The "ICT Professions: recognition of experience and certification of skills and expertise acquired on the job - ProcessOnTheJob" project, financed by the Lombardy Region and in partnership with CERT-IT (a German body) and CEFRIEL, has experimented with a new model of certification of skills and knowledge in association with some of the leading companies in ICT: Accenture, Italtel, Lutech, Matrix and Pirelli. 

The model covers 10 areas of competency, each divided into skills and knowledge according to the internationally-recognised European Qualification Framework, in order to facilitate reading and transparency. This is a portable model, i.e. it is sufficiently flexible to be applied in professional areas other than the specific area of ICT. It is not a "learning path" of skills and expertise, but rather a "path to self-knowledge" of the past skills and expertise acquired in a working context. It is the passage from implicit know-how to explicit know-how, in order to demonstrate to oneself and to others that one is in possession of a specific, professional skill set.

The phase of experimentation and actual certification of a sample of beneficiaries was carried out with a German partner, CERT-IT, a certifying body for IT skills acquired on the job, which was interested in reviewing its model. Research was concluded in 2007 with the awarding of a certification, to 10 professionals, of skills and expertise gained in non-formal and informal learning contexts.

This new method may also be adapted to other sectors, for example management and organisational, where the practice plays an essential role.