Canonical: https://www.skillhive.com/en/user-guide/skills-and-areas-of-expertise
Language: en
Updated: 2026-09-16
Parent: Skillhive User Guide (https://www.skillhive.com/en/user-guide/skillhive-user-guide)

# Skills and areas of expertise

> Skillhive makes skills and potential visible.
It is a living, visual skills map that supports collaboration and continuous learning across the organization.

## Skills

In Skillhive, individual competencies are referred to as **skills**.

A skill can represent:

-   A technical ability (e.g., Python, Power BI)
-   A methodology (e.g., Scrum)
-   A tool (e.g., SAP)
-   A soft skill (e.g., facilitation)

Skills can be attached to:

-   User profiles
-   Swarms (e.g., training sessions, projects)

When adding a skill to a profile, users assess:

-   Their **competence level**
-   **Their interest level**

## Skill Library

Admins may create and maintain an organizational skill library.

The system:

-   Recognizes predefined terms as skills
-   Suggests them proactively (autocomplete) when users search or add skills

This promotes consistent terminology.

Users may still add skills outside the official library. In such cases:

-   The skill appears on the user’s profile
-   It is searchable
-   It does not alter or interfere with the official skill taxonomy

Organizations are encouraged to define shared principles for adding new skills.

### Naming Guidelines

-   Use short and clear terms
-   Avoid combining multiple skills into one
-   For broader categories, use format:
-   **Microsoft: ADFS**

## Areas of Expertise

Areas of expertise are broader competency categories containing multiple related skills.

Typical groupings include:

-   Strategic/core competencies
-   Role- or team-based competencies
-   Specialized competencies (e.g., leadership, industry knowledge, languages)

A single skill may belong to multiple areas.

Areas of expertise:

-   Are selectable during profile creation
-   Can be edited later from the profile

Since an area of expertise is a swarm type, hierarchical structures can be created using sub-swarms.

## Competency Assessments

In addition to areas of expertise, organizations may create specific **competency assessments**, such as:

-   Sales competency
-   AI competency
-   Project-based assessments

These have a separate view but function similarly to areas of expertise.

## Skill Assessment Levels

Skills are assessed on two axes:

1.  **Competence level (stars)**
2.  **Interest level (hearts)**

Assessment levels include:

-   5 levels
-   Half-level increments (10 visual levels total)

Level descriptions can be customized per organization.

Several predefined models are available.

## Managing Skills (Admin)

Admins can:

-   Add skills
-   Edit skill names and descriptions
-   Merge duplicate skills (Find & Replace)
-   Remove skills from the system
-   Access skill-related reports and statistics

When merging skills:

-   Assessments are preserved
-   Duplicate terminology is unified

## Removing Skills

### From a Profile

Users remove a skill by removing its assessment:

-   Click the minus button
-   Each click removes half a star
-   When all stars are removed, the skill disappears from the profile

### From the Entire System

Only Admins can delete a skill system-wide:

1.  Open the skill page
2.  Select “Edit”
3.  Select “Delete this skill”

The system confirms where the skill is used before deletion.

Once deleted:

-   The skill and all related assessments are removed
-   The same skill can be reintroduced later
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