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Quick Summary: People Flags are colored labels that administrators assign to individuals to categorize them across your organization. SkillsDB includes three built-in potential flags, and you can create unlimited custom flags to match your own categorization needs.

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Overview

People Flags are administrator-defined labels attached to individual employees to mark meaningful attributes — for example, talent potential levels, project availability, leadership readiness, or any other category relevant to your organization. Once assigned, flags appear as colored badges on a person’s profile and in people tables, making them immediately visible to anyone with access to that person’s record. SkillsDB includes three system-default flags for talent potential assessment that are available immediately without any configuration. Administrators can supplement these with any number of custom flags, each with a unique name, description, and color. People Flags are distinct from Skill Flags. People Flags are applied to individuals and describe attributes of the person. Skill Flags are applied to a person’s relationship with a specific skill and describe their level of expertise or designation for that skill (for example, Expert or Mentor). See Skill Flags for information on that feature. Only administrators can create, edit, delete, and assign People Flags. Managers can view flags applied to their direct reports but cannot modify them.

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Prerequisites

Before managing People Flags, you need:
  • Permission level: Administrator role
  • Access: Navigate to Settings > Flags > People Flags tab

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Understanding People Flags

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System flags

SkillsDB includes three system-default People Flags that are pre-configured and available to all organizations. These flags cannot be edited or deleted, but they can be disabled if your organization does not use them. System flags are labeled System in the flags list and their name, description, and color cannot be changed.

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Custom flags

Administrators can create unlimited custom flags with a name, optional description, and color of their choosing. Custom flags are fully editable after creation and can be deleted at any time. Custom flags support any categorization that matters to your organization — for example:
  • Project availability (Available, On Bench, Deployed)
  • Specialist designations (AWS Certified, Six Sigma Black Belt)
  • Development programs (Mentoring Program, Leadership Track)
  • Succession planning (Successor – Director, Succession Candidate)

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People Flags vs Skill Flags

People Flags and Skill Flags are two distinct systems that exist side by side in SkillsDB. Understanding the difference helps ensure you apply the right tool. Use People Flags to describe who a person is organizationally. Use Skill Flags to describe someone’s standing or relationship to a specific skill.

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Managing People Flags

All People Flag management is done from Settings > Flags. Select the People Flags tab to view and manage the full list of flags for your organization. The flags list displays each flag’s name, description, color, and enabled status. Drag handles on the left allow you to reorder flags. System flags are labeled System and have no edit or delete icons, but their Enabled checkbox still works and they can be dragged to reorder. Flags Configuration page on the People Flags tab, showing Low potential marked Inactive, Moderate potential enabled, and a custom flag with edit and delete icons

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Creating a custom flag

  1. Navigate to Settings > Flags and select the People Flags tab
  2. Select Add Flag
  3. In the Add new people flag modal, enter the following:
    • Flag name (required) — Up to 30 characters
    • Description (optional) — Up to 100 characters; shown as a tooltip when hovering over the flag badge
    • Color — Enter a hex color code (for example, #3B82F6 for blue); defaults to gray if left blank
  4. Select Save
The new flag appears at the bottom of the flags list and is enabled immediately. You can drag it to any position in the list.
Tip: Choose colors that are visually distinct from one another and from the system flags. High-contrast colors make flags easier to scan in large people tables.

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Editing a custom flag

  1. Navigate to Settings > Flags > People Flags tab
  2. Select the edit icon (pencil) next to the flag you want to update
  3. In the Edit people flag modal, update the name, description, or color
  4. Select Save
Changes take effect immediately. Any person who already has the flag assigned will see the updated name, description, and color on their record.
Note: System flags (High potential, Moderate potential, Low potential) cannot be edited. The edit icon is not available for system flags.

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Enabling and disabling flags

Each flag has an Enabled toggle that controls whether it can be assigned to new people.
  • Enabled — The flag is active and appears in the flag assignment dropdown when editing a person’s flags.
  • Disabled — The flag is hidden from the assignment dropdown. It cannot be applied to new people, but existing assignments are preserved. The flag badge continues to appear on people who already have it assigned, marked as Inactive.
To toggle a flag, select its Enabled checkbox in the flags list. The change takes effect immediately. Disabling a flag is the recommended approach when you want to retire a flag temporarily without losing existing assignment data. Deleting a flag is permanent and removes it from all people.

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Reordering flags

The order of flags in the list determines how they appear in the assignment dropdown and in people tables. To reorder:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Flags > People Flags tab
  2. Select and hold the drag handle (the grip icon on the left side of a flag row)
  3. Drag the flag to the desired position
  4. Release to drop — the new order saves automatically
System flags can be repositioned relative to other flags by dragging them within the list.

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Deleting a custom flag

Deleting a flag permanently removes it from your organization and strips it from every person it has been assigned to.
  1. Navigate to Settings > Flags > People Flags tab
  2. Select the delete icon (trash can) next to the flag you want to remove
  3. Review the confirmation message, which shows how many people currently have this flag assigned
  4. Select Delete to confirm
Warning: Deleting a People Flag removes it from all people it is currently assigned to. This action cannot be undone. If you want to preserve existing assignments and simply stop applying the flag to new people, disable the flag instead of deleting it.
Note: System flags (High potential, Moderate potential, Low potential) cannot be deleted. The delete icon is not available for system flags.

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Applying People Flags to Individuals

Administrators assign People Flags to individuals directly from any people table in SkillsDB. The People Flags column appears in team and employee list views. To apply a flag to a person:
  1. Navigate to a people table — for example, Team > People or Team > People
  2. Locate the People Flags column in the row for the person you want to update
  3. Select the + (plus icon) in that person’s People Flags cell
  4. In the dropdown that appears, search for a flag by name using the Find Flag input, or scroll the list
  5. Check the flag(s) you want to apply to this person
  6. The assignment saves automatically — no additional confirmation is required
To remove a flag from a person, open the same dropdown and uncheck the flag.
Note: Only enabled flags appear in the assignment dropdown. Disabled flags are not available for new assignments but remain visible on people who already have them.
Flags assigned to a person also appear on their individual profile page under the General tab, alongside other profile information.

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Where People Flags Appear

Once assigned, People Flags are visible in several areas of SkillsDB: Hovering over a flag badge shows the flag’s description (if one was entered), making it easy for viewers to understand the meaning of a flag without navigating away.

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Common Questions

No. Only administrators can assign or remove People Flags. Managers can view flags on their direct reports’ records but the assignment controls are not available to them.
Yes. The color field is optional. If no hex color is entered, the flag badge defaults to gray (#6B7280). You can add or update the color at any time by editing the flag.
People Flags are assigned directly to the individual, not to their position in the org structure. A flag remains on a person when they move departments, are reassigned to a different manager, or change roles. You must manually remove the flag if it is no longer applicable.
There is no limit on the number of custom flags. However, consider whether each flag serves a distinct, searchable purpose for your organization. A smaller set of well-defined flags is easier to maintain and more consistently applied than a large set of overlapping categories.
Yes. A person can have any number of People Flags applied simultaneously. For example, someone could hold both High potential and Available at the same time. All assigned flags are displayed together as separate badges on their record.
Yes. People Flags are available as a filter dimension in the Search page. After navigating to Search, open the filter options and select one or more People Flags to narrow results to people who hold those flags.
Disabling a flag hides it from the assignment dropdown so no new assignments can be made, but preserves all existing assignments. People who already have the flag retain it on their record, and it is still visible (marked as Inactive). Deleting a flag permanently removes it from every person it was assigned to and from the system. Deletion cannot be undone.
No. System flags are locked — their name, description, and color cannot be changed. You can disable them if your organization does not use potential ratings, which hides them from the assignment dropdown and from new assignments. Existing assignments to system flags are preserved when the flag is disabled.

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Related Articles

Skill Flags

Configure Expert, Mentor, Focus, Interest, and custom flags that apply to skills

People Flags

How employees and managers view People Flags on profiles

Surveys

Collect structured data from employees, including talent assessments

Analytics & Reporting

Report on people data including flag assignments across your organization

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Need Help?

If you run into any issues or have questions, reach out to your organization’s SkillsDB administrator or contact SkillsDB Support.