IT News Today

Dave Bailey, Computing, Monday 3 August 2009 at 10:11:00

Study recommends greater professionalism for staff involved in high profile government and industry IT projects

A new study has recommended that more IT professionals should aim to achieve chartered status, and that employers should give greater preference to suitably qualified IT staff.

The Engineering Values in IT report produced by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and the British Computer Society (BCS), recommends that “appropriately qualified Chartered Engineers (CE) and Chartered IT Professionals (CITP) should be employed to lead and manage major IT projects within both government and industry.”

RAE Fellow Dr Allan Fox said the motivations for the report was the critical national importance of IT.

“The question we’re posing is whether IT has reached a state of maturity, both in the state of engineering procedures, and the underlying technology that make it essential for current and future complex systems deployments to adopt that approach,” he said.

The report concludes that IT has reached a state of maturity, although achieving greater take up among IT professionals of chartered status still remains a problem.

The study advised IT to achieve, “chartered status and thereby commit to the professional and ethical code of an institution,” which would entail, ” maintaining professional knowledge and competency through continuing professional development.”

The report also recommends “procurers of large IT systems in government and industry should employ chartered professionals to lead and manage these projects.”

“Appropriate chartered status should be a requirement on leading engineers engaged in development of systems with implications for safety or national security,” said the report.