Functions: Competency & Qualification

This area covers TrainGrid's competency layer: proving that a trained employee can actually do the work, and deriving whether they are currently qualified to do it. Use it when a course needs a practical demonstration on top of attendance — forklift operation, line changeovers, HACCP duties — and when you need to answer an auditor's question "is this person qualified for this job, today?"

In this section: Understand the model: Training ≠ Competent ≠ Qualified · Require a competency assessment on a course · Record a competency assessment · The six outcomes and their effects · Track competency expiry and reassessments · Attach competency evidence · Declare required training for a position · Run the Workforce Competency report · Read the Competency Status report · Flag a change's competency impact when versioning · The Failed training status

Understand the model: Training ≠ Competent ≠ Qualified

TrainGrid keeps three separate states per record: Training (was the course completed?), Competency (did an assessor see the skill demonstrated?), and Qualification (is the person currently allowed to do the work?). Qualification is always derived from the other facts — it is never stored, so it can never go stale.

Where: Visible side by side on any record sheet: Sidebar → Record Completion → Completed → row ⋯ (Row actions) → View details → Competency section (Outcome and Qualification badges)  ·  Before you start: None — the model applies automatically wherever a course requires competency.

1. Open any completed record on a competency-required course (Sidebar → Record Completion → click Completed in the status button row → ⋯ → View details).
2. Read the Competency section: the Outcome badge is what the assessor recorded; the Qualification badge is what the system derives from it right now.
3. Note that a record can be Completed (Training) yet show "Assessment pending — training is complete, competency has not been demonstrated yet." — training alone never makes anyone qualified.

Good to know:

• Qualification is recomputed on every view from: training status, grade vs passing grade, certificate expiry, competency outcome, competency expiry, and any carried prior outcome. Nothing is written back.
• A completed course whose certificate has lapsed reads Not qualified — expired training cannot support a qualification.
• A completion with a grade below the course's passing grade reads Not qualified regardless of what the assessor recorded (see "The Failed training status").
• On courses that do not require competency, the Qualification column shows a dash ("—") rather than implying an assessment happened.
• A waived record shows "N/A (waived)" — excused, not failed; it is deliberately not painted red.
• Qualification states you will see: Qualified · Qualified (conditions) · Qualified (reassessment pending) · Not qualified · N/A (waived) · —.
• External certificates follow the same rule: external training completed + certificate uploaded still shows Assessment pending until your own assessor records the internal practical assessment.

Require a competency assessment on a course

Switches the competency layer on for one course. Competency is strictly per-course opt-in, so awareness-style training stays simple while safety-critical courses get the full assessment workflow.

Where: Sidebar → Courses → open the course → "Competency & topics" card  ·  Before you start: Manage courses capability (Administrator/Manager/Coordinator by default).

Set up (one time):

1. In the sidebar, click Courses and open the course.
2. In the "Competency & topics" card, tick "Competency assessment required".
3. Optionally fill "What must be demonstrated (optional)" — this text is shown to assessors at the top of the record's Competency section.
4. Optionally set "Reassess every (days)" — each assessment then derives a competency expiry that many days out; blank means no expiry.
5. Click "Save competency settings". Success: toast "Competency settings saved." and every completed record of this course now carries a Competency section.

1. After saving, open a completed record of the course (Record Completion → Completed → ⋯ → View details): the Competency section is present, with your "What must be demonstrated" text at the top.
2. Optionally add "Topics covered" lower in the same card (type into "Add a topic", click "Add") — a Needs-improvement assessment offers exactly these topics as its "Areas requiring improvement" tick-list.

Good to know:

• Courses without the checkbox show no Competency section on records, derive as not-required in the matrix Competency/Qualification lenses, and never appear in the Competency Status report — zero noise where competency doesn't matter.
• Passing criteria and the assessor are captured free-text at assessment time, deliberately not configured per course — there is no authorized-assessor roster.

Record a competency assessment

Captures the internal practical assessment on a completed training record — the audit artifact that turns "trained" into "competent" and drives the derived qualification.

Where: Sidebar → Record Completion → Completed (status button row) → row ⋯ (Row actions) → View details → Competency section → "Record assessment"  ·  Before you start: The "Assess competency" capability (Permissions grid; default holders: Administrator, Manager, Coordinator, Supervisor; it requires "Record completions"). The course must require competency, and the record must be Completed — and not Failed (a below-passing grade hides the button; retraining comes first).

1. In the sidebar, click Record Completion.
2. In the status button row at the top, click Completed.
3. Find the record (use "Search employee, number or course…"), click its ⋯ button (Row actions) and choose View details.
4. In the Competency section, click "Record assessment".
5. Pick an "Outcome" from the six options: Competent, Competent with conditions, Needs improvement, Not competent, Not assessed, Exempt. (Click "What do these mean?" beside the Outcome label to open the legend inline.)
6. For any assessed outcome, set "Date" (cannot be in the future) and "Assessor" ("Who assessed the demonstration"). Both fields disappear for Not assessed and Exempt.
7. Fill the outcome-specific fields — Competent with conditions: "Conditions / restrictions" (e.g. "Supervised operation only"); Exempt: "Reason (required)", "Approved by", "Exemption expires (optional)"; Needs improvement: tick "Areas requiring improvement" from the course's own topics.
8. Optionally tick any of the five "Suggested actions (optional)" checkboxes: Retraining, Coaching, Supervised practice, Reassessment, Qualification / authorization change — these are deliberately independent of the outcome.
9. For any outcome except Competent, optionally set "Reassessment due (optional)" (today or later).
10. Optionally add "Comments (optional)".
11. Click "Save assessment". Success: toast "Competency recorded: <Outcome>." and the panel now shows the Outcome and Qualification badges plus assessor, date and any conditions, areas to improve, actions and reassessment date.

Good to know:

• Save is disabled until: assessor + date for assessed outcomes, conditions for Competent with conditions, and reason + approver for Exempt. Every rule is re-validated server-side — the assessment is a tamper-resistant audit artifact.
• To change or update an existing assessment, click "Reassess" (the button relabels once an outcome exists). The form opens pre-filled with the current assessment so a reassessment edits rather than silently discards what is there.
• If the course has "Reassess every (days)" set, saving an assessment derives a "Competency expires" date shown on the record.
• Supporting files (photos, signed checklists) attach separately — see "Attach competency evidence".

The six outcomes and their effects

Reference for what each competency outcome means and exactly what it does to the derived qualification. Choose the outcome for what happened; use Suggested actions for what should happen next.

Where: The legend renders in two places: Reports → Competency Status → "What do these outcomes mean?" expander (with colour swatches), and inside the assessment form behind "What do these mean?"  ·  Before you start: None — reading the legend requires no capability.

1. Open Sidebar → Reports → Competency Status and click "What do these outcomes mean?" below the summary to expand the legend.
2. Read each entry: colour swatch, outcome name, meaning, and the suggested next action in italics — the swatch matches the matrix Competency-lens cell colour exactly.

Good to know:

• Competent — "Employee demonstrated the required skill to the expected standard." Derives Qualified (until the competency expiry, if the course sets one). The only outcome with no Reassessment-due field.
• Competent with conditions — "Employee can perform the task but requires restrictions or additional supervision." Derives Qualified (conditions); the recorded conditions display on the record.
• Needs improvement — "Employee demonstrated some capability but did not fully meet the standard." Carry rule: if the previous assessment on this record was Competent or Competent with conditions and that prior outcome has not itself expired, the employee shows "Qualified (reassessment pending)" — the existing qualification is kept until the reassessment actually happens, instead of dropping them into the same bucket as Not competent. The carry lasts one generation only and ages out on the prior outcome's own expiry. With no unexpired prior qualifying outcome, Needs improvement derives Not qualified.
• Not competent — "Employee did not demonstrate the required competency." Derives Not qualified; suggested action: do not authorize independent work; assign retraining and reassessment.
• Not assessed — "Competency has not yet been evaluated." Resets the record to pending assessment; no assessor or date is captured. Derives Not qualified.
• Exempt — "The competency requirement does not apply to this employee." Counts as Qualified while in force. With "Exemption expires" set, the exemption stops excusing the requirement the day after that date — the badge flips to Expired and the qualification to Not qualified, so a temporary exemption (a secondment, a role change) cannot quietly become permanent. Blank = permanent.
• Display-only states you may also see: Expired (a Competent/Competent-with-conditions/Exempt outcome whose expiry date has passed), Not required (course has no competency requirement) and N/A (waived) — none of these is an assessable outcome.
• Suggested actions never auto-drive anything: ticking Retraining does not assign a course. They are the assessor's documented recommendation.

Track competency expiry and reassessments

Reassessments are derived tasks, not separate records: two date sources (the course's "Reassess every (days)" expiry and the per-assessment "Reassessment due" date) surface everywhere a follow-up is owed, with automatic reminder emails.

Where: Reports → Competency Status → lens "Reassessment scheduled"; Dashboard → Competency card; the record sheet's "Reassessment due" line; Administration → Alerts → "Competency reassessment reminders"  ·  Before you start: Alert configuration requires admin access to Administration → Alerts. The report and dashboard need no setup.

1. In the sidebar, click Reports and open the "Competency Status" card.
2. Set the first filter to "Reassessment scheduled" — every assessment carrying a reassessment date is listed with its due date.
3. Cross-check one record: open it via Record Completion → ⋯ → View details; the "Reassessment due" line renders in red once the date is past, and "Competency expires" shows any derived expiry.
4. On the Dashboard, read the Competency card (eyebrow "Workforce"): counters Competent, Awaiting assessment and Reassessment due, with quick links "Trained but not qualified" and "Reassessments" jumping straight into the report lenses.
5. To manage the reminder emails, go to Administration → Alerts and find the "Competency reassessment reminders" card. Success: you can read its schedule in the card description and use "Send now" to deliver it once on demand.

Good to know:

• Whichever date comes first wins: a scheduled reassessment before the derived expiry drives the reminders, and vice versa.
• An expired competency recolours the Competency lens and reads Expired on the record — a lapsed assessment is never displayed as a current "Competent".
• A met position requirement whose reassessment date is today or earlier drops the employee to "Reassessment due" in the Workforce Competency report — same predicate as the dashboard counter.
• Version changes can also stamp reassessment dates in bulk — see "Flag a change's competency impact when versioning".

Attach competency evidence

Files the signed checklist, photo or assessment document against the exact training record the assessment sits on — provable at audit, entirely optional in daily use.

Where: Record Completion → Completed → row ⋯ (Row actions) → View details → "Attachments" section  ·  Before you start: Record completions capability. Nothing about an assessment requires a file — evidence is optional by design.

1. Open the assessed record via Record Completion → Completed → ⋯ → View details.
2. Scroll to the "Attachments" section.
3. In the "Attachment type" dropdown, choose "Competency evidence" (other kinds: Certificate, Attendance sheet, Other).
4. Click "Upload" and pick the file (PDF or photo).
5. Success: the file lists under the record labelled Competency evidence and is downloadable; the assignments list shows a paperclip on rows that carry attachments.

Good to know:

• TrainGrid deliberately stops short of document management: evidence hangs off training records only.

Declare required training for a position

Maps job roles to their required courses so TrainGrid can automatically answer "is this employee competent for this job?" — the input the Workforce Competency report consumes.

Where: Sidebar → Administration → "Positions" (pill navigation) → the row's "Required training" column → "Add"  ·  Before you start: Admin access to Administration → Positions. Employees must have the position set on their profile to be checked against it.

1. In the sidebar, click Administration, then click "Positions" in the pill navigation.
2. Find the position's row; its "Required training" column lists the declared courses as course-code badges (competency-required courses carry a small "competency" tag).
3. Click the row's "Add" button.
4. Pick a course under "Choose a course" and click "Add".
5. Success: the new course-code badge appears in the Required training column. Click the × on any badge to remove a requirement.

Good to know:

• Requirements are declared against the course family, so a version bump never breaks the mapping.
• Declaring a requirement assigns nothing by itself — it defines the standard the Workforce Competency report measures against.

Run the Workforce Competency report

Buckets every employee holding a position with declared requirements as ready or not for their job — training, competency and qualification checked together, with the specific gaps named per person.

Where: Sidebar → Reports → "Workforce Competency" card  ·  Before you start: Position requirements declared (see "Declare required training for a position") and employees holding those positions. Export needs the Export data capability.

1. In the sidebar, click Reports and open the "Workforce Competency" card.
2. Optionally narrow with the "All positions" and "All locations" filters (the "Clear filters" button, shown once a filter is set, clears both).
3. Read each row: Employee (linked to their profile), Position, Department, "Requirements met" as n of N, and a Status badge — Competent for role, Reassessment due, or Not competent for role — with the gap courses named in small text under the badge for anyone short.
4. Success: the summary chips at the top total each bucket; the footnote states the counting rules.

Good to know:

• Met = a current completion whose derived qualification is Qualified or Qualified (conditions) — certificate lapse, failed grades and the needs-improvement carry are all already inside that derivation.
• A waived required course counts as met — a documented waiver is a decision, not a gap (the report footnote states this).
• A met requirement whose reassessment date is today or earlier drops the person to "Reassessment due".
• Anything else — never assigned, still pending, or not qualified — is a named gap and makes the person "Not competent for role".
• Only the current record per employee × course family counts: the latest completion wins, else the latest outstanding due date.

Read the Competency Status report

Answers, per competency requirement, what the employee was trained on, whether competency was demonstrated, and whether they are qualified — with three lenses for the three questions managers actually ask.

Where: Sidebar → Reports → "Competency Status" card  ·  Before you start: None to view; CSV export needs the Export data capability. Only competency-required courses appear at all.

1. In the sidebar, click Reports and open the "Competency Status" card.
2. Pick a lens in the first filter: "All competency requirements" (default), "Trained but not qualified" (completed training with no qualifying assessment — the gap external certificates create), or "Reassessment scheduled".
3. Optionally filter by location.
4. Read the columns: Employee, Course, Training, Competency, Qualification, Assessed, Reassessment due.
5. Click "What do these outcomes mean?" below the summary to expand the legend with colour swatches.
6. Success: the summary line counts records with a "not qualified" (or, on the reassessment lens, "due now") figure; Export CSV includes training, competency, qualification, assessor and both date columns.

Good to know:

• The report folds to the current record per employee × course family — historical rows never inflate it.
• The CSV's training column says what every other surface says: a below-passing completion exports as "failed", not "completed".
• Empty states are honest: with no competency-required course, the report says "No course is marked as requiring a competency assessment yet. Turn it on from a course's page."

Flag a change's competency impact when versioning

When a competency-required course gets a new version, TrainGrid asks whether the change affects competency or qualification. Answering yes schedules a reassessment for everyone trained on the old version — without revoking anyone's current qualification. (Course versioning itself is covered in the Courses & Versioning area.)

Where: Sidebar → Courses → open a competency-required course → "New version" (the same pair of fields also appears when activating a saved draft)  ·  Before you start: Manage courses capability; the course must require a competency assessment (there is nothing to reassess otherwise).

1. Open the competency-required course and click "New version".
2. Fill the version details, then tick "This revision affects competency or qualification". The helper text shows the live count: "N trained employees will be marked for reassessment. Existing qualifications are KEPT until each person is reassessed…".
3. Pick a "Reassessment due date".
4. Click "Create & make current" (or activate the draft later — the same question and preview appear there).
5. Success: the toast ends with "… N marked for competency reassessment."; those employees now appear under Reports → Competency Status → "Reassessment scheduled", and each record's Competency block shows "Reassessment due: <date>".

Good to know:

• This schedules, it does not revoke: existing qualifications stay in force until each person is actually reassessed.
• The fan-out respects location eligibility and skips archived employees.
• If a record already carries an earlier reassessment date, the earlier date is kept (earliest-wins semantics).
• The 90/30/7-day reminder alert covers these stamped dates like any other.

The Failed training status

A completion recorded with a grade below the course's passing grade is a distinct Failed status everywhere — never quietly counted as compliant, and never a basis for a certificate or a competency assessment.

Where: Sidebar → Record Completion → "Failed" in the status button row (Incomplete · Overdue · Due soon · Pending · Completed · Expired · Failed · All · N/A (waived))  ·  Before you start: The course must have a passing grade set; without one, no grade can fail.

1. In the sidebar, click Record Completion.
2. In the status button row at the top, click "Failed" — the list shows every completion recorded below its course's passing grade, each with a red Failed badge.
3. To see the derivation on one record: in the Training Matrix, a failed record shows its own Failed colour when it is the CURRENT record for that course family — if a newer retraining assignment or a still-valid completion exists, that takes the cell instead (retraining first is the rule). Click a failed cell where one renders — the Grade line reads e.g. "72% (below 80% pass)", and the matrix legend has its own Failed entry.
4. When entering a below-passing grade on any capture surface (Mark complete, the assign wizard's already-completed path, the matrix cell), a warning appears before you save: "Below the passing grade of N% — the completion will be recorded and flagged as failed."
5. Success: the saved record reads Failed in the list, the matrix, reports and the transcript — and counts as non-compliant in every percentage.

Good to know:

• Failed is derived from grade vs passing grade, never stored — correcting either value re-derives the status.
• A failed completion issues no certificate.
• Retraining-first: on a competency course, a failed record's Competency section reads "Training was failed — retraining comes before a competency assessment." and the Record assessment button is hidden.
• Failed supports no qualification, whatever an assessor recorded — the derivation returns Not qualified.
• Missing Mandatory Training reports a failed record as the gap it is, and the Internal vs External report shows a separate "Failed records" row (excluded from the compliant rows).
• Training status (Failed/Expired/…) is fully separate from course version status (Draft/Active/Archived).