> ## 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.
# Build Learning Plans
> Learn how to view, build, and track learning plans for your direct reports in SkillsDB, including adding resources, monitoring progress, and exporting plan data.
**Quick Summary:** As a manager, you can view and contribute to your direct reports' learning plans — adding resources, tracking progress, and updating completion status to support their development.
# Overview
SkillsDB gives managers visibility into and control over their direct reports' learning plans. A learning plan is a personal collection of learning resources — from your organization's training library or added manually — that tracks an individual's development activity.
As a manager, you can open any direct report's learning plan, see what resources they are working on, add new resources on their behalf, track completion progress, and export plan data for reporting purposes. Every resource in a learning plan displays who added it and when, so both you and your team member have full visibility into the plan's history.
Managers can add two types of resources to a team member's learning plan:
* **Library resources** — Training content from your organization's centralized library, assigned directly to the individual from the library record
* **Custom resources** — Manually created entries with a title, category, description, URL, and estimated duration
**Note:** Team members can also manage their own learning plans independently. This article covers the manager experience. See Building a Learning Plan for the team member perspective.
***
## Prerequisites
Before building learning plans for your team, you need:
* **Permission level:** Manager role with at least one direct report in SkillsDB
* **Setup requirement:** Your team members must have active SkillsDB accounts
Standard users cannot view or edit other users' learning plans. Only managers and administrators can access a team member's learning plan.
***
# Viewing a Team Member's Learning Plan
To access a team member's learning plan:
1. Select **People** from the **Team** section in the left sidebar
2. Select your team member's name from the direct reports list
3. Select the **Learning Plans** tab on their profile page
The learning plan opens in **Board** view by default, displaying resources organized into Kanban columns by status. To switch to a row-based layout, select **Display** in the top right and choose **Table**.
Each resource card or row displays:
| Field | Description |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Learning Plan** | The resource name and description |
| **Category** | The learning type (shown as a badge) |
| **Added by** | The name of the person who added the resource and the date it was added |
| **Rating** | Thumbs rating for library resources (not available for custom resources) |
| **Status** | Current progress status: To Do, In Progress, Completed, or Archived |
***
## Adding a Custom Resource to a Team Member's Plan
Custom resources are learning entries you create manually — such as a book recommendation, an internal workshop, an online course, or any other development activity that isn't in the organization's training library.
1. Navigate to the team member's **Learning Plans** tab (see steps above)
2. Select **Add resource** in the top right corner of the screen
3. In the **Add new learning** modal, complete the following fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
| --------------- | -------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Title** | Yes | Name of the learning resource |
| **Description** | No | Additional context or notes about the resource |
| **Category** | Yes | Learning type — select from the dropdown list |
| **URL** | No | Link to the resource (must start with `http://`, `https://`, or `www.`) |
| **Duration** | No | Estimated time to complete, in hours |
4. Select **Submit**
The resource appears in the team member's learning plan under the **To Do** column. The **Added by** field shows your name and today's date, giving the team member full context on who recommended the resource.
**Tip:** Use the **Description** field to explain why you're recommending this resource — for example, "This covers the SQL fundamentals identified in your last skills review." A brief note helps your team member understand the context.
***
## Editing and Removing Custom Resources
You can edit or delete custom resources that you or another manager have added to a team member's plan. Library resources cannot be edited, but can be unassigned from the team member's profile.
**To edit a custom resource:**
1. Navigate to the team member's **Learning Plans** tab
2. Locate the resource card and open its action menu
3. Select **Edit**
4. Update the fields in the **Update Custom Learning** modal
5. Select **Submit**
**To delete a custom resource:**
1. Locate the resource card and open its action menu
2. Select **Delete**
3. Confirm the deletion
**Warning:** Deleting a custom resource permanently removes it from the team member's learning plan, including any progress recorded against it. This action cannot be undone.
***
## Tracking and Updating Progress
You can update the progress on any learning plan item for a team member — recording hours spent and overall completion percentage.
1. Navigate to the team member's **Learning Plans** tab
2. Locate the resource card and select **Update**
3. In the **Update duration and percent complete** modal, enter:
* **Duration** — Total estimated hours for the resource (up to 2 decimal places)
* **Percent Complete** — Current completion percentage from 0 to 100 (up to 2 decimal places)
4. Select **Submit**
**Marking a resource as complete**
To mark a resource as complete, open the action menu on the resource card and select **Complete**.
If the resource has a duration recorded and the percent complete is below 100, a confirmation modal appears asking how to record the final hours:
* **Complete and save with \[completed hours] hours** — Records the hours already logged
* **Complete and save with \[full duration] hours** — Records the full estimated duration
Select the option that best reflects the actual time spent, then confirm. The resource moves to the **Completed** column and cannot be moved back to **In Progress** directly. If a completed resource needs to be restarted, archive it first and then move it to **In Progress**.
***
## Moving Resources Between Statuses
Learning plan resources progress through four statuses. You can update a team member's resource status by dragging cards between columns in the **Board** view, or by using the action menu in either view.
| Status | Meaning |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **To Do** | Resource is queued but not yet started |
| **In Progress** | Team member is actively working on this resource |
| **Completed** | Resource has been finished — terminal status |
| **Archived** | Resource is no longer active but preserved for reference |
**Status transition rules:**
* Resources can move freely between **To Do**, **In Progress**, and **Archived**
* **Completed** is a terminal status — use the **Complete** action to reach it
* A completed resource cannot be moved back to **In Progress** directly; archive it first, then move it to **In Progress**
* Archived resources can be restarted by moving them to **In Progress**
***
## Rating Library Resources
Library resources — content assigned from your organization's training library — can be rated to help surface the most valuable content for your team.
To rate a library resource in a team member's learning plan:
1. Locate the library resource card or row
2. Select the rating icon that applies:
* **Thumbs Down** — Not helpful or not recommended
* **Thumbs Up** — Useful and worthwhile
* **Double Thumbs Up** — Highly recommended
**Note:** Ratings are only available for library resources. Custom resources show **N/A** in the rating field.
***
## Filtering the Learning Plan
When a team member's learning plan contains many resources, use filters to focus on specific items.
Select **Display** in the top right corner and apply any combination of the following filters:
| Filter | Options |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Category** | Filter by learning type |
| **Rating** | Filter by thumbs rating |
| **Resource Type** | Library resources only, Custom resources only, or both |
Filters apply to both Board and Table views. Clear filters by deselecting them in the Display menu.
***
## Exporting a Team Member's Learning Plan
You can export a team member's learning plan to an Excel file for reporting, reviews, or offline reference.
1. Navigate to the team member's **Learning Plans** tab
2. Select **Export** in the top right corner
SkillsDB downloads a file named `learning-plans.xlsx`. The file contains one row per resource and includes the following columns:
| Column | Description |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| **Learning Plan** | Resource name |
| **Labels** | Any labels applied to the resource |
| **Category** | Learning type |
| **Added by** | Name of person who added the resource |
| **Rating** | Thumbs rating value |
| **Status** | Current progress status |
***
# Common Questions
Library resources from your organization's training library can be assigned to multiple team members at once from the library record itself — not from the team member's learning plan view. Navigate to the library resource and use the assign modal to select multiple individuals. You can choose to notify team members by email or assign without a notification. Custom resources must be added to each team member's learning plan individually.
Yes. Every resource in a learning plan shows an **Added by** field that displays the name of the person who added it and the date. Team members can see this information when they view their own learning plan.
Yes. Library resources that were assigned to an individual (not assigned via a role or career) can be unassigned. Open the action menu on the library resource in the team member's plan and select **Remove** if available. Note that resources assigned automatically through a role or career designation do not have a **Remove** option — contact your administrator to change role or career assignments.
Team members can update the progress, status, and rating of resources in their own learning plan regardless of who added them. However, only the person who created a custom resource — or a manager — can edit or delete a custom resource's title, description, category, URL, and duration.
**Completed** means the team member has finished the resource. Completed is a terminal status and the resource cannot be moved back to In Progress directly. **Archived** means the resource has been deprioritized or put on hold but is not finished. Archived resources can be restarted at any time by moving them to In Progress.
Only your direct reports appear in your People list. If a team member is missing, they may not be assigned to you in SkillsDB. Contact your administrator to verify the reporting structure and ensure the team member's account is active.
***
# Related Articles
Navigate your direct reports list and access individual team member profiles
Understand how team members manage their own learning plans
Review training completion and progress across your team
Identify skill gaps to inform what learning resources to recommend
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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](https://www.skillsdb.com/support).