> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.skillsdb.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Running Assessments > Create, build, launch, schedule, monitor, and end skill assessments from Company > Assessments — the administrator's guide to the assessment lifecycle. > [!NOTE] > > **Quick Summary:** Administrators run assessments from **Company > Assessments**. You create an assessment with a name and an audience, build the flow each person goes through, launch it now or schedule it, follow progress for the self track and the manager track, send reminders, and end each track when you are done. # Overview An assessment in SkillsDB is a structured review of people's skills. Each assessment has two tracks that run separately. The **self track** is the assessment employees take themselves: a flow of screens that can include survey questions, scored questions, and skill self-grading. The **manager track** is the assessment managers complete for their direct reports: grading each report's career skills. You can launch the two tracks together or one at a time. Administrators manage the whole lifecycle from **Company > Assessments**. The list there shows every assessment in your organization with its status and the progress of each track. Opening an assessment shows its management page, where you edit its details and audience, build its flow, set its branding, launch or schedule it, and follow its progress. An assessment moves through four statuses: | Status | What it means | | - | - | | **Draft** | Created but not launched. Everything can still be edited. | | **Scheduled** | The self track is set to launch on a chosen date. Everything can still be edited until launch. | | **In Progress** | At least one track has launched. Details, audience, and launched builds are locked. | | **Ended** | The assessment has been ended. People can no longer change their responses. | The audience of an assessment is dynamic. While an assessment is open, SkillsDB adds and removes people automatically as their organization details change, so you do not need to maintain the list by hand. To learn how the audience is chosen, see [Assessment Population](https://help.skillsdb.com/core-concepts/assessment-population.md). This article covers the administrator's view. Employees take assessments from **Profile > Assessments** (see [Self Assessments](https://help.skillsdb.com/user-guide/self-assessments.md)), and managers grade their reports from **Team > Assessments** (see [Manager Assessments](https://help.skillsdb.com/manager-guide/manager-assessments.md)). ## Prerequisites Before you run an assessment, you need: * **Permission level:** Global Administrator. The **Company** section of the sidebar, including **Company > Assessments**, is available to administrators only. * **Setup requirement:** A grading scale configured in **Company > Settings > Grading Scale**. If no grading scale exists, the creation wizard shows "No Grading Scale Configured" and blocks creation until one is set up. * **Setup requirement:** Careers with skills assigned to the people you want to assess, if the assessment includes skill grading. *** ## Viewing All Assessments Navigate to **Company > Assessments** to see the list of assessments. The table shows these columns: | Column | What it shows | | - | - | | **Name** | The assessment name. Select it to open the assessment's management page. | | **Self** | Progress of the self track, shown as "done of assigned" (for example "12 of 40"), or **Not launched** | | **Manager** | Progress of the manager track, in the same form, or **Not launched** | | **Status** | **Draft**, **Scheduled**, **In Progress**, or **Ended** | | **Ended** | The date the assessment ended | Use the **Draft**, **Scheduled**, **In Progress**, and **Ended** quick filters to narrow the list. You can select several at once, and results match any selected status. Select **+** in the filter row to filter by **Name** or **Status**, and use **Find in view** to search the visible rows. The number of assessments shown appears at the top of the page. A track reads **Not launched** until it starts, rather than "0 of 0". An assessment built from questions only never launches a manager track, so its **Manager** column can read **Not launched** for the life of the assessment. *** ## Creating an Assessment Creating an assessment takes two wizard steps — **Basic Info** and **Population** — and then opens the new assessment's page, where you build its flow. **1. Start a new assessment** Navigate to **Company > Assessments**. Open the **Actions** menu and select **Assessment** under **Add New**, or press **⌘K** (Mac) or **Ctrl+K** (Windows) and search for "Create assessment". The **New Assessment** wizard opens on **Basic Info**. **2. Enter the basic information** Enter an **Assessment Name** (required, up to 100 characters) and an optional **Description** (up to 500 characters). Both are visible to all assigned users. Then answer **When should manager grades be visible to their direct reports?** by choosing **After manager assessments are submitted** (the default), **When employee self-assessments are submitted**, or **Only after the assessment has been ended by an admin**. Select **Continue**. **3. Choose the population** Choose **All People** or **Select Groups** and pick the groups to include. The step shows how many active people match. If no active people match, the button stays disabled and the page says "No active people match this population — adjust it to continue." See [Assessment Population](https://help.skillsdb.com/core-concepts/assessment-population.md) for every audience option. **4. Save and configure** Select **Save and configure**. SkillsDB creates the assessment as a **Draft** and opens its management page, where you build the flow. The assessment is created only when you leave the Population step, so abandoning the wizard part-way does not leave an empty draft behind. While you are still in the wizard, you can select a completed step in the step indicator to go back to it. *** ## Building the Assessment Flow The flow is the sequence of screens a person goes through. Each track has its own flow. On the assessment's page, the **Self Assessment** card shows the self track's flow, and the **Manager Assessment** card shows the manager track's flow. If the self flow has no steps yet, the card says "No steps yet" and offers **Configure now**. Once the flow has steps, the card shows **Flow — \[number] steps** with an **Edit flow** button, or **View flow** after the track has launched. Building the manager flow is described in [Manager Assessments](https://help.skillsdb.com/manager-guide/manager-assessments.md). **1. Open the builder** On the **Self Assessment** card, select **Configure now** or **Edit flow**. **2. Edit the Cover Page** The **Cover Page** is always first. Select it to edit the introduction screen people see before they start, including its bullet points. **3. Add steps** Select **Add step**, then choose a step type in the **Add a step** dialog. The steps you add appear between the Cover Page and the **Submission** screen, which is always last. Drag a step, or use its move controls, to change the order. **4. Configure and save each step** Select a step to open its editor. Make your changes and select **Save changes**, or select **Discard** to drop them. Each editor saves its own step; there is no separate save for the whole build. If you try to leave with unsaved changes, SkillsDB asks **Leave without saving?** **5. Choose what people see after submitting** Under **Post-submission**, turn on **Question results** to show each scored question's response after submitting, or **Personal scorecard** to show a proficiency scorecard. Each option is available only when the flow contains the step it reports on. The self flow offers these step types: | Step type | What it does | | - | - | | **Survey Question** | A Multiple Choice, Drop Down, or Text Response question that is not scored. A survey question can be marked optional. | | **Scored Questions** | Scored questions drawn from the careers, sections, and skills in scope. See [Questions](https://help.skillsdb.com/libraries/questions.md). | | **Self-Assessment** | The skill self-rating flow for the careers in scope | | **Additional Skills** | Grading for profile skills that are not tied to a career. An assessment can have one. | | **Info Card** | A content-only screen between steps, with nothing to answer | A flow needs at least one step between the Cover Page and Submission: the builder says "Add at least one step between the Cover Page and Submission." When every career is already covered by a Self-Assessment step, the dialog does not offer another one. To check the flow as a specific person will see it, select **Preview flow** in the builder, or select **Preview** on the **Self Assessment** card and choose a person in the **Preview as…** dialog. The preview is read-only and nothing you do in it is recorded. > [!NOTE] > > **Note:** A track's build locks when that track launches. After launch, the builder opens read-only with the message "Build locked — This assessment has launched, so its build is read-only." *** ## Setting Branding and Reviewing the Assessment Page The assessment's management page brings everything about one assessment together. Its cards are: * **Basic Information** — the created date, when each track started (or **Not launched**), and the manager grade visibility setting. Select the pencil icon to edit the name, description, and visibility. * **Population** — the audience scope, the number of eligible people, and each track's audience. The **Employees**, **Managers**, and **Direct Reports** counts are links to the people list for that track. After a track launches, its row also shows "\[done] of \[assigned] complete" with a progress bar. Select the pencil icon to edit the population. * **Assessment Branding** — a logo and an accent color for the assessment's screens. Select **Upload logo** (PNG, JPG, or SVG, up to 2 MB) or **Replace logo**. If you do not upload one, the SkillsDB logo is shown. * **Self Assessment** and **Manager Assessment** — one card per track, with its deadline, start date, launch email setting, flow, reminders, and reports. While the assessment is in **Draft** or **Scheduled**, select **Set deadline** on a track card to give that track a deadline, or select the date to change or clear it. The deadline cannot be changed once the track has launched. The **Launch email** switch on each track card decides whether launching that track emails the people it reaches. The switch is fixed once the track launches. If your organization has turned off system emails in **Company > Settings**, the switch is locked and no launch email is sent. *** ## Launching or Scheduling an Assessment When the flow is ready, launch the assessment from its page. **1. Open the launch dialog** On the assessment's page, open the **Actions** menu. Under **Launch**, select **Self**, **Manager**, or **Both**. **2. Choose Launch Now or Schedule** For the self track, choose **Launch Now** or **Schedule**. To schedule, pick a **Launch date**. Scheduled launches fire at 12:00 PM Pacific on that date. Only the self track can be scheduled; the manager track and **Both** always launch immediately. **3. Confirm** Select **Launch assessment**, or **Schedule launch** for a scheduled launch. The dialog states how many people the track reaches and whether start emails are sent. When a track launches, the people it reaches can open the assessment, and they receive a start email if that track's **Launch email** is on. The assessment's status changes to **In Progress**, and its details, population, and the launched track's build become read-only. If you launch only the self track, start the manager track later. Select **Start assessment** on the **Manager Assessment** card, then confirm. A scheduled assessment shows a callout such as "Scheduled to launch in 2 days and 14 hours" with the date. The build stays editable until launch. To stop the launch, select **Cancel schedule**, then confirm in the **Cancel this schedule?** dialog. The assessment returns to **Draft** and can be scheduled again. To launch a scheduled assessment early, open the **Actions** menu and choose a track under **Launch Now**. SkillsDB refuses a launch that would reach nobody, and says why. For example, "This assessment has not been configured yet, so it cannot be launched or scheduled. Complete the build step first.", or "No manager would receive the manager assessment, so it cannot be launched." *** ## Monitoring Progress and Sending Reminders While a track is **In Progress**, its card shows a **Completed** count with a progress bar, a **Last nudge** row, and these actions: * **Nudge** — sends a reminder email to everyone in that track who has not completed it. Confirm in the **Send a reminder?** dialog. The **Last nudge** row shows when the last reminder went out, or **Never**. **Nudge** is disabled while your organization's system emails are off. * **Status report** — opens a report of who has and has not completed the track. After the track ends, the same button reads **Completion report**. See [Analytics and Reporting](https://help.skillsdb.com/core-concepts/analytics-and-reporting.md). * **Manager grades** — on the **Manager Assessment** card, opens the matrix of grades managers have given. To see answers to the flow's questions, open the **Actions** menu and select **Result** under **Navigate**. The results page shows each question with every respondent's answer. If the manager track has a flow, choose **Employees** or **Managers** to switch between them. Select the **Responses** count to see who has responded, and use **Export** in the **Actions** menu to download the results to Excel. To include or exclude individual people, select the **Employees**, **Managers**, or **Direct Reports** count on the **Population** card. The people list shows each person's **Inclusion Status**. Turn the switch off to exclude a person from that track, or on to include them again. On the **Direct Reports** list, a report whose manager is excluded cannot be switched, and the switch shows "Manager excluded". *** ## Ending an Assessment Each track is ended separately. On a track card that is **In Progress**, select **End**, then select **Confirm** in the dialog. The dialog warns that assigned people will not be able to edit their response once the assessment is ended. When a track ends, its card shows the end date, and **Status report** becomes **Completion report**. When the assessment has ended, its status reads **Ended** in the list. If manager grades are set to become visible **Only after the assessment has been ended by an admin**, employees see their manager's grades from this point. *** # Common Questions > **Can I edit an assessment after it launches?** > > Only partly. Once either track has launched, the name, description, manager grade visibility, and population are locked, and SkillsDB refuses changes. Each track's build locks when that track launches, so you can still edit the manager flow if only the self track has launched. Deadlines can be set only before a track launches. > **Can I schedule the manager track?** > > No. Only the self track can be scheduled. The manager track, and **Both**, always launch immediately. If you schedule the self track, start the manager track later from its card with **Start assessment**. > **What happens if someone joins the organization after launch?** > > The audience is dynamic. While the assessment is open, SkillsDB adds people who come to match the population and removes people who no longer match. A person added while the self track is running receives the self-assessment invitation email, unless an administrator has excluded them. See [Assessment Population](https://help.skillsdb.com/core-concepts/assessment-population.md). > **Why can't I launch my assessment?** > > SkillsDB refuses a launch that would reach nobody. The most common reasons are a self flow with no steps between the Cover Page and Submission, a population that matches no active people, or a manager track that no manager would receive because of the population, manager exclusions, or the careers chosen in the manager flow. The error message names the cause. > **Why is the Nudge button disabled?** > > **Nudge** sends a reminder email, so it is disabled while your organization's system emails are turned off in **Company > Settings**. It appears only while a track is in progress and not everyone has completed it. > **Can I preview the assessment before launching it?** > > Yes. Select **Preview** on the **Self Assessment** card, or **Preview flow** in the builder, and choose a person in the **Preview as…** dialog. The preview shows the real flow as that person would see it, and nothing you do in it is saved. *** # Related Articles > **[Assessment Population](https://help.skillsdb.com/core-concepts/assessment-population.md)** > > Choose who receives an assessment > **[Manager Assessments](https://help.skillsdb.com/manager-guide/manager-assessments.md)** > > Build the manager flow and grade direct reports > **[Self Assessments](https://help.skillsdb.com/user-guide/self-assessments.md)** > > What employees see when they take an assessment > **[Questions](https://help.skillsdb.com/libraries/questions.md)** > > Create the reusable questions used in assessment steps > **[Analytics and Reporting](https://help.skillsdb.com/core-concepts/analytics-and-reporting.md)** > > Read assessment status and completion reports *** # Need Help? > [!NOTE] > > If you run into any issues or have questions, reach out to your organization's SkillsDB administrator or contact [SkillsDB Support](https://www.skillsdb.com/support). 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