When you are delivering training that requires a student to develop individual skills or competencies, it is equally important that acquisition and maintenance of those skills be tracked.

Skills and competency can generally be established or maintained in one of three ways:

• Completing a class successfully
• Demonstrating the skill or competency in a controlled environment such as a learning lab
• Being observed by an instructor or other qualified individual actually performing the skill in the workplace

The need for a specific skill is often required for a specific job or piece of equipment.  Some skills or competencies can be required by the organization (for example, an OSHA safety class).  Skills or competencies usually have a defined lifetime, which determines both how often and when recurrent training should occur.  A qualification period is typically defined, which sets criteria for how long a student has to attain a specific skill or competency.

If you need to track skill and competency development, TrainingForce should be on your short list of training management systems. Not only will TrainingForce manage the data elements needed, it extends the ability for instructors and managers to document initial and ongoing competency easily.   Skills reporting in TrainingForce enables employers to accurately measure skill acquisition and compliance. The Skill Gap Assessment defines areas in which an employee or candidate requires additional training and those in which the employee is already skilled to the appropriate level.

The Skills / Competency tools included in TrainingForce's PowerPack application are valuable additions for the training manager and student. They help simplify the processes of bringing newly hired personnel onboard, evaluating current personnel, and promoting employees. Students can easily view the status of items in their skills  queue, while authorized individuals can update the status of skills. Because the TrainingForce system is web-based using standard HTML and requires minimal resources, many mobile devices can access the site. Managers or trainers can observe an employee in the workplace and document competency immediately using many tablets, phones or other mobile devices.