Best practice forum (Archived)

competency frameworks

Am I in the right place to get some help with competency frameworks? I need to check my understanding of them before I go any further.

Cheers.

John.

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Hi John,

Yes this is the right place - fire away with any questions.

There is an introduction to competency frameworks here:

http://help.totaralms.com/Totara_help_topics_and_TOC.htm#SA_Competencies.htm

but just shout if you have any further questions.

Simon

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Cheers Simon but I'd read that and still wasnt clear. In this example,

Acme comp framework

Communication skills

Listens actively
Shares information
...

Problem solving

Gathers information
Reaches conclusions
...

Are communication skills and problem solving depth levels?

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>> Are communication skills and problem solving depth levels?

No they're not. All of those items would be competencies. Depth levels describe how far down the hierarchy an item is.

So in your example, Communication Skills and Problem Solving are competencies that sit at depth level 1, and the other items are competencies that sit at depth level 2.

In Totara depth levels have names, so if I was setting up this hierarchy this is what I'd do:

1. Create framework called 'Acme comp framework'

2. Create a depth level called "Skill Groups" (depth level 1)

3. Create another depth level called "Skills" (depth level 2)

4. Create a competency "Communications skills". Set the parent to 'Top'.

5. Create another competency called "Problem Solving". Also set the parent to 'Top'.

6. Create the remaining competencies, setting the parent to whichever competency they sit under.

The resulting structure will look something like this:

Skill Groups	Skills
Communication Skills
	Listens actively
	Shares information
Problem Solving
	Gathers Information
	Reaches conclusions

We do appreciate that the need to name depth levels is a point of confusion for many. Hopefully this example has helped clarify things a bit.

We are currently working on redeveloping the hierarchy area to remove the need to explicitly define depth levels, and improve the flexibility so it's easier to rearrange items within a hierarchy.