CITP Standard
Introduction
Chartered IT Professional (CITP) is the flagship standard for professionals working in the IT industry. Through their skills and experience Chartered IT Professionals demonstrate that they:
• Have a depth and breadth of technical IT knowledge and skills.
• Have experience of applying technical knowledge and skills.
• Apply leadership skills.
• Are able make effective decisions.
• Can analyse and resolve complex problems.
In addition, they can demonstrate that they display the values expected of a Chartered IT Professional:
• Commitment to maintain an awareness of developments in the industry and keeping their skills up to date.
• Acting as a role model.
• Considering the ethical implications related to their professional undertakings.
To apply for CITP applicants must be a member of BCS or a body licensed to award CITP and actively engaged within the scope of the IT profession. If a member of BCS they must hold Professional Membership as a minimum.
The CITP criteria can be found at Annex A.

Technical Expertise
To meet the requirements of technical expertise applicants will need to provide evidence for two distinct areas:
• Depth of Knowledge and Skills
• Breadth of Knowledge
Each will require the applicant to draw on SFIA skills, evidencing their knowledge against a number of skills at a particular level.
Depth of Knowledge and Skills
Depth of Knowledge and Skills requires the applicant to demonstrate through qualifications, certifications and/or experience that they have the required level of knowledge and skills against a minimum of four SFIA skills. They must deliver evidence of SFIA level 5 for a minimum of two of these skills and a minimum of SFIA level 3 for the other two. SFIAPlus.
Breadth of Knowledge
Breadth of Knowledge requires the applicant to demonstrate through qualifications, certifications and/or experience that they have level of knowledge at a minimum of SFIA Level 3 for a minimum of five SFIA skills from outside their area of practice/specialism. SFIAPlus.
Professional Behaviours
The professional behaviours of Leadership, Decision Making and Problem Solving will be evidenced drawing from task/projects/activities through which they have applied the depth of technical knowledge and skills evidenced within their application. Evidence of the CITP values will be through:
• CPD the applicant has undertaken and their plan for future CPD.
• How they act as a role model within the industry.
• How they consider and act upon ethical considerations with the task/projects they undertake
*Important Note:
Ethical considerations are to include issues relating to:
• Sustainability.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
• Legal, social and/or professional issues.
Applying for CITP
All applicants will be required to demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge and skills for a minimum of four SFIA skills. The applicant is to display a knowledge at SFIA Level 5 for a minimum of two skills and level 3 or 4 for two further skills relevant to their role and experience.
They will also need to demonstrate the application of these skills and knowledge through the evidence provided to meet the behavioural requirements of the standard. SFIAPlus provides examples of the types of work activities associated with SFIA skills at the levels relevant to that skill. It also provides examples of the technical knowledge relevant to skills at the selected level.
Applicants should review the framework and select the skills most appropriate to their role and experience. They will need to provide evidence of the technical knowledge and skills identified within the framework, either from qualifications, certificates, experience or a mixture of these.
Where an applicant holds an accredited qualification the requirements of the depth and breadth of knowledge are considered to have been met. Evidence provided through experience needs to clearly demonstrate the applicant’s knowledge and skills relevant to the selected SFIA skill.
Specialisms
The approach outlined above applies to all applicants for CITP, however if the SFIA skills selected to evidence Part A.1 of the standard are from the same ‘Skills Family’ then applicants may identify their practice as within that specialism.
BCS is currently identifying the skills associated with specialisms, which will form the SFIA skills family for the specialism. Where an applicant is demonstrating depth of knowledge and skills from a particular specialism skills family, they will also be recognised as achieving CITP within the relevant area of specialism.
There are currently 2 areas being developed:
• Cyber Security
• Data and Analytics
Note:
Skills families for these 2 specialisms have been created and further specialisms and associated skills families will be developed going forward.
Therefore, to be recognised as Chartered IT Professional specialising in Cyber Security the four skills evidenced against part A.1 of the standard (two skills at SFIA level 5 and two at a minimum of level 3) must be from the Cyber Security skills family.
What if my specialism is not available?
In the first instance an applicant should apply through the process outlined above, selecting the skills that are relevant to their role and experience.
As BCS develops further specialisms and their skills families applicants/registrants will be able to:
• Claim their specialism recognition if the evidence provided in the initial assessment covered the appropriate skills from their specialism.
• Provide some further evidence to cover their specialism if the original application did not cover these.
This could be met through qualifications, certifications and/or experience.
Recognition of Specialism
When achieving CITP applicants will receive a CITP certificate and an additional certificate noting the specialism and the skills against which this was achieved. They will also receive a digital badge identifying the specialism and will be assigned to this specialism on the register.
As new specialisms become available, applicants may apply for the specialism as outlined above and will receive an updated skills certificate and digital badge, the register will also be amended to reflect the specialism.
What if a registrant changes specialism?
If a registrant changes role and moves into another specialism they may apply to have their specialism updated. In this instance they would need to provide the necessary evidence against the relevant skills within the new specialism (two at level 5 and two and level 3/4 ). If they have already met the evidence for some of the skills they may only need to provide evidence against the outstanding skills.
Annex A – CITP Criteria
Section 1 - Technical expertise
Section 2 – Technical competence and Professional behaviours
Evidence provided within this section must relate to the skills evidenced within section A.1 Parts B, C and D should be answered using the STARE approach