Canonical: https://www.skillhive.com/en/user-guide/building-a-skills-mapping Language: en Updated: 2026-10-01 Parent: Skills mappings and areas of expertise (https://www.skillhive.com/en/user-guide/skills-mappings-and-areas-of-expertise) # Building a skills mapping > Create a mapping from the Skills mappings page (Create new or a template) and add skills to it with the Add skill field in the right-hand column. Then invite the participants. Required levels and other advanced settings are optional. **For:** mapping owners and administrators ### Steps 1. Create the mapping in one of these ways: - **The + button on the home page (Create new):** choose Skills mapping from the list. The list only shows types you are allowed to create. - **Skills mappings page:** choose Skills mappings in the left-hand menu and then **Create new** in the bottom right corner. - **From a template:** open the templates at the top of the Skills mappings page (they may be hidden, so expand them), choose a template and **Use this template**. Confirm the copy. The template's discussion topics, task lists and skills are copied into the new mapping. 2. If you are a manager, choose the **creation method**: one shared mapping for all invitees, or a separate mapping for each team member you select. 3. Give a title and a description. In the description, briefly explain why the mapping is being done and when it should be completed. 4. Check the visibility: internal, invite-only or open. Visibility can no longer be changed once the mapping has comments. 5. Add skills with the **Add skill** field in the right-hand column. The field suggests existing skills from the first letter. Always choose an existing skill when possible, and add a new one only if no suitable skill exists. 6. Invite participants with the **Invite experts** button. See [Swarm owners and members](/en/user-guide/swarm-owners-and-members). Administrators can create ready-made templates for the organisation, for example for team, role or strategic skills mappings. Template visibility can be restricted, for example to managers only. Keep the number of templates small so the right one is easy to find. See [Templates](/en/user-guide/templates). A skill can be removed from the mapping with the cross after the skill tag. The change appears in the middle column when you refresh the page. ### A good mapping - **At most about 30 skills** in one mapping. If there are more, split them into several mappings or areas of expertise. - **Concrete skills.** A skill must keep its meaning in different contexts, because the same skill is also linked to trainings, projects and certificates. Avoid broad, vague bundles. - **A naming convention** helps structure detailed skills: a prefix and a colon (e.g. _Programming language: JavaScript_) or a clarification in brackets. - **A description on the skill page.** Click the skill name to see its description. The description is edited on the skill's own page and supports basic formatting (bold, italics, lists). A good description states concisely what the skill means in practical work. - **Use AI.** AI helps a lot in defining skills and writing descriptions when you tell it your organisation's industry. Have an expert review the result before saving. ### Skills without a rating scale Not everything should be measured by skill and interest level. For example, a strength such as _courage to try new technology_ is not rated with stars: it either describes you or it does not. For such skills you can choose to have no scale: 1. Open the skill's own page and choose **Edit this skill**. 2. Under **Rating scale**, choose either _Stars and hearts_ (default) or _No scale_. Without a scale, a skill is either added to the user's profile or not. The same approach works for language proficiency levels, for example: each level (e.g. _English: fluent_) is its own skill without a scale, and users choose their own. Skillhive can also use the Voimakehä strengths vocabulary, which lets you view people through their strengths as well as their skills. Deployment and licensing are agreed separately. ### Required levels (optional) A required level states what skill level the skill requires in this mapping, for example for a team, a role or a task. 1. Choose **Edit requirements** in the right-hand column. 2. Click the required level for the skill with the stars. 3. The required level is shown in the chart as a line that shows how many people are above or below the level. If no levels are set, the default is the full level. It is not shown in the chart, but it appears in the report. We recommend required levels only for permanent and strategic skills that are followed over a long time. In a quick mapping, the quadrant shows strengths and development areas without them. ### Other settings (Edit swarm details) - **Time:** start time (by default the moment of creation), end time or _Mark as ongoing_. The mapping can be closed at any time by clicking **In progress**. - **Target group:** target the mapping by location, unit, job title or manager. This makes the mapping findable with search filters. Usually needed only in large organisations. - **Content linked to the whole:** link sub-mappings or other swarms to the mapping by typing their name. Linked content appears as a carousel below the description. Useful in large entities, but it is better to start light. - **Discussion:** if the mapping is created from a template, comments pinned to the template are copied as ready-made discussion topics. This way the mapping can be defined through a guided discussion in Skillhive. **Changing the swarm type:** the owner can change the swarm type later, for example from a skills mapping to an area of expertise, but only to a type they are allowed to create. No data is lost, but some of it may appear differently in the new type or not be shown. General swarm functions (following, copying, owners, sharing by email, discussion) work as in all swarms. See [Swarms](/en/user-guide/swarms). ### Related guides - [Templates](/en/user-guide/templates) - [Skills and areas of expertise](/en/user-guide/skills-and-areas-of-expertise) - [Discussions and commenting](/en/user-guide/discussions-and-commenting)