The Journey to a Skills Framework for Analytics & Artificial Intelligence
The inception of the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP) in 2017 was marked by an early commitment to establish a professional maturity framework. This framework was envisioned to delineate distinct analytics roles within the Philippines and outline the expected competencies and proficiency levels for current and prospective analytics professionals. In pursuit of this goal, AAP founding board members participated in APEC Project DARE (Data Analytics Raising Employment) in 2017, setting the stage for a comprehensive skills framework.
The journey towards creating a skills framework, however, started back in 2012 with the formation of the Analitika PH consortium. It was the first nationwide initiative which aimed to position the Philippines as a global center for smarter analytics, gathering stakeholders from the government, academia, and the private sector to meet the emerging demand for analytics talent. This effort led to the creation of the first two CHED memoranda for specialized tracks in Business Analytics for Information Technology Education and Business Administration, which are still offered by several institutions across the country.
Historical Context and Initial Efforts
Fast forward to 2017, APEC Project DARE emerged in response to the policy objectives of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation regarding human capital development. This project aimed to mitigate the skills gap in data science and analytics, which was significantly affecting global revenue. Through collaboration among leaders from various sectors, Project DARE established the ten Recommended APEC Data Science and Analytics Competencies. These competencies were designed to guide academic and training institutions in APEC economies to better align their offerings with market needs.
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​The framework outlined a comprehensive set of skills, categorized into Business and Organizational Skills, Technical Skills, and Workplace Skills. These encompassed a broad range of capabilities, from domain knowledge application and data management to research methods, statistical techniques, and 21st-century skills vital for analytics professionals.
Figure 1: The ten recommended Data Science andAnalytics competencies of APEC Project DARE.
AAP further expanded the framework to define specific analytics roles, including Data Stewards, Data Engineers, Data Scientists, Functional Analysts, and Analytics Managers. This delineation of roles aimed to clarify the expectations for professionals and organizations within the analytics domain, ensuring alignment between job functions and career paths.
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The framework recognizes that there are numerous analytics job titles out there and that there are overlaps across these roles. The AAP believes, however, that the job families identified through this framework are differentiated enough especially in their role in the data value chain and in the identified areas of expertise. Such jobs require people with unique skills and experience to fill these roles. By understanding this distinction, organizations and analytics practitioners can share the same set of expectations to ensure that, one, organizations get the most out of their Analytics efforts and, two, that Analytics practitioners are positively engaged by performing tasks that are aligned to their profession and career path.
The AAP Professional Maturity Model
Figure 2: The analytics job families
Figure 3: The AAP Professional Maturity Model Version 1.0.
Implementing the AAP Professional Maturity Model
The AAP Professional Maturity Model's introduction marked a significant step forward, providing a shared understanding of analytics roles and competencies. One of the first large-scale implementations of the model is Project SPARTA . A project by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and now managed by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), SPARTA, or Project Smarter Philippines through Data Analytics, R&D, Training, and Adoption, is dedicated to putting in place the necessary online education, research and development mechanisms, and infrastructure to enable the industry of analytics, and foster smart governance practices. At the end of 2023, Project SPARTA produced 1,282 unique completers of its various pathways, and 2,620 unique completers of its various micro specializations.
National Recognition and A Future That Works
The model's success led to AAP's recognition by TESDA as the National Industry Board for Analytics & Artificial Intelligence in 2022, broadening its scope to include AI. This recognition as an industry board also came about through Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) A Future That Works program, a workforce development initiative supported by the Australian Government. The program focuses attention and investment on reducing the mismatch of jobs and skills, to ensure the competitiveness of the industry. One of the key deliverables of the project is the 2022 Labor Market Intelligence Study on the Analytics Sector of the Philippines . The study identified several additional roles and competencies that necessitated an updated version of the AAP Professional Maturity Model. This paved the way for the Philippine Skills Framework for Analytics & AI (PSF-AAI), developed by the AAP in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Future Directions
The Philippine Skills Framework for Analytics & AI represents a landmark achievement in aligning the nation's workforce development efforts with the evolving demands of the digital economy. By establishing clear guidelines for skills and competencies, the framework sets a solid foundation for nurturing the next generation of analytics and AI professionals in the Philippines. This is but the start, however, as the various relevant government agencies, the private sector, and the academe, adopt this framework in performance of their respective roles in workforce development. Ultimately, this PSF-AAI is for our current and future AAI workforce so that they may be provided with the right education and training that are aligned to industry needs leading eventually to gainful employment.
AAP President Michelle Alarcon, VP Mon Ibrahim and ED Sherwin Pelayo with TESDA Director General Secretary Kiko Benitez and TESDA DDG Nelly Dittera and officials
The Analytics & Artificial Intelligence Association of the Philippines and the DTI.Philippine Trade Training Center - Global MSME Academy kicked-off a partnership discussion to use the Philippine Skills Framework Rollout and Adoption (PSF ROAD) Program for the recently launched Philippine Skills Framework for Analytics & Artificial Intelligence (PSF-AAI).
