Webinar Series

NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework Use Cases and Success Stories

March 18, 2020
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NICE FRAMEWORK

NIST Special Publication 800-181

Improves communication about how 

to identify, recruit, develop, and 

retain cybersecurity talent. 

Categorizes, organizes, and 

describes cybersecurity work. 

Can be used by:

• Public and Private Sector Employers

• Education Providers

• Technology Developers

• Current and Future Cybersecurity Workers

• Training and Certification Providers

• Policymakers
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Cybersecurity Workforce Categories (7)

Specialty Areas (33) – Distinct areas of 

cybersecurity work

Work Roles (52) – The most 

detailed groupings of IT, 

cybersecurity, or cyber-related 

work, which include specific 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

(KSA’s) 

required to 

perform a set 

of Tasks.

NICE FRAMEWORK - NIST Special Publication 800-181
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NICE FRAMEWORK USE CASES

Use Cases describe specific situation in which the NICE Framework can be used.

Development of Position Descriptions

Performing Workforce Assessments

Creation of Learning Outcomes 

for Courses

Validation of Knowledge, Skills, and 

Abilities for Awarding Credentials

Career Pathway for Learners and 

Job Seekers Talent Management
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101 Resources

• Search the NICE 

Framework

• One Pager

• Video Tutorial

Employer 

Resources

• DoD Cyber Workforce

• Position Description 

Tool

• Capability Indicators

Education/Training 

Provider Resources

• Course/Curriculum 

Mappings

• Certification Mappings

• Training Catalog

Learner 

Resources

• Pathways

• Career Profiles

• Hands-on 

Activities

nist.gov/nice/framework

NICE FRAMEWORK RESOURCE CENTER

Confidential - Not for Distribution 7

iQ4 Corp is creating a 

supply demand skills 

marketplace

iQ4 Mission

-optimizing investment in finding, developing and 

retaining talent. 

-disrupting the status quo of buying a talent pipeline 

... by building one at scale, using our tooling, 

models and content 

-fulfilling potential of our enterprise, academic and 

student engagements. 

-fixing the skills gap that exists internally within the 

enterprise, public sector and schools is at the core 

of our company and social markets ... 

Finding and Fueling Growth ... 

Transforming the Learning Economy 

7
JPMC is rolling out iQ4’s skills passport to 250,000 

8
▶ Establish three beachheads 

◦ Industry/Education – Virtual Apprentice Challenge

◦ Enterprise – JPM Chase

◦ Students – National Student Clearinghouse

Transforming the Learning Economy

Role/KSA profiling via 

standards & 4-tier 

taxonomies

Reskilling/upskilling via 

pathways, course 

recommendations and 

work- based applied learning

Skills optimization for 

Agile & Gig economies,

talent pipelining, internal 

and external, My T 

Confidential - Not for Distribution 9

9
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iQ4 CORPORATION 2019

iQ4 Skills Marketplace

10
Confidential 

- Not for Distribution 11 11
12iQ4 all rights reserved

Talent Pipeline and Pathways platform, life-long learning, learner empowered mobility, 

education skills-gap curriculum, enterprise source/build/retain talent.

iQ4 Enterprise 

Skills Passport

iQ4 External 

(Education) 

Platform

Taxonom

y 

Mapping 

engine 

iQ4 

Enterprise 

HCM, LMS, SSO

iQ4 

Enterprise 

Integratio

n

Module

Education Institution 

Systems (Universities, 

NSC)

iQ4 

External 

Education 

Integratio

n

Module

Job Req

Resume / Taleo 

Profile Ingestion

Transforming the 

talent economy

iQ4 Internal 

Enterprise User 

Profiles

Internal 

Candidates

See Open 

Positions

via Pathways

iQ4 Internal Role 

Profiles 

Enterprise

Map Job Req To 

Internal Enterprise 

Role Profile

Publish Internal 

Enterprise Role Profile as 

Sanitized External Role 

Profile

iQ4 External 

Role Profiles

iQ4 External 

User (Student) 

Profiles

External Candidates See 

Sanitized Open Positions 

via Pathways

iQ4 External 

Skills 

Registry

iQ4 Internal 

Enterprise Skills 

Registry

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13iQ4 all rights reserved

The

SHAPE

13
CONFIDENTIAL December 

14, 2017

“My T”

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15iQ4 all rights reserved

Multi – Source 

Assessment

iQ4 Learner 

Passport 

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Career Pathways 

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Skills 

Analytics

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18iQ4 all rights reserved

Academic Records, 

Portfolio, Skills, Pathways

a

Supply / Demand Skills 

Gaps Analytics

Finding & Building 

Talent

Course 

Recommendation, 

Retention, Mobility

·

STUDENT 

DASHBOARD

EDUCATION 

DASHBOARD

ENTERPRISE RE-SKILLING 

DASHBOARD

ENTERPRISE PIPELINE 

DASHBOARD

Auto generation of competencies, 

knowledge, skills, abilities, 

credentials, educational verification, 

work experience, personal interests.

Ability to define course to 

competency to skills mapping, 

using NICE as the core standards 

taxonomy framework and data 

model

Analytics Dashboard to optimize 

supply and demand of skills to 

roles, leverage strengths for agile 

and gig economy, and support 

development to drive productivity.

An Analytics Pipeline Dashboard 

to discover talent, assess skills, 

identify skills gaps, recommended 

learning and development

Analytics to understand skills gap, 

course recommendation, Career 

Pathways and jobs

Life long learning 5Ps- measure and 

capture skills proficiencies (multi 

source) , progression, pathways, 

potential and purpose in a “Digital 

Persona” 

Supply / Demand career pathways 

gap analytics for curriculum and 

student development

A Talent Search Engine to source, 

assess and build talent, suggest 

courses for individuals and 

academic institution development

Learner dashboard to suggest 

courses leading to performance 

improvement, career pathways to 

retain talent and “T-Shaped” data 

visualization to speed 

use of the tool and effectiveness in 

user experience (Net Promoter 

Score-8)

Define job families, role profiles, 

competencies, knowledge, skills, 

ability, credentials, proficiencies 

based on standards-based 

taxonomy

Define job families, role profiles, 

competencies, knowledge, skills, 

ability, credentials, proficiencies 

based on standards-based 

taxonomy

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iQ4 all rights reserved 19

Performance

Assessing Capabilities

1

Progression

Continuous Growth

2

Pathways

Career Transparency

3

Potential

Assessing & Optimizing 

Potential

4

Purpose

Integrating Business Objectives 

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IQ4 SKILLS 

MANAGEMENT 

PLATFORM -

VALUE 

PROPOSITION TO 

INDUSTRY

Promote 1st, Hire 2nd. ROI = Average rem 

cost of newly promoted employee Vs 

Average cost of new hire (25%)

ROI is cost of attrition Vs improvement 

through more career opportunities (#1 or 2 

reasons why people leave). 10 basis points. 

Knowledge of available skills and 

capabilities. ROI will depend of value of 

the knowledge. 

ROI is the cost and time from training using 

internal Apprenticeship & Taxonomy Vs cost 

of restructuring. Some value to reputation 

cost plus any additional recruitment to build 

numbers. 

What makes a High Potential employee 

using Graph Analytics & skills progression. 

ROI is value placed on increasing the 

number & predictability of HiPot employees

Normal Average time to productivity Vs 

T2P using Virtual Apprenticeship. ROI is the 

employment & training costs 

Greater precision of training requirements & 

costs. ROI is P&L impact through budget accuracy.

ROI is the current cost of wasted training Vs cost 

of wasted training using Taxonomy & KRA model 

to pinpoint required training. (20%-30%)

Normal attrition level of new hires in first 2 

years Vs Attrition using the Virtual 

Apprenticeship & Mentoring model. ROI is cost 

of improving 2 year attrition – 10 basis points. 

Key business metrics impacted will be:

1) Attrition – This deals with the main 

reasons for leaving: Lack of training, 

progression, internal sponsorship 

Career

2) Average costs of employment

3) Cost of training – Cost, nonproductive time, wasted training

ROI through broader talent pool using Virtual 

Apprenticeship will increase available pool of 

talent and reduce initial hire costs.

INTERNAL PROMOTION

RE-SKILLING

INTERNAL MOBILITY

LEARNING REQUIREMENTS & BUDGET

SKILLS REPOSITORY

COST OF NEW HIRES

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLAN & PATHWAYS

POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT

RECRUITMENT – COST OF ATTRITION

RECRUITMENT – TIME TO PRODUCTIVITY

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21iQ4 all rights reserved

Academic Records, Portfolio, 

Skills, Pathways

a

STUDENT DASHBOARD

Auto generation of competencies, knowledge, 

skills, abilities, credentials, educational 

verification, work experience, personal interests.

Analytics to understand skills gap, course 

recommendation, Career Pathways and jobs

Life long learning 5Ps- measure and capture skills 

proficiencies (multi source) , progression, 

pathways, potential and purpose in a “Digital 

Persona” 

21
22iQ4 all rights reserved

Supply / Demand Skills Gaps 

Analytics

a

EDUCATION DASHBOARD

Ability to define course to competency to skills 

mapping, using NICE as the core standards 

taxonomy framework and data model

Supply / Demand career pathways gap analytics for 

curriculum and student development

Define job families, role profiles, competencies, 

knowledge, skills, ability, credentials, proficiencies 

based on standards-based taxonomy

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23iQ4 all rights reserved

Finding & Building talent

a

ENTERPRISE PIPELINE 

DASHBOARD

An Analytics Pipeline Dashboard to discover 

talent, assess skills, identify skills gaps, 

recommended learning and development

A Talent Search Engine to source, assess and 

build talent, suggest courses for individuals and 

academic institution development

Define job families, role profiles, competencies, 

knowledge, skills, ability, credentials, 

proficiencies based on standards-based 

taxonomy

23
24iQ4 all rights reserved

Internal Re-Skilling 

a

ENTERPRISE RE-SKILLING 

DASHBOARD

Internal Re-Skilling 

·

Analytics Dashboard to optimize supply and 

demand of skills to roles, leverage strengths for 

agile and gig economy, and support development to 

drive productivity.

Learner dashboard to suggest courses leading to 

performance improvement, career pathways to 

retain talent and “T-Shaped” data visualization to 

speed 

use of the tool and effectiveness in user experience 

(Net Promoter Score-8)

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Q & A 

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Workforce 

Transformation

Leveraging the NICE Framework to Build Effective 

Cybersecurity Training

March 18, 2020

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cybervista.net

Founded in 2016, CyberVista’s mission is to build 

and strengthen organizations by providing 

cybersecurity professionals with the knowledge, 

skills, and abilities needed to drive growth and 

defense.

CyberVista is a cybersecurity 

workforce development company.

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ABOUT US

CyberVista is a wholly owned venture of the Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC). 27
cybervista.net

NICE Framework

Benefits

● Robust

○ Over 1,600 KSATs

○ 50+ Roles

● Good at helping define job descriptions or 

inventory roles

Limitations

● Unmanageable

○ Over 1,600 KSATs

○ 50+ Roles

● Doesn’t provide bridge to upskill/provide 

effective or measurable training

● Some KSAT’s are not well defined

○ K0015: Knowledge of computer algorithms

OUR PERSPECTIVE

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cybervista.net

Steps

● Define the common core of cyber domains

● Organize the content based on

○ Subject

○ Prerequisite / Dependency

○ Levels

● Create Learning Objectives

● Match against the NICE KSAT’s 

Taxonomy

BREAKING IT DOWN

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cybervista.net

These knowledge and skill areas were selected and aligned directly to the NICE 

Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF). 

Our work allowed us to define seve critical knowledge areas required across all cybersecurity roles. This formed the basis 

to develop an assessment and training program designed to ensure that cybersecurity teams are proficient in foundational 

concepts and skills across those skill categories.

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Training Development

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE

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cybervista.net

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Every organization is different and has different goals. It’s important 

to work with organizations to understand their objectives and build 

training initiatives around their unique situations. 

Training Development

HOW IT WORKS

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cybervista.net

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01

Workforce Audit

A Workforce Audit is an excellent entry 

point for organizations looking to 

determine what roles and skills your 

organization needs to achieve your 

goals.

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cybervista.net

As the saying goes, you can’t improve 

what you don’t measure. 

Within the Skills Gap Analysis, 

participants complete a an efficient 

assessments to identify specific strengths 

and weaknesses.

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02

Skills Gap Analysis

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cybervista.net

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Upskill, cross-skill, and reskill top 

talent.

Live Online availability

On-demand training

Practical Labs

Practice Assessments

● Mitigate immediate weaknesses across 

fundamental cybersecurity knowledge and skill 

areas

● Efficiently improve knowledge, skills, and abilities 

within specific roles

● Bolster career pathways for long-term retention 

and employee satisfaction

03

Training Deployment

Our detailed taxonomy is aligned to the 

National Cybersecurity Workforce 

Framework from the National Initiative for 

Cybersecurity Education (NICE) led by NIST..

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cybervista.net

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04

Action Report

‘Where do we go from here’ is clear. 

The action report phase includes a written report packed with 

actionable takeaways that can drive immediate change within 

your cybersecurity and cyber-enabled workforce. 

● Initiative prioritization based on end-state knowledge, 

skills, and abilities

● Training recommendations for filling remaining skills gaps

● Organizational structure, role, and career pathing 

recommendations

● Talent hiring plan for future growth

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cybervista.net

Challenge:

Palo Alto sought a comprehensive and fundamental training program 

to establish a base level of cybersecurity competency for their System 

Engineers (SE) team.

Applying Critical Knowledge:

CyberVista was able to deliver a Top Performer Analysis (TPA) to SE 

top performers so to inform PANW leadership of optimal content 

configuration. Once a knowledge baseline was established, the same 

diagnostic assessment was delivered to the rest of the SEs.

Results:

Over the course of eight weeks of live online instruction, the average 

score between the initial diagnostic exam versus the final completed at 

the end of the course, increased by 15.9 percent.

Accelerating the Sales Cycle Through Cyber 

Training at Palo Alto Networks

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IMPLEMENTING IN PRACTICE

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cybervista.net

Cyber Talent Initiative

What we’re looking to accomplish...

By mitigating immediate weaknesses and reducing ambiguity across fundamental cybersecurity knowledge and 

skills, we will provide an actionable solution to recruit and train a world-class cybersecurity workforce.

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cybervista.net

Jung Lee

Chief Product Officer

703-345-6399

jung.lee@cybervista.net

Enterprise Sales Inquiries

844-55-VISTA (844-558-4782)

sales@cybervista.net

Simone Petrella

Chief Executive Officer

703-345-6418

simone.petrella@cybervista.net

Contact Us

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Q & A 

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Thank You for Joining Us!

nist.gov/nice/webinars

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Upcoming Webinar: “The Role of the School Counselor in Promoting 

Cybersecurity Career Opportunities” 

When: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 2:00pm EDT 

Register: https://nistnice.adobeconnect.com/webinarapr2020/event/registration.html