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 first enable Skills & Credentials from Admin → Apps → All Apps. The app is disabled by default and requires a license. Once it is on, the four core modules — Skills Tracking, Certification Management, Competency Assessment and Training Records — are already switched on. Employees can start adding skills from My Skills straight away.
Which features can I turn on or off in Settings?
Each toggle on the Settings page is independent. These are on by default:
- Skills Tracking, Certification Management, Competency Assessment and Training Records — the four core modules.
- Require Verification Before Profile Visibility — a submitted skill stays off the employee’s profile until someone verifies it.
- Email and in-app alerts for expiring credentials.
- Automated license verification and exclusion screening — only does anything once a screening integration is set up.
These are off by default:
- Require identity verification for credential documents.
- Daily admin digest for expiring credentials.
- Five shift rules: Credentials must be valid on the shift date, Block revoked credentials, Only verified credentials satisfy requirements, Licenses must match the work location’s jurisdiction and Block late additions to a shift without a required credential (it checks someone added to a shift that has already started; people already on the roster are not re-checked when they clock in). Block revoked credentials acts on a revocation a connected license check reports, and no live license check is connected yet. A revocation a manager or admin records — Record revocation by issuer on the credential’s row — ends the credential, so it stops counting whatever Block revoked credentials says: from today, or from the day the issuer revoked it when you fill in Revoked as of (optional) (not after today, and not before the credential was issued), so Credentials Held on a Date stops listing it from that day. Under Licenses must match the work location’s jurisdiction, a license marked multistate (compact) counts at a location in any state of its compact.
Turning Certification Management off hides the management pages, not anyone’s records. Employees still see their own certifications on My Skills.
How do I set which course earns a credential?
You can link it from the credential itself, without opening Training.
- In the catalog, open the skill, certification or license and choose Edit.
- Find the How this … is earned section and pick one or more published courses under Courses that award it.
- Save.
Completing any linked course then grants the credential. When it expires, a renewal automation re-assigns that same course. This is the same link as the awarded-certification setting on the course form, so a change on either side shows on the other. The picker only appears when Training is turned on for your business. Reference links in the same section are preparation material and grant nothing.
Why is a course greyed out in the “Courses that award it” picker?
A course can award at most one certification. If a course already awards a different certification, it appears disabled with “already awards …” next to its name. If a save would break that rule, the course is left unlinked and the confirmation message names it. Plain skills are not limited this way.
Permissions and access
Who can manage the catalog, assign skills and run imports?
Business administrators and anyone made an app admin for Skills & Credentials. The catalog, Assignments (including Batch assign and CSV import), Expiring Soon, and the Settings page are all reserved for them. Other users who open those pages are sent back to the home page with a message saying the page is for administrators.
Who can see the team’s skills and readiness, and can I change that?
By default, managers — anyone at manager level or above. You can change it in Settings under Who can do what → Who can see the team’s skills and readiness? The choices are everyone with access to the app, managers, people managers (anyone with direct reports), app admins only, or specific people. It covers Team Readiness, People Graph, Team Builder and Skill Reviews. Whoever holds it still sees only people inside their own reach.
I manage a region — whose skills can I see?
Everyone assigned to your region and to every location beneath it, plus your direct reports. A manager assigned to a region reaches all the stores under that region in Team Readiness, People Graph, Team Builder, Skill Reviews and Team Skills. Someone below manager level who has been given team access sees only their direct reports and the locations they are personally assigned to.
Who can verify a credential someone has claimed?
By default, only administrators and Skills & Credentials app admins. To widen it, go to Settings → Who can do what → Who can verify a credential someone has claimed? You can choose managers or specific people. Nobody can verify their own credential, including administrators. Pending Verifications lists every pending claim in the business except your own.
Why isn’t my new skill showing on my profile?
It is waiting to be verified. With Require Verification Before Profile Visibility on (the default), a skill or credential you submit stays off your profile until a verifier approves it. You still see it in My Skills marked as pending. Once it is approved, it shows up for everyone straight away.
Day-to-day
How do I add a skill that isn’t in the list?
Type the skill’s name on My Skills and submit it. It goes in as a proposal for review. The reviewer sees up to five similar catalog entries. They can map your proposal to one of those or create a new catalog entry from it.
How do I add a certification or upload a certificate I just earned?
Open My Skills. In the Certifications section choose Add Certification (licenses have their own Add License), pick the entry from the catalog, and fill in the issue date, the expiration date and the number. A license also needs its jurisdiction; if it is a multistate (compact) license, such as a Nurse Licensure Compact license, choose its compact under Multistate (compact) license. Attach the file and save. PDF, JPG, PNG, DOC and DOCX files under 10 MB are accepted. Anyone can do this; no admin role is needed. If the certification is not in the catalog, type its name and submit it as a proposal for review.
A self-reported certification goes to a verifier for review; with Require Verification Before Profile Visibility on (the default) it stays off your profile until it is approved. To attach a file to an entry you already have, use Upload document on its row where it is offered. To renew one that is expiring or has expired, use Renew on its row and attach the new document there.
Why did my verified skill go back to pending after I edited it?
Editing a verified skill or credential resets its verification — for example, changing the proficiency level or the dates. If Require Verification Before Profile Visibility is on, it is also hidden from your profile until it is approved again. Uploading a document to an already-verified entry does not reset it; the confirmation says “Verification status preserved.”
How does certification renewal work?
A renewal closes the current validity period and opens a new one, so the history is kept rather than overwritten. The old period is marked as superseded, and the new one links back to it. The renewed credential goes back through verification, whatever its earlier status. Reviewers are notified the same way as for a new submission.
How do I assign a skill to many employees at once?
Use Batch assign on the Assignments page. Pick the skill and the employees; the proficiency level is pre-set to 3 (Intermediate), and you can change it before you assign. A new assignment lands verified, with you as the verifier — except on your own record, which waits in Pending Verifications for someone else. For someone who already holds the skill, it updates the dates you enter and leaves their proficiency level and verification alone.
What does the employee-skill CSV import need, and how does it match people?
The file needs a skill name column plus at least one of the email or userid columns. The certification date, expiration date, certification number and proficiency level columns are optional. The full header row is:
skill_name,email,userid,certification_date,expiration_date,certification_number,proficiency_level
The skill must already be in the catalog — the import does not create catalog entries. People are matched by email first, then by userid as a user ID, an external employee ID or a username. Skill names match regardless of case and extra spaces. Imported credentials are recorded as verified by the admin who ran the import.
What notifications can I configure?
Settings → Notifications has twelve events in five groups. Each event has its own recipient choices (employee, manager, admins), and you can add email addresses outside your user list:
- Expiry — Credential expiring soon (lead time defaults to 30 days, accepts 1–365); Credential expired; Daily admin digest of expiring credentials; Credential runs out before a rostered shift (sent to the holder and the shift’s managers; when the holder has already sent a renewal that is waiting for review and would cover the shift, only the shift’s managers are told, since it must be approved before the shift; and when a credential is ended or recorded as revoked by its issuer, the shift’s managers — and the holder, unless they ended it themselves — are told which upcoming shifts they no longer qualify for).
- Assignment — Credential assigned to employee; Credential removed from an employee’s record (also sent, once for each person who held it, when an admin deletes the catalog entry itself — the notice then says it was “removed from the catalog”).
- Verification — Credential submitted for review; Credential approved or rejected.
- Role gaps — Employee missing a required credential for their role (off by default); Weekly team skills-gap report for managers.
- Screening — License check with the issuing board failed or reported a problem; Exclusion-list match needs someone to confirm identity.
I turned on the daily admin digest — will admins still get individual expiry emails?
No. With Daily admin digest for expiring credentials on, admins stop getting a separate alert for each credential that is expiring soon or has expired. Employee and manager alerts continue as before. The digest goes out once a day, in the morning — shortly after 07:00 in your organization’s time zone. It covers credentials expiring in the next 30 days and those that expired in the last 14 days.
How do Training and Practice Hub add credentials?
Completing a course or learning path that awards a skill writes the credential into Skills & Credentials automatically. The credential’s page then shows Earned from with a link to that course or path. A roleplay pass on an official, certifiable scenario in Practice Hub — typed, or spoken reply by reply — records the credential at proficiency level 3 (a live voice conversation, a course preview or a call analysis never does). Its expiry is set from the scenario’s recertification interval. If a manager’s review overturns that pass and no other pass on the scenario that is still in force supports it, the certification is withdrawn: the skill stays on the person’s record, but it no longer counts for shifts that require the certification. Practice Hub skips any credential that requires a document upload, because it cannot supply the document.
When something looks wrong
“My certification disappeared after I renewed it”
It is still there — renewing closed the old validity period and opened a new one. The new period is the current one, and it waits for verification like any fresh claim. The superseded period is kept for history and compliance reporting.
“I uploaded my license but it still says unverified”
Uploading a document does not change verification status on its own. A verifier still has to approve the credential from Pending Verifications. If Require Verification Before Profile Visibility is on, it stays off your profile until then. Ask your manager or admin who reviews credentials in your business.
Licensing and limits
Are there limits I should know about?
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Proficiency levels | 5 (names and descriptions can be changed in Settings) |
| Standard validity period for a catalog entry | 1–120 months, or none |
| Credential document size | Under 10 MB per file |
| Accepted document formats | PDF, JPG, PNG, DOC, DOCX |
| CSV import file size | Up to 10 MB |
| CSV proficiency level | Whole number 1–5; blank means 1 (Basic) for a new assignment |
| Import processed in the background | 100 rows or more |
| Expiring-soon lead time | 1–365 days (default 30) |
| Expiring Soon windows | 30, 60 or 90 days, plus Expired |
| Expiring Soon list | 50 per page, exportable to CSV |
| Certifications a course can award | 1 |
More help
- Skills & Credentials Overview
- Training FAQ — setting awarded skills from the course side.
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Skills & Credentials questions from these articles.