Simple Structures
A competency could have a simple one-to-one relationship with a training course. For example a Training course could exist for ‘Health and Safety Forklift’. This is linked to a competency of the same name and then applied to a Job Title called ‘Forklift Truck Driver’. The competency will simply check if the person has achieved the training course (where they have confirmed attendance and completion of the training course); if they have achieved this, the competence is ‘valid’, if not, the competence is ‘required’ of them.
If the Health and Safety Forklift Training course is set up to be valid for only 365 days, then the competence will expire on the 365th day of taking the course - and show as ‘required’ again.
Taking this one step further – it is likely that Health and Safety Forklift is also a formal qualification. For example, a new employee may have this already as a qualification, negating the need to attend a training course. The following configuration would be needed to allow for this.
Create a Qualification called ‘Health and Safety Forklift’.
Link the Training Course to this qualification (course templates allow you to link a course attendance to a qualification).
Link the Qualification as an ‘Element’ to the competency ‘Health and Safety Forklift’.
Take off the original training course element ‘Health and Safety Forklift’ from the competency.
The last step is needed because the qualification has been linked to the training course, therefore achieving the course generates the qualification by default, which in turn achieves the competency.
Alternatively, it is feasible that a competency, such as a driving skill, may not feature a qualification at all but instead requires the person to first sit a training course (for road safety) and a driver assessment. In this case, the competency would have two ‘Elements’: one element for the course and another for the assessment (an assessment would need to exist for it in the setup table).
More Complex Structures
A competency could also represent an entire job role. For example, a Job Title ‘Advanced Welder’ has a competency called ‘Advanced Welder’ linked to it. The Competence in turn has 10 CR Elements of various welding courses and various assessments.
Once the individual achieves the set of courses and assessments, they achieve the single overall competency of Advanced Welder.