How to customize a KnowledgeSmart Skills audit

Applies To:

All KnowledgeSmart Administrators with privileges to edit Skills assessments, Surveys or Skills audits.

Common Causes/Issues:

KnowledgeSmart published content may be edited to align with specific organization requirements.

Solution Overview:

You want to create a custom Skills audit, taking some of the original questions from the KnowledgeSmart 'off the shelf' library, and re-arrange them into your own mix of skills rating categories.

Firstly, import a KnowledgeSmart Skills audit into your account. Select a Skills audit from the KnowledgeSmart published library and import it into your draft library. The import is accomplished by clicking on the 'Import to your account' icon, indicated below.

This message confirms the import has been completed. Click on the 'OK' button.

A copy of the Skills audit will now be found in your draft library. Choose Skills 'Draft content > Draft skills audits' to find it. The Skills audit has a new ID number, unique to you organization. One of the first tasks after import is often to review all the questions which have been imported. This can be done by exporting all questions to a .csv file by clicking on the icon indicated in the image below.

The following steps walk through the process of editing questions, modules and Skills audits.

Editing Questions

To edit a Skills audit question, go to the 'Draft questions' page and hover your mouse over the 'Edit question' button; note that a small pop-up menu appears to the left of the 'Edit question' icon. This menu allows you to skip straight to the relevant step of the edit process, depending on the change you want to make.

Edit step one

Enter the Skills audit question name, a brief description of the Skill being rated, and the question body text.

Question name

Choose a name which reflects the Knowledge, Skill or Ability (KSA) which you require the user to rate. For example, 'Revit Family Creation' or 'Spanish Language - Written Skill'.

Short description of skill being rated

This short description is the Knowledge, Skill or Ability (KSA) being rated. This can be the same as the question name, or a shortened version. For example, 'Revit Family Creation' or 'Written Spanish'. Or it may be just one word. To ask about experience and knowledge with Healthcare projects the word 'Healthcare' may be enough. Ideally keep this short description to three words or fewer. NB, the skill description is also the data that will be included in 'People Finder' searches.

Skills audit question text

Write a question to capture the skill of interest. It could be a direct type of question, for example, 'What is your experience and knowledge of working on projects in the Healthcare sector?' Alternatively, you may choose to write a question which is more a reflection of the situation in which someone may find themselves. For example, 'Prior to a model being issued to the design team, you are responsible for reviewing the warnings and working through to resolve as many as possible. How experienced are you at managing reviews? How positive are you that you will be able to work through the reviews successfully?'
When you have completed Step one, click on the orange 'Continue' button to edit step two.

Edit step two

This is where you assign your meta tags, or keywords, to each question.

Category tags

These are tags which are used for searching, filtering and grouping questions. For example, all questions related to Revit skills could be tagged 'Revit'. Or, all questions related to language skills could be tagged 'Language'. The category tag can be any text or number which will assist you in managing your library of Skills audit questions.

Training tags

Training tags are used in the Skills audit reporting process to identify opportunities for improvement of the skill which is being rated. For example, if the question for the skill being rated is 'How would you rate your skills at using Autodesk BIM 360 in an administrator role?' then a suitable training tag could be 'Autodesk BIM 360 Administrator'.

When the tags have been completed click on the orange 'Finish' button and the question is complete.
When you have finished creating or editing your Skills audit questions, you can view a complete summary of all the key elements for each question by clicking on the question name, in the 'Draft questions' page.

The KnowledgeSmart system is very flexible. Administrators can move questions around between modules and move modules around between Skills audits.

Create copies of questions by selecting the Copy skill icon.

Delete questions by checking the box(es) and click the 'Delete' button.

Editing Modules

A Skills audit module is a collection of Skills audit questions which have a common theme. For example, all questions relating to language skills may be grouped together in a module called 'Languages'. All questions relating to design software may be grouped in a module called 'Design and Drafting Software'.
Each module displays on a separate page on the Skills audit UI.

To edit a Skills module, go to the 'Draft modules' page and hover your mouse over the 'Edit module' button; note that a small pop-up menu appears to the left of the 'Edit module' icon. This menu allows you to skip straight to the relevant step of the edit process, depending on the change you want to make.

Edit step one

Enter the module name and add a brief description of the key features being covered by the module.

Name

Choose an appropriate name for the module.

Description

A description of the collective types of Skill being rated. For example, 'A module which explores the language skills of our employees; reading, writing and speaking.'

When you have completed Step one, click on the orange 'Continue' button to Step two, where questions may be assigned to the module.

Edit step two

Here, you can assign questions from your library, to be grouped together according to topic. Use the 'Search questions' box to locate questions using the assigned category tags. Use the green '+' icon, to add questions to your module.

You can remove questions by selecting the delete icon next to the question name, in the 'Your questions' panel on the right of the screen.

Use the green arrows to re-order the questions and choose the order in which they will be presented to users during their Skills audit.

Edit step three

This is where you assign your meta tags, or keywords, to each module.

Category tags

These are tags which are used for searching, filtering and grouping modules. For example, all modules related to Revit skills could be tagged 'Revit'. Or, all modules related to language skills could be tagged 'Language'. The category tag can be any text or number which will assist you in managing your library of modules.

When the tags have been completed click on the orange 'Finish' button and the module is complete.

When you have finished creating or editing your modules, you can view a complete summary of all the key elements for each module by clicking on the module name, in the 'Draft modules' page.

Create copies of modules by selecting the Copy module icon.

Use the 'Publish module' icon to publish your module. This will create a locked copy of the module in the 'Published content > Published modules' page. This also allows you to share skills modules between linked accounts, using the 'Accounts > Share content' tool.

Delete modules by checking the box(es) and click the 'Delete' button.

Editing Skills Audits

A Skills audit is created by assembling modules of Skills questions. Each Skills audit must have a minimum of one module. Each module must have a minimum of one question.

To edit a Skills audit, go to the Draft skills audits page and hover your mouse over the Edit skills audit button; note that a small pop-up menu appears to the left of the Edit skills audit icon. This menu allows you to skip straight to the relevant step of the edit process, depending on the change you want to make.

Edit step one

Enter the Skills audit name and a brief description of the key features being covered by the Skills audit.

Name

Choose an appropriate name for the Skills audit.

Description

A description of the Skills audit, which will be displayed to the user on the Skills audit start page. For example, 'This Skills audit looks at your knowledge and experience of technical software skills used in a design firm’.

When you have completed Step one, click on the orange 'Continue' button to Step two, where modules may be assigned to the Skills audit.

Edit step two

Here, you can assign modules from your library, to be linked together to create the overall Skills audit.

Use the 'Search Modules' box to locate modules using the assigned category tags. Use the green '+' icon, to add modules to your Skills audit.

Remove modules by selecting the delete icon next to the module name, in the 'Your modules' panel on the right of the screen.

Use the green arrows to re-order the modules and choose the order in which they will be presented to users during their Skills audit.

Each module will present on a different page during the Skills audit.

Edit step three

Here, you can edit your custom Skills audit settings.

Provide a general welcome message and additional instructions to users, which displays on the Skills audit start page.

Category tags are used to help you search and group Skills audits in your library.

Use the 'Learning path filter' to create a custom learning path for users, based on the logic in the drop-down boxes. The training tags associated with the Skills questions will be grouped to create a suggested list of future learning topics for each user.

When exporting training tags these filters determine which ones are included in the export. For example, if the 'User rating' is set to 'is less than or equal to 2', in this case all training tags for skills where the user rated themselves 1 or 2 will be exported.

The 'UI Options' settings allow you to control what displays to users on the Skills audit user interface. Either skills rating numbers only, skills descriptions only, or both together.

The 'Survey' field allows you to append a general survey, which displays at the end of the Skills audit.

You can set custom skills rating descriptions for each Skills audit using the 'Rating descriptions' datafields.

When answering a Skills audit question there will be a choice of 5 answers. As is usual with this type of question the lowest rating, typically 1, indicates no knowledge and experience of the skill, or perhaps very little knowledge and experience. At the other end of the scale a rating of 5 typically indicates expert or very advanced knowledge and experience. The other 3 ratings are moving along the scale from 1 to 5. These ratings are set at a Skills audit level.

The default settings for each KnowledgeSmart account are below:

The default ratings settings are editable on an account basis, as well as on an individual Skills audit basis. It would be entirely possible for a Skills audit relating to software to have 5 ratings, something like this:

Click 'Finish' to save your custom Skills audit setting changes.

Create copies of Skills audits by selecting the Copy skills audit icon.

Use the 'Publish Skills audit' icon to publish your Skills audit. This will create a locked copy of the Skills audit in the 'Published content > Published skills audits' page. This also allows you to share Skills audits between linked accounts, using the 'Accounts > Share content' tool.