📖 Note: This article explains the concept of Functions on the platform, and details how Org Designers and Function Leads can navigate and the Workforce page within their organisation.
What are Functions?
A Function is a high-level cyber operational area within an organisation. Organisations who opt in for FifthDomain's workforce features on the platform will be able to build Functions to mirror the real-life structure and skills of their organisation's cyber teams, allowing them to easily manage their cyber workforce's skills on the platform.
📌 The following prerequisites must be met before your organisation is able to create Functions and have an organisation-level Workforce page on the platform:
Have Work Roles (WRs) set up in your organisation;
Have affiliated users in your organisation to assume the managerial roles of Org Designers, Function Leads, Squad Managers;
Have every contributing member of operational cyber skills in your organisation be affiliated (in order for an accurate structural reflection of your organisation).
Note that all features related to workforce management (i.e. Functions, Squads, WRs, and organisation Workforce pages) are private to each organisation.
How Functions Create Structure in Organisations
Organisations with workforce features enabled on the platform can set up an unlimited number of Functions within them, each representing a different high-level cyber operation within their organisation.
Every Function is made up of smaller groupings called Squads, which each have a more granular responsibility within the organisation. For example, an organisation may set up a 'Cyber Investigation' Function. Within this 'Cyber Investigation' Function, the organisation may set up Investigation-related Squads, such as the 'Digital Forensics' and 'Data Recovery' Squads.
Each Squad in an organisation is then made up of individuals - individual contributors of relevant cyber skills (Squad Members), as well as those who manage the Squad while contributing cyber skills to it (Squad Managers).
Functions allow organisations to identify, manage, and develop skills at different levels of granularity. At the ground level, the skills of each individual within a Squad form the collective skills of the Squad. Going a level higher, the collective skills of each Squad within a Function form the skills present and available in the Function. Finally, the skills present in all Functions in an organisation form the organisation's overall cyber skills, or its cyber 'workforce'.
💡 Remember: The FifthDomain platform is based on measuring, baselining, and improving operational and technical cyber skills. As such, you will not be able to include WRs not of this nature in Functions, such as strategic, governance, or managerial-based cyber roles.
User Types Involved in Functions
In order for an organisation to have Functions on the platform (and a representation of its cyber workforce on platform), it needs affiliated users to perform the following roles:
👤 Org Designer (Manage Functions permission)
An Org Designer is a user who understands an organisation's top-level skill needs and is able to define and develop the structure of the organisation. Org Designers create Functions within the organisation, appoint Function Leads to manage these Functions, and define Target Skills for each Function.
📚 For details on how Org Designers create and manage Functions, click here.
👤 Function Lead (Manage Squads permission)
A Function Lead is a user who is appointed to be responsible for managing a Function in an organisation. Function Leads create Squads within the Function they manage, appoint Squad Managers for each Squad in their Function, and add and remove Squad Members to each Squad to best meet the Function's Target Skills, as defined by the Org Designer.
📚 For details on how Function Leads create and manage Squads, click here.
👤 Squad Manager (Manage Squads permission)
A Squad Manager is a user who is appointed to be responsible for training within a Squad. Squad Managers create Training Activities for those in their Squad, edit Training Activities, and if required, edit the WRs of those in their Squad to best meet the needs of their Function. In addition to managing training, Squad Managers' own skills also contribute to their Squad's collective skills.
📚 For details on how Squad Managers view and manage their Squad, click here.
👥 Squad Member (any affiliated users in an organisation)
Squad Members are affiliated users in an organisation who, by being added to a Squad, contribute their cyber skills to the Function that their Squad belongs to. Squad Members' skills are managed and trained by their Squad Managers so that their skills best meet the needs of their Function, as defined by the Org Designer.
Target Skills versus Actual Skills
Target Skills
Functions allow organisations to compare target cyber skills to actual cyber skills.
Each Function has a set list of Target Skills (the skills that should be present in the Function in order for ideal operational ability). A Function's Target Skills are set by Org Designers during the Function creation process. A Function's Target Skills are expressed in terms of required Work Roles (WRs). As described in this article, WRs on the platform are a list of cyber skills needed to perform a specific job function within a cyber team or organisation. Each Function has a list of required WRs.
For instance, a "Defensive Cyber" Function may have the following required WRs:
5 x "Junior Vulnerability Analyst"
3 x "Senior Vulnerability Analyst"
4 x "Access Control Specialist"
5 x "Network Hardening Specialist"
The individual cyber skills which each of these required WRs comprise of will then make up the list of overall Target Skills for the Function.
Actual Skills
As mentioned above, every Function is made up of Squads, which are a grouping of individuals made with the purpose of representing more granular areas of responsibility within an organisation. The cyber skills of the individuals within a Function's Squads (i.e. Squad Managers and Squad Members) form the Actual Skills of the Function. An individual affiliated user's skills can be viewed on their Affiliated User Profile. Refer to this article for more details on viewing Affiliated User Profiles.
💡 Remember: The list of required WRs in a Function only represents the Function's desired state. These WRs are for structural planning only, and are not tied to specific and actual individuals in the Function or overall organisation. A Function's actual state is reflected by the skills of the individual affiliated users in the Function's Squads, whose assigned WRs may or may not be included in the Function's list of required WRs.
Navigating the Workforce Page
All Functions (and the Squads within them) in an organisation are accessible in your organisation's Workforce page. The Workforce page contains a view of Active Functions and Inactive Functions, as well as a view of your organisation's collective cyber skills.
Accessing the Workforce Page
📌 Here is a list of who can access your organisation's Workforce Page:
Those with Manage Functions (Org Designers)
Those with Manage Squads who have been explicitly appointed to be a Function Lead for a Function.
Note that Squad Managers and Squad Members (as well as affiliated users in your organisation who are not Org Designers/Function Leads, and those who have not been added to any Squad at all) will not be able to see the Workforce page.
If you have access to the Workforce page, you'll see a button for it on the sidebar. Simply click this button to navigate to the Workforce page.
Viewing the Workforce Overview Bar
At the top of your organisation's Workforce page, you'll be able to see the following:
Readiness Score [1] (Organisation-Level) - this is a 0-100 score that measures the overall readiness of your organisation's cyber workforce. The Readiness Score is the percentage number of total fulfilled Skill-Proficiency units out of the total required Skill-Proficiency units across all Functions in the organisation.
Active Functions [2] - this is the number of Functions in your organisation that are active (i.e. that have explicitly been marked as Active by an Org Designer and have a Function Lead assigned for management).
Squads [3] - this is the total number of Squads that exist across all Functions in your organisation.
Contributing Members [4] - this is the total number of affiliated users in your organisation whose skills are contributing to a Function within your organisation. For a user to be a contributing member, they need to be added to a Squad as either a Squad Manager or Squad Member.
Inactive Functions [5] - this is the number of Functions in your organisation that have not been marked as Active.
Viewing the Function Dashboard
The Function Dashboard section on the Workforce page lists Functions which exist in your organisation. Org Designers see all Active and Inactive Functions in the organisation, and have the option to create new Functions. Function Leads however, can only see the Functions they are personally the Function Lead for. They won't be able to view any other Functions.
Org Designer View
Org Designers will be able to see all Active and Inactive Functions in an organisation, in two different tabs [1]. For each Active Function, Org Designers will be able to see the:
Function Readiness Score
Function Name
Number of Squads
Number of Contributing Members (across Squads)
Assigned Function Lead
For each Inactive Function, Org Designers will be able to see the:
Function Name
Assigned Function Lead (if any)
To view and edit an existing Function (Active or Inactive), they can click View [2]. The search bar [3] makes it easier to find a specific Function quickly.
Org Designers will also be able to see a Create button in the Function Dashboard. This button is not visible to Function Leads.
Function Lead View
Function Leads will be able to see all Functions they lead. They will be able to see the following about each of their Functions:
Function Readiness Score
Function Name
Number of Squads
Number of Contributing Members (across Squads)
Assigned Function Lead (this will always show their name only)
To view an existing Function, they can click View [1]. The search bar [2] makes it easier to find a specific Function quickly (this is useful for Function Leads who lead many Functions in their organisation).
📖 Note: Function Leads will only have access to Active Functions they lead. They won't be able to access any Inactive Functions they have been appointed as the Function Lead for until an Org Designer marks them as Active.
📖 Note: Squad Managers also access their Squad's profile by clicking on the Workforce button on the sidebar. However, doing this will bring them directly to their Squad's profile. They won't see the Workforce page unless they are also an Org Designer and/or a Function Lead in the organisation.
Reading the Organisational Skills Profile
The Organisational Skills Profile is a Cyber Skills Cortex showing the cyber skills of contributing members in your organisation. Org Designers will be able to see skills of all contributing members across the organisation, whilst Function Leads will only be able to see skills of contributing members in Functions they lead.
Selecting Functions to Display
Each Function that you see in the Function Dashboard section has a checkbox [1]. The skills in Functions with a selected checkbox will populate in the Organisational Skills Profile. By default, all checkboxes will be selected. You can select and deselect checkboxes to filter your view of the skills appearing in the Cyber Skills Cortex.
As you select and deselect checkboxes, you will also be able to see the fulfilled Skill-Proficiency units [2] for selected Functions (more on this below), as well as the collective Readiness Score [3] for selected Functions.
Overlaying Target Skills onto the Cyber Skills Cortex
The overlay toggle allows you to display (or not display) the collective Target Skills for Functions in your organisation (with checkboxes selected). By default, this toggle will be on. If you just want to see all Actual Skills against the FifthDomain Cynaptic Adaptor (without Target Skills being overlayed), turn this toggle off. Note that all Actual Skills of selected Functions will populate regardless of toggle status - the toggle only affects whether Target Skills are displayed.
Understanding Skills Fulfilment Statuses
Each skill row in the Cortex that forms part of selected Functions' cumulative Target Skills will have one of two skills fulfilment statuses:
Fulfilled Skill (Current), referring to cumulative Target Skills that contributing members in selected Functions have demonstrated at or above the target proficiency for included WRs (these are marked by a green tick icon);
Unfulfilled Skill (Post-Training), referring to cumulative Target Skills that contributing members in selected Functions have not demonstrated at or above the target proficiency for included WRs (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.
Understanding Skill-Proficiency Units
Next to each status icon, you'll also see a fraction. This shows the number of fulfilled Skill-Proficiency units out of the total required Skill-Proficiency units for a skill (for Functions selected in the Function Dashboard). Each skill that is part of Target Skills has a set number of Skill-Proficiency units required.
In the example below, you'll see that selected Functions have Opensource Collection (OC) as a Target Skill. Selected Functions require 6 x Skill-Proficiency units of OC as part of Target Skills. In selected Functions, there are actually 6 contributing members who fulfil OC at the required proficiency. As such, you can see 6/6 next to OC, and a green tick icon, demonstrating that the Skill-Proficiency requirement for OC in selected Functions has been fulfilled.
As another example, Darkweb Monitoring (DM) is also a Target Skill for selected Functions below. Selected Functions below require 4 x Skill-Proficiency units of DM as part of Target Skills. However, 0 contributing members in selected Functions have actually demonstrated DM at the proficiency levels required. As such, you can see 0/4 next to DM, as well as a red exclamation icon showing that the DM Skill-Proficiency requirement in selected Functions is unfulfilled.
💡 Remember: A Skill-Proficiency unit represents a requirement for one individual to fulfil a skill at a specific proficiency level. Each individual can only fulfil one Skill-Proficiency unit in the same skill. For instance, if 2 x DM Skill-Proficiency units are required, one at Level 1, another at Level 3, and 'Jack' has demonstrated DM at Level 4, he can only contribute to fulfilling 1 x DM Skill-Proficiency unit - he can't count toward both the Level 1 and Level 3 requirements at the same time. The organisation requires 2 x separate individuals who can fulfil DM (one at Level 1, the other at Level 3). As 'Jack''s ability to demonstrate DM (at Level 4) is nearest to the Level 3 requirement, he will fulfil the 1 x Level 3 DM Skill-Proficiency unit requirement. The organisation will need to find a separate individual to fulfil their requirement for 1 x Level 1 DM Skill-Proficiency unit.
Note that this just means that a user can't fulfil multiple Skill-Proficiency units for the same skill. Their abilities in other skills however, will be able to contribute to one Skill-Proficiency unit for other required skills.
The total number of Skill-Proficiency units required of all selected Functions (across all skills) is listed above the Cyber Skills Cortex.
Identifying Proficiency Targets for Skills
The target proficiency for a skill that is part of a Function's (or a group of Function's) Target Skills is marked on each skill row with a thick dark green border. Each required skill has one or more target proficiencies. As detailed in this article, each skill in an individual WR only has one target proficiency. However, because the Organisation Skills Profile shows a collection of individuals and a collection of required WRs, cumulatively, a required skill may have multiple target proficiencies (reflective of multiple different WRs requiring the same skill at different levels).
In the example below, you can see that for every required skill, there are one or more Skill-Proficiency squares with a thick dark green border. The squares with this thick dark green border mark target proficiencies.
For instance, in the image below, the target proficiency for OC is Level 2 (Advanced Beginner). 6 x OC Skill-Proficiency units are required - because only Level 2 has a target proficiency border, all 6 units of OC are required at Level 2.
As another example, DM has two target proficiency borders - Level 3 (Competent), and Level 5 (Expert). 4 x DM Skill-Proficiency units are required - some are required at Level 3, and some at Level 5.
To identify how many units are required for a specific proficiency, hover over a Skill-Proficiency square. In the example below, you can see that WX has 3 x Skill-Proficiency units required across two target proficiencies - some units of WX are required at Level 1 (Novice), some at Level 2. Hovering over the WX Level 1 square triggers a tooltip stating that 2 x units of WX are required at Level 1. Because 3 units are required in total, this means that 1 x unit of WX is required at Level 2.
📖 Note: All Skill-Proficiency squares underneath the target proficiencies 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 to be demonstrated (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 dark green border), the other Skill-Proficiency square borders are for visual effect only and do not have any bearing on Skill-Proficiency unit fulfilment.
Identifying Actual Skills for a Skill
In contrast to Target Skills, which are displayed as thick dark green borders, Actual Skills are displayed as fills inside Skill-Proficiency squares. Skill-Proficiency squares that have been demonstrated by contributing members in selected Functions will have a fill. Squares that haven't been demonstrated by contributing members in selected Functions have no fill. Each individual contributing member of a skill contributes to one fill shade. The darker a fill in a square, the more contributing members there are demonstrating the skill at that proficiency. For instance, below, you can see that TG Level 3 has a very light shade. This means that few individuals have demonstrated TG at Level 3. TG Level 2 is darker, showing that more have demonstrated TG at Level 2. TG Level 1 is even darker, demonstrating that out of all users who have demonstrated TG, the most common level of demonstration is Level 1.
You can hover over any square to specifically identify how many individuals have demonstrated a specific Skill-Proficiency. You'll be able to see the assigned Squad and assigned Function of each individual contributor.
What do I do with this information?
The ability to compare collective Target Skills to collective Actual Skills across Functions in your organisation is key to being able to evaluate the readiness of an organisation's cyber skills, identify where skills match requirements, where they don't meet requirements (i.e. identify skill deficits), and see where there may be extra skills (i.e. identify surplus skills). Being able to identify this informs hiring needs and helps cyber team managers make targeted steps toward tailored and personalised skills development and training to address skill gaps. This information is also crucial in being able to understand where to best allocate individuals in an organisation based on the structural requirements of each cyber team.
❗️Important: Please note that although the Organisational Skills Profile is a helpful way to discern whether members within cyber teams have Skill-Proficiency gaps in certain required skills, insights provided by the Cyber Skills Cortex are dependent on users completing enough events on the FifthDomain platform, and solving enough challenges to reflect their real-life cyber skills.
Additionally, please also consider the frequency, recency, and/or 'depth' of Skill-Proficiency demonstrations in assessing a user's real-life skills. Users who have demonstrated required skills at their target proficiencies may, in some cases, still have a skills gap if they have only demonstrated the relevant Skill-Proficiency infrequently, and/or not very recently.