DigComp at work : The EU’s digital competence framework in action on the labour market : a selection of case studies.
Date: 2020-07-10
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: case study, digital literacy, digitisation, employment policy, labour market, open data

DigComp
at Work

The EU’s digital competence 
framework in action  
on the labour market:  
a selection of case studies

 •

EUR 30166 EN

This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research 
Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge 
service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the 
European policymaking process. The scientific output expressed 
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boundaries.

Contact information 
Name: Clara Centeno 
Email: clara.centeno@ec.europa.eu

EU Science Hub 
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc 
JRC120376 
EUR 30166 EN

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ISBN 978-92-76-17857-6 
ISSN 1831-9424 
doi:10.2760/887815

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How to cite this report: Kluzer S., Centeno C. and O´Keeffe, W., 
DigComp at Work, EUR 30166 EN, Publications Office of the 
European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-17857-6, 
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Design and layout: Valentina Barsotti / Takk.studio

DigComp at Work - The EU’s digital competence framework 
in action on the labour market: a selection of case studies

This report and its Companion Implementation Guide (published 
separately) support stakeholders in the implementation of the 
European Digital Competence Frame work (DigComp) in contexts of 
employability and employment through the analysis and sharing of 
9 existing inspiring practices and related resources of DigComp im-
plementations. The list of examples provided in the Report´s Annex 
is not exhaustive and aims to illustrate the wide range of DigComp 
implementation practices.

Stefano Kluzer
Clara Centeno
William O´Keeffe

DigComp
at Work

The EU’s digital competence framework  
in action on the labour market:  
a selection of case studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5  Welcome message

6  1. READER’S GUIDE
6  Key skills trends in employability context
7  DigComp and EntreComp, European Key Competence Frameworks
9  Research context and objectives
9  Methodology

10  2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET
11  2.1 About the DigComp cases analysed
11  Cases’ representation
11  Online resources
13  2,2 Mapping of DigComp cases selected
13  Mapping along LMI types 
15  Mapping along LMI skilling functions 
16  Mapping along DigComp use 
18  Mapping along stakeholders and cooperation models 
20  2.3 How DigComp is helping stakeholders
20  The use of DigComp for the analysis of competence requirements and the 
       definition of professional digital profiles 
24  The use of DigComp for assessment tests, recognition and certification 
26  The use of DigComp to design training offers 
28  2.4 Highlighting emerging uses of DigComp
29  2.5 Key success and enabling factors

30  ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES
31  C1A Pane e Internet (PEI)  C1B DCDS
40  C2 Prodigeo
48  C3 Ikanos
57  C4 ECCC DigComp Certification
63  C5 Compass
70  C6 Mu.SA
80  C7 SmartiveMap
87  C8A BAIT  C8B Pathways4Employ
94  C9 Adecco’s Competences Dictionary

102  Acknowledgements
103  List of figures
103  List of tables
104  References

WELCOME MESSAGE

These two reports, DigComp at Work: The EU’s digital 
competence framework in action on the labour market, 
and its Implementation Guide with practical guidance 
for  labour  market  intermediaries  on  the  use  of  Dig-
Comp are a new chapter in the success story of Dig-
Comp. 
DigComp was first published in 2013 and since then has 
been used in national and international policy-making 
and in the design and delivery of digital skills develop-
ment across the EU. 
The  story  of  DigComp  is  a  story  of  commitment  by 
stakeholders.  DigComp  stakeholders  have  translated, 
adapted, interpreted and applied DigComp in a variety 
of inspiring ways. DigComp stakeholders have also be-
come ambassadors for co-operation on digital skills in 
Europe through working together in innovative projects 
and communities of practice.  
These reports highlight the important use of DigComp 
by labour market stakeholders. It is a given now that 
digital skills are essential for life and work and are the 
foundation for employability and accessing information 
and support throughout our careers. 
Support for managing the digitals transitions are at the 
heart  of  the  European  Skills  Agenda  adopted  by  the 
European  Commission  on  the  1st  of  July  2020.  Dig-
Comp has and will play a role in supporting the work of 
countries, companies and social partners to support the 
development of digital competences. The case studies 

showcase  practical  examples  of  the  development  of 
the digital competences, and the Implementation guide 
offers specific guidelines, examples and useful resourc-
es for the use of DigComp.

Our hope is that they serve as a call to action for great-
er  uptake  of  DigComp  and  delivering  on  the  goals  of 
the European Skills Agenda. 

I wish to give special thanks to those organisations: The 
Associazione  Emiliano  Romagnola  di  Centri  Autonomi 
di  Formazione  Professionale  and  Ervet  (Italy),  Anpal 
Servizi (Italy), Ikanos project, Basque Government and 
Ibermática  (Spain),  ECCC  Foundation  (Poland),  Exper-
tise  France  (France)  and  Lai-momo  (Italy),  Hellenic 
Open  University  –  DAISSy  research  group  (Greece), 
Smartive  (Italy),  Tecnalia  (Spain),  Adecco,  Mylia  and 
Advancing Humanity srl (Italy), that gave such rich and 
inspiring information on their case studies. Thanks also 
to the team in the Commission’s Joint Research Centre 
for  their  work  in  creating  this  report  as  well  as  their 
ongoing work on the implementation and development 
of DigComp. 

Alison Crabb 
Head of Unit, Skills and Qualifications 
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
European Commission

5

1. READER’S GUIDE

Key skills trends in employability context

Digital skills have become crucial for employability. Not 
only considering its role as a transversal skill to devel-
op employability, but also because about 85% of all EU 
jobs need at least basic digital skill level . 
The  most  recent  available  statistics  collecting  digital 
skills in Europe  for the year 2017 show, however, that 
43% of the EU population had an insufficient level of 
digital skills (no skills or low level).  Furthermore, for the 
same year, 10% of the EU labour force had no digital 
skills, mostly because they did not use the internet, and 
35% did not have at least basic digital skills, which are 
now required in most jobs. 
The  pace  of  change  is  accelerating  due  to  the  digital 
transformation  bringing  robotisation  and  cobotisation 
of an increasing number of tasks . This is confirmed by 
recent Eurostat data   that shows that the job tasks of 
16% of employed internet users in the EU had changed 
due to new software or computerised equipment in the 
twelve  months  prior  to  the  survey,  29%  had  to  learn 
how to use new software or equipment for their job. At 
the same time, almost half (47%) of employed inter-
net users in the EU assessed their skills relating to the 
use of computers, software or applications at work as 
adequate for their duties, while 9% admitted that they 
needed further training.
Beyond digital skills, the set of skills required by the la-
bour market is evolving. The first results from CEDEFOP 
initial  research  (March  2019)  unveil  the  10  skills  re-
quested in job vacancies: be adaptive to change, work 
well in team, use office software, assist customers, use 
a computer, solve problems, communicate well, be cre-
ative, be able to prioritise, manage projects.

Download Digcomp into Action

Download EntreComp into Action

DigComp and EntreComp, European Key 
Competence Frameworks

To  support  the  development  of  digital  competences, 
the  EC  published  the  Digital  Competence  Framework 
for  Citizens,    also  known  as  DigComp,  which  defines 
what it takes to be digitally competent. It offers a tool 
to improve citizens’ digital competence. First published 
in 2013, DigComp has become a reference for the de-
velopment  and  strategic  planning  of  digital  compe-
tence  initiatives  both  at  European  and  Member  State 
level. The DigComp Framework has 5 dimensions: 

1. Competence areas (5) identified to be part of digital

competence (see F.1);

2. Competence descriptors and titles (21) that are per-

tinent to each area (see F.1);

3. Proficiency levels for each competence;
4. Knowledge,  skills  and  attitudes  applicable  to  each

competence, and

5. Examples of use, on the applicability of the compe-

tence to different purposes.

Managing

Evaluating
Information and 
data literacy

Interacting
Sharing
Engaging 
in citizenship
Collaborating
Netiquette
Managing 
digital identity
Communication
collaboration

and

P
r
o
ble
m s
olvin

g

Technical 
problems
Identifying
needs and
 responses
Creatively using 
digital 
technologies
Identifying 
digital
competence 
gaps

DigComp

Safety

t
n
e
t
n
n
tio
o
c
a
l
a
e
r
c

Digit

Developing 
Integrating
and
re-elaborating
Copyright 
and 
licences
Programming

Devices

Personal 
data 
and
privacy

Health 
and
well-
being

The
environment

F.1 

DIGCOMP COMPETENCE AREAS AND COMPETENCES

7

1.READER’S GUIDE 
EntreComp,  the  European  Entrepreneurship  Compe-
tence  Framework  launched  in  2016,  is  a  comprehen-
sive,  flexible  and  multi-purpose  reference  framework 
designed to help understand what is meant by entre-
preneurship as a key competence for lifelong learning. 
It is intended to support and inspire actions to improve 
the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens and 
organisations. EntreComp creates a shared understand-
ing  of  the  knowledge,  skills  and  attitudes  that  make 
up what it means to be entrepreneurial – discovering 
and  acting  upon  opportunities  and  ideas,  and  trans-
forming them into social, cultural, or financial value or 
others.  It  is  made  up  of  3  competence  areas  :  ‘Ideas 
and  opportunities’,  ‘Resources’  and  ‘Into  action’.  Each 
area includes 5 competences, which, together, are the 
building  blocks  of  entrepreneurship  as  a  competence. 
The framework develops the 15 competences along an 
8-level  progression  model  (see  F.2).  Also,  it  provides 
a comprehensive list of 442 learning outcomes, which 
offers inspiration and insight for those designing inter-
ventions  from  different  educational  contexts  and  do-
mains of application.
The EC has also produced Digcomp into Action and En-
treComp into Action guides for use by stakeholders in 
different contexts.

F.2 

ENTRECOMP COMPETENCE AREAS AND COMPETENCES

8

1.READER’S GUIDEResearch context and objectives

Methodology

While  DigComp  offers  a  key  starting  point  for  under-
standing  and  developing  digital  competences,  its  use 
in different settings needs to be explored and strength-
ened so that the value of using the tool within larger 
processes around identifying skills needs and responses 
can be seen. A key case is for employees and job-seek-
ers, who may not have experience or confidence with 
their digital skills, while at the same time, the nature of 
their jobs, the sectors they work in and their lives are 
increasingly influenced by digitalisation. Targeted, rele-
vant systems and responses are needed to offer digital 
skills development to individuals. 
To address these challenges, this publication describes 
the use of DigComp by Labour Market Intermediaries 
(LMIs) which are working towards the development of 
digital skills of unemployed, jobseekers, employees and 
entrepreneurs(-to-be) with the aim of increasing their 
employability (both in the public and private sectors).

Labour Market Intermediaries (LMI) are understood as 
those actors working towards the development of dig-
ital  skills  of  unemployed,  jobseekers,  employees  and 
entrepreneurs(-to-be) with the aim of increasing their 
employability. 
A  systematic  literature  review  was  done  to  charac-
terise LMIs that provide digital skilling services, and to 
identify the specific functions that they carry out along 
the employability path of the people they serve.
Then a case analysis was carried out with the aim to 
learn  from  the  experience  of  those  actors  currently 
providing  digital  skilling  services  using  DigComp.  The 
research  produced  an  initial  inventory  of  27  existing 
relevant cases, from which 9 cases were selected. The 
cases selected for further analysis, with sufficient ma-
turity level, sought to ensure diversity in terms of LMI 
actors,  types  of  services  provided  and  target  groups 
addressed across the employability path, multi-stake-
holder  cooperation  models,  and  geographic  diversity. 
Findings from a consultation of 23 additional organ-
isations interested in applying, both DigComp and En-
treComp frameworks, was also incorporated.  
Finally, a cross-case analysis was performed to pro-
vide:  a)  a  view  of  actual  and  potential  uses  of  Dig-
Comp; b) an understanding of practical approaches to 
implement  DigComp  including  steps  for  personalisa-
tion, modification or extension of the framework, and 
related  complementary  implementation  supporting 
tools; and, c) an analysis of multi-stakeholder cooper-
ation models, enabling factors, drivers, conditions and 
key success factors for implementing DigComp in the 
employability context.

9

1.READER’S GUIDE2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET

A Pane e Internet 
B DCDS

ProDigeo 

Ikanos

ECCC DigComp certification 

Compass

Mu.SA 

SmartiveMap 

A BAIT   
B Pathways4Employ

Adecco’s Competences Dictionary

F.3  COUNTRIES INVOLVED IN DIGCOMP CASES INCLUDED IN THE STUDY

NOT PARTICIPATING

PARTICIPATING

PARTICIPATING AND LEADING

10

2.1 ABOUT THE DIGCOMP CASES ANALYSED

The  aim  of  the  case  analysis  was  to  learn  from  the 
experience  of  those  actors  currently  providing  digital 
skilling services who are using DigComp. In particular, 
the research produced an initial inventory of 27 existing 
relevant cases, from which 9 cases were analysed. 
DigComp  cases  included  in  the  analysis  are  listed 
in  T.1.  The  in-depth  analysis  of  the  9  Labour  Market 
Intermediaries  (LMIs)  applying  DigComp  is  presented 
in T.4. 
Additional  findings  from  consultation  with  further  25 
organisations  was  also  incorporated  in  the  analysis.  
These  represent  a  wide  range  of  actors  applying,  or 
interested into applying, both DigComp and EntreComp 
frameworks:  University  College  Leuven-Limburg  (BE), 
Valnalon  (ES),  Mindworks  (GE),  South  East  European 
Centre for European Learning (HR), Virke (NO), Cardiff 
Metropolitan  University  (UK),  Materahub  /  Break  in 
the  Desk  (IT,  UK,  FI,  HU,  ES,  FR),  Simply  Do  Ideas 
(UK),  Talous  ja  nuoret  TAT  (FI),  European  Centre  for 
Women  and  Technology  (EU),  Queensland  innovation 
&  entrepreneurial  ecosystem  (AUS),  Kemmy  Business 
School, University of Limerick (IE), State University of 
Applied  Sciences  (PL),  Tomorrow´s  Land,  Regenerus 
(UK),  Advice  Skills  Academy  (UK),  PIETE,  Univations 
GmbH  (DE),  Entrepreneur  Academy  (BE),  Asociación 
Jóvenes  Solidarios  (ES),  1st  EPAL  of  Lerapetra  (GR), 
Silesian  University  (CZ), 
Instituto  Superiore  Luigi 
Einaudi (IT), Hireable (USA), AUPEX (ES), All Digital (EU) 
and European Grants International Academy (IT).

From this research and understanding of the landscape, 
the research team built a comprehensive inventory 
of key data that included:

Cases’ representation

•  Characteristics of LMI leading each action: 

public, private or third sector / type of actor / individual 
or networked organisation / economic sectors served

•  Stage/s of intervention in the employability path

•  LMI goal/s for use of EntreComp and/or DigComp

•  Target groups/beneficiaries of the services: 

unemployed / employee / entrepreneur(-to-be) / vol-
unteers / vulnerable people (such as migrants, elder 
people, women, young, low skilled)

•  Employee/job profiles addressed by implementation

The selection of cases sought to capture those with suf-
ficient maturity and ensuring a diversity in terms of: 

•  LMI actors across public, private and third sectors

•  Interventions relevant across the employability path

•  Target beneficiary groups of the services

•  Multi-stakeholder co-operation models

•  Geographic diversity across the EU

11

All across the document, the 9 cases are symbolised 
with an icon and a code. Some cases contain 2 
subcases, A and B.

C1

SEQUENCE 
NUMBER

A

C1

SUBCASE 
INDICATION

The icon’s colour reflects the LMI types involved  
(see T.2)

C1

C1

LMIs WORKING WITH STUDENTS IN INITIAL EDUCATION

LMIs WORKING WITH EMPLOYED

LMIs WORKING WITH NON-EMPLOYED

LMIs WORKING WITH ALL TARGET GROUPS

The icons are interactive and lead to the 
relative full description’s page in the 
Annex.

Online resources

in  the  “Online  resources”  section  available  for  each 
case  study  in  the  Annex,  we  provide  links  to  public-
ly available tools, publications, services related to the 
case studies. There are often additional online resourc-
es with restricted access, for which the interested read-
er should make contact with the case contributors.

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET   
T.1 

DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF THE LEAD ORGANISATION

A Pane e internet (PEI) 
B DCDS
BELGIUM • GREECE • ITALY • LATVIA • ROMANIA • SPAIN

ECCC DigComp certification  
POLAND

SmartiveMap  
ITALY

AECA, the main association of VET organisations in Emilia 
Romagna, has implemented the Pane e Internet digital litera-
cy project, the 3i informatics courses for unemployed people 
and is now in charge of the Digital Competence Development 
System project’s methodology. All these initiatives base the 
design on their training offer on DigComp.

ECCC Foundation was established in 2009 to promote its 
newly designed European Computer Competence Certificate. 
In 2016, ECCC foundation modified its certification system 
with the addition of a DigComp area (validated in about 
80 accredited examination centres) and set up a DigComp 
National Contact Point to promote the new standard and a 
coherent training offer. 

ProDigeo 
ITALY

Compass  
FRANCE • IRELAND • ITALY • ROMANIA

Anpal Servizi, the operational arm of Anpal (Italian National 
agency for active employment policies), has developed the 
ProdiGeo eLearning platform and the Prodigeo course for 
training on digital competence the staff of public (Centri per 
l’impiego) and private employment offices. The course 10 
modules were designed using DigComp.

Expertise France, the French public agency for international 
technical assistance, coordinated the development of an 
up-skilling online training course for young unemployed 
people. The Compass platform offers a self-assessment tool 
and 18 lessons addressing 9 - DigComp competences in four 
occupation areas: teaching; business & administration; legal, 
social and cultural professions; general and keyboard clerks.

Smartive, a start-up in Milan, developed SmartiveMap, a 
self-assessment tool to analyse digital transformation 
readiness of individuals and organisations, based on their 
openness to change and digital skills. Assessment questions 
on digital competence are partly drawn from DigComp and 
partly identified by experts of the main business functions: 
purchasing, operations, finance and controlling, marketing & 
sales, human resources and ICT.

A BAIT  
B Pathways4Employ (P4E)
BELGIUM • GREECE • IRELAND • LATVIA • SPAIN

Tecnalia, Spain’s largest private R&D entity, developed BAIT, 
the new digital competence certification system of Basque 
Country, fully based on DigComp and currently tested with 
IVAP (the Basque Institute of Public Administration) public 
employees. Tecnalia was also partner of the Pathways4Em-
ploy project, which used DigComp to define the digital profiles 
of entrepreneurs and virtual office workers and developed a 
self-assessment test on related digital skills. 

Ikanos  
SPAIN

Mu.SA 
BELGIUM • GREECE • ITALY • PORTUGAL

Adecco’s Competences Dictionary  
ITALY & GLOBAL

The Basque Country Government launched in 2012 the 
Ikanos project to create a learning support infrastructure 
for the digital competence needs of citizens, enterprises, 
civil servants and others. Ikanos used DigComp to design a 
self-assessment test (linked to career and training guidance) 
and various tools and services to develop digital competence 
for employability, including industry 4.0 job profiles.

Hellenic Open University coordinates the Mu.SA: Museum 
Sector Alliance project. This developed work profiles and 
an articulated training offer, based on the integration of 
DigComp and e-CF competences, for four new ICT-related 
job profiles in museums: digital strategy manager, digital 
collections curator, digital interactive experience developer, 
and online community manager.

Adecco Group Italia, the largest private employment agency 
in Italy, is starting to use the new release of its (soft) Com-
petences Dictionary which includes for the first time digital 
and entrepreneurial competences as defined by the DigComp 
and EntreComp frameworks. The Dictionary supports staff 
selection and assessment activities.

12

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET2.2 MAPPING OF DIGCOMP CASES SELECTED

Mapping along LMI types 

In  broad  terms,  Labour  Market  Intermediaries  (LMI) 
help  to  lubricate  the  operation  of  the    labour  market 
by  facilitating  linkages  between  supply  and  demand. 
As labour markets have become more volatile, complex 
and unpredictable, these organisations play an increas-
ingly important role. 
LMIs include a range of organisations from the public, 
private and voluntary sectors, such as public employ-
ment services, welfare to work providers, private sec-
tor  employment  agencies,  training  providers,  careers 
support  services  and  community-based  non-statutory 
organisations providing a range of tailored services to 
assist local clients to improve their employability and 
provide  labour  market  and  related  advice.  Working  in 
partnership, these organisations tend to focus their ef-
forts on different parts of the ‘employability pathway’ 
from  engagement  with  out  of  work  individuals  (often 
involving outreach work), through positive engagement 
and assessment of individuals’ barriers to employabil-
ity and training and development needs, preparing for 
and seeking work, and in work support through after-
care programmes and workforce development to facil-
itate sustainability and progression in employment. At 
this latter stage, employers have a crucial role to play. 
More concretely, the synthesis of the literature review 
identified  12  functions  that  are  carried  out  by  these 
broadly  defined  LMIs.  f.4  provides  a  map  of  these 
functions. Conceptually, the map is based on a premise 
that future (and current) employees and entrepreneurs 
have diverse needs, depending on their distance from 
the labour market. Hence, the map groups LMI skilling 
related  functions  on  a  continuum  that  measures  the 
distance of served target groups from the labour mar-

F.4 

LMI SKILLING RELATED FUNCTIONS ALONG THE EMPLOYABILITY PATH

13

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETtype 1. lmis working 
primarily with students 
in initial education

type 2. lmis primarily 
working with the non-
employed

type 3. lmis primarily 
working with the 
employed

T.2  DESCRIPTION OF LMI TYPES AND SUB-TYPES

1.1  Formal  educational  institutions  that  deliver  formal  (to  some  point  compulsory)  schooling. 
They  include:  Primary  and  secondary  schools  (corresponding  to  ISCED  levels  1-3;),  as  well  as 
vocational education and training (VET) schools (ISCED levels 3-5 with vocational orientation) 
and higher education institutions (HEIs; ISCED levels 5-8);

1.2 Non-formal education providers that offer extracurricular activities that complement the 
programmes of educational institutions (e.g. an after-school language course);

1.3 Informal education providers that facilitate students’ self-learning in the areas of their 
interest with no imposed course structure, external requirements, and assessment (e.g. a 
school chess club).

2.1 Public Employment Services, i.e. a public body, either a part of ministry of labour or, less 
often, a separate executive agency, that provide comprehensive support to the unemployed, 
and have legal obligations towards them;

2.2 LMIs addressing critical barriers to employment – typically NGOs or social businesses that 
target specific vulnerable groups that need more intensive or specific professional support.

3.1 Trade unions, i.e. collective associations of employees;

3.2 Employers and employer associations - collective associations of employers.

4.2 Upskilling providers that provide adult training. These include formal, non-formal and 
informal professional and adult education providers. They consist of: Face-to-face and online 
training providers, as well as MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platforms, that congregate 
distance learning courses offered by different HEIs.

type 4. lmis working 
across all the target 
groups

4.3 Job experience providers that enable allocation of individuals in a real work environment. 
They include: Providers of work-based learning (WBL, including internships, traineeships, 
apprenticeships, job-shadowing, etc.), volunteer opportunities; public works programmes and 
social enterprises and cooperatives.

4.4 Job brokers that facilitate matching job seekers with vacancies. They include: job websites 
(platforms used to exchange information about vacancies and jobseekers’ profiles), short-term 
employment facilitators (organisations that assist individuals / employers in finding temporary 
work / worker), and private recruitment agencies (that help employers fill their medium- and 
high-level vacancies).

14

ket. Some LMIs carry out most of the functions with the 
aim of bringing a particular target group closer to em-
ployment, while other LMIs work in a dense network to 
provide one or several functions. While most functions 
are provided to individuals, three of them (under “sup-
porting  functions”)  have  a  horizontal  nature,  as  they 
are  carried  out  to  support  the  implementation  of  the 
other functions. 
Furthermore, the journey to and through employment 
can  be  complex  for  the  individual  employee,  employ-
er and the LMI providing support. For example, whilst 
the steps may be followed in a linear way, individuals’ 
experiences  into  and  within  the  labour  market  rarely 
follow a direct path. As such, a challenge for LMI actors 
is to be flexible enough in their provision of skilling ser-
vices for employability to meet the different needs of 
their clients. 
Based on their skilling functions, LMIs can be classified 
according  to  two  criteria:  the  functions  or  ‘what  they 
do’  and  intervention  recipients  or  ‘how  they  perform 
their functions’ - as LMIs working with different groups 
adopt specific approaches and methodologies- results 
in  groups  of  LMIs  that  are  relatively  homogenous  in 
terms  of  functions  performed  and  working  methods 
adopted, as detailed in T.2. 
In  T.3,  the  different  stakeholders  participating  in  the 
DigComp cases are mapped along the LMI types. From 
the table we can observe: 

•  the variety of actors involved; 
•  the  involvement  of  non-formal  education  institu-
tions  and  up-skilling  providers  and  experts,  in  par-
ticular  of  non-formal  education  providers  address-
ing adult learners; 

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET•  the strong involvement of public or private employ-
ers in all cases where specific professional profiles 
have been addressed;

•  the important role played by public employment ser-
vices or private recruitment agencies (job brokers).  

Mapping along LMI skilling functions 

The analysis shows that only a sub-set of functions are 
provided by the DigComp cases´ actors. Concretely, we 
did not find provision of the following specific functions: 
“initial education”, “addressing barriers to employment” 
and “support for entrepreneurship”.  
The  sub-set  of  skilling  functions  provided  by  LMIs 
in  each  of  the  cases  are  listed  in  T.4,  reflecting  the 
breadth of functions provided in each case.  Collective-
ly,  the  DigComp  cases  provide  services  with  greatest 
prevalence (6 to 9 of the cases)  in: 
•  design training / development;
•  labour market skills analysis;
•  assessment of skills;
•  delivery of training / development;
•  certification of competence.

T.3 

PARTICIPATION OF LMIS (PER TYPES) TO DIGCOMP CASES

LMIS PRIMARILY WORKING WITH..

RELATED CASES

Formal education 
institutions

students 
in initial 
education

Non-formal education 
providers

non-employed

employed

Informal education 
providers

Public employment 
services

LMI’s addressing critical 
barriers to employment

Trade unions

Employers and 
employer associations

Upskilling providers

C1

AB

C1

AB

C1

AB

C5

C9

C8

B

C2

C3

C4

C5

C5

C6

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C2

C3

C4

C6

C7

C8

B

C8

AB

C8

A

C9

C9

all target 
groups

Job experience 
providers

Job brokers

C2

C3

15

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET 
 
 
 
 
 
 
T.4 

LMI SKILLING FUNCTIONS PROVIDED BY CASES (✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

LMI SKILLING FUNCTIONS

Collection and 
dissemination of 
labour market info

Labour market skills 
analysis (including  
PDPs)

A

B

Outreach and 
individual support

Outreach to under/
unemployed

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Career guidance

Career advice

Personal development 
plan

Design and 
development of training

Support for adult 
learning

Delivery of training

Fostering 
transparency 
of skills and 
qualifications

Job experience 
and placement

Job search 
assistance and 
matching

Monitoring and 
aftercare

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of 
competence

Liaising with employers 
for job placement / 
experience

Job search support

Client tracking and 
monitoring

Employee support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

A

✓

✓

✓

B

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

16

Mapping along DigComp use 

T.4 summarises which skilling functions along the em-
ployability path are provided by the experiences of the 
DigComp case studies. While different cases may pro-
vide functions across multiple steps in the employabil-
ity pathway, they do not always explicitly use DigComp 
for each of them, as illustrated in the Table. DigComp 
implementation is mostly concentrated in the following 
functions: 

•  labour  market  skills  analysis,  which  concerns  the 
analysis of digital skills requirements of various oc-
cupations and the definition of related professional 
digital profiles; 

•  assessment and certification of digital skills; 
•  design, development and delivery of digital compe-

tence training offers. 

As anticipated, digital competence development is the 
main focus of most initiatives and DigComp has been 
used  both  to  identify  the  competence  requirements 
of given jobs and then to design the training offers to 
develop  those  competences.  Participants  passing  the 
final tests of those training offers receive a certificate 
for their learning achievements, referred to the course 
and/or to the digital competences developed through it. 
Digital competence certificates are issued in two cas-
es  (C4  ECCC  and  C8A  BAIT)  also  independently  from 
course  attendance.  The  analysis  of  competence  re-
quirements and initial digital competence assessment 
activities can also be undertaken without being directly 
linked to training activities. 

DigComp  has  also  been  (or  is  currently  being  used) 
for development of a personal development plan and 
for  career  advice.  However,  these  two  applications  of 

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET 
 
 
 
DigComp are in early stages, and not enough infor-
mation  nor  evidence  was  available  to  analyse  them 
and  provide  useful  conclusions.  T.5  provides  a  more 
detailed overview of DigComp use within the cases an-
alysed per skilling function. Finally, analysis has iden-
tified  two  interesting  emerging  usages  of  DigComp: 
for  benchmarking  services,  and  for  the  development 
of personal learning environments, which are explored 
further in the next section.

LMI FUNCTION

DIGCOMP USE

RELATED CASES

T.5 

EXPLICIT USE OF DIGCOMP PER LMI FUNCTION

Analysis of digital competence 
requirements in various occupations

Labour market 
skills analysis

Design of professional digital profiles

Benchmarking services in business sectors 
aiming at identifying skill requirements at 
organisational level and at comparing your 
skill level with organisation´s competitors

DigComp used for career advice/guidance

Link self-assessment and training offer to 
specific careers

DigComp used for further training and/or 
career advice/guidance

Link self-assessment and training offer to 
specific occupational profiles

Career advice

Personal 
development plan

Design and delivery 
of training 

DigComp use for training offers

Workforce 
development

DigComp-based skills assessments

Assessment of 
skills

Design of DigComp-based (self-)
assessment tools

Certification of 
competence

Certification of DigComp competence or 
Certification of course completion

AB

B

B

17

AB

B

B

B

A

B

AB 

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET 
 
 
  
Mapping along stakeholders and cooperation 
models 

(Local) governance of strategies to improve employa-
bility of unemployed people matters. In particular, the 
inclusion of employers, trade unions and other stake-
holders  in  the  planning  of  service  provision  for  job 
seekers, while allowing for the tailoring of employabili-
ty services to reflect the dynamics of local labour mar-
kets, are important foundations for success. Successful 
partnership-based approaches to tackling employabil-
ity  need  a  clear  strategic  focus  based  on  a  necessity 
for inter-agency cooperation and institutional arrange-
ments that allow for shared ownership, trust and flexi-
bility in resource sharing. 
These strategic cooperation approaches have been ob-
served in the DigComp cases analysed. T.6 illustrates 
the range of stakeholders engaged in DigComp imple-
mentations and the type of relationships with them by 
those leading the activities.
The DigComp case studies clearly show that the activ-
ities needed to implement the framework, i.e. to cus-
tomise and specify it operationally for each local con-
text (language, sector, job profile, target group etc.) and 
for  different  purposes/steps  (identification  of  profes-
sional digital competence, assessment, training design 
and delivery, competence evaluation and certification) 
require the participation of diverse and usually multiple 
stakeholders. The lists in T.6 are inevitably partial and 
they do not include end-users and/or their representa-
tives, which are of course part of the implementation 
experiences.
T.6 shows that different types of multi-stakeholder re-
lationships are developed when DigComp implementa-

tions are part of policy initiatives (C1A PeI,  C1B DCDS, 
C3  Ikanos  and  C8A  BAIT),  with  institutional  collabo-
rations  tending  to  be  established  over  time.  In  many 
cases, the involvement of stakeholders occurs tempo-
rarily, for project-driven research and consultation ac-
tivities (C1A PeI,  C1B dcds, C2 Prodigeo, C5 Compass, 
C8B P4E). In the C6 Mu.SA case, repeated experiences 
in  the  same/similar  sector  and  with  the  same/similar 
partners allowed framing such research and consulta-
tion activities in a more continuous perspective. Service 
providers  (C4  ECCC  on  a  non-profit,  C7  SmartiveMap 
and C9 Adecco on a commercial basis) have a contin-
uous dialogue with their customers, on the one hand, 
and with sources of ideas and useful solutions for their 
activities,  on  the  other.  This  occurs  also  with  Ikanos, 
reflecting  its  growing  support  to  business  companies 
for  Industry  4.0  digital  competence  needs.  C3  Ikanos 
and C7 SmartiveMap also share a very interesting and 
unique (among the current case studies) emerging co-
operation  model,  relying  on  a  sort  of  community  of 
practice:  the  Ikanos  practitioners  who  develop  and 
share their experience on the design and assessment 
of professional digital profiles according to the Ikanos 
approach;  and  the  SmartiveMap  editors  (specialists 
from various business functions), who collaborate with 
Smartive to identify functional digital competences for 
business, assess them and maintain them over time.
The case studies also show that DigComp implementa-
tion processes entail a shared learning process among 
those involved, starting from a reflection about digital 
competence and some degree of understanding of the 
DigComp  framework  (and  possibly  other  frameworks 
used  in  the  process).  Most  of  the  experiences  stud-
ied  mention  that  stakeholders  (especially  companies, 

18

end-users and intermediaries) were often hardly aware 
of and had only vague notions of digital competence 
and  related  requirements  for  current  and  even  more 
for prospective occupations. For this reason, one of the 
important benefits of using DigComp is precisely that 
it offers a clear and relatively simple definition and de-
scription  of  digital  competence,  which  helps  to  start 
useful dialogues about this topic.
Also, experts and practitioners implementing DigComp 
(and  working  on  digital  competence  in  general)  talk 
about  a  significant  learning  curve  needed  to  under-
stand  how  to  fully  and  effectively  exploit  the  frame-
work, especially in the work/business environment for 
which it was not specifically designed.
To sum up, DigComp implementation requires a learn-
ing process that can be long and almost always entails 
the participation of multiple stakeholders, resulting for 
both reasons in a relevant investment of resources.
The use of advanced solutions for the analysis of digi-
tal competence requirements in existing and new jobs 
(discussed before) may facilitate and accelerate these 
processes, but it has a cost in itself and stakeholders 
involvement  is  needed  to  develop  an  understanding 
of the issues at stake and ultimately to achieve wider 
adoption of the proposed solutions.

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETT.6  STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES AND COOPERATION MODELS

CASE

STAKEHOLDER TYPE (leading in bold)

AB

pei + dcds

Training NGO (association of VET providers for PeI)  
European NGO (association of digital competence centres for DCDS)
Public administrations / Educational experts / VET providers / Public employment agencies

prodigeo

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
Public and private employment agencies / Educational experts

ikanos

eccc

Regional Government
Public administrations / University / Educational experts / Companies / Public and private 
employment agencies

Research and development NGO
University / Educational organisations / Public administrations / Companies / Labour offices

compass

Public agency for international assistance
Educational organisations / Employers  / Labour market actors

mu.sa

University
Museum and culture sector professionals / Museum and culture sector organisations / Public 
administrations / VET providers / Third sector organisations / Companies / University

smartive

Private company (service provider)
Companies / Business function managers and specialists / Business consultants

A 

bait

B 

p4e

Private research foundation
University / Public administrations

Third sector organisations
Companies / Free-lance professionals

adecco

Private Companies (employment services)
Educational organisation / University

19

TYPE OF RELATIONSHIP 

Institutional 
collaboration

Project-driven

Continuous 
dialogue

other

Within which project-driven 
collaborations take place

Ikanos practitioner community

Prolonged through different 
projects

SmartiveMap editors

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
2.3 HOW DIGCOMP IS HELPING STAKEHOLDERS

The use of DigComp for the analysis of 
competence requirements and the definition of 
professional digital profiles 

The specific contribution of DigComp to LMIs operating 
along  the  employability  pathway  is  its  support  to  the 
identification of the digital competences required today 
in professional activities, referred to with minor seman-
tic  nuances  as  jobs,  job  roles,  professions  or  occupa-
tions. In the DigComp case studies, digital competence 
requirements have been analysed with respect to: 

•  A:  more  or  less  broadly  defined  existing  occupa-
tions  (e.g.  administrative  worker  in  the  public  ad-
ministration, general office clerk, primary school and 
early childhood teacher etc.);

•  B: also referring to generic business functions (Op-
erations and industrial services, Marketing & Sales, 
etc.);

•  C: generic work conditions (entrepreneur, virtual of-
fice worker, consultant for the Third Sector, employ-
ment services staff);

•  D: new IT-intensive jobs in different economic sec-
tors (Industry 4.0 jobs in manufacturing, new digital 
jobs in museums), and distinct from IT specialist job 
profiles.

These analyses and the definition of professional digital 
profiles (PDPs) have addressed jobs in different organ-
isations  (from  large  companies  to  SMES,  consultants 
and self-employees in general) and economic sectors: 
public administration and other public activities (e.g. in 
education and cultural sector); public and private em-
ployment services; the manufacturing industry, the cul-
tural and creative industries.

T.7  OCCUPATIONS´ COMPETENCE REQUIREMENTS IN THE DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES

AIMS

COMPETENCES ADDRESSED

CASES

OCCUPATIONS

Professional digital profile (PDP)  
training (T) assessment (A) 
certification (C)

DigComp competences (DC-C), DigComp level 
(DC-L), Ad-hoc sub-competences (AH), 
e-CF (e-CF), soft skills (SS)

prodigeo

Employment services 
staff (C)

ikanos

Various occupations 
(A, B, C, D)

PDP

compass

8 occupations (A)

PDP

mu.sa

4 occupations (D)

PDP

T

T

T

smartive

7 occupations (B)

A 

bait

B 

p4e

2 occupations (A)

T

2 occupations (C)

PDP

adecco

2 occupations (C)

PDP

A

A

A

20

DC-C

DC-L

A

DC-C

DC-L

AH

DC-C

DC-L

SS

DC-C

DC-L

e-CF

SS

DC-C

Functional digital competences + 
openness to change competence

C

DC-C

DC-L

DC-C

DC-L

DC-C

DC-L

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET 
 
 
 
 
  
T.7  summarises  the  occupations  whose  digital  com-
petence requirements have been analysed in the Dig-
Comp  case  studies  (classified  according  to  the  above 
categories), its aims  and the aspects considered in the 
analysis  of  job  requirements:  DigComp  competences 
(possibly  at  different  proficiency  levels),  other  digital 
skills and/or soft skills. The identification of the relevant 
digital competences of an occupation may be aimed at 
the definition/description of the so-called professional 
digital profiles (PDPs), and/or at the design of training 
and/or  assessment  solutions,  based  on  the  identified 
competence requirements.
T.8 provides the full list of professional profiles identi-
fied  and T.9 provides the list of DigComp competences 
(including  their  proficiency  level  and  relevance  to  the 
job), as they are addressed in the PDPs. 
The  analysis  contained  in  T.9  does  not  include  all 
PDPs, because their detailed definitions are not always 
available. Its content also reflects the fact that the ap-
proaches to using DigComp to define the detailed com-
petence requirements in those PDPs, which are availa-
ble, are not standardised. The PDP descriptions, when 
available, can be found in the case studies or online, at 
the links provided in the cases’ Resources section. T.9 
shows that seven DigComp competences (1.1, 2.1, 2.4, 
3.1, 3.4, 4.1 and 4.2) are present in over 75% of the 
PDPs examined. At the same time, three competences 
(2.3, 3.2 and 3.3) are present in only about a third of 
the profiles.

T.8  OCCUPATIONS´ PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROFILES
A: more or less broadly defined existing occupations; B: referring to generic business functions; C: generic work conditions;  
D: new IT-intensive jobs in Industry 4.0 in manufacturing, new digital jobs in museum

Employment services staff

Administrative staff in public organisations

Industrial machine operator

Sales representative

Entrepreneur

Mechatronics/robotics technician

Industrial machinery operator and CNC prog.

Advanced manufacturing maintenance technician

3D designer for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing machinery operator

SME digital transformation manager

Consultant on services /programs for Third sector

Economist - Business Manager

Economist – Consultant

Economist - Specialist in digital marketing

Vocational education teachers

Primary school and early childhood teachers

Finance professionals

Sales, marketing and PR professions

21

C

A

A

B

C

D

D

D

D

D

D

C

C

C

D

A

A

A

A

General office clerks

Secretwaries (general)

Authors, journalists and linguists

Creative and performing artists

Digital Strategy Manager

Digital Collections Curator

Digital Interactive Experience Developer

Online Community Manager

Finance and controlling

Marketing & Sales

Human Resources

ICT services

Operations and industrial services

Legal affairs

Research and development (underway)

A Administrativo

Auxiliario administrative

B (self) Entrepreneur

Virtual office worker

A

A

A

A

D

D

D

D

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

A

A

C

C

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETT.9  DIGCOMP COMPETENCES, LEVELS AND RELEVANCE IN THE PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROFILES (DIGCOMP PROFICIENCY LEVELS: F=FOUNDATION, I=INTERMEDIATE, A=ADVANCED, OR NUMBERS FROM LEVEL 1 TO 8)

Colours reflect relevance of competence: Green = core competence, Orange = transversal competence (common to several tasks in the occupation) , Yellow = complementary competence (helps, but not necessary), White = not relevant, Grey = no classification

Case studies

Employment services staff

Administrative staff in public organisations

Industrial machine operator

Sales representative

Entrepreneur

Mechatronics/robotics technician

Industrial machinery operator and CNC prog.

Advanced manufacturing maintenance technician

3D designer for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing machinery operator

SME digital transformation manager

Vocational education teachers

Primary school and early childhood teachers

Finance professionals

Sales, marketing and PR professions

General office clerks

Secretaries (general)

Authors, journalists and linguists

Creative and performing artists

Digital Strategy Manager

Digital Collections Curator

Digital Interactive Experience Developer

Online Community Manager

B

(self) Entrepreneur

Virtual office worker

1.1 Browsing, 
searching and 
filtering 

1.2 Evaluating

1.3 Managing

2.1 Interacting

2.2 Sharing

2.3 Engaging in 
citizenship

2.4 Collaborating

2.5 Netiquette

2.6 Managing 
digital identity

3.1 Developing 

content

3.3 Copyright 

and licenses

3.4 Program.

4.1 Protecting 

devices

3.2 Integrating 

and re-

elaborating

4.2 Protect 

personal data 

and privacy

4.3 Protect 

health and well-

being

4.4 Protect the 

environm.

5.1 Solving 

technical 

problems

5.2 Identifying 

needs and 

responses

5.3 Creatively 

using

5.4 Identifying 

digital comp. 

gaps

I

F

F

I

F

A

F

A

A

A

F

F

A

F

A

A

A

A

8

8

8

8

7

6

A

F

F

I

I

I / A

I

A

I

I

7

7

7

7

6

6

I

I

I

F

I

F

I

I

F

I

8

8

8

8

6

6

I

F

F

F

F

F

F

I

I

I

F

F

F

A

F

A

A

6

6

I

F

F

F

F

F

F

I

F

F

F

A

F

F

6

6

I

I

I

F

F

F

5

A

F

F

F

I

F

I

F

A

F

F

A

A

F

8

8

8

8

6

6

I

F

F

F

I

A

7

7

7

7

6

5

A

A

I

F

I

7

7

7

7

7

6

I /A

I

A

F

F

I

I

I

I

A

A

A

A

F

F

A

A

7

7

7

7

6

6

A

F

I

I

I

I

A

5

5

% of PDP with DigComp competence X

96%

64%

64%

22

76%

64%

28%

80%

48%

44%

92%

36%

80%

76%

76%

64%

40%

64%

68%

72%

64%

F

F

I

I

I

A

F

I

F

F

A

A

F

A

F

F

6

6

6

6

I

F

F

I

I

I

5

4

32%

F

F

F

I

I

F

F

F

A

A

F

F

F

7

7

7

7

5

6

I

I

F

I

F

F

I

A

A

F

F

F

F

7

7

7

7

6

6

I /A

I /A

I /A

F

F

F

F

I

I

I

I

I

I

7

7

7

7

5

4

F

F

F

F

A

A

A

F

A

7

7

7

7

4

5

I

F

I

I

I

7

7

7

7

4

I

F

F

F

A

A

A

A

F

A

7

7

7

7

6

5

A

I

F

A

A

I

F

A

A

A

F

F

8

8

8

8

5

4

I

F

F

F

F

I

A

A

A

6

6

6

6

5

4

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETT.9  DIGCOMP COMPETENCES, LEVELS AND RELEVANCE IN THE PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROFILES (DIGCOMP PROFICIENCY LEVELS: F=FOUNDATION, I=INTERMEDIATE, A=ADVANCED, OR NUMBERS FROM LEVEL 1 TO 8)

Colours reflect relevance of competence: Green = core competence, Orange = transversal competence (common to several tasks in the occupation) , Yellow = complementary competence (helps, but not necessary), White = not relevant, Grey = no classification

Case studies

1.2 Evaluating

1.3 Managing

2.1 Interacting

2.2 Sharing

2.4 Collaborating

2.5 Netiquette

2.3 Engaging in 

citizenship

2.6 Managing 

digital identity

3.1 Developing 
content

3.2 Integrating 
and re-
elaborating

3.3 Copyright 
and licenses

3.4 Program.

4.1 Protecting 
devices

4.2 Protect 
personal data 
and privacy

4.3 Protect 
health and well-
being

4.4 Protect the 
environm.

5.1 Solving 
technical 
problems

5.2 Identifying 
needs and 
responses

5.3 Creatively 
using

5.4 Identifying 
digital comp. 
gaps

1.1 Browsing, 

searching and 

filtering 

Industrial machinery operator and CNC prog.

I / A

Employment services staff

Administrative staff in public organisations

Industrial machine operator

Sales representative

Entrepreneur

Mechatronics/robotics technician

Advanced manufacturing maintenance technician

3D designer for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing machinery operator

SME digital transformation manager

Vocational education teachers

Primary school and early childhood teachers

Finance professionals

Sales, marketing and PR professions

General office clerks

Secretaries (general)

Authors, journalists and linguists

Creative and performing artists

Digital Strategy Manager

Digital Collections Curator

Digital Interactive Experience Developer

Online Community Manager

B

(self) Entrepreneur

Virtual office worker

I

F

F

I

F

A

F

A

A

A

F

F

A

F

A

A

A

A

8

8

8

8

7

6

A

F

F

I

I

I

I

I

A

7

7

7

7

6

6

I

I

I

F

I

F

I

I

F

I

8

8

8

8

6

6

I

F

F

F

F

F

F

I

I

I

F

F

F

A

F

A

A

6

6

I

F

F

F

F

F

F

I

F

F

F

A

F

F

6

6

I

I

I

F

F

F

5

A

F

F

F

I

F

I

F

A

F

F

A

A

F

8

8

8

8

6

6

I

F

F

F

I

A

7

7

7

7

6

5

A

A

I

F

I

7

7

7

7

7

6

I

A

F

F

I

I

I

I /A

I

A

A

A

A

F

F

A

A

7

7

7

7

6

6

A

F

I

I

I

A

I

5

5

% of PDP with DigComp competence X

96%

64%

64%

76%

64%

28%

80%

48%

44%

92%

36%

I

F

F

I

I

I

5

4

32%

F

F

I

I

I

A

F

I

F

F

A

A

F

A

F

F

6

6

6

6

F

F

F

I

I

F

F

F

A

A

F

F

F

7

7

7

7

5

6

I

I

F

I

F

F

I

A

A

F

F

F

F

7

7

7

7

6

6

F

F

F

F

I

I

I

I

I

I

7

7

7

7

5

4

F

F

F

F

A

I

F

F

F

A

A

I /A

I /A

A

A

F

A

7

7

7

7

4

5

A

A

F

A

7

7

7

7

6

5

A

I

F

A

A

I

F

A

A

A

F

F

8

8

8

8

5

4

I

F

F

F

F

I

I /A

A

A

A

6

6

6

6

5

4

I

F

I

I

I

7

7

7

7

4

80%

76%

76%

64%

23

40%

64%

68%

72%

64%

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETConsiderations about the definition of professional 
digital profiles in the wider context of the digital 
transformation

Interestingly, the three experiences, which felt the need 
to  integrate  DigComp  with  other  digital  competences 
for a fuller picture of the digital competence require-
ments  of  given  occupations  have  all  adopted  a  clear 
digital transformation perspective in their endeavours. 
On the one hand, this perspective seems to give much 
importance  to  the  widespread  development  of  trans-
versal  digital,  and  soft  skills,  within  the  organisations 
who  want  to  move  along  that  path.  Developing  digi-
tal culture across the board and making the digital an 
integral  element  of  all  activities  are  key  elements  of 
this perspective,  and DigComp is seen as very useful 
tool for that. The recent inclusion of digital competence 
in Adecco’s Competences Dictionary seems to confirm 
this view. 
On the other hand, the digital transformation perspec-
tive highlights the emergence and need of new digital 
skills to perform both existing jobs -under transforma-
tion- and new jobs, very often created by new techno-
logical and market opportunities. These new skills may 
be  related  to  specific  jobs,  or  to  broader  professional 
categories, or they may cut across jobs and profession-
al categories. They may be close to those of IT profes-
sionals (included in the e-CF) or they may be currently 
“unclassified”,  leading  to  “ad  hoc”  identification  and 
definition efforts such as those illustrated above. These 
may also be identified following the use of entirely new 
approaches  (as  in  the  example  of  Technimetro  and 
other tools used by Adecco) to identify emerging and 
future skills through the analysis of scientific publica-
tions,  patents  registration  and  web  job  offers.  In  any 

case, these new digital skills are not explicitly includ-
ed in DigComp descriptors and integrating them in the 
current DigComp framework is sometimes possible (as 
showed by C3 Ikanos), but not always feasible.

Summing  up,  differences  across  the  DigComp  case 
studies in dealing with PDPs reflect many factors:

 • type of experience (medium to long term business 
development or policy strategies vs short term pro-
ject-based initiatives);

 • budget available (carrying out in-depth and perspec-
tive  analyses  of  work  transformation  is  very  time 
and resource consuming);

 • dialogue  with  multiple  stakeholders  and  access  to 

(often difficult to find) forward looking experts;

 • the  leading  organisation’s  perception  and  under-
standing  of  the  competence  challenges  brought 
about by the digital transformation.

In our opinion, this last factor is particularly important. 
This  translates  as  the  need  to  consider  the  multiple 
competence  dimensions  at  play  (hard  and  soft  digi-
tal  skills,  behavioural/soft  competences  and  others) 
in  existing  and  especially  in  new  jobs  today,  and  the 
need  to  address  all  of  them  for  employability  in  the 
digital  transformation  perspective.  This  awareness 
is  not  yet  widespread  and  is  only  gradually  growing. 
Not  by  chance,  it  is  higher  -and  translated  into  more 
articulated  and  strategic  approaches  in  PDP  elabora-
tion- among organisations with a longer and/or deeper 
experience in working on digital transformation.  

pertise  on  available  digital  competence  frameworks. 
This is illustrated by C6 Mu.SA,’s need to deeply revise 
the job profiles defined 2 years earlier in the previous 
e-Cult project (more or less by the same partners and 
in the same sector) due to changes in technological and 
market opportunities, to a more accurate consideration 
of  the  work  context.  No  point  in  designing  a  profile 
which is too complex for a given work environment and/
or target group), and to a shift in the investigation ap-
proach (the adoption of other competence frameworks 
besides e-CF.

The development by C9 Adecco and C7 SmartiveMap of 
various  personalised  assessment  and  training  servic-
es for their business customers shows the complexity 
(and business opportunities coming from it) of identify-
ing correctly the mix and level of soft competences and 
digital skills requirements of companies today.

The use of DigComp for assessment tests, 
recognition and certification 

T.10  shows  that  in  all  the  case  studies  DigComp  has 
been  used  for  competence  assessment  and/or  certifi-
cation purposes. We deal with these two steps together 
as they have essentially a similar content.Tests differ 
depending on the types of questions they use:

 • self-perception  and  self-assessment  questions  ask 
respondents how confident, strong etc. they feel with 
respect to some topic, activity etc., whether or how 
much they know and/or are able to do certain things, 
etc;

In addition, other factors influence the definition of new 
jobs  and  related  PDPs  such  as  the  speed  of  change 
of technology, the work context and organisations´ ex-

 • knowledge questions are designed to check whether 
the respondent knows or not a given piece of knowl-
edge, the right action to achieve a result or the right 

24

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETT.10  COMPETENCE ASSESSMENT AND CERTIFICATION IN THE DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES

CASE

A

Self-Perception, 
Self-Assessment 
Questions

Test type

Knowledge 
Questions 

Training

Performance 
Based

Pre-course

Post-course

Self-assessment 
Feedback

Course Badge / 
Certificate

B

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓
advanced
levels only

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

A

✓

✓

B

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓ B

✓ B

✓ C

✓ C

Output

Competence 
Badge / Certif.

✓ B

✓ C

✓ B

✓ C

✓ B

Personal profile

✓

✓

 PDP badge 

✓

25

✓

✓

behaviour in a given circumstance etc. by picking the 
right answer among a set of options;

 • performance-based  tests  require  users  to  perform 
some tasks in order to give the requested answer or 
complete an assignment.

In  most  cases,  tests  are  based  on  knowledge  and 
self-assessment  questions,  as  these  are  most  man-
ageable with fully online procedures that are quicker to 
deliver. Performance based tests either require sophis-
ticated simulations and other somewhat complex tech-
nical solutions (e.g. C8A BAIT), or the direct observation 
and/or intervention of an evaluator (e.g. C1B DCDS, C4 
ECCC  for  advanced  level),  and  take  longer  to  be  exe-
cuted. A pure self-perception test has been used only 
in the DCDS project before the course, with the aim to 
gauge how strong respondents felt (rather than meas-
uring  their  initial  competence),  before  recommending 
them to take the basic digital literacy course.
In most cases, the tests designed have standard fea-
tures  and  address  different  (or  all)  DigComp  compe-
tences and levels. Two case studies (C7 SmartiveMap 
and  C3  Ikanos)  have  developed  assessment  systems 
which  can  be  customized  to  reflect  different  occupa-
tional profiles and needs (e.g. the monitoring of com-
petence  development  over  time)  of  the  organisations 
who use the test. 
The cases analysed issue two types of digital creden-
tials for learning achievements: certificates and badg-
es.    The  choice  of  format  reflects  what  is  commonly 
seen today among credential issuers (this summary is 
drawn  from  accredible.com/credentials/).  Digital  cer-
tificates are used when an achievement takes a long 
time to complete (e.g. a course that takes more than 40 
hours); assessment of the achievement is formal (sum-

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET  
  
mative with invigilated and assessed examination)and/
or  employers  are  likely  to  view  the  achievement  (e.g. 
professional certification of a skill). Digital badges are 
used when an achievement does not take too long to 
complete (e.g. an online course that takes 2 hours); as-
sessment  of  the  achievement  is  informal  (formative, 
as with an unmarked quiz); recipients complete many 
achievements of a similar type (e.g. a set of modules 
within a longer course, or a university degree). 

The  analysis  of  the  cases  using  DigComp  for  compe-
tence assessment and certification, shows that digital 
competence  tests  may  be  offered/taken  for  different 
aims and with different output:

 • to  get  a  personal  digital  competence  profile  (C7 
SmartiveMap and C3 Ikanos), that may then be used 
for  individual  (training  or  professional)  guidance, 
and/or  for  organisation-level  or  even  sector-level 
analysis, by aggregating a large number of test re-
sults, in order to plan training and learning activities 
to  overcome  competence  gaps  (C7  SmartiveMap 
and C3 Ikanos);

 • to map employees’ profiles, identify talents and po-
tential  digital  champions  in  preparation  for  digital 
transformation initiatives in a company and to mon-
itor  improvements  in  ongoing  transformation  pro-
cesses (C7 SmartiveMap);

 • to get a professional digital profile badge or certifi-
cate, as in the case of entrepreneurs and virtual of-
fice workers (C8B P4E) and of new digital museum 
jobs (C6 Mu.SA); 

T.11  DIGITAL COMPETENCE TRAINING IN THE DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES

TRAINING DESIGN BASED ON...

DIGCOMP CASES

Comparison of existing training

Direct digcomp specification

User needs analysis

A

B

training projects in Poland);

 • to assess participants’ skills before starting a course 
(C1B DCDS, C5 Compass) and for summative assess-
ment purposes during a course, with the issuing of 
intermediate  and  final  badges  or  certificates  (C1B 
DCDS, C5 Compass, C6 Mu.SA, C8A BAIT). Depending 
on how the course and the assessment are organ-
ised, these credentials may refer to specific DigComp 
areas or competences and/or to course completion.

The evaluation criteria (e.g. how many correct answers 
are required  to pass  a given test)   and other  accred-
itation  aspects  (e.g.  the  use  of  e-portfolios  to  docu-
ment  learning  achievements,  as  in  C3  Ikanos  and  C5 
Compass) vary across experiences, reflecting the target 
group and aims of the initiatives, but also different ori-
entations by those running them.  

A

vidual learning accounts”) and other solutions to sup-
port  competence  development  in  a  life-long  learning 
perspective. More on this in next Section below.

The use of DigComp to design training offers 

As mentioned before, almost all the case studies have 
used DigComp to design and deliver training on digital 
competence. C3 Ikanos is not listed in T.11, because it 
is not directly involved in training design and delivery, 
which is rather managed by the KZgunea Basque net-
work of digital competence centres, or by Mondragon 
University for the courses for C8A BAIT certification. 

C8B P4E does not provide courses. C4 ECCC also does 
not deliver training, but it has designed training syllabi 
for organisations who prepare candidates for its ECCC 
DigComp certification. The identification and/or design 
of training content for digital competence courses stem 
from different processes (which of course are always 
to some extent at play, but with varying intensity):

 • to get a competence certification (C4 ECCC, C8 BAIT) 
for employability purposes or other reasons (e.g. fol-
lowing a regulatory requirement as with EU-funded 

An interesting feature emerging from the case studies 
is  the  integration  of  assessment  results  in  so-called 
“personal learning environments” (also known as “indi-

26

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET 
 
• the comparison of existing training offers with tar-
geted/  desired  DigComp  competences  highlighting
gaps  to  be  filled  (C8A  BAIT  with  public  adminis-
trative  staff,  C5  Compass  in  the  initial  user  needs
analysis,  C1A PeI in the revision of previous digital
literacy courses);

• the  direct  specification  of  DigComp  competences
learning outcomes and subsequent training content
development  in  view  of  given  project  goals  (C1B
DCDS design of foundation level training for all 21
DigComp  competences)  or  certification  aims  (C4
ECCC covering all DigComp competences at all pro-
ficiency levels);

• in-depth user needs analyses which identify training
priorities  and  content  in  view  of  given  profession-
al  digital  profiles  or  development  goals  defined  in
terms of DigComp (and possibly other) competences
(C2 Prodigeo, C5 Compass, C6 Mu.SA, C7 SmartiveM-
ap).

As  mentioned  before,  courses  may  be  structured  to 
reflect  either  directly  (C2  Prodigeo,  C5  Compass,  C6 
Mu.SA,  C8A BAIT,  C4 ECCC) or indirectly (C1A PeI  C1B 
DCDS) DigComp areas and competences.

An  important  -unresolved-  aspect  to  enable  a  great-
er diffusion of DigComp-based or DigComp-compliant 
training offers, and for further uses, concerns the ways 
of mapping DigComp areas and competences with ex-
isting digital competence courses which were designed 
without using DigComp as a reference. When this was 
done  in  the  experiences  studied,  the  process  was  al-
ways very laborious, as it required to look carefully at 
existing course contents and find a precise correspond-
ence with DigComp competence areas, individual com-

petences  and  proficiency  level  descriptors.  C3  Ikanos 
has been developing a report for training providers to 
“classify” their offer according to DigComp categories, 
so as to obtain a DigComp label and to facilitate match-
ing  self-assessment  test  results  (showing  gaps  in 
given competences) with available training offers. This 
report  has  not  yet  been  finalised  and  tested  on  the 
field.  An  alternative  approach  might  be  to  apply 
semantic  anal-ysis  techniques  to  online  training 
offers,  similar  to  what  innovative  labour  market 
analysis services do with on-line job offers to identify 
emerging skills requirements.

Finally, it is useful to highlight some of the main ben-
efits  of  DigComp  implementations  for  training.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  instruction  designers,  the  clear 
and well-articulated structure of the framework (are-
as,  competences,  dimensions  etc.)  is  considered  very 
useful:  to  support  training  design  (which  can  follow 
the  same  structure);  to  facilitate  dialogue  and 
cooperation  with  experts  and  other  contributors  in 
content  selection  and  production;  and  in  a  dynamic 
perspective,  to  make  course  maintenance  easier. 
Given the need to update and integrate training in the 
light  of  continuous  and  fast  changes  in  digital 
technology, applications, ser-vices etc., both C6 Mu.SA 
and  C2  Prodigeo  expect  that  the  competence-based 
and  learning  outcomes-based  modular  structure  of 
the  courses  they  designed  fol-lowing  DigComp  will 
make  it  possible  and  easier  to  re-move,  replace  or 
upgrade only the parts of the courses that correspond 
to the evolving competences.

27

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET“digital culture” aspects, which have much to do with 
soft skills in general and digital soft skills. Companies 
are becoming aware of these aspects and are seriously 
concerned, as they have an urgency, but also, they do 
not see any clear or ready-made answer to adopt. Dig-
Comp can certainly help in this context, as it address-
es an important part – the transversal, company-wide 
component-  of  the  digital  competence  required  by 
most people working today in an organisation.

2.4 HIGHLIGHTING EMERGING USES OF DIGCOMP

Two  new  emerging  uses  of  the  DigComp  Framework 
have  been  identified  through  the  case  studies,  which 
are important in the employability perspective: the de-
velopment of digital competence benchmarking servic-
es and of personal learning support services.
Both C3 Ikanos and C7 SmartiveMap mentioned a grow-
ing demand for company (organisational and func-
tional) digital competence benchmarking servic-
es and are working to develop a response for that.  The 
idea is to measure with their self-assessment tools a 
company’s digital competence profile and/or index (at 
full organisational level and at business function lev-
el), and compare them to the industry average, to the 
score of market leaders or their main competitors. With 
the increasing importance of digital transformation as 
a  key  driver  of  business  competitiveness,  companies 
want  and  need  to  know  their  position  in  this  domain 
and to measure their progress following any strategic 
improvement measures they undertake, in terms of in-
ternal skilling and re-skilling, or of recruitment of new 
staff. Digital competence is not the only dimension of 
digital  transformation  readiness  and  progress,  but  it 
is certainly an important one. The use in as many in-
stances  and  circumstances  as  possible  of  a  common 
framework,  such  as  DigComp,  is  essential  to  develop 
the above services.
The  highly  dynamic  character  of  digital  competence, 
the variety of means and available opportunities (for-
mal,  non-formal  and  informal)  to  develop  it,  and  the 
workforce  mobility,  are  the  three  key  factors  leading 
some actors (C3 Ikanos, C9 Adecco  and C7 SmartiveM-
ap)  to  develop  new  solutions  with  different  names 
-personal  learning environment, individual learn-
ing accounts, employability support platform and 

others-  and  partly  different  features,  but  a  broadly 
common aim. The goal is to help individual users, ide-
ally  through  integrated  services,  to  understand  which 
digital (and other) competences they need for profes-
sional (and other) purposes, to map their level and evo-
lution over time, to identify and keep track of learning 
experiences  and  to  document  learning  achievements, 
in  a  continuous,  lifelong  learning  perspective.  Also,  in 
this  case,  the  use  in  as  many  circumstances  as  pos-
sible  of  a  common  framework  such  as  DigComp  (or 
cross-framework  correspondence  schemes),  will  likely 
prove essential to develop such services.
The general overview from the case studies of current 
and potential DigComp implementations in an employ-
ability perspective shows that DigComp can be and is 
being  used  in  a  variety  of  useful  ways.  However,  the 
experiences told by those who carried out DigComp im-
plementations about the context in which they operat-
ed and the stakeholders they involved also show that 
DigComp is hardly known in the business and pro-
fessional  world.  This  seems  to  be  true  also  among 
labour  market  intermediaries,  be  they  public  employ-
ment services (as results to different degrees from the 
stories collected in Italy, Poland and Spain)  or a private 
agency such as Adecco. This occurs in a context where 
the  development  of  digital  competence  is  increasing-
ly and widely perceived as a key factor for the digital 
transformation that is reaching and challenging all or-
ganisations. Stakeholders are becoming aware that it 
is now an important issue for everybody and not just 
for  specialist  IT  staff.  It  is  an  issue  that  goes  beyond 
just  learning  how  to  use  some  digital  tools  (more  or 
less  specific  to  a  job  or  transversal  to  many  occupa-
tions),  but  rather  concerns  broader  (and  less  defined) 

28

2. MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKET2.5 KEY SUCCESS AND ENABLING FACTORS

The key factors mentioned in the case studies 
which motivated DigComp adoption and 
contributed to its successful implementation 
can be summarized as follows:

The clear and solid structure 
of DigComp, which facilitates 
its communication and 
understanding, and its coherent 
implementation. Competence 
descriptions and examples are 
part of this clarity feature and 
also facilitate implementation.

The flexibility of DigComp, 
which is open to adaptation and 
specification to different contexts 
and needs. The possibility to 
combine/complement DigComp 
with other frameworks and other 
views of digital competence is 
part of this openness.

The new view of digital competence 
brought by DigComp, which goes beyond 
the mastery of IT tools and takes fully into 
account the “soft” component of digital 
skills for effective information search, 
online communication and collaboration, for 
example. This broader and “softer” view of 
digital competence is considered appropriate 
and needed to address the current challenges 
brought by the digital transformation.

The credibility 
and reliability of 
DigComp stemming 
from its EU origin and 
endorsement.

The “completeness” of 
DigComp, i.e. the fact 
that it covers a very 
large range of digital 
competence needs.

29

DigComp neutrality with respect 
to technological solutions  and 
to country features, which 
contributes to DigComp flexibility 
and usefulness particularly in 
international projects. Also in 
implementations at country or 
regional level which span across 
diverse techno-organisational 
settings.

2.MAPPING DIGCOMP USE IN THE LABOUR MARKETW

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES

A Pane e Internet 
B DCDS

p. 31

TOOL 1. Impact Assessment of The Pane e Internet For Work Project (C1A) 
TOOL 2. Entry questionnaire on digital competence for the 3i Digital literacy courses

ProDigeo 

Ikanos

ECCC DigComp certification 

Compass

Mu.SA 

SmartiveMap 

A BAIT   
B Pathways4Employ

p. 38
p. 39

p. 47

p. 55

p. 40

TOOL 3. Prodigeo Digital Competence course videos on YouTube

p. 48

TOOL 4. Ikanos professional digital competence profiles

p. 57

p. 63

p. 70

p. 80

p. 87

TOOL 5. Linking eCF, EQF and DigComp competences of the 4 new Mu.SA digital profiles    
TOOL 6. Transferable competences of the 4 new Mu.SA digital profiles

p. 76
p. 79

Adecco’s Competences Dictionary

p. 94

30

A PANE E INTERNET (PEI)  B DCDS
BELGIUM • GREECE • ITALY • LATVIA • ROMANIA • SPAIN

AECA, the association of VET 
organisations in Emilia Romagna, is 
involved in several projects under the 
regional government’s e-inclusion 
and active labour market policies, 
which address the serious digital 
skills gap in Italy, as well as inclusion 
of unemployed adults and younger 
people. 
The Pane e Internet (PeI) project used 
DigComp in 2013 (first implementation 
in Italy) to redesign its basic digital 
literacy courses. AECA used the PeI 
DigComp-based format in 2018 in the 
3i informatics courses for unemployed 
people run within public employment 
services. 
PeI also inspired the Erasmus+ KA3 
Digital Competence Development 
System (DCDS) project, coordinated by 
All Digital, which is currently underway. 
DCDS is testing a blended learning 
system to develop all 21 DigComp 
competences at level 1-2, aiming at 
adults 25+ years old.

The case in brief

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Leading organisation

AECA

Labour market skills analysis

Sector

NGO (association of VET organisations)

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

(A) 2009 – ongoing (B) 01/2018 – 12/2019

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

National, Italy / European

Personal development plan

Target audience

Unemployed people • people at risk of exclusion

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

Employee profiles covered 

-

-

Stakeholders involved 

VET organisations • local public administrations • public 
employment agencies

Online resources

Pane e Internet learning resources (in Italian) 

Measuring the Impact of Inclusion Actors (MIREIA): Impact As-
sessment Framework  Main Report (A)

Digital Competence Development Methodology (DCDM) (B)

DCDS Contents of the self-assessment tool (B)

DigComp into Action Guide: see C15, T10

Delivery of training

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Client tracking and monitoring

Tools

1. Impact Assessment of Pane e Internet For Work Project (A)

2. Entry questionnaire for 3i Digital literacy courses

Employee support

Contributors

Ervet / AECA (DCDS project) - Stefano Kluzer

AECA (Pane e Internet project) - Alex Boschetti

AECA, Head of Employment Area - Bruno Timoncini

✓ A
B

✓ A
B

✓ A
B

✓ B

✓ B

31

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

In Italy, the percentage of people with “above basic dig-
ital skills” was, in 2016, significantly lower than EU28 
average,  as  in  F.5.  Of  specific  concern  were  age  and 
gender  gaps.  The  Italian  situation  results  in  the  first 
place  from  demographic  factors  (high  share  of  older 
people), and the average low level of formal education, 
especially  among  older  people,  which  are  both  nega-
tively  correlated  with  digital  skills  levels.  The  limited 
role of the school system in the development of digi-
tal competence, and the overwhelming preponderance 
of micro- and small-medium enterprises in the Italian 
economy  (which  invest  less  than  larger  companies  in 
digitally  upskilling  their  workforce)  also  contribute  to 
the low digital skills profile of Italy, as compared to oth-
er European countries.

Beyond statistical evidence, the need to increase digi-
tal competence to enhance the employability of young 
people  and  adults  alike  has  emerged  quite  clearly  in 
recent years. With the reform of Italian active employ-
ment policies in 2014-15, public job centres operating 
in  Italy  at  provincial  and  sub-provincial  level  (called 
Centri  per  l’Impiego,  CPIs,  with  840  access  points  in 
2017)  are  asked  to  develop  the  capacity  of  people 
seeking work to actively search for a job, or to under-
take  some  (self-)entrepreneurial  activity.  This  goal  is 
considered important given the increasing turnover and 
lower job creation rates in the labour market observed 
in recent years, and it concerns both younger and older 
people.

Young  people  are  seldom  taught  at  school  or  at  uni-
versity how to search for a job. The implementation of 
the Youth Guarantee programme (launched in 2014 for 

F.5 

PEOPLE WITH ABOVE BASIC DIGITAL SKILLS BY GENDER AND AGE GROUP, ITALY VS EU28 AVERAGE   

(Source: Elaboration by Emilia-Romagna Digital Agenda Coordination Unit on Eurostat data)

18-29 year-olds) showed that especially young NEETs 
often lack the basic digital skills required to access the 
programme  and  to  use  the  CPIs’  services,  which  are 
increasingly delivered through digital channels. 
In  the  adult  segment  of  the  population,  on  the  other 
hand, many people lost their job during the post-2008 
economic  crisis,  and  interviews  with  them  show  that 
many, especially those in their late 40s and older, have 
forgotten how to search for a job or have never done 
it  before  (the  labour  market  in  the  past,  especially  in 
Emilia-Romagna,  was  very  easy  in  this  respect).  Very 
often, they also lack the digital skills to access CPI ser-
vices, to use online job search tools and to qualify for 

a new job.

The  Emilia-Romagna  regional  government  reacted  to 
these challenges by launching the Pane e Internet digi-
tal literacy project in 2008 to fight the digital exclusion 
of older people and the adult population in general and, 
more  recently,  by  supporting  measures  to  fight  digi-
tal  skills  gaps  as  part  of  active  employment  policies, 
co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF). AECA has 
been  a  key  actor  in  these  initiatives,  which  used  the 
DigComp  framework  as  soon  as  it  became  available, 
to design and deliver basic digital training courses and 
other services.

32

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDSBackground to AECA

DigComp in the Pane e Internet project (C1A)

The  Associazione  Emiliano  Romagnola  di  Centri  Au-
tonomi  di  Formazione  Professionale  (Association  of 
Autonomous Vocational Training Centres of Emilia-Ro-
magna),  or  AECA,  was  set  up  in  1973  under  the  ini-
tiative  of  a  group  of  vocational  training  bodies  that 
joined  efforts  to  manage  larger  and  more  innovative 
projects devoted to young people, adults, women, for-
eigners and disabled people. Today, AECA encompasses 
15  vocational  organisations  with  25  training  centres, 
many of which have a long history. The AECA centres 
are in constant contact with the business world in order 
to understand and respond to their training needs and 
co-operate with over one thousand enterprises. As the 
leader  of  all  these  accredited  bodies,  AECA  promotes 
youth policies and provides, among other things: design 
of  intervention  guidelines  for  VET  providers,  technical 
assistance  and  coordination  of  the  activities  of  VET 
providers,  and  management,  monitoring  and  evalua-
tion for VET providers.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP

AECA has carried out three main projects in which Dig-
Comp was used, directly and indirectly, for training and 
other purposes. Pane e Internet (PeI) is the main one 
and used DigComp as early as 2013-14. The PeI model 
and the DigComp perspective inspired the courses for 
unemployed people organised in 2018 in collaboration 
with  the  CPIs,  as  part  of  a  regional  lifelong  learning 
initiative. We also illustrate the Digital  Competence 
Development System (DCDS) Erasmus+ KA3 project, 
inspired by Pane e Internet and fully based on DigComp.

Pane e Internet (PeI) is the main digital inclusion and 
competence development initiative in Emilia Romagna, 
financed  by  the  regional  government  Regione  Emil-
ia-Romagna  (RER)  under  the  Regional  Digital  Agenda. 
It was launched in 2009-2010 as a pilot project that 
designed  and  tested  a  basic  digital  literacy  training 
course inspired by the e-Citizen model. From 2011 to 
2017, PeI was carried out by AECA in partnership with 
training and business services companies from Milan, 
Ismo  and  Simki.  After  scaling  up  the  delivery  of  the 
original  PeI  course  and  testing  an  experimental  PeI-
for-work  module  (see  TOOL  1)  from  2011  to  2013, 
in  2014  the  project  started  developing  a  network  of 
so-called  PeI  Points  throughout  the  region.  These  are 
jointly set up with large and small Municipalities, to or-
ganise  and  deliver  in  cooperation  with  local  libraries, 
schools, and private associations, three main activities: 
digital literacy training, e-facilitation services for peo-
ple at risk of digital exclusion, and digital culture events 
for the population at large. Today, there are 17 active 
PeI  points  throughout  Emilia  Romagna  and  over  the 
years PeI has delivered about 1500 courses to 23,400 
people with no/low digital skills: mostly mature adults 
(50+) and older people 60+ years old.

In  2013-14,  once  DigComp  1.0  was  published,  PeI 
training  designers  decided  to  revise  the  standard 
PeI course (which lasted 20 hours) and make it “Dig-
Comp-compliant”.  As  illustrated  in  the  DigComp  into 
Action Guide, they first mapped the existing PeI digital 
literacy course onto DigComp’s 5 areas and 21 compe-
tences.  This  process  showed  that  many  competences 
were  already  being  addressed,  but  some,  which  were 
deemed important for the PeI target group, were not. 

33

Besides, the analysis of the three DigComp proficiency 
levels  matched  the  need  to  articulate  the  new  train-
ing  offer  into  distinct  courses:  level  1  (20  hours,  red 
bubbles in F.6) almost entirely focused on 14 DigComp 
competences  at  foundation  level/A,  and  level  2  (16 
hours plus an online self-study component, blue bub-
bles in F.6). The second course would lead learners to 
intermediate level/B in 8 of those competences and to 
advanced level/C in 4 of them.

The  partial  coverage  of  DigComp’s  full  spectrum  re-
flects  two  main  factors:  course  duration  constraints 
(about 20 hours for each level) and what could be rea-
sonably  expected  from  PeI’s  main  target  participants 
(adults and older people with low or no digital experi-
ence).

Besides the use of DigComp as a methodological tool 
to redesign existing training goals and outcomes, learn-
ing resources and activities, DigComp was used in PeI 
as  a  “knowledge  tool”  in  the  training  of  e-facilitators 
(mostly public library staff and volunteers), and later as 
a source of inspiration to identify relevant issues and 
content for the design of events and seminars of PeI 
Digital  culture  programme,  aimed  at  stimulating  citi-
zens’ curiosity about information society topics.

The informatica, inglese/English, industria 
- 3i project for unemployed people

Given  the  problems  signalled  by  the  CPIs  about  the 
low levels of digital skills of many customers, and the 
growing digital skilling demands on unemployed people 
stemming from the evolution of CPIs’ own services (dis-
cussed above) and highlighted by labour market anal-
yses (Digital Competences Observatory Report 2018), 
RER launched in 2018 the initiative “Life-long learning 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDSC
C

C

B
B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

C

B

B

B

A
A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

F.6  MAPPING OF PANE E INTERNET COURSES ONTO DIGCOMP (C1A)

34

paths for unemployed people” (ESF-funded), focused on 
three  competence  areas:  informatics,  languages  (Ital-
ian  as  a  second  language  for  foreigners  and  English 
for  Italians),  transversal  competences  and  soft  skills 
demanded by industry. The initiative, known as 3i from 
the  Italian  titles  of  three  areas:  informatica,  inglese/
English,  and  industria,  envisaged  the  collaboration  of 
VET organisations with the CPIs to design and deliver 
training projects for unemployed people in these areas. 
Also in view of this initiative, RER organised with Ervet 
(the regional development agency, currently ART-ER) a 
technical seminar for the Emilia Romagna VET provid-
ers where DigComp was presented as a source of inspi-
ration for the courses in the informatics area. Over 50 
representatives of VET providers attended the seminar.

AECA  coordinated  the  preparation  of  3i  project  pro-
posals  with  its  associate  members  in  the  provinces 
of  Bologna,  Modena,  Ravenna  and  Ferrara.  DigComp 
was  used  in  the  training  design  process  in  three  dif-
ferent ways. First, the PeI course level 1 content (see 
the green bubbles in F.7) and format (16 hours) were 
essentially replicated in the Digital literacy course and 
the related learning materials (all of them associated 
with  DigComp  competences)  were  made  available  to 
the trainees. Second, some follow-up courses (16 or 32 
hours  long)  were  inspired  by  DigComp  competences, 
especially Tools for online storage, communication and 
sharing  of  digital  content,  Online  communication  and 
social networks for digital citizenship. Other follow-up 
courses (also 16 or 32 hours long) are ECDL-inspired 
(Basic  informatics,  Intermediate  and  Advanced  Word 
and  Excel)  and  one  is  on  Graphics  literacy  for  image 
editing and presentations. Third, a simple entry ques-
tionnaire was designed to check the digital knowledge 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDSof the trainees, with nine questions associated with the 
five DigComp areas for those attending the Digital lit-
eracy course, and three additional ones for those going 
directly to the Basic informatics course.
The four AECA projects were approved and funded with 
a total €1.7M. Participants were identified and recruited 
through the local CPIs, and directly through AECA’s own 
promotion  channels.  Over  200  courses  on  “informat-
ics  competences”  were  delivered  to  about  2000  par-
ticipants by the end of January 2019 across the four 
provinces  (almost  800  in  Bologna  alone).  About  32% 
of trainees took the Digital literacy courses and the re-
mainder went to follow-up courses. 53% of participants 
in the Digital literacy courses are women, and 47% are 
men. Confirming the existence of serious digital exclu-
sion among unemployed people, about 50% of trainees 
in Bologna were digital illiterates who had never used a 
computer, 1 out of 5 of them (mostly people 35+ years 
old) had a secondary education or university degree.

DCDS: The Digital Competence 
Development System project (C1B)
DCDS  is  an  Erasmus+  KA3  project  coordinated  by  All 
Digital,  which  aims  to  raise  the  awareness  of  policy-
makers  in  partner  countries  (Belgium,  Greece,  Italy, 
Latvia,  Romania  and  Spain)  on  digital  inclusion  chal-
lenges  and  opportunities,  and  to  provide  useful  tools 
to address them. These are represented by a blended 
learning methodology, an online platform and a train-
ing offer implementing it, designed to train adults (25+ 
years  old)  in  basic  digital  competence  for  work  and 
everyday necessities. As mentioned in the introduction, 
the DCDS target is the 40% of the European popula-
tion  with  no  or  low  digital  skills.  Pilots  in  five  partner 

F.7 

STRUCTURE OF DCDS TRAINING OFFER (C1B)

35

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDST.12  LIST OF LEARNING PATHS AND MODULES OF DCDS TRAINING OFFER (C1B)

Learning path: Base

 • Managing files and folders

 • Safe browsing and aware info search

Learning path: Digital content creation

 • Documents

 • Spreadsheets

 • Creating an account and using e-mail safely and correctly

 • Presentations

 •

Learning about public and private online service

 • Photos and videos

 • Protecting devices, data, health and well-being

 • Copyright and licences

 • Basic ICT operations

 • Digital self-awareness and learning

Learning path: Communication and social media

Learning path: Explore ICT 

 • Communication services

 • Social media

 • Copyright and licences

 • Programming

 •

 •

Environmental issues

Technical problems

 • New ICT tools

countries  will  test  the  DCDS  approach  and  tools  with 
different segments of this population, especially unem-
ployed people.

activities  and  RER  already  uses  an  e-learning  Moodle 
platform (called SELF) to train PeI e-facilitators, and for 
many other activities.

As the proponents wanted to develop a DigComp-based 
training offer and Pane e Internet had already gained 
some experience in that, AECA was tasked with the de-
sign of the Digital competence development methodol-
ogy (DCDM), within WP3 of the DCDS project. For AECA, 
and  Pane  e  Internet,  DCDS  represents  an  opportunity 
to further revise the training offer according to the lat-
est DigComp 2.1 framework, and to experiment with a 
new  training  delivery  mode  (blended  learning).  DCDS 
uses a Moodle platform for a number of online learning 

The  DCDS  project  started  in  January  2018  and  lasts 
24 months. The first year was devoted to designing the 
DCDM,  to  developing  a  self-assessment  tool  to  iden-
tify  candidate  learners’  weaknesses  in  order  to  par-
tially  customise  their  learning  path,  and  to  producing 
the  learning  materials.  The  second  year  (ongoing)  is 
devoted  to  developing  and  pilot  testing  the  platform, 
the training approach and the content (pilots run from 
March to May 2019), and then to improving the DCDM 
and all the developed tools following on pilots’ results.

36

DCDS is entirely based on DigComp, as the project pro-
ponents decided that the training offer should cover all 
five areas and 21 DigComp competences, at the mo-
ment, only at levels 1 and 2 of DigComp 2.1 (founda-
tion level). The blended learning approach stems from 
the  partners’  experience  in  training  adults  with  low 
digital skills, who are often, though not always, people 
with a weak educational background. With these learn-
ers, face-to-face teaching and peer interaction are very 
important, especially at the beginning of the learning 
process.

The  training  offer  is  structured  at  the  basic  level  by 
learning  units,  which  are  assembled  into  modules, 
which in turn make up a learning path (see  F.7). One 
learning  path  is  called  Base,  it  is  compulsory  and  it 
covers about 2/3 of the total course duration. Learners 
can then choose a second (shorter) learning path from 
three options: Communication & Social media, Digital 
Content  Creation  and  Explore  ICT.  In  T.12,  we  provide 
the list of learning paths and modules designed for the 
DCDS pilots. The granularity of learning units, however, 
makes it possible to recombine them in different ways, 
according  to  the  training  organisation’s  priorities,  the 
interests of learners and the desired training delivery 
duration.

Each Learning Unit addresses anything from one learn-
ing  outcome  (LOUT)  to  a  maximum  of  three  to  four 
interrelated  ones.  Identifying  and  specifying  perfor-
mance-based learning outcomes has been the crucial 
structuring step of the whole DCDM. AECA, in collabo-
ration  with  the  partners,  defined  a  total  of  96  LOUTs 
which are considered to be needed in order to achieve 
foundation  level  proficiency  in  all  21  competences. 
These LOUTs have been derived from analysis of sev-

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDSeral  sources:  the  competence  descriptors  in  DigComp 
Framework  v1  and  2.1,  the  DESI  human  capital  skills 
indicators, other DigComp implementations (identified 
using the DigComp into Action Guide), and a few oth-
er  digital  competence  frameworks.  Comparing  these 
sources made it possible to identify the most frequent 
learning outcomes, those included in the DESI indicator, 
and others which looked relevant for inclusion and work 
purposes  (DCDS  ultimate  concerns).  The  requirement 
was  of  course  that  the  selected  learning  outcomes 
should  be  coherent  with  DigComp  foundation  level, 
but in a flexible way, so as to guarantee a meaningful 
learning experience.
In DCDS, thanks to the LOUTs which are always asso-
ciated with a DigComp competence, the training offer 
is  systematically  related  to  the  DigComp  framework, 
but  it  does  not  necessarily  correspond  directly  to  it. 
This is because DigComp is structured by competenc-
es, whereas training content delivery in DCDS has been 
organised in a way which makes sense to the unskilled 
learner. For instance, when addressing the use of email 
services or social media, the learning modules include 
some LOUTs belonging to different competences in Area 
2  Communication  and  collaboration  (2.1  Interacting, 
2.3 Sharing, but also 2.5 Netiquette and 2.6 Managing 
digital identity), and others related to 3.3 Copyright and 
licences (about respecting IPRs when sharing content) 
or  to  Area  4  Safety,  e.g.  to  avoid  opening  suspicious 
email attachments.
Thanks  to  the  LOUT-DigComp  competence  link,  DCDS 
learning  achievements 
will  assess  and  validate 
(through badges) at the level of modules and learning 
paths, but also at the level of DigComp competences, 
once  all  the  LOUTs  belonging  to  a  given  competence 

have been successfully achieved, in some cases across 
different modules or learning paths.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• Pane e Internet learning resources based on DigComp
are organised into: Books, which introduce trainees to
new concepts and terms; and Guided Practices, which
explain  specific  operations  to  be  done  with  a  PC  or
tablet  step  by  step.  Guided  practices  are  available
only for PeI level 1 courses. These learning resources
are free and available in Italian only. PeI is current-
ly revising and updating this material based on the
LOUTs identified by the DCDS project.

• Measuring  the  Impact  of  Inclusion  Actors  (MIREIA):

Impact Assessment Framework  Main Report

• Digital  Competence  Development  Methodology
(DCDM)  (at  the  time  of  writing  this  was  the  initial,
pre-pilots version)

• DCDS Contents of the self-assessment tool

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• AECA (Pane e Internet project)

Alex Boschetti: boschetti@aeca.it

• Ervet / AECA (DCDS project)

Stefano Kluzer: s.kluzer@gmail.com

• AECA, Head of Employment Area

Bruno Timoncini:  timoncini@aeca.it

37

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDS  TOOL 1. Impact Assessment of The Pane e Internet For Work Project (C1A)

In 2012, the Pane e Internet (PeI) project carried out an 
experimental  training  experience  with  young  and  adult 
unemployed people. PeI had received help requests from 
the managers of the Bologna Municipality’s Employment 
Service and Parma Province CPIs to deal with many cus-
tomers  who  had  no  or  very  limited  digital  skills.  In  re-
sponse  to  this,  AECA’s  project  partner  ISMO  designed 
and tested, initially in Bologna, an additional PeI training 
module (called PeI-for-work) on how to use the internet 
for job searching, preparing and sending a CV and so on.

The  PeI-for-work  module  was  delivered  through  active 
job search labs lasting eight hours, with a standard in-
troductory  part  followed  by  variable  content,  depend-
ing  on  the  participants’  prevailing  interests:  online  job 
matching sites, private employment agencies’ websites, 
job  searching  in  public  employment,  vocational  training 
websites,  job  applications  on  companies’  websites,  and 
how to consult and respond to online job advertisements. 
Participants (8-12 unemployed people per lab) had to al-
ready have some basic digital skills (knowing how to use 

F.8  BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES IN ON-LINE JOB SEARCHING

38

a PC and email). Lab conductors (two per lab) were CPI 
orientation  advisors  with  experience  in  specialist  infor-
mation delivery and job searching guidance. PeI trained 
them on the e-facilitation service approach.

Given the positive results of this trial, a broader experi-
ment was carried out on the regional level in spring 2013: 
four courses were run at the Employment Offices of the 
Municipality of Bologna, nine courses at the CPIs of Par-
ma Province and two courses at the CPIs of Rimini Prov-
ince.  The  courses  were  attended  by  150  participants  in 
total (about 100 in Parma province alone).

The  wider  experiment  included  the  testing  of  the  im-
pact  assessment  method  based  on  randomised  control 
trials  (RCT)  developed  at  JRC  Seville  (formerly  IPTS)  in 
the MIREIA project  to measure the impact of eInclusion 
intermediaries’ activities on their customers’ employabil-
ity.  F.8  provides  the  frequency  of  adoption  of  different 
job searching methods by a control group of unemployed 
people who did not attend the PeI course (blue line), by 
the  PeI-for-work  course  participants  before  taking  the 
course (red line), and by the same group three weeks af-
ter the end of the course (green line). The figure shows 
that those who took the course significantly changed their 
job searching attitudes and practices, with such changes 
showing  up  after  the  end  of  the  course.  Course  partic-
ipants  also  started  a  snowball  effect,  by  sharing  their 
newly  acquired  knowledge  with  relatives  and  friends. 
Given  these  positive  results,  some  of  the  organisations 
involved  in  the  trials  (in  particular,  the  Parma  Province 
CPIs)  decided  to  continue  these  activities  on  their  own, 
beyond the MIREIA project.

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDS  TOOL 2. Entry questionnaire on digital competence for the 3i Digital literacy courses

The correct answer is in bold italic; in brackets, the 
corresponding Digcomp area (when available).

1. When I switch on the computer, I end up:
c 0n Google
c On the desktop (information area)
c In a personal folder
c I don’t know

5. Netiquette refers to:
c Professional program
c Good behaviour on the Internet (communication 

area)
c E-mail
c I don’t know

9. In order to protect your personal data
c When prompted, you reply to a safety alert
c You buy only by using your credit card
c There is no quick fix, you must pay attention and be 

cautious (safety area)

c I don’t know

2. Using Explorer I can:
c Write a document
c Send an e-mail
c Navigate on the Internet (information area)
c I don’t know

6. In order to download a program on your PC:
c You use a cd rom
c You open the “Manage files” program
c You log into a web site(content creation area)
c I don’t know

10. The word “cell” refers to
c The computer memory
c Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
c An adverts pop-up window
c I don’t know

3. When you hear about “font” and “style”, it refers to:
c Internet
c Editing images
c Text document (content creation area)
c I don’t know

7. In order to read an e-mail message:
c You open the “Documents” folder
c You use a word processor
c You go on the Internet (communication area)
c I don’t know 

11. In order to write a CV on you PC you use
c Microsoft Excel
c Microsoft Word
c Microsoft Publisher
c I don’t know

4. When you use an “online guide” you get:
c A better structured document
c A manual in digital format (problem solving area)
c A safety alert
c I don’t know

8. When you use an antivirus:
c You use a password
c You protect the PC  (safety area)
c You protect your e-mail
c I don’t know

12. If you select the “print” command
c You are using a photo application
c The computer must be connected to the printer
c You change and select the printing rules 
c I don’t know

39

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C1A PANE E INTERNET  C1B DCDSPRODIGEO
ITALY

The Prodigeo project was designed 
to enhance digital competence of 
staff working in public employment 
services in Italy (Centri per l’Impiego), 
for two main reasons: firstly, to help 
staff cope better with the increasing 
automation process that they are 
experiencing, both in the front and 
back offices, and secondly, to enhance 
their awareness of digital competence 
as an important employability factor 
for their customers, and their ability to 
contribute to its development.
Anpal Servizi, the operational arm of 
the Italian National Agency for Active 
Employment Policies, thus created the 
ProdiGeo eLearning platform and a 
10-module training course on digital
competence for the staff of public
and private employment services.
DigComp was used to identify the
digital competence needs of the staff
(and topics that might be relevant also
for customers) and then to design the
course organisation and content, in a
well-structured and easy-to-maintain
way.

The case in brief

Leading organisation

Anpal Servizi

Sector

Government

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Labour market skills analysis

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2015 - 2017

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

National, Italy

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employment services operators • NEETs • unemployed people

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

Public and private employment services

Delivery of training

Employee profiles covered 

-

Workforce development

Stakeholders involved 

Public and private employment services

Assessment of skills

Online resources

Anpal´s YouTube playlist

DigComp into Action Guide - see C8

Tools

3. Prodigeo Digital Competence course videos on YouTube

Contributors

Anpal Servizi, Prodigeo development team: 
Ivo Forni, Nicoletta Staccioli

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Client tracking and monitoring

Employee support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

40

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

The PROdotti DIGitali per l’Empowerment degli Opera-
tori (Digital Products for Operator Empowerment), Pro.
Dig.E.O.project (henceforth Prodigeo) was set up to ad-
dress two challenges faced by employment services in 
Italy.
On the one hand, these services are increasingly digit-
ised both in their back-office procedures and in their in-
teraction with customers, with constantly-evolving and 
new ICT solutions. The staff working in these services 
are trained to learn the new procedures, and to use the 
related software applications. But Prodigeo’s initiators 
at Anpal Servizi, who are among those designing and 
delivering such training (along with software solutions 
suppliers),  saw  that  employment  services  operators 
found it difficult to cope with and make sense of this 
increasing automation process. They identified one im-
portant cause of this difficulty in the lack of a broader 
digital culture and understanding of the main transver-
sal features of the ongoing digital transformation.
On the other hand, the official statistics about the low 
digital  skill  levels  of  the  Italian  population  and  the 
knowledge  gathered  through  direct  contact  with  em-
ployment services customers highlighted the opportu-
nity/need to raise awareness among service operators 
of the increasing importance of digital competence as 
an employability factor, and in particular, the need to 
increase their understanding of the digital competence 
needs of their customers and their ability to contribute 
to developing such competence, e.g. by recommending 
digital training opportunities where available.
Both these challenges pointed to the idea of develop-
ing  a  large-scale  training  process  focused  on  digital 

competence for the staff of public and private employ-
ment  services.  The  development  of  the  staff’s  digital 
competence  in  a  new  and  different  perspective  from 
the  traditional  approach  based  on  teaching  software 
applications would facilitate the digital transformation 
process  of  employment  services  and  have  a  positive 
“spillover” effect on the services’ customers.

Anpal Servizi and the Prodigeo project

Anpal Servizi S.p.A., which was born from the transfor-
mation of the pre-existing Italia Lavoro by the labour 
market reform of 2015 known as the Jobs Act, is the 
operational arm of Anpal - Agenzia Nazionale Politiche 
Attive Lavoro, the national agency for active employ-
ment policies. Anpal depends on the Ministry of Labour 
and Social Policies, and supervises and cooperates with 
the employment services network in Italy, composed by 
regional agencies, and public job centres at provincial 
and  sub-provincial  level  (called  Centri  per  l’Impiego, 
CPIs, with 840 access points in 2017), and private em-
ployment services, estimated to involve 20,000 organ-
isations (agencies of various types, private job consult-
ants, professionals working in schools and universities 
and others) with 40,000 people.
Anpal  Servizi  is  structured  into  three  directorates 
named Knowledge (devoted to research, training and IT 
services), Transitions (from education to employment) 
and Labour services. Anpal Servizi runs projects (usu-
ally co-financed by the European Social Fund, ESF), to 
develop and deliver training, pilot initiatives and other 
support services involving primarily the approximately 
8,000 staff of CPIs, but also private sector actors. Pro-
digeo is one of these ESF-funded projects promoted by 
the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

41

The  Prodigeo  project  was  defined  in  2013  under  the 
National  Programme  for  digital  culture,  training  and 
competence, which is one of six strategic axes of the 
Italian  Digital  Agenda,  launched  by  the  Italian  Digital 
Agency  (AGID).  This  program  prioritised  the  develop-
ment of digital competence of all citizens, in public ad-
ministration and in other areas. Thanks, among other 
things, to its choice of DigComp as a reference frame-
work,  it  was  approved  by  the  Ministry  of  Labour  and 
Social Policy in 2014, with a budget of €1.38m, and it 
was then implemented between 2015 and 2017.
The  project  developed  an  e-learning  course  with  10 
modules, based on the DigComp framework, to deliv-
er training on digital competence to the staff of pub-
lic  and  private  employment  services  throughout  Italy. 
Prodigeo is also the name of the IT platform (based on 
Moodle) that was built during the project and is under 
the  responsibility  of  the  organisational  unit  of  Anpal 
Servizi’s Knowledge directorate in charge of platforms 
and eLearning, with a transversal support function also 
to the company’s other directorates. Anpal Servizi has 
since been using the Prodigeo platform to deliver many 
other online courses to its customer base. 

LMI skilling functions provided

With the decentralisation of public employment servic-
es at regional level, which started about 20 years ago, 
the range of services delivered by CPIs in Italy varies 
significantly.  In  2018,  for  the  first  time,  a  Ministerial 
Decree  (no.  4  of  11  January  2018)  defined  the  com-
mon  essential  levels  of  performance  (Lep)  to  be  pro-
vided  throughout  the  country  by  CPIs  both  to  people 
seeking work and businesses. Before this development, 
the 8 service areas and related activities potentially of-

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEOT.13  FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF CPIS IN ITALY AND THEIR MAIN ACTIONS

Reception and first information
 • User reception
 •
 •

Expletion of administrative practices

Insertion and/or updating of user data in 
information systems

Identification of user needs

Level I orientation
 •
 • User profiling
 • Presentation of training and professional 

opportunities

 • Release of information on the services 

 • Support to the drafting of the user’s 

Level II guidance and skills balance sheet
 • Planning of guidance/advice routes
 • Reconstruction of the socio-professional 

history of the customer

 •

Identification and certification of 
competences

Guidance to work – job matching
 •

Implementation of actions to prevent the risk 
of failure in transition phases

 •
 •

Implementation of active job search labs

Implementation of interventions to 
accompany work placement

offered

curriculum vitae

 • User support in acquiring information on 

 • Accompaniment and monitoring of 

 • Updating of information boards (physical and 

virtual)

 • Addressing the user to specialist services
 • Definition of the individual service pact

professional, work and training opportunities

 •

Interview and definition of the individual 
action plan

 • User guidance and support in the 

construction of a professional development 
project and related action plan

individualised employment pathways - 
tutoring

 • Collection of curricula
 • Scouting job opportunities (matching)
 • Database management (data entry and 

updating)

Job placement for disadvantaged people
 • Analysis of the needs of disadvantaged 

people

Referral to Vocational Training
 •

Identification of the characteristics of 
previous learning (however acquired)

Business creation and self-employment
 • Personalized assistance for the definition of 
the business creation/self-employment plan

 •

Evaluation of the customer’s professional 
potential

 •

Identification of motivations and expectations 
for the training intervention

 •

Evaluation of the characteristics of the 
candidate and the project

 • Support to the drafting of the customer’s 

 • Assessment of the consistency of 

curriculum vitae

 • Selection and presentation of existing job 

opportunities

 • Support for insertion and re-entry into 
employment and related tutoring

 • Accompaniment (of the user and of the 
company) in the path of insertion and re-
insertion

 •

 •
 •

the competence endowment with the 
characteristics of the training intervention

Identification of criteria and tools for the 
verification of training credits

Evaluation and recognition of training credits

Identification of specific needs for the 
individualization and personalization of the 
training path

 • Preparation of a training project

 • Referral of the candidate to opportunities 
for meeting others and joint work (e.g. 
coworking)

 • Steering candidates towards concessional 

finance instruments to support 
entrepreneurship

 • Activation of additional accompanying 

services (e.g. mentoring, counselling and 
coaching)

 • Analysis and verification of the difficulties 
encountered by the new entrepreneur/self-
employed person

 • Addressing of the new entrepreneur/self-

employed person to specific support services

 •

Implementation of actions aimed at matching 
training demand and supply

42

Business services
 • Reception and assistance of companies 
in their search and management of 
employment legislation and service 
information

Expletion of administrative practices

 •
 • Release of information on the services 

offered

Identification of the needs of the company

 •
 • Supporting the drafting of staff requests
 •

Identification of suitable applications (pre-
selection)

 • Management of pre-selection/selection 

interviews

 • Recruitment of specialised and difficult to find 

professional figures

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEOfered by CPIs in Italy are shown in T.13. 

The actual services delivered by 90-99% of all CPIs in 
2017 and the most common actions are listed below: 

• Customer  reception  and  first  information  de-
livery  (including  registration  and  updating  of  user
data over time).

• Level  I  orientation  (identification  of  user  needs,
definition of the individual service pact, presentation
of training and professional opportunities, address-
ing the user to specialist services, support on draft-
ing curriculum vitae, user profiling).

• Guidance  to  work  –  job  matching  (collection  of

curricula and database management).

• Level II guidance and skills balance sheet (in-
formation on professional, work and training oppor-
tunities).

• Business  services  (assistance  to  companies  on
employment  legislation  and  service  information,
drafting  of  staff  requests,  identification  of  suitable
applications (pre-selection)

The  core  actions  carried  out  are  highly  standardised 
and  primarily  of  an  administrative  nature,  along  with 
the provision of information on local professional and 
training opportunities and some support on curriculum 
preparation. 

In  practical  terms,  the  first  step  for  a  person  seeking 
work with a CPI is filling in the “declaration of imme-
diate availability” (to work), called DID in Italian, online 
or with CPI staff support. This form collects basic infor-
mation about the person and their study background, 
and confirms that he/she is currently out of work. Then, 
there is the profiling interview, during which the oper-
ator  gathers  some  additional  information  about  past 

work  experiences,  any  current  study  activity  etc.  to 
produce an “employability score”. The third step is the 
suggestion of further actions, which also depend on the 
previous score. The range of such actions varies signif-
icantly across CPIs.

The standard profiling form used in this process does 
not include questions on digital or any other skills (but 
some  regional  governments  have  introduced  them), 
and little time is actually available to assess these as-
pects more deeply. Any information on the customer’s 
ICT knowledge, if collected, can of course be used, but 
it  is  not  a  structured  and  standard  procedure  at  the 
moment. Everything on this matter is entrusted to the 
CPI’s operator initiative.

On the other hand, whereas digital training opportuni-
ties are offered by VET organisations in many regions 
(often with ESF-funded courses), there is in general no 
structured  communication  flow  about  them  towards 
the CPIs, with a few exceptions. For instance, in Emil-
ia  Romagna  the  regional  government  systematically 
informs the CPIs about its digital literacy programme 
for the adult population, called Pane e Internet, and in-
volves  the  CPIs  in  actively  promoting  the  courses  to 
their customers.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP 

The Prodigeo project aimed to create a course on dig-
ital competence for employment services operators to 
be delivered online, so as to reach as many of them as 
possible. Besides catering for the needs of the opera-
tors, the course should address aspects that would also 
be  relevant  to  their  customers  e.g.  content  about  job 

43

searching  through  social  media,  online  opportunities 
for learning and professional development and so on.

The first step was to identify training needs. This was 
done in late 2014, just before the formal start of the 
project, through 10 focus groups with CPI operators and 
managers organised in the North, Centre and South of 
Italy, and through interviews with Anpal’s managers at 
central  and  regional  level.  In  this  process,  Prodigeo’s 
designers  presented  DigComp’s  new  view  of  digital 
competence  and  its  overall  structure,  and  illustrated 
the self-assessment grid from DigComp v.1. These el-
ements were used to frame and guide the discussion 
with focus group participants about their perceived dig-
ital competence strengths, weaknesses and needs. The 
novelty of DigComp at that time (e.g. Anpal Servizi had 
to translate the grid into Italian) and the lack of expe-
rience with it did not allow the Prodigeo team to make 
a deeper use of the framework in this initial step of the 
course  design  process.  The  DigComp  concept,  never-
theless, was understood and appreciated by CPIs oper-
ators and managers, who felt and expressed the need 
to  enhance  their  digital  competence,  for  themselves 
and potentially for the benefit of their customers. The 
latter’s digital competence needs were not so clear to 
the focus group participants, but reflecting on the diffi-
culties and failures of some new services and projects, 
training needs emerged, both with respect to older and 
younger  generations.  The  age  digital  gap  on  internet 
use  in  Italy  is  severe,  so  problems  with  older  people 
were expected. Among young people, it turned out, for 
instance, that ownership and/or use of the email was 
uncommon and its role to access online digital services 
poorly  understood.  Also,  many  young  people  felt  un-
easy with the idea of filling in their own online forms. 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEOThis confirmed the Prodigeo team’s idea that develop-
ing the operators’ digital competence could and should 
also have a spill over effect on the employment servic-
es’ customers. 
In the second step, the needs identified were mapped 
first onto the DigComp areas and then onto the specific 
competences, leading to identification of the areas and 
competences considered most significant for the target 
group. Focus group participants actually raised sever-
al topics which are not easily related to the DigComp 
framework – e.g. industry 4.0 and new digital jobs as-
sociated with business start-ups- which were included 
in the training programme (Module 10), but addressed 
simply with short “introductory pills”.
In  the  third  step,  the  target  proficiency  level  to  be 
achieved  for  each  area  and  each  individual  compe-
tence (see T.14) was defined by analysing the different 
DigComp dimensions across proficiency levels, and by 
referring them to usage scenarios in the work environ-
ment of a CPI.
Two examples of how the above “double use” goal (for 
operators and their customers) of specific competenc-
es was understood and managed are the following. In 
the case of Prodigeo’s Module 3 Information, operators 
face  an  increasing  range  of  potentially  useful  online 
information sources about active employment policies 
and specific measures, job opportunities and many oth-
er  topics.  The  training  had  to  address  how  to  assess 
the quality of the information found and the trustwor-
thiness of the sources, and explain the logic behind the 
sequence of answers provided by search engines. But 
this knowledge is also important for CPI customers, so 
as to make them critically aware of online opportuni-
ties  for  job  searching.  Another  example  concerns  the 

T.14  PRODIGEO COURSE MODULES, DIGCOMP COMPETENCES AND LEVELS

MODULE NAME

DIGCOMP COMPETENCE

1. Problem solving

2. Safety

5.2 Identifying needs and technological responses

5.4 Identifying digital competence gaps

4.1 Protecting devices

4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy

1.1 Browsing, searching and filtering information

3. Information

1.2 Evaluating information

1.3 Managing information

3.1 Developing digital content

PROFICIENCY

Intermediate

Intermediate

Foundation

Intermediate

Intermediate

Advanced

Intermediate

Intermediate

4. Creating content

3.2 Integrating and re-elaborating digital content

Advanced

3.3 Copyright & licences

5. Interacting through the new technologies

2.1 Interacting through the new technologies

6. Sharing information and content

2.2 Sharing information and content

7. Collaborating through digital channels

2.4 Collaborating through digital channels

Intermediate

Intermediate

Intermediate

Advanced

8. Engaging in online citizenship

2.3 Engaging in citizenship through digital technologies

Intermediate

9. Managing digital identity

2.6 Managing digital identity

2.5 Netiquette

10. Digital competences and entrepreneurship

5.3 Creatively using digital technology 

Advanced

Intermediate

Advanced

44

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEOuse of SPID identity. SPID (Sistema pubblico di identità 
digitale) is the unique login system to access the online 
services of the Italian public administration and private 
adherents. CPI operators must learn how to use SPID 
to access, for instance, the INPS Social Security portal, 
as requested by some service procedures. But knowing 
about and learning to use SPID has become a matter 
of digital citizenship in Italy, which is also relevant to 
CPI customers.
The last step in the Prodigeo process was designing and 
implementing training content, consistent with learning 
needs and target levels. Themes were aggregated into 
modules with the same structure (see F.9), designed to 
deal approximately with a similar number of topics and 
have similar duration of about 2 hours for the core part 
(entry test, two or more tutorials, a video lesson and a 
final test), plus a variable time for the study of supple-
mentary in-depth material. Besides the online course, 
Prodigeo also designed a series of webinars to deepen 
and consolidate a number of course topics.
An important criterion in training content selection and 
production  was  to  try  to  minimise  its  rapid  obsoles-
cence risk, which was addressed by avoiding focusing 
on specific software tools and instead focusing on ser-
vices and access to them. This also met the Prodigeo 
designers’ desire to address the debate on commercial 
vs. open-source software (which is being implemented 
at several CPIs), and to clarify that developing digital 
competence  was  an  aim  beyond  the  use  of  specific 
tools.  The  DigComp  Framework’s  view  facilitated  all 
these choices.
Although  each  module  can  be  studied  and  complet-
ed  independently  from  the  others,  the  recommended 
learning  sequence  to  take  the  full  online  course  with 

F.9  STRUCTURE OF TRAINING MODULES (EXAMPLE OF SAFETY MODULE)

45

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEOan appropriate didactic logic is summarised as follows: 
1+8 -> 2+9 -> 6+7 -> 3+4 -> 5 -> 10. 
The design of the Prodigeo digital competence course 
had  to  address  the  challenge  of  providing  content 
which would make sense throughout Italy, even though 
the  course  customers,  even  within  the  national  pub-
lic CPI system, operate with different internal technical 
and  organisational  conditions  and  external  local  con-
texts. This was another reason for focusing on compe-
tences and not on specific software applications used 
in CPIs. DigComp technology neutrality and the general 
treatment of many topics proved particularly useful in 
coping with these requirements.
The  digital  competence  training  course  was  ready  by 
January 2017, and was made available on the ANPAL 
Prodigeo  platform,  where,  after  registration,  anybody 
could  use  it  free  of  charge.  The  course  could  also  be 
taken on mobile devices, as Prodigeo made use of re-
sponsive  technologies  which  “adapt”  the  interface  to 
different devices while providing the same educational 
content, and each training object was designed for rap-
id use on the move.
The  large-scale  promotion  and  delivery  of  the  course 
among  public  and  private  employment  services  ulti-
mately  never  took  place.  This  was  due  to  the  imple-
mentation of the Jobs Act reform, the parallel launch of 
other important policies (e.g. the Reddito di Inclusione, 
REI  anti-poverty  inclusion  income  measure)  and  new 
services  such  as  the  mandatory  DID  online  since  Dec 
2017 affecting unemployed people. All these changes 
shifted staff training priorities away from digital com-
petence to other topics.
Nevertheless,  users  of  the  Prodigeo  platform  found 
out about the course and at the time of writing 910 of 

them (12% of total users) had enrolled in the Digital 
Competence Path in self-training.
In late 2019, with the completion of all Prodigeo pro-
ject  activities  and  following  internal  reorganisation  at 
Anpal Servizi, the Prodigeo website was dismissed and 
all training content was transferred to a new  eLearning 
platform which is no longer publicly accessible.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• Anpal´s YouTube playlist, where all Prodigeo’s vide-

os are presented.

• DigComp into Action Guide - see C8

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• Anpal Servizi, Prodigeo development team

Ivo Forni: iforni@anpalservizi.it
Nicoletta Staccioli: nstaccioli@anpalservizi.it

46

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEO  TOOL 3. Prodigeo Digital Competence course videos on YouTube

DIGCOMP COMPETENCE AREA

DIGCOMP COMPETENCE

COURSE

1. Information and data literacy 

Informazione digitale integrale

2.1 Interacting

Interagire attraverso le tecnologie

2.2 Sharing

2. Communication and collaboration

Condivisione. Come sfruttare la condivisione.

Condivisione. La condivisione su internet. Integrale.

Collaborazione (parte 1). La qualità dei servizi della PA.

Collaborazione (parte 2). Il design dei servizi della PA.

2.4 Collaborating

Collaborazione (parte 3). Nuove soluzioni di collaborazione.

Collaborazione (parte 4). I dati aperti.

Collaborazione (parte 5). Come partecipare

3. Digital content creation

Sviluppo, integrazione, rielaborazione contenuti

4. Safety

Sicurezza informatica. Versione integrale

Sicurezza informatica, Intro

5. Problem solving

Other

Sicurezza informatica, Pubblica Amministrazione

Problem solving, versione integrale

Problem solving e imprenditorialità – intro

Tecnica, abilità, competenze. Video introduttivo al modulo formativo “Competenze digitali: problem solving e competenze digitali”

La trasformazione digitale. Video introduttivo al modulo formativo “Competenze digitali: problem solving e competenze digitali”

Trasformazione della PA

Il processo formativo

47

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C2 PRODIGEOIKANOS
SPAIN

The Basque Country Government 
launched the Ikanos project in 2012 to 
create a learning support infrastructure 
for the digital competence needs of 
citizens, enterprises, civil servants, 
and others. DigComp was chosen 
from the beginning as the reference 
framework for all Ikanos actions, which 
are now enabling widespread digital 
transformation in the Basque Country. 
Ikanos used DigComp to develop a 
set of tools: a self-assessment test 
(used by over 50,000 citizens) for 
career and training guidance and 
to improve the personal skills and 
employability of unemployed people, 
15 Professional Digital Profiles, the 
Ikanos Personal Learning Environment 
to support continuous development of 
digital competence, and the new digital 
competence certification system BAIT 
(see C8). 
Ikanos shows DigComp potential, 
once adopted in a systemic way, 
to create “interoperable” resources 
and services which enhance both 
citizens’ employability and the digital 
transformation of the business sector 
and public administration.

The case in brief

Leading organisation

Ikanos

Sector

Government

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Labour market skills analysis

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2012 - Ongoing

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

Regional, Basque Country, Spain 

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed • Unemployed • Generic population

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

-

Employee profiles covered 

15 profiles (see T.15)

Stakeholders involved 

Public administration • University • Private companies 
(manufacturing and other sectors) • Public and private 
employment services

Standard Ikanos self-assessment test (SAT)

Professional digital profiles (in Spanish only)

Delivery of training

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Online resources

Guide for professional digital profiling 

Job search support

Ikanos Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

DigComp into Action Guide - see C2, T2, T3, T4

Client tracking and monitoring

✓

Tools

4. Ikanos Digital Competence Professional Proflies

Employee support

Contributors

Ikanos project - Ana Isabel Vitorica Leoz, Director 

Ibermática - Roberto Lejarzegi, Consultant

48

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

As part of its Agenda Digital de Euskadi 2015 (AD@15), 
the Basque Country Government decided to establish a 
“learning support infrastructure” to promote and facili-
tate continuous development of digital competence as 
a key driver for the innovation and competitiveness of 
the Basque country. Many ICT training initiatives were 
already underway at that time in different parts of the 
local society and economy, and the goal was to incor-
porate  and  further  develop  them  into  a  comprehen-
sive  and  coherent  system  which  would  start  with  the 
assessment  of  citizens’  digital  competence  and  then 
support orientation, training and certification processes 
with a range of interconnected tools and services.

The Ikanos project was therefore launched in 2012 to 
create such learning support infrastructure and to ad-
dress both the common and specific digital competence 
needs  of  citizens,  enterprises,  civil  servants,  teachers 
and  other  segments  of  Basque  society.  When  Dig-
Comp was  published,  it was immediately adopted for 
the Ikanos project, as an authoritative, transversal and 
flexible digital competence framework that could act as 
a scaffold for the whole process.

The Ikanos project

The  Basque  Government  Directorate  of  Entrepreneur-
ship, Innovation and Information Society at the Depart-
ment of Economic Development and Infrastructure has 
been in charge of the Ikanos project from the very start. 

Initially,  Ikanos  focused  mainly  on  the  public  sector, 
with milestones including:

• mapping experiences with the evaluation and certi-

Strategy

people

organisations

global

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Action

1. Digcomp framework ikanos site

2. ikanos self-assessment Test

3. Personal Digital Profile report

4. Digital Organizational Profile

5. Professional Digital Profile

6. Definition of objectives

7. Professional Digital Profile Management

8. Results analysis tool

9. Organizational Diagnosis Report

10. Orientation Guide

11. Resource Cataloguing

12. PLE configuration

13. e-Portfolio construction

16. BAIT Digital Skills Certification

F.10   AREAS OF IKANOS ACTIVITY

49

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOST.15 

IKANOS PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROFILES (2018)

PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL PROFILE

SOURCE/PARTNER

Administrative Staff (In Public And 
Private Organisations)

Mondragon Univ. – 
Ikanos

Machine Operator

Sales Representative

Entrepreneur

Ikanos

Ikanos

Ikanos

Industrial Machinery Operator And 
Numerical Control Programmer

TolosaldeaLHII

Advanced Manufacturing Maintenance 
Technician

Mondragon Univ.

3d Designer For Additive Manufacturing

I.m.h. Hirudi3D

Additive Manufacturing Machinery 
Operator

I.m.h. Hirudi3D

Robotics Technician

Mondragon Univ.

Sme Digital Transformation Manager

ASLE

Manufacturing Line Operation Technician

Aernnova

Consultant On Services And Programs 
For The Third Sector

EDE Taldea

Economist - Business Manager

Ekonomistak

Economist - Consultant

Ekonomistak

Economist - Specialist In Digital 
Marketing

Ekonomistak

fication of digital competence in Spain and Europe;

• developing  a  self-assessment  test  (SAT)  of  digital
competence for citizens and a Guide for intermedi-
aries on using the results of the test for training and
employment orientation purposes;

• defining four Professional Digital Profiles (PDPs, the

first four in T.15);

• organising  thematic  workshops  with  stakeholders

from across Basque society;

• disseminating the project at national and European

level.

In the current (second) phase of the project, given the 
strong  emphasis  of  the  2015-2020  Basque  Digital 
Agenda  on  public-private  collaboration,  Ikanos´  main 
aim has been to make digital competence development 
the driving transversal and structural  element  of for-
mal  education  and  lifelong  learning,  of  employment 
plans  and  of  the  Industry  4.0  strategy  in  the  Basque 
country.
In the field of education, following its effective use in 
testing  students’  digital  competence  in  schools,  Dig-
Comp has been adopted as the main digital reference 
framework  for  the  new  Basque  education  syllabus 
HEZIBERRI  2020.  TKNIKA,  the  institution  in  charge  of 
support  and  innovation  for  vocational  education  and 
training organisations in the Basque Country, has been 
revising its training pedagogy, and has been using Dig-
Comp Org in this context.
To achieve this overarching goal, Ikanos has carried out 
many actions summarized in F.10, including the follow-
ing ones which are relevant to this study:

1. the  standard  format  of  the  Ikanos  SAT    was  im-

50

proved and several different versions developed to 
take account of specific professional profiles, where 
70% of the questions are specific to the job;

2. 11 new PDPs (especially for the Basque industry 4.0
strategy)  were  designed  and  added  to  the  original
four profiles (see  T.15). This work was done in col-
laboration with Mondragon University, manufactur-
ing companies and other stakeholders (see TOOL 4);

3. the  Orientation  Guide  for  intermediaries  was  also
updated. The Guide explains how to use results from
the Ikanos SAT to help customers choose/design ef-
fective learning paths towards selected job profiles;

4. the new digital competence certification system of
the Basque country called BAIT was designed, test-
ed extensively and brought into operation in autumn
2018 (see C8A BAIT).

Ikanos’ focus has already shifted significantly towards 
supporting  the  digital  transformation  of  the  Basque 
economy,  by  working  with  enterprises  involved  in  it 
and by strengthening citizens’ digital competence de-
velopment  for  employability  from  a  lifelong  learning 
perspective. This evolution will be reinforced in the next 
project phase.
Turning  to  the  world  of  business,  Ikanos  plans  to 
launch  many  pilots  with  enterprises,  local  Chambers 
of Commerce and other stakeholders, in order to test 
and adapt its assessment tools and PDPs in different 
Basque industries. Results from this ground-level prac-
tice  will  be  engineered  into  off-the-shelf  solutions  as 
these become more mainstream. In order to facilitate a 
more bottom-up and business-driven process, success-
ful  digital  transformation  cases  will  be  made  highly 
visible, to encourage other enterprises to imitate them. 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOSThe development of benchmarking services on digital 
competence across business sectors and functions (for 
which there is already high demand) will be part of this 
process. The idea is to measure a company profile and 
compare it to the industry average, or that of its direct 
competitors, or the market leaders. An online commu-
nity of Ikanos practitioners will be promoted, in order 
to enhance the exchange of experiences. DigComp will 
continue  to  be  the  reference  framework  used  to  de-
scribe  the  competence  side  of  digital  transformation 
for both benchmarking services and the online commu-
nity of Ikanos practitioners.
As  for  developing  citizens’  digital  competence  to  en-
hance employability from a lifelong learning perspec-
tive, Ikanos plans to spread the use of the Orientation 
Guide more widely and consolidate it among interme-
diaries,  and  to  develop  the  Ikanos  Personal  Learning 
Environment. Both should support citizens in their digi-
tal learning journey.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP 

Ikanos activities and tools have used DigComp system-
atically from the very beginning, establishing it as the 
reference  framework  for  all  those  wishing  to  develop 
digital competence in all kinds of domains within the 
Basque Country. These include integrating unemployed 
people into the labour market, promoting self-employ-
ment and entrepreneurship, and reskilling and upskill-
ing employees in public and private organisations.
TThe  Ikanos  SAT  and  the  Professional  Digital  Pro-
files  are  key  tools  in  these  processes  and  both  have 
been developed starting from DigComp areas, 21 com-

Nivel
intermedio

Nivel
intermedio

Nivel
intermedio

Nivel
intermedio

Nivel
intermedio

Personal report with objectives: to compare user results with the expected values.
Personal report with objectives: to compare user results with the expected values.

Target values in green
Target values in 
Personal results in purple
Personal results in 

, are taken from the professional digital profile.
green, are taken from the professional digital profile.
 come from the answers to the test.
purple come from the answers to the test.

F.11 

IKANOS TRAINING DESIGN AND EMPLOYMENT ORIENTATION PROCESS

51

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOSpetence  descriptions  and  three  proficiency  levels.  The 
DigComp into Action Guide’s tools T2 (p. 121) and T3 
(p. 122) illustrate how this was done. A revised/updated 
description of the Ikanos PDP approach is provided in 
TOOL 4 to this chapter.

Using  a  common  framework  has  made  it  possible  to 
compare the results of the Ikanos test with the digital 
competence requirements of occupations which are in 
high demand in the local labour market (which Ikanos 
is informed of by companies), or with staff competence 
development  targets  set  by  (public  and  private)  em-
ployers, in order to identify and suggest learning paths 
towards those goals. This is done with the support of 
the Orientation Guide for Intermediaries illustrated be-
low.  

The Orientation Guide for Intermediaries

The Orientation Guide for Intermediaries is an internal 
working tool that explains how to compare the PDP for 
a  given  occupation  with  a  customer’s  Ikanos  test  re-
sults,  in  order  to  identify  the  main  competence  gaps 
faced  by  the  user  and  the  training  which  is  available 
to  fill  those  gaps  (see  F.11  and  F.12).  The  Guide  also 
suggests how to explain this operation to the customer, 
to ask a few additional questions and to make recom-
mendations based on the results.

The  training  priorities  suggested  to  the  customer  are 
identified by matching the results in the personal pro-
file  with  the  expected  proficiency  level  for  the  core 
competences required for the selected occupation  (see 
TOOL 4). As in F.11 and F.12 the advisor highlights the 
resulting gaps in the personal profile, and recommends 
that the largest ones be addressed first, through avail-
able training or another learning strategy.

is a 
Ikanos Orientation Guide is a 
Ikanos Orientation Guide 
 for professional guidance 
tool for 
tool
professional guidance 
counselors:
counselors:
  •• To verify test results
To verify test results
  •• To go further in digital
To go further in digital 
diagnosis
diagnosis
  •• To compare test results with
To compare test results with 
professional profiles that
professional profiles that 
match candidate skills
match candidate skills

Competence 1.3 Storing and retrieving information: Store information  and content 
to facilitate  retrieval  and organize  information  and data.

The user has obtained his score in this competence by rating:
• His/her methods and habits of storing information, on physical media and  in the cloud
• The way in which you classify and archive information.
• How quickly it locates and retrieves stored information..

We need to verify that the user:

• Understands  how  information is stored  on different devices and  services.
• Knows different storage  media options  and is able to select the most appropriate  one.
• Is able to use information management  services, programs and applications.
• Structures and classifies information and contents  according to one or several classification methods.
• Uploads and  classifies information and digital content  and accesses and retrieves stored  information.
• Is capable  of tagging content. 

Other questions related to storing and retrieving information:
• How do you back up your files? What storage  hardware  or service do you use?
• How is your naming strategy for folders and files?

Other questions about Cloud Skills:

• Do you know how to use Dropbox?  Evernote, Pocket? OneDrive or Google Drive?
• Do you have a strategy  for tagging  new  elements?
• Do you know how to synchronize bookmarks from your browser on another  computer?
• When using social bookmarks (Delicious or Diigo) the categorization  and use of tags is fundamental.  Do

you know any of these  services? What do you think of them?

F.12  THE ORIENTATION PROCESS

To  support  the  use  of  the  Guide,  and  in  view  of  the 
development  of  the  Ikanos  Personal  Learning  Envi-
ronment,  DigComp  has  been  used  to  classify  all  the 
ICT-related  courses  and  learning  materials  offered  by 
KZgunea and the Basque government’s Industry Dept. 
via SPRI, the Basque regional development agency and 
its  Enpresa  and  Mikroenpresa  Digitala  training  itiner-
aries. For instance, F.13 illustrates this process where 
a specific course is classified as leading to a founda-

tional level of proficiency of the DigComp competence 
1.1 Browsing and searching data; to intermediate level 
of 1.3 Storing and retrieving information; 2.2 Sharing 
information and content and 3.4 Programming; and to 
advanced  level  of  3.2  Integrating  and  re-elaborating 
content. Therefore, the course will be recommended to 
a customer who needs or wants to improve these dig-
ital competences to the specified levels. A searchable 
list of learning resources has been produced according-

52

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOSly,  with  information  about  targeted  competences  and 
levels, course duration and delivery mode (online, with 
a tutor etc.). Based on this experience, Ikanos is devel-
oping a Guide to classify training content following the 
DigComp framework, to be used by digital training pro-
viders in the Basque Country. As a result of this work, 
an “Ikanos label” has been created to express the com-
petence levels that can be acquired with that particular 
training resource.

The Anezka programme and the Ikanos Personal 
Learning Environment

The latest Ikanos action from the lifelong learning for 
employment perspective is the collaboration started in 
October 2018 with DEMA, the Foral Agency of Employ-
ment and Entrepreneurship of the Department of Em-
ployment, Social Inclusion and Equality of the Basque 
government, which organises the Prestik Employment 
Fair held every two years in Bizkaia.

The collaboration concerns the Anezka-Lanzaderas de 
Empleo  programme,  which  aims  to  improve  the  per-
sonal  skills  and  employability  of  unemployed  people, 
supporting them in the process of entering the labour 
market.  A  lanzadera  de  empleo  (employment  shuttle, 
in  English)  is  a  heterogeneous  team  of  unemployed 
people  who  organise  themselves  with  the  support  of 
a  coordinator-counsellor  to  join  forces  in  their  search 
for  employment  and  self-employment,  exploring  the 
different  ways  of  integrating  themselves  into  the  la-
bour market. Participants to the programme tend to be 
between their late twenties and their fifties, and have a 
good educational and/or professional background (typ-
ically in non-STEM areas), but are weak in digital skills. 
Some  lost  their  job  due  to  the  economic  crisis,  while 

LABEL

Course : Advanced Excel for
Dashboards

A1C1

A1C3

A2C2

A3C2

A3C4

BROWSE, SEARCH

STORE 

SHARE 
INTEGRATE 
CONTENT
PROGRAMMING

FOUNDATION  A2
INTERMEDIATE B2
INTERMEDIATE B2

ADVANCED C1

INTERMEDIATE B2

1

2

3

4

STAGE 1:

STAGE 2:

STAGE 3: 

STAGE 4: 

RESOURCE 
OBJECTIVES & 
ACTIVITES 
IDENTIFICATION

DigComp 
COMPETENCES 
INVOLVED

COMPETENCE 
LEVEL 
IDENTIFICATION

LABEL 
CREATION

F.13  MAPPING COURSE CONTENT TO DIGITAL COMPETENCES

others want to move into an occupation for which they 
do not have the requisite skills. In the past three years, 
the 17 groups who have participated in the Anezka pro-
gramme have achieved a labour market entry rate of 
more than 50%.
The  2018-19  programme  involved  80  people,  who 
worked in teams of 20 in five-hour sessions, three days 
a  week  for  five  months,  to  increase  their  chances  of 
finding a job. The programme includes workshops, pro-

ject work, and training pills on emotional intelligence, 
communications dynamics, personal branding and job 
searching on social media, job interviews, employability 
maps  and  other  topics  designed  to  improve  employ-
ability,  personalised  sessions  with  a  counsellor,  direct 
contact with companies and human resources manag-
ers, participation in forums, meetings and events, en-
trepreneurship workshops and practical labs for partic-
ipants with a business idea.

53

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOSiPLE

Where to	
access
information

Where to	
modify
information

PLN:	where	to	
establish	
relationships	
with	others

Sharing
materials

Sharing
experiences and	
activities

Establishing
personal	
relationships

F.14  ACTIVITIES TO BUILD AND DEVELOP THE IPLE

When  DEMA  became  aware  of  Ikanos’  approach  and 
tools,  they  agreed  to  collaborate  and  start  using  the 
Ikanos  SAT  and  digital  profiles  in  the  Anezka  pro-
gramme. On the one hand, the Anezka counsellors were 
trained on the Ikanos test and the Orientation Guide. All 
participants in Anezka took the test and got the Ikanos 
digital  profile  resulting  from  it.  Based  on  it  and  their 
employment  interests,  participants  then  worked  with 
the  programme’s  counsellors  to  discuss  and  design 
their  target  Professional  Digital  Profile  and  learning 
priorities. The programme offers training opportunities 
on using tools and services such as Excel and Google 
Drive to share information online. Beyond this, Ikanos 
aims to take this opportunity to start collaborating with 

DEMA  to  implement  the  Personal  Learning  Environ-
ment approach, which broadens learning opportunities 
to match what is on offer in the online world, and sup-
ports a continuous learning perspective. The plan is to 
test the whole range of tools to teach courses, rubrics, 
checklists, procedures, and available learning material 
that  were  designed  for  the  iPLE  some  time  ago.  F.14 
illustrates the activities which are envisaged to create 
the Ikanos Personal Learning Environment.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• The  standard  Ikanos  self-assessment  test  (SAT)  is

54

available in Euskara, Spanish and English.

• The following professional digital profiles are avail-
able  in  Spanish  only.  General  profiles:  Técnico  Ad-
ministrativo;  Operador  maquinaria;  Comercial;
Emprendedor. Industry 4.0 profiles: Técnico en Mec-
atrónica; Técnico de Mantenimiento; Técnico en CNC;
Diseñador  para  Fabricación  Aditiva;  Operador  de
maquinaria de Fabricación Aditiva; Técnico en Trans-
formación digital PyMe.

• The Guide for professional digital profiling is an aid
to conducting the interview with experts in some oc-
cupation. It includes on a single page for each com-
petence  all  the  descriptors  of  DigComp  versions  1
and 2, so that the interviewer can more easily men-
tion the examples that appear in the guide and ask if
those knowledge and skills are relevant in the given
occupation.

• On the Ikanos Personal Learning Environment (PLE),
one  can  find  many  documents  (in  Spanish)  In  par-
ticular:  PLE  para  para  el  aprendizaje  en  organiza-
ciones y en comunidades de aprendizaje; PLE para el
aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida (Life long learning);
Teorías del aprendizaje para sustentar el uso de PLE.

• DigComp into Action Guide - see C2, T2, T3, T4

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

•

•

Ikanos project - Ana Isabel Vitorica Leoz, Director
anavitorica@euskadi.eus

Ibermática - Roberto Lejarzegi, Consultant
r.lejarzegi@ibermatica.com

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOS  TOOL 4. 1/2 - IKANOS PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL COMPETENCE PROFILES

A  professional  competence  profile  defines  the  behaviours,  skills  and  abilities 
which  contribute  to  labour  performance  in  a  given  occupation.  Such  a  profile 
can  be  used  to  assess  the  potential  and  suitability  of  a  given  individual  for  a 
job,  to  detect  training  needs  and  define  training  plans,  and  to  evaluate  work 
performance. From Ikanos’ perspective, a “professional digital competence pro-
file” (PDP) specifies the digital knowledge, skills and attitudes that a professional 
must possess in order to adequately perform the tasks that require the use of 
digital tools and applications in a given job or occupation category.

The Ikanos approach uses DigComp (areas, competences, three proficiency levels 
and  related  learning  outcomes)  as  the  reference  framework  for  defining  PDPs 
which are appropriate for the Basque context. In the Ikanos approach, DigComp 
competences for any given occupation are also classified into three categories, 
depending on their relevance for the given job:

 •

transversal, digital competences which are common to all ICT-based work 
in the sector;

 • core, digital competences which are mandatory for the activities associated 

with the given job;

 • complementary,  digital  competences  that  are  helpful  and  enhance  work 

performance, but are not strictly necessary to do the job.

To define a PDP, Ikanos experts first describe all the main activities performed in 
the job in question, reflecting different levels of experience and proficiency and 
identifying critical tasks from the point of view of work output.

In the second step, they identify which activities can be performed using digital 
tools (at a later stage, hardware and software options are also specified). These 
digital activities are then associated with DigComp competences and proficiency 
levels. In turn, the selected competences are classified according to Ikanos’ three 
categories (transversal, core, and complementary, as reflected in the colours of 
the bullets in F.15). As the blank lines in F.15 show, show, not all DigComp com-
petences are necessarily used in every profile, because the job in question may 
not require those specific competences.

Later on, interviews are run with experts (professionals in the field, human re-
sources managers, vocational training specialists and others) in order to identify 
in more detail the digital aspects of job tasks and to specify the competence de-

F.15  DIGITAL PROFESSIONAL PROFILE: PRIMARY CARE HEALTH PROFESSIONALS 

55

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOSNivelBásicoIntermedioAvanzadoExpertoÁreaCompetenciaA1A2B1B2C1C2D1D2Información1.1 Navegar, buscar y filtrar lainformación1.1.1 Utilizar servicios de información clínicainternos1.1.2 Utilizar servicios de información clínicaexternos1.2 Evaluar lainformación1.2.1Valorarlacalidaddelainformaciónclínica(PILAR)1.2.1 Valorar Apps depacientes1.3 Almacenar y recuperar lainformación1.3.1 Conocer y mantener Sistema de GestiónIntegrado1.3.2 Ordenar y borrar versiones dedocumentos1.3.3 Curación decontenidosComunicación2.1 Interactuar mediantetecnologías2.2.1 Hacer videoconferencias conLync2.2 Compartir información ycontenidos2.2.1 Compartir documentos medianteOsabox2.2.2 Utilizar Osabegi para compartirinformación2.3 Participación enlínea2.4Colaboraratravésdecanalesdigitales2.4.1 Gestionar conocimiento medianteJakinsarea2.4.2 Colaborar en proyectos medianteOsagune2.4.3.Incrementarlarelaciónonlineconlospacientes2.5Netiquette2.6 Gestionar la identidaddigitalCreaciónde  Contenido3.1Desarrollo decontenidos3.2 Integración y Reelaboración deContenidos3.3 Copyright yLicencias3.4ProgramaciónSeguridad4.1 Protección de losdispositivos4.2 Protección de datospersonales4.3 Protección de lasalud4.4 Protección delentornoSoluciónde  Problemas5.1 Resolver problemastécnicos5.2 Identificar necesidades y resp.tecnológicas5.3Innovaciónyusocreativodelatecnología5.4 Identificarbrechas en la competencia digitalCompetencias Centrales                        Competencias Transversales                Competencias ComplementariasOther industrial digital sub-competencies have been identified in the following ar-
eas: monitoring technological advances linked to lifelong learning and the Personal 
Learning  Environment,  information  management  methodologies  such  as  “Digital 
5S”, 3D design aspects of advanced CNC and Additive Manufacturing (see above), 
installing and configuring industrial networks and electronics linked to machinery, 
and  solving  technical  problems  in  the  operation  of  Additive  Manufacturing  ma-
chines.

The above activities relating to PDPs are carried out in close cooperation with the 
main stakeholders that are part of the Basque Industry 4.0 initiative: Mondragon 
University, IMH, 3DBide, Tecnalia, as well as large companies like AERnnova in the 
aeronautical industry. The collaboration has subsequently been extended to include 
the Basque Economists’ College Ekonomistak, and other organisations.

  TOOL 4. 2/2

scriptors, depending on the technical solutions used in the selected job. Specifica-
tions which are usually not found in DigComp descriptors are illustrated in a sheet 
called “Aspects of the job’s digital competence”. As a result, the same competence 
may have different descriptions, depending on the prevailing tasks in different oc-
cupations. Over time, these specifications are collected and shared among experts 
to inspire and support the design of new PDPs.

Besides such variation in the description of competences, Ikanos created the con-
cept of “sub-competence” in order to facilitate the use of DigComp in the busi-
ness world. A sub-competence is identified and described when some relevant and 
specific  work  tasks,  and  related  digital  competence,  characterise  an  activity  and 
need to be highlighted in the professional profile. A sub-competence complements 
a DigComp competence, and is positioned under it by analogy, or because it emerg-
es as a very relevant element when asking about a particular competence in the 
occupation being examined.

An example of the analogy association concerns maintenance technicians operat-
ing in large advanced factories, who must be able to produce multimedia material 
with  a  mobile  device  in  order  to  document  a  failure  in  a  machine  and  possible 
repairs. Producing good explanations and quality images of a breakdown and the 
repair process may save a lot of time and money if the failure happens again. This 
competence has been identified as a sub-competence called “Using visual resourc-
es to document and record interventions, explain procedures and give instructions”, 
belonging to DigComp 3.1 Developing digital content.

An example of the association by specification concerns the 3D designer of addi-
tive  manufacturing.  Questions  about  the  importance  and  character  of  DigComp 
competence 3.4 Programming in this occupation revealed three sub-competences:

 • 3.4.1 Use macros to automate tasks in commercial 3D design software packages 
(the designer does not use a standard programming language, but must learn 
the macro language from his design program);

 • 3.4.2 Integrate additive manufacturing plug-ins into commercial software pack-
ages (new additive manufacturing plug-ins are released continuously, and they 
can dramatically improve productivity. It is necessary to monitor what is pub-
lished and know how to install new plug-ins);

 • 3.4.3 Define work orders to specify the machine’s operating mode (i.e. the specif-

ic way in which a part has to be printed).

56

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C3 IKANOSECCC DIGCOMP CERTIFICATION
POLAND

The ECCC Foundation was established 
in 2009 to create a new, highly flexible 
validation and certification system 
for computer skills for general and 
professional IT usages. 
The initiative was prompted by 
the clear perception by a group of 
academic scientists and practitioners 
that the rapid diffusion of IT devices 
and services in Poland at the time was 
facing a serious digital skills gap, and 
that the new ECCC system they had 
designed could contribute to fighting it. 
DigComp v.1 was adopted in 2014-15 
for the design of ECCC version 2 (called 
ECCC 2.0), which aimed to broaden the 
scope of validation and certification of 
digital competence. ECCC Foundation 
also translated the first DigComp report 
into Polish and set up the DigComp 
National Contact Point in 2016, to 
disseminate information about the 
framework. 
Almost 200,000 ECCC DigComp 
certificates had been issued to different 
segments of the population by the end 
of 2018, reflecting both specific policy 
measures and the growing demand 
for digital competences in the labour 
market.

The case in brief

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Leading organisation

ECCC Foundation

Labour market skills analysis

✓

Sector

NGO

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2016 - ongoing

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

National, Poland

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed • unemployed • generic population

Design and development of training

✓

Professional sectors covered 

--

Employee profiles covered 

--

Stakeholders involved 

Training organisations • Government (national and local) • Labour 
Offices

Online resources

Syllabi in Polish

Syllabi in English

Learning outcomes in Polish

DigComp 1.0 report in Polish

Delivery of training

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

✓

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Table of content of the DigComp Handbook, in English

Client tracking and monitoring

DigComp into Action Guide - see C7

Employee support

Tools

-

Contributors

ECCC Foundation Board - Ryszard Woś, Chairman

57

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

In the years 2008-2009, when the IT market was grow-
ing  rapidly  in  Poland,  the  perception  by  industry  and 
scientists  that  the  average  digital  skill  levels  of  the 
population  were  very  poor  only  increased.  In  order  to 
improve  this  situation,  there  was  an  urgent  need  for 
new  tools  to  validate  the  level  and  development  of 
digital competence among employees, and citizens in 
general. At that time, the only IT skills validation sys-
tems  available  in  the  country  were  ECDL  (European 
Computer Driving Licence) and MOUS (Microsoft Office 
User Specialist). 

The  original  initiators  of  the  ECCC  concept,  Dr  Marek 
Miłosz and Dr Jan Smołka, computer scientists and re-
searchers  from  Polish  universities,  felt  that  a  flexible 
validation system was required that  could follow  and 
grow together with the rapid evolution of IT, and that 
could address the needs of different segments of the 
population.  They  therefore  created  a  digital  compe-
tence framework that would support the new validation 
system. The Foundation named ECCC (European Com-
puter Competence Certificate) was soon established to 
continue  researching  and  developing  the  framework, 
and to start implementing the new validation system, 
which included creating syllabi and competence certifi-
cation standards for both general and more specific IT 
usage areas. 

As part of its continuous research process, in 2013-14 
the Foundation’s researchers decided to adopt the Dig-
Comp framework as the basis for the ECCC 2.0 update, 
and to promote it on a large scale, along with training 
and examinations for the ECCC DigComp Digital Com-
petence  Certificate.  This  development  benefited  from 

the  decision  in  2016  by  the  Ministry  of  Development 
to request some DigComp-compliant certification in all 
EU-funded  training  projects  which  addressed  digital 
competence development.

ECCC Foundation and the ECCC certification 
system

Today, the ECCC Foundation is a small non-governmen-
tal  organisation,  with  a  three-member  management 
board  and  a  chairman  to  represent  the  organisation, 
less than 10 permanent staff, and volunteer collabora-
tors. The Foundation organisation includes: a research 
team responsible for research and development, 
an 
operational  team  responsible  for  information,  practi-
cal implementation and supervising proper functioning 
and cooperation with examination centres, an adminis-
trative office, and the DigComp National Contact Point 
responsible  for  providing  information  about  DigComp 
(more on this below).

Across  the  country,  there  are  81  examination  centres 
with  85  certified  examiners,  as  well  as  hundreds  of 
trainers and teachers who deliver digital skills courses 
based on ECCC Foundation syllabi and learning materi-
als and certification exams. These are all independent 
bodies that operate on a commercial and profession-
al basis, on licence agreements signed with the ECCC 
Foundation. The Foundation also collaborates with ed-
ucational  organisations,  NGOs  and  volunteers.  To  be 
accredited by the ECCC Foundation, examination cen-
tres, examiners and teachers must meet the conditions 
specified in the procedure for accrediting ECCC trainers. 
Examination  centres  must  have  adequate  infrastruc-
ture and employ at least one examiner who is author-
ised  to  conduct  ECCC  examinations.  Examiners  and 

58

trainers must be college/university graduates or have 
minimum 3 years of vocational or didactic experience 
in relevant areas. They must pass an exam, after which 
they  receive  the  keys  to  access  all  the  ECCC  training 
and information materials available on the ECCC train-
ing and validation platform. People with an academic 
degree  (PhD),  academic  teachers  with  experience,  or 
who have scientific achievements, or other certificates 
in relevant areas, are exempt from the exam.

The  ECCC  sets  competence  standards  for  IT  users  in 
general and professional IT usage areas (see T.16) on 
four levels: A (Basic), B (Medium), C (Advanced), and D 
(Expert). The list of professional areas is updated on an 
ongoing basis. The range of competences on particular 
levels and in particular area modules are defined pre-
cisely in syllabi and are published on the ECCC Polish 
website and, in part, on its English version.

The definition of certification levels in ECCC is as fol-
lows:

A. Level ECCC Foundation sets minimal requirements 
for ICT users within a particular module. The holder of 
this level of certificate knows basic theoretical concepts 
within a particular module (e.g. document processing), 
and can use general tools on the basic functional level. 
On this level, approximately 15% of technological pos-
sibilities in a given area are tested.

B.  Level  ECCC  Intermediate  verifies  competencies 
defined  for  the  ECCC  Basic  level,  together  with  more 
extended use of tools and ICT within a particular mod-
ule. On this level, approximately 30% of technological 
possibilities in a given area are tested.

C.  Level  ECCC  Advanced  proves  one’s  intermediate 
competencies  with  fluent  use  of  advanced  ICT  tools 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C4 ECCC DIGCOMP CERTIFICATIONT.16  ECCC STANDARD MODULES IN DIFFERENT IT USAGE AREAS (IN BOLD)

Information Technology

Professional Informatics

 • Computer Hardware and Software

 • Document Processing

 • Spreadsheet Calculations

 • Data Bases

 • Multimedia

 •

Information-Communication Technology

 • Mobile Technology

 • Business Graphics

Digital competences (DigComp)

 •

Information

 • Communication

 • Content creation

 • Safety

 • Problem solving

Computer Science

 • Programming

 • Computer Graphics

 • Web Application Development

 • Robot programming

 •

e-Learning

 • Healthcare

 •

Tourism

 • Multimedia in Education

 • Computer in Primary Education

 •

 •

 •

e-Office

e-Marketing

Interactive Technologies

 • Graphics for Photographers

 • Robots

 • Workflow Management

 •

Information Security

 • Green Office

 • Project Planning and Tracking

Applied Informatics  

 • CAD 2D

 • CAD 3D

within a particular, tested area. On this level, approx-
imately  60%  of  technological  possibilities  in  a  given 
area are tested.

D.  Level  ECCC  Highly  Specialized  proves  proficiency, 
significant knowledge and practical skills in the tested 

area. Approximately 90% of knowledge within the test-
ed area is verified during the examination.

The ECCC examination, which has a fixed fee, verifies 
the candidate´s skill level in a particular area. The du-
ration (from 30 min to 90 min) and content of exam-

59

inations  vary  depending  on  the  candidate’s  level  and 
the area. An ECCC certificate is granted to a beneficiary 
after passing an examination. The grade on the certifi-
cate is expressed in percentage terms; in other words, 
the validation system provides on the certificate his/her 
real competence level at the time of the examination, 
even  if  it  is  very  low.  This  approach  is  seen  to  moti-
vate people to increase their competence, if they find 
it  too  poor  for  their  own  expectations  and  ambitions 
or for those of their employers. There are no entrance 
requirements  to  take  ECCC  examinations,  and  people 
wishing to be examined independently and voluntarily 
can freely choose their level and area of examination. 
The ECCC Foundation, however, recommends that the 
design of one’s learning path is accompanied by a cer-
tified vocational counsellor, trainer or ECCC examiner. 

In  order  to  support  this  process,  the  Foundation  de-
signed  the  Matrix  of  ECCC  Competences,  which  pro-
vides the suggested modules and level to be taken of 
the eight Information Technology modules for 40 occu-
pations, job roles and other positions (e.g. “Senior citi-
zens, disabled and others at risk of  digital exclusion”, 
students  at  different  school  levels  etc.).  The  Matrix 
also suggests the recommended total teaching hours 
for each category of learner/occupation to training or-
ganisations, based on the most common times needed 
by  people  taking  ECCC-based  computer  competence 
courses, which are:

 •

 •

 •

 •

Level A: Foundation 10-15 hours per module;

Level B: Intermediate 15–20 hours per module;

Level C: Advanced 20–30 hours per module;

Level D: Highly Specialized 30–40 hours per module.

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C4 ECCC DIGCOMP CERTIFICATIONIMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP 

ministration officials in charge of education and/or EU 
projects, individual teachers and trainers and citizens.

T.17  DIGCOMP ECCC CERTIFICATES BY AREA (2018)

Adopting, translating and promoting DigComp

The ECCC DigComp certificate

One of the goals of the ECCC Foundation was to align 
its framework and certification system with the evolv-
ing  landscape  of  digital  skills  in  Europe.  During  the 
work  carried  out  in  2013-2014  to  update  the  ECCC 
system  to  Version  2.0,  the  Foundation’s  researchers 
studied  the  DigComp  report  (v.1)  in  depth  and  found 
it  very  innovative,  with  great  potential  for  practical 
implementation, and aligned to the ideas and aims of 
the  Foundation.  They  therefore  started  modifying  the 
ECCC  system  to  incorporate  DigComp  in  2014-2015. 
In  parallel,  the  ECCC  Foundation  translated  DigComp 
into  Polish,  and  organised  an  initial  workshop  and  an 
open consultation on its use. Following these activities, 
a larger effort was organised to disseminate the Dig-
Comp framework more widely.

The  dissemination  process  involved  organising  many 
workshops and conferences targeting end users, train-
ing  organisations,  employers  and  employment  servic-
es and other entities. It also involved establishing (as 
decided  in  February  2016  by  the  Foundation  board) 
the Polish DigComp National Contact Point (NCP), run 
by  the  ECCC  Foundation.  The  NCP  was  conceived  as 
a  promotional  tool  and  a  source  of  information  and 
counselling for any actor who might be interested in it, 
including policymakers. ECCC built the digcomp.pl web-
site, which published the Polish version of DigComp 1.0 
and established a phone line as part of their activities 
as NCP. As reported in the DigComp into Action Guide 
(p. 90), about a dozen people per day contact the NCP 
from  universities,  ICT  training  companies,  public  ad-

In parallel to the above activities, the ECCC Foundation 
used  DigComp  as  the  theoretical  framework  for  the 
evolution of its ECCC validation system. With the cre-
ation of ECCC 2.0, the intention was to achieve a vali-
dation system that gives reliable, valuable information 
on someone’s digital literacy level, based on particular 
competences  needed  in  common  work  and  education 
practices  or  in  social  life.  DigComp  perfectly  suited 
these  aims,  and  helped  the  Foun-dation 
structure 
such a validation system, which includes five modules, 
one for each DigComp area, at three proficiency levels, 
in accordance with DigComp v.1.

As with the overall ECCC system, the method of validat-
ing DigComp competences in the online validation plat-
form  depends  on  the  participant’s  level.  At  the  A  and 
B  levels,  the  final  grade  is  derived  from  a  knowledge 
test. At level C, participants demonstrate their practical 
skills by performing tasks in real-world conditions. The 
final grade is the average (in percentage terms) of the 
component grades (knowledge test, practical tasks). 

Since  ECCC  DigComp  became  available  in  late  2016, 
the demand for these examinations has been growing 
rapidly, from 38,000 examinations in the year 2017 to 
above 150,000 examinations in the year 2018. 

The composition of ECCC DigComp certificates issued in 
2018 by area and level is illustrated in T.17. This con-
firms that the first three modules are more popular, but 
also that many people take the test for all five areas. 
The vast majority of tests are taken for the basic level 

60

MODULES / AREAS

DC M1 – Information

DC M2 – Communication

DC M3 – Content Creation

DC M4 – Safety

DC M5 – Problem Solving

LEVEL

A Foundation

B Intermediate

C Advanced

certificate. 

%

22.6

21.6

21.3

18.3

16.2

%

83.8

15.6

0.7

The  analysis  performed  on  a  sample  of  over  60,000 
ECCC  DigComp  examination  participants  in  late  2018 
showed that 70% had upper secondary education, and 
most of the remaining had primary (20%) or lower sec-
ondary education (5%), 70% were women, 38% were 
50-65 years old and 27% were 35-49 years old, 60%
were professionally inactive (where only 8% were of-
ficially unemployed), and 32% were employed people.

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C4 ECCC DIGCOMP CERTIFICATIONSupport for DigComp training

The ECCC Foundation, as explained before, does not de-
liver training directly training to end users, but rather 
prepares  guidance  for  training,  trains  the  trainers  (at 
the ECCC Central Education Centre), and also produces 
learning materials for end users. 

Along with the development of the new ECCC DigComp 
digital  competence  validation  system,  the  Foundation 
has produced a set of methodological documentation 
and training guides based on DigComp, especially for 
educators:

• Syllabi for all areas and proficiency levels
• Learning outcomes for all DigComp areas and three

DigComp proficiency levels

• Polish version of the DigComp report (also available

on the NCP platform)

• Leaflet: Understanding Digital Competence in Europe
• The Guide for ECCC DigComp exam’s participant
Given  the  demand  for  both  full  (five  areas)  and  par-
Given  the  demand  for  both  full  (five-area)  and  par-
tial (three- and two-area) DigComp courses, the ECCC 
Foundation also published the DigComp handbook for 
trainers and trainees, which is available in two versions: 
Volume  1  with  three  DigComp  areas,  Volume  2  with 
two areas, and one book with all 5 areas.

The ECCC Foundation suggests that training, including 
on  DigComp  competence,  should  be  adapted  to  the 
needs and characteristics of participants. For example, 
the average duration of the DigComp course is around 
24 hours per area, but it may be longer for older people 
who need more time to understand the subject, or for 
people  with  disabilities,  who  may  need  more  time  to 

F.16  EXAMPLES OF ECCC TESTS USAGE

61

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C4 ECCC DIGCOMP CERTIFICATIONuted by the ECCC Central Education Centre.

The  following  resources  are  available  online  for  Dig-
Comp (and all ECCC areas and proficiency levels):
• Syllabi in Polish
• Syllabi in English
• Learning outcomes in Polish
• DigComp 1.0 report in Polish
• Table of content of the DigComp Handbook in Eng-

lish

• DigComp into Action Guide - see C7

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• ECCC Foundation Board - Ryszard Woś, Chairman

eccc@ecccf.eu

perform operations on a computer.

Training guidance on DigComp competence is provided 
for the five areas separately, as trainers and trainees 
may go through one area after the other, from 1 to 5, 
or may choose only one of them. In practice, as men-
tioned already, DigComp courses usually cover the first 
three modules/areas and last about 70 hours or, when 
they are within EU-funded projects, cover all five areas 
and last about 120 hours.

DigComp training courses are usually provided in a tra-
ditional way, with theoretical sessions and explanation 
followed  by  practical  activities  on  computers.  Innova-
tive pedagogical approaches might be adopted, but it 
depends entirely on the trainer’s skills and the learning 
expectations and capabilities of the trainees.

The  ECCC  Foundation  is  currently  considering  making 
its training and validation platform available to schools 
based on an open access agreement, and is investing 
the IPR implications of this.

Towards DigComp 2.1 implementation

The ECCC Foundation took part in the consultations for 
the  preparation  DigComp  2.1.  The  Foundation  is  now 
preparing the Polish translation of DigComp 2.1, to be 
published in 2019 under the patronage of the Ministry 
of  Digital  Affairs.  In  parallel,  it  has  been  working  on 
revising the whole ECCC system, including the training 
and  validation  platform  and  materials,  to  adapt  it  to 
the changes brought in by DigComp 2.1.

The Foundation is also improving its evaluation meth-
ods, because eight (rather than four) proficiency levels 
require more precise validation. Also, a new option to 
validate the relevant level of assessment in real-time 

during  the  examination  will  be  made  available.  Until 
now, the participant has declared which test level they 
wanted to take and then the corresponding examina-
tion has been used to validate their competence at the 
selected level. Instead, the new system will validate the 
participant’s level directly, which requires more sophis-
ticated  tools.  This  approach  will  be  especially  useful 
during training, when (as illustrated in F.16) a test will 
be performed before the training starts and then again 
after the training is delivered, with the certificate show-
ing the trainee’s progress precisely.

The  release  of  the  new  ECCC  platform  is  planned  for 
2019, but the changes will be im-plemented 
grad-
ually  on  the  market,  to  avoid  creating  difficulties  for 
partners  and  educators  who  are  currently  using  Dig-
Comp 1.0. A promotional and information campaign is 
being prepared for it, and the DigComp National Con-
tact Point is expected to play an important role in this 
process.

The examination platform is available in Polish with re-
stricted access, but some elements have already been 
prepared in English and Ukrainian, and other language 
implementations are possible depending on need.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Almost all materials published by the ECCC Foundation 
are publicly available, and can be shared freely without 
any conditions. The exceptions are books which are on 
sale (distributed directly by ECCC Foundation to buyers 
and bookshops), and materials for accredited teachers 
and examiners which are available exclusively to them 
on the training and validation platform, or are distrib-

62

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C4 ECCC DIGCOMP CERTIFICATIONCOMPASS
FRANCE • IRELAND • ITALY • ROMANIA

Europe faces a significant skills 
mismatch, with about 80 million 
workers either over- (44 million) or 
under-qualified (36 million). Skills gaps 
are particularly significant with digital 
competence, as it is estimated that 
90% of jobs require today a minimum 
level of digital skills, and about 40% 
of European workers have no or low 
digital skills. 
To address this challenge, the Compass 
project developed an upskilling online 
training course for young unemployed 
people. Using the OECD Skills for 
Jobs database (S4J) to identify 
jobs in high demand and the O*NET 
taxonomy for the requirements for 
nine DigComp competences in those 
jobs, Compass selected 8 jobs in four 
occupation areas: teaching, business 
and administration, legal, social and 
cultural professions, general and 
keyboard clerks. They also developed 
an online platform offering a self-
assessment tool and eight career/
learning paths addressing the 9 
DigComp competences, available in 
English, French, Italian and Romanian.

The case in brief

Leading organisation

Expertise France

Sector

Government

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Labour market skills analysis

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2016 - 2018

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

European

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed • Unemployed • Generic population

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

-

Employee profiles covered 

Teaching professionals • Business and administration 
professionals • General and keyboard clerks • Legal, social and 
cultural professionals (see T.19)

Stakeholders involved 

Young unemployed • NEETs

Online resources

Compass training course

Compass self-assessment test 

DigComp into Action Guide - see C10

Tools

-

Contributors

Expertise France - Muriel Santoro, Project Manager, Education, 
Training and Labour Insertion Unit, and Compass co-project 
leader

Lai-momo - Filippo Mantione, Communication Manager

Delivery of training

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Client tracking and monitoring

Employee support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

63

 •CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

It is estimated that 90% of jobs today require a mini-
mum level of digital skills, and about 40% of European 
workers have no or low digital skills. Despite the high 
level of youth unemployment, there are two million job 
vacancies  in  Europe,  many  in  new  digital  fields  or  in 
jobs that require digital skills.

In order to address the above challenges, the Compass 
project’s aim was to develop and pilot a digital upskill-
ing  platform  that  could  help  bridge  the  growing  gap 
between  the  digital  skills  required  for  the  jobs  of  the 
present and the future on the one hand, and the digital 
skills of three types of young people on the other: sec-
ondary-school leavers, young unemployed people with 
some kind of secondary education, and university stu-
dents finishing college and looking for a job.

Activities of the project

Compass was co-funded by the European Commission. 
The  Consortium  is  made  up  of  Expertise  France,  the 
French public agency for international technical assis-
tance, SIVECO, the leading software company in Roma-
nia, with strong experience in e-learning solutions, Dara 
Creative*, a brand and marketing consultancy compa-
ny  from  Ireland,  and  Lai-momo,  a  social  cooperative 
based  in  Italy  working  on  communication  and  social 
inclusion.

The  Compass  pilot  project,  with  a  budget  of  almost 
€2m for two years (70% co-financed by the EC, 30% 
co-financed  by  the  Compass  consortium),  started  in 
December  2016  and  ended  in  November  2018.  It  in-
cluded  six  work  packages:  WP1  Needs  Analysis  & 

T.18  DIGCOMP AREAS AND COMPETENCES IN COMPASS

AREA

COMPETENCE

Information and data literacy

1.1

Browsing, searching and filtering data,  
information and digital content

2.1

Interacting through digital technologies

Communication and collaboration

2.2

Sharing through digital technologies

Digital content creation

Safety

2.4

Collaborating through digital technologies

3.1 

Developing digital content

3.4

Programming

4.1

Protecting devices

4.2

 Protecting personal data and privacy

Problem solving

5.3

Creatively using technology

Roadmap, WP2 Educational Approach, WP3 Developing 
the e-learning platform, WP4 Promoting the platform, 
WP5 Support and moderation of users in the four pilot 
countries, WP6 Results and Improvements.

the DigComp framework, focusing on the following nine 
specific digital competences across all 5 DigComp ar-
eas, which were selected for the pilot project, listed in 
T.18. 

The  Compass  platform  resulting  from  the  project  is 
now available to use online for free, and allows users 
to  choose  a  professional  profile  and  build  a  learning 
path  for  digital  skills  relevant  to  that  profile.  The  de-
velopment  and  content  of  the  platform  are  based  on 

After the user registers, the platform prompts the user 
to take a self-assessment test to verify their level of 
digital  competence,  to  gain  awareness  of  their  initial 
skills and the areas that require further study. The test 
can only be taken prior to training.

64

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C5 COMPASSAfter  the  first  test  (or  without  it),  the  user  can  select 
a profession (career path) within their desired field of 
work. Initially, four occupational areas with two profes-
sions  each  are  available,  making  eight  professions  in 
total. A general description of the profession is present-
ed  to  the  user,  together  with  the  set  of  digital  skills 
and other transversal competences most suited to that 
profession.

The  platform  then  presents  the  Compass  lessons  to 
develop those skills, which are available at basic and 
advanced  levels.  The  advanced  lessons  can  only  be 
started after the basic ones have been completed. The 
platform  offers  nine  basic-level  lessons  and  nine  ad-
vanced-level  lessons  for  each  of  the  above  nine  Dig-
Comp competences.  Each lesson is made  up  of  three 
informative interactive modules, plus one final assess-
ment. The lesson’s content type is the same across ca-
reer  paths,  except  for  the  projects  to  be  done  in  the 
advanced-level  lessons,  which  are  related  to  the  job 
selected  in  the  career  path.  When  a  participant  suc-
cessfully  completes  lessons,  certificates  and  digital 
badges are issued. Proof of digital competence is also 
provided  by  the  “projects”  (results  of  assignments) 
which are saved in the participant’s personal ePortfolio 
on the platform.

The  partners  agreed  to  run  Compass  beyond  the  fi-
nancing period until the end of 2019 and find new part-
ners with the aim of fully developing the platform into 
an EU-wide digital upskilling platform for young unem-
ployed  Europeans.  Their  future  plans  for  this  include 
adding new career choices, job titles, competences and 
lessons,  always  based  on  DigComp,  developing  train-
ing  programmes  for  vulnerable  groups,  especially  for 
people with disabilities, young unemployed women and 

migrants, translating the platform into more languag-
es and launching it in more countries, possibly also in 
developing  countries,  and  integration  with  the  future 
Europass CV.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP 

DigComp has been the reference framework both for a) 
specifying  the  Compass  project’s  concept  by  identify-
ing the key digital competences to be offered to young 
unemployed people, and b) designing the structure and 
content of the training offer, the self-assessment tool 
and the competence certification using badges.

Using DigComp to map digital competences with 
career paths

The first stage of Compass was dedicated to identify-
ing, with reference to the labour market characteristics 
of the partner countries, a) the employment areas and 
occupations  which  the  training  of  unemployed  young 
people  should  be  directed  towards,  and  b)  the  digital 
skills most in demand in these jobs.

In order to achieve this objective, a User Needs Anal-
ysis was carried out in each country. A total of about 
360 stakeholders (educational organisations, employ-
ers and other labour market actors) and 480 potential 
end users (young people from 15 to 30 years old) were 
reached  for  this  task  through  focus  groups,  direct  in-
terviews and online surveys. The analysis explored four 
main areas:

1.  end users’ awareness of, and interest in, digital com-

petences to enhance their employability;

65

2.  the  existing  online  training  offer  for  digital  upskill-
ing  and  any  mismatch  with  respect  to  employers’ 
skills demands. This allowed an initial list of digital 
competences to be identified for Compass training, 
based on employers’ expectations;

3.  the online training content and educational tools po-
tentially most interesting for addressing end users’ 
needs and employers’ requirements. Employers’ pri-
orities became clearer at this stage;

4.  stakeholders’  potential  involvement  in  the  future 
Compass platform and their contribution to the pro-
ject’s sustainability. Ultimately, this line of research 
aimed to make sure that Compass’ training offer and 
accreditation system would meet employers’ expec-
tations, and thus ensure that using Compass would 
really improve end users’ employability.

The  research  highlighted  the  lack  of  understanding 
of  digital  competence  and  how  it  might  contribute  to 
employability among end users, and a similar lack of 
understanding of what digital competence means (with 
a partial exception in educational institutions), and dif-
ficulty in expressing work-related requirements among 
stakeholders, including employers. 

When the DigComp areas and competences were used 
to  ask  both  groups  which  digital  competences  were 
most important to them, answers became more struc-
tured and focused. Stakeholders identified the DigComp 
competences that they considered most important for 
the employability of young people.

End  users  were  also  provided  with  a  preliminary  list 
of potential careers and were asked to select (or add) 
their preferred choice. The most popular careers across 
all  four  countries  were:  Teacher/  Educator;  Secretary/ 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C5 COMPASSWages

Hours worked

Teaching Professionals

Health Professionals

...

Street and Related Sales 
and Services Workers

l
l

fi

o
t

d
r
a
H

/
e
g
a
t
r
o
h
S

l
l

fi

o
t

y
s
a
E

/

l

s
u
p
r
u
S

Talent match

Cleaners and Helpers

F.17  OECD SKILLS FOR JOBS FRAMEWORK

66

Administrative staff; Project manager; Marketing & Ad-
vertising; Science; Medicine/ Pharmacy; Computer Pro-
gramming; and, Writer. 

In the meantime, Compass partners established a col-
laboration  with  the  OECD  (Employment,  Labour  and 
Social Affairs Directorate, Skills and Employability Divi-
sion) to use the Skills for Jobs database (S4J) to more 
accurately identify the areas of employment and spe-
cific  jobs,  and  the  digital  skills  required  in  those  jobs 
using the O*NET taxonomy.

The  OECD  S4J  database  provides  a  range  of  labour 
market indicators (illustrated in F.17) ) that can help in 
understanding which occupations are in shortage (high 
and  unsatisfied  demand)  and  which,  instead,  are  in 
surplus in the labour market. For instance, if indicators 
such as wages, number of hours worked, and employ-
ment are growing faster than the average in a specific 
occupation (red arrow) this means that the occupation 
is  in  high  demand,  that  it  is  in  shortage  or  “hard-to-
fill” and that employers are looking for people in these 
occupations.  On  the  contrary,  if  wages,  hours  worked 
or other indicators are pointing down (blue arrow) this 
means  that  workers  in  those  occupations  are  facing 
more difficulties in finding stable, good quality employ-
ment. The demand in the labour market for these occu-
pations is low compared to supply.

The OECD therefore analysed market indicators for the 
four Compass partner countries, and combined it with 
other considerations relating to the target group such 
as the (limited) qualifications required by occupations, 
and feasible and desired career choices. The aim was 
also  to  have  an  appropriate  spread  of  occupations 
across different sectors of the economy. Compass part-
ners wanted to highlight the importance of transversal 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C5 COMPASSEmploymentUnemployment 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
T.19  OCCUPATIONS AND PROFESSIONS (O*NET CODES) SELECTED FOR COMPASS TRAINING

OCCUPATION AREAS (2-DIGIT)

PROFESSIONS (3-DIGIT )

23

Teaching professionals

24

Business and administration professionals

41

General and keyboard clerks

26

Legal, social and cultural professionals

232

Vocational education teachers

234

Primary school and early childhood teachers

241

Finance professionals

243

Sales, marketing and public relations professionals

411 

General office clerks

412

Secretaries (general)

264

Authors, journalists and linguists

265

Creative and performing artists

e-skills for employment opportunities in all sectors be-
yond IT, where there is an unmet job demand. Moreo-
ver, since Compass training offer had to be the same in 
the four countries, and the labour market was similar, 
but not the same in the four partner countries, a “rea-
sonable average” had to be found in the choice of occu-
pations. The result of these evaluations, combined with 
the  results  of  the  User  Needs  Analysis,  provided  the 
professional fields and professions illustrated in T.19.

With  the  relevant  occupations  identified,  the  analysis 
continued with the assessment of the DigComp com-
petences  required  in  the  chosen  jobs.  The  S4J  data-
base  uses  the  O*NET  work  classification  system,  and 
provides  a  profile  of  the  (digital  and  other)  skills  for 
each  three-digit  job,  and  their  importance  to  that  job 
on  a  scale  of  1  to  5,  and,  for  each  skill,  the  level  of 

proficiency required on a scale of 1 to 7.

In order to verify which of the 9 DigComp competences 
previously identified are needed for the eight jobs se-
lected, and at what proficiency level, the OECD created 
a  table  of  correspondence  between  the  21  DigComp 
competences  and  the  digital  competences  present 
within O*NET’s knowledge, abilities, skills, work context 
and  work  activities  sections  (T.20  is  an  excerpt  from 
such  table).  Since  the  description  of  e-skills  in  O*NET 
is less detailed and takes a different approach to Dig-
Comp, the mapping exercise was not obvious. The text 
in red indicated where correspondence was found be-
tween the two approaches.

Using the correspondence table, the OECD provided a 
form with the “equivalent” O*NET competence descrip-

67

tors  for  each  of  the  eight  selected  professions,  along 
with  the  degree  of  importance  and  the  level  of  pro-
ficiency  required  in  that  profession.  In  cases  where  a 
DigComp  competence  was  matched  with  more  than 
one O*NET competence, an average of the associated 
values of importance and proficiency had to be made. 
On the contrary, for DigComp competences were there 
was no correspondence in O*NET (2.4 Collaboration) a 
different approach was needed. In other specific cases, 
adjustments  were  manually  made  to  correct  anoma-
lous  results.  As  a  result,  it  was  possible  to  establish 
the intensity with which each occupation uses different 
digital skills, and to define the level of proficiency which 
the user needed to acquire.

DigComp in the design of Compass training

The  results  of  the  previous  activity  were  used  to  de-
sign the Compass training offering for the nine digital 
skills. Based on the importance and proficiency levels 
obtained for each competence, a scale and thresholds 
were  built  to  a)  exclude  certain  competences  from  a 
profession, when their importance was below the mini-
mum threshold level, b) decide for the remaining com-
petences  whether  these  should  be  developed  at  the 
basic or advanced level.

Again, as with the choice of occupations, the application 
of the thresholds criterion was complemented by con-
siderations related to the project objectives. Compass 
wanted  to  develop  a  diversified  training  offer  which 
would be attractive and meaningful for young unem-
ployed people. Thus, for example, it was decided that 
the training would cover a certain minimum number of 
skills,  and  that  the  same  skill  should  not  be  acquired 
at the same proficiency level in all jobs. The result of 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C5 COMPASST.20  EXAMPLE OF DIGCOMP - O*NET CORRESPONDENCE  
(The text in purple indicates where the correspondence was found between the two approaches)

EU DIGCOMP 2.1  
(1. INFORMATION AND DATA LITERACY)

1.1

1.2

Browsing, searching and filtering data, information 
and digital content 
To articulate information needs, to search for data, 
information and content in digital environments, to access 
them and to navigate between them. To create and update 
personal search strategies.

Evaluating data, information and digital content
To analyse, compare and critically evaluate the credibility 
and reliability of sources of data, information and digital 
content. To analyse, interpret and critically evaluate the 
data, information and digital content.

O*NET  
(KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES, SKILLS, WORK CONTEXT AND 
ACTIVITIES)

Getting Information
Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information 
from all relevant sources.

Analyzing Data or Information
Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of 
information by breaking down information or data into 
separate parts.

Processing Information
Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, 
auditing, or verifying info or data

this  process  is  the  scheme  of  competence  levels  for 
each profession illustrated in T.21, which, in turn, were 
covered by the Compass training offer. 

The decision to only develop training for the Founda-
tion  and  Advanced  competence  levels  was  made,  as 
already mentioned, to avoid making the training offer 
too complex for end users to understand, and to cope 
with the practical difficulty of managing the eight-level 
proficiency segmentation of DigComp 2.1.

ative  interactive  learning  modules,  plus  one  final  as-
sessment  module  with  quizzes  (with  matching,  single 
choice, drag-and-drop, true/false and ranking exercis-
es).  In many Advanced lessons, learners are asked to 
do  some  project  works/assignments  as  part  of  Mod-
ule 3 or 4, which can be uploaded onto their personal 
e-portfolio, to document learning achievements. 

In preparing the lessons, DigComp 2.1 has been used 
systematically as follows. For each lesson,

Each lesson is made up of four modules: three inform-

•  the title corresponds to the DigComp competence title;

68

•  the  general  objectives  correspond  to  the  DigComp 

competence descriptor;

•  the specific objectives of each of the four modules 
correspond to some of the bullet points with com-
petence descriptors/learning outcomes of DigComp 
levels 1-3 for Compass Foundation lessons and Dig-
Comp levels 4-7 for Advanced lessons.

The user earns official recognition of taking a lesson if 
the score obtained for the assessment module is over 
75% obtaining certification and a digital badge availa-
ble for download and/or for sharing.

DigComp and the Compass self-assessment test

After registering on the platform, users are offered the 
possibility to take a test to verify their level of digital 
competence, and to become aware of their initial skills 
and  the  areas  that  require  further  study.  The  test  is 
structured  according  to  the  five  DigComp  areas,  and 
users can choose to take the test for one or more areas. 
If the user chooses all five areas, the system presents 
a sequence of 18 questions to assess the respondent’s 
knowledge of topics relating to the nine DigComp com-
petences managed by Compass. After the user has an-
swered all the questions, the system shows which ones 
were  answered  correctly  and  which  incorrectly,  and 
the score achieved for each question. In the final step, 
these results are summarised in an overall assessment 
statement for each area (excellent, good etc.).  As both 
test results and lessons are based on the same (Dig-
Comp) framework, users can find out which Compass 
lessons  can  help  them  improve  the  competences  in 
which they obtained weaker results. 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C5 COMPASSONLINE RESOURCES

• The  Compass  self-assessment  test  is  available  in

English, French, Italian and Romanian.

• The Compass training course is available in English,

French, Italian and Romanian.

• DigComp into Action Guide - see C10

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• Expertise France - Muriel Santoro, Project Manager,
Education, Training and Labour Insertion Unit, and
Compass co-project leader
muriel.santoro@expertisefrance.fr

• Lai-momo - Filippo Mantione, Communication

Manager
f.mantione@laimomo.it

T.21  COMPETENCE LEVEL OF COMPASS LESSONS BY CAREER PATH (F=FOUNDATION, A=ADVANCED)

DIGCOMP COMPETENCES

CAREER PATH

Vocational education teachers

Primary school and early child. teachers

Finance professionals

Sales, marketing and PR professions

General office clerks

Secretaries (general)

Authors, journalists and linguists

Creative and performing artists

1.1

2.1

2.2

2.4

3.1

3.4

4.1

4.2

5.3

F

F

A

F

A

A

A

A

F

F

F

A

F

A

A

F

F

A

A

F

F

A

F

F

A

A

F

F

F

F

F

A

A

A

F

F

A

A

A

A

F

F

A

A

A

A

F

F

F

F

F

A

A

F

A

F

F

69

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C5 COMPASSMU.SA
BELGIUM • GREECE • ITALY • PORTUGAL

The Mu.SA (Museum Sector 
Alliance) project addresses the 
digital competence gap created by 
the disconnection between formal 
education and training of museum 
and cultural professionals and the 
diffusion of new digital opportunities in 
this area. It defined four new job role 
profiles - Digital Strategy Manager, 
Digital Collections Curator, Digital 
Interactive Experience Developer, 
Online Community Manager- through 
the complementary use of DigComp 
and the e-Competence Framework for 
IT professionals (e-CF). It then created 
a modular training path and related 
tools (including a MOOC) to develop 
those competences among museum 
professionals. 
Mu.SA shows how DigComp can 
be used to define new digital job 
profiles in the museum sector and it 
illustrates a replicable process (and its 
complexity) to extend this result to the 
broader cultural sector. 

The case in brief

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Leading organisation

Hellenic Open University (HOU) – DAISSy research group

Labour market skills analysis

Sector

Higher Education Institute

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2016 - 2019

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

European

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed (museum professionals) • unemployed (cultural sector)

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered  Museum professionals • cultural sector professionals

Delivery of training

Employee profiles covered 

Digital Strategy Manager • Digital Collections Curator • Digital 
Interactive Experience Developer • Online Community Manager

Stakeholders involved 

Online resources

Tools

Contributors

Museum and cultural sectoral and professional organizations • 
Regional public administrations • VET providers and certification 
bodies • cultural NGOs and private companies

Mu.SA report: Emerging Job Roles for Museum Professionals

Mu.SA report: The Museum of the Future

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Mu.SA report: Museum Professionals in the Digital Era

Job search support

DigComp into Action Guide - see C06

5. Linking eCF, EQF and DigComp competences of the 4 new
Mu.SA digital profiles

6. Transferable competences of the 4 new Mu.SA digital profiles

HOU - Achilles Kameas, Professor at School of Science and 
Technology and director of DAISSy research group (based 
on discussions and collaboration with the members of the 
consortium)

70

Client tracking and monitoring

Employee support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

Studies carried out by Mu.SA partners in the previous 
eCult  Skills  project  (2013-2015)  under  the  Lifelong 
Learning  Program  of  the  European  Commission,  and 
later confirmed by the research outcomes of the Mu.SA 
project itself (see the resources section of the second 
and third report, the Museum of the Future and Muse-
um  Professionals  in  the  Digital  Era)  have  shown  that 
the structure and function of museums and cultural or-
ganisations are rapidly changing due to the increased 
adoption  of  IT,  and  that  new  job  roles  are  emerging 
that  include  substantial  IT  qualification  components. 
However, due to the increasing pace of IT adoption in 
these  sectors,  a  strong  disconnect  has  also  been  ob-
served between formal education and training of mu-
seum and other cultural professionals on the one hand, 
and the world of work on the other. This is a new chal-
lenge which adds to more structural challenges, which 
in three Mu.SA partner countries (Greece, Italy and Por-
tugal)  are  represented  by  low  levels  of  investment  in 
infrastructure and human resources (which contribute 
to the limited level of digital competence among cur-
rent  employees)  and  by  a  lack  of  clear  vision  among 
managers in the cultural sector and policymakers alike 
as  to  the  opportunities  that  digital  technologies  can 
bring to help museums thrive in their role.

The Mu.SA project was conceived to contribute to clos-
ing the digital competence gap by identifying and de-
fining new European profiles for emerging job roles in 
museums  and  by  creating  and  delivering  a  training 
program to develop the competence needed for those 
job  roles.  By  showing  the  relevance  and  potential  of 
the  new  emerging  profiles,  Mu.SA  partners  also  hope 

to  contribute  to  the  mental  shift  and  cultural  change 
in the planning of and vision for of museum services, 
so that the digital element becomes an integral part of 
the approach from the outset.

Aims and development of the Mu.SA project

The  Project  “Mu.SA:  Museum  Sector  Alliance”  is  ad-
dressed broadly to professionals (employed or unem-
ployed) and students in the cultural and more specifi-
cally the museum sector. The aim of the project is to 
assist  the  target  group  in  developing  the  necessary 
digital  and  transversal  competences  that  will  provide 
them with better employment and career opportunities 
in the “museum of the future”.

Funded  by  the  European  Commission  Erasmus  and 
KA2 Sector Skills Alliances framework, with a budget of 
€1.19m, it was implemented from November 2016 un-
til the end of 2019 in four European countries (Greece, 
Italy,  Portugal  and  Belgium)  by  a  consortium  of  11 
partners from the museum and culture sector and the 
educational/training sector.

Identifying and specifying emerging job roles

The  first  step  of  the  project  was  an  extensive  needs 
analysis, through a consultation with experts and prac-
titioners from museums, higher education and VET pro-
viders,  museums  and  museum  networks  (e.g.  NEMO, 
CAE), cultural authorities (e.g. IBACN in Italy) and pro-
fessional associations (e.g. ICOM), many of them mem-
bers of the project consortium. The aim of this process 
was  to  better  define  the  emerging  job  roles  and  the 
digital competences needed for them.

The eCult Skills project had previously identified five job 

71

role profiles to support museums in their digital jour-
ney: Cultural ICT consultant, Cultural ICT Guide, Digital 
Cultural  Assets  Manager,  Interactive  Cultural  Experi-
ence Developer, and Online Cultural Community Man-
ager. The new Mu.SA research aimed on the one hand 
to understand whether these profiles were still relevant 
to museums in the three countries and to update them 
accordingly,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  identify  which 
other digital competences most required development 
in that context.

Mu.SA  partners  carried  out  some  preliminary  inter-
views with experts, which immediately highlighted two 
things. Firstly, the five profiles as they had previously 
been defined, exclusively based on the e-CF framework 
(which  is  the  standard  for  IT  professionals),  were  too 
advanced in terms of skills requirements for the local 
context, and a wider range of digital and 21st centu-
ry skills should be taken into account. Secondly, digital 
competence development needs should be considered 
across the whole spectrum of museum professionals. 
The consultation on digital competence needs involved 
81  people  in  direct  interviews  and  focus  groups,  and 
275  respondents  to  an  online  survey.  Reflecting  the 
above  initial  feedback,  Mu.SA  partners  asked  partici-
pants to consider the five eCult Skills job role profiles, 
and to rate the importance for each of them (on a 1 to 
5 scale) of all the digital competences included in the 
e-CF and DigComp frameworks, plus a list of transfer-
able digital competences related to 21st century skills.
These  are  defined  as  those  hard  and  soft  skills  that
relate to many occupations, which are used in one job
or career and can be used also in another, e.g. creative
thinking and communication skills with MS Office Suite
applications,  or  time  management  using  applications

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SAsuch  as  MS  Outlook.  The  list  of  transferable  compe-
tences  was  drawn  up  on  the  basis  of  previous  Euro-
pean  projects  such  as  Arts,  ADESTE  and  CREA.M.  The 
final transferable competences which were ultimately 
selected are listed in TOOL 6.

As a result of this process, a deep revision was made of 
the previous profiles and 29 digital skills from e-CF, 17 
from DigComp and 20 transferable skills were selected 
as  the  relevant  competences  of  four  new  ICT-related 
job role profiles, briefly described in T.22. See the re-
sources section, Emerging Job Roles for Museum Pro-
fessionals, for a full description. 

Significantly, the Mu.SA consultation process confirmed 
that,  beyond  the  emerging  digital  job  profiles,  there 
was also a strong need to raise museum professionals’ 
digital cultural awareness and confidence. This meant 
developing the digital skills of all staff at a museum, 
regardless  of  their  role,  from  the  lower  to  the  upper 
levels  of  the  organisation,  according  to  their  specific 
functions and tasks.

In the second project phase, Mu.SA partners designed 
the learning outcomes associated with the key digital 
and  transversal  competences,  both  of  the  emerging 
digital  job  profiles  and  those  needed  to  build  digital 
confidence  on  a  wider  scale.  Then  a  professional  de-
velopment pathway was designed and implemented in 
three stages and with a combination of different learn-
ing modes.

1. The first step was the MOOC “Essential digital and 
transversal  competences  for  museum  profession-
als”.  It  is  a  first  training  stage  common  to  all  pro-
files, and open to all museum professionals. It was 
designed to support them in improving their digital 

T.22  EMERGING MUSEUM JOB ROLE PROFILES AND DESCRIPTIONS

Digital Strategy Manager (also known as)
Cultural ICT Consultant
Digital Cultural Manager 
Cultural Digital Strategy Manager 
Cultural ICT Ambassador
Digital cultural mediator 
Cultural ICT Advisor
Cultural ICT specialist

Digital Collections Curator (also known as)
Digital Cultural Asset Manager
Digital Asset manager
Born-Digital Material Curator
Digital Curator 

Digital Interactive Experience Developer (also known as) 
Interactive Experience Developer
Digital Interactive Experience Designer
Exhibition Interactive Designer

Online Community Manager (also known as)
Online Cultural Community Manager
Online Community Developer
Online Community Specialist
Social Media Specialist
Digital Media Curator
Visual Media Curator
New Media Manager
Digital Communication Manager
Social Media Manager

72

Supports a museum’s technological and digital innovation and helps 
museums to thrive in a digital environment, has a good knowledge of 
how a museum works and provides them with updated information 
about digital products, and plays a mediating role between the 
internal museum departments and external stakeholders. 

It is a strategic role for all the museums that aim at thriving in a 
digital environment in line with the overall museum strategy.

Improves the museum’s digital preservation, management and 
exploitation plan for all digital or digitized cultural contents, develops 
online and offline exhibitions and content for other departments, 
produces metadata according to recognised international standards, 
and provides information on copyright and protection of digital 
cultural property according to international standards. 

This role is specialised in preserving and managing digital materials.

Carries out audience research and observation analysis, designs 
and develops interactive and innovative installations providing 
meaningful experiences for all types of audiences, develops 
accessibility tools for all types of visitors, and facilitates 
communication flow between museum teams and external high-tech 
companies. 

This role is specialised in designing, developing and implementing 
innovative and interactive experiences for all types of visitors.

Designs and implements an online audience development plan in 
line with the museum’s overall strategic communication plan, liaises 
effectively with the other departments within the organisation in 
order to produce both content and meaningful online experiences, 
engages with, monitors and manages online audiences, and assesses 
and evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of online activities. 

This role profile is vital for all museums aiming to invest in 
developing and engaging diverse audiences online and should be 
fully integrated into the institutional structures

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SAcompetences  in  order  to  become  more  productive 
in the new digital era, efficient in collaborating with 
other  professionals  and  organisations  inside  and 
outside of their sector, and successful in managing 
emerging  challenges.  The  MOOC  has  a  total  dura-
tion  of  eight  weeks  and  a  required  study  effort  of 
80  hours.  The  course  is  free  and  open  to  all.  The 
main language of training is English, but by the end 
of the project all content will be provided in Greek, 
Italian  and  Portuguese  (currently,  only  videos  and 
presentations are subtitled). The MOOC went live in 
January 2019.

2. Learners that complete the MOOC and succeed in at 
least 80% of graded activities are eligible to contin-
ue  their learning  by applying for an advanced,  six-
month  specialization  training  course,  in  one  of 
the emerging job profiles. This course is implement-
ed as a combination of elearning and face-to-face 
training. 

3. A  selected  group  of  learners  who  successfully  fin-
ished both the MOOC and the specialization training 
would  access  a  work-based  learning  experience 
in  one  of  the  European  museums  for  a  total  of  2 
months.

Thanks to the numerous events organized by the pro-
ject  partners,  5.200  people  registered  in  the  MOOC 
from all over the world as soon as it was launched!

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP

The previous e-Cult project had taken into consideration 
exclusively  digital  skills  from  the  e-CF,  which  experts 
consulted by Mu.SA found was too “advanced” for the 

context.  In  the  new  Mu.SA  project,  partners  therefore 
decided to take a broader view of digital competence, 
in order to cater for the needs of museum profession-
als, as they wanted to design job profiles that would be 
well-founded and well-structured. DigComp provided a 
complete, structured and modular framework for dig-
ital competence, which could be easily combined with 
e-CF  and  with  transversal  competences,  and  adapted 
to the domain of application. Moreover, with DigComp 
being  a  validated  framework  at  European  level,  part-
ners expected that it would facilitate the certification of 
job roles and recognition of the qualifications acquired 
via  the  Mu.SA  training  courses.  For  these  reasons,  all 
DigComp 2.1 competences were used to complement 
the competences of e-CF 3.0, and were included in the 
checklists used for the job profile design and evaluation 
stage. The learning outcomes were based on the gen-
eral competence descriptors, and the example learning 
outcomes  provided  in  the  frameworks.  Where  neces-
sary, both descriptors and outcomes were adapted to 
the specific domain of application, so that the resulting 
learning  outcomes  were  as  domain-specific  as  possi-
ble.  This  is  also  reflected  in  the  training  material  de-
veloped later.

While the DigComp framework was well known to re-
searchers  on  the  Mu.SA  project  who  coordinated  or-
ganisation, participants in the Mu.SA consultation and 
profile design process, including partners, were initial-
ly  unaware  of  DigComp.  For  this  reason,  all  partners 
had to get acquainted with the DigComp specification 
and selected literature, and to be trained and support-
ed through online answers to their questions from the 
coordinator  during  the  need  analysis  phase.    In  addi-
tion,  before  each  consultation/interview,  partners  had 

73

to present e-CF and DigComp frameworks to the inter-
locutors. Through these activities, a side effect of the 
project  was  to  raise  awareness  of  these  frameworks 
in the museum sector, and among all those involved in 
evaluating and improving the profiles.

The  result  of  the  competence  needs  analysis  is  illus-
trated in TOOL 5 and TOOL 6, which show the e-CF 
and  complementary  DigComp  competences  required 
and  proficiency  level,  their  importance  and  whether 
they  are  mandatory  or  optional  for  each  of  the  four 
new job role profiles.

The next step was to organise a workshop with the par-
ticipating partners’ representatives to define the course 
outlines and design the learning outcomes. To do that, 
first  they  went  through  all  profiles  and  competences 
that  resulted  from  the  expert  consultation,  then  they 
analysed  the  profiles  using  the  competences  and  the 
associated  levels,  producing  descriptions  and  sample 
learning outcomes. Finally, the common and most im-
portant  competences  were  selected  to  be  included  in 
the MOOC, while the rest were left for the specialisation 
courses.

In the final step, a multi-disciplinary team of training 
content  developers  was  assembled  in  each  country, 
consisting of subject experts, instructional experts, re-
viewers, technicians, media specialists, etc. As most of 
them  had  limited  knowledge  of  DigComp,  in  order  to 
design and produce high-quality content for the cours-
es they also had to become familiar with it, and with 
the proposed learning outcomes.

The “Essential digital skills for museum professionals” 
MOOC course which eventually resulted from this ac-
tivity, states that once they have completed it, learners 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SAwill be able to:

a. Develop and use the necessary digital and transfer-
able competences, to act as knowledgeable profes-
sionals in the museum sector;

b. Manage data, information and digital content;

c. Collaborate using digital technologies;

d. Develop a digital strategy and management plan for 

a museum;

e. Be  competent  in  ICT  tools  and  means  for  applying 

them to museum objects;

f. Upskill the ICT background required for the sector;

g. Use web 2.0 tools in the museum;

h. Be  efficient  in  time  management,  communication, 

team working, leadership and creative thinking;

i.  Identify needs and technological responses;

j.  Develop digital content;

k. Be aware of emerging job role profile descriptions;

l.  Empower the development of 21st century skills;

m. Actively participate in an online learning community; 

n. Be competent as a museum professional with strong 

ICT skills at European level.

These achievements (learning outcomes) are related to 
a combination of e-CF and DigComp competences, as 
summarised in T.23.

The MOOC is open to a wide audience, and the targeted 
proficiency levels at this stage are lower.

The MOOC courses are modular, and last for eight weeks. 
Each week, the course lasts ten hours and addresses 
two to three modules. Each module corresponds to one 
competence,  and  consists  of  several  units.  Each  unit 

T.23   LIST OF E-CF AND DIGCOMP COMPETENCES ADDRESSED BY THE MU.SA TRAINING

E-CF COMPETENCES

DIGCOMP 2.1 COMPETENCES

1.1 Browsing, searching and filtering data,  
information and digital content
1.2 Evaluating data, info. and digital content
1.3 Managing data, info. and digital content
2.4 Collaborating through digital technologies
2.5 Netiquette
2.6 Managing digital identity
3.1 Developing digital content
3.3 Copyright and licenses
3.4 Programming
4.1 Protecting devices
4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy
4.3 Protecting health and well-being
4.4 Protecting the environment
5.1 Solving technical problems
5.2 Identifying needs and technological responses
5.3 Creatively using digital technologies
5.4 Identifying digital competences gap

A.1 – IS and Business Strategy Alignment
A.2 – Service Level Management
A.3 – Business Plan Development
A.4 – Product / Service Planning
A.6 – Application Design
A.7 – Technology Trend Monitoring
A.8 – Sustainable Development
A.9 – Innovating
B.1 – Application Development
B.3 – Testing
B.4 – Solution Deployment
B.5 – Documentation Production
C.1 – User Support
C.2 – Change Support
C.3 – Service Delivery
C.4 – Problem Management
D.1 – Info. Security Strategy Development
D.2 – ICT Quality Strategy Development
D.3 – Education and Training Provision
D.4 – Purchasing
D.10 – Information and Knowledge Mgmt.
D.11 – Needs Identification
D.12 – Digital Marketing
E.1 – Forecast Development
E.3 – Risk Management
E.4 – Relationship Management
E.5 – Process Improvement
E.6 – ICT Quality Management
E.7 – Business Change Management

74

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SA• The Mu.SA project report The Museum of the Future:
insights  and  reflections  from  10  international  mu-
seums collects the visions of the next generation of
museums by 10 international expert museum pro-
fessionals

• The  Mu.SA  project  report  Museum  Professionals  in
the  Digital  Era:  agents  of  change  and  innovation
summarizes  the  training  needs  of  museum  pro-
fessionals and the available training offers, as they
were  recorded  during  the  research  in  Greece,  Italy
and  Portugal,  identifying  gaps  in  knowledge,  skills
and competences.

• DigComp into Action Guide - see C06

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• HOU - Achilles Kameas, Professor at School of
Science and Technology and director of DAISSy
research group
kameas@eap.gr

corresponds  to  one  learning  objective  that  has  been 
explicitly developed for it. Therefore, specific modules 
have been allocated to each DigComp competence, and 
various units have been included in each module. More-
over, each unit includes a quiz, which tests the learning 
outcomes for the unit.

The higher target proficiency levels of e-CF (3,4,5) and 
DigComp  (6,7,8)  competences  illustrated  in  TOOL  5, 
relate to the new job role profiles, and are planned to 
be  acquired  through  additional  specialised  trainings 
described  above  in  step  2,  and  indicated  in  TOOL  5 
and 6 as “Training delivered through eLearning”. A sim-
ilar logic as for the MOOC course was applied for the 
organisation  and  content  design  of  the  specialisation 
courses, which were more focused on the four emerg-
ing job profiles. 

Given  this  approach,  the  modules´  organisation,  the 
training materials and the assessment tests systemat-
ically reflect the DigComp and e-CF competence frame-
works in all training pathways.

Since  the  end  of  the  project,  the  final  version  of  the 
MOOC has been made available to interested students 
once or twice per year. Mu.SA partners are free to use 
the  MOOC  or  its  contents  in  any  training  course  they 
develop.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• The Mu.SA project report Emerging Job Roles for Mu-
seum  Professionals  presents  the  research  process,
the four new job roles and the digital and transver-
sal competences that characterize each role:

75

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SA  TOOL 5. 1/3 - LINKING ECF, EQF AND DIGCOMP COMPETENCES OF THE 4 NEW MU.SA DIGITAL PROFILES  
 (+ LEVELS TO BE DEVELOPED AND TRAINING DELIVERY MODE)  

E-COMPETENCES

NEW DIGITAL MUSEUM PROFILES
e-x **: required / e-y *: desired

Very important  
(mandatory)

Important  
(mandatory)

important  
(optional)

(optional)

DIGITAL 
STRATEGY 
MANAGER

DIGITAL 
COLLECTIONS 
CURATOR

DIGITAL 
INTERACTIVE 
EXPERIENCE 
DEVELOPER

ONLINE 
COMMUNITY 
MANAGER

TRAINING 
DELIVERY
Mooc 
Elearning

LEVELS TO BE 
DEVELOPED
e-3 (e-CF) = Level 6 EQF
e-4 (e-CF) = Level 7 EQF
e-5 (e-CF) = Level 8 EQF

RELATED WITH DIGCOMP COMPETENCES  
(AND PROFICIENCY LEVELS)

A.1

IS and Business Strategy 
Alignment

e-4 **/ e-5 *

e-4 **/ e-5 *

e-4 **/ e-5 *

e-4 **/ e-5 *

A.2

Service Level Mgmt.

e-3 **/ e-4 *

A.3

Business Plan Development

e-3 ** / e-4 *

e-3 ** / e-4 *

e-3 ** / e-4 *

e-3 ** / e-4 *

A.4

Product / Service Planning

e-3 **

e-3 ** / e-4 *

e-3 ** / e-4 *

e-4 **

A.5

Architecture Design

A.6

Application Design

e-3 ** 

A.7

Technology Trend Monitoring

e-3 **/ e-4*

e-5**

e-5**

e-4 ** / e-5*

A.8

Sustainable Development

e-3 ** / e-4 *

A.9

Innovating

e-4 ** / e-5*

e-5 **

e-4 ** / e-5*

e-4 ** / e-5*

B.1

B.2

Application Development

Component Integration

e-3 ** 

M

E

M

E

E

M

E

M

E

76

e-5

e-4

e-4

e-3

e-3

1.1 Browsing, searching and filtering data, informa-
tion and digital content (PL8)
1.3 Managing data, information and digital content 
(PL8)

3.3 Copyright and licenses (PL7)

1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content 
(PL7)
5.2 Identifying needs and technological responses 
(PL7)

5.2 Identifying needs and technological responses 
(PL6)

3.4 Programming (PL6)
5.2 Identifying needs and technological responses 

(PL6)

1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content 

e-4, e-5

(PL7)

2.5 Netiquette (PL7)

e-4

e-5

e-3

4.3 Protecting health and well-being (PL7)
4.4 Protecting the environment (PL7)

5.3 Innovating and creatively using technology (PL8)
2.4 Collaborating through digital technologies (PL8)

3.4 Programming (PL6)

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SA 
 
 
  TOOL 5. 2/3

E-COMPETENCES

B.3

Testing

B.4

Solution Deployment

Documentation Production

e-3 *

B.5

B.6

C.1

C.2

C.3

C.4

D.1

D.2

Systems Engineering

User Support

Change Support

Service Delivery

Problem Management

Information Security Strategy 
Development

e-3 **/ e-4*

ICT Quality Strategy 
Development

D.3

Education and Training Provision

e-3 **

D.4

Purchasing

e-3 **/ e-4*

e-3**/e-4*

D.5

Sales Proposal Development

D.6

Channel Management

D.7

Sales Management

NEW DIGITAL MUSEUM PROFILES
e-x **: required / e-y *: desired

Very important  
(mandatory)

Important  
(mandatory)

important  
(optional)

(optional)

DIGITAL 
STRATEGY 
MANAGER

DIGITAL 
COLLECTIONS 
CURATOR

DIGITAL 
INTERACTIVE 
EXPERIENCE 
DEVELOPER

ONLINE 
COMMUNITY 
MANAGER

TRAINING 
DELIVERY
Mooc 
Elearning

LEVELS TO BE 
DEVELOPED
e-3 (e-CF) = Level 6 EQF
e-4 (e-CF) = Level 7 EQF
e-5 (e-CF) = Level 8 EQF

RELATED WITH DIGCOMP COMPETENCES  
(AND PROFICIENCY LEVELS)

e-3 **

e-3 **

e-3 **

e-3 **

e-3 **

e-4**/e-5*

e-3 **

e-3 **

e-4 **

e-4 **

e-4 **

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

E

e-3

e-3

e-3, e-4

e-3

e-3

e-3

e-4

e-4

e-5

e-3

e-4

4.1 Protecting devices (PL6)
4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy (PL6)

5.1 Solving technical problems (PL7)

4.1 Protecting devices (PL7)

5.3 Creatively using digital technologies (PL8)

5.4 Identifying digital competences gap (PL6)

e-5 **

77

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SA 
 
 
  TOOL 5. 3/3 

E-COMPETENCES

NEW DIGITAL MUSEUM PROFILES
e-x **: required / e-y *: desired

Very important  
(mandatory)

Important  
(mandatory)

important  
(optional)

(optional)

DIGITAL 
STRATEGY 
MANAGER

DIGITAL 
COLLECTIONS 
CURATOR

DIGITAL 
INTERACTIVE 
EXPERIENCE 
DEVELOPER

ONLINE 
COMMUNITY 
MANAGER

TRAINING 
DELIVERY
Mooc 
Elearning

LEVELS TO BE 
DEVELOPED
e-3 (e-CF) = Level 6 EQF
e-4 (e-CF) = Level 7 EQF
e-5 (e-CF) = Level 8 EQF

RELATED WITH DIGCOMP COMPETENCES  
(AND PROFICIENCY LEVELS)

D.8

Contract Management

D.9

Personnel Development

D.10

Information and Knowledge 
Mgmt.

e-3 ** /e-4*

e-5 **

D.11

Needs Identification

e-4** /e-5 *

e-4**/e-5*

e-3 **

e-4**/e-5 *

D.12

Digital Marketing

E.1

Forecast Development

e-3 **

e-3**/e-4*

e-4 **

e-4 **

e-4 **

E.2

E.3

E.4

Project and Portfolio Mgmt.

Risk Management

e-3**/ e-4*

e-3**/e-4*

e-3**/e-4*

Relationship Management

e-4 **

e-4 **

e-4 **

e-4 **

E.5

Process Improvement

e-3**/ e-4*

E.6 

ICT Quality Management

e-3**/ e-4*

e-4 **

e-3**/ e-4*

e-4 **

E.7

Business Change Mgmt.

e-3**/ e-4*

e-4**/e-5 *

E

M

E

M

E

M

E

M

E

e-4, e-5

e-3, e-4

e-4

e-3, e-4

e-4

e-4

e-4

e-4

e-4

E.8

E.9

Information Security Mgmt.

IS Governance

78

1.3 Storing and retrieving information (PL8)

3.1 Developing digital content (PL7)

5.3 Creatively using digital technologies (PL7)

5.2 Identifying needs and technological responses 
(PL7)

2.6 Managing digital identity (PL7)

4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy (PL7)

1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content 
(PL7)

1.3 Managing data, information and digital content 
(PL7)

1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content 
(PL7)

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SA 
 
 
  TOOL 6. TRANSFERABLE COMPETENCES OF THE 4 NEW MU.SA DIGITAL PROFILES (A: VERY IMPORTANT B: IMPORTANT)

TRANSFERABLE COMPETENCIES

DIGITAL STRATEGY 
MANAGER

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS 
CURATOR

DIGITAL INTERACTIVE 
EXPERIENCE DEVELOPER

ONLINE COMMUNITY 
MANAGER

TRAINING DELIVERY 
THROUGH

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

B

Communications skills

Mentoring / coaching skills

Analyse and synthesize information

Negotiation skills

Team working

Networking skills

Creative thinking skills

Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship

Resilience

Leadership and change facilitator

Decision making

Time management

Management skills

Interpersonal skills

Mediation skills

Influence / persuasion skills

Active listening skills

Storytelling

Fast-driven

Integrity / ethical

A

A

A

A

B

A

A

B

A

B

A

A

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

B

A

A

A

A

A

B

B

B

79

A

B

A

A

A

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

B

A

A

A

MOOC

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

MOOC

eLearning

MOOC

eLearning

eLearning

MOOC

eLearning

MOOC

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

eLearning

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C6 MU.SASMARTIVEMAP
ITALY

Large organisations today face a 
digital transformation, which has been 
generated by disruptive technology 
and business innovation in the 
globalised economy. From the levels of 
management through to the workforce, 
large organisations are often lacking the 
right mind-set, skills, and competences 
to approach technology, people, and 
business changes together. This is the 
real challenge posed by the digital 
transformation. Smartive, a start-up 
in Milano, developed SmartiveMap, 
a self-assessment tool used to start 
measuring the readiness of individuals 
and organisations facing this challenge, 
based on their openness to change, and 
their digital skills. Assessment questions 
on digital competence were partly 
drawn from DigComp, and were also 
identified by business function experts 
in the following areas: purchasing, 
operations, finance and controlling, 
marketing and sales, human resources, 
and ICT. Following an initial assessment, 
Smartive designs and carries out 
communication, training, and other 
actions to enable and manage change in 
the customer organisations. Smartive’s 
experience shows the importance of 
blending the development of both hard 
and soft skills, to achieve effective digital 
transformation.

The case in brief

Leading organisation

Smartive

Sector

Commercial

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Labour market skills analysis

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2016 - ongoing

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

National, Italy

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

All private sectors and public (EFSA)

Delivery of training

Employee profiles covered 

-

Workforce development

Stakeholders involved 

Enterprises • business consultants

Assessment of skills

Free SmartiveMap self-assessment test

Certification of competence

Online resources

Corporate SmartiveMap self-assessment test

DigComp into Action Guide – see C18

Tools

-

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Client tracking and monitoring

Contributors

Smartive - Marco Mazzini, Managing partner

Smartive - Francesca Montemagno, partner (EFSA project)

Employee support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

80

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

The  digital  transformation  generated  by  disruptive 
technology  and  business  innovation  in  the  globalised 
economy  is  affecting  large  companies  and  public  or-
ganisations, as well as national and local markets, and 
the public sector. The larger the organisation, the more 
difficult it is to bring about any substantial amount of 
change. It is often the case that the right mindset, skills, 
and competencies to understand and react to this kind 
of innovation are seldom found throughout the entire 
chain  of  command  in  larger  organisations.  They  also 
tend  not  to  have  an  integrated  view  or  a  holistic  ap-
proach  to  address  technology,  people,  and  business 
transformation together. As this is the real challenge of 
the digital transformation, the mission of Smartive - a 
private  consultancy  company  based  in  Milano  -  is  to 
support these organisations in designing and manag-
ing what Smartive calls their unique “journey” to digital 
transformation, with a specific focus on increasing the 
digital competence of all staff.

Human  resources  (HR)  departments  are  typically  the 
entry point to initiate this process, as they have the re-
sponsibility of responding to the changing needs of the 
organisation with existing staff (with upskilling training, 
if needed), and with new recruits. Despite this level of 
responsibility, HR departments seldom have a clear idea 
of what constitutes digital competence, which type and 
level of digital competence is needed in the company, 
and  how  to  develop  it.  On  the  other  hand,  IT  depart-
ments tend to see and cater for only the technical side 
of digital competence, providing training and support to 
guarantee that employees can use the digital tools and 
procedures  required  for  their  work.  The  top  manage-

F.18  THE SMARTIVE MANIFESTO ON “OPEN TRANSFORMATION”

ment  of  the  organisation,  in  turn,  can  generate  ideas 
about business transformation opportunities, and how 
new technologies can help, but they may not have an 
understanding of their employees’ readiness to change. 

Smartive therefore presents to its clients a view of the 
digital challenge today as not being just about technol-
ogy, but also about changing the way in which people 
and companies operate. All business processes and di-

mensions  –  from  data  analytics  to  channel  strategy, 
from operations to company culture –require the inte-
gration of digital tools and procedures as a “transver-
sal”  factor.  As  such,  digital  competencies  must  be  in 
place in order for digital transformation to be effective.

This view has been translated into the Smartive Man-
ifesto  (F.18),  which  summarises  the  key  words  and 
concepts  identified  as  drivers  of  “open  transforma-

81

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C7 SMARTIVEMAPtion”. Technology is only one of eight challenges in the 
Manifesto.  The  transformation  is  described  as  “open” 
because  each  company’s  experience  is  unique  and 
open-ended;  because  part  of  the  transformation,  ac-
cording to Smartive, is precisely to open up people, or-
ganisational units and the whole company to broader 
interactions, and also because Smartive staff engage in 
the process as experts, trainers and testimonials from 
other companies and institutions.

The  presentation  and  discussion  of  these  keywords 
with the top management and HR staff is typically the 
initial stage of Smartive’s consultancy work in a com-
pany.

Smartive activities

The full service offered by Smartive is described as an 
“Open Transformation Journey”. The journey – named 
the “4C Journey” (F.19) – has the following four steps:

1. Consciousness is the initial step, during which time, 
Smartive maps the company’s readiness to change 
and, based on this, designs the specific activities of 
the transformation journey;

2. Commitment is the crucial stage at which ideas for 
change  are  collected,  transformed  into  small-scale 
actions, and tested through an agile approach. Some 
actions will inevitably fail (and this is to be expect-
ed),while others will succeed, and can then be scaled 
up;

3. Contamination is the process of scaling up success-
ful  initiatives  and  changes,  to  the  point  where  at 
least half of the organisation is involved;

4. Change  is  the  last  stage  which  consolidates  what 
is called a “smart ecosystem of change”, which has 

CONSCIOUSNESS

COMMITTMENT

CONTAMINATION

CHANGE

F.19  4C STEPS OF THE TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

been  created  throughout  the  previous  steps.  This 
aims at sustaining permanent, effective change pro-
cesses across the whole organisation, whilst work-
ing  closely  with  the  broader  external  environment, 
including digital suppliers, industry partners, expert 
communities, talented individuals, and other poten-
tial human resources.

Throughout  the  initial  mapping  stage  (within  the 

consciousness  phase),  all  employees  are  tested  and 
mapped based on their openness to change, and their 
digital  competence,  using  SmartiveMap.  This  allows 
Smartive to identify the so-called “digital champions”, 
who  can  be  immediately  engaged  in  the  change  pro-
cess,  and  to  balance  the  subsequent  actions  under-
taken throughout different stages of the journey. Such 
actions, called “formats”, are events and activities de-

82

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C7 SMARTIVEMAPto train others and to motivate colleagues. A significant 
and continuous internal communication effort accom-
panies the whole process. 

Smartive’s clients so far have been mainly large com-
panies,  including  ABB,  Barilla,  Bayer,  Biogen,  Cisco, 
Electrolux, Generali Group, Leroy Merlin, Foscarini, MSD, 
Piaggio,  RCS  Mediagroup,  Sandoz,  Siemens,  Volkswa-
gen  Financial  Services  and  EFSA,  and  the  European 
Food Safety Agency. 

Work with such customers will of course continue. The 
service offered is envisaged to evolve towards improv-
ing and maximising the users’ levels of autonomy and 
experience, throughout their continuous learning jour-
ney. This will be done by creating a personal account 
on the Smartive platform (a sort of e-portfolio), which 
will also be available when the user moves to a new 
job, allowing them to track and document their learning 
experiences and achievements.

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP 

Smartive has been using DigComp at a technical level 
in the development and application of the SmartiveMap 
for analysis of skills in the labour market, and for skills 
assessments. At a general/strategic level, DigComp has 
acted  as  the  reference  framework  used  to  introduce 
and discuss about digital competence with customers, 
and  has  been  used  to  design  workforce  development 
activities as part of the digital transformation journey. 
DigComp is also used to identify some of the content 
for  training  activities,  but  this  is  currently  done  on  a 
limited scale, as the main focus of Smartive’s training 
on  digital  competence  is  closely  related  to  organisa-

F.20  SMARTIVE “FORMATS” OR ACTIONS

signed  to  make  things  happen  in  the  “company  play-
ground”, as illustrated in F.20. Groups of actions which 
make up a segment of the journey are called “waves”. 
Some  actions  mainly  target  top  executives  and  man-
agers,  such  as  Sharing  Groups  and  Digital  Summits, 
to enhance awareness and sponsorship of the change 
actions. Others target specific staff clusters, and focus 
on learning, such as Digital Academy, Learning Expedi-

tion (out of the company visit), and Open Day (outside 
visitors to the company). Most formats are transversal, 
and tend to involve employees at all levels in variable 
aggregations, such as Digital Breakfast, Digital Day, Pi-
lot project, Digital Room (co-working space), Hackathon, 
Digital  Coaching,  Reverse  Mentoring,  Talent  Scouting, 
Partner  Review,  and  others.  Digital  champions  play  a 
key role in many of these formats, as they are trained 

83

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C7 SMARTIVEMAPtional  and  work-related  aspects  (see  below  the  dis-
cussion  about  functional  competence),  which  are  not 
directly addressed by the DigComp framework.

The SmartiveMap

SmartiveMap  is  the  proprietary  tool  developed  to  as-
sess  and  map  the  readiness  of  an  individual  and  an 
organisation  to  the  digital  transformation.  There  is  a 
standardised  and  simplified  version  freely  available 
online,  which  is  accessible  from  various  devices  (mo-
bile, tablet or PC).

SmartiveMap  uses  two  evaluation  dimensions:  open-
ness to change, and digital competence. In the stand-
ard  version,  which  focuses  only  on  general  digital 
competence, the user is asked to answer, during a 10 
minutes  session,  20  Likert-style  and  multiple-choice 
questions available in English or Italian. At the end of 
the self-assessment, SmartiveMap produces a person-
al report which includes the user’s SmartiveMap profile, 
their scores, benchmark comparisons, and general ad-
vice about the role that the user can play in the digital 
transformation.

Based  on  the  answers,  SmartiveMap  assigns  one  of 
these five profiles to each user: 

 • Embracer:  has a positive attitude towards change, 
and a high level of digital competence. Can play a 
proactive role from the beginning of the change pro-
cess

 • Confident: has a good level of openness to change, 
and of digital competence, but still has to improve in 
order to play the role of an Embracer.

 • Ally: usually accepts change, but needs to fill their 

gaps in technical competence and digital skills.

 • Sceptical:  has  a  technical  background,  but  is  hes-
itant  about  change,  and  needs  to  be  engaged  and 
taken on board.

 • Resistant: is against change, needs to be identified, 
and  carefully  engaged  and  trained  in  a  more  ad-
vanced phase of the change process.

In its corporate version, the SmartiveMap test includes 
questions about the business function, each user’s role 
in the organisation, and additional questions about the 
user’s relevant functional digital competence. This ver-
sion allows for company customisation.

Based  on  this  overall  data  set,  the  company  can  use 
the SmartiveMap test results for the following: 

 • mapping  employee  profiles  and  their  readiness  to 

the digital transformation;

 • finding talents and potential Digital Champions, who 
are usually Embracers with soft skills capabilities; 

 • planning targeted training and learning activities to 

overcome competence gaps;

 • tracking  the  improvements  of  the  ongoing  digital 

transformation processes.

The  individual  attitude  to  change  is  measured  both 
generally,  and  regarding  some  specific  new  activities, 
which are based on 10 Likert questions drawn from ex-
isting psychometric models to check resistance, open-
ness, and commitment to change.

Two types of digital competence are considered: gen-
eral and functional.

General  digital  competence  refers  to  the  level  of 
awareness  and  confidence  of  the  person  in  the  digi-

84

tal environment. To define and measure this, Smartive 
used the DigComp framework 2.0, from which they se-
lected  descriptors  of  the  21  competences  as  the  rel-
evant  dimensions  for  the  assessment.  SmartiveMap 
uses five multiple-choice questions (mostly from within 
DigComp’s foundation and intermediate levels), to as-
sess the level of general digital competence based on 
the percentage of correct answers. 

A key decision taken in the design of SmartiveMap was 
to  measure  only  the  knowledge  dimension  of  com-
petence,  i.e.,  “how  much  people  know  about  common 
digital tools and services, and about DigComp’s trans-
versal issues such as security, privacy, etc.”. Skills as-
sessments were excluded, due to the difficulty of im-
plementing them within a quick and self-administered 
testing tool. On the other hand, asking for a self-evalu-
ation of skills – i.e. “How confident are you with doing x 
or y?” – was considered unreliable. 

However,  deeper  competence  analyses  are  conducted 
by Smartive within the corporate context, utilising fol-
low-up interviews and focus groups. Observations from 
these  activities  have  shown  that  the  SmartiveMap’s 
knowledge-based  questions  on  general  competence 
are  generally  effective  for  differentiating  between 
those with higher and lower digital proficiency levels.

Functional digital competence refers to the level and 
type of digital competence required for specific func-
tional areas of the company. Those currently covered 
by the SmartiveMap are: Finance and controlling; Mar-
keting & Sales, Human Resources, ICT services, Opera-
tions and industrial services, Legal affairs, with a Re-
search and Development area underway. 

As DigComp does not address this type of job-related 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C7 SMARTIVEMAPmapping across different reports. 

F.21  shows  the  general  map  of  the  five  profiles  (em-
bracer, confident, ally, sceptical, resistant). Their size is 
presented  as  relative  to  the  number  of  people  within 
that group. SmartiveMap offers the function of filtering 
by different dimensions, allowing for an in-depth analy-
sis of specific competence areas, and which employees 
and  clusters  of  employees  have  greater  competence 
gaps,  facilitating  the  planning  of  subsequent  training 
actions.

Smartive  plans  to  develop  a  benchmarking  service, 
which would provide HR managers and top executives 
with  information  about  how  the  digital  competence 
profile  of  their  company  (including  an  overview  of  all 
staff, and overviews of each functional area) compares 
with the average in the same business sector, as well 
as with the sector leaders. F.22 shows an example for 
a marketing department.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)’s 
transformation journey

To exemplify how the Smartive digital transformation 
approach can be implemented, a recent “journey” at the 
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) based in Parma 
(Italy) is briefly illustrated below.

The EFSA journey began in April 2018; their main aim 
was to enhance their performance in a rapidly chang-
ing  world,  and  in  a  context  of  a  large  network  of  ex-
ternal collaborators. The main focus, therefore, was on 
change  management  associated  with  the  systematic 
introduction of collaboration tools (Office 365), starting 
with  internal  ones.  The  main  focus  of  the  journey  is 
thus on change management associated with the sys-

F.21  CORPORATE SKILLS MAPPING WITH SMARTIVEMAP

digital  competence,  Smartive  organised  the  definition 
of  digital  functional  profiles  using  SmartiveMap 
Editors. This is a network of experts and digital man-
agers from the various business functional areas, all of 
whom work for different companies and organisations. 
Firstly, these editors followed the DigComp framework 
to identify the most important areas of digital compe-
tence  within  each  functional  area.  These  areas  were 
called  “dimensions”  in  SmartiveMap,  and  were  each 
given a short definition, and an overview of the main 
content-related topics. Secondly, the editors produced 

and validated a set of competence assessment ques-
tions  for  each  topic.  It  is  expected  that  these  will  re-
quire updating over time, to reflect the evolution of the 
digital challenges faced.

Using the digital functional profiles, the corporate ver-
sion of the Smartive test includes questions about digi-
tal culture (DigComp-related questions), and functional 
expertise  linked  to  the  user’s  functional  area,  in  five 
progressive levels of difficulty. Based ased on the re-
sults, the customer company receives a corporate skills 

85

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C7 SMARTIVEMAPSmartive  peers’  community  (professionals  from  other 
Smartive clients who were willing to share their exper-
tise beyond their organisation’s boundaries). Smartive’s 
experience showed that classroom-based training was 
crucial for learning, particularly with regards to encour-
aging employees’ engagement in the initial steps of the 
change  process.  In  later  stages,  some  of  the  training 
may be provided online. Full online training tends to be 
effective only for highly specialised topics and technical 
staff.

ONLINE RESOURCES

• The free SmartiveMap self-assessment test is avail-
able online in Italian and English. This version only
considers the general digital competence dimension
based on DigComp.

• The corporate self-assessment test  has an extend-
ed set of questions about functional digital compe-
tences and several possible customizations for the
Human Resources team to obtain a complete skills
map of the company population.
• DigComp into Action Guide – see C18

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• Smartive - Marco Mazzini, Managing partner

marco.mazzini@smartive.net

• Smartive - Francesca Montemagno, partner (EFSA

project)
francescamaria.montemagno@smartive.net

F.22  BENCHMARKING EXAMPLE (MARKETING DEPT.)

tematic introduction of collaboration tools (Office 365), 
starting with internal ones. 

The  organisational  environment  of  EFSA  was  new  to 
Smartive,  as  most  of  the  staff  are  scientists,  whose 
functional  digital  competences,  Smartive  had  nev-
er  had  the  opportunity  to  study  before.  Due  to  that, 
the  initial  employee  profiling  step  using  SmartiveM-
ap  considered,  both  openness  to  change,  and  gener-
al  digital  competences.  On  average,  EFSA’s  staff  had 
higher levels of general digital competence than other 
organisations. Based on the profiling results for the five 
profiles (embracer, confident, ally, sceptical, resistant), 
Smartive designed a customised journey. This consist-
ed of four training waves, each of which addressed ap-
proximately 100 employees with 12 classroom-based 

sessions,  a  Digital  Champions  program,  an  important 
internal communication campaign, and a few other mi-
nor activities. 

Training sessions represented about 50-60% of the ac-
tivities for EFSA’s journey, in terms of the time devoted 
to them. They alternated between “how to” technology 
education (use of Skype for business, Microsoft Teams, 
and other topics) and digital culture sessions devoted to 
collaboration, safety, other DigComp competences, and 
the principles of the Smartive manifesto. The manifes-
to had been adapted to the scientific working environ-
ment within which EFSA operates. Training was mostly 
delivered  face-to-face,  in  classroom-based  settings, 
with an important peer education component involving 
both internal champions and external experts from the 

86

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C7 SMARTIVEMAPA BAIT  B PATHWAYS4EMPLOY
BELGIUM • GREECE • IRELAND • LATVIA • SPAIN

The Basque Country has a well-
established ICT knowledge certification 
system called IT Txartela, which has 
issued more than 250,000 certificates 
over ten years. The Basque Country 
government, through its Ikanos project 
(see C3 Ikanos), asked Tecnalia, a 
private R&D organisation, to develop 
a new digital competence certification 
system, called BAIT, to be fully 
DigComp-based. 
Tecnalia developed BAIT in 
collaboration with IVAP (the Basque 
Institute of Public Administration) and 
Mondragon University (which created 
the training offer). BAIT was tested 
by IVAP´s employees. In this process, 
Tecnalia benefited from its experience 
in the Pathways4Employ project, which 
used DigComp to define the digital 
profiles of entrepreneurs and virtual 
office workers, and developed a self-
assessment test on related digital 
skills. 
The use of DigComp has facilitated 
collaboration with local stakeholders 
and European partners, and 
dialogue with other Spanish regional 
governments that are also developing 
DigComp-based certification systems. 

The case in brief

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Leading organisation

Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation

Labour market skills analysis

Sector

Research Institution

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2016 - ongoing

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

Regional, Basque Country, Spain / European

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed • unemployed

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

Public administration (BAIT) • business world (Pathways for 
Employ)

Employee profiles covered 

ESCO 2422 Policy administration professionals • civil service 
administrative officer (BAIT) •  Entrepreneur and Virtual office 
worker (Pathways for Employ)

Stakeholders involved 

IVAP (Basque public institution) • Mondragon University

BAIT self-assessment test 

Online resources

Pathways4Employ self-assessment test

DigComp into Action Guide – see C19

Tools

-

Contributors

Tecnalia - Iker Martínez de Soria, Juan Bartolomé Boloix, Digital 
Trust Technologies Area (TrusTech), ICT Division

Delivery of training

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Client tracking and monitoring

Employee support

✓ A
B

✓ B

✓ B

✓ A

✓ B

✓ A
B

87

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS 

In 2002, the Basque Country developed an ICT knowl-
edge certification system called IT Txartela, which over 
the last 10 years issued over 250,000 certificates out 
of 500,000 exams, to about 80,000 Basque citizens in 
all  sectors  of  society.  In  particular,  IT  Txartela  certifi-
cates (supervised by IVAP, the Basque Institute of Pub-
lic Administration) have been increasingly important to 
successfully  apply  for  a  public  administration  job,  as 
some public entities have made IT Txartela mandatory 
for some jobs, and others a ‘merit’ in job applications.

IT Txartela reflects the traditional approach to ICT skills 
development  and  validation,  by  certifying  operational 
knowledge in computer solutions: Microsoft and Open 
Office,  web  browsers,  operating  systems,  internet, 
email,  etc.,  providing  over  72  different  certifications. 
This  has  also  been  the  prevailing  approach  followed 
until recently in ICT training, for instance by the public 
KZgunea telecentre network and by IVAP.

As  part  of  the  Ikanos  broader  government  initiative 
under the Basque Government’s Digital Agenda 2015 
to  enhance  digital  skills  in  all  sectors  of  Basque  so-
ciety,  and  in  light  of  the  new  vision  for  digital  com-
petence  brought  up  by  the  DigComp  framework,  the 
Basque  government  decided  to  promote  an  evolution 
of the IT Txartela system towards a new evaluation and 
certification  system,  BAIT.  BAIT,  which  is  an  acronym 
for “Validate your digital competences!” in the Euskera 
language,  is  intended  to  implement  a  fully  compe-
tence-based approach, in line with the European Digital 
Agenda  and  the  DigComp  framework.  Along  with  the 
new system, of course, a renewed training offer on dig-
ital competence needed to be developed. 

The change of certification system, and its application 
starting with the public sector (an important employer 
in the Basque economy), would signal to all citizens the 
direction to take in the development of digital compe-
tence in the coming years.

their  digital  competence  accredited  for  that  purpose. 
The plan in the future is to open up BAIT to any inter-
ested citizen.

The  BAIT  project  was  developed  into  several  steps, 
which are illustrated in detail below:

Tecnalia and the BAIT project

Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation is a private, 
independent,  not-for-profit  applied  research  centre 
with  an  international  reputation.  Tecnalia  is  the  lead-
ing  research  and  technology  organisation  of  its  kind 
in Spain, and one of the largest in Europe, employing 
1,400 people (258 PhDs) and owning over 250 patents. 
For more than 15 years, Tecnalia has been the Basque 
Government´s key partner for using IT Txartela to eval-
uate  and  certify  the  ICT  knowledge  of  those  citizens 
who want to get accreditation in order to apply for a 
public job.  

In 2016, Tecnalia was contracted by SPRI, the Basque 
government’s business development agency, to design 
the new BAIT system. The project involved collaborat-
ing with Mondragon University, which created the train-
ing  offer  to  develop  the  new  competences,  and  with 
IVAP, the main employer of civil servants working in the 
Basque government and administration (7000 employ-
ees), and the first beneficiary of BAIT itself.

The  project  strategy  for  BAIT  was  to  start  deploying 
the  new  evaluation  and  certification  system  and  the 
related training offer within the public sector. The aim 
was to enhance the digital competence of civil servants 
(starting with IVAP’s employees), and, more important-
ly, to enhance the employability of citizens who want 
to apply for a Public Administration job and need to get 

88

 • identifying the target group; 

 • analysing the target group’s digital competence re-

quirements;

 • based on the gaps in the current training offer com-
pared  to  DigComp,  identifying  the  need  for  new 
courses;

 • developing eight new courses (for the moment), ad-
dressing seven DigComp competences (two courses 
address the Netiquette competence at two different 
proficiency levels);

 • launching online delivery of training; 

 • developing the new evaluation and certification sys-

tem;

 • testing  the  BAIT  system  on  the  eight  new  courses 

with 143 public workers.

By the end of 2018, other Basque public entities such 
as the Basque Public Health System (Osakidetza), Lan-
tik,  whose  mission  is  to  Plan  and  Implement  the  In-
formation Systems Policy of the Regional Government, 
and the Informatics Centre for Bilbao Council (CIMUBI-
SA), showed an interest in using the BAIT system.

BAIT adopts new digital competence validation meth-
ods  and  certification  procedures  to  include  the  digi-
tal  knowledge  and  skills  that  people  are  increasingly 
acquiring  outside  the  formal  learning  environment. 
These  changes  will  not  affect  the  current  IT  Txartela 

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C8A BAIT  C8B PATHWAYS4EMPLOYprocesses leading to certification, which are familiar to 
Basque citizens and include using KZgunea telecentres’ 
sites,  and  their  assistance.  For  some  time,  IT  Txarte-
la  and  BAIT  will  coexist  to  allow  a  smooth  transition 
and avoid resistance from stakeholders and citizens to 
adopting the new system. In the future, however, BAIT 
may incorporate some IT Txartela components (e.g. by 
integrating some modules devoted to specific software 
programs).

IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGCOMP 

The implementation of DigComp was a natural choice 
for the BAIT project, as BAIT was launched as part of 
the IKANOS project (see C3 Ikanos) precisely to devel-
op  a  new  digital  certification  system  which  was  fully 

DigComp-compliant.  The  staff  from  Tecnalia  Digital 
Competence research area were already aware of and 
knowledgeable in DigComp.

Target group and competence needs

The first step in the project was to identify the target 
user groups for the new system. The Human Resourc-
es  staff  of  IVAP  proposed  focusing  on  administrative 
staff (auxiliarios administrativos and administrativos), 
as this is a segment of the public workforce for which 
digital skills have always been necessary, and for which 
transversal digital competences are particularly impor-
tant. Other public occupations, such as the managers 
of  administrative  staff,  by  contrast,  require  specialist 
digital skills.

The  next  step,  which  was  performed  in  collaboration 

T.24  LIST OF DIGCOMP COMPETENCES NEEDED BY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

DIGCOMP AREA

DIGCOMP COMPETENCE

PROFICIENCY LEVEL

2.5 Netiquette

Intermediate

Communication and Collaboration

2.6 Managing digital identity

Digital Content Creation

3.4 Programming

Saftey

4.1 Protecting devices

4.4 Protecting the environment

5.1 Solving Technical Problems

Problem Solving

5.3 Creatively using digital technologies

5.4 Identifying digital competence gaps

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation

Foundation

89

with KZGunea, the main training provider, included ana-
lysing the training courses currently delivered to public 
administrative staff in the light of DigComp’s five areas 
and 21 competences. This analysis showed that there 
were  several  DigComp  competences  which  were  al-
most totally overlooked by existing courses, and a close 
analysis was performed with IVAP of the corresponding 
DigComp 2.1 descriptors at different proficiency levels, 
in order to assess their relevance for public administra-
tive workers. This process led to the decision that, while 
all competences would be addressed sometime in the 
future, BAIT would start with eight of them: seven at 
foundation and one at intermediate level (see T.24). 

At the time of analysis, IVAP considered that their pub-
lic  employees  did  not  need  advanced  proficiency  lev-
els in the competences. The analysis also led to some 
additional items not explicitly mentioned by DigComp 
descriptors  being  identified  to  be  included  in  the  new 
courses  and  evaluation  (typically  concerning  specific 
tools, such as knowledge of Microsoft Word).

Training design

Based  on  the  results  of  this  analysis,  Mondragon 
University,  in  collaboration  with  IVAP  and  Tecnalia, 
launched the design and development of the courses 
for the chosen competences and proficiency levels.

Each course is clearly related to a DigComp competence 
and proficiency level. F.23 presents the Netiquette in-
termediate course and shows how DigComp descriptors 
are  used  to  define  the  objectives  of  the  course.  Over 
time, it is envisaged that courses will be developed for 
all DigComp competences at all three proficiency levels 
(except for some advanced courses which are not rele-

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C8A BAIT  C8B PATHWAYS4EMPLOYand were expected to be followed for one hour per day, 
or  one  course  per  week,  during  working  hours.  At  the 
end of the training, all learners took the new BAIT test.

The BAIT evaluation system (C8A)

As soon as the design and content of the courses was 
defined, Tecnalia took the training material as a refer-
ence  point  to  define  the  evaluation  items  and  devel-
op the overall evaluation system. The BAIT model and 
platform for evaluation and certification of digital com-
petence has the following initial characteristics, which 
may evolve based on feedback from its usage:

1. Performance-based  assessment:  the  evaluation 
is based on the user’s performance on a wide variety 
of digital challenges that have to be solved and that 
are aligned with DigComp’s competence descriptors. 
F.24 shows an example of a task that requires the 
user to create a new document file, to download and 
insert an image in the first page, set a given size for 
the image, save the file etc.

2. Exercises  in  real-world  situations:  the  eval-
uation  reflects  situations  that  users  will  face  in  a 
professional  context.  Real  tools  (e.g.  word  proces-
sor, spreadsheets) must be used to accomplish as-
sessment tasks, but tests are designed to be solved 
without knowledge of a particular tool. For instance, 
the test presents tasks that can be performed in any 
word  processor  (as  in  F.24),  such  as  setting  new 
margins for a page, increasing the spacing within a 
table cell, or modifying the “Title” style of a file.
3. Summative  evaluation  and  verification:  the 
test must be carried out in a limited time and under 
supervision  to  ensure  compliance  with  regulations. 

F.23  PRESENTATION OF NETIQUETTE INTERMEDIATE COURSE

vant to this target group, e.g. programming).

The training was delivered on IVAP’s e-learning (Moo-
dle) platform. Although in its initial phase the training 
offered mostly “theoretical” content, with limited prac-
tical activities, further development was planned.

At  the  time  of  this  analysis  (end  2018),  the  training 

was  accessible  only  to  IVAP  employees.  The  training 
offer was promoted through a targeted marketing vid-
eo  which clearly refers to and values BAIT’s DigComp 
inspiration  and  explains  briefly  but  very  clearly  what 
DigComp is about.

In  November  2018,  143  public  workers  started  the 
courses,  which  lasted  approximately  five  hours  each 

90

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C8A BAIT  C8B PATHWAYS4EMPLOY6. Evaluation  analytics:  the  information  gathered 
from the tests is used to improve the system itself.

7. Adaptive assessment: test implementation is de-
signed to provide the same precision in results with 
a shorter test version, which may be needed to avoid 
boredom/frustration and to reduce test duration for 
some user categories.

Following  the  successful  test  of  the  new  evaluation 
system,  which  produced  certificates  for  the  first  128 
public workers, BAIT will be used as the main tool for 
evaluating  and  certifying  the  digital  competences  of 
administrative staff in IVAP.

Pathways for Employ (C8B) – DigComp and 
EntreComp

In  2016-18,  in  parallel  with  the  first  stages  of  BAIT 
implementation,  Tecnalia  participated  as  partner  to 
the  Erasmus+  Pathways4Employ  project  (budget  of 
€172,000), which developed a system for the assess-
ment and accreditation of the digital competence need-
ed to be an entrepreneur or virtual/mobile office worker.

In this project, DigComp and EntreComp were first used 
as reference frameworks for the questions of two online 
surveys which were carried out in order to understand 
what digital competences are needed by anyone who 
would  like  to  work  remotely  or  become  an  entrepre-
neur, regardless of the activity field. Drawing on a sur-
vey distributed to about 150 practitioners throughout 
Europe, two Professional Digital Profiles were designed. 
The profiles list the DigComp competences and related 
proficiency  levels  required,  classified  by  relevance  (as 
essential,  transversal  or  complementary).  They  were 
finally  validated  through  an  expert  workshop.  F.25 

F.24   EXAMPLE OF BAIT TEST ITEM - AUTHENTIC TASK

Tests can be taken at KZgunea and other approved 
centres.  Users  obtain  a  digitally  signed  certificate 
sent to a MetaPosta account, the highly secure web-
mail service of the Basque Country.

4. Evaluation with technological support: the tests 
are carried out through a web platform including a 
web page for users to manage test registration, an-

other web page giving access to test execution, and 
administrative  access  to  manage  the  certification 
platform.

5. Users  automatically  receive  feedback  and  are 
able to visualise their progress during the test. More-
over, user history is updated automatically after the 
test is completed.

91

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C8A BAIT  C8B PATHWAYS4EMPLOYF.25  ENTREPRENEUR AND VIRTUAL OFFICE WORKER PROFILES IN PATHWAYS4EMPLOY

92

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C8A BAIT  C8B PATHWAYS4EMPLOYONLINE RESOURCES

• The BAIT self-assessment test can only be taken by
registered users and, for the moment, all the resourc-
es are only for internal use at IVAP.

• The Pathways4Employ self-assessment test is freely
available online, after registration, in English, Span-
ish,  Basque/Euskara,  Latvian  and  Greek).  The  Path-
ways4Employ  web  platform  is  available  for  re-use
by  interested  third  parties,  taking  into  account  the
partners’ IPR in the software.

• DigComp into Action Guide – see C19

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

• Tecnalia - Digital Trust Technologies Area (TrusTech),

ICT Division
Iker Martínez de Soria
iker.martinezdesoria@tecnalia.com
Juan Bartolomé Boloix
juan.Bartolome@tecnalia.com

shows  the  resulting  profiles  for  the  entrepreneur  and 
the virtual office worker.

Accreditation  pathways  were  also  designed  for  both 
competence  profiles,  with  the  aim  of  issuing  open 
badges (or digital certificates to be downloaded). Users 
must  obtain  the  five  badges  linked  to  the  five  digital 
areas based on DigComp to obtain a profile badge. This 
badge can be attached to their CV in Europass, in the 
digital competence section. In turn, the badge for each 
area requires them to obtain the digital competences 
and levels defined for that area in the profile in ques-
tion.

Based on the pathways, Tecnalia developed an online 
platform  to  perform  competence  assessments,  and 
implement  the  accreditation  system.  The  assessment 
modules  include  knowledge,  ability  and  attitude  as-
pects aligned with DigComp’s five areas and 21 com-
petences.  The  test  modules  represent  situations  and 
tasks that frequently need to be overcome in real life. 
Users’ answers produce an assessment result in terms 
of basic, intermediate and advanced levels, as detailed 
in F.26. 

In Pathways4Employ, the test for each digital compe-
tence includes three knowledge questions (basic, inter-
mediate and advanced), one attitude question and one 
skill question requiring users to perform some practical 
tasks. The responses to the attitude questions do not 
count  in  the  final  grade  (they  are  only  for  statistical 
purposes).  The  skills  questions  are  the  most  difficult 
ones, and their grade is higher. The level achieved by 
test respondents for each digital competence is defined 
according to the scale in F.26. A score below 9% is de-
fined as INITIAL level.

F.26  PROFICIENCY LEVELS IN PATHWAYS4EMPLOY TEST

Users are allowed to take the different tests as many 
times as they wish, and their personal digital profile will 
be updated accordingly. 

More than 1,000 users from the partner countries and 
other  countries  tested  the  platform.  Users  were  both 
experts in digital skills and “real” users who wanted to 
know  their  level  of  digital  skills.  88%  of  them  would 
most  likely  recommend  this  platform,  which  is  con-
sidered  by  the  partners  as  a  positive  indicator  of  the 
project’s outcome. For Tecnalia, Pathways4Employ was 
also  an  opportunity  to  deepen  its  understanding  and 
application  of  DigComp  and  to  learn  from  its  imple-
mentation. 

93

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C8A BAIT  C8B PATHWAYS4EMPLOYADECCO’S COMPETENCES DICTIONARY
ITALY & GLOBAL

Adecco Group Italia is the largest 
private employment agency in Italy, 
providing workforce solutions and 
a wide range of related services, 
primarily to business customers and 
to people seeking employment and/or 
new opportunities for their professional 
career. To deliver such services in 
the best possible way, it is crucial to 
understand, anticipate and effectively 
respond to the rapid evolution of both 
“soft” and “hard” competences required 
in the changing workplace, as impacted 
by the digital transformation. 
Three areas of activity within The 
Adecco Group illustrate how this is 
done: Assessment Solutions, training 
services by Mylia, and the new PHYD 
platform for employability support 
from a lifelong learning perspective. 
DigComp and EntreComp have not 
been used in these activities until 
now, but the recent revision of the 
Adecco’s Competences Dictionary, 
which is used in assessment activities, 
includes digital and entrepreneurial 
competencies inspired by the two 
European frameworks.

The case in brief

Leading organisation

Adecco

Sector

Commercial

LMI skilling functions provided
(✓ when DigComp is used, ✓ when not)

Labour market skills analysis

Outreach to under/ unemployed

Start / end date

2014 - ongoing

Careers advice

Geographical scope covered

National, Italy & Global

Personal development plan

Target audience

Employed • unemployed

Design and development of training

Professional sectors covered 

Employed • unemployed • enterprises

Delivery of training

Employee profiles covered 

Stakeholders involved 

-

-

Online resources

Technimetro®

PHYD platform

Tools

-

Contributors

Nadia Cristofoli, head of Adecco Assessment Solutions 
Department

Mariangela Lupi, head of Adecco Humanity Development and 
Educational Department

Pasquale Lovino, business scouting manager, Mylia

Manlio Ciralli, CEO of Advancing Humanity srl and Managing 
Director of Phyd

Sara Toticchi, EU funding manager

94

Workforce development

Assessment of skills

Certification of competence

Liaising with employers for job 
placement / experience

Job search support

Client tracking and monitoring

Employee support

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

CONTEXT AND DRIVERS

In this case study, we illustrate three areas of activity 
carried out by Adecco and affiliated organisations: the 
activities of Adecco Assessment Solutions Department, 
the training services of Mylia, the new brand of Adecco 
Formazione, and the employability support to individual 
customers provided by the new PHYD platform, devel-
oped by a spin-off of Adecco Italia Group (henceforth 
Adecco), and launched in March 2019.

These activities show how these organisations address 
the rapidly changing competence requirements of or-
ganisations,  with  a  specific  and  primary  focus  on  be-
havioural soft skills, but also including hard skills and 
IT competences.

Adecco’s core business: Workforce solutions 

Adecco  is  the  leading  private  employment  agency  in 
Italy and its main activities are workforce solutions and 
related services offered to private companies and other 
organisations to meet the demand for qualified work. 
Adecco’s contact point in the customer organisation for 
these services is normally the HR department in larg-
er organisations, or the person(s) in charge of recruit-
ment and staff management in smaller organisations. 
To carry-out this activity, Adecco develops customised 
solutions based on a) the needs of candidates, and b) 
the needs of the work environment and market sector 
in which they are or will be placed.

Selection  and  Recruitment:  candidates  are  first 
evaluated  and  selected  using  various  methods  such 
as individual interviews and tests to define their skills 
and gaps to be filled. These may then receive individu-

al assessment, ad hoc training courses, career advice, 
professional relocation and/or career transition servic-
es.  After  Selection  and  Recruitment,  Adecco’s  Candi-
date  Management  Process  involves  the  Matching 
function with vacancies in customer organisations, and 
the subsequent Management phase, which is aimed at 
guaranteeing  the  employee’s  professional  continuity 
and development.

Adecco  operates  in  Italy  through  a  network  of  about 
400  branches  across  the  country,  with  approximately 
2000 professionals, and through its web portal, where 
candidates can upload their CVs, check for job  offers, 
and establish contact with Adecco services staff.

Adecco’s  main  Workforce  solutions  for  companies  in-

clude  temporary  or  permanent  provision  of  Staff 
Leasing,  whereby  Adecco  hires  workers  on  a  tem-
porary  or  permanent  job  contract,  who  then  work  in 
a  client  company.  The  remuneration  and  contractual 
treatment of workers on these contracts is at least the 
same  as  those  of  employees  at  the  same  level  and 
with the same job tasks in the company in which they 
work. The Apprenticeship solution provides young (fif-
teen- to twenty-nine-year old) permanent staff with an 
important component of training-for-employability.

Adecco also offers related support such as the On-Site 
Management service of its own staff, for those cli-
ent organisations with a large number of Adecco em-
ployees. Another service is the Skill Licence scheme, 

SOLUTIONS FOR THE CANDIDATES/EMPLOYEES

SOLUTIONS FOR CUSTOMER ORGANISATIONS

T.25  ADECCO’S WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS

Selection and Recruitment services
Evaluation and selection
Individual assessment
Ad-hoc training
Career advice
Profesional relocation
Career transition

Candidate Management Process
Job Matching function
On-the-job monitoring and after care

Workforce solutions
Staff leasing
Aprenticeships

On customer site Adecco’s staff management solutions

Skill Licence scheme

CV Basket

Alternanza scuola-lavoro (ASL)

95

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYwhich consists of the assessment by client companies 
of a worker’s soft skills. This is done using a short on-
line questionnaire focused on relational skills, reliabil-
ity,  flexibility,  personal  growth,  perseverance,  respect 
for roles and rules, motivation and work performance. 
Another  service,  the  CV  Basket,  offers  client  organi-
sations personalised 24-hour access to a pool of con-
stantly updated CVs, filtered based on analysis of their 
previous relationships with Adecco. 

Finally, Adecco also carries out specific activities with 
schools  and  students,  mainly  in  relation  to  the 
school-work  alternation  scheme  “Alternanza  scuo-
la-lavoro (ASL)”, which since 2015 has been extended 
to all schools. These activities aim to enhance students´ 
knowledge of the world of work and the opportunities it 
offers, and to develop a positive relationship with these 
potential future customers.

Adecco Search and Selection services  
and Assessment Solutions

Adecco  offers  Search  and  Selection  services  for  cus-
tomer companies that need help in identifying and at-
tracting, or internally moving, the best candidates for 
specific  vacancies,  or  in  anticipating  future  organisa-
tional needs. :

For these activities, Adecco relies on about 380 experts 
in  candidates  selection  operating  in  local  branches, 
which are supported by 100 consultants (one for every 
three to four branches), who are fully dedicated to as-
sessing  and  recruiting  qualified  and  specialised  staff. 
An additional team of over 100 senior consultants or 
Assessors,  experts  in  selection  and  assessment  tools 
and processes, are involved in the execution of assess-

ment projects with customers. 

All these activities are supported by Adecco’s Assess-
ment Solutions Department (henceforth Assessment 
Solutions), which acts as a central service specialising in 
assessment tools and methods. Assessment Solutions 
operates  under  the  broader  Humanity  Development 
and Educational Department of The Adecco Group.

Assessment Solutions works on the assumption that 
assessing the skills of external candidates and of the 
internal staff of a company is crucial to selecting and 
managing the most suitable professionals for positions 
which  contribute  to  the  company’s  full  development. 
Based  on  this  knowledge,  Assessment  Solutions  has 
several aims:

•  to facilitate business creation and evolution by de-

veloping people; 

•  to help people get to know themselves better; 
•  to  promote  innovation  in  companies  and  stimulate 

change in people; 

•  to seek wellbeing for the company by working on the 

wellbeing of people; and

•  to identify people’s potential and recognise their tal-

ent.

In  practice,  Assessment  Solutions  works  as  a  service 
for the whole Adecco Group and also directly with ex-
ternal customers, with the following lines of activities:

•  Through the Assessment Centre, iit assesses and 
selects new candidates  that are requested by Adec-
co  local  branches  and  by  consultants  from  other 
Adecco  Group’s  entities,  when  these  need  specific 
assessment of new candidates’ soft skills, as part of 
the Search and Selection services provided to client 

96

companies that are looking for specific talents to re-
place existing staff or recruit new staff;

•  Through  the  Development  Centre,  it  assesses 
client  organisations’  internal  resources  for  differ-
ent  purposes:  career  mapping  and  planning,  talent 
scouting, succession planning, role changing, profes-
sional  growth,  competences  mapping  and  change 
management.

•  Through  the  People  Development,  it  designs  so-
called “Models of techno-behavioural competences” 
which identify in detail the soft skills and level need-
ed for a given professional role, define how to meas-
ure them, and identify the competence development 
paths which should be followed in order to address 
the competence gaps found in candidates.

Assessment Solutions runs these activities through as-
sessment and development projects responding to 
clients’ needs, and relies on two groups of profession-
als for that. One is the national Competency Centre, a 
team of five experienced work psychologists dedicated 
to  designing  assessment  processes  and  mapping  the 
skills, abilities, attitudes and motivation of workers. The 
other is the aforementioned team of over 100 profes-
sional Assessors dedicated to implementing the pro-
jects designed with the Competency Centre.

How  does  this  work  in  practice?  All  Adecco  branches 
carry  out  soft/behavioural  competence  analyses  as 
part of the candidate selection process, and often use 
the  competence  dictionary  discussed  below  for  this 
purpose. They then propose an assessment path to the 
customer/candidate, both from selection and develop-
ment perspectives. If the customer/candidate is inter-
ested, Assessment Solutions supports them in design-
ing and executing the needed steps.

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYSkills assessment and the move towards 
DigComp and EntreComp

The assessment of a candidate is based on the job pro-
file agreed with the client. In the past, job descriptions 
focused  primarily  on  the  tasks  that  a  person  should 
be  able  to  perform.  Given  the  constant  evolution  of 
work organisation, tasks, and technological tools used 
at  work,  the  job  profile  of  qualified  occupations  has 
evolved,  focusing  increasingly  on  the  “hard”  skills 
needed to perform the technical tasks, and on the “soft” 
skills  needed  to  perform  the  job  effectively  and  effi-
ciently,  and  to  deal  with  its  constant,  rapid  evolution. 
Adecco started addressing these (soft) skills in a struc-
tured  way  six  years  ago,  using  behaviour,  motivation 
and competence analysis tools with a dedicated team.

The  job  requirements  for  technical  tasks  and  related 
hard skills are normally specified by the client organi-
sation, and can be verified using the candidate’s CV and 
technical certifications, and by administering technical 
tests. Soft skills, however, are more difficult to identify 
and  assess,  and  this  is  where  Assessment  Solutions’ 
expertise and services come in.

A  key  tool  supporting  this  activity  is  Adecco’s  Com-
petences Dictionary. Its first version was created in 
2014 in Spain and was then brought to Italy, and used 
in these two countries. A new version was prepared in 
2018  by  Adecco  headquarters  (Zurich,  Switzerland). 
The first Dictionary included 23 soft skills (as illustrated 
below) and for each of them, it provided a list of indica-
tors that should be observed and measured, both dur-
ing  ordinary  selection  activities  in  Adecco’s  branches, 
and  during  those  activities  carried  out  within  Assess-
ment Solutions projects. The Dictionary was created to 

T.26  ADECCO’S COMPETENCES DICTIONARY

VERSION 2017

VERSION 2018

Adaptability to change 

Adaptability to change

Learning and innovation 

Self-control

Involvement, commitment and responsibility 

Communication 

Communication

Decision making

Decision making

Change management

Change management

Resource management

Resource management

Cultural identification

Impact & influence

Initiative & Autonomy

Initiative

Motivation, optimism and energy

Customer orientation

Customer orientation

Result orientation

Result orientation

Quality orientation

Quality orientation

Planning and organisation

Planning and organisation

Strategic planning

Problem solving and analysis

Problem solving and analysis

Searching for information

Development of business opportunities

Resource development

Resource development

Team working

Team working

Global vision

Entrepreneurial spirit

Digital skills

97

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYpromote a map of professional roles that included both 
technical  and  behavioural  aspects,  and  to  provide  an 
objective and uniform tool, that could be used/shared 
with  customers  as  a  shared  reference  model  for  the 
definition of each job.

why we have given a new look to our dictionary, in-
troducing digital competences and reorganising the 
previous ones. This renewed tool will help us to con-
solidate  our partnership with customers, through a 
shared language in line with the times”.

The  Dictionary’s  content,  purpose  and  user´s  guide 
have been the object of an intense internal training ac-
tivity delivered to the whole Adecco network, in particu-
lar to the staff in charge of selection activities. 

The new version of the Dictionary has fifteen compe-
tences,  which  include  digital  competences  articulated 
into DigComp’s five areas, entrepreneurship, and spirit 
of initiative.

Digital  competence  was  not  included  in  the  initial 
Dictionary  and  therefore  it  was  not  addressed  sys-
tematically in the soft skills assessment activities per-
formed ordinarily by selection staff in Adecco’s branch-
es. However, different types and levels of IT skills (e.g. 
knowledge  of  Office  productivity  tools,  programming 
languages,  etc)  are  often  included  in  job  profiles  and 
are assessed in candidates.

The new release of the Competences Dictionary, how-
ever,  aims  at  addressing  the  needs  brought  by  the 
current  digital  transformation  and  its  wide  and  deep 
impact, as illustrates the following quote from the In-
troduction of the new Dictionary:

“In a context marked by sudden changes due to the 
digital  transformation,  competences  remain  at  the 
centre  of  any  organizations’  needs.  These  compe-
tences are no longer fixed but are subject to contin-
uous updates: in people, as well as in the companies, 
the  concepts  of  upskilling  and  reskilling  become 
fundamental.  The  new  Dictionary  of  behavioural 
skills  aims  to  consolidate  our  leadership  in  human 
resources  evaluation  through  a  shared  and  con-
temporary language. The Adecco Group has always 
been an absolute reference in terms of skills: that’s 

In addition to this evolution, the digital transforma-
tion can also be observed within Adecco’s organ-
isation itself. Within the past two years, most of the 
assessment tools used within and for assessment pro-
cesses  have  been  digitalised.  Each  assessment  path 
designed by Assessment Solutions is based on the use 
of three to four tools for observing behavioural skills, 
as  agreed  with  the  client.  The  range  of  tools  used  is 
very varied, including those to investigate personality, 
motivation, attitudes, and behaviours (mostly through 
using  questionnaires),  paper-based  and  PC-based 
business  games,  assessing  group  dynamics  based  on 
free or assigned roles, role-playing, one-to-one simu-
lations,  and  self-presentations  with  varying  levels  of 
interaction. Moreover, Adecco has a proprietary online 
platform on which technical tests, aptitude tests, and 
behavioural  questionnaires  are  administered.  There 
are several external partners, who administer all of the 
aforementioned  questionnaires,  as  well  as  a  specific 
partner for the gamification tool.

Adecco Formazione and Mylia

Adecco  Formazione  was  founded  in  2001,  with  the 
aims  of  improving  the  employability  of  Adecco’s  in-

dividual  customers,  and  meeting  the  staff  training 
demands  of  business  customers  and  public  adminis-
trations,  through  the  provision  of  training.  Mylia  is  a 
new brand of Adecco Formazione which was created in 
2018, and is currently present in most Italian regions, 
with  seventeen  local  offices.  To  deliver  its  services,  it 
relies on one-hundred-and-fifty internal resources, and 
over two-hundred teachers and partners. 

Over  the  years,  Adecco  Formazione  has  developed 
training  services  in  response  to  the  evolution  of  and 
changes in the business world, which have increasingly 
been characterised by VUCA features (volatility, uncer-
tainty, complexity and ambiguity), and the challenges 
that these pose to both strategic management and the 
management of human resources. 

Most recently, Adecco Formazione has placed specific 
attention on developing knowledge of the Industry 4.0 
transformation, stimulated by the Italian digital agenda 
and industrial policies. To further strengthen the expe-
rience gained in this area, Adecco Formazione formed 
the Mylia brand in 2018, whose mission is to further 
corporate learning, personal development, and execu-
tive training. Since 2018, it has developed a particular 
specialisation in the macro-sectors which are particu-
larly important in the Italian context, including banking 
and insurance, life sciences, luxury, fashion and retail, 
and public administration.

Mylia’s initial step with a client is to analyse the organ-
isational context. In this activity, Mylia training design-
ers use a proprietary tool called Management Practices 
Board, which helps them to gain an understanding of 
the organisation’s key features, and their related train-
ing  needs.  The  Management  Practices  Board  allows 
training designers to describe and analyse the manag-

98

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYtowards Industry 4.0, developed in the Acatech Study 
(2012-2013), by the German National Academy of Sci-
ence and Engineering in Munich and the German stand-
ard  Din  Spec  91345:2016  -  Reference  Architecture 
Model Industrie 4.0, developed by Fondazione Brodolini 
and the Pisa University.

The  test  identifies  which  of  the  company’s  business 
areas and functions are most critical from the digital 
transformation perspective, and helps with identifying 
the company’s competence gaps, and competence de-
velopment  needs.  The  test  is  performed  by  Mylia  as-
sessors, using interviews which are typically held with 
those in the client company who are in charge of hu-
man resources, IT, quality, and production.  An exam-
ple of the key variables addressed by the test, and the 
visual report produced is shown in F.27. The test does 
not  directly  assess  individuals’  skills,  digital  or  other-
wise, but rather asks interviewees whether given digital 
skills are available or not.

Technimetro® was also developed by Fondazione Gia-
como Brodolini and Erre Quadro, in collaboration with 
Pisa University. This tool uses semantic analytics and 
other  big  data  techniques  to  analyse  scientific  litera-
ture databases, as well as patents which are undergo-
ing  registration,  to  predict  the  evolution  of  the  needs 
for  both  digital  and  non-digital  Industry  4.0-related 
hard  skills.  Such  a  strategic  tool  provides  answers  to 
companies’ questions about the development of their 
digital competences. These questions are typically sec-
toral, i.e. reflect the situation of the technologies in-use, 
and which are emerging in the company’s business sec-
tor. The companies also need advice on recommended 
training aligned with, and possibly anticipating, the key 
evolutionary  trends  of  their  business  sector,  so  as  to 

F.27  EXAMPLE OF VARIABLES INCLUDED IN THE DIGITAL MATURITY TEST (Source: Courtesy of Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini)

ers’ organisational behaviour and, if needed, to extend 
the mapping to the behaviours of teams within the en-
tire organisation. This tool, however, does not allow for 
the analysis of any specific skills at an individual level 
(though  such  analysis  can  be  performed  by  Adecco’s 
Assessment Solutions department).

ganisation. The second of these tools is Technimetro®, 
which  identifies  whether  the  client’s  field  of  business 
is  already  showing  signs  of  emerging  relevant  skills, 
stemming  from  the  digital  transformation  of  the  cli-
ent’s business field are present, or more likely, might be 
developed among its existing human resources.

Mylia  uses  two  new  innovative  and  complementary 
tools, one of which is the Digital Maturity Test, which 
measures the digital readiness and maturity of the or-

The Digital Maturity Test measures the degree of the 
company’s  maturity.  It  is  an  adapted  version  of  the 
reference  roadmap  of  organisational  transformation 

99

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYhave  their  staff  equipped  with  the  right  skills  at  the 
right time. 

There is not yet a reference framework of digital com-
petence  for  Industry  4.0  which  is  at  the  same  time 
dynamic, has predictive capacity, and can be deemed 
“solid” enough (by which we mean that it is not based 
on extrapolations or generalisations of models devel-
oped in or for specific contexts). However, according to 
Mylia, Technimetro® is considered a good step towards 
that goal. 

Mylia started applying Technimetro® semantic analyt-
ics to the CVs of existing staff, and to the job profiles 
and any other additional information which a company 
may have about their staff’s Industry 4.0-related hard 
skills. If a company has a good description and monitor-
ing system of its internal competences, this approach is 
very effective. Where this is not the case, some direct 
competence assessment of staff might be needed, for 
which  Mylia  relies  on  Adecco’s  Assessment  Solutions 
support. The result of this activity is a detailed map of 
the  company’s  current  competence  situation  (the  “as 
is” picture), which is compared with the Technimetro® 
results about competence trends (the “to be” picture) in 
the company’s reference business sector(s).

Using the aforementioned maps of managers’ and key 
staff members’ organisational behaviours,  and  of the 
Industry  4.0-related  hard  skills  situation,  Mylia  builds 
a customised training and development programme to 
support the company’s digital transformation.

Mylia’s  Learning  Solutions,  the  training  which  is 
offered  to  business  customers,  is  articulated  in  three 
broad areas:

(online collaboration and sharing, using social media 
with  customers,  etc),  programming  and  cybersecu-
rity. 

2. People – covers mainly soft skills. 

3. Abilities – focuses on upskilling staff members and/
or  employability,  and  addresses  hard  skills  in  the 
main business functions such as Sales and Market-
ing,  Production  (smart  manufacturing,  rapid  proto-
typing, etc.), and Supply chain. 

Mylia  uses  a  simplified  version  of  the  ESCO  labels  in 
its  online  presentation  of  the  competences  and  skills 
which  are  developed  by  Learning  Solutions.  Of  these 
labels, three skills are related to the DigComp frame-
work:

•  Evaluating  information  (linked  to  DigComp  1.2) 
as transversal and generic skill is defined as impor-
tant skill for Data analytics, R&D and Innovation, Hu-
man Resources and People Intelligence; 

•  Solving  technical  problems  (linked  to  DigComp 
5.1)  as  transversal  and  generic  skill  is  defined  as 
important skill for Production operation and Supply 
chain;

•  Adopting  digital  citizenship  (linked  to  DigComp 
2.3 )is associated with Programming. This interesting 
association is based on Adecco Formazione’s experi-
ence that shows that an intensive and well-designed 
training course on programming methods and lan-
guages  represents  for  many  young  unemployed 
people the fastest and safest way to find a job and, 
through that, to become an active participant in our 
digital society, hence digital citizenship.

1. Digital - covers data analytics, social organisations 

Several  skills  mentioned  especially  within  the  Peo-

ple  Learning  Solutions  are  related  to  the  EntreComp 
framework  competences,  such  as  creative  thinking, 
spotting  opportunities,  acting  entrepreneurially,  lead-
ing, motivating and persuading others, and use learn-
ing strategies.

The PHYD Platform

PHYD is the name of a project carried out by Advancing 
Humanity srl (an independent entity spun off from and 
controlled by Adecco Italia Group to create and devel-
op the PHYD project and platform). It aims to support 
people (any individual, but with a focus on people with 
tertiary education) to evaluate, maintain, and increase 
their employability, in a life-long learning perspective.

The support uses dedicated algorithms to provide a se-
quence of steps and services which account for the in-
dividual’s background, their level of hard and soft skills, 
existing vacancies in the labour market, and the ESCO 
repertoire of occupations and related skills. These steps 
are as follows:

1.  The user is offered to take a self-assessment test of 

his/her soft skills.

2.  The user can select a profession (this may be their 
current  profession  or  a  new  role  which  they  would 
like  to  pursue).  The  list  of  jobs  to  choose  from  is 
derived from ESCO.

3.  Depending on the profession selected, the platform 
offers  the  user  an  additional  test  which  assesses 
their  level  of  transversal  hard  skills  important  for 
that  job.  For  example,  a  financial  accountant  will 
need to know about Excel, accounting principles, the 
Intrastat  model,  etc.  The  list  of  skills  and  compe-
tences associated with a profession is also derived 

100

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYpert), and the standardisation at an EU level of related 
skills which respond to the real needs of businesses.

ONLINE RESOURCES

•  Technimetro®

•  PHYD platform

CONTACTS

For additional information, contact:

 • Nadia Cristofoli, head of Adecco Assessment Solu-

tions Department 
nadia.cristofoli@adeccogroup.com

 • Pasquale Lovino, business scouting manager, Mylia 

pasquale.lovino@mylia.com

 • Sara Toticchi, EU funding manager 
sara.toticchi@adeccogroup.com

from ESCO.

4.  The  results  of  the  previous  steps  (assessments  of 
soft and transversal hard skills) are compared with 
the benchmark of skills required within the chosen 
profession.  This  benchmark  is  created  by  labour 
market  analysts,  and  is  updated  every  six  months 
based on online job advertisements within that in-
dustry/profession.  The  comparison  indicates  to  the 
user  the  distance  between  his/her  skills  and  those 
required for the target job.

5.  Following  the  skill  gap  analysis,  the  platform  sug-
gests  the  best  training  courses  that  can  help  the 
user  with  filling  in  any  gaps  to  increase  his/her 
employability  with  respect  to  the  target  job.  Some 
courses require payment, while others are free. The 
courseware  selected  automatically  from  those  of-
fered by over 40 MOOCs of PHYD partners.

The PHYD platform was released to the public in March 
2019, and is open to anyone free of charge.

For the time being, no specific framework or taxonomy 
of  digital  competence  has  been  used  in  the  develop-
ment of the content or the functions of the platform. 
However, the future development of the platform is en-
visaged  as  a  continuous,  adaptive,  and  open  process, 
and the PHYD project manager considers that such a 
framework might be useful in that process.

Innovation through EU Funding

Within The Adecco Group, there is a team devoted to 
the  development  of  European  projects  on  core  topics 
for the Group. The team operates on all levels by de-
signing  and  supporting  projects  in  collaboration  with 
the Group’s different legal entities, such as Mylia, Adec-

co Corporate, Modis, Fondazione Adecco, etc.

Among the topics addressed by recent projects are: 

•  Fast-track integration of the labour market for mi-

grants and refugees

•  Employability and inclusion within the labour market 
•  Digital skills and skills mismatch
•  Engineering R&D
Thanks  to  the  EU  funding  activities,  the  Group  holds 
a European position and collaborates on these issues 
with stakeholders of excellence from the world of re-
search  and  industry,  participating  in  technical  tables 
and innovative projects.

The team is currently investigating specific opportuni-
ties, such as utilising Adecco’s dataset and knowledge 
of the labour market (both on an individual level and 
company level) to carry out predictive analyses of skills 
needs. They are also working in collaboration with ac-
ademic  partners  to  define  methods  of  skills  analysis 
and profiling. Another opportunity which the team are 
investigating is whether it would be feasible to align in-
ternal platforms (such as PHYD) with European stand-
ards  and  tools  (such  as  DigComp,  and  projects  such 
as Compass), in order to make an active international 
contribution to the labour market.

Other themes considered for upcoming projects are re-
lated to analysing emerging professions which are aris-
ing as a result of technological innovation and indus-
trial and societal transformations. The results of such 
analyses will be linked to the priorities of the European 
digital agenda, and Smart Specialisation Strategy. The 
intention  is  to  contribute  to  the  identification  of  new 
profiles (e.g. data scientist, cybersecurity expert, AI ex-

101

ANNEX. DIGCOMP CASE STUDIES  /  C9 ADECCO COMPETENCE DICTIONARYACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The  research  findings  presented  in  this  Report  have  been  produced 
with  the  contribution  of  :  Visionary  Analytics,  under  contract  number 
936043-2018 A08-LT (Lot 1) “Mapping DigComp and EntreComp Use 
Lot  1:  Analysis  of  Labour  Market  Intermediaries  active  in  digital  and 
entrepreneurial  skilling  services”,  and  The  Woman  Organisation,  Ban-
tani Education and Stefano Kluzer, under the contract number 936054-
2018  A08-GB  “Mapping  DigComp  and  EntreComp  Use  Lot  2:  Cases 
Analysis of DigComp and EntreComp Use”.

We would like to thank the following experts for their review of inter-
mediary  versions  of  the  research  reports:  Anne  Green  (University  of 
Birmingham,  UK),  Irene  Mandl  (Eurofound),  Olena  Bekh,  Kristien  Van 
den Eynde and Florian Kadletz (European Training Foundation), Ana Vi-
torica  (Ikanos  Project,  Basque  Government,  Spain),  Roberto  Lejarzegi 
(Ibermática, Spain), and Stephanie Carretero (EC JRC. B7).

We  are  grateful  to  the  stakeholders  and  experts  who  helped  us  to 
shape this Report. Nineteen case owners provided us with valuable in-
formation about their cases. Their contact details can be found in the 
examples they are involved in.

We  also  acknowledge  the  contribution  of  the  27  experts  who  partic-
ipated  to  the  DigComp  stakeholders´  consultation  workshop  held  in 
June 2019 contributing to the validation of the contents of this Guide, 
namely: Juan Bartolomé (Tecnalia, Spain), Alessandro Brolpito (Europe-

an Training Foundation, Italy), Miguel Ángel Castillo (Aernnova, Spain), 
Jon  Charterina  (University  of  the  Basque  Country-UUPV/EHU,  Spain), 
Eva Chimeno (Spanish Red Cross), Gabriel de la Cuesta Padilla (Junta de 
Andalucía, Spain), Monique De Ridder (Catholic Education, Vlaanderen 
, Belgium), Hugo Dionisio (European Trade Union Confederation, CGTP-
IN, Portugal), Federico García Sacido (Spanish Red Cross), Anne Green 
(University  of  Birmingham,  United  Kingdom),  Mara  Jakobsone  (LIKTA, 
Latvia), Achilles Kameas (Hellenic Open University, Greece), Kirsi Kekki 
(European  Trade  Union  Confederation,  TUC,  United  Kingdom),  Rober-
to  Lejarzegi  (Ibermática,  Spain),  Pasquale  Lovino  (Mylia-  The  Adecco 
Group, Italy), Filippo Mantione (Lai-momo Societá Cooperativa Sociale, 
Italy), Iker Martínez de Soria (Tecnalia, Spain), Marco Mazzini (Smartive, 
Italy),  Lisa  McMullan  (The  Women’s  Organisation,  United  Kingdom), 
Marek  Milosz  (ECCC  Foundation,  Poland),  Tamara  Pavlic  (Croatia  Em-
ployment Service, Croatia), Patxi Sasigain (Adegi- Employers´ Associa-
tion, Gipúzkoa, Spain), Nicoletta Staccioli (Anpal Servizi, Italy), Iñaki Tell-
ería (Tknika, Innovation VET, Spain), Gori Yahaya (UpSkill Digital Limited, 
United Kingdom), Ana Vitorica (IKANOS, Basque Government, Spain).

We  finally  acknowledge  the  valuable  support  provided  by  European 
Commission  JRC  colleagues  Yves  Punie,  Margherita  Bacigalupo,  Rina 
Vuorikari and Maria Dolores Romero.

Visual design and layout: Valentina Barsotti / Takk.studio, Italy.

102

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

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F.1  DigComp competence areas and competences

F.2  EntreComp competence areas and competences

F.3  Countries involved in DigComp cases included in the study

F.4  LMI skilling related functions along the employability path

F.5  People with above basic digital skills by gender and age group, Italy vs EU28 average  

F.6  Mapping of Pane e Internet courses onto DigComp (C1A)

F.7  Structure of DCDS training offer (C1B)

F.8  Behavioural changes in on-line job searching

F.9  Structure of training modules (example of Safety module)

F.10  Areas of Ikanos activity

F.11 Ikanos training design and employment orientation process

F.12  The orientation process

F.13  Mapping course content to digital competences

F.14  Activities to build and develop the iPLE

F.15  Digital Professional Profile: primary care health professionals

F.16  Examples of ECCC tests usage

F.17  Compass Skills for Jobs Framework

F.18  The Smartive Manifesto on “open transformation”

F.19  4C steps of the transformation journey

F.20  Smartive “formats” or actions

F.21  Corporate skills mapping with SmartiveMap

F.22  Benchmarking example (marketing dept.)

F.23  Presentation of Netiquette intermediate course

F.24  Example of BAIT test item - authentic task

F.25  Entrepreneur and virtual office worker profiles in Pathways4Employ

F.26  Proficiency levels in Pathways4Employ test

F.27  Example of variables included in the Digital Maturity Test

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T.1  DigComp case studies in alphabetical order of the lead organisation

T.2  Description of LMI types and sub-types

T.3  Participation of LMIs (per types) to DigComp cases

T.4  LMI skilling functions provided by cases

T.5  Explicit use of DigComp per LMI function

T.6  Stakeholders involved in DigComp case studies and cooperation models

T.7  Occupations´ Competence Requirements in the DigComp case studies

T.8  Occupations´ Professional Digital Profiles

T.9  DigComp competences, levels and relevance in the professional digital profiles

T.10  Competence assessment and certification in the DigComp case studies

T.11  Digital competence training in the DigComp case studies

T.12  List of Learning paths and Modules of DCDS training offeR (C1B)

T.13  Functional areas of CPIs in Italy and their main actions

T.14  Prodigeo course modules, DigComp competences and levels

T.15  Ikanos professional digital profiles (2018)

T.16  ECCC standard modules in different IT usage areas

T.17  DigComp ECCC certificates by area (2018)

T.18  DigComp areas and competences in Compass

T.19  Occupations and professions (O*NET codes) selected for Compass training

T.20  Example of DigComp - O*NET correspondence

T.21  Competence level of Compass lessons by career path

T.22  Emerging Museum job role profiles and descriptions

T.23  List of e-CF and DigComp competences addressed by the Mu.SA training

T.24  List of DigComp competences needed by public administrative staff

T.25  Adecco’s Workforce Solutions

T.26  Adecco’s Competences Dictionary

103

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