Application Fee

190.00 CHF
165.00 CHF for members of any digitalswitzerland association
120.00 CHF for professional members of the FSIE

Conditions: The application includes all formal checks and a onetime re-checking of rectified material. If the new examination is unsuccessful and a new attempt is carried out, the registration fee is due again.

Contact us to begin the application process.

Certification Fee

1’800.00 CHF
1’530.00 CHF for members of any digitalswitzerland association
1’300.00 CHF for professional members of the FSIE

Conditions: The certification fee includes the case study assessment (and an eventual onetime re-assessment after corrections being made) and the 60 minutes exam if the case study is accepted. Both executed by 2 certified Experts FSIE of the specialisation. If the case study or exam fails, there is no refunding and for a new attempt, a new application must be made.

Re-Certification Fee (after every 3 years)

590.00 CHF
500.00 CHF for members of any digitalswitzerland association
0.00     CHF for expert members of the FSIE (included in the membership)

Conditions: cf. certification regulation (continuing education and practice)

The FSIE basic IT competences acquired through basic IT education are those of the specialisations but at a lower level according to Bloom's taxonomy¹ 1 up to 6. The maximum level for basic IT competences is level 3 application. Most practices are required at the levels of 2 comprehension or 1 knowledge. They are listed as the Core Body of Competences (CBOC) further below.

The FSIE relies on the existing Swiss IT tertiary education to assure the basic IT competences of the candidates. Hence, we acccept all IT tertiary degrees of the Swiss Universities, Polytechnics ETHZ/EPFL, Universities of Applied Sciences and Higher Schools. A tertiary degree is one with NQF level 6 at least, i.e. B.Sc. or HF. They are all listed below.

If you do not possess such a degree (e.g. equivalent but not Swiss, no degree but equivalent competences, ...), we analyse your application individually ("sur dossier").

Before applying to the certification FSIE, our candidates must have accomplished advanced or further education in their chosen specialisation (MAS, CAS or DAS, existing certificates in the domain). We expect a minimum effort of 16 ECTS (400 - 500 hours). This is demonstrated through in electronic copies of certificates. Our accepted certificates are listed in the specialisation description.

After the initial certification, the Expert FSIE™ enters the phase of life-long learning. The FSIE assesses and recommends continuing education events for each of the specialisations as well as for updates to the basic IT competences (CBOC). These are not provided by FSIE. For assessment, all education providers are called to send-in their offerings to the FSIE.

Every three years, we check whether further education (event-suitability and other measures according to our regulation) of at least 18 CEP (Continuing Education Points, equivalent to 9 days) is carried out.

The expert FSIE must first demonstrate practical experience in technical engineering and/or operational skills for at least 2 years on a full-time basis after completion of the basic IT training. As a transitional arrangement, we accept that these records can originate from any year. In the future, this will be limited to recent years.

Also, the expert FSIE must prove the practice in its selected specialization. The minimum requirement is a 40% FTE capacity reported with references not older than 6 years. The FSIE carries out a sample check of the references. The value of 40% was chosen (a) to support part-time employees and (b) to support 2 titles.

A final first practice related requirement is the assessment of your personal competences by 2 referenced colleagues of your practice.

After the initial certification, the Expert FSIE enters the life-long learning phase which has a strong practical component: Every 3 years we check whether the specialisation practice is continued with a capacity of at least 40% FTE. The demonstration is analogue to the first one with randomly checked references.

For the application as Expert FSIE, you must hand-in our Code of Conduct signed on every page. Please read and understand this document. In case of questions, please contact our Professional Council.

The current Code of Conduct convers the personal committments to quality, ethics, continuing education, and professionalism, the obligation for an impact analysis of the socio-technical environment in work assignments as well as principles in the behaviour with customers, colleagues and in the market.

We require each candidate to submit a case study from practice in the specialisation.

• The case study encompasses 10-15 pages of writing.
• Practical challenges are described, how they are approached by the candidate and what results have been achieved.
• Literature references and a discussion must be provided.
• The author discloses as much company-specific details as needed and allowed.
• Eventual conflicts of interest are resolved before the experts start the assessment and get to read the issued case study.

Successfully assessed case studies are published on the FSIE member's download page.

Please consult the FSIE case study regulation for getting to know the exact procedure. 

The FSIE requires you, as an Expert FSIE of any specialisation, to be able to apply the following practices. According to Bloom¹, the application involves using your knowledge to solve practical tasks using appropriate techniques and rules.

• Technical feasibility analysis of the business requirements, deriving IT requirements/tasks (eCBOC 01).
• Design, develop and self-test software applications (esCBOC 06).
• Data modelling, design, database implementation and test (edCBOC 08).
• Data migration analysis, development, test and execution (edCBOC 09)

The FSIE requires you, as an Expert FSIE of any specialisation, to understand the following practices listed. According to Bloom¹, this means that you demonstrate to understand the facts and ideas by organizing, comparing, translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating the main ideas.

• Understand business, define objectives and model scope (bCBOC 01).
• Align intentions with enterprise governance (bCBOC 02)
• Lead business requirements elicitation, modelling and prioritization (bCBOC 03) 
• Verify and validate business objectives, scope and requirements (bCBOC 04)
• Guidance of multiple providers: check progress, quality of contract fulfillment, documentation and manage changes (bCBOC 08)
• Lead business acceptance, check costs and benefits, update experience records and conduct final closure (bCBOC 09)
• Estimate cost and schedule of the engineering tasks, write an offer and commit to a contract (eCBOC 02)
• Evaluate and define a software/hardware architecture (eCBOC 03)
• Specify and execute developer-independent test cases (etCBOC 10)
• Automate test data initialisations, test cases and their execution, including the comparisons (etCBOC 11)
• Identify, recommend and implement educational or work-based development opportunities (mCBOC 06)
• “green-it”, consult and engineer towards minimal economic and ecological resources consumption (oCBOC 03)
• Install, configure and test IT platforms used professionally/at organization level (oCBOC 04)
• Engineer IT configuration and change management processes and put them into practice (oCBOC 05)
• Understand standard requirements on quality (qCBOC 02)
• Engineer IT system development processes and their management (qCBOC 03)
• Engineer IT system reviewing and testing processes and their management (qCBOC 04)
• Engineer IT system operation processes and their management (qCBOC 05)
• Audit and review effectiveness of processes (qCBOC 07)
• Establish and operate a continuous improvement process (qCBOC 10)
• Development of IT strategy and policy, including security and quality (saCBOC 03)
• Understand the legal and regulatory landscape and identify impacts on strategy and architecture (saCBOC 07)
• Understand and apply HCD (human centred design) principles and techniques (uxCBOC 01)
• User experience design (chains of experience) and user interface, accessibility, usability and ergonomics requirements gathering and specifications (uxCBOC 02)
• Modelling, prototyping and implementation of user interface content and interaction structures (uxCBOC 04)

The FSIE requires you, as an Expert FSIE of any specialisation, to be able to know about the following practices. According to Bloom¹, to know is to remember facts, terms, basic concepts, or answers without necessarily understanding what they mean.

• Propose and describe solution alternatives based on market offerings (COTS) and evaluations (bCBOC 05)
• Estimate costs of all project and operational tasks (business and IT) and the benefits using experience records to shape business cases (bCBOC 06)
• Write requests for proposals, evaluate offers and support contracting of multiple providers (bCBOC 07)
• Evaluate, define, install and configure software/hardware development environments (eCBOC 04)
• Evaluate, choose, install and configure frameworks and components aligned with the given architecture (eCBOC 05)
• Design, develop and test reusable frameworks and components, including DSLs (eCBOC 07)
• Design, develop and self-test IoT and real-time applications (esCBOC 12)
• Choose the best sales channel (e.g. online, web) according to the product or solution being delivered and monitor the channel performance (mCBOC 01)
• Define product and services pricing/discounts, negotiate contract terms and conditions (mCBOC 02)
• Governance over IT, security and quality (mCBOC 08)
• Gather business and IT requirements regarding the platforms and describe solution proposals (oCBOC 01)
• Monitor and assure platforms operations: availability, continuity, performance and capacity (oCBOC 06)
• Define and coordinate service/operation level agreements with business respecting the organizational, industrial and methodical standards and put them into practice (oCBOC 07)
• Assure proper system/platforms documentation and adherence to standards (oCBOC 09)
• Report process and IT systems quality to all management levels (qCBOC 11)
• Develop quality management systems based on current standards and aligned to company objectives (qCBOC 06)
• Define process and IT system quality indicators and setup their monitoring (qCBOC 09)
• Contribute to enterprise strategy and architecture (saCBOC 04)
• Challenge and prioritize project proposals in the portfolio with respect to forecasted costs, benefits and strategic contribution (saCBOC 05)
• Review the costs and benefits of implemented projects within a portfolio (saCBOC 06)
• Understand business and IT strategies as well as enterprise risk policies to define security objectives (sCBOC 01)
• Define security risk categories and understand current threats both global and specific to the enterprise (sCBOC 03)
• Develop holistic information security management systems based on current standards (sCBOC 04)
• Understand national and international regulations and their impacts on the “security minded” development, engineering and operation of IT services (sCBOC 05)
• Capability to develop and implement information security controls for processes, people and technology as well as conduct awareness programs to impacted persons (sCBOC 06)
• Report information risk and security status to all management levels (sCBOC 09)
• User centred verification and validation methods (uxCBOC 05)
• Lead in the user acceptance tests, ergonomics part (uxCBOC 06)

Analytical thinking and problem solving

The expert analyses problems and opportunities effectively, identifies which proposals may deliver the most value and works with stakeholders to understand the impact of those proposals. The expert is creative, can lead a decision-making process, learns effectively, can generalise and visualise concepts and systems and systematically solves problems.

Personal behaviour

The expert gains trust and respect of stakeholders by consistently acting in an ethical manner, delivering quality results on time and demonstrating adaptability to changing needs and circumstances. The expert is organized, dependable, reliable, plannable and confident.

Business competences

The expert knows the basic legal and regulatory context (e.g. Swiss OR, ZGB, etc. basic concepts and regulations) he/she is working in. Generic business topics like finance/accounting, logistics, sales, marketing, supply chain management, human resources are known. The expert masters various project methodologies that determine the timing (big steps or small increments), the approach (waterfall or agile), the role of those involved, the accepted risk level, and other aspects of how IT work is approached and managed.

Communication skills

The expert is competent to listen to and understand an audience. When communicating, the expert understands how he/she is perceived by an audience, understands the communication objectives, the message itself, and the most appropriate media and format to be used.

Leadership and teamwork skills

The expert facilitates the interaction in the team, with and among the stakeholders. Leadership, i.e. the motivation and channelling of the focus of individuals towards shared objectives, is important. The expert works well in teams, mediates and resolves conflicts. The expert teaches others using appropriate techniques to facilitate the understanding of his work.

Tools and technology

The expert uses and masters a variety of hardware devices and software applications to support communication and collaboration, create and maintain artefacts, model and visualise concepts, track issues, and increase the personal and overall productivity. When presenting, he/she masters the presentation technology (beamers, adaptors, pointers, ...).

Below, you find our current list. It is continually updated.

• AKAD, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• BFH - Berner Fachhochschule, BSc Informatik (X)
• CPNV, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X)
• DIVTEC, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X)
• EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne, Bachelor in Computer Science EPFL (X), Master in Computer Science EPFL (X), PH.D. CS EPFL (X)
• ETHZ- Eidg. Technische Hochschule Zürich, Bachelor in Computer Science ETHZ (), Master in Computer Science ETHZ (), PH.D. CS ETHZ ()
• ESIG-Jura, Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• ESNE, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• ETML, Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• FHNW - Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, BSc Informatik - Profilierung iCompetence (X), BSc Informatik (X), BSc in Business Information Technology (X), Master of Science in Engineering MSE (X), 
• gibb, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X)
• HBU, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X)
• HF-ICT BL, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X)
• HFTM, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK, Softwareentwicklung und Wirtschaftsinformatik (X)
• IBAW, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• ibW - Südostschweiz, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• IBZ Schulen für Technik Informatik Wirtschaft, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK / Applikationsentwicklung (X)
• IFA, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• Technikerschule Juventus, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X)
• SFB, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF WirtschaftsINFORMATIK (X)
• SSSE, Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• TEKO - Schweizerische Fachschule, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK (X), Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• University of Applied Sciences Berne, Bachelor of Science BFH in IT (), Master of Science BFH in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland (Rapperswil), Bachelor of Science HSR in IT (), Master of Science HSR in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences North-West Switzerland, Bachelor of Science FHNW in IT (), Master of Science FHNW in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences South-West Switzerland, Bachelor of Science HES-SO in IT (), Master of Science HES-SO in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences Remote Studies Switzerland (Fernfachhochschule Schweiz), Bachelor of Science FFH in IT (), Master of Science FFH in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences Lucerne, Bachelor of Science HSLU in IT (), Master of Science HSLU in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences Italian Switzerland (Svizzera Italiana), Bachelor of Science UPSI in IT (), Master of Science UPSI in IT ()
• University of Applied Sciences Zurich, Bachelor of Science ZHAW in IT (), Master of Science ZHAW in IT ()
• University of Basel, Bachelor of Science UNIBAS in IT (), Master of Science UNIBAS in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNIBAS IT ()
• University of Berne, Bachelor of Science UNIBE in IT (), Master of Science UNIBE in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNIBE IT ()
• University of Fribourg, Bachelor of Science UNIFR in IT (), Master of Science UNIFR in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNIFR IT ()
• University of Geneva, Bachelor of Science UNIGE in IT (), Master of Science UNIGE in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNIGE IT ()
• University of Italian Switzerland, Bachelor of Science USI in IT (), Master of Science USI in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. USI IT ()
• University of Lausanne, Bachelor of Science UNIL in IT (), Master of Science UNIL in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNIL IT ()
• University of Neuchatel, Bachelor of Science UNINE in IT (), Master of Science UNINE in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNINE IT ()
• University of St. Gallen, Bachelor of Science UNISG in IT (), Master of Science UNISG in IT (), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UNISG IT ()
• University of Zurich, Bachelor of Science UZH in IT (X), Master of Science UZH in IT (X), Doktorat Informatik PH.D. UZH IT (X)
• WISS, Dipl. Wirtschaftsinformatiker HF (X)
• ZbW, TECHNIKER/-INNEN HF INFORMATIK, berufsbegleitend und interaktive Medien (X)
• FH/ZHAW, Bachelor of Science ZFH in Informatik (X), Master of Science in Engineering ZFH ICT (X)

Refrences:

¹ Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay, 20(24), 1.