​

Overview

Skill flags are designations that mark a person’s relationship to one or more skills. A flag might identify someone as the go-to expert for a skill, an approved trainer who can sign off on training requests, a focus area for development, or any other custom designation that matters to your organization. Flags can be applied at three different scopes — a single skill, an entire section within a career, or an entire career — allowing broad designations to cascade naturally without requiring individual assignments for every skill. Admins create and manage the available flag types from Settings > Flags Configuration. Managers apply those flags to their direct reports from within career and skill views. Employees can view flags applied to their own skills but cannot create or modify flag assignments. Flags appear throughout SkillsDB: in skill profiles, in the Flag Matrix view for a career or section, and as a search filter — allowing managers and admins to quickly find flagged employees.

---

​

Understanding Flag Scope

When a flag is applied to a person, it is assigned at one of three scope levels. Each level determines which skills the flag is visible on for that person. When viewing the Flag Matrix, flag sources are color-coded:

• Direct (skill-level assignment) — indigo
• Section (inherited from a section assignment) — purple
• Career (inherited from a career assignment) — pink

A person can hold multiple flags for the same skill — for example, having both an Expert flag from a career-level assignment and a separate Mentor flag applied at the skill level.

---

​

Creating a Skill Flag

Administrators can create custom skill flags to represent any designation used in your organization. New flags are immediately available for use once created. To create a new skill flag:

1. Navigate to Settings > Flags Configuration
2. Select the Skill Flags tab
3. Select Add Flag
4. In the Add new skill flag modal, enter a Flag Name (required, maximum 100 characters)
5. Optionally enter a Description (maximum 500 characters)
6. Select a Color using the color picker — the color will appear as the flag’s badge color throughout SkillsDB
7. Select Add Flag

The new flag appears in the Skill Flags list and becomes immediately available for assignment across SkillsDB. New flags are enabled by default with Trainer Permission off.

---

​

Editing a Skill Flag

Administrators can update the name, description, and color of any custom skill flag. System default flags cannot be edited. To edit a custom skill flag:

1. Navigate to Settings > Flags Configuration
2. Select the Skill Flags tab
3. Select the edit icon (pencil) on the flag you want to update
4. In the Edit skill flag modal, update the Flag Name, Description, or Color as needed
5. Select Save Changes

Changes take effect immediately. Any existing flag assignments retain the updated name and color.

---

​

Enabling and Disabling Flags

Each flag has an Enabled checkbox that controls whether the flag appears in the assignment dropdown throughout SkillsDB. Disabling a flag hides it from use without deleting it or removing existing assignments. To enable or disable a flag:

1. Navigate to Settings > Flags Configuration
2. Select the Skill Flags tab
3. Check or uncheck the Enabled checkbox on the flag row

When you disable a flag, it is immediately hidden from all flag selection dropdowns and is no longer available for new assignments. Existing assignments to people are preserved and remain visible in the Flag Matrix and skill profiles. When you re-enable the flag, it reappears in dropdowns and all historical assignments are restored without any reassignment required.

---

​

Managing Trainer Permission

The Trainer Permission toggle grants the holder of a flag the ability to approve training requests for the skills they are flagged on. This integrates directly with SkillsDB’s training approval system. When a person holds a flag with Trainer Permission enabled, they receive training approval requests in their Inbox for any skills covered by that flag assignment. To enable or disable Trainer Permission on a flag:

1. Navigate to Settings > Flags Configuration
2. Select the Skill Flags tab
3. Check or uncheck the Trainer Permission checkbox on the flag row

When Trainer Permission is enabled on a flag, a Trainer badge appears on the flag row to confirm the setting is active.

---

​

Reordering Flags

The order flags appear in the Skill Flags list determines the order they appear in flag selection dropdowns throughout SkillsDB. Drag flags to arrange them in the order most useful for your team. To reorder skill flags:

1. Navigate to Settings > Flags Configuration
2. Select the Skill Flags tab
3. Click and drag the drag handle (the grid icon on the left of a flag row) to a new position
4. Release to drop the flag in its new position

The new order is saved automatically. Flag order cannot be changed for system defaults relative to one another, but custom flags can be reordered freely.

---

​

Applying Flags to People

Once flags are configured, managers and admins apply them to individuals from within career and skill views. Applying a flag creates the association between a person and the flag at the skill, section, or career scope. Flags can be applied or removed in bulk from the Flag People workflow, accessible from career, section, and skill pages. To apply a flag to people:

1. Navigate to the career, section, or skill you want to flag people on
2. Select the Flag People button (or the flag icon)
3. In the Select Flag Type step, choose the flag you want to apply
4. In the Select People step:
   • Use the search bar to filter by name, email, or employee ID
   • Select each person to apply the flag to (or use Select All to select everyone eligible)
   • To remove a flag instead of applying one, toggle to Remove mode using the Apply/Remove toggle
5. Select Apply Flag to [N] People

The flag is immediately applied to all selected people. Existing flags on each person are shown in the list to help avoid duplicates.

---

​

Deleting a Skill Flag

Administrators can permanently delete custom skill flags. Deleting a flag removes it from the system and unassigns it from all people. This action cannot be undone. To delete a skill flag:

1. Navigate to Settings > Flags Configuration
2. Select the Skill Flags tab
3. Select the delete icon (trash can) on the flag you want to remove
4. Review the confirmation message — if the flag is currently assigned to people, the message will indicate how many assignments will be removed
5. Select Delete to confirm

The flag is permanently deleted and all assignments are removed from every person’s profile.

---

​

Common Questions

---

​

Related Articles

---

​

Need Help?