Before you create your first skill, a few settings must be defined for your whole organization. They describe how your company evaluates skills: how levels are named, whether skills must expire and whether proof is required.
🤝 These settings are configured by Fabriq, not in the app. To define or change them, contact your Customer Success Manager or your Implementation Project Manager.
This article explains each setting so that you can come to this discussion prepared and make the right choices for your teams.
Why decide this first?
These settings are the "rules of the game" for skills in your organization. Every skill you create and every assessment your team leaders record will follow them. Choosing them carefully at the start means:
Levels mean the same thing on every site and in every team
Your skills management matches your existing qualification or training policy
The two ways to evaluate a skill
In Fabriq, every skill is evaluated in one of two ways. You choose the evaluation type each time you create a skill.
✅ Certified
A simple yes or no: the operator is either certified or not. Use it for skills that are validated by a training, a test or a licence.
Examples: forklift driving licence, electrical clearance, first aid training.
📶 On a scale
The operator reaches a level on a graded scale. Use it for skills that are learned progressively, through practice on the shop floor.
Examples: running line 3, performing a changeover, quality control on a product family.
What you can customize
1. Your skill scale
The scale is used by every skill evaluated "On a scale". With your Customer Success Manager, you define:
The number of levels
The name of each level, so that everyone understands what it means
Here is an example of a common 4-level scale:
Level | Name | What it means |
1 | In training | Is learning the task and works under supervision |
2 | Autonomous with support | Does the task alone but still needs help in unusual situations |
3 | Autonomous | Does the task alone, in all situations, to the expected standard |
4 | Expert / Trainer | Masters the task and can train other operators |
❓ Rule of thumb: if you already use a scale (for example in your Excel matrix), keep it. Your teams already know it. If you don't have one, 4 levels is usually enough: more levels make assessments harder to agree on.
⚠️ The scale is shared by all your skills evaluated "On a scale". Level 3 must mean the same thing for driving a machine as for performing a quality check. Write level names that are general enough to apply to any skill.
2. Mandatory validity period
A validity period means that a skill expires after a given time (for example, 12 months after the assessment). When it expires, the operator must be assessed again.
You can decide, for each evaluation type, whether a validity period is mandatory:
Mandatory: every skill of this type must have a validity period. Nobody can create a skill that never expires.
Not mandatory: the person creating the skill chooses whether it expires or not.
✅ When should it be mandatory? Make it mandatory when your regulations or your quality system require periodic re-qualification, which is often the case for certified skills. Leave it optional when some skills, once learned, don't need to be checked again.
3. Mandatory supporting evidence
Supporting evidence is a file attached to a skill assignment to prove that the operator has the skill: a training certificate, a signed assessment sheet, a photo of a licence…
You can decide, for each evaluation type, whether evidence is mandatory:
Mandatory: a skill cannot be assigned to an operator without at least one file attached.
Not mandatory: team leaders can add evidence when they have it, but it is not required.
✅ When should it be mandatory? Make it mandatory if you need to prove qualifications during audits (ISO, IATF, customer audits, safety inspections). Keep in mind that it adds a step for team leaders every time they record a skill: make sure they have an easy way to scan or photograph the evidence.
Can these settings be changed later?
Yes, by contacting your Customer Success Manager. However, changing the scale's levels is a complex and high impact operation, so it's best to take the time to decide at the start.
Next step: create your first skills
Once your settings are configured, you can start building your skills catalog.
→ Read next: Create a skill.
If you have any questions, our support team is one click away.