Competency Configuration

Creating a Competency:

1. Select Skills from the navigation menu then Skills Configuration.
2. From the Competency menu, then select + New in the top right of the screen.
   
3. Name your new Competency, add a  Code, provide a description and add an image if required then select Create & View to configure your Competency and add activities or Create to configure at a later time.

Competency Status

When a Worker is assigned a Role and enrolled into Competencies there are several statuses that may be applied to the individual competency much like the status you may see against a traditional unit enrolment.

The main Competency Statuses are:

There are also several implied Statuses:

While the above status transitions will typically occur automatically, competencies can be manually transitioned between the following statuses:

1. In progress
2. Pending
3. Achieved

Competency Requirements

Activities can be any of the following:

• E-Learning
• aXcelerate Lessons
• aXcelerate Assessments
• Portfolio types
• Workshops
• Classes
• Other Competencies

Additional information on Activity types can be found here, while additional information on Assessment Types can be found here.

Activities cannot currently be configured to display in a set sequence for Workers to follow step-by-step. While prerequisites can be used to enforce the order of completion, the sequence is not visible up front, Workers will only see the requirements when they click into a Competency and must then work through any unmet prerequisites. For clearer visibility of the activity sequence, the recommended approach is to create a Class activity type with an attached Learning Plan, which presents all required activities in the intended order while still controlling access.

More information on Class Management can be found in our article here.

Option Groups

… and consider them to have achieved the Competency when then have completed only one of these Activities.

This can be reflected in a Competency’s configuration through the use of Options within its Requirements.

Requirements are the set of activities that the worker must complete in order to achieve their competency.

Activities are grouped into one or more options to allow for additional pathways to achieve a Competency.  Each option group allows for a  different set of activities to be specified that once completed will result in the competency being achieved. 

For example, Option 1 may include attending a Workshop and completing an Assessment as the required activities while Option 2 includes uploading a document to a Portfolio Type and completing an Assessment. Each group offered within a Competency is weighed equally, regardless of content or which group is completed.

If the worker completes all required  activities of either group, they will achieve the competency.

Requirements can configured within the Requirements tab of the Competency:

1. Expand Skills from within the navigation menu and select Skills configuration.
2. From the Competencies list, Select the Competency, or create a new competency by clicking on the +New button to add a new competency.
3. Select the first activity type to be included from the provided options.
   
4. Select Add to include any additional activities.
   
5. To create a new option group select Add Option.
   
6. Add activities to the new option using the steps above.
   
7. To delete an Option group, select the Trash icon to the right of the option.
   

Currently, only the first option will be visible to the worker. This means that any additional options created would require any activities not present in the first option to be completed by a Manager on behalf of the worker, or for the worker to complete these activities through other areas of the Learner Portal.

Using a Competency as a Requirement

AQF Competencies

AQF Competencies (Qualifications and Units of Competency) can be added as requirements for Role validity. 

Adding an AQF Competency:

1. Select Skills from the navigation menu then Skills Configuration.
2. Search for, then select the relevant role, then select Add.
   
3. Select the Type filter, then select Australian Qualification Framework to search for AQF Competencies.
   
4. Search for then select the AQF Competency then select Add Competencies.
   

By default, when an AQF competency is added to a role, no rules are applied, meaning the Skills Competency will not be automatically issued when the linked AQF competency is completed.

In this case, an Admin or Manager user would need to manually record the achievement.

To enable automatic recognition of AQF completions, you can use Accredited Activities. This feature is unique to AQF competencies and is available as a toggle when configuring requirements.

When enabled, the Accredited Activity acts as an additional requirement that checks for completions recorded in the against the qualification that match the Competency Code in Skills.

Completion rules for Accredited Activities:

• Units of Competency: The outcome must have a positive, final status (e.g. Competent (C), RPL-G).
• Qualifications: The enrolment must have a status of Completed.
• Credit Transfers: Managed as a special case with specific handling.

For example, if a Worker completes the PUAFIR012 Unit of Competency within a class or workshop enrolment, the Accredited Activity will detect this and mark the requirement as complete in Skills. If there are no other requirements in the option group, the competency is automatically awarded.

Competency Equivalencies 

Competency equivalencies may be created to allow one competency to be considered equivalent to another when  evaluating whether a role's requirements have been achieved.

A common use case for this would be AQF Competencies in scenarios where an accredited Unit has been superseded by a newer one. In order to ensure that future Workers are only issued the latest version of the Unit, while respecting the Competencies attained by past Workers who studied the older version of that same Unit, an Equivalency can be configured.

Equivalencies can be configured within the Equivalencies tab of the Competency:

1. Select Skills from the navigation menu then Skills Configuration.
2. Select the Competency.
3. Select the Equivalencies tab then select Add Competency.
   
4. Select the required Competency or Competencies, then Add Competency.

By providing the list of equivalent competencies, you are specifying that this competency will treat all competencies in the list as equivalent based on the relationship applied.

This can be set as a 1-1 relationship where two Competencies are considered equal and the completion of one would satisfy all requirements of the other, or can be set to allow one directional equivalency e.g. where Competency A is equivalent to Competency B, but Competency B is not equivalent to Competency A. 

If the worker’s equivalent Competency achievement expires or becomes invalid, then the equivalent recognition on the current Competency would also be considered expired or invalid and the worker would be required to complete the current Competency activities to achieve that Competency.

Competency Prerequisites

A Prerequisite is a Competency (or Competencies) that must be evaluated and achieved before the commencement of the secondary or child Competency. An example of this would be the requirement to achieve a Basic First Aid Competency prior to being able to enrol into an Advanced First Aid Competency.

A worker may be enrolled into a prerequisite and child Competency at the same time, but they will need to complete the prerequisite Competency prior to commencing the child Competency. The child Competency will be visible within the learner portal, but the worker will not be able to access or start the child Competency until the prerequisite Competency has been achieved.

Adding a prerequisite to a Competency:

1. Select Skills from the navigation menu then Skills Configuration.
2. Select or search for the Competency within the Competencies list.
3. Within the Setup section, select Prerequisites, then select Competencies.
   
4. Select the Competency or Competencies you wish to add, then select Add Competencies.
5. The selected Competency or Competencies will now appear within the Prerequisite section.

To remove a prerequisite navigate through to the Prerequisites section within the Competency and select the X icon to the right.

There may be instances where a prerequisite Competency may expire due to a validity period set against the Competency. In these instances, the prerequisite must be valid (achieved) at the time of evaluating the prerequisite rule group. 

The ongoing validity of the prerequisite is not required once met initially so if continued validity is necessary the prerequisite Competency should be included within the Requirements in addition to the prerequisite rule as this will require the prerequisite Competency to remain valid until the completion of the child Competency.

A prerequisite’s validity is only relevant in determining a worker’s access to the activities of a Competency. Once a Competency is achieved , its prerequisites no longer have any bearing on its status for that particular worker.

In cases where a worker must have a valid prerequisite to not just access activities but also remain current in a particular Competency, the prerequisite Competency should be set as a Requirement as well.

Prior Learning

Prior Learning allows a Worker to upload documents or provide evidence of prior achievement of the Competency. Uploaded documents would need to be reviewed and approved or rejected by the Worker’s Manager or an Administrator.

When Prior Learning is enabled against a Competency, the system will automatically create a Portfolio Type for that specific Competency. When a Worker uploads documents as evidence of Prior Learning, a new Portfolio Record will be created under the dedicated Portfolio Type. 

Prior Learning evidence that is approved by a Manager or Administrator will immediately grant the Worker the Competency, effectively bypassing any Requirements or Prerequisites.

Competency Completion

Once all required Competencies within a Role are achieved,  the Role will be considered complete and the employee marked as Competent until at least one competency is revoked or expires.

If any required Competencies within a Role are incomplete or have expired, the employee is considered not yet competent in that Role.

If a competency expires, the worker will be required to re-complete the original activities unless recertification activities have been set. The worker will need to complete the recertification activities to maintain currency for that competency. 

Competency Expiration and Recertification

Validity periods can be set against a Competency to determine how long a competency should remain valid after completion, setting an expiration date on the Competency for the respective Worker. If the expiration date is exceeded without the Competency being re-certified, it will be considered expired.

The default validity period is 12 months and is based on the date the worker completed the last activity required to achieve the competency, however, this can be customised based on your requirements.

Once this period has elapsed  the competency validity will cease,  invalidating the linked Role and applying  status of Expired against the competency.

Recertification allows the worker to re-certify their Competency either through completing the original activities, or completing Recertification activities if these have been configured against the Competency.

Recertification activities may be created if the activities for retaining the Competency differ from those required at the time of the initial certification. If configured, the recertification activities will be required rather than the original activities, provided the recertification period has not elapsed.

If a validity period has been set, then a recertification period must also be specified. By default this will be 3 months, but can be customised based on your requirements. 

The recertification period is the length of time prior to the Competency expiry (in months) that workers are notified that they must Re-certify. The recertification period can be any number between 1 and the Validity period (i.e. the ReCert period cannot be greater than the validity period.)

The recertification period is also used as a date range to infer logic throughout the system:

• The number of months before the expiry date of a competency during which the holder gains access to the Recertification path (if it exists).
• It will also be used for workflow notifications and reporting (Planned Improvement).

There are certain requirements that apply to validity and recertification as outlined below:

Expiry and Recertification dates can be set against the individual Competency using the following steps:

1. Select Skills from the navigation menu then Skills Configuration.
2. Select the Competency from within the Skills dashboard.
3. Select Expiry & Recertification from the Setup tab and switch the toggle.
   
4. The default Validity period will display as 12 months, while the Recertification period will display 3 months, update these periods if you require a different time frame.
   
5. If the activities for recertification are different to those required to initially achieve the Competency, set up the Recertification activities the Worker will need to complete to achieve recertification.
   

Competency Achievement