Create a proficiency scale

What this achieves

A proficiency scale is the set of levels used when rating a skill or competency. It is what an assessment, an endorsement, and a job-profile requirement are all expressed in.

Required role: Administrator.

Steps

Go to Skills & Competencies → Proficiency Scales.
Select Add Scale.
Enter the Name, Code, and Description.
Select Add Level for each level and describe it.
Select Save.
Use Set Default on the scale that should be pre-selected elsewhere.

Write levels as observable behaviour

Each level takes a name and a description. The description is what makes ratings consistent between managers who have never discussed the scale with each other.

Describe what a person at that level does, not how good they are. A level described as “applies independently in standard situations” can be checked against someone’s work; “intermediate” cannot.

Example: Olivia Bennett rating one of her engineers at HC Corp UK Ltd can match them to a level that names coaching others and handling complex problems. She cannot match anyone to “advanced” reliably.

The default scale

Option	Description
Set Default	Marks the scale that is pre-selected when rating is configured elsewhere.
Edit	Change the scale’s name, description, or levels.
Delete	Remove the scale.

Setting a default removes a decision from every skill and competency you create afterwards, and removes a mistake with it.

Deleting a scale is destructive

Deleting a scale makes every competency using it lose its proficiency level configuration. It is not a tidy-up.

Move anything that uses the scale onto another scale first, and delete only when nothing references it.

Example: retiring an old scale at HC Corp UK Ltd means repointing the competencies that use it before deleting, or those competencies lose their level setup.

What happens next

The scale becomes available when creating skills and competencies, and the default is pre-selected. From then on, assessments and endorsements are recorded at levels on this scale, and job profiles state their requirements in the same terms — which is what lets gap analysis compare a person against a role.