A skills matrix is a grid of people against skills, and a training matrix is the same grid with courses in the columns and dates in the cells. Both are built to show one thing, where the gaps are, and both fail the same way, by being drawn once and never read. This page is written for the employer building or replacing one: what a cell records and the difference between a level and a date, how the matrix is read from the training record rather than maintained beside it, how it is sized, and what the matrix is for once it exists, which is booking the sessions the gaps and the expiries demand. The safety training matrix builder on this site works the cells, the gaps and the compliance figure from your own headcount and courses.
A skill is a level; a course is a date
A skills matrix cell says how competent the person is, usually on a scale from none to able to train others, and it changes when a supervisor judges it has. A training matrix cell says the person completed a course on a date and holds it until an expiry. The two are related but not the same: a person can hold the forklift course and be a poor forklift driver. Most employers need the training matrix for compliance and the skills matrix for planning, and the mistake is to keep one grid and pretend it is both.
The matrix is read from the record, or it is wrong
A matrix maintained by hand beside the training records diverges from them by the second month: a sign-off recorded and never transferred, an expiry that passed on the record and stayed green on the grid. The only matrix that stays right is one read from the records, where each cell is the latest record for that person and course, and its colour is the expiry date compared with today. That is what Inductvo Pro does, and it is the test to put to any product that sells a matrix.
Sizing it: required cells, not every cell
Forty-eight people and twelve courses is a grid of 576 cells, most of which are blank because the receptionist does not need the forklift course. The cells that matter are the required ones, headcount times the courses required per person, and compliance is the share of those held in date. The matrix builder on this site works that from the average required per person, and prints the gaps, the expiries in the next ninety days and the sessions to book, which is what the matrix is for.
What the matrix is for once it is built
Booking. The gaps are the sessions to book now; the expiries are the sessions to book this quarter; the compliance figure in ninety days if nothing is booked is the argument for booking them. A matrix that is read at the start of each quarter and turned into a booking list has earned its keep; one that is printed for the audit and filed has not. The training dashboard on this site turns the matrix's counts into the five numbers a site manager acts on.
Questions people ask about skills matrix
Should the skills matrix be shared with the team?
The training matrix, yes: each person should see their own row and their expiries. The skills matrix with competency levels is a management document and is usually shared per person, not as a grid, because a wall chart of who is judged least competent is a grievance.
How many levels should a skills matrix have?
Four is common: not trained, trained, competent, can train others. More levels than a supervisor can judge consistently is false precision. The training matrix needs no levels, only dates.
Does Inductvo build the matrix?
The free builder on this site sizes it and works the compliance figures from your counts. Inductvo Pro reads the real matrix from each person's records, keeps one per site, colours the cells by expiry and prints it under your company name.
Sources
- ISO 45001:2018, clause 7.2 competence: the organization determines the competence needed, ensures workers are competent and retains documented information as evidence
- 29 CFR 1910.178(l)(3), powered industrial trucks: the training program content a matrix column has to stand for, truck-related and workplace-related topics