informed commissioner, promotes collaboration, and improves bargaining power in conversations with suppliers. It can also help to address any conflicts, issues or risks which arise in supplier delivery.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to provide advice, assistance and leadership to enable the organisation to minimise negative environmental impact.
What this means for councils
Sustainability enables councils to identify ways to minimise the environmental impact of ways of working, such as paper usage, hardware and software options, storage mechanisms, and transport.
Understanding and meeting users' needs
“User” refers to an individual who interacts with a product, system, or service. In this section, we use the term “user” to refer to council staff interacting with internal digital products, and residents interacting with external products.
Definition
The ability to produce online content that complies with accessibility standards.
What this means for councils
Accessibility design is a specific aspect of content design. It helps to ensure that councils’ content is easily understandable by all, including residents or staff who might not be “digital natives” or who have a disability. It also helps to ensure that content complies with regulations and accessibility standards.
This can help to avoid some of the inequalities which might arise from shifting communications about a service online – for example, by suggesting changes to the format or wording of digital content.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to plan, design and create textual information, supported where necessary by graphical content.
What this means for councils
Content authoring is a specific aspect of content design. It enables:
- councils to effectively communicate information to residents via written content,
- a better understanding of the intended audience’s needs – including any accessibility requirements - and better tailoring of content to suit those needs,
- that content complies with council policies and style guides, regulations and legislation, including copyright.
Definition
The ability to create content and end-to-end journeys that are easy for users to both understand and use
What this means for councils
Content design ensures that content is easy to use and understandable by all, so that its communication to residents produces the desired behaviour or outcome. This can include several pieces of interlinked content – here, effective content design can help to ensure that navigating between content and finding the relevant information is a smooth process for users.
For example, effective content design can help residents to easily navigate to a webpage and find content which answers their question. This can help to create efficiencies by removing the need for residents to phone the council or visit in person.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to manage and continually improve the processes that collect, assemble and publish content .
What this means for councils
Content publishing enables councils to develop an effective publication strategy by considering a variety of options for publication and their costs and benefits, and developing a framework for content publishing. It also helps to ensure a systematic approach to updating and reviewing content prior to publication.
Definition
The ability to create graphic elements that underpin interaction and service design to ensure that content is legible and readable and that users see and understand interactions.
What this means for councils
Graphic design is a specific aspect of content design. It enables councils to effectively communicate information to residents using graphics, including iconography, layout, spacing, colour, and type.
Graphic design enhances communication and public engagement. Clear and visually appealing designs help convey information effectively, making important messages accessible to diverse community members. From informative brochures to engaging social media posts, graphic design strengthens the council's ability to connect with residents, promote events, and convey policies.
Definition
The ability to work out the best way to let users interact with services, in terms of both overall flow and at the level of individual design elements.
What this means for councils
Interaction design enables councils to understand the best way for users – residents, for resident-facing services, or staff for internal services – to interact with services. It focuses on the overall “flow” of services as well as interactions with specific aspects of a service.
This ensures that users can easily access information, engage with online services, and provide feedback. Thoughtful interaction design enhances the usability of websites, apps, and communication channels, fostering inclusivity and participation. It streamlines processes, making vital services more accessible to diverse demographics.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to research, analyse and stimulate potential or existing markets for products and services.
What this means for councils
Marketing enables councils to understand the potential demand for a product or service – including services which have been recently shifted online – and to create campaigns to promote these services based on an understanding of customers’ wants and needs.
Definition
Investigate products, systems and services to assess behaviour and whether this meets specified or unspecified requirements and characteristics.
What this means for councils
Testing enables councils to test the reliability and functionality of its products and services. It involves systematically evaluating software, websites, and applications to identify and rectify any issues before deployment. Rigorous testing enhances the user experience, minimises errors, and boosts the overall efficiency of digital systems. In the context of local councils, it helps to maintain the integrity of critical services, facilitates smooth interactions with residents, and ensures that technological solutions align with the council's objectives.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to understand the context of use for systems, products and services and specifying user experience requirements and design goals.
What this means for councils
User Experience (UX) analysis enables councils to gauge how users – such as residents or internal staff - interact with digital services, websites, and communication channels. This skill involves assessing user journeys, identifying pain points, and enhancing the overall usability of online platforms. When combined with user experience design, UX analysis enables councils to tailor interfaces to meet users' needs, ensuring accessibility and satisfaction.
Effective user experience analysis might also help councils to identify cases where maintaining non-digital service provision is important for accessibility – for example, via a phone service, or a drop-in help session at a library.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to produce design concepts and prototypes for user interactions with and experiences of a product, system or service.
What this means for councils
User Experience (UX) design enables councils to create prototypes of digital or “real-life” services or products, such as mock-up website portals, a new library helpdesk layout, or an online tool for finding councillor details. This enables councils to gain an in-depth understanding of services’ accessibility and usability. It helps to ensure that services effectively serve diverse demographics, and promotes a desired behaviour or outcome from use of the service – e.g. by encouraging more residents to shift to online contact.
Effective UX design requires a good understanding of user needs, which means that this skill is closely related to user experience analysis. Combining this skill with user experience evaluation and testing also helps to ensure that prototypes are assessed for usability, and feedback is used to inform improvements.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to validate systems, products or services against user experience goals, metrics and targets.
What this means for councils
User experience (UX) evaluation enables councils to systematically assess products, tools, or services, to check whether they meet user needs. This helps councils to identify and address usability issues, making digital services more accessible.
Evaluation can also help to establish a feedback loop, whereby the council can make continuous improvements based on user feedback. This can create improvements in interfaces, or help to streamline processes.
This skill is an important part of the overall user experience design process, and so is closely linked to user experience analysis, user experience design, and testing.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to plan, design and carry out research activities with users that help teams get a deep understanding of service users.
What this means for councils
User research enables councils to understand users’ needs and behaviours, and use this understanding to inform the design of services and products. This helps to ensure that the service design supports users to achieve their objectives, and promotes a behaviour or outcome which is aligned with organisational objectives.
User research is closely related to user experience analysis. However, unlike UX analysis, user research can consider a wide range of questions, some of which are not directly related to users’ experience of a particular product or interface. For example, councils might wish to conduct user research on the impact of pricing, delivery, or the experience of a service across multiple channels.
User research might also include a wider range of methods and considerations, e.g. observing users interacting with a service, identifying target users, and ensuring that a range of users are represented in research.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Managing projects and programmes
Definition
The ability to assess risks associated with proposed changes and ensure changes to products, services or systems are controlled and coordinated.
What this means for councils
Change control enables councils to ensure that changes to a product, system or service are made systematically, and to assess the potential impact of each change on objectives. For example, implementing effective change control when moving from one data storage solution to another helps to ensure that the impact of change on each data asset is monitored and understood.
Definition
The ability to support the effective use and control of financial resources.
What this means for councils
Financial management enables councils to ensure that decisions about financial allocations are aligned with business strategies and working practices. This might include budgeting and forecasting, developing cost models for new tools or technologies, and ensuring compliance with governance and regulatory requirements.
Definition
The ability to define and operate a framework for making decisions, managing stakeholder relationships, and identifying legitimate authority.
What this means for councils
Governance can support effective decision-making in councils. It helps to ensure that councils are meeting their legal and regulatory obligations, provides leadership, oversight, and assurance for activities, and secures the resources needed to deliver councils’ objectives. This can help to promote a more efficient and effective programme of digitalisation.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to assess the attractiveness of possible investments or projects.
What this means for councils
Investment appraisal enables councils to evaluate potential projects and ensure optimal use of public funds. By assessing costs, benefits, and risks, councils can prioritise investments that yield the greatest impact. This might also include assessing the use of funds across multiple projects, programmes, or services.
Investment appraisal might include the ability to use appropriate techniques for comparing returns, collecting and analysing relevant data, and presenting the result of appraisals. It can also enable councils to systematically assess a wider range of considerations, such as environmental or social impact.
Definition
The ability to develop and apply a management framework to define and deliver a portfolio of programmes, projects and/or ongoing services.
What this means for councils
Portfolio management enables councils to oversee a mix of projects and initiatives, to ensure that they collectively support the council to reach its strategic objectives. It supports councils to optimise resource allocation, and to prioritise and balance projects in a way that enhances effectiveness and maximises impact.
Portfolio management might include assessing projects for their costs, risks, inter-dependencies, strategic benefits and impact on existing business activities. It can help to create efficiencies by e.g. supporting councils to identify where distinct technology projects share common objectives and create joint solutions.
Definition
The ability to take responsibility for the quality of products, using knowledge of user needs and business goals to frame problems and set priorities for delivery teams.
What this means for councils
Product management is the strategic process of planning, developing, and optimising products or services. Effective product management ensures that these services align with community needs and business goals. It involves creating a clearly defined scope for the problem to be addressed, carrying out user or market research, engaging a range of stakeholders, developing prototypes based on user insights, and continuously refining services or products based on feedback.
As a product development approach, product management can support councils to work towards addressing a clearly defined problem, such as making services more accessible or streamlining a particular process. It helps to ensure that services and products are aligned with user needs, so that they are accessible and usable, and generate the desired outcome for the council.
Definition
The ability to deliver agreed outcomes from projects using appropriate management techniques, collaboration, leadership and governance.
What this means for councils
Project management is the systematic approach of planning, executing, and overseeing tasks to achieve specific objectives within a set timeframe and budget. It can help to ensure efficient resource allocation, timely delivery, and successful project completion.
It might include: identifying stakeholders from across the council with an interest in the project or potential influence over outcomes, defining deliverables and interdependencies, applying change control and risk management processes, and agreeing cost, quality or scope constraints.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO6: Ensure continuous and strategically-informed improvement
Definition
The ability to adopt a portfolio view, managing end-to-end services that include multiple products and channels
What this means for councils
Service ownership refers to the overall responsibility and accountability for managing and delivering a specific service within an organisation. For local councils, service ownership ensures clear oversight, streamlined processes, and responsive service delivery. It promotes efficiency, as designated individuals or teams take ownership of planning, execution, and improvement. This enhances accountability, transparency, and adaptability, allowing local councils to better meet community needs and provide quality services.
Supporting people
Definition
The ability to assess knowledge, skills, competency and behaviours by any means, whether formal or informal, against frameworks.
What this means for councils
Competency assessment helps to ensure that the council’s workforce possesses the skills needed to perform their roles effectively. It can help to identify training needs, support professional development, and enhance overall workforce capability. By systematically assessing competencies, councils can align personnel with job requirements, improve performance, and ensure a skilled workforce ready to address the diverse and evolving needs of the community.
Definition
The ability to deliver management, advisory and administrative services to support the development of knowledge, skills and competencies.
What this means for councils
Learning and development management involves planning, coordinating, and implementing strategies to enhance the skills and knowledge of the council’s workforce. It helps to ensure a skilled and adaptable workforce which is capable of meeting evolving community needs.
It includes identifying the technical or professional capabilities needed by the council, developing learning strategies and policies, identifying appropriate accreditations, qualifications and frameworks, and selecting learning management systems. It is also important for helping to assess the impact of learning initiatives on the workforce.
Definition
The ability to transfer knowledge, developing skills and changing behaviours using a range of techniques, resources and media.
What this means for councils
Learning delivery enables councils to deliver training or educational content to learners. It involves delivering training sessions, workshops, or educational programmes, interacting directly with learners to impart knowledge and skills.
This skill is key to the effective implementation of new tools, technologies, or processes. It enables councils to ensure that the workforce feels confident in new ways of working, and is aware of any security or governance considerations.
It is closely related to learning design and development: learning delivery focuses on the actual execution of educational content, while learning design and development centres on the planning and creation of materials before they are delivered.
Definition
The ability to design, develop, and deliver resources to transfer knowledge, develop skills and change behaviours.
What this means for councils
Learning design and development involves designing and developing the learning strategies, environments, techniques, and study materials which will help the workforce to develop the required capabilities and attitudes.
This skill is key to the effective implementation of new tools, technologies, or processes. It enables councils to ensure that the workforce feels confident in new ways of working, and is aware of any security or governance considerations.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to ensure methods and tools are adopted and used effectively throughout the organisation.
What this means for councils
Methods and tools enable councils to achieve, promote and sustain the effective use of methods and tools. This might include identifying, selecting, and implementing new methods and tools, or making changes to processes to support their effective use – for example, automating the use of certain tools, or tailoring them to the needs of the organisation.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to plan, design and implement activities to transition the organisation and people to the required future state.
What this means for councils
Organisational change management is key to the adoption of new tools, technologies, ways of working, or processes. It enables councils to set out and deliver an over-arching strategy for supporting the workforce to adopt new ways of working. This might include training, policies, or the removal of certain options for carrying out a particular task.
It also enables councils to assess the impact of change management interventions, identify and address barriers, and guide teams through transitions to ensure the successful adoption of changes. Effective organisational change management can help to address accessibility issues, or differences in levels of digital literacy across the council.
This skill is related to methods and tools: organisational change management enables the council to move from one state to another, whereas “methods and tools” enables councils to ensure that tools are used effectively on an ongoing basis.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to estimate the demand for people and skills and planning the supply needed to meet that demand.
What this means for councils
Having access to this skill enables councils to understand which skills they need to deliver their organisational objectives and meet the needs of their communities. By forecasting workforce requirements, councils can identify areas where there may be a shortfall of skills, and plan ways to create a pipeline of the necessary talent. This enables a proactive approach to workforce development, fosters organisational resilience, and allows councils to adapt to changing demands.
Ensuring quality processes and outputs
Definition
The ability to validate systems, products, business processes or services to determine whether the acceptance criteria have been satisfied.
What this means for councils
Acceptance testing is the final phase of software testing, verifying whether a system or solution meets specified requirements before deployment. For councils, this skill helps to ensure the reliability and functionality of digital tools, applications, and platforms. By conducting acceptance tests, councils can minimise errors, enhance user experience, and guarantee that technology solutions effectively support operations.
Definition
The ability to deliver independent, risk-based assessments of the effectiveness of processes, the controls, and the compliance environment of an organisation.
What this means for councils
Audit is a systematic examination of records, processes, or systems to ensure accuracy, compliance, and accountability. For councils, auditing helps to safeguard public funds, verifies adherence to regulations and accreditation schemes, and identifies areas for improvement. This helps councils to make informed decisions, mitigate financial risks, and enhance the overall efficiency of services.
Definition
The ability to assure, through ongoing and periodic assessments and reviews, that the organisation’s quality objectives are being met.
What this means for councils
Quality assurance is a systematic process ensuring that products, services, data, or processes meet established standards. This helps to prevent errors and ensure that users are receiving consistent, reliable, and high-quality services. It can help to give internal and external stakeholders the confidence that quality requirements are being fulfilled.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to define and operate a management framework of processes and working practices to deliver the organisation's quality objectives.
What this means for councils
Quality management enables councils to take a systematic approach to ensuring consistently high standards in products, services, data, functions, or processes. It might include establishing an appropriate system or scheme for monitoring quality, identifying and prioritising areas for improvement, and ensuring that the council achieves compliance with standards, accreditation schemes, and internal policies.
Managing security risks to the council’s data and assets
Definition
The ability to ensure information and data are managed in compliance with organisational commitments and in support of business goals, with risks appropriately identified and managed.
What this means for councils
Information governance enables councils to take a strategic, coordinated approach to managing its information, and the risks to it. It helps councils to manage information assets across the entire organisation, and to obtain assurance that any risks to information are being properly identified and managed.
For example, to gain advantage from its information and data, the organisation has to know what it holds, have assurance that it is being processed in compliance with legal obligations, and take steps to ensure that processes are robust enough for compliance to continue.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to define and operate a framework of security controls and security management strategies, including controls, policies, procedures, software, and hardware.
What this means for councils
Information security enables councils to understand the security implications of different ways of processing and storing data, and to choose appropriate controls to protect its Confidentiality, Integrity (‘fitness for purpose’/accuracy) and Availability.
For example, storing data digitally via the cloud enables it to be accessed by a remote or mobile workforce, but can reduce the council’s control over its data, and requires careful consideration of the security controls which have been implemented by the cloud provider. This skill should be used in conjunction with risk management and information governance.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to test the effectiveness of security controls by emulating the tools and techniques of likely attackers, and reporting to the organisation on results.
What this means for councils
Penetration testing enables trained personnel to validate the council’s security posture, checking for vulnerabilities in council networks and systems that might allow an attacker to breach organisational security.
For example, penetration testing enables the councils to test a new web application or service to be made available to council customers throughout its development, to make sure that the organisation is not exposed to new or excessive risks through flaws in the service.
Definition
The ability to plan and implement organisation-wide processes and procedures for the management of risk to the success or integrity of the enterprise.
What this means for councils
Risk management enables councils to identify, analyse and evaluate risks to its operations from its activities, the activities and requirements of others and external events.
For example, in a digital project such as a new IT system, effective risk management can help to ensure that risks and their impacts and likelihood can be identified and escalated. This in turn ensures that decision-makers can consider how and whether risks should be controlled.
This skill is important for supporting councils to make effective decisions about their digitalisation programmes, balancing beneficial outcomes with risks to security or finances. It is closely related to, for example, information security, which specifically assesses and manages security risks to data.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to create and design security for a system or service, maintain security documentation, and develop security approaches to new technologies.
What this means for councils
Security architecture means that new digital solutions, and changes to digital solutions, are specified and designed in such a way that they meet the security requirements of the organisation from the outset. This can help councils to ensure that new solutions are delivering beneficial business outcomes, whilst still managing security risks.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to deliver management, technical and administrative services to implement security controls and security management strategies.
What this means for councils
Security operations enables councils to stay aware of their security posture, and take both proactive and reactive steps to manage it on a day-to-day basis.
For example, effective security operations can support councils to identify the potential risks from different ways of working, including hybrid, office-based, or mobile/community-based. This enables the council to manage risks through the implementation of appropriate security controls, such as multi-factor authentication, or limited access to systems.
Implementing effective security operations enables the council to ensure that security controls are proportionate to risk, and to balance security controls with usability considerations.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Systems strategy and implementation
Definition
The ability to manage the full life cycle of assets from acquisition, operation, maintenance to disposal.
What this means for councils
Asset management enables councils to track, maintain and optimise their physical and digital assets, such as data, hardware, software, devices, and intellectual property, across the stages of acquisition, storage, distribution, and disposal.
This can help councils to minimise costs, extend the lifespan of assets, and prioritise investments. It ensures that councils are compliant with any financial, legal, security, contractual, and technical requirements for managing different types of assets, and to manage any relevant risks. Effective asset management can also promote efficiency by supporting councils to identify opportunities to reuse assets across different projects or services.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to align an organisation's technology strategy with its business mission, strategy, and processes and documenting this using architectural models.
What this means for councils
Enterprise and business architecture enables councils to translate its business strategies and objectives into a practical operating model. This helps to ensure that the council’s data, applications, and technologies, and ways of working are set up in a way that supports the delivery of its goals.
Effective enterprise and business architecture enables councils to assess their current capabilities, and identify any changes that might be needed to reach objectives, considering the relationships between people, services, processes, data, information, technology, and the external environment.
It supports councils to set out models which illustrate proposed structures for data, applications, and technologies, and which demonstrate the trade-offs between different options. This supports the council to make decisions about its structure, business processes, systems, information, or data, to ensure that its technology strategy is aligned with its overall strategic objectives.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to specify a hardware design model for a defined system architecture.
What this means for councils
Hardware design involves planning and creating the physical components of electronic devices or systems, such as servers, communication systems, or network devices. This helps to ensure that hardware is robust enough to meet the council’s operational and strategic needs, and to provide reliable digital services for staff and communities.
Definition
The ability to coordinate information and technology strategies where the adoption of a common approach would benefit the organisation.
What this means for councils
Information systems coordination enables councils to identify areas where a common approach to information and technology would benefit the organisation by improving collaboration between services, improving access to information, streamlining processes, and enhancing decision-making. This might include identifying common approaches to procurement, supplier management, cloud strategy, service integration, and security.
Definition
The ability to design communication networks to support strategic and operational requirements and producing network strategies, architectures, policies and related documentation.
What this means for councils
Network design involves planning and configuring the layout of an organisation's computer networks in a way that delivers councils’ strategic and operational requirements. Here, networks are defined as the connection of multiple computer systems, to enable the exchange of data.
Effective network design helps to ensure a robust and cyber-secure communication infrastructure which supports digital operations, enables seamless data transfer, enhances connectivity, manages unauthorised access, and ensures reliable access to online services.
Definition
The ability to provide a source of consistent information about available services and products to customers and users.
What this means for councils
Service catalogue management involves creating, maintaining, and publishing a comprehensive list of available services (e.g. systems, software, or tools) within an organisation. This can support councils with the process of asset management by helping to identify whether proposed new services already exist, or are due for review or retirement.
For councils, this supports efficient resource allocation and improves communication across services, and between services and IT teams. It can also help to support discussions about the desirability of new or bespoke services.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to specify and design software to meet defined requirements by following agreed design standards and principles.
What this means for councils
Software design is the process of planning and creating the architecture, structure, and functionality, or security of software applications. This might include developing software design models, which help to evaluate different options on the basis of performance, security, or compatibility with existing systems.
Effective software design ensures user-friendly interfaces, optimal performance, and adaptability.
Definition
The ability to develop and communicate a multi-dimensional solution architecture to deliver agreed business outcomes.
What this means for councils
Solution architecture enables councils to design solutions to address specific business problems. This involves the creation of detailed plans and specifications for how solution components – such as hardware, software, and networks – will work together to achieve the desired outcomes.
This skill is related to enterprise and business architecture: solution architecture focuses on designing specific solutions for projects or problems, while enterprise architecture addresses the higher-level structure and strategy for an entire business area or organisation.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to establish and deploy an environment for developing, continually improving, and securely operating software and systems products and services.
What this means for councils
Systems and software lifecycle engineering enables councils to manage the full life span of technology solutions. It involves planning, development, testing, and ongoing maintenance, to optimise performance and minimise risks. It might include developing a good practice framework - methods, policies, procedures, techniques, tools and capabilities - for developing, acquiring, improving, or operating software, supporting service teams with responsibility for software systems to work within this framework, and building mechanisms to capture feedback and create improvements. This enables councils to control software lifecycle processes, and effectively manage any risks associated with its systems.
Definition
The ability to design systems to meet specified requirements and agreed systems architectures.
What this means for councils
Systems are an interconnected set of hardware, software, data, people, and processes, which together deliver business objectives.
Systems design enables councils to plan and specify the structure and components of its systems, to ensure that they deliver business requirements. This might include creating detailed models or specifications of system designs in a way that allows for designs to be implemented.
Effective systems design can help to ensure compatibility of new systems with existing council systems or software, and facilitate good communication between services using interconnected systems. This can help to optimise workflow and service delivery, enhance data sharing, and streamline operations. Systems design also helps to ensure that the council is adhering to regulatory or security requirements.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce
Definition
The ability to plan, implement and control activities to synthesise system components to create operational systems, products or services.
What this means for councils
Systems integration and build involves combining different hardware and software components into a unified and functional system. It enables councils to continuously integrate the building, testing, security, and deployment of systems. It helps to ensure that systems are integrated in a way that aligns with the council’s overall operating model for its technology, data, and applications.
By integrating various technologies, councils can ensure seamless communication between systems, improved data sharing, and streamlined processes.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
Definition
The ability to take a user-centred approach to making complicated technical concepts easier to understand for a specialist audience.
What this means for councils
Technical writing involves creating clear and concise documentation for complex technical information. This enables councils to produce user manuals, policy documents, and reports. Effective technical writing ensures that information is accessible to various stakeholders, promoting transparency and understanding, and retaining organisational memory. Clear documentation aids in training staff, communicating policies to the public, and complying with regulations.
IT service and support
Definition
The ability to deliver management, technical and administrative services to support and maintain live applications.
What this means for councils
Application support involves managing and ensuring the smooth operation of software applications. This enables councils to maintain the functionality of digital tools supporting public services or internal operations. It includes monitoring the performance of applications, investigating and resolving issues, and providing user training, guidance, or assistance. Effective application support enhances service continuity, improves user experience, and minimises disruptions in council operations. It also supports councils to maintain security and quality standards.
Definition
The ability to ensure that services deliver agreed levels of availability to meet the current and future needs of the business.
What this means for councils
Availability management involves ensuring that IT services and systems are available to meet business needs. It includes setting targets for availability, taking proactive measures to prevent downtime, monitoring and reporting on service availability, implementing measures to quickly recover from disasters, and optimising performance.
Availability management ensures that essential online services are consistently accessible and reliable, enabling local councils to deliver uninterrupted and efficient services to communities or its workforce.
Definition
The ability to ensure that service components have the capacity and performance to meet current and planned business needs.
What this means for councils
Capacity management enables councils to ensure that its hardware and software (“service components”) have sufficient capacity and performance. This is closely linked to hardware, software, and systems design, and involves specifically planning and managing service components’ capacity, performance, and functionality. This includes modelling any variations in capacity which might be needed to respond to changes in demand, and taking steps to control demand or add capacity.
Definition
The ability to manage and operate customer service or service desk functions.
What this means for councils
Customer service support enables councils to effectively handle requests for information or support from residents or the workforce. It involves establishing a point of contact for users, responding to reported issues, and handling requests or information or access.
This helps to ensure that the council’s tools and systems are easy to use and navigate, and that any issues can be quickly identified and resolved. It is especially important in managing the transition to a new tool, product, service, or way of working.
Definition
The ability to deploy, configure and operate IT Infrastructure.
What this means for councils
IT infrastructure encompasses the hardware, software, networks, and support systems that enable the functioning of a council's digital environment. Effective IT infrastructure management enables councils to maintain or improve its IT infrastructure, apply software updates, and monitor the performance of systems and services in relation to performance and security. This supports councils to ensure that services are continuously meeting users’ needs, adapt to technological advancements and optimise its operations.
This skill appears under the following strategic objectives:
SO2: Implement working methods which allow for a more mobile and efficient workforce