Skills & Credentials FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Skills & Credentials.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Skills & Credentials Overview.
Setup
Do I need to configure anything before employees can use the app?
Yes. An administrator must enable Skills & Credentials from the Apps Marketplace for your business. The app is disabled by default and requires a licence. Once enabled, four feature modules are on by default — Skills Tracking, Certification Management, Competency Assessment, and Training Records — so employees can start using it immediately unless you want to turn specific modules off first.
Which feature modules can I turn on or off independently?
There are six toggles in Settings, each independently controlled:
- Skills Tracking (on by default) — the skills tab and skill-only features.
- Certification Management (on by default) — certification and licence management, verification, and expiry tracking.
- Competency Assessment (on by default) — team readiness, team builder, and competency mapping.
- Training Records (on by default) — training-records integration.
- Require Verification Before Profile Visibility (on by default) — when on, employee-submitted skills are hidden from their profile until an admin or manager approves them.
- Require identity verification for credential documents (off by default) — when on, viewing uploaded credential evidence requires the viewer to re-verify their identity first.
Permissions and access
Who can manage the skill catalog and assign skills?
Global administrators and app administrators for Skills & Credentials can manage the catalog (create, edit, import, and deactivate entries), assign skills in bulk, run CSV imports, verify employee submissions, and access the expiry reports. Managers can view team skills, use the readiness dashboard, and use Team Builder, but cannot edit the catalog.
Why can’t an employee see a skill they just added?
If the Require Verification Before Profile Visibility toggle is on (it is on by default), any skill or credential an employee submits is hidden from their profile until an admin verifies it. The employee still sees it in their own list marked as pending, but others do not. An admin can verify it from the Verifications queue, which makes it visible immediately.
Day-to-day
How does certification renewal work?
Each certification is stored as a dated validity period with a start date and an expiration date. When an employee renews, the old period is superseded and a new active period is created with a link back to the old one. The renewal starts unverified regardless of the prior period’s status. You keep a full history of every validity window rather than overwriting the original record.
What resets verification, and what doesn’t?
When an employee edits a verified skill or credential (changes proficiency, dates, or other fields), verification resets — it goes back to unverified and, if approval-first is on, becomes hidden again until re-approved. Uploading a document to an already-verified entry does not reset verification, so employees can attach evidence without losing their approved status.
Can an employee propose a skill that isn’t in the catalog?
Yes. An employee can type a skill name that doesn’t exist yet. It is submitted as a proposal with no catalog link. An admin reviews proposals in the Verifications queue, where the system shows the top three similar existing catalog entries. The admin can either map the proposal to an existing entry or create a new catalog entry from it.
How do I assign a skill to many employees at once?
Use the Batch Assign action in the Assignments tab. Pick a skill and select the employees. The default proficiency level for batch assignments is 3 (Intermediate). Admin-assigned skills are automatically marked as verified.
CSV import
What columns does the employee-skill CSV import need?
The required columns are Skill Name plus at least one of Email or User ID. Optional columns are Certification Date, Expiration Date, Certification Number, and Proficiency Level. The skill must already exist in the catalog — the import does not create new catalog entries. If proficiency is blank it defaults to 1 (Basic) and is clamped to the 1–5 range.
How are employees matched during import?
The importer tries email first, then userid as a numeric user ID, then as an external employee ID, then as the userid field. Skill-name matching is forgiving — it ignores differences in case, whitespace, and slashes. Imports under 100 rows run inline; 100 or more rows are processed as a background job. The CSV file itself must be under 10 MB.
Notifications and expiry
What notification events can I configure?
There are seven events, each with independent toggles for employee, manager, and admin recipients:
- Certification expiring soon — sent before a credential expires; the lead time defaults to 30 days and is configurable from 1 to 365 days.
- Certification expired — sent when a credential has expired.
- Daily admin digest — a single daily email summarising credentials expiring within 30 days plus any that expired in the last 14 days (replaces per-credential admin alerts when turned on).
- Certification assigned — sent when a credential is assigned to an employee.
- Self-claim submitted — sent when an employee submits a new skill or credential for review.
- Self-claim approved or rejected — sent when an admin decides on a submission.
- Role gap detected — sent when an employee is missing a certification required for their role (off by default).
You can also add extra email addresses (not tied to user accounts) that receive email-only alerts for any event.
I turned on the daily admin digest — will admins still get individual expiry emails?
No. When the daily admin digest is enabled, per-credential admin alerts for the “expiring soon” and “expired” events are suppressed. Employee and manager alerts for those events continue unchanged. The digest sends daily at 8:30 UTC and deduplicates against the previous 20 hours.
What do the expiry dashboard filters show?
The Expiring Certifications report accepts three filter windows: 30, 60, or 90 days. The default is 30 days. It shows active certifications with expiration dates falling within that window from today. The report is paginated at 50 per page and can be exported to CSV.
When something looks wrong
“My certification disappeared after I renewed it”
It didn’t disappear — the old period was superseded when you renewed. Open your credential wallet or skill detail to see the full history. The current active period is the one at the top. Superseded periods are kept for audit and point-in-time compliance.
“I uploaded my licence but it still says unverified”
Uploading a document does not change verification status. If Require Verification Before Profile Visibility is on, the credential must be approved by an admin before it appears on your profile. Check with your manager or admin to review it from the Verifications queue.
“My proficiency level was set to 3 but I never chose that”
When an admin assigns a skill via Batch Assign, the default proficiency is 3 (Intermediate). When a skill is imported via CSV with the proficiency column left blank, it defaults to 1 (Basic). Ask your admin which method was used and to adjust the level if needed.
Integrations
How do Training and Practice Hub connect to Skills & Credentials?
When an employee completes a course or learning path in Training that awards a skill, the resulting credential is written back into Skills & Credentials automatically with a source of “training”. When an employee passes a certifiable scenario in Practice Hub, a credential is minted with a source of “practice” at proficiency level 3, with the expiration set from the scenario’s recertification interval. Skills that require a document upload are skipped by the Practice Hub writeback because the document cannot be supplied automatically.
How does Skills & Credentials feed shift scheduling?
When a shift has skill requirements, the system checks each employee’s active skills, proficiency level, and certification expiry date to determine eligibility. Updating or adding a skill to an employee automatically refreshes their scheduling-group membership. Role-required skills also gate role eligibility — the employee must hold an active, unexpired credential at or above the required proficiency level.
Licensing and limits
Are there limits I should know about?
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Proficiency levels | 5 (names and descriptions are customisable per business) |
| Validity period for a catalog entry | Up to 120 months |
| Document upload size | 10 MB per file |
| Accepted document formats | PDF, JPEG, PNG, DOC, DOCX |
| CSV import file size | 10 MB |
| Bulk-import background threshold | 100 rows or more |
| Notification lead time | 1–365 days |
| Expiry report filter windows | 30, 60, or 90 days |
More help
- Skills & Credentials Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Skills & Credentials questions from these articles.