Development of a Competence Management System: an algebraic approach

The complexity in engineering processes of high technology companies needs to carefully and efficiently manage the human resources competences dedicated to the related activities. Focus on an Italian aerospace company, Alenia Aeronautica, the paper wants to illustrate the use of set theory in order to represent objects, rules and indexes of the competence management methodology. This mathematical formalism allows to easily represent the complexity of this context and to guide the implementation of a future competence management system (CMS). In addition, the use of an algebraic approach allows the implementation of a competence management information system that may be customized to any industrial context. In addition, this flexible structure can be easily modified to respond to a continuously changing competence scenario related to the business environment.