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Overview

SkillsDB tracks two separate dimensions of skill competency: proficiency and trained status. Understanding the difference between these two systems is essential for configuring your organization’s careers correctly and interpreting data across the Skills Matrix, assessments, and reporting. Proficiency measures the quality of a skill — how well someone performs or understands it. Proficiency is expressed as a numeric grade on a configurable scale (for example, 1–5). Each employee has a self-assessed grade, a manager-assigned grade, and a benchmark grade representing the expected level for their role. Trained status records the completion of formal training — whether someone has an approved training record for a skill and the date that training occurred. Trained status answers the question “Has this person completed training for this skill?” It does not indicate how proficient they are. These two systems operate independently. A person can be highly proficient in a skill through on-the-job experience while having no formal training record. Conversely, a person can have completed training for a skill but still be developing toward the expected proficiency level. Administrators can enable or disable each system separately per career.

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Understanding Proficiency Grades

Proficiency grades represent measured skill competency. SkillsDB tracks three grade values per person per skill: All three grades use the same grading scale configured for your organization. For example, on a 1–5 scale: 1 = Beginner, 2 = Developing, 3 = Proficient, 4 = Advanced, 5 = Expert.

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How proficiency grades display

Proficiency grades appear as colored grade pills throughout SkillsDB:

• A green pill indicates the grade meets or exceeds the benchmark for that skill.
• A red pill indicates the grade is below the benchmark.
• A gray pill or empty state indicates no grade has been recorded.

Grades appear in the Skills Profile, career detail pages, the Skills Matrix, and assessment scorecards. Employees see their own employee grade and their benchmark. Managers see the employee grade, their own manager grade, and the benchmark for each skill.

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Not Applicable (N/A) status

If a skill does not apply to a particular person, the grade can be set to Not Applicable. When a skill is marked N/A:

• No proficiency grade is required or tracked for that person and skill.
• The skill is excluded from average grade calculations.
• The skill does not contribute to skill gap reporting for that individual.

Employees can mark skills as N/A during self-assessments. Managers can mark skills as N/A during manager assessments or from the team skills view.

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Understanding Trained Status

Trained status records whether an employee has a formal, approved training record for a skill. It answers the question “Has this person completed training for this skill?” rather than “How skilled are they?” When training dates are enabled for a career, each skill in that career can display:

• Training date — The date on which training was recorded as completed.
• Expiration date — If the training has an expiration, the date it expires.
• Training status — Whether the training is current, expiring soon, or expired.

Training records are tracked in the Training Matrix, which gives managers and administrators a consolidated view of who has completed training and whose training is due to expire.

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Trained status vs. proficiency: key differences

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When both systems apply

Both proficiency and trained status can be active for the same career simultaneously. In this configuration, each skill shows both a proficiency grade and a training record. This combination is common in industries where formal certification or compliance training is required alongside competency tracking — for example, safety training where both completion of a course (trained) and demonstrated skill level (proficiency) are tracked separately.

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Configuring the Grading Scale

The grading scale defines the numeric values and labels used for proficiency grades across your entire organization. All careers in SkillsDB use the same grading scale.

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Viewing the grading scale

Administrators can view and manage the grading scale by navigating to Settings > Grading Scale Settings. The grading scale table shows:

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Adding a new grade level

Administrators can add grade levels to extend the grading scale.

1. Navigate to Settings > Grading Scale Settings.
2. Select + Add new Grade.
3. In the Add New Grade Scale modal, enter:
   • Short Description (required, maximum 100 characters) — the label users see when grading, for example Advanced.
   • Extra Description (optional) — a longer explanation of what this grade level means.
4. Select Save.

The new grade is added to the scale and becomes immediately available for use in assessments and grading.

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Editing a grade level

Administrators can edit the short description and extra description of any grade at any time.

1. Navigate to Settings > Grading Scale Settings.
2. Select the row of the grade you want to edit to make it editable inline.
3. Update the Short Description or Extra Description fields.
4. Select Save Changes.

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Deleting a grade level

A grade level can only be deleted if it has not yet been used in any assessment or grading record. If a grade’s status shows In Use, the delete option is unavailable.

1. Navigate to Settings > Grading Scale Settings.
2. In the Actions column of the grade you want to remove, select Delete.
3. Confirm the deletion in the confirmation modal.

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Activating or deactivating Grade 0

Grade 0 is a special placeholder grade representing “no grade recorded.” Administrators can choose to show or hide Grade 0 as a selectable option during grading.

1. Navigate to Settings > Grading Scale Settings.
2. In the Grade 0 row, toggle Activate grade 0 to enable it as a selectable grade, or Deactivate grade 0 to hide it from grading options.

When Grade 0 is inactive, employees and managers cannot select it as a proficiency grade. Existing records where Grade 0 was previously assigned remain unaffected.

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Enabling or Disabling Proficiency for a Career

Proficiency grading and training dates are configured per career. Administrators can enable or disable each system independently for each career in the organization.

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Accessing career settings

1. Navigate to Library > Careers.
2. Select the career you want to configure to open its detail panel.
3. Select Settings in the detail panel.

The Career Settings panel contains the following toggle options:

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Disabling proficiency grading

When you disable Proficiency Grading for a career:

• All grade columns (employee grade, manager grade, benchmark) are hidden from the career’s Skills Profile, career detail pages, and Skills Matrix.
• Grading data is excluded from skill gap reporting and search results.
• The Assessments setting is automatically disabled. Assessments require proficiency grading to function.
• Existing grade data is preserved in the database and can be restored by re-enabling proficiency.

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Disabling training dates

When you disable Training Dates for a career:

• Training date columns and training records are hidden from the career’s skills views.
• The Training Matrix does not include skills from this career.
• Proficiency grades and assessments are unaffected — these systems continue to operate independently.
• Existing training date data is preserved and can be restored by re-enabling training dates.

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Enabling assessments

Assessments can only be enabled when Proficiency Grading is also enabled. If you attempt to enable Assessments while Proficiency Grading is off, the Assessments toggle remains unavailable. To enable assessments for a career:

1. Enable Proficiency Grading first.
2. Then enable Assessments.

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Permissions summary

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Common Questions

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