Key Terms — Skills, Clusters & Proficiency Levels

A quick reference to the words you'll see throughout SkillPulse. Skim it once and the rest of the help center will make more sense.

Applies to: All users

A quick reference to the words you'll see throughout SkillPulse. Skim it once and the rest of the help center will make more sense.

Assessment basics

Campaign — a named assessment initiative with start and end dates and a target group of people. Your assessment usually belongs to a campaign.
Assessment — one person's skills evaluation. It moves through several steps from setup to completion.
Standard Job — the job classification an assessment is built on. It determines the core set of skills being assessed.
Field of Application (FOA) — a technical domain or specialty. Choosing FOAs adds specialized skills to an assessment. See Understanding Fields of Application (FoAs).

Skills in an assessment are grouped into categories:

Core Skills — the base skills that come from the selected Standard Job.
Technical Specialized — advanced skills added by the Fields of Application.
Tools — languages, platforms, or methodologies.
Individual Skills — extra skills a manager adds for this specific assessment.

Skills are also organized into clusters — themed groups that make long skill lists easier to read and rate.

Proficiency Level — the rating scale, from 1 to 5. When you rate skills, each level has a description:
1. Basic awareness only
2. Knowledge only
3. Autonomy in routine and recurring tasks
4. Autonomy in complex tasks and coaches others
5. Expert reference
When a manager sets up an assessment, the same 1–5 scale is shown as the Target Value Scale with these labels: 1 Knowledge Only · 2 Basic Application · 3 Independent Application · 4 Advanced Application · 5 Reference Expert.
Target Value (also called Expected Value) — the proficiency level expected for a skill on a given Standard Job. These come from the Standard Job as defaults, and a manager can adjust them while setting up an assessment. See Understanding Target Values.
Agreed Value — the final proficiency level the manager sets for each skill after reviewing everyone's ratings.
Skill Gap — the difference between a rating and the target value. It shows where there's room to grow.

Employee — the person whose skills are being assessed; they rate themselves.
Manager — sets up the assessment, sets agreed values, and signs off.
Co-assessor — an optional peer who also rates the employee.

A quick reference to the words you'll see throughout SkillPulse. Skim it once and the rest of the help center will make more sense.

Applies to: All users

A quick reference to the words you'll see throughout SkillPulse. Skim it once and the rest of the help center will make more sense.

Campaign — a named assessment initiative with start and end dates and a target group of people. Your assessment usually belongs to a campaign.
Assessment — one person's skills evaluation. It moves through several steps from setup to completion.
Standard Job — the job classification an assessment is built on. It determines the core set of skills being assessed.
Field of Application (FOA) — a technical domain or specialty. Choosing FOAs adds specialized skills to an assessment. See Understanding Fields of Application (FoAs).

Skills in an assessment are grouped into categories:

Core Skills — the base skills that come from the selected Standard Job.
Technical Specialized — advanced skills added by the Fields of Application.
Tools — languages, platforms, or methodologies.
Individual Skills — extra skills a manager adds for this specific assessment.

Skills are also organized into clusters — themed groups that make long skill lists easier to read and rate.

Proficiency Level — the rating scale, from 1 to 5. When you rate skills, each level has a description:
1. Basic awareness only
2. Knowledge only
3. Autonomy in routine and recurring tasks
4. Autonomy in complex tasks and coaches others
5. Expert reference
When a manager sets up an assessment, the same 1–5 scale is shown as the Target Value Scale with these labels: 1 Knowledge Only · 2 Basic Application · 3 Independent Application · 4 Advanced Application · 5 Reference Expert.
Target Value (also called Expected Value) — the proficiency level expected for a skill on a given Standard Job. These come from the Standard Job as defaults, and a manager can adjust them while setting up an assessment. See Understanding Target Values.
Agreed Value — the final proficiency level the manager sets for each skill after reviewing everyone's ratings.
Skill Gap — the difference between a rating and the target value. It shows where there's room to grow.

Employee — the person whose skills are being assessed; they rate themselves.
Manager — sets up the assessment, sets agreed values, and signs off.
Co-assessor — an optional peer who also rates the employee.