📖 Note: This article explains what training activities are, and how Squad Managers (i.e. users with the Manage Squads permission who are assigned as a Squad Manager for a squad within an organisation) can create training activities for users within the squad they manage.
What are Training Activities?
Training activities are a type of event on the FifthDomain platform consisting of challenges tailored to a single individual. Training activities are custom created (based on tailored challenge recommendations) for affiliated users in an organisation with an assigned work role and, are designed to help them fulfil any unfulfilled skill requirements of their work role.
Who can create Training Activities?
Only Squad Managers can create Training Activities on the platform. To be a Squad Manager, you need to be given the Manage Squads permission. Additionally, you need to be explicitly allocated as a Squad Manager for a squad within your organisation.
Training Activities are created and managed on a user's Affiliated User Profile. As detailed in this article, there are five permissions that can access Affiliated User Profiles. However, only Squad Managers can create, view and edit Training Activities.
💡 Remember: Squad Managers can only view the Affiliated User Profiles of Squad Managers and Squad Members in the squad they manage. A user can only be a Squad Manager for one squad in an organisation at a time.
Because training activities can only be created and managed on a user's Affiliated User profile, Squad Managers can therefore only create and manage training activities for those in their squad.
What can Training Activities be used for?
As a Squad Manager within your organisation on the platform, you can generate training activities for specific individuals within your squad. You may wish to generate a training activity for an individual with the goal of:
Addressing unmet skill needs;
Helping team members fit more closely into their assigned work roles, or;
Providing targeted opportunities to upskill.
Opening Affiliated User Profiles as a Squad Manager
To create a training activity for a member of the squad you manage, you must first open their Affiliated User Profile. Please refer to this article for more information on navigating to an Affiliated User Profile as a Squad Manager.
Finding the Recommend Training Button
Once you have opened the Affiliated User Profile of your choice, you'll find a Recommend Training button under the Work Role Skills Fulfilment section within the user's Cyber Skills Cortex. You can click this button to start generating a training activity for the affiliated user whose profile you are viewing.
Before you click this button, take note of the affiliated user's assigned work role. Additionally, take note of the user's currently unfulfilled skills as per their assigned work role. The challenges you can assign to a user's training activity are based on the unfulfilled required skills of their assigned work role. For more information on viewing, editing, and overlaying work roles on Affiliated User Profiles, refer to this article.
💡 Remember: Squad Managers can only generate training activities for affiliated users in their squad who have been assigned a work role. The Recommend Training button will be hidden on the profiles of affiliated users who do not have a work role assigned to them.
If your organisation does not have work roles, you will not be able to create training activities, as no users in your organisation will be able to have any work roles assigned to them. Contact the FifthDomain team if you want to have work roles in your organisation's plan. Please refer to this article for more information on how to set up work roles in your organisation.
Navigating Training Activity Challenge Selection
Training activities, like competitions and assessments, consist of challenges that allocated users attempt and solve to earn points and demonstrate ability in specific skills (and at specific proficiency levels) in FifthDomain's Cynaptic Skills Adaptor.
The first step in creating a training activity for a user is choosing the challenges that will be included for the assigned user (i.e. the affiliated user who you are generating a training activity for) to complete. Once you've clicked the Recommend Training button from the affiliated user's profile, you will be directed to the Training Activity Challenge Selection page, which consists of two sections:
Training Activity Outcomes [1], a section which shows you how challenges selected for inclusion into the training activity you are creating will help to address the assigned user's currently unfulfilled skills as per their assigned work role, and;
Recommended Challenges in your Library [2], a table with challenges you can select for inclusion into the training activity. Any challenge you select from this table will update the Training Activity Outcomes section.
💡 Remember:
For a skill to be considered as 'required' for a user, it must be mapped to that user's assigned work role. For example, a 'Cyber Intelligence Analyst' work role may require the Geo-Intelligence (GI) skill. If a user named Jenny has been assigned the 'Cyber Intelligence Analyst' work role, then Geo-Intelligence would be a required skill for Jenny. Conversely, if the 'Cyber Intelligence Analyst' work role does not require the Secure Coding (SC) skill, then Secure Coding is not a required skill for Jenny.
Required skills can be either fulfilled or unfulfilled.
For a required skill to be considered fulfilled, it needs to have been demonstrated by the user at or above the target proficiency set for the skill in the work role.
If a required skill has not been demonstrated at all by the user, or has only been demonstrated below the target proficiency set for the skill in the work role, then it is an unfulfilled skill for that user.
When the FifthDomain team sets up work roles for your organisation, each Customer Skill they add to each work role will be assigned a target proficiency level. When viewing the Cyber Skills Cortex, each Customer Skill in a work role is displayed as per its equivalent FifthDomain Skill(s). The target proficiencies set for a Customer Skill in a work role will therefore reflect as the target proficiency required for the equivalent FifthDomain Skills in the work role. Please refer to this article for more information on how Customer Skills are mapped to their mapped equivalent FifthDomain Skills, as well as how target proficiency levels are assigned to Customer Skills when setting up work roles in organisations.
As an example, if Geo-Intelligence (GI) is required for a work role named 'Cyber Intelligence Analyst', and Level 3 (Competent) is the target proficiency that was set for the Customer Skill(s) in the work role (that GI is mapped as the equivalent to), then, if a user assigned to this work role demonstrates GI at Level 3 or above, GI would be a fulfilled skill for them.
If a user assigned to this work role has not demonstrated GI, or has only done so below Level 3, then GI would be an unfulfilled skill for them.
Reading Training Activity Outcomes
The Training Activity Outcomes section visualises how the assigned user's completion of your selection of challenges (in the Recommended Challenges in your Library table) will turn their unfulfilled skills into fulfilled skills, reducing skill gaps as per their assigned work role.
You can view the assigned user's name [1], work role [2], and current work role coverage [3] at the top of the section. Current work role coverage refers to the percentage total of skills the assigned user has fulfilled, out of the total required skills for their assigned work role, at the time you started creating the training activity.
Click the See Details button [4] to expand your view of the assigned user's fulfilled and unfulfilled skills as per their current work role. Note that this information is also based on the assigned user's skills at the time you started creating the training activity.
Reading the Left Side Panel
On the left side panel in the Training Activity Outcomes section, you will see the Challenges Selected [1] section, which shows the number of challenges you have currently selected to include in the training activity you are creating.
Below that, you will see the Unfulfilled Skills to be Addressed [2] section. This displays the number of the assigned user's unfulfilled skills that will become fulfilled upon completion of the currently selected challenges for the training activity. For example, if you are creating a training activity for a user named Tom, who initially had 13 unfulfilled skills for his work role, and you have selected 11 challenges that address these unfulfilled skills, then Tom's Unfulfilled Skills to be Addressed section would show 11/13.
Reading the Training Outcomes Cyber Skills Cortex
In the centre of the Training Activity Outcomes section, you will see a version of the assigned user's Cyber Skills Cortex. This is a simplified version of their Cortex, focusing only on skills required of the assigned user's work role. Any skills not required for the assigned user's work role will be greyed out.
At the top of the Cortex, you'll see the assigned user's work role name. The number of skill rows that you can see (i.e. are not greyed out) in the Cortex will equal the total number of required skills for the assigned user's work role.
Understanding Skills Fulfilment Statuses in Training Activity Outcomes
Each skill row in the Cortex will have one of three skills fulfilment statuses:
Fulfilled Skill (Current), referring to required skills that the assigned user had already demonstrated at or above the target proficiency set for the skill in the work role at the time you clicked on the Recommend Training button (these are marked by a green tick icon);
Fulfilled Skill (Post-Training), referring to required skills that the assigned user will have demonstrated at or above the target proficiency set for the skill in the work role upon completion of selected challenges in the training activity (these are marked by a blue training icon), or;
Unfulfilled Skill (Post-Training), referring to required skills that the assigned user will still not yet have demonstrated at or above the target proficiency upon completion of selected challenges in the training activity. In other words, no challenge selected for the training activity will address this skill gap (these are marked by a red exclamation icon).
You will be able to see a status icon [1] next to each required skill name abbreviation on the Cortex. Use the Skills Fulfilment Icons Key [2] below the Cortex to see each skill status icon.
Identifying the Target Proficiency for a Required Skill
The target proficiency for a required skill in a work role is marked on each skill row with a thick dark green border (refer to Target Proficiency [1] in the Skill-Proficiency Square Key). Each required skill only has one target proficiency required of them for the work role. As such, for each required skill, there will only be one Skill-Proficiency square with this thick dark green border.
In the example below, you can see that for every required skill, there is one Skill-Proficiency square with a thick dark green border. The square with this thick dark green border is the target proficiency set for the skill in the work role. For instance, in the image below, the target proficiency for TG is Level 3 (Competent). OC has Level 2 (Advanced Beginner) set as its target proficiency, DM has Level 3 (Competent) as its target proficiency, and so on.
💡 Remember: if a user demonstrates a required skill at or above the target proficiency, the skill will become fulfilled for them (in the context of their current work role). If not, the skill will be unfulfilled for them.
📖 Note: All Skill-Proficiency squares underneath the target proficiency set for a skill will have a thin green border. For instance, if Level 4 is the target proficiency for a skill (e.g. BX), then the Level 4 Skill-Proficiency BX square will have a thick green border, and BX Levels 1-3 will in this case have a thin green border.
Skill-Proficiency squares above the target proficiency will have a thin grey border, denoting that they are not required for the user to demonstrate for their work role (referring to the same example, Level 5 BX is above the target proficiency of Level 4, and hence will have a thin grey border).
Aside from the target proficiency border (thick green border), the other Skill-Proficiency square borders are for visual effect only and do not have any bearing on work role fulfilment.
Understanding Fulfilled Skills (Current)
For Fulfilled Skills (Current), each Skill-Proficiency square that the assigned user had already demonstrated at the time you started creating the training activity are filled in light green (note the difference between fill versus border). Squares up to at least the target proficiency (and perhaps above) will be filled in light green (as skills demonstrated at or above their target proficiency are considered fulfilled).
In the image below, Threat Intelligence Gathering (TG) has already been fulfilled by the assigned user. From the dark green border, you can see that Level 3 is the target proficiency for TG in the work role. The user has demonstrated TG at Level 3, so squares up to Level 3 have been filled in. There is also a green tick icon next to TG, the skill name abbreviation, denoting that Threat Intelligence Gathering has already been fulfilled. In this example, TG challenges will not appear for selection in this user's training activity, as the user does not have a skill gap there.
As a another example, refer to Binary Exploitation (BX), which has also already been fulfilled by the user at the time the viewing Squad Manager started creating this training activity. The target for BX for the user's work role is Level 4 (Proficient), as denoted by the thick green border. The user has demonstrated BX at Level 5, so squares up to Level 5 have been filled in. In this case, the assigned user has fulfilled BX above the required proficiency. There is a green tick icon next to BX, the skill name abbreviation, denoting that Binary Exploitation has already been fulfilled. In this example, BX challenges will also not appear for selection in this user's training activity, as the user does not have a skill gap there.
Understanding Fulfilled Skills (Post-Training)
Fulfilled Skills (Post-Training) are skills that the assigned user has not yet demonstrated, but will have demonstrated at or above the target proficiency upon completion of the training activity. Each Skill-Proficiency square for which you have specifically selected a challenge for will have a number inside denoting the number of relevant challenges you have picked. Challenges can only be added to training activities if the user has not already demonstrated their relevant Skill-Proficiency square. If a square is already filled in green, it has already been demonstrated by the user and can't be further trained.
Fulfilled Skills (Post-Training) are skills where a challenge at or above the target proficiency has been selected for training inclusion. These will be marked with a blue training icon next to the skill name abbreviation.
In the image below, Intrusion Detection (ID) is currently unfulfilled, but will be fulfilled post-training. In the assigned user's work role, ID is required at Level 3. The training creator has selected 1 x ID Level 1 challenge and 2 x ID Level 3 challenges. Post-training, the assigned user will have demonstrated ID at Level 3, the target proficiency required. As such, ID has a blue training icon. If the training creator had only selected the ID Level 1 challenge by itself, ID would remain unfulfilled after training. In the example of ID, because the user has not demonstrated ID at any level, ID challenges at all levels can be added.
As another example, Digital Forensics (DF) is also a Fulfilled Skill (Post-Training). DF is required at Level 2. The training creator has added 2 x DF Level 3 challenges, which will result in DF being demonstrated above the Level 2 target after training. Hence, DF also has a blue training icon. In the example of DF, because the user has not demonstrated DF at any level, DF challenges at all levels can be added.
By selecting challenges for assigned training, training creators (i.e. Squad Managers) are able to help those in their squad address skill gaps.
Understanding Unfulfilled Skills (Post-Training)
Unfulfilled Skills (Post-Training) are skills which the assigned user will still not have demonstrated at or above the target proficiency post-training completion. Skills will be Unfulfilled Skills (Post-Training) if no challenges are packaged into the training which would allow them to demonstrate a required unfulfilled skill at or above the target proficiency. For Unfulfilled Skills (Post-Training), the Skill-Proficiency square with the target proficiency will not be filled in (and there will not be a number inside it denoting any assigned training challenges. Skills that are Unfulfilled Skills (Post-Training) will also be marked with a red exclamation icon next to the skill name abbreviation.
In the image below, Darkweb Monitoring (DM) is currently unfulfilled by the assigned user, as the target proficiency, Level 3, has not been demonstrated. DM will still be unfulfilled after training, as although the Squad Manager creating the training activity has assigned 1 x DM Level 2 challenge (as denoted by the '1' inside the DM Level 2 square), the target square, Level 3, does not have any training assigned.
Note the red exclamation icon next to DM, denoting that it is (and will remain) unfulfilled after training.
As DM is unfulfilled, the training creator can select any DM challenges above the proficiency level already demonstrated for the skill. In the case of DM, the user has not demonstrated any proficiency level yet, so the training creator can add DM challenges of all five proficiency levels to the training activity (although they have in this example, only added a Level 2 DM challenge).
As another example, the image below also shows that Access Control (AC), is currently unfulfilled. The user has already demonstrated AC at Levels 1 and 2, but these are below the Level 5 target, so the skill is unfulfilled. AC will still be unfulfilled after training completion - this is because the target square, Level 5, does not have any training assigned.
As AC is an Unfulfilled Skill (Post-Training), as denoted by the red exclamation icon.
As AC is unfulfilled, the training creator can select any AC challenges above the proficiency level already demonstrated for the skill. In the case of AC, the user has already demonstrated AC at Level 1 and 2, so the training creator can only add AC Level 3+ challenges to the training activity (although in this example, the training creator has not yet selected any AC challenges).
Reading the Right Side Panel
On the right side panel in the Training Activity Outcomes section, you can see the number of Required Skills [1] in the assigned user's work role. Underneath this, you can see the user's Fulfilled Skills (Current) [2]. This is the number of required skills which the user had already demonstrated at or above the target proficiency at the time you had clicked the Recommend Training button to start creating a training activity. You can also see the user's Unfulfilled Skills (Current) [3]. This is the number of required skills the user had not yet demonstrated at or above the target proficiency at the time you had clicked the Recommend Training button.
To help measure the impact of completion of the training activity you are creating, you can also see the number of Fulfilled Skills (Post-Training) [1], referring to the number of total fulfilled skills after completion of selected training challenges, and the number of Unfulfilled Skills (Post-Training) [2], referring to the total number of unfulfilled skills that will remain after training completion. The blue training icon number [3] refers to the number of unfulfilled skills that will become fulfilled after completion of selected training challenges.
Selecting from Recommended Challenges in your Library
Understanding Challenges Available for Selection
The Recommended Challenges in your Library table contains all challenges mapped to the required but unfulfilled skills of the assigned user’s work role. These are a tailored selection of challenges suggested for the assigned user to complete to address current skill gaps in their assigned work role.
The challenges included in the Recommended Challenges in your Library table are based on the affiliated user's unfulfilled skills, at the time you clicked on the Recommend Training button. If you, for instance, exited the Training Activity Challenge Selection page, and clicked Recommend Training again after the user had demonstrated more relevant skills at relevant proficiencies (and/or if their assigned work role was swapped), then upon reaching the Training Activity Challenge Selection page again, the list of challenges that would populate would be different, reflecting the user's new set of demonstrated skills and/or assigned work role.
💡 Remember: Challenges will appear in the Recommended Challenges in your Library table if they are mapped to a required but currently unfulfilled skill (i.e. skills that are required for the assigned user's work role, but haven't been demonstrated at or above the target proficiency at the time the Recommend Training button was clicked).
Training activities focus on addressing work role skill gaps, so challenges mapped to skills that the assigned user has already fulfilled won't populate in the table. Additionally, challenges mapped to skills that aren't required for the assigned user's work role will also not populate.
❗️Important Consideration:
For unfulfilled skills, you can only add challenges at proficiencies above the level the assigned user has already demonstrated for the skill (if any).
For example, if Secure Coding (SC) is required and unfulfilled for a user (with Level 3 as the target), and the assigned has already demonstrated SC at Level 1, you will only be able to select SC challenges at Level 2 and above. This way, you will be able to help the assigned user get closer to skill fulfilment.
Note that although in this example, you could assign the user SC Level 3 challenges straight away, consider that a Level 2 challenge may be more achievable for them for this training activity. It is recommended that you assign training at appropriate proficiency levels, and gradually increase assigned proficiency levels as the user demonstrates higher proficiency over time.
Additionally, there is currently no limit to the number of challenges you can package into a training activity. However, consider selecting challenges appropriately and realistically based on learning goals and timeframes, to best support the assigned user to fulfil their existing gaps as per their work role.
📖 Note: Any specific challenges that the assigned user has already been assigned in a different event, and that the user has already solved, will not appear for selection. This is because, by solving that challenge, the user has already demonstrated the relevant Skill-Proficiency square. As mentioned above, training activities focus on addressing skill gaps, so challenges related to Skill-Proficiency squares that have already been filled will not be available for selection.
However, any specific challenges that the assigned user has been assigned in a different event, but that the user has not yet solved, will appear for selection. This is because the user has not yet demonstrated the relevant Skill-Proficiency square for that challenge, hence there is still a skill gap that may need to be addressed. You may wish to check the user's other assigned events to avoid allocating them the same challenges.
Viewing and Selecting Challenges
For each challenge recommended for inclusion in the assigned user's training activity, you can see the following details:
Challenge name
Challenge creator
Professional Specialty
Skills
Type (static or lab-based)
Assigned tags (if any)
To sort the table and find specific challenges, use the search bar [1], and/or the filter function [2] to sort on any of the table columns.
To see more information about a challenge, click on the challenge's row [3] in the table to expand your view of the challenge on the side of your screen.
Use the checkboxes to select and deselect challenges for inclusion into the training activity you are creating. As mentioned above, the Training Activity Outcomes section will update based on challenges selected, so ensure that you view this section to ensure that you are happy with your selection of challenges, and how they will address the assigned user's skill gaps upon completion.
📖 Note: All labs in lab-based challenges have a duration of 2 hours. Participants can extend their lab instances as many times as they require, resetting their lab timers to 2 hours and retaining progress made. Participants can also reset their labs as needed, which will deploy a new lab instance and erase all progress. For more details about attempting lab challenges in Training Activities, click here.
Finalising Training Activity Challenge Selection
Once you are happy with the selection of challenges to be included in the training activity you are creating, click Finalise Training Activity [1]. Note that you must have selected at least one challenge for inclusion into the training activity before you can proceed.
Alternatively, if you wish to scrap creation of the training activity, click Back [2]. Note that leaving the training activity creation process will result in your selection of challenges being lost, and no training activity being created for the assigned user.
Once you have clicked the Finalise Training Activity button, a modal will appear, giving you a summary of Training Activity Outcomes [1]. You will need to confirm a few key details before your training activity is finally created.
Enter a name for your training activity in the Training Activity Name [2] section. A name based on the assigned user's name and work role will be pre-populated already, but you can edit this name as required.
Next, enter a time and date for the Training Activity End [3]. The assigned user will not be able to make further attempts in the training activity after the training activity end specified.
Lastly, using the toggle, select if you wish to enable a Jump Box [4] for the assigned user to connect more securely to lab challenges. Choose your toggle option carefully, as once you move past this screen, you won't be able to edit this further.
📖 Note: If you enable a Jump Box for the Training Activity, the assigned user will be able to have access to the Jump Box for the entire duration of the event.
Once you have filled in all required details, click Create Training Activity [1]. To return to challenge selection, click Cancel [2].
📖 Note: As soon as your training activity has been created, the assigned user will be able to attempt the challenges within it, and you as a Squad Manager, will be able to view and edit the training activity.