📖 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 view and edit 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 view and/or edit Training Activities?
Only Squad Managers can view and edit 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.
Viewing a user's training activity allows you to see their progress in completing assigned challenges (allowing you to see how they are progressing toward addressing skill gaps for their work roles), and the ability to edit a training activity allows you to be able to make necessary changes to training details and challenge selection. This can be helpful if an assigned user's work role and/or skills development goals and timeframes change.
Opening Affiliated User Profiles as a Squad Manager
To view and edit 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.
📖 Note: Training activities do not appear in the Events table on the Manage Home Page like other event types. Training Activities can only be opened via an affiliated user's profile by their Squad Manager.
This is to keep an individual's training and skills development needs private to the individual's Squad Managers, and to the individual themselves. Those without permissions directly relevant to training an individual's skills (i.e. Squad Managers) cannot view an individual's affiliated profile (and their training activities).
Navigating to Assigned Events
Once you have opened the Affiliated User Profile of your choice, scroll down to their Assigned Events. Any training activities assigned to the user will be denoted by a blue training icon [1]. You will also be able to see the training activity's name, how many challenges it includes, as well as the assigned user's progress. Click View [2] to open the training activity you wish to view/edit.
Navigating Training Activity Tab Views
Once you have opened the training activity you wish to view/edit, you will be able to see three tabs. These are the:
Overview tab [1], which shows you a quick summary and analytics about the assigned user's progress through the challenges in the training activity, the;
Details tab [2], which is where you can view and edit the training activity's key details, such as its name and end time and date, and the;
Challenges tab [3], which shows you an editable list of challenges included in the training activity, as well as skills targeted in the training activity.
Viewing a Training Activity's Overview Tab
The Overview tab shows you a quick summary about a training activity, as well as analytics about how the assigned user of the training activity is progressing through challenges within it.
At the top, you will be able to see the Training Activity Start [1] date and time, which is when the training activity was created. You will also be able to see the Training Activity End [2] date and time, which is the point after which the assigned user will no longer be able to attempt the training activity. Next to the Training Activity End, you will be able to see the amount of Time Remaining [3] for the assigned user to complete the training activity.
Below this, you'll be able to see the assigned user's name [1]. You can also see their attempt status [2]. The assigned user's attempt status will be one of the following:
Not Started if the user has not opened the training activity yet;
In Progress if the user has entered the training activity and but is yet to complete all challenges and the End date and time has not been reached yet, or;
Completed, if the user has completed all challenges, or the End has been reached.
In the Challenges Solved [3] section, you can also see the number of challenges the user has solved in the training activity, out of the total number of challenges included. Lastly, you can see their Success Rate [4].
On the Overview tab, you'll also see a Challenge Analytics table. This table lists all challenges included in the training activity. For each challenge, you will be able to see the following details:
Challenge name
Challenge status (solved or unsolved)
Number of attempts by the assigned user
Mapped Skills
Mapped Professional Specialty
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.
📖 Note: This table can be helpful in identifying the assigned user's approach to challenges within the training activity. The number of attempts column can help you identify if the user is having difficulty with a challenge, or if their strategy may need work.
Viewing a Training Activity's Details Tab
The Details tab shows you information about the training activity's key details and logistics. In the Details section, you can see the Training Activity Name [1] (editable with Manage Users and/or Manage Squads), and the Type [2] (non-editable, as all training activities are allocated to a specific individual).
In the Availability section, you can view the Training Activity Start [1] date and time, which is when the training activity was created. This is non-editable. You will also be able to see the Training Activity End [2] date and time, which is the point after which the assigned user will no longer be able to attempt the training activity. Note that you can't restart a training activity that has reached its end, so ensure that you set the end date and time far enough into the future.
Below Availability, you'll be able to view Advanced Networking Features. Here, you'll be able to see the VPN Configuration [1] for the training activity (this will always be enabled, and is non-editable), and the Jump Box settings [2] that were set during the training activity creation process - this is also non-editable.
Lastly, you'll be able to see the Training Activity Instructions [1], which is a message that is displayed to the assigned user before and during the training activity, as well as the Training Activity Completion Message [2], which is a message shown to the assigned user upon completion of the training activity. Both these fields have default messaging automatically set to display, but custom messages can be written if required.
You'll be able to see an Edit button for all editable sections. Click Edit to make any required changes to the training activity.
Viewing a Training Activity's Challenges Tab
The Challenges tab shows you an editable list of challenges included in the training activity, as well as skills targeted in the training activity.
In the Training Activity Outcomes section, you will be able to see the assigned user's name [1], currently assigned work role [2], and a button to their affiliated profile [3]. Underneath, you will be able to see Targeted Skills [4] - i.e. a list of all skills that challenges within the training activity target, as well as the specific proficiency levels of skills that are targeted.
The Recommended Challenges in your Library table shows all challenges included in the training activity. For each challenge, 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 View [3] to expand your view of the challenge on the side of your screen.
Editing Training Activity Challenge Selection
Click Edit if you wish to add or remove challenges to the training activity.
Once you're in edit mode, all challenges mapped to the required but unfulfilled skills of the assigned user’s work role will appear for selection in the table. 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 table for selection are based on the affiliated user's work role and unfulfilled skills, at the time you opened the training activity. If you, for instance, exited the training activity page and opened it again after the user had demonstrated more relevant skills at relevant proficiencies (and/or if their assigned work role was swapped), then 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 for the work role 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.
For more details on selecting challenges to package into training activities, please refer to this article.
❗️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.
Use the checkboxes [1] to select and deselect challenges for inclusion in the training activity. 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.
Once you are happy, click Save [2] to finalise challenge selection edits. Alternately, click Cancel [3] to scrap any changes made without saving.
📖 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.