Launched in early 2023, the CAS Capability Model is a visual framework that articulates the traits, skills and knowledge important for most property-casualty actuaries, and it offers guidance on how users can enhance their capabilities. The CAS has developed the Capability Model to help actuaries build skills for the future and advance in their careers.
Using the Model, CAS members and candidates will be able to self-assess the levels of their professional attributes in 18 different areas and then identify continuing education opportunities to further develop their expertise.
The Capability Model is composed of Traits, Skills and Content Areas, each of which contains six attributes organized according to three levels of proficiency, with Level 1 as the most basic and Level 3 the most advanced.
To facilitate the Model’s use, select speakers at CAS professional education offerings have started linking their content to the Capability Model. Beginning with the CAS Spring Meeting, multiple concurrent sessions and one general session included slides identifying the Capability Model attributes that would be addressed in the presentations’ content.
As an example, the concurrent session “Commercial Lines Modeling: Theory to Practice” included content on predictive modeling. So, the presenters identified the session as applying to the Capability Model’s Content Area of “Mathematics/Modeling,” which is described as “Knowledge of mathematical branches … and mathematical models applicable to the actuarial profession.” The session content was designated as Level 2, which is described as “Model design and selection to replicate a real-world process, evaluate model input and interpret results.”
Other examples of sessions linking their content to the Capability Model include:
- “The Road to Vehicle Automation from an Insurance Perspective” — Content Areas-Property & Casualty Insurance Industry at Level 2.
- “The Price Is Right: An Introduction to Pricing Novel Products and Competitive Analysis” — Skills-Critical Thinking & Problem Solving at Levels 2 and 3.
- “A Good Graph is Worth a Million Dollars” — Content Areas-Functional Expertise and Skills-Business and Technical Communication, both at Level 2.
“Spring Meeting speakers embraced the opportunity to share with attendees how their content fits into the Capability Model,” said CAS Director of Professional Education Dave Core, CAE. “This first trial at the Spring Meeting was successful in showing how the model applies to the education we provide to actuaries.”
The 2023 Spring Meeting was just the start of putting the CAS Capability Model into action, with many more applications in the works. Future applications will include:
- Professional education planning working groups will reference the Model when developing offerings, which will ensure the current and future relevancy of CAS programming. The upcoming Annual Meeting will include even more sessions linked with Capability Model attributes.
- The search tool for the CAS website’s database of presentations will include additional attribute and level search filters aligning with the CAS Capability Model. Volunteers are currently reviewing and coding past recorded sessions to enable this new functionality.
- The CAS website’s Calendar of Events will include additional filters so that members can search for current and future professional education opportunities in specific Content Areas, Skills and Traits Areas that will help fulfill their goals of moving from one level to the next.
Even more exciting news is that the CAS Capability Model will include an online self-assessment tool beginning in 2024. While actuaries can complete individual self-assessments against the model on their own now, the new online tool will further enhance self-assessments. In addition, a custom learning plan based on the self-assessment is also in the works to help identify CAS educational content that could assist actuaries in moving from one level to the next.
To learn more about and use the CAS Capability Model, please visit casact.org/professional-education/cas-capability-model.
The CAS Capability Model is a dynamic tool that will evolve over time. So, feedback from practicing actuaries on the model is welcome and can be sent to Carrie Cross, CAS Strategy and Learning Partner, at ccross@casact.org.
