Set up and use skill sets and staff qualifications

Practice CS provides a way to designate the areas in which a staff member is qualified and the levels of expertise they possess in those areas. This information can then be used to identify qualified staff when assigning to a project, task, or other schedule item.

Set up staff skill areas

A skill area is a type of work you want to track the level of expertise for your staff.
  1. Select
    Setup
    then
    Staff Skill Areas
    .
  2. Select
    Add
    .
  3. Go to
    Description
    and enter a description of the skill area (up to 30 characters).
  4. Select
    Enter
    .

Set up staff skill ratings

A skill rating is a measurement of the level of skill a staff member possesses in a specified skill area.
  1. Select
    Setup
    then
    Staff Skill Ratings
    .
  2. Select
    Add
    .
  3. Go to
    Description
    and enter a description for the rating (up to 30 characters).
  4. Select
    Enter
    .

Set up a staff skill set

Once the skill areas and skill ratings are set up, you can establish a skill set for each staff member.
A skill set consists of one or more combinations of skill areas and skill sets, which define the areas in which the staff member is skilled and the ratings of their skill in those areas. It's important to note that skill ratings aren't hierarchical. That's to say that a staff member whose skill set includes Tax Individual / Expert wouldn’t be considered eligible for a job or task, which requires a staff member to have Tax Individual / Beginner. The staff member would be capable of performing this task, but it may be deemed an inappropriate use of this resource for an easy task. Therefore if this staff member were to be considered eligible for any Individual Tax project, their skill set must include the Individual Tax skill area at each available level. In this example, the staff member would need to have Individual Tax / Beginner, Individual Tax / Intermediate, and Individual Tax / Expert in their skill set.
Do the following to set up a skill set:
  1. Select
    Setup
    then
    Staff
    .
  2. Select a staff member and select
    Edit
    .
  3. Select the
    Skill Set
    tab.
  4. Enter the Skill Area and Skill Rating combinations that define the capabilities of this staff member.
  5. Select
    Enter
    .

Set up staff qualifications

Staff qualifications are used to designate staff qualified, based on their skill sets, to perform specific tasks. Staff qualifications can be assigned to projects, tasks, to-do items, and scheduled phone calls. Staff qualifications are set up as a staff filter, which includes 1 or more Area - Rating combinations (called Skill Sets in the filter) plus any other attributes associated with a staff member. Once the filter is created and assigned to the schedule item, the user can assign the item only to 1 or more staff members that meet the requirements of the filter or to the work queue which will show the schedule items to only those staff members that meet the requirements of the filter.
Do the following to set up a staff qualifications filter:
  1. Select
    go to
    in the
    Staff qualifications
    field. The Staff Filters screen will open.
  2. Select
    Add
    .
  3. Enter a filter name (up to 30 characters).
  4. Enter 1 or more filters.
  5. Select the Logic:
    Must match all criteria or Must match one or more criteria
    .
  6. Select
    Enter
    and
    Done
    .
To set up a staff qualification and assign it to a schedule item:
  1. Open a new project, task, scheduled phone call, or to-do item.
  2. Go to
    Staff Qualifications
    and  enter the filter that specifies the qualifications for this schedule item.
  3. To assign the schedule item to a staff member, select
    Staff
    and then select
    Browse
    . The application will show the staff that meet the criteria of the Staff qualifications filter. Select the staff members you want to assign to the item.
  4. To assign the schedule item to the work queue, select
    Work queue
    .