Skills & Competencies

The skills framework lets you build a taxonomy of competencies for your organization, tag courses with the skills they teach, and give learners a live gap analysis showing which skills they still need to develop.

It has six parts:

1. Skills Library — domains and skills, each with up to four proficiency-level descriptions.
2. Course–skill mapping — link a skill (with a target level) to each course that teaches it.
3. Assessment evidence — link a quiz to the skills it proves; passing the quiz records the level.
4. Self-assessment and validation — learners claim a level; their manager (or an admin) validates or rejects it.
5. The per-person skills report — the levels a person’s job roles require against the levels they hold, coloured by the gap, on Achievements → Skills, on the user page, on the learner home page, and as a downloadable skills record.
6. Job roles — the skill levels a job requires, assigned to people by hand, by CSV, or from a dropdown profile field.

Prerequisites

• Plan: Starter or higher. On the Free plan the Skills Library, course and quiz skill mapping, each person’s skill sheet and self-assessment validation show an upgrade screen instead. Completions and passed quizzes keep recording skill levels on Free, and learners still see the levels they hold, so nothing is lost when you upgrade. See Billing §2b.
• Role: Admin or Manager (any role with the course:create permission can manage the library and course mappings)
• The Skills sidebar item (it opens on the Skills Library tab) is visible to roles holding skill:view

Proficiency levels

Every skill uses the same four-level scale, ranked lowest to highest:

You can (optionally) write your own description of what each level means for each individual skill — these descriptors appear in the library so admins mapping courses share the same yardstick.

Build the Skills Library

1. In the left sidebar, open Skills → Skills Library (/<locale>/admin/skills/library).
2. Click Add domain and fill in:

3. Click Save. The domain appears as an expandable panel with a skill count.
4. Expand the domain and click Add skill:

5. Click Save. Repeat for each skill in the domain.

Skills in more than one language

Every skill, domain and job role can carry its text in each language your people use. The editors work like the course editor’s language tabs:

1. Open a skill or domain for editing. The first tab is the base language, which is your organization’s default language (Settings → General). It holds the text you entered above.
2. Each other tab is one language. Select it to enter that language’s name, description and level descriptions. The tab is laid out like the base tab, with each level’s coloured badge beside its description, and the original text is shown under each field, so you translate beside the source. The validity period and the critical flag appear greyed out: they are the same in every language and are changed on the base tab.
3. Select + Add a language to add one. Pick it from the list, or type a language code such as es or pt-BR.
4. Click Save. A field you leave empty shows the base text to learners; it never shows as blank.

The list of languages is shared by the whole library: a language added on one skill appears as a tab on every skill, domain and job role, with a count of how many fields are translated so you can see what is left. Learners and managers see each skill in the language of their interface, falling back to the base text where a translation is missing.

If you change the organization’s default language, the vocabulary follows it: the base text moves under the old language, and each skill, domain or job role that already has text in the new language switches to it. Those without one keep their current text on the base tab until you translate it. The settings page shows these counts before you confirm, and nothing learners see changes.

See what is left to translate

When the library has a language other than the base, anything still missing text in that language is flagged in red:

• At the top of the Skills Library, a Some translations are incomplete box counts the skills and domains that need translating. The Job roles tab has the same box for job roles.
• Under each skill, a red line names each incomplete language and how many of the skill’s fields are missing, for example “French Canadian (fr-CA): 2 of 4 fields missing”.
• Under each domain’s name, a red line covers the domain’s own fields and says how many of its skills need translating, even while the domain is collapsed. Expand it to see which ones.
• In the job role list, the same red line sits under each role’s name.

Only fields that have text in the base language count, and deactivated skills and job roles are never flagged. A language is flagged only once translation into it has started, meaning at least one active skill, domain or job role has text in it, on a field that also has text in the base language. A language that only your courses use still gets its own tab, with a grey count, but nothing turns red until someone starts translating into it. The count on each language tab covers the whole library: it is red while anything in a started language is incomplete, anywhere in the library, and green once everything is translated. A translation is kept once you select Save on its item. A line disappears as soon as you save the last missing field.

Draft translations with AI

When AI translation is turned on for your organization, open a skill, domain or job role, select a language tab and select Draft with AI. The empty fields of that language fill in, each marked AI draft. Drafts only fill fields that are empty; they never replace text you wrote. Read them, edit what needs it (editing a field removes its mark), then click Save. Nothing is saved before you do.

Drafts are written by an AI model hosted in Canada. They are a starting point: review each one before saving. Every draft request is recorded in the audit log, and every save is audited like any other edit.

Edit, deactivate, and delete

• Edit a domain or skill inline from its row.
• Deleting a skill deactivates it (soft-delete): it disappears from pickers and stays out of new mappings, but its history — including learner attainment — is preserved. Deactivated skills show as Inactive in the library.
• Deleting a domain is blocked while it still contains active skills. Deactivate or move its skills first; the error message tells you how many active skills remain.
• All create/update/deactivate actions are written to the audit log (SOC 2).

Map skills to a course

1. Open the course in Courses, then open its Skills page (/admin/courses/{course}/skills — the breadcrumb links back to the Skills Library).
2. Click Add skill, pick a skill from the library, and choose the target level the course brings learners to (defaults to Proficient).
3. Click Add. The mapping appears with its domain and target-level badge.

The per-person skills report

Each person’s skills report compares the level their job roles require (see Job roles, below) with the level they hold. Learners read it on Achievements → Skills (/achievements?tab=skills, see Your skills and what your role requires); admins and managers read the same statuses on the person’s Skills panel under Users.

What sets the requirement:

• By default, the person’s job roles. When several roles require the same skill, the highest level wins and the row names the role that set it.
• With a learning-path filter (?learningPathId=…, e.g. linked from a path page) the path’s course targets instead.
• A person with no job role and no path sees No requirement set yet above the levels they hold. The report never measures anyone against every course in the catalogue.

Every skill gets one status, the same everywhere (the learner tab, the user page, the home widget and the exports):

The cell’s colour is never the only signal: a small circle fills by quarter for the level held, with a tick at the required level, and screen readers hear a full sentence (Forklift: Developing, required Proficient, one level below). A dashed outline marks a self-assessment still waiting for validation; it closes nothing.

Above the table, the statuses double as a filter (click one, or Show all), and the Gap / Attained / Required switch changes what the cell shows. On the learner tab, the arrow at the end of a row opens its details: where the level came from, the role that requires it, the learner’s self-assessment and the courses that raise the skill. The home page’s Skill coverage widget shows the same report in short.

On the Free plan the requirement side is locked: learners see the levels they hold and where each came from, with no required level and no colours.

The skills record (export)

Learners download their own record from the bottom of Achievements → Skills; admins and managers download a person’s from the Skills panel on the user page with Download skills record. Three formats:

How attainment is recorded

Attained levels are evidence: every grant below is kept as its own record (its source, evidence note, date and, when the skill has one, its validity), and the level a person holds is the highest of those records that is still valid. Nothing is ever deleted: a correction marks records as no longer counting, and an expired record simply stops counting. Six things record a level — every one of them audited:

• A course completion — automatically. When a learner completes a course (every required module done, by any route: video, document, quiz, SCORM, cmi5, AICC, ILT attendance, Mark complete), each active skill mapped to that course is recorded at the mapping’s target level. The rules:
  • Upgrade-only. A completion only ever moves a level up. If the learner already holds the skill at the same or a higher level — from an earlier course or set by hand — nothing changes.
  • Idempotent. Completing the same course again (for example after a forced re-enrolment on a new course version, or a recertification) grants nothing new.
  • Audited. Every level a completion raises writes an audit entry with actor system, the before/after level and the enrollment it came from.
  • Not retroactive. Completions recorded before this shipped (2026-09-23), completions imported from a CSV file, and completions from legacy ILT sessions that belong to no session series do not grant skills. Set those levels by hand (next section).
• A passed assessment — automatically (LMS-589). See Link an assessment to a skill, below. Upgrade-only, like a completion.
• A validated self-assessment (LMS-589). See Self-assessment and manager validation, below. Upgrade-only.
• The API (skill.upsertProfile) — an upgrade-only raise for integrations; it needs Assign skills and never lets anyone raise their own level.
• An observed sign-off (LMS-1195): a manager or admin records a level they saw the person apply on the job. See Record an observed sign-off, below. Upgrade-only, like a completion.
• An administrator or manager, by hand — see the next section. A manual entry may set a level up or down: it is an override, meant for prior certifications and correcting a mis-recorded level.

Each held level shows its source to the learner (Earned by completing a course / Earned by passing an assessment / Validated by your manager or an administrator / Observed on the job by your manager or an administrator / Set by your manager or an administrator, with the evidence note) and to admins (who set it, when).

Set or override a person’s level by hand

1. Open Users → the person’s profile and scroll to Skills (below Job roles). Every active skill is listed by domain, with its status against the person’s job roles, the level required and the role that set it, the level held (or Not held), its source and evidence.
2. Click Set level (or Override on a held skill), choose the level, type the evidence (optional, up to 500 characters — e.g. observed on the floor, 2026-09 or prior certification), and Save.
3. Remove withdraws the held level. Its records stop counting; if the person has a lower level still on record (an earlier course, say), that level applies again, otherwise they show as not assessed.

Record an observed sign-off

Use this when you have watched the person do the work — on the job, in mentoring or in coaching — and want it on their record as evidence, the way a course completion is.

1. Open Users → the person’s profile → Skills and click Sign off on the skill.
2. Fill in the dialog and click Record sign-off.

Validity and expiry

A skill can be given a validity in the Skills Library (Valid for (months)). Every level recorded for it from then on — by a course, an assessment, a validation, a sign-off or by hand — is valid until that many months after it was earned.

Nothing is deleted when a level expires; the history stays on record and in the audit log. The validity date is also in the skills record export (CSV column Valid until, JSON validUntil). People can turn the Skill level expiring notification on or off in their notification preferences.

Development targets

A development target is the level a person is working towards in a skill, with a due date. It is the third level on the sheet, beside the level their job role requires and the level they hold. A target never changes either of those, so it never changes a status colour: it is a plan, not a requirement and not a result.

Set a target for someone

1. Open Users, then the person, and scroll to the skills sheet.
2. On the skill’s row, select Set a target (or Edit the target when one exists).
3. Choose the Target level, the Due date and, if you like, a Note. The person sees the note.
4. Select Save the target.

The Target column then shows the level and the date, with In progress, Overdue (the date has passed and the level is not held yet) or Reached (the person holds the level, whatever the date). To remove a target, open it and select Clear the target.

You can also set one target for several people at once from the skills gap list: select their gaps in one skill, then Set a target. An existing target in that skill is replaced.

Who can set a target

Nobody sets a target on themselves while that setting is off, administrators included. When you set a target for a selection in the gap list that includes your own row, your row is skipped and the others are saved.

What a target does

• Visible to the person: on Achievements → Skills, in the Target column, with who set it and the note.
• Recommendations: the person’s home page recommends first a course that reaches the target level, soonest due date first, then the courses for their role’s gaps.
• Reminder: 14 days before the due date, while the level is not held, the person receives one reminder (in the app and by email, in their language). Changing the level or the date sends a new one when the new date nears.
• Matrix: the cell detail in the team skills matrix shows the target, flagged when overdue.

One target per person and skill. Changing it replaces it, and every set, change and removal is recorded in the audit log.

Link an assessment to a skill (assessment evidence)

A quiz can prove a competency. Link it once, and every learner who passes that quiz is recorded at the level you choose.

1. Open the course’s Skills page (Courses → course → Skills).
2. Scroll to Assessment evidence. Every quiz module of the course is listed.
3. On a quiz, click Link a skill, choose the skill and the level a pass proves, then click Link a skill again to save.
4. Remove unlinks it. Levels already earned stay earned.

Self-assessment and manager validation

Learners can claim a level on any skill in their Achievements → Skills tab (see Rate your own skills). A claim is not an attained level.

Design choice — a claim counts for nothing until it is validated. A self-assessed level does not change the learner’s skill profile, does not close a gap, does not appear in the gap analysis totals and does not feed recommendations. It is shown beside the level held, as You claimed … — waiting for validation. Only a validation writes it.

Validate or reject a claim

1. Open Call to Action in the left menu and go to its Skill Validations section (managers — see Validate your team’s skills).
2. Each row shows the person, the skill, the level they hold, the level they claim, their note and the date.
3. Validate — confirm the claimed level, or a lower one, with an optional note. The level is written to their profile (source validated, your name as the setter, your note as evidence).
4. Reject — with a note they will see. Nothing is written to their profile.

Turn self-assessment off, or choose who decides

Go to Settings → Skills planning → Self-assessment (Owners and Admins; Starter and up). Each change saves at once and is recorded in the audit log.

Nobody decides their own claim, whichever option you choose.

Job roles (required levels)

A job role says what a person’s work needs: the skills it requires and at what level, for example Site supervisor or Payroll clerk. It is not a permission role. Permission roles (Owner, Admin, Manager, Learner and so on) decide what a person may do in EmbayLMS; a job role decides what their job requires them to know. In French the interface calls it a « fonction ».

Job roles are part of skills management, included from the Starter plan.

Create a job role

1. Open Skills in the left menu and go to the Job roles tab.
2. Click New job role, enter its name and, optionally, a description. To name it in another language, open that language’s tab (or + Add a language) above the fields, as in Skills in more than one language. Then click Create job role.
3. On the role’s page, under Required levels, choose a skill in Add a skill, pick the level the role requires, and click Add. Repeat for each skill.
4. Change a level at any time from the table. Each row shows when it was last reviewed. When you have checked that a role’s requirements are still right, click Mark all as reviewed.

To stop using a role without losing it, turn off Active: the people keep it, but it sets no requirement and cannot be assigned. Delete job role removes it, its required levels and every assignment.

A role that comes from imported content (for example an Embay Academy curriculum) cannot be deleted. The next import finds it by its content key and updates its name, description and required levels, but leaves Active exactly as you set it. Its page has no Delete job role button and says so; turn off Active to stop using it.

Assign job roles to people

There are three ways, and a person can hold the same role through more than one:

A person holds a role as long as at least one source remains. Removing a role on the user page removes the hand-assigned and imported parts only; if the role also comes from a profile field, it stays and the panel says so.

The required level a person needs

When a person holds several job roles that require the same skill, the highest level wins. The Job roles panel on the user page lists each required skill with the level and the role that set it. Retired skills and inactive or deleted roles set no requirement.

Promote a dropdown field to job roles

If you already record job titles in a dropdown custom field, you do not have to assign roles one by one.

1. Go to Users, open the custom fields page and find the dropdown field (for example Job title).
2. Click Promote to job roles and confirm.
3. EmbayLMS creates one job role per option (it reuses an existing role with the same name), and assigns each person the role that matches their current value. The field then shows a Job roles badge.

On a large organization the assignments are made in the background: the confirmation says so, and the people appear on the roles within a minute. Renaming or removing an option, or deleting the field, is applied the same way.

From then on the roles follow the field:

The field’s type cannot be changed once it exists. A nightly check also recomputes every field-derived role from the current values, so a missed update corrects itself.

Configuration reference

Troubleshooting

Need help? Contact your EmbayLMS onboarding team or open a support ticket.