Manage skills

Skills help you find people with the right experience when you staff a project. Keep one list of skills for your organisation, then record which skills each person has.

You need access to skills to add them or record them on people — ask your Flowstate admin.

Find the skills list

1. Go to Resourcing → People and teams → Skills.
2. To find a skill, type in Find in view…. It searches names and descriptions.
3. To see active and inactive skills separately, set Group by to Status.

Each row shows the skill's name, its description and its Status. The list is in alphabetical order.

The Skills tab isn't shown inside a scenario. Switch back to live data to manage skills.

Add a skill

1. On the Skills tab, select Add.
2. In Add Skill, enter the Name. Each skill needs a different name.
3. Leave Status switched on, so the skill is Active and people can use it straight away.
4. Optionally enter a Sort Order. See Choose the order skills are listed in.
5. Optionally add a Description, so people know when to use the skill.
6. Select Create.

The skill appears in the list. You can also add a skill while you're recording someone's skills.

Choose the order skills are listed in

Sort Order decides where a skill appears when people pick from a list of skills:

• the Skills filter on People;
• the Skill filter on Allocations;
• the Skills filter on a project's Resourcing plan tab;
• Add Skill on a person's record, which shows the first 10 matches.

Lower numbers come first. Skills with the same number, including every skill left at 0, are in alphabetical order. The Skills tab itself is always alphabetical.

You can't change a skill's sort order after you create it, so decide before you select Create.

Switch a skill off or on

Switch a skill off when you stop using it. People who have it keep it on their record.

1. On the Skills tab, select the skill's Status.
2. Choose Active or Inactive.

It saves straight away. You can also change Status on the skill's side panel.

An inactive skill isn't offered in the Skill filter on Allocations or the Skills filter on a project's Resourcing plan tab.

Rename a skill or change its description

1. On the Skills tab, select the skill to open its side panel. It opens on Overview.
2. Under Skill details, select Name or Description.
3. Type the change and press Enter. For a new line in a description, press Shift+Enter.

The new name shows everywhere the skill is used, including on the people who have it.

See who has a skill

1. Select the skill to open its side panel.
2. Select People.

People with this skill lists the employees who have it, with their team and role. Select a name to open their record.

Add or remove people from a skill

1. On the skill's side panel, select People.
2. Select Add.
3. In Add person, search for the person and choose them.
4. Select Add.

To take the skill off someone, hover their row and select the cross (Remove). It's removed straight away.

Record someone's skills

You can also add skills from a person's record, which is quicker when you're going through one person at a time.

1. Open the employee's or contractor's side panel.
2. On Overview, under Skills, select Add Skill.
3. Search in Search or create skill... and select the skill.
4. If it isn't in the list, select Create with the skill's name. This adds an active skill to your organisation's list and to the person.

To remove a skill from someone, select the cross on it. More in Employees and Contractors.

See a skill's history and comments

• Changes lists every change to the skill, with who made it and when.
• Comments, at the right of the side panel's tab bar, holds notes from your team.

Not available yet

You can't delete a skill, or record how strong someone is at a skill. Switch skills you no longer use to Inactive.

Use skills to staff a project

• Find people for a project: filter a project's Resourcing plan tab by Skills and see who has time free.
• Use the Allocations timeline: filter by Skill and look for gaps between bars.
• On Resourcing → People and teams → People, filter by Skills to list everyone with a skill.

If something's not right

Create is greyed out. Enter a Name.

The skill isn't added when you select Create. A skill with that name probably exists already. Search for it with Find in view…, and switch it on if it's Inactive.

A skill is missing from the Skill filter on Allocations or a project. It's Inactive. Switch it on.

A contractor isn't under People with this skill. That list shows employees. Check the contractor's skills on their own record.

You can't see the Skills tab. You're in a scenario. Switch back to live data.

There's no Add button. You need access to skills — ask your Flowstate admin.