How many competencies fit in a usable matrix?

Enough to cover the risks of the role, and no more than someone can keep up to date. As a rule of thumb a role fits on one screen: a handful of mandatory requirements and a few skills. Rather split a role in two than build a matrix with dozens of columns nobody looks at any more.

Is a skills matrix mandatory for ISO 9001 or VCA?

A matrix is not a mandatory format. You do have to be able to show that people are competent for their work, and in practice that is often done with a matrix plus evidence. You choose the form yourself. Check with the publisher of the standard or your certification body what exactly they expect.

Can you build a skills matrix in Excel?

Yes, for a small team a spreadsheet works fine. The limit lies with expiry dates, changes of role and multiple sites: then you end up chasing the facts. Agree beforehand who maintains the matrix and how you get warned before a certificate expires.

Who determines an employee's level?

Preferably the direct supervisor, based on evidence such as a practical assessment, possibly together with a colleague who knows the work well. Let the employee check their own entry and record who determined the level on which date, so you can substantiate it in an audit.

Skills matrix setup: steps and example

What is a skills matrix, and how does it differ from a training matrix?

A skills matrix is a table with employees on one axis and competencies on the other. In each cell you see whether someone has a certain skill, and at what level. That lets you quickly answer: who may do this work, and who can take over later?

A training matrix is the narrower variant: only training courses and certificates, often with an expiry date. A skills matrix is broader and also includes practical skills that are not on a diploma, such as operating a machine. In practice many organisations use one matrix for both.

Step 1: start with job roles, not people

First list the job roles in your organisation, for example technician, supervisor, warehouse operative and project manager. Keep it manageable: eight roles that are right beat forty variants. The matrix follows the role, so it does not fall apart when someone leaves or changes position.

Describe briefly per role what the person does and which risks they encounter. What they need to be able to do follows from that. If you have already defined roles and responsibilities, for example in a RACI overview, use that as a starting point.

Step 2: decide what each role requires

Per role you decide which training, certificates and skills are needed to do the work safely and well. Distinguish between mandatory and desirable: only what is mandatory may produce a red cell. A wish without an obligation belongs in the matrix as an option, not as a shortfall.

Always check legal requirements at the source, such as the Netherlands Labour Authority (Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie), because they differ per type of work and can change. Note for each requirement where it comes from: that helps in an audit and when asking whether a requirement is still needed. Requirements come from four directions:

Laws and regulations for the work or the equipment
Requirements from clients and schemes such as VCA
Your own risk assessments and procedures
Internal agreements on what a good professional must be able to do

Step 3: choose levels everyone reads the same way

For certificates yes or no is enough: valid or not. For practical skills you need a scale. Keep it small and describe each level in visible behaviour, so that two supervisors score the same employee roughly the same. Also agree how often a level is reassessed.

A workable scale runs from 1 to 4: knows the basics, works under supervision, works independently, can instruct others. Record who determines the level, for example the supervisor after a practical assessment, and which minimum level each role needs.

A small example

Suppose the technician role has three requirements: basic safety (mandatory and valid), working at height (mandatory and valid) and operating a particular machine (mandatory at level 3, independent). Three employees could then look like this:

Employee A: basic safety and working at height valid, machine at level 3. Can be scheduled independently.
Employee B: basic safety expires in two months, machine at level 2. Schedule a refresher and have them shadow someone at the machine.
Employee C: just started, everything still open. Train and supervise first, do not deploy independently yet.

Step 4: fill the matrix with evidence, not a gut feeling

Fill in the current situation based on evidence: diplomas and certificates, a completed training, an assessment on the job or a signed toolbox talk. A supervisor's gut feeling is at most a first estimate. Note who determined the level and when.

Start with one department or job group, have the supervisors check the matrix and adjust it before you bring in the rest of the organisation. Employees who see their own row find mistakes quickly and feel taken seriously.

How to keep it up to date

A matrix becomes outdated quickly if nobody owns it. Appoint one owner, often the QHSE coordinator or HR, and let supervisors keep their own team up to date. A matrix that is only opened for an audit is already outdated. So set fixed moments at which it is updated:

When someone joins and when someone changes role or team
As soon as a certificate expires or a training is completed
With a new machine, working method or assignment with different risks
After an incident that shows knowledge was missing
At least once a year as a full check of role requirements and levels

How to use it for scheduling and audits

When scheduling, you check the matrix before you put a team together: who may do this work, and who needs to work alongside? In case of illness or leave you also see straight away who can step in. You plan training so that the gaps shrink, instead of by chance just before a project.

In an audit the matrix helps show that people are competent for their work, an idea that returns in management systems such as ISO 9001 and in VCA. An auditor often asks about one person and one task. With the matrix you point to the requirement and show the evidence behind it.

Also use the matrix to spot vulnerability. If only one competent person is listed for a critical task, your planning hangs on a single phone call or sick note. So train a second person for such tasks.

Common mistakes

Most matrices fail not because of the design, but because of maintenance. What follows is what you see most often in practice, and every item is solved with an owner and a fixed rhythm:

Too many competencies, so nobody keeps the matrix up to date
Requirements without a source, so nobody knows why something is mandatory
No owner and no fixed review moments
Expired certificates that only stand out during an audit
A matrix that exists but is not used when scheduling work

How BrydgeOne supports this

In BrydgeOne the Skills matrix compares each employee with the training and certificates that are mandatory for their role. Per cell you see whether something is valid, expiring soon, expired, scheduled or missing. You schedule missing training in one go.

Certificate management tracks the validity of certificates, Training manages the records of completed training and the assignments with deadlines, and in Roles & responsibilities you define who holds which role and which responsibilities come with it. That way the matrix builds on data you already maintain.

Setting up a skills matrix: how to build a training matrix that works