Skills Inventory Matrix

An inventory of skills helps in identifying gaps in competencies, and initiating remedial action.

Managing employee skills and competencies lays the foundation of any organisation, particularly so in the IT industry where technical skills form the core of the business. A skills inventory is essentially a checklist or database of organisational capabilities, that can help a company determine whether it can deliver a particular product on time or service the client efficiently. The difference between the existing and expected conditions determine the skills gap. It is the responsibility of line managers and the HR department to analyse the skills gap and provide the necessary training to bridge it. Alternately, they can also hire people with the requisite skill sets to build a skills inventory. It is the skills and competencies developed by the organisation that determines how it does its business and whether it will succeed.

There are many ways to create and maintain a Skills Inventory; e.g. a simple card catalog/index, commercial software, or even a simple data base package as found on most of today's PC's can be used. For a basic Skills Inventory, only two reports are needed:

• Resource Profile - describing the skills of a single resource.
• Skill Description - describing all of the resources with a specific skill (see Figure 2). Please note the "Average Proficiency" figure at the bottom of the report; this is important figure for determining overall proficiency.

On top of this we have "Resource/Skills Inventory Matrix" which gives a more global view of resources-to-skills

• Build your survey using the intuitive wizard interface.
• Send invitations using the integrated email system.
• View your reports online automatically.